WYTHENSHAWE AMATEURS (Hollyhedge Park)

NORTH WEST COUNTIES FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE SOUTH, WYTHENSHAWE AMATEURS 3-3 STONE OLD ALLEYNIANS, ATTENDANCE: 152

After visiting Cheadle Heath Nomads last weekend, this was my second successive weekend in Greater Manchester. I was meeting up with a friend from Hamburg so needed somewhere close to the city centre and a visit to another North West Counties League newcomer, Wythenshawe Amateurs, was the order of the day.

It was an early start for a liquid brunch in Piccadilly before boarding a tram from Market Street to Benchill (Gately is the nearest train station but Northern rail were on strike today) and from there it was a 10 minute walk to Hollyhedge Park.

Founded in 1949, Wythenshawe played in various leagues before becoming stalwarts of the Manchester League after joining in 1972. They won the league 3 times and been runners up on 10 occasions and, for good measure, also won the Manchester League cup 7 times.

The club led a nomadic existence with nowhere permanent to call home until 2017 when the club set up base at Hollyhedge Park in Sharston. Work began in 2016 on transforming a corner of the park into a purpose built ground after a £382,317 grant from the Premier League and FA helped towards the £700,000 costs.

The ground now has a clubhouse and a covered stand, with the groundwork being laid for a seated stand behind the goal in the near future. Floodlights are now erected and will be switched on next Tuesday evening. Manchester United legend Bryan Robson officially the ground in May this year and the new facility allowed Wythenshawe to accept promotion to the North West Counties League as part of the restructuring to the pyramid.

Most importantly though the pasties served at the ground were delicious, which is obviously a priority when it comes to football grounds!

There was an excellent crowd of 152 present and they were treated to an absolute humdinger of a game as visitors Stone Old Alleynians came from 2-0 and 3-1 down to grab a draw.

Wythenshaw Amateurs went two goals up thanks to David Wright (17) and Dominic Lillie (23) before Samuel Wilson (40) halved the deficit for Stone just before half time.

The Ammies restored their two goal advantage soon after the break when Wright (53) tapped home his second goal. Jack Tomlinson (59) made it 3-2 before Michael Williams (85) scored a late penalty for the visitors to grab a draw.

In the last moments of the game either team could have grabbed a winner but I thought neither side deserved to be losers today. A fabulous advert for the North West Counties League football.

At the end of the game it was a quick dash back to Benchill station to catch the 1704 tram and I was back in a popular city centre drinking establishment with a pint in my hand before 6pm. Another great day out! 

CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS (The Heath, Norbreck Avenue)

NORTH WEST COUNTIES FOOTBALL LEAGUE CUP 1st ROUND,
CHEADLE HEATH NOMADS 3-1 LITHERLAND REMYCA, ATTENDANCE: 50

Today was the first of two successive Saturday evenings out in Manchester so I had to find something close to the city centre in order to be back in town for 7pm. A visit to League newcomers Cheadle Heath Nomads fitted the bill perfectly.

The restructuring of the pyramid last summer led to another division in the North West Counties League being created with the single division One being expanded to two divisions, a north and south. This meant for me nine brand new grounds (of the 17 new clubs this season) to visit in a league I had previously completed. Fantastic!

So, after the restructuring, Cheadle Heath Nomads took the opportunity of promotion from the Cheshire League to join the first division south.

The club was originally formed in 1919 and played amateur football in the Lancashire and Cheshire League until 1994 when they joined the Mid-Cheshire League.

Meanwhile Linotype FC, from Timperley, were founded in 1949 and played in the Mid-Cheshire League throughout their existence.

In 2004 off the field circumstances of both clubs led to the Nomads merging with Linotype and forming Linotype Cheadle Heath Nomads FC . This club played in the Cheshire League up until May 2017, and were champions as recently as 2015.

After the merger the club continued to play at The Heath on Norbreck Avenue, which has been home since the original Cheadle Heath set up base there in 1921. The ground is currently known as the ProSeal Stadium for sponsorship purposes.

Recent work on the ground has brought it up to the required standard for Step 6 football. There is hard standing on three sides and a new seated stand has been added on one side of the pitch. Floodlights have been installed on they were debuted last Tuesday when The Nomads beat Wythenshawe Town 2-0.

At the beginning of this season the club reverted back to the original name of Cheadle Heath Nomads ahead of celebrating it's centenary in 2019.

Cheadle Heath have made a good start to their debut campaign at this level and are currently in the top five of the Division One South table, however today was all about the League Cup and they were facing premier division opponents from Merseyside in the form of Litherland REMYCA.

George Donnelly (15 mins) gave Litherland the lead before Isaac Graham (21) levelled for Cheadle Heath Nomads (pictured below) to make it all square at the interval.

The home side had the better of the play in the second half and took the lead through Richard Tindall (69) before Tindall netted his second goal after 79 minutes to wrap up the tie for Cheadle. The Nomads will now travel to another league newcomer Rylands in the next round.

An excellent afternoon's football and a visit to Cheadle Heath Nomads is very much recommended.

Pie and Peas? Get in there!!

The ground is on the flight path into Manchester Airport.
Based on my rudimentary timings a plane flies over around every 90 seconds.
Definitely a ground for all you plane-spotters out there!

CALDICOT TOWN (Jubilee Way)

WELSH LEAGUE DIVISION TWO, CALDICOT TOWN 1-2 ABERGAVENNY TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 75 (h/c)

After my adventures in Russia I was now back home to join the hordes partaking in the Western League Ground Hop. After visiting Longwell Sports in the morning I decided to pay my £5.60 and undertake a cross border raid over the Severn Bridge for my afternoon game.

Caldicot is the first major town In Wales after the second Severn crossing so the journey from Longwell in Bristol was straightforward enough. However time constraints meant there was no chance to go a see Caldicot's most famous landmark, the 12th century castle.

The football club is not as old as that, of course, and was founded in 1953. They found a base on the King George V playing fields on Jubilee Way and that has been home to this day. There is a covered terrace on one side of the ground and a recently installed pre-fab seated stand on the other side. This is part of the ongoing process to meet the new FA Wales ground criteria.

The club joined the Welsh League in the mid 1980's and have remained members since. They having most of their time in the league in either division two or three but have had the odd foray into the top league, with their best finish in 2009 when they finished 4th in Division One.

Today was a massive Gwent derby as Abergavenny Town were the visitors to Jubilee Way and it was Abergavenny who took all the points with a hard fought victory.

Abergavenny took the lead after 10 minutes when Sean Feeley intercepted the ball and squared to Curtis Methven for a neat finish into the corner of the net.

Caldicot enjoyed plenty of possession in the opening half but in truth rarely troubled Tom Indge in the Abergavenny goal. They did though have an effort that hit the woodwork.

Caldicot continued to press after the break and Indge was called into action to make two fine saves in a matter of seconds to keep the score at 1-0. This proved vital as just five minutes later a defensive howler gifted The Pennies a second goal.

After 65 mins instead of playing a simple header back to the 'keeper, or an agricultural hoof into the trees, Matt James attempted to play his way out of trouble and turned into Aaron Norman who dispossessed the defender and coolly slotted past Gareth Wesson in the Caldicot goal.

On 70 minutes the home side got a goal back when the ball fell to Jason Thorn on the edge of the box who volleyed the ball home from 20 yards straight into top corner. Lovely technique. A sublime strike that deserved to be more than a mere consolation.

At the final whistle I was on my toes sharpish and luckily the roads were clear and I was in the ground at Hallen 4 minutes before the scheduled 5pm kick off.

I must give thanks to all a Caldicot for a very warm welcome, there was even an Evertonian to greet me! I especially must give a big thank you to the chap who made the effort to go back to his house in order to get me a club badge. Diolch.