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.

SPARTAK MOSCOW (Spartak Stadium)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP STAGE, SPARTAK MOSCOW 3-3 VILLARREAL, ATTENDANCE: 21,264

For my final full day in Moscow my attention switched from the Champions League to the Europa League as Spartak Moscow welcomed La Liga side Villarreal to the Spartak Stadium.

I spent the day exploring Moscow on foot. Inspired by The Scorpions (ahem) I followed the Moskva down to Gorky Park. The only wind in the air though was a cold chill coupled with rain showers. The Park was very serene in early October but I guess it was buzzing in the summer months and during the World Cup. 

I eventually found myself pitching up a bar called 'Eric the Red' on the famous Stary Arbat. Given the name I did wonder to myself as to whether there was a Cantona/Manchester United connection somewhere?

Spartak Moscow are the most successful Russian team in history with 12 Soviet titles and 10 Russian titles. Nine of their Russian titles were won in succession from 1992 to 2001 but their tenth never arrived until 2017.

Having been founded in 1922 the club were initially backed by a trade union (the food workers) are considered to be 'the people's team' of Moscow. As a result of the trade union links the club also has the unusual nickname of Myaso (meat).

Despite Spartak's status in Russian football they never actually had a stadium to call home until 2014. The club played "home" games at Moscow's Dynamo, Luzhniki and Lokomotiv stadiums, at the Khimki Arena just outside Moscow and even as far away as Ekaterinburg.

In spring 2010, on the site of a former airfield in the district of Tushino, the ground was broke as Spartak began building a 45,000 all seater stadium to call its own. There is a huge statue of Spartacus (pictured left) as you approach the stadium and there is another statue inside the ground, behind the goal, of Spartak's founders the Starostin brothers but the zoom on my camera could not get a suitable picture.

For a new ground I think it is brilliant. You are right on the action and the views are excellent. The atmosphere was very good, despite the attendance tonight.

The venue hosted its first match on 5 September 2014, when Spartak drew 1-1 with Red Star Belgrade. The ground hosted five games during the 2018 FIFA World Cup including England's penalty shoot out win over Colombia in the round of 16.

The stadium is known as the Otkritie Arena for sponsorship purposes. The stadium is easily reached from Moscow city centre as it has it's own metro stop, Spartak, on the purple line.

As seems to be case across the continent when it comes to the Europa League, apathy seems to be the winner and the ground wasn't even half full. It didn't help the attendance that there were just a handful of Spanish supporters in the away end. The fans that did stay away though missed an absolute cracker.

A great game at the Otkritie Arena ended all square courtesy of a 96th minute penalty from ex-Arsenal player Santi Carzola, who scored his first goal in two years after a nightmare spell out with injury. 

There were plenty of chances for both teams but in the end there were only the six goals between the sides! Karl Toko Ekambi opened the scoring after 13 minutes when he burst into the area then cut back on his right foot and fired a shot into the top right corner of the goal.

Spartak were level after 34 minutes when Zé Luís converted a penalty kick after a handball by Nicola Sansone. After 49 minutes Pablo Fornals restored Villarreal's lead when the ball broke kindly to him and he fired home from inside the area.

The home side had a goal disallowed and hit the woodwork before Zé Luís (82) headed home an equaliser. The stadium erupted three minutes later when, after the ball came back off the post, Lorenzo Melgarejo (85) was on hand to fire home for what the home crowd thought would be the winning goal.

The fourth official signalled 6 minutes of stoppage time and in the final minute former Evertonian Ramiro Funes Mori was hauled down in the box allowing Carzola to make his vital intervention (pictured right).

So that brought an end to my trip to Moscow and I have to say it was thoroughly enjoyable and I never had any trouble. Just like any other tourist city you could say. Until next time прощай и спасибо!

Cheers Moscow!