Showing posts with label Rutherford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rutherford. Show all posts

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Around the Alliance - part five

This seasons trip around the Alliance didn’t go as I had planned mainly due to one thing - the weather. I visited Shankhouse back in October then planned more games before Christmas, but consecutive weeks of snow meant postponements, which included visiting Carlisle City being put on hold. (‘till hopefully next season)

231. Northburn Sports & Community Complex
Shankhouse 0v1 Stocksfield Northern Alliance Premier Division 31st October 2009


Shankhouse is the a small village and the oldest team in Northumberland, formed in 1883. The club joined the Northern Alliance in 1891-92, the following year becoming only the second club to win the league (after Sunderland ‘A’).
The current club emerged in the 1990’s, rejoining the Northern Alliance and progressed through the leagues to reach the Premier Division in 1998.
Shankhouse won the Alliance in 2004-05 under the guidance of current manager Gary Kirkup and finished runners-up the following year.
The club have played on many different pitches but have now settled in nearby Cramlington at the Northburn Sports Complex which is shared with Alliance 2nd Division club Cramlington Blue Star.
The pitch is enclosed with a picket fence which separates the ground from the neighbouring pitch at the far side. There’s a pair of Perspex dugouts and a set of three floodlight pylons on each side of the pitch. The facilities in the community centre are used for changing rooms and refreshments.

Shankhouse were up against newly promoted club Stocksfield, who clinched their third away win and in the process recorded a first clean sheet of the season
The winning goal arrived in the 35th minute when a corner kick from Bregstrand went through a crowd of players and fell nicely into the path of Josh Brooks, who poked the ball home from four yards.
The second half saw Pearson twice going close to doubling the lead, but Shankhouse struggled to break down a stubborn Stocksfield defence, comfortably holding on to their slender lead and gained revenge for the 4-1 reversal two weeks earlier.






Matchday stats
ShFC 0 StFC 1(Brooks 35)
Att.34(HC)
Admission and programme: none
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Revisiting 216 Farnacres, Beggarswood Park
Rutherford 0v1 Percy Main Amateurs
Northern Alliance Division One
28th April 2010
My first new ground this season was at Beggarswood Park, where I saw Northern League side Whickham kick off the pre-season. Since my visit back in July, work on the impressive new clubhouse and changing rooms is now complete with a new adjoining car park.
I took a dip into the First Division to see leaders Rutherford up against Percy Main Amateurs in a top of the table clash. Amble United separated both teams in second place, as the three clubs were battling for the two promotion spots.
Percy leapfrogged their rivals with a well deserved win over the league leaders. The decisive goal came early in the game when a right corner was met with a strong header from Tony Browell. Percy should have put the game to bed but missed a catalogue of clear cut chances which kept the game alive, giving Rutherford a chance of snatching a point. But the Main deservingly held on to close to gap at the top to a single point with both clubs going head-to head for promotion in the season finale.
Footnote.
Since that game both clubs remained in the top two with Rutherford clinching promotion on 15th May after a 4-1 win at Berwick United. Percy Main joining them the following week winning their final game (also at Berwick) to finish runners-up.






Matchday stats
GRAFC 0 PMAFC 1(Browell 13)
Att.41(HC)
Admission and programme: none


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253. Amberley Park
Killingworth Sporting 1v1 Shankhouse
Northern Alliance Premier Division
15th May 2010
Killingworth Young Peoples Club who this year celebrate their 30th anniversary, formed a senior side in June 2007 to play in the Northern Alliance. The club have made a perfect start becoming champions of Division Two and Division One in successive seasons giving them Step 7 status going into their third season.
The club are based at Amberley Playing Fields which is a large complex with about seven full size pitches. The main pitch is in front of the pavilion which is fenced off with hard standing all round, dugouts but no floodlights, although there are lights on another fenced of pitch.
The KYPC building is fully licensed with a good choice of refreshments available and a big projector screen showing Sky Sports.

An early kick off which was originally scheduled for noon, before being brought forward to an 1130am start, saw a decent attendance with a few groundhoppers taking the opportunity of an Alliance double(rucksacks and carrier backs being the telltale sign)
A goal in each half saw the clubs share the points. Shankhouse took the lead on 19 minutes when Dortmand stayed onside before running through on goal and placing his shot wide to the keepers left.
‘House’ should have doubled the advantage when Cook hit the crossbar with a close range header, as minutes later they were punished after a defensive comedy of errors allowed Bolardo to head home Killy’s equaliser from close range.
Both sides pressed for a winner in the remaining twenty minutes but overall a draw was a fair result in a competitive match played in good spirit.






Matchday stats
KSFC 1(Bolardo 66) ShFC 1(Dortmand 19)
att.40(HC)
Admission and programme: none

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Dawn of a new season

After the briefest of mid season breaks, the 100FGC returns for which will be the blog’s fourth season

There’s a lot to look forward to over the coming season. My main priority this season will be in the Conference. Gateshead make their return to the Premier of Non-League football, where I’ll be trying to take in as many games on the road with the Heed Army as possible. However after studying the fixtures, this could prove to be a difficult task. There’s some great towns and grounds that I’m looking forward to visiting, as we hope to establish ourselves in the Blue Square Premier (I’ll start using the sponsored name from now on)



I can always turn a negative into a positive, and personally the one positive thing to come out of the Toon’s relegation is I can now get to the grounds that were too far out of reach. Which I couldn’t travel to independently, but now easier to access by cadging a lift or through an organised coach party.

So there are two prolonged trips to South Wales as well as the longest journey in League football – Newcastle to Plymouth to navigate.

This will give me a chance to see United sporting their new two-tone banana kit in the company of the newly named Toongerine Army.


My lifetime work of trying to finish the 92, is a continuous crawl. A case of two steps forward, three steps back. I’ll continue to chip away at the League grounds to at least give myself a respectable running total and of course my favourable trips north of the border will again feature this season.

Local interest sees two new clubs enter the Northern League; Gillford Park and Newton Aycliffe. A new ground for Penrith and I still have to travel further west to visit Whitehaven, so I can again complete the ‘set’ of “the second oldest league in the world”.

Serial favourites ‘Around the Alliance’ and Wearside League Wanderings will again be making a reappearance during the year as well as the odd toilet block for the world renowned ’Football Bog Blog.

I’ll be taking advantage of the Appreciation Society Facebook group, which was set up with much thanks and applause by Mr. Steven Clifton. I’ll be posting more pictures as well as listing my forthcoming fixture lists, so you know where to see/avoid (delete where appropriate) me over the campaign.

So hopefully with good health and work commitments not causing too many problems, I’ve a lot to get through, so without further ado it's now officially the 2009-10 season, a new dawn fades at..

216 - Farnacres, Beggarswood Park
(Home of Rutherford AFC)
Whickham 3v0 Ashton Town
Pre-season Friendly
4th July 2009
Whickham FC share the Glebe with the cricket club. So with the sound of leather on willow in full swing, they started their pre-season programme at Beggarswood the home of Northern Alliance club Rutherford AFC.
Rutherford are actually the oldest club in Tyneside. Formed in 1878, originally as Science and Art FC, becoming founder members of the Northumberland FA in 1883.

The club change it’s name in recognition of its founder Dr.John Hunter Rutherford, originally playing their home games on the Town Moor in Newcastle.

Now based in the Lobley Hill area of Gateshead, the ground is situated west of the Team Valley, just off the A1 motorway.
The ground is found off a country lane which runs parallel to the motorway, the entrance is at the bottom of a bank, with the clubhouse and changing rooms found at the top of the hill. The pitch is opposite, enclosed with grassbanks, fully fenced off with a set of brick dugouts.
Whickham’s opponents were North West Counties League Division One side Ashton Town. The reason they travelled all the way from Ashton-in-Makerfield for a friendly was a simple one; so they could have a night out in the Toon.
Thoughts of a night in in the big city must have been playing their minds, as Whickham won the game at ease 3-0. A penalty by Pitt, a hilarious own goal and a cracking strike from Kerr (My goal of the season so far) gave the Whickham lads a good work out and it wasn't too bad a game to start off my season



Matchday facts
WFC 3(Pitt 4pen, Crompton OG 30, Kerr 75) ATFC 0
Admission and programme:none
Att. 80est.

My original visit to Whickham’s Glebe Ground.
More pictures from Rutherford from revisit in April 2010