I'LL HAVE A BAILEY'S THANKS

It is the FA Cup week “again” and this time I went to the nearest venue which happened to be Glossop North End FC and twenty five minute drive to the Arthur Goldthorpe Stadium. Very nice it was too. The home team took on Skelmersdale United FC who live in a higher division of the Northern League (Premier) and should really have won, but as cup ties usually bring out the best in teams, Glossop got stuck in, survived a few narrow misses and scored towards the end of a busy second half. Then after a skermish in the corner, which I could not quite see, the ref gave a loud blast on his Acme Thunderer, to which the few hundred Derby crowd cheered with great joy thinking it was the end of a tough tie, but actually the ref blew for a foul in the Skelm right back area, so they took the kick quick and ended up with a counter-attacking move to score an equaliser in the Glossop right back area. Not many could believe it; 1-1 and a replay in the offing.

This is the beauty of Non-League Football.

1. A great drive across the Pennines to the town of Glossop.
2. No pressure to get into the ground for £4 + a raffle ticket and a programme...add £2.
3. Real ale in the bar (£2.50 a pint) with great memorabilia hanging on the walls-mainly about Glossop's various visits to Wembley for the FA Vase finals.
4. Good pie, mushy peas, gravy-cheap-cheap too.
5. No pressure on where I stood,sat,leaned in the ground.
6. Local banter with old boys in cloth caps and with dogs on leads. All were wearing Hillman scarves that say FA Vase Final blah blah.

I then had a nice drive home in the company of another “anorak” who I met at the match, but who is serious writer of blogs and websites based on local league football. He wanted to get back to Sheffield, so I gave him a lift to Penistone station, rather than the train route he would have taken which was westwards from Glossop to Manchester and then eastwards to the steel city. I must have saved him a few minutes of Saturday post game travel time.

Have a look at the website for theRealFACup and listen to the Non-League Football programme on Five Live. It does go out at 5am on Sunday mornings! He was called BAYLEY! and the Glossop goalscorer was also a Bailey!! Coincidence or what!!!

The chimney below used to emit all sorts of nasty pollutants, but I am led to believe that it is now defunct. if anyone wants it for scrap, it it available for demolition. Fred Dibnah eat your heart out.