The 2021/2022 Northern Alliance season has ended...
It’s a reasonable assumption to make that I write a blog or a report about every single game of football I attend. Well, that is more or less true, especially as I see it as my responsibility to spread the word about the wonderful Northern Alliance, but there are occasions when that doesn’t quite work out. For instance, Newcastle Chemfica Amateurs 0 Newcastle East End 1 on Wednesday 13th April doesn’t merit more of a mention than the final score, as nothing actually happened. Similarly, the last game of the season, when Stobswood beat Burradon & New Fordley 1-0 in the George Dobbins League Cup final at Forest Hall on Wednesday 18th May was so dire it stopped me laughing at Frankfurt’s UEFA League triumph, though the mirth was still there.
Similarly, Newcastle Blue Star’s routine 4-0 win at Cullercoats on Easter Monday morning doesn’t need much deep analysis, other than to say the visitors could have doubled their goal tally with a fraction more composure. However, I’ll always assess Percy Main games in depth and the last game of this campaign I was present at was the following…
For their penultimate
game of the 2021/2022 season, Percy Main Amateurs visited Burradon & New
Fordley’s temporary base of Action Park, recently the home of sadly defunct
Shankhouse FC. As has so often been the case over this benighted campaign, the
Main travelled with a scratch squad, decimated by unavailability and further
hampered by a litany of niggles, twists and strains that bedevilled half the
team for this Easter Monday evening game. However, despite such an unpromising
starting point, Percy put in a praiseworthy performance against one of the
division’s best footballing sides on a gloriously sunny early evening that
rapidly cooled as dusk fell.
Playing uphill and with a low sun directly in their eyes, Percy Main were more than a match for their opponents in the first half an hour. Indeed, a well-organised Main defence, with debutant Mark Nicholson outstanding throughout, ensured that neither keeper was truly tested. Burradon, as could have been expected, lofted many testing balls into the box, but these efforts lacked accuracy. That said, the home side really ought to have taken the lead after 26 minutes when Kai Lane, unmarked in the 6-yard box, seemed a certain scorer when the ball came to him via the foot of the post. Incredibly he skied his shot and PMA breathed again. Soon after the Main’s cause was weakened when Lee Johnson limped off and on 40 minutes, Fordley took the lead. Rambunctious centre back Colin White rose at the back post and sent in a looping header that deceived keeper Matthew Ridley and dropped agonisingly over the line, despite several brave efforts to clear the ball.
In the second half, Percy Main came again and showed that the nucleus of a good team exists amid the raft of injuries. For the first 15 minutes after the break, The Main were well on top and equalised just before the hour. After Kevin Osayi was unnecessarily fouled on the touchline, just past halfway, Billy Walker took a superb, accurate free kick that Dean Deagle headed forcefully home. It was no less than the visitors deserved, but unfortunately New Fordley are a strong and determined side, who came strongly back into it. A contentious foul 30 yards from goal resulted in a free kick that Joe Besford majestically fired home via the underside of the bar on 65 minutes and 5 minutes later Marty Roper made the points safe, reacting quickly to poke home a loose ball in the area.
It was another defeat, but an honourable one. Much credit must be given to the players who made themselves available on an Easter Monday evening and who, without exception, fought nobly for the Villagers’ cause. The season ends with a trip to Wallington on Saturday 24th April. Kick off at scenic Oakwood Park is 2.30pm.
Before that game, I made it to the Northumberland FA Minor Cup final, which saw AFC Newbiggin and Newcastle East End draw 1-1 on a freezing Friday evening at Blue Flames. Cowardice defeated valour and I made for the Metro when the full time whistle blew. Did I miss much? Well, there was no extra time, but the penalty shootout made up for it in terms of length of entertainment, with Newbiggin prevailing 12-11. Congratulations to them, and also to Wallington who sneaked past Percy Main by a margin of 14-0 on the Saturday. After that game, Derek Thompson departed the managerial hot seat at Purvis Park, with Whitley Bay Reserves legend, Gavin Hattrick, stepping into the role for next season. I wasn’t at Wallington, having been drafted into Tynemouth 3s, for whom I made a flamboyant 0 in an 83 run defeat to Annfield Plain 2s in chilly, north west Durham.
Of course, there were still plenty of Alliance games to watch and I set foot in Grounsell Park for the first time in 8 years to see Heaton Stannington A beat champions Stobswood 4-1 in a Division 2 encounter. Ironically, I left just after half time with the Stan, or The Russell Group as they should be called, considering the manager’s educational background, losing by a goal to nil. Chill winds can do that to a spectator, though I showed more fortitude a week later, hanging around until the end of West Moor and Jesmond’s 7-1 trouncing of a foul-mouthed Seaton Burn side, whose number 14 brought the game into disrepute with every blast of acid invective from his pitiful potty mouth. West Moor’s number 7 was a jewel of a player, scoring a superb hat trick as they ground their oath-edged opponents underfoot.
Speaking
of oath-edged talk, the former Jesmond side, who were the bane of the Tyneside
Amateur League, are now known as Newcastle Independent and have recently been
promoted to the top division. I saw their last midweek home game of the season
on Wednesday 11th May, when they shaded AFC Newbiggin 3-2 in a
thoroughly excellent game of football. Newbiggin, with Jack Cooper and Jay
Hornsby in their ranks, look favourites for the D1 title next season, while
Newcastle Independent may struggle, certainly on the sidelines, with regular
losses to better sides than them.
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