Forest Fired

 A glacial afternoon at Newcastle East End 2 Forest Hall Celtic 0 -:

I took a day off last Monday but was still woken up before 9.00am by a breathless, near hysterical Shelley, who felt I needed to know it had been snowing. After thanking her, and before falling back asleep some 30 seconds later, I gloomily considered that this was undoubtedly bad news for the prospects of local football on Saturday 21^st. Despite an appreciable thaw kicking in on Friday afternoon, the damage had been done in the freezing days before; predictably, every game on grass, from Gateshead downwards, was called off. The one that I’d planned to be at, Percy Main v Haltwhistle, was called off extra early, to save the visitors from a lengthy, wasted journey and so I began to plot my afternoon entertainment. Thankfully, the existence of 4G pitches made this possible.

If there’d not been the spectre of Crystal Palace v Newcastle at 5.30 on the horizon, I think I would probably have chosen Whickham Under 23s v Ellington in the George Dobbins League Cup, which was taking place on the astroturf at Killingworth’s Amberley Park with a 2.30 kick off, as the losers would host Percy Main in the Bill Gardner Cup. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a hike, so I looked elsewhere for my entertainment. These new £2 busfares are making me even meaner with money!!

I’d visited every ground in use that day, comprising Newbiggin at Hirst Welfare, Ponteland United, Independent Cabrito, who beat Chemfica Amateurs by the preposterous margin of 8-3, Newcastle Blue Star and Gosforth Bohemians Reserves, both at Cochrane Park, Morpeth, Blyth Town Under 23s, who subsided 8-0 to Hazlerigg Victory at Great Park and Whitley Bay Sporting Club at Walker Activity Dome. Instead, I moved a little further down the Fossway to Walker School, or the Riverside Academy as it is now known, for Newcastle East End against Forest Hall Celtic.

I chose this game for a couple of reasons; firstly because I like the 4G pitch at Walker, where West Jesmond used to play, as the ball bounces true and not too high, as well as the surface not slowing the game down by being excessively long. Add to that, both sides were in the Tyneside Amateur League back during my stint as chair, so it is good to see then progressing to Alliance Division 1, with East End challenging for a place in the top flight for next year. Finally, having done some work for AQA exam board at Walker School back in the day, I knew of a quick way to the back entrance of the campus. It was still a bit of a hike from Crosslings at Benfield Road where I got off the bus, but having cut across the field at The Turbinia, I could see both teams warming up when I got to the top gates, which is when my problems began. Locked. Barred. Bolted. These gates were harder to pass through than a rich man trying to effect entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven via the St Peter’s Pearly ones. Obviously that 10 foot high metal fence surrounding the school wasn’t an easy option either. I mean, I couldn’t have scaled those spikes when I was 12, so the only choice was to walk the perimeter. In retrospect, back up to the Fossway and round the corner would have been a better way, but instead I went right and discovered that Ennerdale Road is a hell of a lot longer that you’d think. All in all, this meant I didn’t get in the place until about the 15 minute mark.

As I headed up through the car park, East End took a free kick, from distance I presume, that smacked the top of the bar, went over the fence, and rolled down the car park. I know it’s rude of me, but I didn’t go to collect it as I’d missed enough action already. Instead, a whippet-paced sub who confirmed the game remained goalless, did his duty for the team. Sorry pal, but at least it counted as part of your warm up and I’d done more than my 10k steps trying to get to the game already.

There was a decent smattering of casual observers watching procedings, possibly on account of the lack of other games, but also I’d like to think on account of the quality of East End’s play. Having seen table topping Gosforth Bohemians before Christmas at Hexham, I’m very pleasantly surprised with the quality of play in the Alliance second flight. East End may not be quite as fluent as Bohs, but they’re a good side to watch, combining a steady defence with some fine, experienced playmakers in the middle and a degree of pace up top. Forest Hall are struggling near the bottom and gave a decent account of themselves, never giving up or being totally outclassed, but 2-0 flattered them.

East End took the lead on 30 minutes with an unmarked, close range header and doubled their advantage on 55 minutes when an intricate passing movement outfoxed the Forest Hall defence, allowing a free shot into the roof of the net. In truth, it could have been far more, on an afternoon when Hungarian ref Dora Jakob effortlessly kept control of the game, allowing plenty of robust but fair challenges to go unchecked, but both sides seemed to lose impetus after a particularly nasty clash of heads between two Forest Hall defenders. They were sensibly substituted immediately; one with a nasty gash to his scalp and the other seemingly dazed from the impact. A total accident, same as the poor lad from East End who was severely winded when bodychecked by a team mate in the first half.

Injuries apart, I thoroughly enjoyed the game, though the appreciable amount of stoppage time meant it was almost dusk when I stiff-leggily marched up past Daisy Hill to catch the number 1. It was nice to see Johnny Decker on board, looking a lot better than he has in years, but my own problems were more of a concern as I was still shivering when I wandered into the Tynemouth Cricket Club to watch the Newcastle game. Too cold for beer, I stuck to coffee and mused how much more enjoyable the Northern Alliance is than the Premier League.

Incidentally, Ellington won 3-1, so Percy Main are away to Whickham next Saturday in the Bill Gardner. Weather permitting of course…