West & South

Trips to Newcastle Westgate 4 Hadrian 2 & Gateshead United 1 North East Sporting Club 6...

On account of Percy Main being without games on Saturday 8^th and Wednesday 12^th August, because of problems with the pitch at Rothbury and the resignation from the league of Newcastle Independent respectively, I was given the opportunity to visit a couple of grounds in the Alliance third division I’d not ventured to before.

The Saturday saw me taking the 38 bus from High Heaton to what used to be Rutherford School back in the day and is now known as Soccerworld; a complex of floodlit 4G pitches, where I’ve played 6 a side every Monday evening for more than 20 years. Hence, the location was clearly not unknown to me. That said, I’d never been to what presumably used to be the old Rutherford School grass pitch, where newly elected Newcastle Westgate call home. As you can imagine, it’s a pretty basic set up. There are no spectator facilities as yet, but I noticed a lot of work by volunteers to paint shipping containers dark blue, the colour the team plays in. Presumably these will become toilets and catering outlets in the fullness of time. However, the current situation is that if you need a comfort break, you have to use the Soccerworld premises and if you want a coffee or a snack, then it’s the Tesco express in the garage opposite at the top of the West Road, which is what I did.

Comforted, and refreshed by an Oat Latte, I took a seat on the top of the bank with around 60 others, for the big west versus east clash with Hadrian FC; another fairly new team, who use Miller’s Dene at the end of the Fossway as their home base. As it was a blazingly hot day, I was relieved to be able to find some shade underneath a screen of overhanging trees. Being an east end resident, I instinctively wanted Hadrian to win, partly because they had a pair of hefty, skilful veterans in the centre of the park, who passed the ball immaculately, but struggled to get up and down the pitch in such punishing conditions.

From the outset, Westgate were the better side, carving out 6 presentable opportunities in the first half hour, but blazing each one of them wide of the target. Hadrian took the lead on 32 minutes against the run of play, when the Westgate keeper missed a deep cross into the box that was nodded home at the back post. The home side equalised just before half time, when a neat curling effort from the left edge of the box took a slight deflection to take it out of the keeper’s reach.

The heat began to play a crucial role after the break. Westgate went ahead on 50 when a long clearance was misjudged by a Hadrian defender, allowing the Westgate left winger to precisely lift it into the net. Hadrian came back quickly and it was they who then benefitted from a deflected shot that left the home keeper helpless, to make the score 2-2 on 53 minutes. Westgate kept coming though and, as Hadrian tired, they scored twice more on 70 and 75 minutes, both times seeing agile home forwards outpacing a labouring Hadrian rearguard. After it became 4-2, which was the final score, the fire went out of the game and both sides toiled in the broiling heat. A deserved victory for a lively Westgate outfit over a game Hadrian side. A dead easy journey as well.

This was not so much the case for my second new ground. For a start, Gateshead Borough don’t play in Gateshead. They play in South Tyneside, in Jarrow. Well, in Primrose actually at King George V Playing Fields. Basically, it’s right next to the Lindisfarne roundabout at the end of Leam Lane, heading towards the Tyne Tunnel. Dead easy if you’re a driver. Not so easy if you’re not. Having celebrated my 62^nd birthday on the Tuesday, by going to see the fabulous Andrea Von Kampen at Cluny 2, it was time to get myself a birthday treat. I’d long wanted to visit the Barbour Factory Outlet in Bede Industrial Estate and after a decent trip by bus and metro, I did so. There I was rewarded by finding a couple brilliant dress shirts in the 70% off section and bagged them for £28 each. After a restorative Strawberry McFlurry in a nearby American chain diner, I used Google maps to direct me to Gateshead Borough’s ground. When I tell you that I managed over 13,000 steps that day, you’ll appreciate it was a decent walk.

Firstly, I went past South Shields FC. It’s a good few years since I was last at Filtrona Park, as was, and it has been transformed beyond all recognition with a massive, imposing stand on the road side, which now backs onto an estate of neat, newly built houses. From there, I was in new territory, wandering across open land and through housing I’d never seen before. I emerged from an underpass right next to King George V Playing Fields and settled down on the grassed embankment near the far touchline in a crowd of about 30. There are no spectator facilities to speak of.  While there’s a fence around the pitch, where entrance is effected through a wicket gate, the only building is a set of changing rooms that look like the block on Heaton Terrace in Shields. No toilets I could see, sadly. No corner flags either, only cones. Perhaps the hard, bobbly ground was too firm to accept them.

The final score in this one was Gateshead Borough 1 North East Sporting Club 6, which was pretty generous on the hosts, as their visitors from north of the river (they are based at the Rising Sun) pulverised them from the first whistle. Midfielder Fabian Ikenhi was outstanding all game, ably supported by battering ram centre forward Harry Sawyer, who I remember from his North Shields Athletic days, but NESC were streets ahead in every department. 0-1; a long throw in headed home at the back post after 4. After a terrible offside decision saw a second NESC goal ruled out, it became 0-2 after 22 minutes, just as the eclipse gave the ground an atmospheric sepia tinge, when a defender bundled the ball into his own net, which is how it remained at the break.

Totally against the run of play, Gateshead pulled one back on 48 minutes, after a striker ran on to a superb cross field ball and finished smartly. Bad move, it turned out, as NESC went ruthless from then on. After a bout of arguing, an NESC attacker beat a ragged offside line and slotted home on 55 minutes. Straight from the kick off, Gateshead gave the ball away on the edge of their own box and an NESC striker absolutely rifled the ball home. It was 1-5 on the hour, when a clever bit of play near the byline saw an NESC player shoot home from a tight angle. Gateshead had a notable 60 yard effort just tipped over, but NESC ended the scoring when the impressive Ikenhi headed in from a corner. Full time soon after, then a bus to Jarrow, a Metro to Four Lane Ends and a wander home. Checking the Alliance website before bed, I noted that Percy Main have drawn Bedlington United away in the NFA Minor Cup on 12^th September. Gerrin!! That’s the last ground I need to visit to complete my full set.