Blyth Town vs Easington Colliery

Adamson strikes again to beat Blyth

Liam Adamson continued his run of scoring when netting the only goal of the game as Easington Colliery won 1-0 at Blyth Town on Saturday afternoon.

Adamson struck in the 57th minute to give the Colliers another very impressive three points.

With Dylan Elliott injured, Thomas Bott suspended and Reece Kenney unavailable, Dom Agnew was named as captain, and Craig Hennis return to the starting XI.

The Colliers started well. Liam Cooke had a shot crucially blocked, and then Liam Adamson had one blocked.

Having been second best in the opening 15 minutes, Blyth came back into the game, and their first half chance saw Sean Reid head harmlessly over.

Only two notable chances remained in the first half, and there was one at each end. For Blyth, Adam Johnson fired a free-kick wide, while for the Colliers, Adamson did well to create room for himself but couldn’t find the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

It was a forgettable first half in truth.

Early in the second half, Blyth had a good chance through Bailey Adamson, but Hopkinson saved well.

The game’s only goal arrived in the 57th minute. Denny Tapping and Aiden Stanton linked up well to work the ball across the Adamson, and he finished well to give the Colliers the lead.

Shortly after the goal, the Colliers had numerous chances to add to the lead. Shortly after the hour mark, Logan Herron released Luke Pearn through, but the goalkeeper saved well to deny Pearny.

Seconds later, good football worked the ball into Adamson but his poked effort darted narrowly wide.

With 20 minutes to play, the Colliers created another chance. Nathan Greenwood crossed to find Luke Pearn and he flicked it onto Adamson. Liam brought it down and took aim. The goalkeeper saved well.

In the final 15 minutes, Blyth put the pressure on a they searched for an equaliser. Joe Gibson went close with two headers from two corners. The first went wide, and the second forced a smart stop from Hopkinson.

Hopkinson was then forced into another good save to deny another corner, and shortly after, at the other end, Cooke fired a shot into the side netting.

Blyth continued to put on pressure, but the very late chances went the Colliers’ way. John Anderson and Nathan Greenwood both had chances without converting, but it wouldn’t matter as the final whistle ensured the Colliers of another three points.

Full-time: Blyth Town 0-1 Easington Colliery

Next up for me is probably Sunderland vs Hull City on Tuesday.

Blyth Town: De Jesus, Forster, Richardson (Parker, 63′), Gibson (c), Fell, Reid, Giles (Burn, 63′), Briggs, Adamson, Johnson (Mitchell, 78′), Lamb

Unused sub: Walker

Easington Colliery: Hopkinson, Lincoln Barrow, Eltringham (Anderson, 52′), Hennis, Agnew (c), Ord, Tapping (Greenwood, 69′), Herron, Stanton (Pearn, 61′), Cooke, Adamson (Nelson, 88′)

Unused sub: Bamborough

Admission: £10 adults

Attendance: 208

Programme: online

Referee: James Crookes

Quorn vs Shepshed Dynamo

Quorn and Workington’s temporary home were the two I needed to recomplete the Northern Prem Prem division, and I was planning on doing Workington a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t go in the end, but I will get there soon to get it done in the next month or so. A Friday night FA Cup game with nothing else planned was a very good opportunity to get to Quorn. With traffic, it took quite a while to get down but I was early enough to get a spot in the car park. There turned out to be a club record crowd at this game. It was 1,0004 which isn’t the highest record attendance for a step 3 club, but Quorn are one of the smaller clubs at this level. The ground is a tidy fairly modern 3G venue. It has one fairly long seated stand with around five or six rows, and one full length covered terrace behind one goal with a few steps of terracing. The rest of the ground is hard standing with a big building hosting all hospitality, changing rooms and clubhouse etc. A couple of food vendors were at this game and I opted for fish and chips.

As for the game, Quorn led inside a minute, but Shepshed were the better team and deservedly equalised. The opening exchanges of second half were level, but Shepshed soon looked the brighter again. However, late on, Quorn won it through a bizarre own goal. A pass back from Shepshed avoided their goalkeeper and gifted Quorn a winner.

Full-time: Quorn 2-1 Shepshed Dynamo

Next up for me is Blyth Town vs Easington Colliery.

Admission: £10 for adults

Programme: I didn’t get one

Attendance: 1,004

Referee: Mason Bussey

Fish chips and curry sauce: £14.50

Easington Colliery vs Crook Town

Adamson hat-trick sinks Crook

Liam Adamson scored a hat-trick as Easington Colliery claimed a 4-2 win at home to Crook Town on Wednesday night.

The Colliers fell behind early, but Denny Tapping pulled the Colliers level, and Adamson’s hat-trick ensured the points stayed at the Welfare Park.

It wasn’t a game of millions of chances other than the Colliers, but it was an entertaining watch on a relatively calm evening at Easington Welfare Park.

Upon kick-off, Crook scored with the first real chance. Koby Eratt-Thompson took responsibility of a dangerous free-kick and curled it into the top corner.

Just 90 seconds later, the Colliers were level. A ball from the left was allowed to bounce through to Tapping who shifted his weight to the left before drilling a low shot back across goal and in off the post.

Five minutes later, Adamson put the Colliers ahead. Spotting the goalkeeper slightly off his line, Liam took aim with an audacious 25 yard effort, and it sailed over the goalkeeper before dropping perfectly in time to fall into the net.

Adamson, Liam Cooke and Tapping all had half chances as the Colliers looked to extend their lead, but none could really trouble the Crook goalkeeper.

In the 25th minute, James Hopkinson was forced into a smart save to keep Easington ahead when preventing Joe Bates.

Shortly before the break, Adamson did very well to create space to shoot, but Oliver Basey in the Crook goal was equal to it.

The Colliers started well in the second half, and a string of corners accumulated to an Ethan Ord header being saved.

However, in the 59th minute, Crook equalised. A low ball was drilled across the face of goal and Corey Nicholson was there to steer it into the net.

A response was needed from Easington, and so up stepped Liam Adamson. Hopkinson went very long with a goal kick. It seemed an ambitious chase from Adamson, but his unbelievable first touch brought it down and sent him through on goal. The finish almost matched the touch, and the Green Army were back ahead.

With 15 minutes remaining, Adamson collected his hat-trick to double the Colliers’ lead. Good feet on the edge of the penalty area created room, and he made no mistake in finding the bottom corner. They were three terrific goals from Liam.

It was a comfortable final 10 minutes for the Colliers, and another good three points was secured.

Full-time: Easington Colliery 4-2 Crook Town

Next up for me is maybe Quorn on Friday night.

Easington Colliery: Hopkinson, Lincoln Barrow (Anderson, 69′), Eltringham, Kenney (c), Agnew, Ord, Tapping (Nelson, 85′), Herron (Hennis, 69′), Stanton (Greenwood, 76′), Cooke, Adamson (Pearn, 77′)

No unused subs

Crook Town: Basey, Scothern, Thynne, Wright (Rose, 46′), Smith, Beattie (Darville, 46′), Nicholson (c), Haley, Hargrave (Brandon, 54′), Bates, Eratt-Thompson

Unused subs: Niven, Docherty

Admission: £7 adults, £4 concessions

Programme: £2

Attendance: 186

Referee: Archie Parkes

Retford vs Thackley

Following promotions and lateral changes, I was left with seven new grounds in the Northern Counties East League. They’ll be my main aim for midweek games alongside a couple of North West Counties League Prem Division grounds and Workington and Quorn in the Northern Prem. I was pleasantly surprised by this ground. It is very tidy. It has plenty of cover and seats, and it has a reasonably deep uncovered seating stand behind the far goal. I don’t know what it is about them but I like them. It’s like a more modern version of Thornaby. In the corner is a tidy clubhouse and a cafe and toilets. From opposite the dugouts, you get a great view of the trains on the east coast mainline. There can’t be many grounds with better views of trains than this one. In typical groundhopping style, I tried to get a picture with action on the pitch and a train. I kind of succeeded, but the train is a bit blurry. The pitch looks immaculate too.

As for the game, Retford took control early with two goals inside the opening 25 minutes, and they took that two goal cushion into the break.

A well struck effort pulled one back for Thackley in the 58th minute, and with their heads up, they were soon level as Marcel Stepniewski scored his second just seven minutes after his first.

Retford looked slightly the more likely to find a winner despite both sides fancying their chances.

However, in the end, the points were shared.

Full-time: Retford 2-2 Thackley

Next up for me is maybe Quorn on Friday night.

Admission: £6 adults, £4 concessions

Programme: I didn’t get one

Attendance: 190

Cheeseburger and chips: £6

Galgate vs Appley Bridge

It was a 10 minute drive from Garstang to arrive just after kick-off at this one. It’s a pitch with dugouts and it is railed off on two sides. A bit of rope was put up on the dugout side for this game. Hosting a groundhop game is hard enough for a step 5 club like us at Easington, so I can only imagine how difficult it is for a club like this who are effectively at step 9. This is the third tier of the West Lancashire League, so I can’t imagine you’d normally have a huge amount of volunteers or very big crowds! Today though they did a good job. They had a few different options for food, and for the level it’s at, the ground is quite tidy. You get a great view of trains passing on the west coast mainline, and there were plenty of groundhoppers trying to get the perfect photo of action on the field while a train goes by in the background. Some groundhoppers probably are put off by the level of games like this, but there were still plenty there, and it was still a very good day for Galgate.

On the pitch, Galgate came from behind twice, but Appley Bridge won it with a goal in second half injury time.

Full-time: Galgate 2-3 Appley Bridge

Next up for me is probably Retford on Tuesday night.

Admission: £5

Attendance: 268

Programme: I didn’t get one

Referee: Robert Greenwood

Double cheeseburger: £4

Garstang vs Colne

When I looked for a game today a few weeks ago, Wolves vs Stoke is the one that caught my eye as a 12:30 kick-off and then go somewhere else, but I needed to be signed up on the Wolves ticketing site well in advance of the game to get a ticket, and so I was unable to get a ticket. Nothing else really screamed out at me. I knew the West Lancashire League groundhop was on, but I would have preferred a higher level. It was only this morning that I decided to do this game and then make a quick dash for the 5pm kick off on the groundhop. I will probably try to complete the north division of the North West Counties League this season. Doing the new clubs in the Northern Prem Premier Division and the Northern Counties East League will be the priority, but then I’ll move onto the North West Counties. Ticking Garstang today would mean one less later in the season.

The ground is quite basic and adjoining a cricket pitch. You can’t go on the side of the cricket pitch. It has two small stands behind the goal where you enter, and the bar shared with the cricket club is behind the other goal. Basic refreshments are available in a container. Hard standing is on three sides and it’s ever so slightly elevated behind the dugouts. Further behind the dugouts are tennis courts and the bowls club.

Colne started well before Garstang came back into it. It was fairly level towards the end of the first half, but Colne were the brighter in the second half, and they broke the deadlock when a deflected effort wrongfooted the goalkeeper and snuck into the near bottom corner in the 72nd minute.

In added time, Garstang equalised in similar fashion. A free-kick was swung into the penalty area and not dealt with and an eventual effort was deflected into the net to mean the points were shared.

Full-time: Garstang 1-1 Colne

Next up for me is a game on Tuesday night. It will probably be Retford.

Admission: £6 adults, £3 concessions, £2 under 16s

Programme: Online

Attendance: 83

Referee: Christopher Willan

Easington Colliery vs Whickham

Colliers hit Whickham for nine

Easington Colliery claimed an emphatic 9-0 win at home to Whickham on Friday night.

Thomas Bott, Ethan Ord and Aiden Stanton all scored braces, with Liam Adamson, Denny Tapping and an own goal adding to the tally.

Whickham arrived at the Welfare Park with a young inexperienced side after the turmoil in the club in recent weeks. They couldn’t field a team for Tuesday’s game at Blyth, but credit has to be given to them for fielding a team for this game.

The Colliers led after just 65 seconds. Tapping challenged the goalkeeper for a ball around the penalty spot, and with the keeper unable to collect, the ball fell to Bott who finished well.

In the fifth minute, the Colliers scored their second. Ryan Lincoln Barrow’s throw was quickly worked all the way across to Adamson and he cut in before doing the rest.

Still inside the opening 10 minutes, the Colliers had a third. Liam Cooke curled a dead ball into the penalty area and Ord rose highest to head home.

A fourth arrived in the 18th minute. Adamson’s initial effort was well saved, but the ball rebounded off a defender and bounced into the net.

Credit has to be given to Whickham goalkeeper Robbie Smith who produced a many good saves throughout the game. Without him, it would have undoubtedly been comfortably into double figures.

Following an array of further chances, the fifth goal arrived in the 32nd minute when Tapping found the bottom corner with a very good finish.

Favour Ekomemen had Whickham’s first shot in the 35th minute, but it was saved by James Hopkinson.

The Colliers had several other good chances in the first half, but no more goals were scored.

Seven minutes into the second half, Bott scored his second and Easington’s sixth. He stole possession from a defender in a very dangerous spot and gave the goalkeeper no chance with the finish.

In the 55th minute, Ord scored his second. Another wide free-kick was curled into the area and again Ord rose highest to head home. Ethan says it was his first ever brace, but he was denied the opportunity of a hat-trick when he was subbed off.

Many more good saves followed from Smith in the Whickham goal, before the Colliers scored an eighth when Stanton blasted a free-kick in off the bar in the 83rd minute.

Just a minute later, Stanton scored his second when a simple finish made it nine.

Whickham probably should have scored late on when Ekomemen took the ball round James Hopkinson, but he couldn’t find the target with his shot.

It finished 9-0, but as previously mentioned, it would have been a lot more if not for Robbie Smith in the Whickham goal.

Full-time: Easington Colliery 9-0 Whickham

Next up for me is Garstang on Saturday.

Easington Colliery: Hopkinson, Lincoln Barrow (Anderson, 59′), Eltringham, Maw (Hennis, 54′), Agnew, Ord (Kenney, 78′), Tapping, Herron (Stanton, 46′), Bott, Cooke, Adamson (Pearn, 59′)

No unused subs

Whickham: Smith, Graham (Hills, 58′), Grainger (Chapman, 46′), Jablonski, Johnson, Riley, Elliott (Hudson, 33′), Payne, Ekomemen, Swan (Convery, 33′), Robertson (c)

Unused sub: Kingsland

Admission: £7 adults, £4 concessions

Programme: £2

Attendance: 147

Referee: Isaac Stephenson

Easington Colliery vs Newton Aycliffe

Colliers beaten by Aycliffe

Easington Colliery suffered a first league defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at home to Newton Aycliffe on Wednesday night.

Sam Johnson’s 84th minute strike proved the difference between the sides on a night where there was a lot of huffing and puffing but little end product from the Colliers.

Easington were the better side throughout, but only one real chance was created with many other shots failing to find the target.

Upon kick-off, the Colliers had a few early chances through Logan Herron, Dan Maw and Thomas Bott, but none of them could find the target.

What proved to be Easington’s best chance arrived in the 19th minute. Maw took aim from 20 yards and his shot took a wicked deflection to loop over the goalkeeper. It bounced back off the crossbar and dropped to Liam Adamson whose shot was well saved by the legs of Tom Shanley.

There wasn’t a huge amount to write about for the remainder of the first half. Easington had the majority of possession, but little was being created with it.

Five minutes before the break, Aiden Stanton found himself in a foot race with Shanley in the Aycliffe goal. Stanton got there first and knocked the ball past Shanley looking for Adamson who would have been left with a simple finish, but a defender was on hand to deny the ball from finding Adamson.

Andrew Nelson had a half chance for Aycliffe early in the second half after Aaron Jackson headed down to him, but he got his shot all wrong.

Although Easington continued to look the more likely to find a winner as the second half wore on, Aycliffe were still a threat, and that threat was evident when Johnson hit the crossbar in the 82nd minute.

Two minutes later, Johnson scored the winner. A controversial free-kick was lifted into the penalty area and flicked on to find Johnson who was left with a simple finish.

The Colliers looked to respond, but nothing was created and the unbeaten start to the league campaign was taken away.

Full-time: Easington Colliery 0-1 Newton Aycliffe

Next up for me is Easington Colliery vs Whickham on Friday night.

Easington Colliery: Hopkinson, Agnew, Lincoln Barrow, Kenney (c), Bott, Ord, Pearn (Tapping, 59′), Maw, Stanton (Anderson, 72′), Herron (Hennis, 77′), Adamson

Unused subs: Marrs, Eltringham

Newton Aycliffe: Shanley, Gibson, Pascoe (c), Orrell, Alex Nelson, Johnson, Fitzpatrick, Jackson (Short, 67′), Andrew Nelson, Dobinson

Unused subs: Wood, Atkinson, Robson

Admission: £7 adults, £4 concessions

Programme: £2

Attendance: 233

Referee: Matthew Kerr

FC Hartlepool vs Alnwick Town

I was planning on doing Workington on Tuesday night, but when Ross Weaver said he was in the north east and asked if a few of us fancied going to this game, I quickly decided to just head to FC. I’m fairly confident I can say I was the only person there who was also at OFI Crete vs CSKA Sofia last week! The game wasn’t the most memorable with an 89th minute close range strike sealing the three points for FC. There are normally plenty of goals when I watch Alnwick, but not in this one.

Full-time: FC Hartlepool 1-0 Alnwick Town

Next up for me at the time of writing is Easington Colliery vs Whickham on Friday night.

Admission: £6 adults, £4 concessions

Programme: I didn’t get one

Attendance: 137

OFI Crete vs CSKA Sofia

It’s very rare I get to games when I’m on Greek islands, and so when I realised OFI Crete were maybe at home in the Europa League a couple of months ago, I was very interested. They just needed to be drawn a home in the first leg of the Europa League play-off, and when the draw was made, it was perfect. They were playing either CSKA Sofia or Macabi Tel Aviv. I expected it to be Macabi, but in the end CSKA beat them. We were on Crete for two weeks for my sister’s wedding, and this was on Thursday night before flying back late on Saturday. We hired a car and then drove the hour or so over to Heraklion for this one. Tickets for Greek games need to be added to their gov wallet, but that was no issue as I had done it last year when watching a friendly at Panathinaikos. Tickets were easy enough to get for this, but you needed to buy a membership first. So it was 20 euros for a membership and then 20 euros for a ticket. I may use my membership to watch them somewhere else in Europe! Who knows. The ground was built for the football at the 2004 Olympics, and it’s a big bowl holding 26,000. It looks like it has two roofs, but those roofs don’t actually have a roof. If it was to rain, you’d get wet everywhere in the ground.

OFI are very good vocal fans, and the few CSKA fans tried to make a noise too. I thought OFI were narrowly the better side early, and then they took control when taking the lead. The lead was doubled when Taxiarchis Fountas scored his second with a penalty to collect his brace. CSKA then had a man sent off, and OFI were cruising late on. Looking to put it to bed in the first leg, Lorenzo Dickmann added a third for OFI in added time. There is still some work to be done on Thursday night on Bulgaria for OFI though.

Full-time: OFI Crete 3-0 CSKA Sofia

Next up for me is probably Workington on Tuesday night. We’ll be back to normal again now.

OFI Crete: Christogeorgos, Kostoulas (Nikolaou, 86′), Poungouras, Sielis, Athanasiou, Apostolakis, Androutsos (Kanellopoulos, 76′), Bouchalakis (Dickmann, 66′), Aitor, Nuss (Iseka, 76′), Fountas (Karachalios, 66′)

Unused subs: Krizmanić, Lilo, Katsikas, González, Romano, Theodosoulakis, Kenourgiakis

CKSA Sofia: Lapoukhov, Yordanov (Leo Pereira, 74′), Rodríguez, Gbamin, Ivanov (c), Pastor (Brahimi, 56′), Ebong, Sensi, Eto’o (Itu, 56′), Pittas, Godoy (Zwarts, 64′)

Unused subs: Evtimov, Tunchev, Ouorou, Jordão, Solet, Panayotov, Chorbadzhiyski, Kaymakanov

Admission: We paid 20 euros. They were between 15 euros and 50 euros

Attendance: 12,668

Programme: No

Referee: Srđan Jovanović

100 anniversary shirt: 55 euros