Tag Archives: Eastbourne Borough

Last Minute .com again

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After the cup exploits last week against AFC Sudbury, it was back to earth with a very big bang, complete with a “Kiss Me Quick Hat” on Saturday as five second half goals sunk the Rooks at Margate.  The journey back from a day out at the seaside on a normal trip is depressing enough, but one in the middle of January when you have been spanked 5-1 is possibly up there with a trip to the dentist or one of those “can we have a quick word in the cubicle” conversations with customs at the airport.

However, all was not lost.  The Rooks had to chance to show their “bouncebackability” with another home cup tie.  And not just any old cup tie.  One against Eastbourne Borough, sworn enemies, deadly rivals and pretenders to the title “Best Non League team in Sussex”.

The Sussex Senior Cup is a strange competition.  The bigger clubs (i.e Crawley Town and Brighton & Hove Albion) rarely take it seriously, yet every year it is the same story.  The former seem to be eliminated early, the latter in for the duration despite fielding essentially a reserve team.  Last season Lewes lost in the quarter finals at home to Brighton & Hove Albion, thus denying themselves the chance to reach the final, which was played at The Amex.  This year, wins over Wick and East Grinstead had sent up a mouth-watering tie with Eastbourne Borough.  The winners would join Crawley Down, Whitehawk and the winner of the BHA v Bognor Regis Town game in the draw for the semi-final. Continue reading →

A game of two halves….

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Every week across Europe, football fans keen on squeezing the most out of their favourite past time will watch more than one game in a day.  Whether it be via Sky’s “Super Sunday” – because Wigan v Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City v Fulham aren’t on at all to keep up their quotas, or actually attending two games in a day, it is seen as a good way to spend an afternoon.  For those who actually go to the games there is always a smug inner feeling when you are at the second game that you have somehow beaten the system, that there is an unwritten rule that you cannot go to another game as you have already had your enjoyment.

One of my aims this season was to try and see three games in a day.  An early 12pm (ish) kic off followed by a 3pm and then a 5.30pm TV game.  The idea came to me on the first day of the Championship season when there were three Midlands based games scheduled for these times.  Since then the fixtures have not made this possible but it is always one for me to watch out for.  This was one of my five aims for the football season.  The others were:-

  • To complete the 92 club again by going to Shrewsbury, Colchester United (both new stadiums), Swansea City and Morecambe – Completed on 28th March 2009
  • To finish off visiting all of the current Bundesliga 1 stadiums (plus the 10 biggest in the 2nd Division) – Karlsruhe, Borussia Monchengladbach, Duisburg, Bochum and Mainz ticked off, Arminia Bielefeld, Hoffenheim and Augsburg arranged just leaving Energie Cottbus to do
  • To see West Ham play at one new ground – Step forward Hull City back in October
  • To see a game at all of the Blue Square Premier League grounds

So as you will know if you are a regular reader I have invested a lot of time and miles into trips to see tier 5 of English football.  And I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  Some of the clubs, and fans, have been very welcoming such as Lewes, Forest Green Rovers and Eastbourne Borough, and some of the football has been pretty good.  However, with time ticking down on the season I still had three to visit.  Not just any old three though – the three that were the the furthest from home – Barrow, Altrincham and Northwich Victoria.  There was no way I was going to fit them all in but an opportunity arose for a twist on the two games in a day….Altrincham and Northwich were both at home on the same day, and seperated by just 12 miles of (almost) dual carriageway it was surely possible to do a half at each. Not one for all of the purists but it would serve a purpose and surely I stand a better chance of seeing at least half a good game than one at all.

So on Tuesday 7th April, the Little Fuller’s and I headed off for a day at Alton Towers, followed by a night of 44 men and some leather (a title taken from one of Football Jo’s DVDs).  Altrincham was going to be first on the agenda, with the first half of their game with Eastbourne Borough before heading down to the second half of Northwich’s six pointer with Woking.

Altrincham are one of the great names in Non-League football.  They were one of the founder members of the Conference in 1979 and won the league for the first two seasons.  However, at the time there was still an end of season vote to get into the league, and not surprisingly the League Chairman closed ranks and outvoted the motion for their promotion.  During the next few seasons they underlined their cup giant killing reputation, pulling off one the FA Cup results of the century when in 1986 they beat First Division (the top league at the time) Birmingham City at St Andrews.  The past few seasons have seen the club collecting more four leaf clovers that a busy leprechaun in the run up to St Patricks Day.  In season 2005/06 the club were deducted 18 points after it was found they had fielded an illegible player (during the games he played they won 18 points, hence the penalty) which saw them finish bottom.  After all avenues of appeal had failed the club woke up one summer’s morning to find that Canvey Island could not longer compete and withdrew from the league, and Scarborough had breached the league rules on ownership and had all of their points taken away, meaning that Altricnham got a stay of execution.

Twelve months later it was a similar story.  Relegation was confirmed on the last day of the season, but Boston United saved the day after their financial situation on losing their Football League status saw them immediately demoted to the Conference North thus earning Altrincham their second successive reprieve. Did they learn?  Not really as twelve months later it was the turn of Halifax Town to go into financial meltdown to save Altrincham from relegation.

So what of this season?  Well to start with you have had the disasterous situation at Lewes from day one which reduced the number of relegation places to three.  Then the situation at Northwich (see below) reduced the places to two.  Add in the impending demotion of Weymouth (they have lost their last ten games, conceding 37 and scoring just 2 goals in the process) and there was only going to be one place to avoid.  And avoid they had done on the most part.  Never dropping too many points to be sucked into the relegation mix the club had a decent home record that kept them out of trouble.

Northwich’s season couldn’t have been any more dramatic.  Forced out of their home for a period in early 2009 (they actually played home games at Altrincham) and still carrying a ban on signing any players they were all but relegated coming into this game.  In fact anything less than a win against relegation rivals Woking would see them return to the Conference North (hopefully, but based on some of the strange financial criteria of the non-leagues, even that is not a given) where they had been playing a few years previously.  Not that the problems have been that recent.  In 2003/04 the club finished in the relegation places, but in a similar story to Altrincham’s they were saved by the fact that Margate, Telford United and Hucknall Town could not compete in the league the following season.

The following season they were forced into Administration, and whilst the ten point penalty was not fatal, the clubd had to chose at the end of the season between voluntary relegation or complete expulsion from the non-leagues after some harsh to say the least deadlines on the club ownership were not met – after all the registering of a name change of a club is a mjor issue and affected everyone right?

Their stay in the National League North was brief and they were soon back in the top level.  That is when the fun (sorry Northwich fans it is only a pun) begun.  The club was bought by a consortium but the new stadium – the Marston Arena (having moved from the historic Drill Field in 2005) was owned by a property development company who went bust in 2008.  So with relegation looming it would be interesting to see how the fans would react.  I had tried to get a bit more information on the club but with the website offline it was a tad difficult so I apologise if any of the above in inaccurate.

So the hour finally arrived after a day at Alton Towers with the Little Fullers and a slap up tea at Little Chef (yes they are still going), and we eventually found the Marston Arena.  It is certainly remote, down a few country lanes and then down an industrial estate road.  CMF will have been gutted she missed this as slap bang outside the ground was a Fireman’s training school, and there they all were polishing their helmets just waiting for a damsal in distress.

Northwich Victoria 2 Woking 0 – Marston Arena- Tuesday 7th April 2009 – 7.45pm to 8.30pm

Northwich open the scoring

Northwich open the scoring

With the lure of Manchester United v Porto in the Champions League on ITV, the crowd at the Marston was very sparse.  I got the Little Fuller’s on a maths exercise and they soon told me that there were 439 people in the stadium including stewards and players – not sure how they worked that out so quickly, but when the official attendance was announced of 450 I bowed in admiration at their achievement (although by then we had already left so should they have revised the figure by 3?).

Woking came into the game managerless after the sacking of Phil Gilchrist last week and just one place above the home team but never looked at the races.  The strong wind that whipped around the arena didn’t help matters and that hampered play to an extent.  We wandered around the ground, trying to find some shelter, which was hard with such a small crowd.  Littlest Fuller decided to try and put off the linesman on our side of the pitch by shouting “boo” at him and for the first ten minutes that was the highlight of the game.  News filtered through that West Ham loanee Jack Jeffrey’s had opened the scoring at Moss Lane (filtered means I checked on my mobile internet!) and I already had pangs of regret that I had not chosen that game first.

The first chance of the half fell to Northwich when a short back pass was almost ceased upon by Jonny Allan but the ball was scrambled away for a corner.  On twenty four minutes the deadlock was broken as Joel Bryom’s deep free kick from the right was headed home by Simon Grand at the far post.  Cue wild celebrations – wel as much as a couple of hundred could muster anyway.

The rest of the half was really a battle against the elements although Woking nearly got an equaliser on the stroke of half time.  As soon as the whistle went for the break, we were off….through the gate, into the car, no time to wait for seatbelts, and off down the lanes to the A556 that runs 12 miles from Northwich to Altrincham.  Keeping within the speed limit and using our friend TomTom to good effect, exactly 14 minutes later we pulled up outside Moss Lane, where we immediately found a parking space opposite the main stand.  Mission accomplished.

Altrincham 2 Eastbourne Borough 2 – Moss Lane – Tuesday 7th April 2009 – 8.45pm to 9.30pm

Altrincham 2 Eastbourne Borough 2

Altrincham 2 Eastbourne Borough 2

I had already emailed the club and vice-chairman no less Grahame Rowley had said just come to the players entrance and ask for him if we had any issues getting in.  As all the gates were locked we went to said entrance and the officials couldn’t have been any nicer – shown straight into the bar, beer for me, cokes for the Little Fullers, programme thrust in hand and a quick summary of events of the first half from one of the Altrincham coaching team!  It definitely sounded like I had missed the wrong game as this seemed like a belter.  Two one to Eastbourne, but the quality of all three goals sounded impressive.  Ben Austin’s 2nd for Eastbourne was the pick of the bunch and would have been lauded 6 miles down the road at Old Trafford let alone Moss Lane.

We followed the teams down the tunnel and took our (free) seats in the main stand.  Altrincham’s ground is brilliant.  Everything that is right about non-league football with small terraces and loads of obscure advertising boards.  The away fans (all 16 having made the 300+ mile trip from the south coast) were on the “Carole Nashe & Family Terrace”.  Obviously they could have been part of the Nashe family, but I think it does take segregation to the extreme if one person and her family get their own part of the ground.

We hadn’t missed any of the action in the second half which was perfect.  Both teams were obviously desperate for a win despite their safe mid-table status.  This was the first opportunity I had had to watch young Jeffrey but he seemed relatively anonymous.  He will certainly have to raise his game if he expects to be competing with the current crop of youngsters at West Ham such as Junior Stanislas and Zavron Haines for a first team spot.  On sixty minutes the referee decided he could not continue.  As with the case at Woking earlier in the season a call has to be made for a local referee to act as Fourth Official whilst the other officials swap around.  One of the groundstaff was called by name over the PA and shortly appeared in jeans and smart jumper and was swiftly given the coat and the Sub’s board to manage.

On seventy minutes Altrincham earnt a free kick on the edge of the area which seemed harsh to say the least.  Up stepped Shaun Densmore to curl the ball over the wall and into the net to draw the scores level.  It seemed both teams then were happy to play out for a draw – Altrincham created a couple of openings, none better than a fantastic drive from 20 yards on the run by Colin Little in the last few minutes.

So with the final whistle blowing we were off and the teams happy with a draw, we were off for our long drive south.  Both girls were on the snooze express by the time we hit the M6 and we would have been home by 12.30am if it wasn’t for the usual night time M1 and M25 roadworks that see 3 out of 4 lanes coned off and no one working.  So at 1am we arrived home.  CMF greeted us at the door (she worries when I have to drive home late at night) and both girls woke up excited to tell her about their day.

So I did it – two games in 90 minutes.  Northwich had scored a second in the second half to win 2-0 and keep their slim hopes of survival still alive.  It’s not something I would recommend doing all the time but hats off to Grahame Rowley and the officials at Altrincham who were marvellous.  Shame their Forum administrator doesn’t want to let me on their message board to post my thanks but such is life.

About Moss Lane
Another classic Non-League ground, having been home to the club for many years. On one side of the ground is the Carole Nash Insurance Main Stand. This is a small single tiered all seated stand that sits astride the half way line. An old classic looking stand, it has glass windshields on either side, plus a number of supporting pillars, one of which is centrally located at the front of the stand.

Views of the pitch may be further impaired by two small floodlight pylons that are located at the two front edges of the stand. On one side of this stand is a smaller separate structure, the Goodwin Family Stand. This is a very small covered all seated stand. On the other side of the Main Stand is a small open terrace that is only a couple of large steps high. Opposite the Main Stand is the Popular Side. This is a covered terrace that runs the full length of the pitch, made unusual by having a section in the middle that has a higher roof compared to either side.

At the Golf Road End is a small covered terrace, whilst opposite the Hale End is a small open terrace. Moss Lane is completed with a set eight floodlight pylons, which run down each side of the ground (four on each side).

Many thanks to Duncan Adams for the above information from his excellent Conference Football Grounds website.

How to get to Moss LaneIf you are driving from from the south, exit the M6 at junction 19 and take A556 signposted Manchester Airport. When you get to the M56 roundabout go straight on and pick up the signs for Altrincham and then the football ground. From the north exit M6 at junction 20a onto M56 and exit at junction 5 then as south. It’s street parking for all around the ground.

How to get a ticket for Moss Lane
As with virtually all Conference grounds sell outs are unheard of so you can buy your tickets on the gate.  Adults can either pay £12 to stand or £14 for a seat and its £5 for concessions and just £2 for the under 12′s.

About the Marston Arena
The relatively new stadium that was opened in 2005. On one side is the large Dane Bank covered terrace. Interestingly it was transported piece by piece from the Club’s old Drill Field Ground and erected at the new stadium. Opposite is the tidy looking Victoria Stand. This all seated covered stand runs for around half the length of the pitch and sits astride the half way line.

Running across the back of the stand is a glass fronted area which includes some corporate hospitality areas. Both ends are small open terraces. The ground has a set of four modern looking floodlights. Away fans are mostly housed in the West Terrace at one end of the ground, with some seats also being made available in the Victoria Stand.

It is throwing distance from Witton Albion’s ground across the canal making it the closest two “proper” football grounds in England.

Many thanks to Duncan Adams for the above information from his excellent Conference Football Grounds website.

How to get to the Marston Arena
Northwich station is the best railway station as it is served by trains from Manchester Picadilly, although it is not the nearest to the ground, being around two miles away. The nearest is Lostock Gralam which is about a mile away. Simply take a left out of the station and carry on into Wincham Lane for the ground.

If you are driving then leave the M6 at junction 19 and take the A556 towards Northwich. After three miles, turn right onto the A559 signposted towards Northwich. At the traffic lights turn right in the direction of Warrington. Then turn left at the crossroads by the Black Greyhound pub. Follow the road until the garage appears on the lef and turn left into Wincham Avenue. The ground is at the bottom of the road. There is a large car park at the stadium which costs £2 per vehicle.

How to get a ticket for the Marston Arena
It’s pay on the door for everyone and will cost £14 for a seat and £12 for standing for Adults, with concessions being £3.50 and £2.50 respectively.


The Trend Setters….

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A little birdy tells me that sometime in the next month Manchester United will announce the world most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in the history of football.  Since AIG announced they would not be renewing their deal in January 2009, the list of companies wanting to be associated with the world’s biggest football club has been a mystery that Scooby Doo would have been hard pushed to solve.  Some say T-Mobile had thrown in their hat, others say that Bwin are very keen on adding the Red Devils into their band of superbrands with AC Milan and Real Madrid.  This season alone the six major leagues in Europe earnt over £350m in shirt sponsorship yet these clubs would be nowhere if it wasn’t for a small club in the middle of Northamptonshire.

The superstars of modern football who earn some of their megabucks from these huge deals should every year send a magnum of champagne to Kettering Town, for it was them under the guidance of Derek Dougan who brokered the first ever shirt sponsorship deal back in 1976.  During the seventies football revenue came solely from the central pool, with a little bit of perimeter boards.

The shirt that started the billion pound ball rolling

The shirt that started the billion pound ball rolling

Dougan was a forward thinker and saw an opportunity to bring some more money in for the club.  He did a deal with local company Kettering Tyres, and for their Southern League game against Bath City the team ran onto the pitch sporting the words “Kettering Tyres” (See left) on their chests.  The stuffy old FA went mad and ordered the club to remove the blatent advertising.  Dougan simply removed the world Tyres but left a large “T”, claiming it stood for Town.  The FA still insisted this was illegal and threatened the club with a £1,000 fine and they relented.  However, just over a year later the Football Association changed the rules and opened the door to shirt sponsorship as we know it today.

The club’s formative years were spent in the leagues around the Midlands and Southern Leagues, and they actually came lose to being elected into the Football League in 1974 under the guidance of Ron Atkinson.  Due to their high profile in the regional leagues they were asked to become a founder member of the Alliance Premier League in 1979, and were runners up at this level 1981.  After a couple of brief spells back in the Southern Leagues they were promoted in 2002 back to the Conference, albeit into the newly formed Northern division.  In 2005 the club were taken over by Imraan Ladak who promptly appointed a frail Paul Gascoigne as manager.  The England legend lasted just over a month before he left in uncertain circumstances with the club.  Under a series of new managers the club began to climb the table and 12 months after losing a play off to Farsley Celtic they were promoted at the end of 2008 as Conference North champions.

This season under Mark Cooper the club have made huge steps forward, benefiting from some of the changes made whilst in the lower divisions (such as going full time).  They have spent most of the season in the top ten although they have constantly had games in hand on their rivals.  In fact coming into this game they were in 9th place in the league but had six games in hand on second place Cambridge United and trailing them by just thirteen points.  Whilst many pundits would always say it is better to have points in the bag, the games in hand are being used as a rallying call by the club to try and move up the league and to get into the play offs.  Two consecutive promotions at this level is almost unheard of, but as they have proved in the past, Kettering Town are no stranger to breaking with tradition.  As a final footnote to the rise of the club and coming in a full circle, they signed their most recent sponsorship deal in 2007 with Palestine Aid, the aid organisation that tries to raise awareness of the humanitarian issues the Palestinians face.  It was rumoured that the club’s adoption of this charity cost them TV revenue when ITV opted to show the FA Cup 4th round game between Hartlepool United and West Ham instead of the Kettering Town versus Fulham one for fear of offending some viewers.

The visitors, Eastbourne Borough had also moved up a division this season and sat very comfortably in 13th place, safe from relegation but too far away from a play off spot.  I had seen them a few weeks ago (see I Do like to be beside the seaside post) and was impressed with the way they played.  This was going to be a real test for them as their away form had been excellent of late, especially as they had recently taken West Ham youngster Jack Jeffrey on loan for the rest of the season.

Lolly and I headed off straight after swimming lessons (her not me I should add) and parked up outside the ground in a less more than 90 minutes later.  One of the easier stadiums to find, just off the A43 and by getting there an hour before kick off we had managed to bag one of the few free on street parking spaces next to the ground.  As we had skipped lunch we headed into the Wimpey, next to the main stand, to relive some dark days of my young by consuming a Big Bender – come on you all remember them!

Back into the 21st century we headed into the ground, taking a seat in the strange Main Stand that only ran for two thirds of the length of the ground.  The rest of the stadium was standard non-league fayre with two low terraces and a cover “cowshed” terrace on the opposite side to us which was where the more vocal Kettering fans were located.  Bolted onto the top of this stand was a small open box, branded McDonalds making it in our view the smallest branch in the world.

Kettering Town 0 Eastbourne Borough 1 – The A-Line Insurance Arena – Saturday 14th March 2009

Summer's here

Summer's here

Two names stood out on the Kettering teamsheet.  Firstly, the man with the huge throw ins (see Game of the Day for more details), Exodus Geohaghon was back in the centre of defence meaning an aerial bombardment was on the cards for the Eastbourne defenders, and secondly a certain Jason Lee was on the subs bench.  Surely not THE Jason Lee, the one man joke that propelled Baddiel and Skinner through a whole series of Fantasy Football in the mid 1990′s due to his comical hair – yep one and the same.  He certainly looked quite mean and in remarkably good shape.  What a perfect foil he would be for these throw ins if Kettering were training at any point……

Normally I talk at length about the game, picking up on the talking points of the game and analysing them in depth.  However, I can quite honestly say that during the first seventy five minutes of the game there was nothing to mention.  It wasn’t that it was dull, it was simply that the strong wind made any football very difficult.  In the first half there was no one single chance on goal.  The 100 or so Eastbourne fans took refuge in the snack bar at the back of the terrace, taking solace in their chips with mushy peas.  The only real taking point was the number of balls that were sailing over the perimeter walls of the ground, causing the rather large steward a few trips to shed a calorie or two.

Despite having the throw on weapon, Kettering kept it under wraps throughout the whole game.  The one turning point came in the 77th minute when Eastbourne threw on subsitute Nathan Crabb, brother of Matt Crabb who had been the most industrious player on show.  The two brothers cannot weigh more than twenty stone between them and it was amazing that they managed to stand with the strong wind blowing in their faces.  However it was Matt Crabb’s surging run that unlocked the defence and he threaded the bal through to his brother, who after getting a lucky deflection off the defender, put the ball into the net for the only goal of the game.

The game ended much as it had taken place with more huffing and puffing.  Kettering’s promotion push had come off the rails temporarily.  This was their fourth home game in eleven games, and with two more in the next sisx days it is understandable that tiredness was starting to affect the team.  On another day with more clement weather it may have been a different story, but for today it would have to be a case of the Big Bender – best forgotten.

About the A-Line Arena
A proper football ground whose traditional looking floodlights can be seen for miles around. A fairly open ground that has open terracing at either end. Both are small terraces, however the home terrace the Cowper Street End is larger than the Rockingham Road End Terrace, which is allocated to away supporters. A number of houses can be seen behind the home end (some of which get a free view of the game), whilst the away end has a number of trees situated behind it.

On one side is the large Main Stand. It is a large cantilever stand that is covered and all seated. This stand extends for just over half the pitch in length. Unusually, rather than the stand straddling the half way line, it is located towards the Rockingham Road End of the ground. To the other side of the stand is the Club House and in the corner with the Cowper Street End, there are the two storey club offices that overlook the ground. Opposite the Main Stand is the partly covered (to the rear) Britannia Road Terrace. Again this is a small terrace, that has a small TV gantry perched on the front of its roof and a fair number of supporting pillars. The ground has some interesting looking floodlights, that at one time must have been arranged as the letter ‘K” – again another first in Britain.

Thanks to Duncan Adam’s excellent website – http://www.conferencegrounds.co.uk/kettering_town.htm for the above information.

How to get to the A-Line Arena
If you are driving to Rockingham Road then the easiest way to get there is to leave the A14 at Junction 7 and take the A43 signposted Corby/Kettering. At the first roundabout turn right onto the A6003 towards Kettering and the ground is located down this road on the left. There is limited parking at the ground, but plenty of street parking is to be found.

If you are coming by train then Kettering is served on a regular basis on trains from St Pancreas and Nottingham via Leicester. To get to the ground from the station you can either get a taxi which will be around £5 or you can walk. Carry on up the hill from the station and simply keep following this road past Morrison’s and the Co-Op. It should take you no more than 20 minutes.

How to get a ticket for the A-Line Arena
Apart from the odd FA Cup game such as the tie against Fulham this season, sell outs are unheard of.  Whilst tickets can be purchased in advance, there is no issue in turning up on the day and paying on the door.  For most games a ticket for the main stand is £15 (£16 for ”local” games versus Rushden, Cambridge, Stevenage and Oxford) and £4 for concessions, where as a terrace place is £13 and £4 respectively.

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

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Did you know that the sunniest place in Britain is Eastbourne?  Neither did I until I tried to look for an angle for my first visit to the town in nearly two decades?  Well according to the expert that is Wikipedia this is true.  It is more famous for being the south’s “God’s Waiting Room”, where people over the age of 70 come to potter, queue up in banks all day and generally moan about the “youngters today”.  It is also the nearest town to Beachy Head, the point on the south coast where people decide they have had enough of Brown’s vison of economic utopia and jump off the edge of a huge cliff.

But did you know it is also home to one of the first and most successful Community Interest Clubs  in England?  Well there you go – Eastbourne Borough (not to be confused with Eastbourne Town or Eastbourne United who play in the lower leagues of Sussex non-League football are currently enjoying their first season at the highest level of the Non-League pyramid after their promotion from the Blue Square South division last season.  They were promoted after a play off with local rivals Lewes but are fairing significantly better than their neighbours from down the A27 .

In the first half of the season the club had produced some consistent form, sitting exactly 10 points below the play offs and 10 points above the relegation zone.  It is a very commendable achievement considering the limited resources the club has when compared to the likes of York City, Mansfield Town and Ebbsfleet United who were some places below the club coming into the January game with York City.  In the current world of the football merry-go-round it is amazing that the Eastbourne manager Garry Wilson was due to celebrate ten years in the role in a few weeks time.  During that decade Wilson had taken the team from the Sussex County Leagues to the highest level of Non-league football, just one step off the Football League on a limited budget which has seen the club keep on an even keel whilst others around them had continue to boom and bust (who could ever forget the implosion of the Hornchurh club just a few years ago when they signed professionals such as ex-Chelsea keeper Dimitri Kharin on a four figure weekly wage whilst they were still in the Rymans League!).

The club had been eliminated from all cup competitions by early January and so the plan was to concentrate on the Blue Square Premier League.  Whilst the club never stated publically their aim, they will have been very pleased to have reached this stage of the season with so many points in the bank and so far off the relegation zone.  With their neighbours Lewes finding life without most of their best players, who left in the summer, Northwich who were locked out of their stadium for financial issues and Grays who were trying to sell everything associated with the club, Eastbourne can look forward to at least another season in the Blue Square Premier next season.

Their opposition for this almost end of season fixture already was York City, my second favourite team so far this season who I had seen at Salisbury City, Histon and Burton Albion.  You know what to expect from York.  They play a distinctive style which they try to neutralise any attacking play from the home team whilst relying on the pace of their young front two on the counter attack.  I managed to get a Saturday pass for this one, taking the Little Fullers to swimming before heading off down the A22 for the game.

The day before the match heavy rain had put the game into doubt.  The small 5,000 seater stadium on the outskirts of Eastbourne had been developed along the lines of so many other lower team grounds, starting off as a small club house alongside a pitch when they were known as Langney SportsFC until 2001.  They changed their name in 2001 to identify more with the town where they were based as they entered the higher stages of the pryamid and work was carried out to improve the ground with the construction of a new small main stand and an upgrade of the floodlights.

After a spot of fish and chips on the beach Lolly and I headed to the ground, which sits in the smart residential area of Langney, around 3.5 miles north east of the seafront.  We managed to blag a street parking space, all of a 2 minute walk away which was disappointing considering my previous records of watching York at Burton and Histon.  The ground has two sports bars which were full to the brim when we arrived, with fans from both teams enjoying the warmth of the interior as well as a few pints to prepare them for the cold outside.

York had brought a few fans, including what appeared to be a group of a dozen or so young “boys” who obviously wanted to see how quick they could be ejected or arrested.  They started by unfurling a few banners in the run up to kick off, and then proceeded to act as if they had downed a case of Strongbow each instead of the Tizer they were actually drinking.  Not to be outdone, Eastbourne had a chap dressed as Captain America…I did ask him why – his response was “Superman outfit is in the wash today”…Logical.

Eastbourne Borough 2 York City 1 - Priory Lane – Saturday 24th January 2009 3pm

The York fans get a bit too excited with their goal

The York fans get a bit too excited with their goal

Eastbourne’s form coming into this game was impressive.  On curent form based on the previous six league games they were 4th out of the 24 teams in the league with four wins and two defeats.  They had also scored 11 in their previous game here versus Crowborough in the Sussex County Cup and so fancied their chances against a York team who liked a draw.  It wasn’t long before the home team took the lead as with just fifteen minutes on the clock as Ashley Barnes latched onto the end of a great through ball and poked the ball past keeper Ingham.  This sent the York fans into a state of delerium as they proceeded to take their shoes off and start throwing them in the air in some kind of bizarre ritual.  The stewards did not know what to make of the behaviour and were unsure whether to intervene or not.

Not that the bizarre was limited to off the pitch.  With two of the tallest teams in the conference playing out some nice football, the game was being officiated by one of the smallest referees I have seen – a Mr McLaughlin.  No surprise with such a high disadvantage he felt overwhelmed by the players and so the yellow cards stayed firmly in his top pocket.  The conditions made it tricky for both sides but Eastbourne especially tried to play some football on the ground.

Eastbourne went in 1-0 up at the break and Lolly and I sought some sanctuary from the cold in the club house.  Lolly is now a seasoned West Ham fan, and at the age of 8 is enjoying her first season as a West Ham season ticket holder.  This does mean that she compares every football match and stadium to Upton Park and so is confused by practices at this level such as the fans “swapping ends” at half time.  However, she does enjoy the closeness of games like this and was fascinated that the “York Bad Boys” were able to continue to behave in the way they did.  Even Danny Last, he of European Football Weekends fame sent me a text to ask how the “York Ultras” were, and Lolly kept saying “There’ll be thrown out in a minute”….

Lolly sometimes asks those awkward questions that you dread.  At half time she got me with a beauty.  Answers on a postcard please…

“A forward has a shot on goal that is so bad it is heading for a throw in.  However, the ball hits the referee and goes into the net.  Who is the goal awarded to?”

1. The forward;
2. The referee:
3. Neither – a drop ball is awarded from where the shot was taken:

Anyway, Eastbourne started the 2nd hlaf in much the same way and scored a second from a corner when Ben Austin’s shot was pushed into the net by Ingham.  Whilst York protested that the ball hadn’t gone in, our roving reporter (well me actually) can prove it did cross the line – see the pictures below for proof.  Eastbourne’s comfort zone lasted just eight minutes before Christian Smith netted from close range which sent our York “bad boys” into a frenzy behind the goal and in the excitement (goals are not that common for them obviously this season) they decided to celebrate on the pitch.  Queue a mass steward invasion and Lolly once again won a £1 bet as she said that by the end of the game at least 3 would have been ejected.

Not much more happened in the final few minutes.  With the sun firmly setting over the stand the temperature dropped quickly so with just a couple of minutes left we headed back to the car to collect the other Fullers from the beach and away we went, back to the smog of the big city.  Eastbourne was a nice distraction from the Premier League and whilst it is hard to image a ground like Priory Lane hosting league teams every other week it is concievable that next season Luton Town and Bournemouth will be visiting the Golden Coast.

About Priory Lane
Although the ground is one of the more basic in the Blue Square Premier it has many decent facilities that make a trip here one of the best of the season, especially if the whether is good. On one side is the smart looking yet small Main Stand. This covered, all seated stand, has a capacity of 542 seats. There are no supporting pillars, resulting in good views of the playing action as the first row of seats is set around 3 foot above the pitch. However, the stand runs for about half the length of the pitch and strangely has been built mostly to one side of the half way line. Opposite is a a small covered terrace, called the Peter Fountain Stand, that extends again for around half the length of the pitch. In one corner this meets the River End Terrace, which is covered. The opposite end, the Mick Green Stand, is a small covered area which is divided into two. The team entrance from the dressing rooms to the ground runs out from this end and above this stand is one of the two club houses which has windows for any people who dont feel like braving the elements on the terraces below.

Thanks to Duncan Adams ‘s site http://www.conferencegrounds.co.uk for some of the above information.

How to get to Priory Lane
The ground is located on the edge of a smart residential area in the Langney area of Eastbourne, some 3 miles from the seafront, pier and town centre. The following directions are provided by Duncan Adams:-

“From the direction of Brighton on the A27 take the A22 towards Stone Cross and Westham. At the next roundabout take the first exit again towards Stone Cross and Westham. Continue towards Stone Cross village until you will come to a crossroads, with a church on your left and the Red Lion pub on the. Turn right just past the pub onto the B2104 Friday Street. At the end of Friday Street, turn left at the double mini-roundabout into Hide Hollow (B2191). After passing Eastbourne Crematorium on your right, turn right at the roundabout into Priory Road. The entrance to the ground is about 200 yards down the road on the left. There is a good sized car par at the ground which holds 400 cars, which is free.”

If you are coming by train then a taxi is needed and will cost around a fiver. There is a bus service (6a) that runs from the station to the ground every 30 minutes and costs £2.70 return.

How to get a ticket for Priory Lane
With an average attendance of just over 1,500 and a capacity of over 5,000 sell outs haven’t exactly been common in Eastbourne. The biggest game of the season tends to be the local derby with Lewes at Christmas and this only attracts around 2,200. Entry is £12.50 for Adults and £4 for Children. If you can bag yourself a spare seat in the stand then this is free.