Saturday 2nd March 2024 ko 14:00

North West Counties League Division One North

GARSTANG 3 (Bailey 25 51 Ball 32)

Lewis sent off 86 (DOGSO)

ASHTON TOWN 2 (Lomax 67 Ready 72p)

Att 388

Entry £5

Programme £2

We were fortunate. As part of the GroundhopUK advance party I had a reserved car parking space. It was a bit of a squeeze, but the point was to be in situ ahead of the coach to be able to deal with any on the day snags. The fact that there weren’t any spoke volumes for Garstang FC and their League.

Of course there had been a major snag, the pitch and the fact that on any other day the game would have been lost to waterlogging. The fact that it wasn’t was due to the ground staff working heroically the previous evening and early on the day to get the game on. That allowed everything else they did to fall into place, and the best way I can describe how good that was, was that I could exchange a joke with Terry & Tav running the badge stall knowing everything was in hand.

What makes the that remarkable was that the ground isn’t ideal for a large crowd. There’s only 3 sides open to spectators, the seated stand just about ticks the ground grading boxes for Step 6, and let’s not talk about those grass banks, handy though they were! Looking beyond the grounds confines the River Wyre snakes by the football and cricket grounds. it’s a pleasant vista, and on a warmer, sunnier day, the whole scene would be bucolic.

Garstang are struggling to stay at this level, so this hard-fought win in undoubtedly the game of the hop will I hope be viewed as fair recompense for the the effort they put into making it happen. Except I do have a lot of time for Ashton Town. Every league’s hop needs a club like them, happy to play wherever and whenever. The trouble, from their perspective, doing so hasn’t been kind to them.

They hosted on the 2017 Hop and lost 2-1 to Stockport. Since then on hop games they’ve lost 6-1 at Lower Breck and 2-1 at Steeton. They came mighty close to stealing a point at the death here, but played four, lost four is an unfortunate return for such good friends of the hop. I hope they don’t dread seeing us!

Mid-way through the second half Chris Berezai gathered Craig, Robyn and I as he’d received a call from Squires Gate that a referee had called their 5pm game off due to a waterlogged pitch. I must admit we wondered whether the decision could be reversed and the pitch worked on, but the photos Martin Fallon from the league had received soon answered that question! On reflection, it was the worst of the day’s four games to lose. Losing the first or last would have meant either a late start, and the second we’d have found an alternative game.

So then the decision was whether to pull the AFC Blackpool game forward a hour, lest the weather get worse. We decided against it, due to their opponents Runcorn Town‘s travel arrangements, and to allow ticket holders who’d swapped Garstang and Squires Gate for watching Preston North End to still see the game. It also gave AFC Blackpool the chance to have us there early and make money from their bar and catering.

We arrived, and the gateman was the very epitomy of confident, but Craig’s walk on the pitch revealed just how marginal it was, and when the rains returned, not even a leaf blower could rescue the situation. So, we lost the two Blackpool games, which does have a slight, and only a slight silver lining.

Squires Gate and AFC Blackpool were paired for this event due to their close proximity. Losing one of them but not the other would have made putting a single club on a future hop difficult. But with the Blackpool double still there, the league can easily give it another go on a subsequent hop, the Sunday slots being the easiest fit. In fact, the only potential stumbling block is AFC Blackpool’s rather precarious position in Division One. We’ll watch the developments, and the league’s choice, with interest.