Sunday 3rd March 2024 ko 14:30

North West Counties League Premier Division

CHARNOCK RICHARD 7 (Power 6 Bibby 33 Nickeas 45 57 64 Davies 74p Spinelli 87)

SKELMERSDALE UNITED 1 (Rodrigues 89)

Att 534

Entry £6

Programme £2

I’m sure my regular reader is aware of how my version of groundhoppers’ O.C.D. shows itself, I tend to make a beeline for clubs I regularly see on road signs. Well, that must go double for a motorway service station mustn’t it? Clearly, I’m not the only one who’s thought that, as virtually the first thing I saw as I walked into Mossie Park was a banner with the legend,” Charnock Richard, more than a service station!”

Quite right, and I hope the hop visit helped in that way. Certainly the club’s hosting helped!

Finally, the pressure was off, we knew the pitch was soft, and God knows like those other host clubs, the groundstaff had worked miracles, but we’d reached our finale. Then, and only then could I and everyone else involved in making this event happening relax.

It was intelligent hosting; I was impressed how the club turned Charter Lane into a one-way system, to allow access and egress easily. Parking up early allowed me to cross the road and see the club’s old ground- they’d moved to allow for the erection of floodlights to allow for elevation to the North West Counties. After that it was a case of letting the club do its thing which turned out to be rather good! Robyn read my mind, and got in the queue for pie and peas.

My attention turned to the visitors, and beyond them having Pascal Chimbonda as player-manager. I’d seen them just before they’d been forced out of Stormy Corner, playing in the Step 3 top division of the Northern Premier League. They eventually found a home of their own at the JMO Sports Park but were forced out of there when the 3G pitch failed the FIFA bounce test. Whilst the pitch is deemed suitable for Chorley FC’s women’s team, Skem are now groundsharing at Burscough, whose landlords are also the landlords at Stormy Corner, oh the irony!

Sadly for Skem and their band of fans the club’s off the field issues have been mirrored on it. They are rock bottom of the table and never looked like taking anything from this game, with a clearly frustrated Chimbonda picking up a yellow for a volley of verbals. Life at Step 6 looks like a certainty for them.

But the game and the afternoon belonged to the hosts. Thanks to their clever thinking we made a rapid exit, and that allowed me to think as we headed for home.

Any organiser will hate losing games to the weather, to the loss of the games at Squires Gate and AFC Blackpool hurt. Hopefully both will feature on a future hop, but can anything be done to swerve the deluges that scarred this event? If you extrapolate enough you’ll see the issue was Easter. It’s early this year to we find ourselves in the less than ideal position of seeing 3 hops in March, one every two weeks.

Could we have moved one until after Easter? It’s the obvious solution, but leagues in general aren’t keen, you run the risk of something that happened on the 2014 Notts Senior League Hop. There West Bridgford ‘s tie was the final game of the hop and they had the advantage of knowing precisely what they needed to do to win the title. Groundhoppers love staggered kick-offs but they do have to be right for all involved. Still Easter 2025 is in Mid-April- that’ll help!

But the final word should go to Charnock Richard. Less than two weeks later the GroundhopUK coach stopped at the services on the way to the Scottish Hop. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one there to think of the club at Mossie Park!