Venue: Billy Hardy Complex, Grange Road, Castletown, Sunderland SR5 3EQ.
Kickoff: 13:30 Sat 14 Dec 2013.
Weather: winter sun (in fact, I could've done with shades), dry throughout (only started raining on way home), cold westerly wind, 11℃ but felt colder.
LOCATION REPORT
FOR SPECTATORS
SatNav: SR5 3EQ.
Staff: club staff in attendance.
Parking: car park on-site, 35+ spaces.
Public transport: #26 (Jarrow-Sunderland), #26a (Sunderland-Heworth), #36/#36a (Sunderland circular); all stop in Castletown.
Refreshments: clubhouse with bar on-site.
Toilets: inside clubhouse.
Kids: small playground next to car park.
Weather protection:
Rain: nothing, unless the tree branches are full of leaves.
Wind: stand against perimeter walls (or temporary portacabins).
Sun: tall trees to the south (but they were bare and sun was too high above them today).
Cold: nothing.
FOR PLAYERS
Pitch: grass, well cut. To me, it appeared slightly inclined toward one wing!
(The pitch was bounded by an ageing perimeter fence, which had crumbled in places)
Floodlights: none.
Changing: pitchside portacabins, separate ones for each team (thankfully, given the grumpiness in the away camp today!)
MATCH REPORT
Approx crowd: c 40 max.
Mostly male, a few mums/partners turned up towards the very end and soon scurried off to the clubhouse, a sensible idea. Good senior/young/middle-aged mix, friendly banter amongst the locals. Many staying throughout and others popping up at various times, which was admirable in the cold.
Quite a bunch of these were snuggled in the dugout. Others were crowded along the tight touchline, where the subs who were warming-up kept straying on the pitch.
2 wee kids with their dad, proudly dressed in their mini-footie kits.
No dog walkers.
Full-time [h/t] score (colours):
4 [2] Sunderland Hylton CW (red, white)
2 [1] Coundon & Leeholm (all-blue mixed stripes)
Bookings: 0
Sent Off: 1 (Bailes, Coundon & Leeholm)
Official Match Report:
www.durhamAllianceLeague.org.uk
NORVENMUNKI's COMMENTS:
First, let's picture the landscape hereabouts. The River Wear is close by here (no rhyme intended), and the open ravine provides a natural accelerator for the bracing winds that whip up the steep banks to Castletown, as the water flows languidly far down below, meandering its way towards Sunderland and past the nearby Stadium of Light.
The venue is excellent at this level, although the adjacent cricket ground was in works, so piles of rubble and storage portacabins filled the area between football and cricket pitches.
Above the hum of the crowd, we were accompanied throughout by the constant soundtrack of the traffic on the A1231 running right by on the other side of perimeter walls.
Sunderland are currently top of the league, with just one defeat so far this season. Up to today, they have averaged a goal-difference of +2.5 per game. They certainly have the makings of a 'double-winning' prospect.
Meanwhile, Coundon are actually current 'Treble-winners', having been an awesome force last season.
These two were today fighting it out in the League Challenge Cup First Round (even though other teams were competing this very afternoon in the Second Round!).
Coundon are the reigning Cup holders and eager to retain their silverware. However, Hylton last won the competition back in 1983.
The CW typically stands for Colliery Welfare, although today it stood for 'Controlled and Workmanlike'.
Sunderland were composed on the ball. I was impressed by the centre-half walking it out calmly and serving up some killer through-balls.
But Coundon were losing their rag, and Mr Short, the aptly-named ref, kept calling them over for a chat.
With Hylton 2-0 up, the Coundon striker was clear through but had lost control of the ball as it ran ahead. Cannily, he left a trailing leg which the defender clipped, and inevitably he went down for a penalty.
Hylton were annoyed but philosophical. Yet, bizarrely, two guys from the Coundon camp were pitchside and just lost the plot (presumably wanting a sending-off?) and starting raging. After a fiery conversation, the ref sent them both to the stands!
Then, worse still, the penalty was tucked away by Bailes, who then gloried in squaring up to the defender and blasting "F***ing Mackem scum!" at him...and the ref promptly sent him off for foul and abusive language! Comedy or tragedy? I thought the latter, at this level you should really be able to keep a grip.
Sunderland were always on top, especially in the second half against 10 men, with an impressive repertoire of fluid moves and great crosses from both wings.
Credit is due, though, to the Coundon keeper for a number of great saves, including a brilliant point-blank save midway through the second half.
The Sunderland Echo photographer turned up at half-time to take some snaps for their regular amateur football feature. Wonder if I'm in them? After a while, he had to move to the far side in order to avoid his camera being blown about. He stayed for 20 mins and then told me he was off to the rugby!
So, who is Billy Hardy? Well, he's a local boxing hero, an ex-British, European and Commonwealth champion.
GBA rating: Maybe.
The club appears well-organised, the venue is good and the locals seemed very supportive. (But on a less-windy day, preferably!)
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