Heaton Stannington v Bedlington Terriers

Hosts: Heaton Stannington FC

Venue: Grounsell Park, Newton Road, High Heaton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE7 7HP

Kickoff: 3pm Saturday 22 September 2018
Competition: Ebac Northern League Division Two

Weather: sunny spells, dry, light chilly breeze

LOCATION REPORT

SatNav: NE7 7HP
Parking: on-site car park for c. 80 vehicles
Public transport: large choice of buses (to Newcastle, Walker, Whickham, Four Lane Ends & Forest Hall)
Club information: Club website

Entry: £5
Refreshments/Facilities: onsite licensed social club (voted CAMRA Tyneside Club of 2018) + pitch side 'Snack Bar' (burgers £1.50, coffee £1 etc)
Programmes: £1

Stands/Terraces: covered purpose-built stand for 50 + covered patio area with 4 x picnic benches

Floodlights: 4 (1 per corner)

MATCH REPORT 

League Official Report

Official crowd: 185

Full-time [h/t] score (colours):

4 [3] Heaton Stannington (black/white stripes)
1 [0] Bedlington Terriers (blue)
Bookings: 1 (Stan)
Sent Off: 0

NORVENMUNKI's COMMENTS

Arriving on Newton Road in Heaton, you can see the floodlights up above you but the ground is deliciously secretive, hidden behind a row of takeaways and a tyre-fitters. 
Grounsell Park is named in honour of Bob Grounsell, a great 'Stan' man on and off the pitch. A neat sign announces the secluded entrance, and the onsite car park beyond. The friendly gents stop you at the gate with a traffic cone, and you pay through the car window before parking. 
Today, there are about two-thirds of the 80-ish spaces taken so far. 

It's a distinctly middle-class, middle-aged demographic and you get the impression that the two groups of fans know each other pretty well, sharing anecdotes and nicknames. 

The original Newton Park was apparently an ex-quarry, which was filled-in during the Thirties. 
Walking around, there are wide grass banks around the pitch, with an especially large space on the north side. The whole site is backed onto by surrounding houses and various gardens encroach into the pitch side, including numerous greenhouses and vegetable patches. (You'd think these greenhouses were dangerously vulnerable to stray balls?) Signs request spectators to 'Keep off the grass', presumably to protect these plots, but nobody pays them much attention. Occasionally, residents in gardening sweaters pop out to retrieve pots from  their sheds or to tend to planting. If any neighbours are into non-league football, then a free match in your own garden has got to be an added perk. Frankly, though, nobody seems that bothered. 

They may have been more interested back in 2012 when the Gabon national team came for a pre-Olympics warm-up and won four-nil, thanks in part to a young fella called Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 

Around the clubhouse, on the opposite side, is a covered patio area with four  picnic benches. Nearby, there is a group of young lads enjoying a kickabout on the concrete by the pitch side. 
There's a typical rig of high netting behind both goals, which looks very well-maintained and not full of holes like ones I often see elsewhere. Towering above, there are four floodlights, one per corner, with concrete bases against which I later rest. 

There's a chill in the breeze, which finds its way into every viewing position, despite us being encircled by the large residences. 
I fancy a coffee from the Snack Bar. The old geezer who's serving reminds us several times that he's just helping out, and he's very jolly and coping well despite his claims of feeling rushed. Apparently, he came intending to watch the match and he's a bit miffed that he's missing it. Nevertheless, he's really lovely. Hopefully someone will offer to share the job later. 

A glance at my watch shows it's six minutes to kick-off. Unexpectedly, the PA system kicks in, with very clear sound indeed rather than the customary crackles of other venues. 
The cheery announcer welcomes all, with a special hello to fans from Bedlington including singling out a 'superfan' whose name is greeted by muted hooray. 
As he reads the teams and mentions the next games, he refers to the home side by their nickname: 'The Stan'. 

Despite the recurrent cloud cover, shifted along by the persistent breeze, it's a sunny day and long shadows stretch from the feet of the tall trees around the west side of the pitch, as well as from the floodlights.
There's a buzz of activity around the clubhouse and patio, but most people actually choose to stand, including myself, enjoying patches of autumn sunshine, rather than the shade, to mitigate the chill wind. Whenever the sun breaks through, I'm glad that I have my shades on.

The teams come out to the strain of 'Seven Nation Army': the Stan are kitted in their usual black and white stripes.

Handshakes. Game on. It's a pretty vocal crowd, with encouragement largely positive rather than chastising. Still, the players are louder. 
Each attempt on goal by The Stan is greeted by polite applause from the stand side viewers. 
At least four very well-behaved dogs have come along to watch the match,  including a shivering old greyhound in a comfy jacket, but there are no Bedlington terriers as far as I can see. 

I notice that the playing surface is very lumpy in places, with little bowls and crests all over. The home players will no doubt have the advantage of knowing how this affects the roll of the ball in certain areas, although they seem to have a tactic of passing at knee height rather than along the turf. 

Ouch! There's a crunching tackle from a clumsy away defender, albeit there was no malice, and the crumpled Stan midfielder eventually rises but limps off, and an early sub comes on.
The swap appears to have an immediate effect as, straight from the restart, we get a goal for The Stan: a mazy run through the middle and a right-foot shot into the left bottom corner, the keeper outstretched but with no chance. A nice goal: 1-0.

A little boy is out for the afternoon with (possibly) his granddad. The man offers him a bit of cake from their backpack, and the boy is delighted and hops with joy. Very cute - and the beaming gentleman is bursting with love and pride.
The interval is approaching and my tummy is rumbling, so I take another trip to chat to the old gent in the Snack Bar and purchase his penultimate cheeseburger. He tries to flog me them both, so he can finish his shift and, at £1.50 each, I'm half tempted as it's got to  be the cheapest ever.

Walking back to my chosen space, with two minutes to go to half-time, there's another goal. Stan's speedy striker never gives up and stretches his long leg beyond the last defender to toe-poke it  past the Terriers' keeper: 2-0.

Immediately from the restart: 3-0. The Bedlington team are still remonstrating with each other about who picks up who, when the Stan forward nips through and curls confidently into the net. That's two goals in less than two minutes. The animated Bedlington coach will be distraught, after 43 minutes they were very much in the game. 

Half-time whistle. The crowd wanders indoors away from the breeze, some to the bar and others head for a cuppa. The old man hopefully has been relieved by now.

As often happens with on-site parking, various spectators inevitably pop into their cars for a while, turning on the heaters. 
I go for wander over to the end that Stan will attack in the second half, thinking maybe there are more goals to come.
Two of the playful dogs are doing rough-and-tumble in the grasses. The shadows of the trees and floodlights are  growing ever longer now, as the clouds keep rolling over and bathing the scene in sun for a moment and then back into shade. 

The teams sneak back out, silent and subdued. The second half is soon underway. The crowds slowly amble back out too. 
A helicopter thunders overhead: it's the Great North Air Ambulance heading out towards the airport. 
A man on a mobility scooter whizzes past me and crashes into the structure  of the stand, his boot flipping open, but luckily for him none of its contents topple out. 

With 65 minutes gone, there's a first yellow card of the day for the Stan keeper. He rushes out of his area and collides with an oncoming Bedlington attacker. A card seems a bit harsh, a free kick enough, maybe. As it happens, the dead-ball opportunity is wasted by  Bedlington anyway. 

A man walks round offering a go on football card. I don't bother but the  man next to me buys one. Apparently a £1 stake wins £30... and he wins! He's dead chuffed, as if he never wins anything usually, and calls his "Angel" to proudly share his news. Generously, he takes just £25 winnings and gifts £5 back into the club funds: a kind gesture. 

The Terriers have their tails up. A fine save by the Stan keeper earns a warm round of applause from the crowd. Yet, shortly after, there's finally a breakthrough for the visitors. Their persistence pays off: 3-1.
With three-quarters gone now, is there enough time for a recovery?

Into the final seconds, the Stan restore their three-goal cushion as the right-sided striker weaves through the  blue defence and thunders a strike into the far corner. 
The sound of a noisy magpie roosting in a pitchside tree is clearly audible above the shouts of players and crowd. The magpies of Heaton have plenty to sing about this afternoon too. 

Game over: 4-1. The boys sponsored by CHUF will be chuffed tonight. 

Outside the ground, the sound of someone in a neighbouring house playing a drumkit is echoing across the street and entertaining the guys waiting at the bus stop. Maybe I'll get home and have a jam on mine too?

A fine afternoon spent wiling away a couple of hours amongst the cottage gardens and hospitable people of Heaton. I wonder if that old bloke ever got to see any of the match, after all?