Saturday 19/12/15 - Northern Premier League, Premier Division – (Step 3)
Rushall Olympic 2 Salford City 3Admission £5, parking £1, programme £2
J2O and 2 x roast beef and mustard baps £4.35, chips ‘n mushy peas £1.80
Attendance: 538
I’ve always found Rushall’s ground in Daw End Lane rather remarkable for several reasons. Firstly it’s not that far from Chasewater and I’ve attended evening games where the number of Canada geese flying overhead in formation has exceeded the number of spectators watching the game. Secondly, it always reminds me of Alcatraz – two sides of the ground are surrounded by a 25 foot high steel pole and netting fence (to stop wayward balls disappearing into the impenetrable forest beyond, although for some reason, they seem quite happy for them to go into the adjacent canal running along the third side). And thirdly – well, there’s always the added excitement that you could disappear into a hole in the ground at any moment! Let me explain: a number of years ago, someone unearthed a very old map of the area. It didn’t quite say “’Ere be Dragons” in the bottom left corner, but what it did disclose was that the football ground was situated on an old limestone mine working. Despite the fact that the club had been playing there for 40-odd years without any problems, it was enough for Walsall Council to order the closure of the clubhouse and both stands on ‘elf and safety grounds. This situation lasted for about half a season, and all you could do was stand in front of the clubhouse or down one side of the pitch – the rest was roped off. Eventually, some semblance of sense was restored, and the club were told they could reopen the bar, but both stands would have to be repositioned, one to the other side of the pitch from where it was located. This was easy enough to do, as they were generic Atcost stands, of simple metal construction. But the frisson of excitement that you could disappear into the depths at any moment still lingers in the memory, and to be honest, judging by the state of the potholes at the entrance to the car-park, your vehicle would probably follow soon after you.
Another thing to note about Rushall Olympic is that while you’re waiting in the fiery depths for Mines Search and Rescue to arrive with a long ladder, you’ll have plenty to read. The Rushall programme is renowned as a gargantuan publication – indeed, today’s 88 page version was positively slimline as I’ve received over 100 pages on previous visits. A real labour of love, and not by any means padded with advertising, it features pages of statistics, match reports from throughout the Northern Premier League, transfer listings, footie news from around the world, an article by the club’s Chaplain, 6 pages on today’s opponents – I’ve only dipped into it so far, and it’ll keep me occupied for most of the weekend.
Turning to the opponents, Salford City have made the news in more ways than one in recent years. Since 1995, they’ve bumbled along quite happily, first in the North West Counties League then in the Northern Premier League Division 1 (North), from 2009/10 finishing each season happily in mid table. All that changed in 2013/14 when five members of Manchester United’s famous “Class of 92”, now retired, made (for altruistic reasons) an offer to take over the club. Yep, Giggsy, Buttsy, Scholesy and the Neville Brothers.
It’s said that some of these luminaries actually turn up at league fixtures, but there was no evidence of any of them today – well, the Neville Brothers are currently heavily involved with Valencia in the Spanish leagues. And despite the Ostrich fluffing up his feathers and preening, no BBC cameras in attendance either. They have completed a documentary on the club which got a recent airing – Gareth Seddon, mentioned in the article, came on as a substitute today.
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio ... -92-reviewSalford won Division 1 North in 2014/15 and are currently 4th in the Premier with games in hand. Rushall started the match in 10th place, and usually finish in the top half of this league. They’d also beaten Salford 1-3 at their place back in September.
Pics attacked down the slope, and with the wind, in the first half, and contrived to go in 0-2 down at the interval, and it might have been an even greater deficit if Salford’s Allen hadn’t hit a sitter wide on the 25m mark. He made amends with a forceful run through the defence and finish 4 minutes later, collecting a lucky rebound off a defender en-route, and Poole scored Salford’s second on 36m, stealing in to nod the ball gently over a stranded goal-keeper – poor defensive work by the home side.
Heath got Pics back in to the match on 50m with a fine half-volley from just inside the area, but Salford made it 1-3 on 55m with what looked like a scrambled goal by Hulme that a defender, chasing back, couldn’t keep out of the net. Rushall set up an interesting finish with a Lavelle-Moore goal on 81m, taking advantage after the Salford keeper could only parry a shot, but they couldn’t find an equaliser, Salford keeper Lynch pulling off a diving save from a Benbow free-kick destined for the bottom near corner of the net in the closing stages.
Once they had gone behind, Rushall's play was a little bit too frantic for their own good, I'm afraid. But a decent enough game, in drizzly conditions, that always held the interest.
Must dash! Strictly Final Results time!
by TheOstrich » 06 Dec 2015, 11:17 
