2006/7 Northern League Division 1
Tow Law Town 2 : Bishop Auckland 0
26 December, 2006
Team: Chris Porter, Steven Larkin, Steven Baynes (Dan Newby 76 mins), Richie Ward, Nicky Mohan, Paul Collins (Dale Mendum 58 mins), Joe Fairish (Brian Healy 68 mins), Scott Nicholson, Richie Storr, Gavin Parkin, Bryan Stewart
There's nothing like a trip to Ironworks Road on a foul boxing day morning for sucking all the Christmas Cheer from your body. An unplayable surface, limited visibility, no facilities and the incessant obscene rantings from the home bench all made for an X-rated experience more suited to after the watershed than 11 in the morning.
Bishops failed to get anything from a game where the level of the football experience bordered on farce for much of the proceedings.
There was clearly a view that this fixture would not take place. The weather would be generously described as cold, frosty and foggy. Visibility on entering the ground was minimal. The spectators were "treated" with no programmes, no catering facilities, and those bits of terracing which had not been fenced off as unsafe were covered in a lethal film of ice which made movement around the ground dangerous.
On closer inspection, the pitch was found to be a combination of frozen hard ice, and softer ice. This contributed to a first half littered with a string of pitch visits from both teams' physios.
Once again, when playing "proper football"was not an option, Bishops seemed unable to come up with an alternative plan. Tow Law took the lead on 14 minutes when Collins skated into a tackle, and was unable to stop a low cross which was bundled in by Huntley.
Bishops only chance of the half came on 39 minutes when they were wrongly awarded a corner, and Mohan headed the resulting cross wide. Joe Fairish was the outstanding performer in the first half and contributed much to Bishops game with his combative style.
Parkin carved out a shooting opportunity on 46 minutes, but pulled his shot well wide.
On 56 minutes, Tow Law were reduced to ten men. The tackle in question on Nicholson owed more to the early years of the 20th century than the 21st, and left the referee with no options. The luminous red card was one of the few things seen clearly throughout the game.
Bishops pushed men forward, for the remainder of the game but couldn't make their territorial advantage count. Parkin hit the post on 73 minutes, and Mohan fired the rebound wide.
Fog dropped on the ground again for the final minutes, forcing the officials to consult but at least it did drift in and out, allowing the game to continue. Apparently Tow Law added a second on the break in injury time, but this wasn't visible from my vantage point.
Altogether a thoroughly unpleasant experience on so many levels. Still, at least we don't have to visit again this year !