Ferryhill Town 1 v Shildon Railway 4 - 14/09/19 - ground #473 - Mainsforth Sports Complex

51 Saturdays after my last footy match, it was time to get back on track again! as soon as I found out Ferryhill's new home was in same complex as Mainsforth CC, I made sure I'd get there during the cricket season for my visit :)
After ticking off the sainsburys, I walked down the hill to the sports complex. This was the 3rd venue I'd watched ferryhill play a home game at, only this had the added bonus of a cricket tick & to recomplete the Crook & District League again :)

after a nice hour in the sun watching cricket (and also at HT) it was time for the footy, even tho if you stood near the halfway line of the pitch & turned round, you had a nice view of the wicket to watch the cricket!
Ferryhill hit the post & bar before Shildon scored, who then ended up 3 up at HT, Ferryhill deserved more but luck wasn't on their side against a strong Shildon side. I got the bus back to Bishop outside the ground, grabbed a few winner ciders at morrisons for the train back to thornaby, which was a winner 142, which was nice :)

season 2019/20 - 1 new ground, 5 goals

Transport -
156469 - thornaby - bishop aukland
56 bishop bus station - ferryhill sainsburys local
56 sports complex - bishop bus station
142014 (winner!!!)  bishop aukland - thornaby

Barnard Castle Redwell Rangers 0 v Crook Town Wanderers 8 - 25/08/18 - ground #468 - Teesdale School

2 new teams joined the C&D league this season, Redwell Rangers and Darlo GSOB (which I've got planned to do on 08/09). This was my 3rd BC ground, all C&D league ticks, so it was an arriva day ticket day again. Redwell's 1st 2 games of the season saw them concede 19 goals & score 1. Crook were 3 up in 10 mins, so they must've feared the worst. Fair play to them tho, they give it a good go and HT was 5-0. Crook could've had more if not for some excellent saves.
next, it was cricket time, and a Darlo & district league tick (of which I've got a few planned in the coming weeks), I decided to do Cliffe CC, as Piercebridge was on the way back :)

Season 2018/19 - 2 new grounds, 16 goals.

transport -
X66 stockton - darlo
X75 darlo - barney castle
X75 barney castle - piercebridge
X75 piercebridge - darlo
X67 darlo - Fairfield

Darlington Travellers Rest 2 v Heighington 3 - 18/02/17 - ground #430 - Longfield Academy of Sport 3G

due to a last minute fixtures change, I had to abandon plans to recomplete the Eskvale & Cleveland league and luckily have a local 3G to tick off!  I'd already paid a visit to this venue, but not the 3G pitch which many count as a "new ground", so that gives me a few more local ticks to do! :)
I headed to darlo north road on the 12.26, same train & station as quite a few Billy Town fans on way to Darlo RA. My game was the semi-final of the Colin Waites Cup, in the other direction but about same distance walk, in which darlo travs took an early lead. after that the away team took advantage of some sloppy defending goin 3-1 up. Travs made a game of it again in last 20 mins but could only pull 1 more goal back. after the the game, I got a local arriva bus from over the road into town. made my usual visit to sainsburys for the evenings cans (inc for 1 on the train home) & then onto the Old Vic Real Ale pub.

there's usually 3 or 4 real ciders on, but on this occasion, there were only 2, both dud! so just had a half of Happy Daze 4.5%, then made way to station for the 16.30 back to thornaby. this was my 12th darlo ground, tomorrow should be my 13th as I head back to darlo to watch darlo 1883 reserves at their new 4G pitch :)

season 2016/17 - 18 new grounds , 83 goals :)

transport -
142087 thornaby - north road

3a longfield road - town centre
142026 darlo - thornaby

Alston Moor Sports Club 5 v Darlington Travellers Rest 0 - 28/05/16 - ground #412 - Tyne Willows Playing Fields

I made my way to Darlo on the 10.02 train, which gave my ample time to do the 45 min walk to Cockerton, and even had time for pepsi in The Travellers Rest pub. Met up with the team in the car park & got my lift to Alston, a ground not doable by public transport, unless its a sunday!
 Thanks to an end of season fixtures balls up, this game had to be played on this day. The Travs were players short due to holidays & mountain of injuries. They Kicked off the game with only 9 men, the hosts needed a win to gain promotion ahead of Evenwood Town. From the start they did nowt but moan & hack their way through the game. The ref must've forgot his cards as alston deserved more than a few ! The Travs played well & can be proud of the way they played, despite the scoreline.
after the game, we headed back to Darlo, I was dropped off at sainsburys to get the cans in. which was nice. got to the station for the 17.31 train back to Thornaby.
So, thats the Crook & District league completed, 6th North East League completed in total :)

season 2015/16 - 33 new grounds , 166 goals.

Transport -
142079 thornaby - darlo

156438 darlo - thornaby

Wolsingham 1 v Darlington Travellers Rest 4 - 21/05/16 - ground #411 - Wolsingham Recreation Ground

my 3rd & final Weardale ground in the Crook & District league ticked off :)
after getting a lift back from Wearhead last week, I was informed there would be room if I needed a lift to other hard to get to games. So I got an arriva day ticket & headed to Darlo to the pick up point. it was pissin down at darlo, but by time we passed thru west auckland, the sun came out to play !
as like last saturday, Darlo travs led 1-0 at HT & a goal rush in 2nd half.  got a lift back to darlo, headed home on buses :)

season 2015/16 - 32 new grounds, 161 goals

transport -
X66 stockton - darlo
2 darlo - cockerton
2 cockerton - darlo
X66 darlo - stockton

Wearhead United 1 v Darlington Travellers Rest 5 - 14/05/16 - Ground #410 - Wearhead Recreation Field

There's 3 Weardale grounds in the Crook & District League, I did Stanhope last month, Wearhead on this trip, Wolsingham being the other one (where I hope to visit for my next game!).
As with Stanhope , it meant startin off the day on the 10.24 train from Thornaby to Bishop, followed by the 12.00 bus to Stanhope. because of the country roads that follow, its a smaller bus that does the Stanhope - Wearhead leg of the journey. a 55 min fester was required in Stanhope, with no public toilets (apart from those in pubs for customers only and I had to save my pennies for later) I walked out to the Weardale Community Hospital to use use their facilities. The hospital was rather nice, reminded me of a day hospital I used to work in years ago! arrived back in the market place with with about 15 mins left to wait. Finally the bus arrived, the bus driver said he knew where the ground was & would drop me off outside of it. which was nice.as I stepped of the bus, some of the Darlo lads gave me an ovation for makin the long trip ! :)  I'd only been there a few mins when I was asked by a Wearhead offical if I would "run" the far line, offering me the flag, but I politely declined. a local man & his dog took up the duty instead.
Darlo Travs led 1-0 at the break thanks to a well taken free kick. In the second half, the Travs went on abit of a blitz and finished off 5-1 winners. There's a nice clubhouse at the ground, which aswell as changing rooms & toilets,  has photos of differnt parts of their history , a new framed shirt next to a top from the 60s !
Thankfully, I was offered a lift back to Darlo, which saved me a few hours travelling !! was dropped off in the town, went to sainsburys for the evenings refreshments, then headed to the train station. I was tempted for a pint but as the train was due in less than 10 mins, I decided to make haste & get the 17.31 train back to Thornaby, and enjoyed a nice can on the way :)

season 2015/16 - 31 new grounds , 156 goals

transport -
142020 thornaby - bishop auckland

101 bishop auckland - stanhope
101 stanhope - wearhead
142020 darlo - thornaby

Crook Albion 5 v Stanhope Town 3 - 23/04/16 - ground #408 - Sunniside Recreation Ground

another lovely scenic ground in this league, abit of a trek on the buses tho (all arriva so an arriva day ticket was only required) ! Weather was sunny until I stepped off the bus at Crook to a shower of hail ! not long after the match kicked off, sunshine vanished then came snow & bitter winds!!
The game was a tough close game, Crook sealed the win with 2 late goals, but the score could've been alot higher for both teams.
so, just the 3 C&D league grounds required now - Wolsingham, Wearhead & Alston :)

season 2015/16 - 29 new grounds , 144 goals.

transport -
X12 stockton - durham
46 durham - crook
46 crook - sunniside
X1 sunniside - crook
46 crook - durham
X12 durham - stockton