Durham Garden House 1 v Sunderland West End 1 - Sir Bobby Robson Sports Centre - 09/07/11 - ground 226

Train to Durham then short bus ride for this PSF  :)  

Jarrow FC Reserves 0 v Hylton Sports Club 19 - 21/04/18 - Ground #466 - Hedworthfield CA

my first explorer ticket of the year was required for a busy day of groundhopping, which was thankfully blessed with lovely weather !! :)
after ticking off South Shileds CC, it was off to the footy, where I would recomplete the Durham Alliance League. I expected a high score & it certainly was! Hylton started off the scoring with a penalty, then the floodgates opened. with the HT score at 11-0 & jarrow only had 10 men throughout, the ref decided that the 2nd half would only last 25 mins. Hylton added 8 more before the ref brung a finish to the 70 minute game. after the footy I made my way to Boldon CC for my 2nd cricket ground tick of the day :)

season 2017/18 = 25 new grounds , 160 goals

transport -
X10 stockton - heworth
4085+37 heworth - chichester
4053+55 chichester - pelaw
4066+84 pelaw - fellgate
4065+23 fellgate - east boldon
4058+04 east boldon - heworth
X9 heworth - billingham
36 billingham - stockton

Seaton United 2 v Horden CW 3 - 25/11/17 - ground #461 - The Sports Domes

I'm startin to sound like a broken record here, but ... last time I arrived at this venue I was informed united were playing at English Martyrs school in Hartlepool for a month or so. Thankfully this game went ahead (Groundhog day time).  what a crackin game it was! Seaton took an early lead, which was only levelled after about 30 mins with a 25 yard strike that had the keeper flat footed. both keepers were exceptional the whole match. the Horden keeper tipped a shot onto the bar on a freezing day. Horden took the lead just before HT. the 2nd half was mainly all Horden who eventually went 3-1 up after a string of good saves from the keeper. Seaton hit the bar again before a deserved 2nd goal. everybody (including the home coach) expected a walkover victory for Horden, but a crackin game was had full of everything :)

season 2017/18 = 20 new grounds , 118 goals

transport -
142020 Stockton - seaton carew



 

1 sport domes - boro
36 boro - stockton

West Auckland FC 0 v Jarrow FC 2 - 05/11/16 - ground #427 - The Pauline Charlton Sports Pavilion

After 5wks of heading northbound on the X10 & 2 skint Saturdays, I was finally back on the tracks! got 10.28 thornaby - bishop , then had slow walk down to sainsburys (the one in everybody's pics that visit Heritage Park), for my train cans for the way back (4x5% Cider for £1.80).  after required pitstop, had 20 mins to wait for the Cockfield bus, so walked ahead a few stops passing West Aucklands old ground, arrived in Cockfield, which is the next village along from Evenwood, about 1, plenty time to walk down to the ground for the 1.30pm k.o of this Durham County Cup game & re-complete the Durham Alliance league. An early goal in both halfs were enough to see the Wearside league team through, tho West gave a good account of themselves (coming up from the Crook & District league from last season), & both sides hit the same bar. after the game, waited for the 15.38 bus back to bishop, which made the 16.24 train back to thornaby by almost 15 mins :)

season 2016/17 - 15 new grounds, 69 goals

transport -
142067 thornaby - bishop

6 st helen Auckland - Cockfield
6 Cockfield - bishop
142024 bishop - thornaby

Durham City FC Reserves 4 v Billingham FC 1 - 27/ 08/31 - ground 417 - Belmont Community School

this was the 3rd ground I've seen DCR play at home this calender year, not that I'm complaining ! (I'd be happy to do as many County Durham grounds as possible with them & any other teams in the league) . I arranged to to travel up with the Billingham lads for this one, as their coach doesn't live too far from me. I made the 10 min walk or so up to the garage, met up with John, then made our way to Kings, pickin up another enrote, for a head count etc, then it was off to Belmont.
arrived at the ground about 1, so I had a butty & some juice whilst watching the local archery club practise their own shooting!
the match kicked off onn time at 2, the away team had the best of early exchanges & chances, but it was the home team that struck first. as the game went on, Durham's confience grew. a quality strike from "Drogba" for the 3rd the pick of the goals. a late consolation header pulled 1 back for Billingham, but it was a bad day at the office for them. left the ground about 3.55, dropped players off enroute, arrived back at garage about 4.35,  then I made the short walk home.

season 2016/17 - 5 new grounds, 29 goals :)

Killingworth YPC 3 v Bisop Auckland Reserves 2 - 06/02/16 - ground #404 - Amberley Playing Fields

Finally, the long wait was over, I ticked off Killy ypc & completed the DACL !!
As my train approached Durham, I text ypc to make sure game was on, otherwise it would've been a northern alliance game. Thankfully, it was game on. Killy raced into an early 3-0 lead, promptin the away team to make a triple substitution 10 mins before HT. a crackin 2nd half goal got Bishop back in the game, then a late 2nd made the scorline tighter.
as it stands, I've now completed 5 north east leagues (northern league, Wearside league, teesside league, Durham alliance combination league, eskvale & cleveland league). 5 grounds required in the Crook & District league & 3 grounds required in the DCFA U18s league :)

season 2015/16 - 25 new grounds , 118 goals

transport -
142018 thornaby - darlo
91127 darlo - ncl
91111 ncl - darlo

142026 darlo - thornaby