Southport 1-0 Aldershot
Haig Avenue
31/08/13
Att: 1012 (90 away)
At the back end of last season, following relegation, I had mixed feelings as to the season past and what was going to happen in the future. In one regard I was disappointed, in the same way that any football fan would be with their team being relegated, especially in the 20th year of being reformed. On the other hand, however, there was a side of me that wasn't *too* unhappy with the relegation, especially in light of the financial mess we were in. While I celebrated our return to the Football League, as every single Aldershot fan would've done, in hindsight, I didn't have the same connection to how my Dad (and everyone he grew up watching Aldershot with) had felt. I'd not watched the highs of promotion at Molineux in'87 through to the club going out of existence in '92. I'd not gone through the summer wondering where I'd be watching my football, or that first game against Clapton. I came later, and while I shared in the joy of promotion every year after my birth I wasn't there for the whole story, instead, the Aldershot I know and love was a Non-league team first who happened, through hard work and devotion, to become a Football League team later on. Perhaps this explains my love of the game below the 92, and why this season is the most excited I've been for a while.
It's rather fitting then that the first away game that I've been able to make is one of those conference grounds that I can remember fondly, despite only playing their once before as Aldershot Town. That game had been a reverse of todays scoreline, Darren Barnard netting a penalty in what was the last game of the 2005/6 season. I remember it so fondly as the match winner himself gave me his boots after the game. That season we'd had a disappointing mid-table finish despite two play-off campaigns in the years prior. On the train up I couldn't help but hope we'd have the *disappointment* of a mid-table finish this year with our 10 point deduction. The journey was painfully slow through a mixture of naivety, forgetting my earphones and travelling on my own. The naivety wasn't on my behalf, rather the people that occupied the seats around me from Banbury to Birmingham. I needn't have started talking to them but the Mother inquired to the Father as to where all the football fans* were travelling too, of which I was happy to inform them, before facing the awkward 'why would you travel all the way to x venue to watch a rubbish football team. I decided to pass on telling them where I was going. It got better though, the family were avid united fans, I bet I've been to Old Trafford more times than them. But the jewel in their tales came as the train went behind St Andrews. The Father proclaimed to his son, he was about my age, that we were passing the home of Aston Villa. I can only apologise laughing into my drink, thankfully I didn't have to stay on the train much longer. A little over 3 painfully dull hours, including the length of the Merseyrail northern line, later I'd be pulling into Southport for the 20 minute walk to the ground, not 35 as proclaimed by Google Maps.
Haig Avenue, the ground, dates back to 1905, hosting Football League games between 1921 and 1978 when Southport lost their attempt at re-election to Wigan Athletic. Nowadays the ground has a capacity of just 6,000. The majority of this capacity comes in the form of terracing on three sides. The main home end is the Jack Carr, named after a former director. This is a Covered terrace that takes up about a third of the space along one side. The other end, the Scarisbrick end, is an uncovered terrace reserved for away fans. It has three separate blocks, all of varying size. What was odd was that every other step appeared to be made of wood. To the left of the away end is another uncovered terrace, split into separate blocks, running the full length of the pitch. The final side is the 1,660 seated covered grandstand. As decent sized stand, not quite running the full length, split behind home and away fans.
In truth the less said about the game the better, the team that deserved to win won. The only goal came in the 28th minute when a Osawe header looped over the static Glenn Morris in the Aldershot net. Throughout the afternoon Aldershot failed to press and could've lost by more had it not been for the woodwork on two occasions. Despite what had been a poor afternoon on the pitch, off the pitch it was a reminder of why I like Non-league so much. The admission prices were sensible, as was food and drink, the fans I encountered as friendly as ever and the stewards did what all good stewards should do. Kept out of the way, unless having a friendly general chat, and let people do as they pleased.
After the game I was worried about missing my train, but made it in plenty of time. Another painfully slow journey followed, but I didn't mind too much as it had been a rather relaxed day, despite the result, to a ground that I have grown too even more.
*3 Ipswich fans
It's rather fitting then that the first away game that I've been able to make is one of those conference grounds that I can remember fondly, despite only playing their once before as Aldershot Town. That game had been a reverse of todays scoreline, Darren Barnard netting a penalty in what was the last game of the 2005/6 season. I remember it so fondly as the match winner himself gave me his boots after the game. That season we'd had a disappointing mid-table finish despite two play-off campaigns in the years prior. On the train up I couldn't help but hope we'd have the *disappointment* of a mid-table finish this year with our 10 point deduction. The journey was painfully slow through a mixture of naivety, forgetting my earphones and travelling on my own. The naivety wasn't on my behalf, rather the people that occupied the seats around me from Banbury to Birmingham. I needn't have started talking to them but the Mother inquired to the Father as to where all the football fans* were travelling too, of which I was happy to inform them, before facing the awkward 'why would you travel all the way to x venue to watch a rubbish football team. I decided to pass on telling them where I was going. It got better though, the family were avid united fans, I bet I've been to Old Trafford more times than them. But the jewel in their tales came as the train went behind St Andrews. The Father proclaimed to his son, he was about my age, that we were passing the home of Aston Villa. I can only apologise laughing into my drink, thankfully I didn't have to stay on the train much longer. A little over 3 painfully dull hours, including the length of the Merseyrail northern line, later I'd be pulling into Southport for the 20 minute walk to the ground, not 35 as proclaimed by Google Maps.
Haig Avenue, the ground, dates back to 1905, hosting Football League games between 1921 and 1978 when Southport lost their attempt at re-election to Wigan Athletic. Nowadays the ground has a capacity of just 6,000. The majority of this capacity comes in the form of terracing on three sides. The main home end is the Jack Carr, named after a former director. This is a Covered terrace that takes up about a third of the space along one side. The other end, the Scarisbrick end, is an uncovered terrace reserved for away fans. It has three separate blocks, all of varying size. What was odd was that every other step appeared to be made of wood. To the left of the away end is another uncovered terrace, split into separate blocks, running the full length of the pitch. The final side is the 1,660 seated covered grandstand. As decent sized stand, not quite running the full length, split behind home and away fans.
In truth the less said about the game the better, the team that deserved to win won. The only goal came in the 28th minute when a Osawe header looped over the static Glenn Morris in the Aldershot net. Throughout the afternoon Aldershot failed to press and could've lost by more had it not been for the woodwork on two occasions. Despite what had been a poor afternoon on the pitch, off the pitch it was a reminder of why I like Non-league so much. The admission prices were sensible, as was food and drink, the fans I encountered as friendly as ever and the stewards did what all good stewards should do. Kept out of the way, unless having a friendly general chat, and let people do as they pleased.
After the game I was worried about missing my train, but made it in plenty of time. Another painfully slow journey followed, but I didn't mind too much as it had been a rather relaxed day, despite the result, to a ground that I have grown too even more.
*3 Ipswich fans