Ground 29
Match 30
West Lancs Premier
Garstang 1-1 Stoneclough
Ground - The Riverside
Formed - Late 1880's
Admission Free
Programme not available
Distance Travelled 21 miles
Garstang - All Red
Stoneclough - Claret/Maroon/sky blue
Kick Off 2pm
Club house
Garstang is situated in the Wyre borough of Lancashire inbetween Preston and Lancaster . Its the first Fairtrade Town (2000) and produces an award winning blue cheese . I made the short trip via the M6 and A6 .
The club car park is situated off High Street which cuts through the centre of this small but quaint picturesque town . Every club i've visited so far in this division has a decent clubhouse with catering and changing rooms ; Garstang is no exception . In fact they were accommodating football and rugby today . There's a cricket scoreboard and pitch , tennis courts etc , good facilities and well supported by the locals .
After reading their excellent club website and match reports i noticed the club claims to be watched by around 100 spectators at each home game , before 2pm i was a little dubious but after the kick -off there was indeed a healthy crowd . I believe the club have planning permission to improve the ground perimeter by adding floodlights and boards . The pitch is surrounded by metal poles and posts which arch out near the dugouts and park bench incline along the halfway touchline .
Opposite the clubhouse goal is the River Wyre and a freshly built bonfire , so far without any effigies for Guy Fawkes Night celebrations later .
Garstang , bottom of the division without a win , need to put a few victories together . Stoneclough are in the bottom half of the table .
Both teams settle quickly , its not all kick and rush as you may expect , there's neat and sloppy passing along the undulating heavy looking pitch , both sides create several openings but fail to break the deadlock . Half time 0-0 .
The home crowd are right behind their team and the small Stoneclough contingent are vociferous too .
I decide to try the meat and potato pie and a cup of coffee . Prices are very reasonable and the pie is tasty .
Pie £1.20 Coffee/tea 60p crisps 45p
I'm slow to get out for the second half and get a glimpse from the club window of Garstang opening the scoring through Swash , virtually straight from the second half re-start , followed by a burst of rapturous applause from the home fans .
Stoneclough pressed forward with more urgency , leaving more space for Garstang . The next goal was going to be crucial and came from Stoneclough on the hour mark .
Ralph was first to react following a free kick into the box , agonisingly squeezing the ball home from close range to equalise .
In the closing minutes , with Stoneclough pressing , their fans and coaching staff went ballistic with the referee for not allowing play to continue after a through ball sent their forward into an advantageous position . The ref' stopped the game to book Garstang's Squirrell , clearly a poor decision not to allow play to continue and book the player retrospectively . I didn't like the foul and abusive language from a Stoneclough follower which continued for a good five minutes towards the referee . Language can be directed with less inflamed remarks even though i did agree with his observation . Apart from this incident the players and coaching staff were generally involved in good humoured banter even when the ref' made contentious decisions .
Credit to both teams for serving up a feast of attacking football and a draw was probably fair . Garstang obviously need wins and another draw was disappointing for their loyal fans .
Match Officials 7/10 Could have kept the play flowing more .
Time for me tea - bangers and Mash !
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