League Groundhop - Day One
Sun 16th April 2017 | General | By Ian Templeman
The League's first ever groundhop weekend event got off to a good start today, with non-league enthusiasts travelling from all corners of the country to take in the three scheduled games.
The day began at Brocstedes Park, where a crowd of 297 watched Ashton Athletic beat Squires Gate 2-1 in a Premier Division game, that was played for the most part in heavy rain.
None the less, both teams defied the conditions to serve up an entertaining game, that got off to a lively start with two goals in the opening nine minutes.
Gate's Joe Noblet opened the scoring with a close range finish, but the lead was cancelled out seven minutes later when Danny Smith levelled for the Yellows with a goal from a similar range.
The decisive goal arrived in the 63rd minute when Lee Vaughan stole in at the back post to side foot home the winner from a left wing cross.
The groundhoppers then moved a couple of miles across Ashton-in-Makerfield to Edge Green Street, and Ashton Town failed to get the points they needed to move of the bottom of Division One, losing 2-0 to Stockport Town.
The rain continued to fall for the early part of the game, but thankfully abated as the afternoon wore on, shortly before Ben Halfacre scored the first of his two goals for the visitors in front of 315 spectators.
He opened his account by converting a penalty on the half hour after Adam Stubbs had been bowled over in the box, and then 12 minutes into the second half he produced a good finish to convert a right wing cross from Aaron Dwyer.
The final game of the day took place at the Pavilions, where Runcorn Town remained in fourth place in the Premier Division but moved level on points with Bootle after a 4-1 win over Barnton in front of an attendance of 335.
Once again, the game began with rain falling, and Craig Cairns opened the scoring for Town on 16 minutes, when he successfully converted his ninth penalty of the season.
Mark Reed then added a second goal for Town two minutes into the second half when he fired home a loose ball from 15 yards.
Cairns then scored his second and Town's third goal in the 55th minute, beating Barnton keeper Matt Conkie with a cool lob, before former Town player Jason McShane reduced the arrears with a neatly placed curling shot into the bottom corner of the net.
However, the best goal of the game arrived 14 minutes from time, when Reed scored Town's fourth with a beautifully executed bicycle at the far post from a right wing cross.
It was a fine way to round off a good day of action, and one of the many impressed onlookers was Talksport Radio reporter and non-league enthusiast Tony Incenzo, who was happy to share his thoughts on the day events at full time.
'I think the day has been a great success', he said. 'I've been to all three games, the combined attendance is nearly 1000 which is fantastic for Step 5 and 6, and everybody has enjoyed themselves despite the weather.
'What your grounds have had is plenty of cover and plenty of seating, and good facilities. The football has been very good and very competitive, and the last goal from Runcorn Town (scored by Mark Reed), the scissor kick, was a fantastic goal. If that had been scored in the Premiership they would be showing it over and over again on TV all week.
'So I think everyone can take that moment away as a memory of the weekend, but the whole thing has been very well organised.
'The club's programmes have been very good, full of interesting reading material, and the clubs have done really well in organising the tea bars, programme sales, and raffles and I hope all the clubs have made a good profit from it'.
Tony will report on his day at the Groundhop in his regular Non-League feature on Talksport, which is normally broadcast at 1.45 pm on Mondays, but due to Bank Holiday fixtures he expects this week's episode will be broadcast on Tuesday.
Tony will tweet details of the broadcast via his Twitter account @TonyIncenzo
League Groundhop - Day One
Sun 16th April 2017 | General
By Ian Templeman
The League's first ever groundhop weekend event got off to a good start today, with non-league enthusiasts travelling from all corners of the country to take in the three scheduled games.
The day began at Brocstedes Park, where a crowd of 297 watched Ashton Athletic beat Squires Gate 2-1 in a Premier Division game, that was played for the most part in heavy rain.
None the less, both teams defied the conditions to serve up an entertaining game, that got off to a lively start with two goals in the opening nine minutes.
Gate's Joe Noblet opened the scoring with a close range finish, but the lead was cancelled out seven minutes later when Danny Smith levelled for the Yellows with a goal from a similar range.
The decisive goal arrived in the 63rd minute when Lee Vaughan stole in at the back post to side foot home the winner from a left wing cross.
The groundhoppers then moved a couple of miles across Ashton-in-Makerfield to Edge Green Street, and Ashton Town failed to get the points they needed to move of the bottom of Division One, losing 2-0 to Stockport Town.
The rain continued to fall for the early part of the game, but thankfully abated as the afternoon wore on, shortly before Ben Halfacre scored the first of his two goals for the visitors in front of 315 spectators.
He opened his account by converting a penalty on the half hour after Adam Stubbs had been bowled over in the box, and then 12 minutes into the second half he produced a good finish to convert a right wing cross from Aaron Dwyer.
The final game of the day took place at the Pavilions, where Runcorn Town remained in fourth place in the Premier Division but moved level on points with Bootle after a 4-1 win over Barnton in front of an attendance of 335.
Once again, the game began with rain falling, and Craig Cairns opened the scoring for Town on 16 minutes, when he successfully converted his ninth penalty of the season.
Mark Reed then added a second goal for Town two minutes into the second half when he fired home a loose ball from 15 yards.
Cairns then scored his second and Town's third goal in the 55th minute, beating Barnton keeper Matt Conkie with a cool lob, before former Town player Jason McShane reduced the arrears with a neatly placed curling shot into the bottom corner of the net.
However, the best goal of the game arrived 14 minutes from time, when Reed scored Town's fourth with a beautifully executed bicycle at the far post from a right wing cross.
It was a fine way to round off a good day of action, and one of the many impressed onlookers was Talksport Radio reporter and non-league enthusiast Tony Incenzo, who was happy to share his thoughts on the day events at full time.
'I think the day has been a great success', he said. 'I've been to all three games, the combined attendance is nearly 1000 which is fantastic for Step 5 and 6, and everybody has enjoyed themselves despite the weather.
'What your grounds have had is plenty of cover and plenty of seating, and good facilities. The football has been very good and very competitive, and the last goal from Runcorn Town (scored by Mark Reed), the scissor kick, was a fantastic goal. If that had been scored in the Premiership they would be showing it over and over again on TV all week.
'So I think everyone can take that moment away as a memory of the weekend, but the whole thing has been very well organised.
'The club's programmes have been very good, full of interesting reading material, and the clubs have done really well in organising the tea bars, programme sales, and raffles and I hope all the clubs have made a good profit from it'.
Tony will report on his day at the Groundhop in his regular Non-League feature on Talksport, which is normally broadcast at 1.45 pm on Mondays, but due to Bank Holiday fixtures he expects this week's episode will be broadcast on Tuesday.
Tony will tweet details of the broadcast via his Twitter account @TonyIncenzo
