Buckley Town 2 Gresford Athletic 0
Huw Gray Cymru Alliance
At: Etna Park
Kick-off: 7-45 pm
Attendance: 100 (headcount)
Weather: mild, one rain shower
Perhaphs I think for the first time since Bootle back in May, there was a distanct possibility of have a wasted journey - not because of a possible postponment but by horrendous traffic delays. Everything was going to plan until I made it to Chester - the A55 was queuing so I opted to go through the city centre instead only to face what were probably even longer queues. To make matters more frustrating, the SatNav took me to what turned out about 800 yards from the ground but I managed to find the ground in time.
I'd previously seen Buckley play at home in 1995 at their previous home on Hawkesbury Road in May 1995 (1-0 home win over Llandrindroid Wells). Since then, the club have moved to a new venue on Globe Way off Liverpool Road on the north-eastern edge of the town. A drive leads slighly uphill from Globe Way to the ground. Programmes (£1) were sold at the entrance and, once inside, I bought a raffle ticket for a prize of a nice fruit hamper. The pitch runs lengthways with changing rooms, club house and tea bar at this end on a raised terrace. Behind the near goal is a seated stand and on the touchtine to the left is an area of covered standing with covered seats on halfway.
With Wales at home to Lichtenstein tomorrow, all the scheduled Cymru Alliance games were brought forward a day, hence the Friday night action at Etna Park. Buckley went into the game in eight position in the seventeen-team league with a record of ten points from six games. Visitors Gresford were second-from-bottom with one point from five games.
There were plenty of good statistics in the programme along with quite a number of other articles of interest including manager's notes, match reports and league news, etc., along with a history and pen pics of the visitors. In his column, Buckley manager 'Sedge' was looking forward to Friday night football and wrote: "There is nothing better than night games ... it seems to give people a buzz.'
Buckley Town consolidated their position in mid-table with a goal in each half against lowly Gresford.
