Vodkat League Premier Division
At: GPW Recruitment Stadium, Knowsley Road
Kick-off: 7-45 pm
Admission: £5; Programme: £1-20
Attendance: 163
Weather: Rain
Duration: first-half: 47:10; second-half: 48:52
St Helens and Atherton LR shared the points on a horrible damp and wet evening at an iconic stadium which is set to be demolished for housing in 2011.
I was a bit 50:50 about whether to go out tonight and waited until Junior ‘iwf’ got back home from her first day at high school before decided whether or not to head out. Everything went OK so I made my up the M6 to finally visit what could well be the non-league ground which the biggest capacity in England that isn’t shared by a more senior club.
The GPW Recruitment Stadium (aka Knowsley Road) is well known as a top Rugby League venue and it has also been the home of St Helens Town FC as well since 2000. But the days of this 17,500 capacity venue are numbered. Work has already begun on the new stadium a new 18,000 capacity stadium on the derelict former United Glass site that is expected to open ready for the start of the 2011 Rugby League Super League season.
I can’t say I enjoyed the journey – very wet conditions north of Knutsford and a queue north of the M6/M62 interchange, as well as a puzzling route selected by the ‘machine’ of the A580 which got me there but didn’t seem efficient.
Along the A580 from the M6 at Haydock, I ignored a couple of roads signed St Helens until reaching the traffic light at the A570 junction with a Tesco petrol station on the corner – 1.6 miles to go according to the SatNav. I followed the A570 left (Rainford Road) towards the town centre until a puzzling right turn into Hartington Road, followed by right into Kiln Lane and left folk into Alder Hey Road. Soon I hit the T junction with Knowsley Road and the stadium with there to the left on the opposite side of the road.
Both sides went into tonight’s game in opposite halves of the Vodkat League Premier Division table. St Helens (in fifth position with 10 points from five games) have made a good start of the season with three league wins, one draw and one defeat.
Visitors Atherton Laburnum Rovers, in 17th position out of 22 teams, have also played five games and their tally of five points came from a win, two draws and two defeats.
Both St Helens and Atherton crashed out of the FA Vase on Saturday losing, respectively, to Padiham and Colne.
There was a welcome announcement and a reading of the line-ups before kick-off. I opted for seat in the main Hattons Solicitors Stand and began on row 5 seat 23 – for some reason the seats weren’t numbered consecutively.
Atherton LR got the game underway attacking the Dunriding Lane End open terrace – right to left in relation to my vantage point. It was cold and damp with driving rain on the backs of the Atherton players.
The home side were certainly creating the better chances and a low shot from Mike Scully was blocked in front of goal by Louis Edwards. Surface water was coming up off the pitch and, with black numbers on the back of the red and white striped St Helens shirts, it was proving difficult to spot who did what in the conditions.
Atherton took the lead in the 32nd minute against the run of play. Stephenson battled past Chris Burke out on the right and drove the ball across the face of goal. It was pulled back to the edge of the area from where Phil Howard fired a low shot into the bottom left corner.
Something suddenly dawned on me. Out of the depths of my mind, I recalled that the game I saw at St Helens’ old Hoghton Road ground was… St Helens v Atherton LR. For a while I reckoned this was the first league game I’d seen played on two different grounds until, of course, I remembered seeing Stafford play leagues games at both the former and current homes of the likes of Weymouth, Grantham Town, Witton Albion and Wycombe Wanderers, to name four.
In what became a keenly contested encounter, St Helens finished the half strongly as they looked for an equaliser – and almost got one. Graeme Mitchell beat Andy Hewitt with a header only for the ball to hit the left-hand post and rebound across the face of goal.
I’d made use the Refreshment Kiosk before kick-off in the corridor underneath the main stand and headed there again once the half-time whistle was blown. This time in the queue was a local WAG with purply-reddish coloured hair and wearing faded blue jeans, who I initially thought was one of the Fitch twins from Skins. Raffle tickets had been on sale at the entrance to the stand before kick-off – alas the winning strip of 101–105 wasn’t mine.
During the interval, the rain had stopped and the wind eased. St Helens resumed with a desire to equalise and levelled things up on the hour mark. Michael Scully got free of his marker inside the area and wrong-footed Hewitt with a deflected shot off a defender.
Buoyed by the goal, St Helens were in the ascendency but Iain Dyson missed a great chance to put his side in front. Instead he fired wide after good work by Karl Ledsham and Rob Hanley.
However, the miss proved costly as Atherton regained the lead in the 72nd minute. Howard got the better of two defenders before drilling a low shot into the bottom-right corner of the net.
The lead lasted six minutes and it was a goal from Ledsham which got St Helens back on level terms. A good move down the left provided a cross which was not cleared and Ledsham hit a rising shot into the roof of the net from the edge of the area.
Both sides could have scored a winner in the closing stages. Dougie Pitts fired across the face of the Atherton goal while, at the other end, Graeme McCall got down well to hold on to a low shot hit by substitute Jake Patton. The St Helens keeper also saved from Phil Johnson in stoppage time.
Highlights on YouTube
St Helens Town (red and white stripes / red / red and white hoops): 1. Graeme McCall, 2. John Elias, 3. Mark Evans, 4. Stephen Kay, 5. Chris Burke, 6. Dougie Pitts, 7. Iain Dyson (capt), 8. Karl Ledsham, 9. Mike Scully, 10. Graeme Mitchell, 11. Marc Stephens. Subs: 12. Rob Hanley (for Mitchell, 58), 14. Ian Frazer (for Dyson, 81), 15. David Burns (not used), 16. Nick McLoughlin (for Evans, 81), 17. Kevin Woods (not used).
Atherton LR (yellow/blue/yellow): 1. Andy Hewitt, 2. Phil Johnson, 3. Craig Ward, 4. Lee Skett, 5. Ross McNair (capt), 6. Louis Edwards, 7. Rob Molyneux, 8. Jon Stephenson, 9. Phil Howard, 10. Paul Gallagher, 11. Mathew Gregory. Subs: 12. Rob Smith (for Stephenson, 72), 14. Jamie Patton (for Gallagher, 65), 15. Ben Cartwright (for Gregory, 68), 16. Neil Murray (not used), GK. Paul De Garis (not used).
Referee: PR Marsden (Leyland).
Assistants: C Isherwood and SL Jones.
Goals:
0-1 Phil Howard (32)
1-1Mike Scully (60)
1-2 Phil Howard (72)
2-2 Karl Ledsham (80)
Cards:
St Helens: Karl Ledsham (YC, 32), John Elias (YC, 35), Iain Dyson (YC, 57)
Atherton: Phil Howard (YC, 15), Lee Skett (YC, 54), Phil Johnson (YC, 90+2)
