16 May 2018 – Life of Pie blog season review

Just for a bit of fun, I thought I’d announce some end-of-season awards of my own.

Game of the season:

It’s a three-way tie and I can’t separate them, but two have one thing in common: the magic of the cup; two were Vase games. September had two of the nominations.

In September two Northern League teams met in the second qualifying round of the Vase. Stockton 4 Consett 3 after extra time doesn’t begin to describe the drama which I summed up as: “….£6 doesn’t get you too much these days, that is unless you were at this game. VFM (value for money) doesn’t even get close. This was 120 minutes of thrilling, thrilling football. Goals galore, countless chances, a dubious penalty, a saved penalty, non-stop action and a wonderful/heart-breaking sting in the tale. ” And at the final whistle: “…Astonishing. Remarkable. Fantastic. The shots and missed chances by both teams would have filled a blog all on their own. I might have just seen the game of the season.”

Seven months later Stockton are in the Vase final. But only just. They won this one with the last kick of the game. This season they had the knack of getting late winners in cup competitions.

At the end of the month Penrith v Ryhope CW didn’t look the most promising of games but it turned into a goal-fest. A struggling Penrith team took on Ryhope who’d made a solid start to the campaign. Ninety minutes later, we’d seen eight goals – including four strikes in 10 minutes by Josh Home-Jackson. Ryhope ran out 5-3 winners, but Penrith battled all the way and showed a lot of mettle.

I described the final joint winner as “….A slow burner [that] turned into a white hot cup classic. Two clubs – steeped in FA Vase history – produced a thrilling match that would have graced the Wembley final…… A wonderful, wonderful game of football.”

West Auckland Town 4 Whitley Bay 3 in the Buildbase FA Vase was a third round tie where if you took your eye off the game you’d miss something. Goals aplenty, great goalkeeping and a controversial penalty decision with 12 agonising minutes of time added on.

(Just missing out was the second Vase semi-final Vase tie between Stockton and Marske which was an absolute classic – magnificent drama and, at the end, complete bedlam; but enough’s already been written about that game.)

Goal of the season:

Joint winners: Joe Walton in Morpeth’s home game against Marske in October which had three brilliant goals and Tom Bott with an absolute beaut in Ryhope CA’s Vase match against City of Liverpool FC. (In any other season, the other two goals by Craig Gott and Keith Graydon in the Morpeth v Marske game would probably have won goal of the season.)

This is how I described both:

Joe’s goal: “First up was Morpeth captain Keith Graydon, with the score all square at 1-1. From 20 yards out he hit a pile driver that couldn’t have been placed better. The lead lasted a matter of seconds. Second up was Craig Gott whose 35-yard shot had power and bend, giving Morpeth Karl Dryden no chance. It was hard to believe, but it eclipsed the effort by Graydon. Astonishingly even that was beaten by Joe Walton’s winner. With only four minutes of the 90 left, there didn’t seemed to be anything on for the Morpeth man as he took the ball outside the Marske box. Standing side-on to the goal, he flicked it up, turned and volleyed it in with an unstoppable, unsaveable gem.”

Tom’s goal: “….An absolutely stunning goal by Ryhope’s Tom Bott wasn’t enough to keep the Wearsiders in this year’s Vase…..There didn’t seem much on for the No 4 when the ball dropped in front of him 30 yards out, but he hit it with power, placement and dip, leaving the Liverpool keeper helpless.”

Team I’ve most enjoyed watching:

Sorry to keep on bottling coming to a definitive view, but it’s been a joy to watch both Marske and Morpeth games. Tremendous football, great goals and just simply good fun to be a spectator. It’s a shame we’re losing both to promotion.

Teams to watch next season:

Division One: Newly-promoted Hebburn Town have had a major overhaul off the field and their average attendances this season was the 12th best across both divisions. You get the impression they’re a club ready to kick on and grab the challenge of promotion with both hands, just over a year after there were serious doubts about the future of the club.

Division Two: If they can keep all/most of their squad together, it will be interesting to see how Durham City fare next season. Each time I’ve seen them this season, they’ve improved. Manager Ollie Hotchkiss has them well set up, working for each other and playing through the midfield with plenty of energy and effort, on not much of a budget either apparently.

Surprise team of the season:

Thornaby. Obviously not one of the league’s biggest clubs, but this season they’ve been a match for anyone in the second division. For quite some time they were tucked in at fifth in the table. They were well-organised and had quality from front to back. The signing of Kallum Hannah was clearly an important one for them.

Fan of the Season.

There can be only one. One of the band of groundhoppers, always impeccably behaved and one of most popular spectators on the Northern League scene, with his own Twitter account too. The one, the only Harry the Dog (@heatonstanharry). The question is, will he get to the remaining five Northern League grounds he’s yet to visit by the end of next season? He’s the only winner to receive a prize. Gravy bones, naturally.

And finally:

As we come to the end of the season, I’d like to apologise for inflicting 81,000 words on you. Some of them might have even made some sense. But then again, perhaps not. I hope you’ve enjoyed the blog. If you have, it makes all the travelling and burning the midnight oil as I try to work out what to write, worth it.

PS – Because of its quirky character, one of my favourite grounds was Jarrow Roofing. It’ll be strange not to be going there next season. I’ll miss it – along with Jan’s tea hut.

PPS – If you haven’t suffered enough and want some more, the blog will continue on the league’s new website – www.northernfootballleague.org next season.

Have a restful close season and good luck to Stockton Town in Sunday’s Buildbase FA Vase final. The blog will be there to report as their Vase adventure reaches its climax. (Pre-season training’s only a couple of weeks away…..)