TT No.17: Andy Gallon - Sat 7^th August 2010; Runcorn Town v Abbey Hey; North West Counties League Div One; Res: 5-1; Att: 113; Admission: £2; Programme: £1.50 (24pp); FGIF Match Rating: *** 

Matchday images (12) http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/footballgroundsinfocus/RuncornTownFC

Spoilt for choice in Runcorn. Not, I’m willing to bet, a phrase used all that often. Two big games today in this uninviting stretch of the Mersey’s Cheshire banks: Runcorn Town are playing their first match since securing promotion to Division One of the North West Counties League; and, in the Premier Division of the same league, Runcorn Linnets are ending a four-year exile in Northwich (oh, how miserable that sounds) with a debut competitive fixture at the new Millbank Linnets Stadium. I tend to favour the little man on these occasions, therefore I plump for Town’s encounter at Pavilions with Abbey Hey, relegated from the top flight last season. Producing a club record home attendance, some 112 other souls, including a who’s who of groundhoppers, arrive at the same decision. Plenty don’t. The crowd up the road for the Linnets game, a 2-2 draw against Colne, is an impressive 508.

Town, if we’re being absolutely accurate, have a considerably longer history than Linnets, who were born in 2006 out of the financial wreckage of Runcorn FC. They formed in 1970 as Mond Rangers, and progressed to the West Cheshire League via the Runcorn Sunday and Warrington & District Leagues. In 2005, they set in motion a plan (a five-year plan, possibly) to improve their facilities at Pavilions with an eye to stepping up to the North West Counties League. Plenty of building work and, last season, a third-place finish in the West Cheshire League saw dream become reality.

Pavilions is a rambling, spacious site, valued recently at more than £7m, I was informed. It used to belong to ICI, still a big cheese in this neck of the woods, and was used by their workforce, but the chemical giants sold it to a private consortium. Town are one of several tenants. The pavilion, a large and rather austere red-brick building, dominates. It looks like one of those pubs provided for local authority estates knocked up in the 1930s. Probably even less inviting, if you can get your head round that concept. You have to buzz to get in. I didn’t bother, preferring instead to watch part of a friendly involving one of Runcorn Albion’s three teams taking place on the pitch in front. Albion’s first team, from the Premier Division of the Warrington & District League, use the tidy little ground next door. This is fully enclosed and boasts a small stand and floodlights. Runcorn Town’s home is just beyond, at the far end of the site. Admission is via a pay box alongside a gate. I sniff the air and detect the influence of Health and Safety fascists; everyone is wearing a fluorescent tabard. Can’t be too careful, eh?

Climb an earth bank and you come out behind the goal at the south end. You can count on the fingers of one hand the number of attractive enclosures in the North West Counties League. For the record, I’ll nominate Bacup Borough, New Mills, Holker Old Boys and Rossendale United. Pavilions isn’t destined to swell the total, though it does have some redeeming features. A hideous pylon line marches diagonally across the far end, the side nearest the river is overlooked by the characteristically mysterious pipework and smoking stacks of a chemical works, the Runcorn Expressway roars noisily behind the main stand and there’s a couple of ugly mobile phone masts inside the perimeter fence. Oh, and the ground is on the inbound flight path for Liverpool airport, at Speke on the other bank of the Mersey. I find the procession of jets mildly thrilling. Perhaps there’s a planespotter in me, fighting to get out. Like a passenger in a bog standard seat on a budget airline. Look beyond the foul chemical detritus, however, and you’ll glimpse the Mersey and, on the skyline, the beguiling hills of North Wales. The presence of trees around the ground lends a semi-rural atmosphere. For maximum effect, close one eye and stick fingers in your ears.

Not that Runcorn Town would overly concern themselves with aesthetics. The club have done tremendously well to achieve so much in such a short space of time. It seems the ground is unrecognisable from the point at which development began. So, what have they got for spectators? There are two stands. That on the east side is an old-fashioned cowshed. Deep and high, it covers an area of flattened earth. Opposite is a curious stand. Low and shallow, it expends a great deal of ironmongery in providing shelter for a single row of bench seats. It’s nicely finished in blue and yellow paint, though. Also on the east side, in a corner, there is a simple tin cover, possibly for the disabled. The club house, a dazzling blue, is positioned between that and the main stand. Half is given over to the dressing rooms, half to the social club, where refreshments are served and the club’s excellent programme can be bought. The floodlights are mounted on masts and the pitch, which slopes down towards the river, is surrounded by a concrete panel fence. I can feel your pulse racing.

Town expect a test from their visitors, but Abbey Hey aren’t any great shakes. They’re not as sharp as the hosts and lack a regular keeper. Conrad Prendergast, the youngster who dons the gloves, is a liability. Without positional sense, he is at fault for three of Runcorn’s five goals, although the lad is an early contender for Name of the Season. Prendergast makes a hash of dealing with a 20-yard free-kick in the third minute, somehow allowing Marvin Molyneux (another great name) to score with a straight drive the keeper saw all the way. Jamie Dickinson is unlucky not to equalise with a back-header onto the crossbar, but team-mate Sam Jones achieves parity in the 16^th minute, wriggling away from his marker and angling a well-struck shot across keeper Karl Wills and into the bottom corner.

Within two minutes, Town regain the lead. Molyneux curls a delightful free-kick round the defensive wall and into the net off the inside of a post. The range is similar to his first goal, but Prendergast cannot be faulted this time. Simply a tremendous shot. Jones is denied by keeper Wills in a one-on-one and fellow Red Peter Siddall, in the manner of Pele at the 1970 World Cup, almost scores from 40 yards with an audacious lob. It narrowly clears the bar. Town then put the game to bed with goals in the 39^th and 41^st minutes. The visitors fail to clear their lines and James McShane, left all alone, rams the ball home from 12 yards. Soon after, he makes space in the box and the unhappy Prendergast allows a tame effort to squirm between his left hand and a post, and over the line.

Right, shall we get off home? No, better see out what promises to be an uneventful second half. And so it proves. Prendergast makes a good save from Warren Bellew and McShane finds the side-netting when well placed on the left side of the box. At the other end, Wills uses his hands to push aside a Wesley Harney header and his feet to foil Wayne Welbeck in a one-on-one. The day’s final goal arrives - out of nothing - with six minutes left. Tyson Eyo spots Prendergast isn’t where he should be (again) and cracks a sublime thunderbolt past him from 20 yards. I was in line with this low trajectory shot, and it was a goal from the moment boot made contact with ball.

Courtesy of goal difference, Town shoot straight to the top of the table. Abbey Hey sink to the foot. Sterner tests lie ahead for Town, but they look a useful side, working hard and out-enthusing (as they say in rugby league) the opposition. At this level, vim and vigour count for a lot. As I head for home across the green and pleasant Runcorn Bridge (truly the most eyecatching thing about the place, and the image of choice for Town’s programme cover), I reflect on how soon I shall be returning. It won’t be long, I imagine, before I’m checking out the Millbank Linnets Stadium. In an ideal world, of course, today’s kick-offs would have been staggered. That way, groundhoppers could have bagged two ‘ticks’ for one tank of fuel and the Runcorn clubs each enjoyed a bumper attendance. Hey, ho. Welcome to the new season!

contributed on 09/08/10