TT No.46: Dean McClean-Wednesday 5th September 2007. East Lancashire League Division One: Mill Hill v Witton Park;                    Res: 7-1; Admission: no; programme: no; Att: 60; FGIF Match Rating: 3*

View matchday images  01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09   A short walk from home brought me to Griffin Park, home of Mill Hill, (not to be confused with their near neighbours Mill Hill St. Peter's) for this intriguing local derby against neighbours Witton Park.   After making their debut in the ELL last season, Mill Hill gained promotion immediately and at a canter, losing only a handful of matches and scoring a vast amount of goals, on their way to Division One.   On tonight's performance, they should have another good season and will surely be a contender for the title. If they were to win the title this season, I can see no reason why they couldn't progress onto the West Lancs League. The ground is more than adequate compared to other venues in that league.   My travelling friend, dipping his toes into the ELL for the first time, was more than dubious of what he would find this evening. However, this game impressed him and he has promised to attend another match in this league. Indeed, he was sorely tempted to throw his hat for the trip to Worsthorne on Thursday, an acceptable venue in its own right.   One of the difficulties of 'hopping at this level can be attempting to find out which team is which, due the frequency that some teams change their kits. Take this evening for example: Ground painted predominately blue; red and black corner flags and a team in red and black...what colour were the home team?...yellow!   Griffin Park, venue of many Blackburn Schools' Finals and once home of Blackburn Rovers LFC, is a tidy little ground worthy of a higher place.   Only reprieved from relegation last season, due to a withdrawal, Witton must have feared the thrashing they eventually received. However, it was they who took the lead half way through the first half, completely against the run of play and despite being outplayed for the most part, they went in at half-time at 1-1. Obviously the home side had a point to prove and after they scored an early second half goal, it was all one way traffic and quite honestly the score could have run into double figures.

contributed on 06/09/07