TT No.58: Andrew Gallon - Wed 12th September 2007; Stokesley SC v North Shields; EAM Cup 1st rd;      Res: 1-4; Att: 45 (h/c); Admission: £3; Programme (16pp): 50p; FGIF Match Rating: ***

Local hero Captain James Cook would doubtless approve of the voyage of discovery Stokesley Sports Club embarked upon a decade ago. From the backwater of the Teesside League, the club has progressed meteorically via the Wearside League to the Northern League - the non-league holy grail for most in this part of the world. The alacrity of that climb has been matched by the development of the facilities at Broughton Road Park, which must rank among the best - and most picturesque - at this level in the region.   National Lottery cash and a Football Foundation grant helped the club, in conjunction with the North Riding FA, to pump £1.2m into their impressive multi-sport complex. The NRFA has moved its headquarters from smokey Middlesbrough to leafy Stokesley, and so the ground is used also for county cup finals, representative games and trial matches. A sign of the club's growing status was the signing recently of former Middlesbrough, Leicester, Bradford, Wycombe, Stoke and Hull central defender Nicky Mohan. Because of what the Stokesley club has to offer, there's no reason why other big names should not wish to play their football here.   As a bonus, this is a really lovely part of the world and a treat to visit. Stokesley (which means 'wooded meadow' and sits squarely on the Cleveland Plain, just outside the North Yorkshire Moors National Park) is a handsome, prosperous town laid out in the traditional North East manner. There is a wide main street and a town hall placed centrally mid-thoroughfare. Elegant Georgian town houses, once the home of wealthy merchants, line each side of the High Street, with the corner grouping around the green and cenotaph at the south end particularly attractive. Parallel to the High Street is Levenside, down which flows the tree-fringed River Leven, a tributary of the Tees. This part of town is serene - look out for the medieval, arched pack horse bridge, which features on the football club's badge. Even more charming is picture postcard Great Ayton, three miles down the road. This is where Cook, born on the outskirts of Middlesbrough, went to school.   The football ground is off the Helmsley road, opposite the leisure centre. The car park, half tarmac, half loose material, separates the ground from the NRFA buildings, the social club and the dressing rooms. The latter three are built in a honey-hued brick, and the social club simply has to be the envy of every visiting club. It's light, airy and tastefully decorated and furnished. The cricket field can be seen through the full-length glazed doors to the north and, to the west, there is an equally immaculate bowling green. On the walls, instead of the usual football mementoes, are stunning photographs of local beauty spots. A classy touch.   The ground entrance is in the right-hand corner of the car park. The club has just completed work in this area and Northern League chairman Mike Amos, organiser of many an Easter Hop in this neck of the woods, was on hand at the last home fixture to provide his seal of approval. On this right - west - side is the refreshment hatch, where you'll find the line-ups tacked up. In dazzling green and white paint, this part of the ground is very smart. Beyond is a kit-built stand (no, no, no!) with four rows of plastic, tip-up seats in the club's red and black colours. To the left of the entrance are two areas of covered, flagged hardstanding behind the north goal. The roofs are low and multi-columned. Beyond the south goal, and a line of fledgling conifers, are a number of other pitches which cater for the club's various teams - including a newly-formed women's side. The substantial wooden building to the south east is a golf driving range. The large, neat dugouts are on the east halfway line and the (to my eyes) perfect pitch is surrounded by white-painted railings. The flags go right round the ground, with a strip of grass, a hedge and then the B1257 on the west side. Their are four floodlight masts per side, with two lamps on each. Because the dressing rooms are outside the wooden slatted perimeter fence, the players have to trot down a path and enter the pitch in the north-east corner.   The setting is absolutely stunning and the ground's real selling point. If you stand on the west side, almost the full range of the Cleveland Hills is visible. From here, looking over and beyond a neighbouring farm, the shapely, 1,051-foot peak of Roseberry Topping, far left, begins the scenic parade. This is known as 'Cleveland's Matterhorn', for reasons which will become apparent when you see it. The obelisk on the heathery top of Easby Moor is the Captain Cook Monument, 51 feet high and completed on the centenary of the great explorer's birth in 1827. Farther to the right, you will discern a narrow strip of lighter coloured land climbing the hillside at an angle. This was part of the old ironstone railway to Rosedale. Steam trains were rope hauled 750 feet on to the moors from the valley floor. It must have been a remarkable sight. The line closed in 1929 and is now a footpath. Completing the panorama of summits are Round Hill, the nick of Clay Bank Top, Hasty Bank, The Wainstones and Cold Moor. Magnificent.   You may, by this stage, have forgotten you're here to watch football. Tonight it's the Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup, the knockout competition exclusively for Northern League Second Division teams and named after a former league president. North Shields, for whom big striker Stuart Heppell scores a hat-trick, upset the formbook in emphatic fashion. The visiting Robins, yet to win in the league this season, dominate high-flying Stokesley from start to finish and the hosts end up substituting former professional Mohan, who has a poor game, in the second half.   The writing is on the wall as early as the third minute when Heppell bundles the ball in at the near post after a strong run and dangerous cross from lively wide man David Henderson. Shields skipper Graham Wilson, who looks like he could do a job as a rugby league second-row forward, clatters the top of the bar with a vicious volley (14) before Stokesley full-back Leon Poole, otherwise excellent, heads a hopeful Wilson punt into the box past his own keeper (26) as communications break down badly. The tie's as good as over three minutes later when Henderson gets lucky with a ricochet after another determined burst and squares for Heppell to rattle a low drive in off a post.   Stokesley, semi-finalists in this competition last season, concede a fourth goal in the 66th minute. Heppell chases an apparently lost cause on the right side of the box and doubles back before making space to curl a sublime left-foot drive over keeper Matthew Drury. Shields keeper David Lanning makes a pointblank save to deny Chris Homer (78) but Stokesley finally get a consolation goal six minutes from time when an unmarked Gary Shardha volleys a driven Poole cross into the roof of the net. It can't take the shine off a great Shields performance - to the surprise of their enthusiastic fans who, pre-match, were expecting to add to exits from the FA Cup and FA Vase, and to the misery last weekend of conceding a six-second goal during an abject league defeat by Morpeth Town. Oh ye of little faith.   I appreciate that for hoppers not based in the North, any club in the Northern League is a long way from home. But the Stokesley club, in addition to the town's many delights, has the benefit of being the most accessible of the league's members from the South. If you do only one, make sure it's this one. Go on. Set sail for Captain Cook Country.

contributed on 13/09/07