TT No.75: Andy Gallon - Tues 28th October 2008; Stewarts & Lloyds v Cogenhoe United; UCL Prem Div;       Res: 2-2; Att: 57 (h/c); Admission: £5 (incl 16pp programme); FGIF Match Rating: ****

Corby, so I heard on the radio the other day, is the most recession proof place in the UK. Now our politicians have admitted finally bust will follow boom, the Northamptonshire town seemed an appropriate destination. Corby, once almost completely reliant on manufacturing, knows all about dealing with a slump. Closure of the bulk of the steelworks from late 1979 led to 11,000 jobs being lost and an unemployment rate of 30%. But necessity proved the mother of invention and 'Little Scotland' capitalised on being given Enterprise Zone status and generous European Union handouts, and on having a central location, to become a major distribution fulcrum. The town is ringed by warehouses and storage sheds. If Corby can bounce back from such a bodyblow, there is hope for us all as we watch our pension funds dwindle and the spectre of negative equity moan increasingly loudly from the darkest shadows of our tortured minds.   It is still not, however, a pretty place. The invasion of Scots to take up jobs in the steel plant coincided with Corby's designation in 1950 as a New Town. It bears the hallmarks - or scars - of all such developments. Substance over style, function over form. Nowhere sparkles in unexpected October sleet and snow but, even so, the budget retailer-blighted centre exudes a fascinatingly grey bleakness. Progress in what has been dubbed the Parkland Gateway is being made, and hopes are high a corner is about to be turned. The new Willow Place shopping centre, dreary as only outdoor malls can be but adored by so many in the age of the consumer, has given a modern twist to the unattractive prevailing 1960s architecture, and construction of the £26.1m Corby Cube civic hub/arts centre is well under way. The North Northants Development Company's publicity blurb for the latter, the brainchild of something called Urban Regeneration Company Catalyst Corby, is worth quoting, if only for collectors of public relations gibberish: "The building is a cube in the round with four 'live' elevations set within the centre of the new town square. Inspired by the concept of an art deco jewellery box, the naturally ventilated building is a pure glistening object with an elevation pattern of black and mirrored glass, animated by a series of openings and 'open drawer' projected spaces. All facilities are arranged around a spiralling ramp, which also functions as a library." Now, go away and draw what you think that looks like. Exactly.   Corby's Scots connection is an alluring one. Having parked on Argyll Street, reached via Campbell Road and Stuart Road, I was keen to discover more. The number of Scots accents is noticeable, and even those who sound local have ancestry from north of the border. Testing the smallest of random samples, I asked the girl who served me in WH Smith about this. It turned out her dad was from Greenock and her mum from Uddingston.     It comes as no surprise, in a former one-industry town, to discover Corby's football clubs are inextricably linked with steel production. Stewarts & Lloyds were formed in 1935 as the team for the works which helped transform Corby from insignificant village to thriving ironopolis. A split in 1948 led to the formation of Corby Town, who aimed to represent the town rather than the plant. S&L soldiered on and clambered back into the United Counties League having regrouped and recuperated in the Kettering Amateur League. The two clubs used to share adjacent grounds at the steelworks' sports and social club but only S&L still play at Occupation Road. Town, whose ground was sold for redevelopment, decamped to the soulless athletics stadium at Rockingham Triangle. Ironically, given the reason for Town's establishment, S&L, who boast a healthy number of teams for both sexes, now refer to themselves as 'Corby's True Community Club'.    However shiny a gem Corby's embryonic town centre might become, the area around Occupation Road, all council estate utilitarianism, is the dullness of base metal. But the sports complex is impressive. On the way in, you pass the Corby Town social club - a pleasing nod to the past - and enter a large car park next to the rugby union ground. S&L's home is alongside. It is basic and relatively undeveloped but has some interesting features. Access is via a gate in the south-west corner. An unmade track leads past a portable pay hut and bends round behind the west goal to run between the sole stand and the pitch before petering out amid deep puddles at the east end by a red-brick building housing the social club and dressing rooms. This imposing two-storey structure, part funded by the National Lottery, opened in 1998. The dressing rooms are on the ground floor, with the social club, warm and welcoming, directly above. A balcony provides a perfect view of the action and a line of trees to the rear masks a housing estate.    The ground is effectively three sided because there isn't any spectator accommodation on the south touchline. There is room only for the linesman's 'runway' between the pitch and a flimsy metal fence which separates football from rugby and enables the Foundrymen to meet the 'enclosed ground' requirements of the United Counties League. The stand, 20 yards long and five deep, is positioned slightly off centre on the north side. Set back from the pitch on the other side of the access track, it is a simple structure with an unpropped roof covering a couple of rows of plank seats and a small area of concrete hardstanding. Low metal railings line the front. From here, you can see how the pitch slopes down towards both stand and social club. The view, however, is spoiled by the presence of two large tin dugouts almost directly ahead. Most fans were happy to stand alongside the white painted post and rail barrier surrounding the pitch. Beyond the west end, additional pitches for cricket, football and rugby stretch away, with more houses fringing the vast site's outer limits. The floodlights, switched on in 1992, are masts, with four per side. The rugby union club appear to have an identical system. One thing you will notice is the rather sweet 'baking' aroma in the air. This comes from the factory of a nearby breakfast cereal producer. If it weren't my favourite - Weetabix - I probably wouldn't refer to them by name.     The wintry weather which had put this fixture in doubt cleared miraculously an hour before kick-off to leave a still, crisp, clear evening. The pitch had stood up well to the deluge and the teams produced a contest of fizz and zing. Visitors Cogenhoe United, who ended Premier Division leaders Deeping Rangers' 10-match unbeaten run last weekend, have found some form of late and became - deservedly - the first team to take anything from Occupation Road in a league fixture this season. They needed a last-minute equaliser to do so but even the S&L regulars admitted the Cooks had been the better side.   S&L, sporting startling shirts of amber and maroon halves, are going great guns this season but struggled to fire all night. Paul Malone (16) almost put them ahead with a flashing half-volley which just cleared the crossbar before the appositely-named Darren Frost (28) sent an angled effort from the left side of the box inches wide of Richard Lavin's far post. Frost broke the deadlock in the 34th minute when he crashed a superb 20-yard free-kick through the defensive wall and into the bottom corner. Dom Johnson (37) squandered a great opportunity to equalise when put through by Michael Byrne, Darren Watts rushing off his goalline to make a good block. Johnson and Byrne reversed roles three minutes later and this time the Foundrymen didn't pass up the chance. Frost (41) then found himself in the clear but Lavin was equal to the challenge.   Cogenhoe dominated the second half. The Cooks played some controlled football while S&L were reduced frequently to hit-and-hope tactics. Lavin made a brilliant double save two minutes after the restart. He clawed away a rising drive from Neil Champelovier and then pushed round the post Jack Ashton's follow-up. Malone (77) again illustrated how well he strikes the ball, with a 20-yarder whistling inches too high. The voluble Cogenhoe bench were aghast when the Foundrymen edged ahead with just nine minutes left. Substitute Robert Drain played a ball in from the left and Johnson had the time and room to control it and scoop a shot over Watts from the edge of the penalty area. The Cooks were down but not out and almost equalised in the 86th minute when S&L skipper Chris Logan placed inadvertently a header wide of Lavin's left hand and team-mate Paul Doherty had to hack off the goalline. The influential Frost (87) was desperately close with an angled drive but justice was seen to be done as the game entered stoppage time. S&L failed to clear their lines and substitute Nick Kingston shot low and hard into the corner from 10 yards. The celebrations, involving Kingston disappearing under a pile of bodies, were protracted but genuine. Let's leave the kissing-the-badge tomfoolery to half-wits such as Wayne Rooney, shall we?   Regeneration is far from over in Corby and there is talk of the population doubling in the next 30 years. Low-cost housing is being used as bait to tempt rat race-weary Londoners here. Perhaps, in time, the number of cockney (or, more likely, mockney) accents will come to outnumber those with a Scots lilt. But just how tired of London, nay, of life, one would have to be to consider making a home in Corby is open to debate. Still, with the North Northants Development Company's spin doctors writing the prescription, I suppose any pill can be sweetened enough to swallow whole. And yet, and yet, Corby might still have the last laugh.

contributed on 29/10/08