Daisy Hill - New Sirs

Last week’s trip to Glossop, a ground I had wanted to visit for a while, was a really enjoyable trip and one of the best grounhopps I had done in a while. So, this meant that this weekend had a lot to live up to. In order to nearly as much of a good time as I did the previous Saturday I made sure I’d be visiting another new ground, New Sirs the home of Daisy Hill F.C.

Now, New Sirs is one of those grounds you here mentioned quite a bit… for the wrong reasons. However, I had seen/read a few Blogs on the place and I thought it looked like a nice, homely little ground. I was really looking forward to my trip.

Just like last weekend terrible weather was forecasted and groundhoppers up and down the country predicted the worst, a football free Saturday. *Queue a high pitched scream*.

Luckily, there were plenty of options games wise for the weekend so I was able to draw up a healthy looking list of backups when the inevitable postponements came around.

Included in that list was Stockport Sports 3G pitch; thanks to their ultra-modern surface I was guaranteed a game as waterlogging wasn’t a problem. 3G pitches have become a controversial issue in the world of football recently… more about them later in the Blog.

Anyway, thanks to the, no doubt, hard work of the people down at Daisy Hill my first choice game for this weekend (Daisy Hill vs Chadderton) went ahead as planned, the midweek rain failing to spoil what promised to be an entertaining game.

On the morning of the game I awoke at around 7:55am, earlier than I had hoped. My early awakening meant I had to spend most of the morning mulling around, however, I was pleasantly surprised when I was looking at my recordings, Wednesday’s Match of the Day which helped pass the time by. I had a bath at around 9:00am and I was ready and awaiting the result for the 10:30am pitch inspections taking place up and down the country.

During the week, I had been planning all my train time and maps for all four games on my list so when the Daisy Hill game was confirmed as on all I had to do was print off the word document which had all the details on, saving me quite a bit of time. Once printed off I had packed my bag for the day with all the usual groundhopping essentials (listed in my last Blog - CLICK HERE).

I had lunch at around 11:30 as I was leaving at 12:00; I opted to have it at home mainly to save money. I had an ASDA ‘Chosen by you’ Beef Soup. I feared the worst when it looked and smelt a bit like dog food however, when I eventually tasted it, it didn’t taste anything like my earlier comparison, thankfully.

 At around 12:00 I left my house and started to wander over to Bromley Cross train station, which always seems to make a regular appearance in my Blogs nowadays. I was pleasantly surprised when arrived at the station when I saw that hardly anyone was there, meaning the chances of the trains being packed are minimal.

After ordering my ticket the train arrived, amazingly on time, and as I predicted earlier it wasn’t packed, which meant I was able to sit down for once!

Getting to Daisy Hill on the train is similar to how I get to Atherton Colls, in the way that I change at Salford Crescent to get my connecting train. However, when I eventually departed the train which was going on to Manchester Victoria, I realised that I had a good half our until my next train, great!

Previously in the week, my earphones had broken so I was on the prowl for some new ones, ideally from Poundland, so with this in mind I sent a message out to my Twitter friends asking them, is there a Pounland local to Salford Crescent. I got one reply and yes, there was, but unfortunately it was about a thirty minute round trip on foot, I didn’t have enough time.

With still about twenty five minutes until my train I got bored of standing around on the platform so I headed upstairs into the ticket area and decided to sit in the waiting room, at least I was warmer in there.

I spotted a Metro, everyone’s favourite free newspaper and read a good article all about 3G pitches. I said earlier in this Blog I would mention them again, and to be honest I don’t mind 3G pitches. This article talked about Maidstone United and how if they get promoted they would have to scrap there 3G pitch due to the Conference clubs voting against them in a recent vote. Personally, I don’t mind 3G pitches; alright it’s not the same as grass but who cares? At the end of the day, it guaranties the crowd a game and surely it must save the club money in the long run?

I have attached the rather interesting article bellow if you fancy a read of it.

Finally, my train had arrived so this meant I was on my last leg of my journey to Daisy Hill.

When we arrived at Daisy Hill, I began to fear the worse as it just began spitting as I exited the station. Luckily, however, a Tweet from somebody already at the ground confirmed that there were no problems with the pitch calmed me down a bit.

So what can you say about a place called Daisy Hill? Well, not a lot, apart from that is a pretty cool name for what appeared to me a small town/suburb/large village. I’m guessing that Dais

y Hill is divided in two by the train station as from what I saw walking to the ground Daisy Hill seems one of those quite places were not a lot happens.

Anyway, I arrived at the ground after a ten minute stroll from the station and from the outside New Sirs looks so random and quirky (I love that word). Instantly, I noticed this, I don’t really know what to call it, entrance? It was definitely old and had seen better days. However, I loved it, it added real character to New Sirs and was an amiable touch.

I walked through the *cough* cramped turnstiles paying £3.00 along the way; £2.00 for my initial entry and a further £1.00 for a programme. The programme was okay but could’ve been better, to its credit it had the latest league tables and fixtures and the odd news article from the NWCFL website but no columns and was only about ten pages in total. On the other hand, it would’ve been easy for Daisy Hill not to of put a programme on at all – so, overall it was a decent effort from the club.

As I walked through the turnstiles New Sirs opened up in front of me. These grounds are very hard to judge, you either love them or you hate them. I’m am slap bang in the middle. The

ground has some really nice areas but then it has some areas that could definitely be improved/developed.

When you complete the stepping stone path from the turnstiles into New Sirs you’re standing behind the goal and next to the Main Stand, which has clearly seen better days, I would recommend you checking the seats before you actually sit on them as some of them don’t appeared to be screwed down anymore. Anyway, this stand is about three rows deep in seats but most of the people in that stand appeared to of stood up during the game. This stand has all the clubs facilities inside it, the clubhouse, tea bar, changing rooms etc. It even acted as a shed for the club to store many random things.

On your right you will find a very small sheltered area located next to the two dugouts, this just offered sheltered hard standing, somehow all 6ft 1 of me managed to fit under the shelter, others might not be so lucky.

Opposite you, behind the other goal is nothing and the same can be said for the side on your left, it’s just plain hard standing and reminds me a bit of Eagley FC’s ground.

After taking pictures whilst completing the usual groundhoppers lap of honour there was still a good forty minutes to go until kick off and after all that waiting about at Salford Crescent I was starting to feel a bit peckish. I headed into the clubhouse for some food, as the tea hut window was closed for some strange reason today.

I asked the old man behind the bar for a pie and he looked strangely surprised when I asked him for this, he handed over my steaming hot pie and a proper fork (which is great, I’m sick of snapping a plastic spoon when trying to eat a pie) in exchange for a very reasonable £1.40.

The pie was wonderful and well recommended; it did a good job of warming me up as well!

As for the clubhouse, well it’s a nice building. Definitely reminds me of the TARDIS with the whole bigger on the inside as the Main Stand doesn’t appear to be that tall/long on the outside. It’s a very dark building with not a great deal to look at. Strangely, as I ventured into the clubhouse for the first time they were playing CBBC, to add to the strangeness of this there was not one child in the building. However, I soon realised they were waiting for Final Score to come on. Much more logical.

I noticed a small box of old programmes placed on the counter, now you know me, I do love a good rummage through a box of old programmes. A good twenty minutes later I picked out three that I’d be interested in buying, which I later went on to do, for £0.60. I bought an old Atherton Collieries programme from the 1991-92 season (they were playing Bamber Bridge), a not so old Kirkham and Wesham (now AFC Fylde) from the2007-08 season – back when they were in the Vodkat League Division Two (now the NWCFL Division One) and finally the programme from the Co-operative Challenge Trophy Final 2010. The final was between Clitheroe vs Southport.

So who are Daisy Hill? Well they were founded in 1894 under its current name Daisy Hill, which is a bit strange as most Non-League clubs change their name once or twice in their past. By the start of World War One Daisy Hill were playing at New Sirs and soon joined the Bolton Combination after erecting new changing rooms. The Lancashire Combination followed and then eventually Daisy Hill joined the NWCFL thanks to building a new clubhouse. In the 2005-06 season Daisy Hill moved to Victory Park (home of Chorley) for one game, so a crowd of 1,682 could watch Daisy Hill vs FC United of Manchester.

With not long to go until kick off I ventured out into the Main Stand to pick a spot to stand for the first half, this is where I bumped into Ian Williams, a massive NWCFL fan, we talked about all things NWCFL and my Blog and the usual football chit chat. After our conversation it was time for the game to start.

A good game was promised, that’s for sure. Going into the game Daisy Hill were lying in a very

disappointing nineteenth position and after a fifteen game winless streak they were hoping to get a win at home to Chadderton who were lying in a very respectable eight position.

Just as the game started a colossal storm came over New Sirs and the rain was really coming down hard. I began to fear the worst as standing water appeared in some areas of the pitch but when I bumped into Colls coach Jasper he informed me that they have had a lot of work done on the pitch and the pitch should hold up, just what I wanted to hear!

Chadderton had the first opportunity of the game just six minutes in. A shot from a Chadderton player w bravely headed onto the post by a Daisy Hill defender.

For the duration of the first half it was a case of both teams adapting to what ws becoming a very stodgy pitch. It was a midfield battle with not a lot in the game and between the two sides.

Two minutes before the half time whistle Daisy Hill had a good opportunity to take the lead. Nial Callhoton had a shot saved by Chadderton keeper Jack Laftham after a long Daisy Hill ball broke up the Chadderton defence.

Half time soon came and I headed straight into the clubhouse mainly for warmth but also to digest the half time scores being filtered through. Boy was I pleased the hear that Manchester United were being beaten by Stoke City – when that score came through a massive cheer echoed around New Sirs.

I moved over to the sheltered area next to the dugouts for the second half, as Daisy Hill’s manager was making his way back to the dugout he shouted over to the five of us in this area

saying “It used to be a good pitch this” clearly referring to the fact New Sirs’ pitch was now well and truly churned up.

As for the second half, Daisy Hill had the first really noticeable effort on goal. Daisy’s Elliot Hailwwod crossed the ball in for Simon Farrel who should’ve scored but instead sent the ball well wide. A wasted opportunity for Daisy Hill.

Thirty two minutes into the second half, Daisy Hill’s Elliot NAME fired wade after what should’ve been an easy tap in. Another wasted opportunity for Daisy Hill, at this point I began to feel they are running out of chances to gain all three points.

The last real effort of the game was recorded when Chadderton were presented with a penalty after a fouled on Chadderton’s Matthew Russel, an excellent opportunity to take all three points back to Andrew Street. Russel stepped up to take it, however his shot was saved by big Polish keeper Ryan Pugh.

The full time whistle was soon blown and the final score was a 0-0.

Despite being a 0-0 I was pleased with the game I had just watched and thought both sides attempted to play decent football on what in the end turned out to be a terrible surface.

With about five minutes spare after the full time whistle I headed back into the clubhouse to check the full time scores being filtered through. Again, everyone in the clubhouse was more than pleased when they heard that Stoke had beaten Manchester United thanks to two wonderful Charlie Adam goals, my day got even better when I heard Burnley took a well-earned point away from the very difficult Loftus Road. The mighty Clarets had Sam Vokes and Danny Ings to thank; again, we will do very well to hold onto them in the summer.

After digesting all the good news, I headed towards the train station to get my trains back. Normally, at this time, the trains are full with all the people heading for a night out in Manchester but there were an awful lot of spare seats available, just what I needed after standing up for a full ninety minutes.

My last change of the day was a simple one at Manchester Victoria; I went onto to get the 18:00 Northern Rail service to Clitheroe, getting off at Bromley Cross, where my Mum met me to give me a lift back home.

Overall I had a good day at New Sirs, it was nice to tick a new ground off (my eleventh of the season) and I hope to visit again when the weather is a bit better, maybe in preseason some time. I would recommend visiting New Sirs if you’re a hard-core Non-League fan as the ground would be right up your street. My day was obviously made better thanks to Burnley’s impressive 3-3 draw with QPR.

See you soon Blog buds.

Ground: - 6/10 – Homely ground. Worth the visit. Could do with some development.

Programme: - 3/10 (Quality for money) – At least there was one.

Food: - 8/10 – Pie at game. Lovely, but not the best I’ve had.

Match: - 6/10 – Not bad for a 0-0.