Ashton Town - The AM Property Group Stadium
So far, the NWCFL fixtures list
has been very kind to me; offering games at un-ticked grounds on available
dates. On Tuesday 14th August the fixtures list offered me a game at
a ground that I have wanted to do since I started this whole Ground Hopping
thing – Ashton Town v Holker Old Boys.
The 14th also offered
me the chance to go and tick West Didsbury & Chorlton in their game against
Winsford United but I decided against that fixture when I realised they were
playing Runcorn Town the Tuesday after, providing me with an opportunity to
tick it then.
My regular guest on this Blog and
good friend Rob Clarke also still had the AM Property Group Stadium to tick so
when informed of the fixture he decided to join me in ticking another game off.
On the day of the game I awoke to
my alarm at around 8:00am… for work. For those of you that don’t know I now do
a bit of gardening (don’t laugh) part time with an old friend of mine. It might
not sound like the most appealing job to do but hey it pays for the football,
what more do you want?
After cleaning out a pond for the
best of at least three hours I got dropped home, had a bath and prepared for my
evening of football. With me having to leave the house at around 5:00pm I had
an early tea of sausage and mash – it was lovely as always, it’s just one of
those meals you can never ever go wrong with.
Anyway, with my bag packed and my
phone and camera charged I set off to make the 5:28pm Northern Rail train into
Bolton. Once at the station I noticed the ticket office was closed and that the
train, of course, was delayed. TO be honest, it was silly of me to think
otherwise. So I just stood around on the station waiting for my train to
arrive. When it did eventually arrive and I was sat down it dawned on me that
tonight’s football offering would be my fourth game in four days (Cammle Laird
1907 v Atherton Collieries on Sat 2nd – Bolton Wanderers v Viteese
on Sun 3rd – Atherton Collieries v Wigan Robin Park on Mon 5th
and tonight’s game Ashton Town v Holker Old Boys) a fine achievement indeed for
a Ground Hopper and a first indeed for myself.
Seven minutes after getting on
the train pulled in at Bolton, the first stop for me that evening. I made my
way from Platform one to platform four wrongly expecting my next service, which
took me to Wigan, to be running on time. However, of course, this is Northern Rail;
the train was running ten minutes late. Thankfully, I had a long(ish) wait for
my final connection from Wigan so it’s not like I had to peg it to my next
train. When the packed Northern Rail train eventually rocked up I jumped on and
soon arrived at Wigan Wallgate.
Here’s a fun fact for you, never
in my life have I ever been to Wigan Town Centre. Why? I don’t know, but a
Tuesday night on my way to watch Ashton Town play football will be remembered
as the first time I had ever been to visit Wigan. What a lovely little centre
it is too. As soon as you walk up from the Train Station the centre opens up in
front of you. Unfortunately with it being past 5:00pm almost everything was
closed. I had quite a bit of time to burn as Rob had just rang me informing me
that he missed his original train which meant we were going to miss our original
train to Ashton Town – luckily there was one fifteen minutes later at 19:03pm –
we were going to get that one.
Anyway, I had noticed someone
walk past me with a McDonald’s bag so with a bit of time to burn I nipped in
for a snack. Interestingly, this McDonald’s in question was playing classical
music, a strange choice indeed – maybe the people of Wigan secretly hide a joy
for classical music, who knows? I ordered a McFlury for 99p – BARGAIN!
The McFlury was soon eaten as I
made my way to the other train station in Wigan, Wigan North Western. I made my
way to Platform Four to meet Rob and when arrived we made our way to Platform 1
to hope on to my final service there to Bryn.
Thanks to the late running of Northern
Rail we arrived in Bryn with only 30 minutes to go until kick off. From the
train station the ground was around a, yes you’ve guessed, a 30 minute walk
away. We didn’t have a lot of time. However, after a quick Brainstorm on how to
get their faster we decided our journey shall be fast walked. Boy, did we walk
fast, you might not have noticed but I am not exactly the peak of physical
fitness so I and walking at a fast speed don’t really go together very well at
all.
After practically sprinting through
the town of Ashton-in-Makerfield (there’s too many Ashton’s in the North West
if you ask me) we arrived at the lovely little side road that takes you to the
ground.
Looking at the entrance of the
Ground it reminds me of the entrance to Mossley’s ground, Seel Park, but
without the scenic views and terrible 3G connection. So maybe, just maybe, The
AM Property Group Stadium is Seel Park’s little brother – the possibilities are
endless.
Squeezing through the turnstile I
handed over my entry fee of £2.00 (as a student – yes, I’m one of them now) and
a further £1.00 for a programme entitles Talk of the Town. The programme was alright,
definitely presentable but it just lacked readable content it was only 12 pages
thick, which was a shame because I felt it was designed really well. It was
worth the purchase.
It’s come to that time of the
Blog again, who are Ashton Town?
Well, founded in 1953 under the
name Makerfield Mill they initially played in the Wigan Sunday School League
before they made the move over to the St. Helens Combination. In 1962 the
current name Ashton Town was adopted after Makerfield Mill were kick out of
their ground and forced to play their matches at Whithill Street Recreation
Ground in Bryn. In 1973 Town became a founder member of the NWCFL, the league
they still play in to this day. In 1987 Division Three of the NWCFL was merged
into Division Two – Ashton Town were placed in this league and have remained
there ever since.
As for the ground, well, I like
it, it’s small but does the job – it certainly has a lot of character about it.
Not sure about the name, The AM Property Group Stadium is a bit of a mouthful
but I’m sure people can get used to that.
As you walk through the
turnstiles you are located behind on of the goals behind this and the goal
opposite is just simple hard standing with a little bit of grass behind it. The
Clubhouse is also located next to the Turnstiles.
To your left you’ll find the two
stands of the ground. The first one a little but deep stand that only runs
around 1/6 of the ground (if that), this stand looks to be one of the oldest in
the ground and also looks like it had never been used. However, that for me
adds to the quirkiness of the ground. Next to this little yet deep stand you’ll
find a long but shallow stand, this has around three rows of the most obscure
seating (the same seating as in the other stand). I’m not going to bother to
describe the seating; I’ll stick a photo on – look out for it!
To your right you’ll find the
dugouts and changing rooms, this area is again just hard standing, but does
offer good views of the pitch.
I must say that everyone involved
at the club were very friendly, every person donning an Ashton Town jacket
asked us how we were and thanking us for coming down. We appreciated this and
it made us both feel very welcome. It’s little things like that what makes a
Non-League Club different from the rest, it also what makes Non-League better than
the Football League for me.
After a lap of the ground I and
Rob sat down in the deeper stand to watch the first half unfold in front of us.
It has to be said, the pitch at
Ashton Town was in fine condition, well done to them for keeping it in good shape
over the summer break, whatever they did, and it’s paid off.
Anyway, Holker Old Boys were the
first to have a shot on goal, Liam Shields firing a low, hard free-kick which
was well saved by Town goalkeeper Joe Clements.
On the 36th minute
Ashton Town scored the first goal of the evening in the form of midfielder Sean
Robinson. Sam Wilkie turned sharply in the Holker end of the pitch and was
fouled just outside the box. The following free-kick was floated in by Neil
Weaver whose free kick was headed home by Sean Robinson.
Exactly one minute later Town had
a chance to make it 2-0. Wilkie causing the problems, feeding Ste Bowen whose
shot was well wide of the goal.
Half Time – Ashton Town AFC 1-0
Holker Old Boys
For the first time, at half time
we went into the clubhouse. As soon as I walked in I liked it, there was a
little (and I mean little) stage with loads of little rounded tables with
chairs around them. I could just picture some dodgy comedian performing on
stage, don’t ask me why. As I moved further into the clubhouse I discovered a
rare thing in Non-League football, in fact a rare thing in football generally,
a pool table! Once Rob had finished his half time snack of a hot dog I invited
him to a game of pool, of course, he accepted.
The game of pool was largely
dominated by myself but in the end the improving Rob won what was the tightest
yet most entertaining game of pool I have ever played and Town didn’t even
charge for it, a free game of pool, thanks guys. Rob won it thanks to a typical
and disappointing error by myself. I potted the black.
Keen to move on from my Pool
error we made our way in between the two dugouts to watch what was to be an
entertaining second half.
Sam Wilkie, who was clearly
proving to be a problem for the Old Boys this evening doubled the Town lead
with an impressive half-volley off his left foot, a fine finish indeed.
Minutes later Old Boys could have
pulled one back. Winger Gareth Smith’s fierce shot was well saved by Clements.
Sixty five minutes in the Old
Boys did pull one back. A ball from the Holker left side fell to the feet of
Nathan Reid who delicately placed the ball into the net.
Soon, the scores were level.
HOB’s Daniel Pattinson had space in the penalty area to shoot. His shot headed
for the far corner despite the best efforts of Clements.
Just four minutes were left on
the clock when Town’s Neil Weaver weaving his way into the HOB box, with time
and space he shoots and scores, another fine goal to take Ashton into the led.
Weaver scored again just a few minutes later, Weaver received a pass from
Thomas Jump, controlled, shoots, scores. Job done.
Full Time – Ashton Town 4-2
Holker Old Boys
A fine game of football, Ashton
Town proved they have that extra edge going on to win the game despite the best
efforts of Holker Old Boys who were unlucky not to travel back up North with at
least a point.
After the full time whistle Rob
and I decided to head straight back to the train station so we didn’t have to
rush there. I stopped off for a trip to the toilet before we made our way back
to Bryn train station.
It was a nice relaxed stroll
back. Rob was getting the nights other scores and he was more than happy when
heard that Stockport Sports had beaten Abbey Hey 3-2, for those of you that
don’t know Rob is the programme editor/fan down at the Stockport Sports
Village.
Surprisingly, I found a
Morrisions right next to Bryn train station, how we had missed that earlier I
will never know but nevertheless I took advantage of Morrisons massive price
reductions and picked up a pack of five cookies for a £1 – BARGAIN ALERT!
Once back at the station our
train rocked up on time, surprisingly, and before we knew it we were rolling
into Wigan North Western. As Rob’s train to Warrington was earlier than mine I
waited around with him before he caught his Virgin service straight there. I
made my way across the road to Wigan Wallgate to catch my Northern Rail service
to Bolton.
After a bit of Platform confusion
in Bolton, the driver of another train insisted the train was coming in on a
different platform than what the sign said – in the end he was right, I was on
my way back to Bromley Cross. My final destination.
Overall, I really enjoyed my
visit to the AM Property Group Stadium and would recommend to any Ground Hopper
or football fan to visit. Not just because the stadium looks nice but because
the people at the club really appreciate your visit. They make you feel welcome
and appreciate the fact you have come down. Plus, if the game is poor you can
have a game of pool, how cool is that? So, if you ever get the chance to visit.
I recommend – DO IT!
Tuesday 5th August – Ashton Town 4-2 Holker Old Boys – NWCFL Division One – The AM Property Group Stadium – Game #12 – Ground #39
Ground: - 8/10 – Nice ground – recommend to tick.
Programme:
- 5/10 – Nice design, lacked
content.
Food:
- N/A
Match: - 10/10 – Good game
Miles
Travelled TO Ground: - 19miles
Money Spent:
- £10.00
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