AFC Liverpool from Yesteryear

It was a midweek game, and upon arriving at Valerie Park I saw a Bluenose chatting with this Scottish guy in the street waiting for the gates to open.  The Bluenose asked me who was playing.  When I told him it was AFC and Runcorn Town, he did seem mildly interested that it was a bit of a derby. The Scotsman was staying in Blackpool, and had watched a local non-league fixture the previous night as well.  When the Bluenose tried to encourage him to pay a visit to Goodison on a future visit, the Jock responded by telling him he had little interest in the Premier League! AFC were still awaiting a first win in the North West Counties Premier League.  The early signs were encouraging with new centre-forward Carl Furlong looking useful.  When Steve Groves failed to get the better of the Runcorn keeper in a one on one though, the omens were beginning to look not too good. Despite falling behind, we did work our way into a position where we got awarded a free kick...

Before AFC took on Nelson, I was watching Liverpool play Chelsea in a Nelson pub.  Just as Christian Benteke was about to pull the trigger to complete a remarkable 3-1 victory for Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, Steve Fraser contacted me via twitter asking me which pub I was watching the match in. After seven years of AFC Liverpool's existence, it was remarkable to think this was my first ever trip to Nelson. A Liam Loughlin penalty midway through the first half was all that separated the teams at half time.  The penalty came about after Ryan Cox was brought down. In all honesty, we probably should have been further ahead.  There were at least a couple of instances when Ryan Cox was played through, but the final ball wasn't quite kind for him.  By contrast, Nelson's best chance of the first half came about when a Liam Loughlin back pass let in one of their lads, who brought a save from Ryan Jones.  That happened after Liam had put us in front from the penalty....

After a largely uneventful first fourteen minutes, the match came to life with an acrobatic overhead kick from Freddy Champion which came back off the post.  The Reds then had a few shots which went over, suggesting that we may get our noses in front soon enough.  Indeed, that is what happened on twenty minutes, as an unstoppable shot from Connor Grainger went in. After going behind, the Staffordshire responded well with a good spell of their own.  An excellent header from our left hand side of the penalty area beat Dominic Garner to draw level just after the half hour mark.  A couple of minutes later, Franny Smith lost possession, and Hanley worked a good move down their right which ended with a simple tap in to take the lead.  The other major first half incident I recall of note was when their number 10 went in fairly aggressively on Dominic Garner, almost kicked him in the head, and escaped a booking.  Anyway, w...

An unexpected long cold spell and arctic conditions led to a natural winter break which lasted about seven weeks.  Thankfully that footy free period ended on Saturday 23rd January 2010 with a trip to Premier Division Glossop North End in the Vodkat League Cup.  As a gateway to the Peak District, Glossop provided a most pleasant setting for that awaited return to action.  For my part, I made the inspired decision to work overtime that Saturday Morning.  After getting caught on a call in my Call Centre based job, I left work about 12.40pm instead of 12pm.  I did manage to get to Warrington's Central train station for 1pm.  However train delays meant I would only leave for Manchester with 75 minutes to go before Kick Off!  After changing at Manchester Piccadilly, I got the train to Glossop and managed to get to the ground at Surrey Street with the game about to kick off and a queue of eight people in front of me. On entering the ground, I ...