It was an international break and the only FA Cup action were
the re-scheduled women’s 2nd Qualifying round games from last
Sunday, including both GKA games – Mossley Hill Ladies V Stockport County LFC
and FC United of Manchester Ladies V Brighouse Town AFC Women.
However, we will get onto that in due course…
Saturday 12th
October
The aforementioned International break from the multi-million-pound
Premiership was the 10th anniversary of
Non-League Day.
The lack of League Football (apart from League’s One and Two of
course) gives fans the opportunity to support their local non-league side for
the day. This is a great idea, but in reality, it was probably used as an
odd/job family day for most blokes (the
GKA has no evidence for this, nor is it making a judgement) but perhaps
some fans got out there and boosted the non-league crowds.
The above picture was taken from the BBC website, posted from When Saturday Comes Magazine and taken
by Colin McPeherson to show what happened when an extra assistant referee was
needed at the last minute.
Non-League Day wasn’t the only football being played on Saturday
as a mixed gender futsal tournament at the University of Central Lancashire was
in full swing.
Partly organised by the GKA, I volunteered on the day to help
officiate the 8-team tournament.
This was supported by Preston’s North End side as they sent
their PNE in the Community Team to
take part.
However, the final was between Chicken Tikka and the Red Devils
above. It was a great experience to see
mixed gender and mixed culture teams take part on the day.
Sunday 13th
October, 2019…
Let’s get down to business as we are supposed to be talking
about the FA cup.
This was the GKA’s third attempt to travel to Mossel Hill’s
Field of Hope stadium and we finally managed it (game one didn’t happen as
their opponents couldn’t field a team and last week was re-scheduled due to a
soggy pitch).
On this occasion it wasn’t the pitch that was soggy, it was the
bloomin motorway. I spent most of my
56-minute journey with limited visibility as vehicle spray and standing water
lay ahead like hazards on a Mario Kart track (original SNES version of course).
I made a couple of maverick manoeuvres and was beeped at when I
cut-up the car behind me (sorry), to
make a last second left turn. However, I
avoided all banana skins and arrived at Mossley with 20 minutes to spare.
I didn’t want to get out of the car as I sat for 15 minutes in
general warmth and comfort, before tackling the weather. It was 13 degrees and by the time I got to
the pitch the rain had eased.
And I took my standard corner flag photo.
I did the usual stadium walk around and counted 24 people in the
crowd (plus 2 dogs).
The supporters-stand was an artificial cricket pitch and this
kept the mud away from our corporate shoes.
It was a full male officiating team, there were no ball
girls/boys/people, and the game kicked off at 14:03.
This was the most slanty pitch of the GKA so far. The players
must have felt like they were playing on a cruise ship, as from right-to-left it
was up hill, cricket-pitch-side to the dug-outs was downhill, and there was a
dip in the middle.
Stockport played from right to left for the first half, and it
definitely wasn’t an uphill struggle for them. You could say that it was all
down hill for Mossley Hill as they struggled in the opening exchanges and were
0-1 down after 7-minutes.
However, 3 minutes later it was 1-1, and as the rain eased off
the game fell into a stalemate until half-time. Stockport had most of the game
but Mossley had two excellent break-away chances.
I took a sneaky non GDPR approved picture of the dogs (if you
look closely, both are in this shot).
Then went inside to warm up.
It was £2.80 for a coffee and a
Lemonade (other brands of lemonade are available).
And I had a great half time view of the Stadium.
The 2nd half kicked off at 15:05 and Stockport came
out the better side.
The referee got a bit of grief because he blew the whistle for
offside and then shouted to the Mossley Hill keeper, ‘just play on.’
To which one of the coaches in the dug outs shouted ‘You can’t
blow ref and then say play on.’ He shouted the same comment three times in the
space of one minute and prompted a fan to add, ‘Come on referee, don’t make it
up.’
This was all civilised and I don’t think I’d heard a single
swear word all day. Very unusual for a
football match.
Stockport started to dominate and they hit the bar twice in the first
20 minutes of the 2nd half, before scoring in the 69th minute, 1-2.
Some meaty challenges started flying in from both sides and a
Mossley player got a rare booking (only the 2nd women’s yellow card
of the GKA so far – we had 8 in our first men’s game).
I heard my first and only swear as the ref gave a dubious goal
kick. The
Stockport player shouted, ‘Fuck sake ref, it’s a corner all day long.’
It got to the 85th minute and all I could think was, surely Mossley will equalise, we’ll go to
extra time and they’ll win on penalties – that’s what always happens, right?
Not on this occasion as Stockport sealed the deal with a late
goal to make it 1-3
This marked the end of Mossley’s journey with
the GKA and they leave the adventure as current GKA League Leaders. I wish them well for the rest of the season
and thank them for all their retweets and Direct Messages.
At the same time FC United of Manchester Women
hosted Brighouse Town AFC women and the score was 1-5.
Brighouse join the
adventure when they come to play at Stockport on the 27th October.
Next up for the GKA
Later this week meet our next opponents: -
Notts County FC and Brighouse Town AFC Women
Geeky Stats…
Stockport
County Ladies win £450 in Prize Money.
Route Men’s
Avro Fc 3
|
4 Litherland
Remyca
|
Sheffield FC 2
|
1 Litherland Remyca
|
Rushall Olympic 3
|
1 Sheffield FC
|
Rushall Olympic 2
|
0 Gainsborough Trinity
|
Belper Town FC 2
|
1 Rushall Olympic
|
Route Women’s
Mossley Hill
Ladies
|
Burnley Belvedere Ladies (No show)
|
Curzon Ashton Ladies 2
|
2 Mossley Hill
Ladies (2-4 Pens)
|
Sunderland West End Ladies 4
|
4 Mossley Hill
Ladies (4-5 Pens)
|
Mossley Hill Ladies 1
|
3 Stockport County
LFC
|
RIP Team and Stadium
Avro FC
|
Vestacare Stadium
|
Burnley Belvedere Ladies
|
Belvedere & Calder Vale Sports Club
|
Litherland Remyca
|
Litherland Sports Park
|
Curzon Ashton Ladies
|
Failsworth Sports Campus
|
Sheffield FC
|
Home of Football Stadium
|
Gainsborough Trinity FC
|
The Northolme
|
Sunderland West End Ladies
|
Herrington Recreational Park
|
Rushall Olympic
|
Dales Lane
|
Mossley Hill Ladies
|
Field of Hope Stadium
|
Highest Number of Fans
Belper Town FC
|
528 (3rd Qualifying Round)
|
Rushall Olympic
|
259 (1st Qualifying Round)
|
Rushall Olympic
|
249 (2nd Qualifying Round)
|
Sheffield FC
|
184 (Preliminary Round)
|
Avro FC
|
150 (Extra-Preliminary Round)
|
Sunderland West End Ladies
|
54 (1st Qualifying Round)
|
Curzon Ashton Ladies
|
44 (Preliminary Round)
|
Mossley Hill Ladies
|
24 (2nd Qualifying Round)
|
Belper Town FC
|
£11,250 (3rd Qualifying Round)
|
Rushall Olympic
|
£11,250 (1st & 2nd Qualifying
Rounds)
|
Sheffield FC
|
£2890 (Preliminary Round)
|
Litherland Remyca
|
£2250 (Extra-Preliminary Round)
|
Mossley Hill Ladies
|
£1,035 (1st Qualifying Round+ Preliminary
Round + Extra Preliminary Round)
|
Stockport County LFC
|
£450 (2nd Qualifying Round)
|
GKA League Table
Team
|
Won
|
Drawn
|
Goals F
|
Goals A
|
GD
|
Points
|
Mossley Hill Ladies
|
3
|
0
|
7
|
9
|
-2
|
9
|
Rushall Olympic
|
2
|
0
|
6
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
Stockport County LFC
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
Belper Town FC
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
Litherland Remyca
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
5
|
0
|
3
|
Sheffield FC
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
-1
|
3
|
Sunderland West End Ladies
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
Curzon Ashton Ladies
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
Avro FC
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
-1
|
0
|
Gainsborough Trinity FC
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
-2
|
0
|
Burnley Belvedere Ladies
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Penalties and Cards
– Men v Women
Penalties - Men 1
|
0 Women
|
Yellow Cards – Men 13
|
2 Women
|
Red Cards – 1
|
0 Women
|
Stadium cost so far
– Men V Women
Men £44
|
zero Women
|
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