Borough Park Conference North Saturday March 8th 2014
Workington away had finally arrived. If ever there was a ‘badge of honour’ away day this had to be it. Fortunately too, I was coming from Nottingham, a mere 200 miles (as opposed to 230 from Boston) away.
Having spent Friday pondering over getting the 7:45 or the 8:45 train out to meet Shergie at Warrington, I decided given that it was 2 hrs to Warrington and we would be going on the (No) Hope Valley Line, I didn’t want to take the risk with only 15 minutes to get across Warrington to change trains.
I was proved right as we stopped at Chesterfield and ended up 5 minutes or so late. Good job I had over an hour to play with then!
Manchester Mayfield railway station. Disused since the 60s, still stands despite a fire and years of neglect. Like most of Manchester then!
I’d thought that given Greggs would be shut at 7am, I’d grab a bit to eat and a cuppa in Warrington with another 3 hours or so until Workington. Rolling into Warrington slightly late was no biggie and I headed for the local shopping centre, which was tidy enough, and into Greggs.
My train pulling out of Warrington Central. It goes to Liverpool Lime Street.
Then the fun and game started. Having got my steak bake, sausage roll and cuppa for £2.90, I went to put milk in my tea and accidentally left my carrier bag with papers, notebook and PSP inside! I saw an old man walk past with what looked like my bag, so I went after him and asked if I could have a look. It was his shopping! I felt like a clown. Fortunately, the lady behind the bar (who thought I’d left) had retrieved it. Panic over!
I made the 1/2 mile or so trip to Warrington Bank Quay station by 10:40- via WHSmiths to purchase £41 worth of printer ink (the 2nd dual pack was 1/2 price!). Good news. As per every away day- the train was delayed by 12 minutes. Not great when you only have 20 minutes to play with at Carlisle and if you miss that train, you miss kickoff. (Arrival time was 1401 into Workington).
Warrington Bank Quay looking North from Platform 3. The board does say the train is delayed!
Actually, only 6 minutes later than planned, the Pendalino steamed into the station. Deciding Shergie wasn’t in 1st class, I made my way to the front from the back. It took me to the very last coach but I eventually recognised him sat in his seat! It would now be 100+ mph all the way to Carlisle.
The train is an engineering triumph- more so than the horrible, loud and slow boxes we get from Nottingham to Skegness. Quiet, air-con, fast. We got from Warrington to Carlisle in only 90 minutes. (Shergie actually had a shorter day than me despite coming from London- only 3 hours 15 from Euston-Carlisle).
Upon arriving at Carlisle, after passing some beautiful scenery, we saw an old restored steam train waiting to be topped up for a journey. A really nice sight and Carlisle’s station still retains a lot of its old features, like its footbridge.
Steam train at Carlisle
Then, it was a 50 minute trip so horribly similar to Grantham-Boston it was untrue. Same sort of train, same 2 coaches, same winding, slow route passing stations which were so lowly used, they were request stops. Plus, the train had to be emptied of lager and booze from the inbound journey. We saw the sea, as Flimby station is practically in the sea and at 2pm, we rolled into Workington. It had only taken 7 hours!
Workington Station Front. One of the few really tidy parts of what we saw there.
Needing food/drink, we went straight for Borough Park, passing the Rugby League and Speedway ground, which is just as open as the footy ground is. I paid £7 to get in and £2.50 for a poor programme, then £5.80 for Steak Pie with Chips, Peas and Gravy as well as a cuppa. The wind was howling round- it would surely play a factor in the game. I’ll add in at this point there wasn’t that much to do in Workington, though the locals seemed friendly enough.
Borough Park looking North. A relly old style ground. Some of it had to be pulled down recently. It is almost exactly the same as what it looked like in their Football League days in the 60s and 70s
The ground was what I expected- something which had received minimal investment since the 70s and the toilets were beyond description. Absolutely vile. The main stand (left of shot) had to be pulled down having been condemned since the Bradford Fire, though the paddock and clubhouse underneath it still exists. The main stand now is opposite, but appears to be seats bolted onto concrete steps. The southern End is OK, hough the roof is rusty and looks like it may blow down today. The other end, with the wind in your face, didn’t look so appealing.
Boston fans at the Southern End. About 60 or 70 of us. You can see the new main stand to the right
We had the wind against us first half and it allowed Workington, bottom of the table and coming off the back of their first win in 4 months in midweek, the chance to clear their lines and made it hard for us to get it forward quickly, but we still had most of the play. Stefan Galinski caught one a treat and it swerved out of the keeper’s reach but hit the inside of the post. There was the odd scramble in the box but the ball wouldn’t run for us. However, there were some over hit crosses as the windy made it tricky for both sides to make anything of quality. Marc Newsham had a good header well saved too by Danijel Nizic. Workington barely threatened to be honest and despite King and Piergiannni both being suspended, we looked assured at the back.
The 2nd half was more of the same, but against the wind, the hosts could hardly break out of the their half. Newsham poked one just wide, a defender made a good block to deny Miller a tap in, Nizic made 2 or 3 good saves, especially from a well hit Agnew shot from 20 yards low to the keeper’s left.
As time bean to run out and Boston went in search for the opener, they got caught messing about in possession and to our horror and disbelief, Ben McKenna fired past Vince to give the hosts their 2nd successive win. Spencer Weir-Daley had one fly inches wide at the end but in all, it was what should’ve been 3 points and a rare away win into a horrible journey back, knowing other results had gone against us and we were right on the cusp, needing to now beat some of Solihull, Altrincham, Barrow and Colwyn Bay away- rather than merely drawing.
As Shergie and I headed back both questioning our sanity, via a stop for Steak Pie and Chips, we did finally have something go our way later on. Our 1803 got into Carlisle at 1848, and we made the 4 minute hop to get the earlier train towards Euston. It would save Shergie about 2 hours and gave me hope of running across Warrington if there was any delay to the Nottingham service and getting on the hour earlier train than I planned.
After I’d said farewell to Shergie, I ran across Warrington and looked up to see a train approaching the Manchester bound platform! Even better, it was a delayed (by 20 mins) 2019 train to Nottingham! Even better. I would be back by 10:45 and not 11:30.
Predictably, we were slow on the (No) Hope Valley line and eventually got into Nottingham at 11:06… 35 minutes late, so 15 minutes extra delay after I got on. One final journey via the #2 bus to Clifton, then a run up the hill to Uni and I was finally in… almost 17 hours after I left.
Any Premiership or higher level fans moaning about a shit day at Chelsea or Barnsley… I didn’t have much sympathy for you last night!
Workington (4-4-2) Danijel Nizic; Ben Hoskin, Dan Wordsworth (Lee Andrews 67), Kyle May, Sam Smith; Valter Fernandes, David Lynch, Gavin Skelton, Anthony Wright; Joe Jackson, Ben McKenna. Subs (not used): Scott Allison, Conor Tinnion, Stephen Hindmarch, Jonny Jamieson (gk).
Boston (4-3-3): Sam Vince; Rene Steer, Stefan Galinski, Scott Garner, David Ferguson; Conor Marshall, Ian Ross (Semple 68), Liam Agnew; Marc Newsham, Ricky Miller, Jamie McGhee (Weir Daley 86).
Subs: Ryan Semple, Spencer Weir-Daley, Ben Milnes, Ben Fairclough, Indy Aujla.
Game Rating- 4/10 Wind made it very tricky for either team to play with any quality. Settled by an error too.
BUFC Performance 5/10. Solid at the back bar 1 costly error and lacked the decision making up front. Not the worst I’ve seen us play but wasteful at times.
Atmosphere: 6/10. Only 10 or so of us singing really. First half was OK under the roof, 2nd half was tough and the goal knocked the stuffing out of us.
Prices. 6/10. Entry £7 was par. £2.50 for a programme is poor. £5.80 for the food I had was par, it was OK (though may have been better off without peas) £45 train ticket not too bad, even if I had to split it 4 ways!
Ground- 5/10 Really old school but desperately in need of some investment. A roof at the other end would be nice too!
Day rating- 5/10… I’ve had better days. At least it is ticked off and they are favourites to still go down.
Next up- Oxford City at home next Saturday in all likelihood. See you there!
Josh.
Under The Floodlights 