Pies, Pasties and a Penalty. Dunston and Skelmersdale head for a replay

Saturday the 3^rd September 2016

FA Cup First Qualifying Round 

Dunston UTS 2 Skelmersdale United 2

Another wet Saturday in Gateshead and another cracking match. I was at the UTS Stadium again yesterday, this time to take in the thrilling FA Cup tie between Dunston UTS and Skelmersdale United. The protagonists shared 4 goals and my brothers Stephen and Martin and Martin’s big pal Phil Storey shared the experience with me. This is how it all panned out.

 Pre Match Communications: Full marks once again. As with the Penrith tie, the friendly and accommodating people from Dunston have been very generous with their time and have provided timely updates regarding their club’s preparations for this tie. Special thanks to Steve Wraith, the Dunston Commercial Manager, for all the updates from the UTS Stadium. This tie was my first experience of liaising with Skelmersdale United and the Programme Editor Kev Panther has been fantastic in not only telling me about his club but also identifying the Skelmersdale links with Bella Caledonia. The reports of Ian St John coaching Skem in the 60s (see earlier posts) I found absolutely fascinating.  It was a pleasure to meet up with Kev yesterday. Thanks again for all your help Kev and see you again in Skelmersdale on Tuesday. 10/10

Kev and his mate Dave: Skelmersdale United and Roxy Music fans

 Pre Match Pint: The nearest pub to the UTS Stadium is the Royal Hotel in Gateshead and that hostelry was given a body swerve this time as the Tudor Rose was recommended by the Dunston match reporter Tom Clark. The Tudor was better than the Royal but surprisingly for a Saturday lunchtime also lacking atmosphere. Our travelling group of 4 accounted for half of the paying customers at 2.00 pm. The beer was ok although no hand pulled ales available. If I go back to Dunston in the second qualifying round I reckon I will head straight for the bar in the ground. 5/10

The Tudor Rose in Dunston: Decent beer and a nice building

Programme: The programme is priced at only £1 and is good value. The 48 page publication has lots of adverts but also lots of interesting reading. Good coverage of the visitors from Skelmersdale with the Skem club history described and also extensive ‘pen pictures’ of the Skelmersdale players. A good effort 6/10

Ground: As reported two weeks ago, the UTS Stadium is lovingly maintained by the office bearers and probably other supporters and volunteers. It is trim, well appointed and fit for purpose. A single building behind one of the goals houses the changing rooms, the tea room and the bar. The bar is open before the match, at half time and after the match and with sport on the telly a good place to catch up with the full time scores before heading home. 7/10

Atmosphere: I have still not heard any singing yet on the ‘Road’ but the atmosphere at this match did have a bit more of a crackle about it. With 249 paying spectators in the ground there were more people making more noise than was observed a fortnight ago. Until yesterday I had seen only the silkier side of Dunston’s play. Against Skem one or two of their players were a wee bit naughty with a few late tackles flying in. A few of the locals reckoned that the Skem players were over-reacting to the challenges and that the ref did not have a firm grip on the situation. All this, plus four goals and a sending off, fuelled the vocals from the terraces. It is fair to say the fans were fully engaged with the match. I loved it. 8/10

Scottishness: The link between Dunston and Bonny Scotland is a bit tenuous. Dunston Legend and former player Chris Swailes once played for Hamilton Accies. Skem have Scots history and Scottish football icon Ian St John coached the side in the sixties but the present day Skelmersdale United don’t seem to have any obvious Scots links. Hence it was looking a bit bleak – until I bought my pie before kick off. When the voice rang back “That will be £1.20 please” in West of Scotland dulcet tones then I knew we had our Scots link. Beth, the pie stall supremo (and my goodness they are supreme pies) is from Greenock. Beth has lived in Geordieland for over 20 years but has not lost her accent and she was kind enough to pose for a photo. 6/10

Beth from Greenock: Purveyor of pies and pasties par excellence

 Entertainment: Another Saturday in Dunston and another great match. Skelmersdale probably had more of the play in the first half but Dunston took the game to them in the second period before being reduced to ten men and a draw was just about the right result.

Dunston opened the scoring in the 2^nd minute and I missed it! Worse than that, I was personally responsible for the Dunston twitter feed not being able to show footage of the goal. Steve Wraith takes care of the Dunston twitter account and he was ready with his video camera when I tapped him on the shoulder to introduce myself. As he turned round Dunston scored and we both missed the goal. Phil Storey described it to me as follows: “A clever finish from Liam Thear. He flicked the ball with his right foot to the right of the keeper”. Kenny Strickland equalised after 8 minutes with a wonderful strike from the edge of the box and in the final minute of the first half captain Robert Bodie gave Skem the lead when he scored from close range after Dunston failed to completely clear a corner. Dunston claimed that Bodie’s shot had not crossed the line – but it did. I was behind the goal at the time and had a better view than the linesman who made the award.

The corner that was not completely cleared by Dunston. Five seconds later Skem had scored

Also in the first half, in a preview of things to come, the appropriately named Richard Slaughter was booked for a tackle as meaty as a Dunston pie.

The second half was full of goalmouth action. At one stage Skelmersdale had more corners than a dodecahedron. Dunston too had good sights of goal and the combative Malky Morien missed a great chance early in the second half. The burly frontman was to make amends in the final twenty minutes when he converted a penalty by sending the keeper the wrong way.

Morien (slightly hidden by Skem no 9) converts from the penalty spot

Things were getting tousy now and first Thear was booked for a late tackle, then Dan Smith of the home side was sent off for receiving two cards in the space of 10 minutes, both cards for ungainly challenges. “When are ye gunna larn Smith?” bellowed one Dunston fan. With 11 against 10 the visitors went in search of a winner and Kenny Strickland went close after 78 minutes and Robert Bodie had a header well saved in the 85^th minute. They also nearly negated the necessity of a replay twice in stoppage time. Firstly when substitute Burns had a close range shot smothered after good work by the alert Hodkinson and then in the last minute of time added on when a pinball rat-a-tat-tat stramash in the Dunston goalmouth was eventually cleared.

The combative Morien proving to the Skelmersdale defence that he is a 'handful'

Final score 2-2 and the Messenger Express Stadium in Skelmersdale on Tuesday night here we come. 9/10

Match Day Catering: The Dunston catering is going to take some beating on the Road to Wembley from Scotland this season. Two weeks ago I reported culinary perfection at the UTS Stadium. Can you improve on perfection? Well yesterday, Beth and her staff did just that. A fortnight ago I eulogised about the pies noting “warm gravy-loosened mince in a light pastry casing”. Yesterday I also sampled the pasties and incredibly they are even better! “Golden moments” noted Phil. “Full marks” insisted Martin. Stephen too was equally impressed. 10/10

Martin (left) Phil (centre) and Stephen aglow with pasty contentment

Don't speak with your mouths full lads

Value for Money: Four goals, one of them disputed – one of them sublime, plenty graft, a considerable amount of skill and a sending off - all for six quid. Additionally the prices in the club bar are cheap and the pies are only £1.20 and the programme only a quid. Brilliant stuff – good on you Dunston. 9/10

The je ne sais quoi factor: When I set out on the Road to Wembley from Scotland I assumed that I was going to be attending most of the matches on my own. The great thing about the journey so far has been the opportunity to catch up with my brothers, friends and also to meet people involved in the games. My brother Stephen came up from York for the match and it was fun listening to his unique way of offering vocal support yesterday. When we moved to Boston Lincolnshire in 1991 he visited us and we went to a match at York Street where he surprised the locals with his new nickname for Boston. “Come on the Stranglers” he shouted. Followed by “Give me a B – B, give me an O - O – what have we got …. BO!”. In January at the Hearts v Aberdeen match the Hearts forward Juanma had scored two goals: “Juan more Juanma” was Stephen’s cry. Yesterday he caused some amusement in the stand when he offered encouragement to home side by shouting “Come on the Dunces”. I don’t think this new nickname will catch on. Good to get Martin and Phil’s views too. Martin reckoned that the diminutive Skelmersdale forward Hodkinson was man of the match and he was intrigued by the subtle interplay in the forward positions by the Skem players. I was intrigued by the fact that the fact that the two Skem strikers wore the numbers 2 and 3 – I have never seen that before.

Other than the pleasure of spending time with Martin, Phil and Stephen it was great to meet up with Kev Panther from Skelmersdale and Kev was kind enough to introduce me to his fellow committee members. I am told to expect a warm welcome in Skelmersdale on Tuesday. Thanks for that and I am looking forward to it already.

Committee members from Skelmersdale: Happy with a draw and looking forward to the replay

Dunston UTS have been very welcoming also and I met the Chairman Malcolm James before the match yesterday and he wished me all the best with the blog.

Malcolm James: Proud Chairman of a well-run and friendly club

The ‘main man’ at Dunston for helping with the blog has been Steve Wraith and he obviously has friends in high places as one of his mates John Beresford was at the match with him yesterday.

John 'Bez' Beresford looking forward to the action just before kick off

Bez is the legendary left back from the famous Newcastle United ‘Entertainers’ team from the nineties that came so close to winning the Premier League. I have just noticed on his Wikipedia page that today is John’s 50^th birthday so Happy Birthday Bez and thanks for posing for the above photo.

A great day out  in Gateshead yesterday. 9/10

Overall Road to Wembley from Scotland Rating 79/100 (highest so far)

So, it’s off to Skelmersdale for the second and final instalment of this intriguing tie. This will be Dunston’s sixth FA Cup tie already this season and it may not be there last. On the other hand these Skem boys look good and will benefit from home advantage. It promises to be a great night in West Lancashire on Tuesday.

Miles on the clock for this match 256

Total Miles on the Road to Wembley from Scotland so far 964