North Riding F.A. Senior Cup

Preliminary Round

Wednesday 24th October 2018

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.37

Boro Rangers 3 Richmond Town 2,  attendance 62

45’ 1-0

51’ 1-1

53’ 2-1

54’ 2-2

70’ 3-2

@ Middlesbrough F.C. Foundation, Pitch 1

Normanby Road

Eston

Middlesbrough

TS6 9AE

No Admission or Programme.

If you think of the worst area near where you live, then go up a couple of rungs, then you have Middlesbrough. Driving from the A66, then heading south through South Bank, it really is grim and a bit of a concern as to whether the car would still be there after the match !

The Middlesbrough F.C. Foundation is a bit run down. The indoor pitch is closed for renovation, the cafe was closed and both drinks machines were out of order. As for the toilets…………

Anyway, on to the match. Tonight, there were two matches being played here, both in the North Riding F.A. Senior Cup, Preliminary Round. St. Mary’s 1947 versus Grangetown Boys Club was on Pitch 2, which was hired for the night, whilst Boro Rangers were hosting Richmond Town on Pitch 1, which is their normal home ground, so I opted for this.

Boro  won four trophies last season, including beating Richmond 7-0 in this competition (before losing 2-1 to York City in a later round) and are currently in second place in the North Riding League, Premier Division. Richmond are in seventh place in the Wearside League, which is at the same level of the Pyramid, Step 7.

Boro intimidated the officials at every opportunity, which was totally unnecessary, as they are a really good footballing side. This seemed to be a bit of a grudge match, probably due to the meeting they had in this cup last season. Boro were well on top, but struggled to make the breakthrough, finally edging in front right on halftime. Richmond looked a different team after the break, coming from behind twice, but were unable to do it a third time.

Thankfully, the car was still there afterwards and even though the match didn’t finish until 21.32 (ridiculous for a 19.30 kick off ! ) a relatively trouble free journey saw me arrive home at 02.15. Apart from about half a dozen stretches of 50 mph and single lane sections, which actually never caused any queueing traffic, the only problem I encountered was when the M25 was closed just one junction from home !

Below photo : Pitch 2 on the left, with Boro Rangers v Richmond Town on Pitch 1, to the right.