North West Counties League
Premier Division
Tuesday 2nd November 2021
Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.44
Burscough 2 Northwich Victoria 0, attendance 131 (official)
37’ 1-0
87’ 2-0
@ The Community Ground
Bobby Langton Way
Burscough
L40 0SW
£6 Admission
£2 Programme, 28 pages.
I had visited Victoria Park, the former home of Burscough, back on 28th November 1994, when I saw them lose 1-4 to Atherton Laburnum Rovers in a Lancashire F.A. Trophy 1st Round match. The ground was in Mart Lane, only one hundred yards from the new ground and already replaced by a new housing estate. I don’t remember much about the ground, but it couldn’t have been anything like the soulless place that they now call home.
The new ground is dreadful. To say it is basic, considering it hosts Step 5 football, is an understatement, but this is the type of ground synonymous with the North West Counties League these days. There is just a kit stand, oddly offset from the halfway line, and a few portacabins. The other three sides are just mounds of mud. I suppose you could say it’s a work in progress, evidenced by the JCB digger in the corner of the ground. The only catering is from a mobile food wagon, which was quite slow for service, but of decent quality and was reasonably priced.
The game itself was a good contest, between two mid table teams, as 8th hosted 11th in the league table. Burscough went ahead eight minutes before halftime, somewhat against the run of play, a shot on the turn from the angle of the box finding the bottom corner of the net. The second half wasn’t as good as the first and Northwich never looked like getting an equaliser. When they had a player red carded with thirteen minutes left, their chances of getting anything from the game were gone. Burscough pushed forward trying to kill the game off. They had two efforts, one off each post, that could have sealed it, before finally making it 2-0 with three minutes left, an angled shot that the ‘keeper got a hand to, but couldn’t keep it out.
It was good to see another accurate attendance declared. My headcount being just one fewer than the official total.
