Liverpool County F.A. Challenge Cup 1st Round

Friday 2nd October 2026

Kick Off 20.10 Actual 20.12

Sefton Athletic 2 Eagle Sports 0, attendance 54

5’ 1-0

61’ 2-0 (pen)

@ LCFA Sefton, 3G Pitch

Drummond Road

Thornton

Liverpool

L23 9YP

No Admission or Programme.

I saw Bootle play a Liverpool County Combination League match on a grass pitch here back in 2004, when the ground was known as the Civil Service Ground. The grass pitches are as they were, but a 3G caged pitch has now been built here too, adjacent to the car park/changing room building. It’s a standard set up, with spectator access along the full length of one side, with a tea bar and toilets available inside the building.

The match was an all Step 7 tie, with Liverpool Premier League hosting Cheshire League Premier Division. The hosts got off to a great start and were ahead after just five minutes, when a long ball over the top was finished from the edge of the box. They made the game safe just after the hour mark, courtesy of a penalty, awarded for a trip just inside the box and Eagle never looked like pulling back a two goal deficit.

Journey up saw the usual crawl on the M25 from J9 to J16 and then a diversion via the Black Country route due to queuing traffic approaching the M5/M6 intersection near Birmingham and it was slow moving heading past Keele Services on the M6 too. At least an overnight stop in the North West meant there’d be no worries about overnight roadworks, although with no access to the M57 after the game meant getting back to the M6 was via the M58, rather than the conventional M62 route.