24. Station Road-Norton & Stockton Ancients

Norton & Stockton Ancients 0-1 King's Lynn Town
FA Vase Fourth Round
22.1.11

Admission: Adults: £5 Children: £3
Programme: £1 (20 pp)
Attendance: 249
Capacity: 1,400
Seated: 120
Covered: 180
Town: Norton, Stockton-on-Tees
Shop: No
Floodlights: Yes
Step: 9

With the Thursday being someone's birthday I was able to choose which match I went to with the added luxury of a car. My intial plan was to go to Barnoldswick Town v Atherton LR, but a helpful message on the NLM forum cleared that one off the board. Believe me there don't seem to be any positives with having your birthday in January apart from the fact it is definitely in the football season. I then heard that Billingham Synthonia v Tadcaster Albion was on. This would be a backup if all else failed. However a call to Norton & Stockton confirmed that their match was on. We made the 75 minute drive to Norton with little signage that the game was on apart from a small sign at the end of Station Road proclaiming 'Norton & Stockton Ancients v King's Lynn Town Saturday'. That was it. We parked on Station Road and walked up beside the railway tracks to the ground. I caught a glimpse of the impressive stand at Stockton RFC who play in the Durham/Northumberland Division One. It was two minutes into the match when we arrived at the gate. I was surprised to see a small queue to get in. I had expected this game to be quite popular. Thwere is a small pay hut where admission is payed and the programme can be bought.

You come in at the Northeast corner of the ground. Going down the East side there is hard standing with two dugouts in the middle. The South End is the same, just hardstanding. The West side features a 120 seat stand. Not arena, but very similar. The seats are a mixture of orange and black in four rows. The North End has a small covered standing area holding about 60. Right beside this is the new clubhouse being built. It was covered in sheets on this occasion but looks like it will be a joy to behold once finally built. On the other side of this are the portacabin club buildings and refreshment hatch with the changing rooms set behind.

N & S started the better side with threatening chances troubling the KLT keeper. However King's Lynn soon hit N&S on the counter with Robbie Harris putting the ball into the back of the net. After half time it was KLT putting on the pressure with several chances almost makling the score 2-0. However N&S avoided conceding more, shame they couldn't convert some at the other end. Despite the few dozen KLT supporters, there was very little atmosphere and I think the small attendance sums that up.

We left the ground and made the 15 minute drive to Teesside Park where we were hoping to visit TGI Fridays. But we were met with a 45 minute wait. However after lots of driving round we finally found an Indian, in Darlington, 40 minutes from where we had started.

The programme was quite poor considering the occasion. A bright cover proclaims the match details. There is then a word from the chairman and club details and honours. There are then player profiles and a number of result and fixture pages. Team lists are on the centre pages with an advertisement for their next match against Penrith including a form table. There are 4 pages of ads, all kept to the back.

To be honest Station Road seems very much like a flat pack venue, so one visit and you'll never want to visit again.


Norton & Stockton Ancients matchday pictures