Crook Town AFC vs Durham City AFC 25/9/13 – A night that descended into Chaos

As a keen lover of non-league football I’ll always grasp at the chance of attending a good local game, so when one of my mates texted me earlier in the afternoon about going to Crook town vs Durham City in the Ebac Northern League Division 1, there was only ever going to be one answer! So the three of us set off on the short drive to Crook, just 20 miles up the road, in anticipation of what we thought was going to be a decent match and it didn't disappoint!

We arrived in Crook at about 7pm and immediately made our way to the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield Stadium, we were certainly in for a wet night! I’d never been to Crooks ground before so was really looking forward to being able to tick this one off the list and from where we’d parked, just across the road from the ground, it looked like a really exciting prospect.

I don’t know what it is but just seeing those bright floodlights towering over the pitch really gets you going!

We arrived to just a single turnstile open, which is more than enough really and paid our £6 admission into the ground, the cheap admission being another reason why I prefer non-league to the dizzy heights (and prices) of top end football. Going through the turnstile you’re immediately greeted by a grass verge and a path leading up to the ground, the club bar is located just to the left of the turnstile and although we didn’t have time for a quick pint, I did have a nosey in and it seemed like a really cosy and welcoming place.

The Sir Tom Cowie Millfield Stadium is built up of 2 main stands running along one side of the pitch (one large covered terrace and a rather tight and small seated stand) and an area of terracing behind one of the goals, as a whole the ground can hold around about 1500.

Tonight’s match pitted together Crook Town, who were in 14^th place, against a mid-table Durham City outfit who were 10^th. As the match got under way we took our seats, or shall I say benches? In the small stand behind the dugout, both sides had early chances in a first 20 minutes in which Crook just shaded up until the 26^th minute.

 

Josh Gray picked up the ball half way inside Crooks area of the field, weaved his way past 2-3 defenders and slotted home past Crooks keeper. From then on Durham dominated the 1^st half, getting in some good chances against a Crook defence who always looked scared to put a tackle in.

Into the 2^nd half Crook came out all guns blazing and it soon paid off in the 49^th minute, a corner floated into the box was met by Kyle Davis who powered in a header into the top far corner of the goal, it was nothing less than what Crook deserved after starting the half on top. However immediately from the restart Durham went up the pitch and with a low shot across the floor, hit the post.

From then on it was end to end football until the 60^th minute. More slack defending from the Crook defence allowed Durham to just pass the ball about in the box before the ball was laid off to Scott Fenwick, who fired home into the bottom corner at the backpost past a stranded keeper.  After that it was back to normality, end to end football before things really got bizarre!

Crook had just conceded a free kick on the side-line and obviously the offending Crook player was disappointed with the decision, then came one of the most comical refereeing decisions I have ever witnessed!

The offending player then picked up the ball and threw it ‘to’ the Durham player so he could take the freekick, the referee then, somehow believing that the player had threw the ball at his opponent, turned around and issued the Crook player with his second yellow card of the game. A decision which left the Crook management and players both baffled & furious, even some of the Durham players protested his innocence.

To be honest what the ref had just done didn’t surprise me, he’d be shocking all night, constantly getting decisions wrong and handing out yellow cards like there was no tomorrow. It was truly a refereeing performance that would even put the infamous Trevor Kettle to shame.  

The match got back underway and then things immediately took another turn for the worse, another incident in which I did not see resulted in a straight red card for yet another one of Crooks players, then things got even more comical!

With Crook 2-1 down and now down to nine men  with 20 minutes still to go, the floodlights decided to fail, coincidentally. This left Durham’s match personal and fans, understandably, both suspicious and suspecting of foul play and with tempers on both sides flaring, a heated argument between 2 fans resulted in one of them throwing a punch at the other.

The match had truly descended into chaos!

Whether or not foul play had something to do with the floodlight failure we’ll never know, although in my opinion is was probably just one of those things. 

 

  

10 minutes had passed and with no sign of the floodlights coming back on, the referee decided to abandon the match with 20 minutes still to play and then no sooner after the crook players & referee had left the pitch, some of the floodlights which had gone off then started to come back on again. But the ref had already made his mind up and he left to a barrage of abuse from some of the travelling Durham fans.

As we set off for home we all reflected on what had been, although ruined by the ref, as a neutral a thoroughly entertaining match, well worth £6!