Today I'm going back 20 years to 2001 and the FA Trophy 2nd Round tie between Stourport Swifts of the Southern (Dr Martens) League Western Division and Bishop Auckland of the Northern Premier League played at Walshes Meadow, Stourport in front of 251.
Down the years I've had the good fortune to take in one or two high scoring matches. Plenty of goals usually makes for plenty of excitement. In all I've been to seven games involving nine or more goals and this one was one of them. Finishing with a score line of Stourport Swifts 5 Bishop Auckland 4 this was a tale of a nearly comeback as Stourport were four goals to the good at half time but were unexpectedly left clinging onto the lead at the final whistle.
This game was my first and so far only visit to Walshes Meadow in Stouport-on-Severn in North Worcestershire (start trying to pronounce that now my Canadian friends!). It was also my first and only viewing of Bishop Auckland, a famous old club from the North-East of England. Back in the days when there was a strict delineation of football in England between professional and amateur clubs, the FA Amateur Cup was an important competition open to amateur clubs only. The "Two Blues", nicknamed thus because of their light blue/dark blue halved shirts, won the FA Amateur Cup a total of ten times and were finalists on a further eight occasions making them, by far, the most successful club ever in that competition. Arguably Bishop Auckland's finest season was in 1954/55 when they won the FA Amateur Cup, Northern League Division One and the Northern League Cup. That was the season in which they also reached the 4th Round of the FA Cup itself before bowing out to York City who would go on to reach the Semi-Finals later that same season. The FA Amateur Cup came to an end in 1974 when it was replaced by the FA Vase which continues to this day.
I took in this game during a period when I had to take care of my young daughter (3 years old) on a Saturday afternoon and I would sometimes pack her into her pushchair and make for a "little" match and the opportunity for some fresh air (and football!) not too far from home. Chips make an excellent bribe when I was trying to sell the concept of going to a match to this particular little girl and she was hooked. On the chips you understand, not the football! Twenty years later she still looks back fondly on those chips! Where did it all go wrong?
Following their 2nd Round win, Stourport drew Chester City away in the 3rd Round and escaped with a 1-1 draw before going down 0-3 at home in the Replay. Winners of the FA Trophy that season were Yeovil Town who beat Stevenage Borough 2-0 in the Final held at Villa Park in front of 18,809. I was at that game too!
CRB Match No. 1247
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