11th August 2010
Welfare Park, Bedlington
Attendance: Healthy, maybe around 250-300
Eager to avoid the televisual charade of World Cup failures, England playing Hungary at Wembley, we made the short journey up the A189 to Welfare Park to take in the second Northern League fixture of the season for these two sides.
The newly laid playing surface afforded a fast paced passing game and Bay flew out of the traps taking a two goal lead within 10 minutes. No fewer than three penalties and some fine goals saw the two sides go into the interval sharing a six goal bonanza.
The sides played a more settled second half and although Whitley Bay piled on the pressure in the last 15 minutes, the Terriers’ defence held firm and the game finished 3-3. Before kick off sampling the burger van was nothing short of an inevitability -£1.50 secured a tray of the most delicious chips I ever remember tasting at a football ground. So good in fact, that I almost missed the first goal through filling my face.
Welfare Park is fairly central to the town, situated just off Front Street in Bedlington and is fairly typical of Northern League grounds with standing behind three sides and a main stand along one touchline. See my previous blog post for some info regarding the main stand. Further redevelopment is planned for the ground which will include a new stand behind one of the goals.
A healthy crowd made it to the game which, despite the national side being live on TV at the same time, is testament to the quality of the two sides on display - both sides predicted to finish in the top few places of the league. All told, a great game, a fair result on the pitch and a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Match companion tonight was @huddohudson - feel free to follow him on Twitter & check out his blog at http://ganninaway.blogspot.com/
