Road to Wembley #2

September first was here, which not only signified the meteorological start of autumn, but also the Preliminary Round of the Women's FA Cup. My tie of choice for this round was a local derby between Farsley Celtic Ladies and Thackley Ladies, situated just under five miles from each other. Despite seeing Farsley's 3-0 win over Wakefield Trinity in the previous round, I wasn't intending on following the winner from each round I attend, because that poses potential problems, such as transport issues and revisiting grounds. A big part of what I enjoy about my football travels is going to new places, therefore not so keen on the idea of revisiting a ground in such a close timeframe, should consecutive home ties be drawn.

Exterior

I decided on this game, because I had intended to visit twice before, though unfortunately on both occasions, the games had been called off: once in March due to bad weather and more recently in August for a pre-season friendly when the opposing team couldn't field a side. I had also heard good things about the place and when a few fellow groundhoppers put pictures of the stand on social media following the men's game they attended on Bank Holiday Monday, I made up my mind to come here. Third time lucky, then?

I got on the 11:43 train from Preston, which goes straight through to New Pudsey (there isn't a 'Farsley' station), which would have me arrive at 13:21, giving me ample time to walk the eighteen minute journey to the ground. Unfortunately there was an issue with the train and it was held for what seemed like an infinite amount of time at Blackburn while they sorted out whatever fault the train had developed en route. Eventually the train got going again and luckily arrived just twelve minutes late, leaving me ten minutes to spare when I arrived at The Citadel. It gave me just enough time to get settled and take a few photographs of the exterior and clubhouse area before kick off.

I started watching the game near the entrance in front of the bar and clubhouse, just to the left of the main stand (more on that later). I then slowly made my way around the ground in an anti-clockwise direction, stopping at various intervals to take photos and watch the match from different angles. On the other side of the stand was some beautiful old terracing. After admiring that for a while and taking a couple of photographs, I continued on my lap and spied further terracing on the other side. This ran the whole length of the opposite long side and although not as old as the other, it still looked rather pleasing and when stood on, it gave a nice elevated change of view. The trees behind this also provided generous and well needed shelter for when the rain came at half time.

The older terracing

The other terracing

This is when the rain set in- or so it seemed: despite complete cloud cover and a heavy downpour, the rain eased off around fifteen minutes into the second half. Thankfully I had got the majority of the photos I wanted by then. By this point I had taken shelter under the long covered terrace behind the goal as the rain got too heavy for my makeshift tree shelter! Here was where I got chatting to a spectator who also turned out to be a hopper. He was based just outside of Leeds and had good knowledge about various clubs in the local area- both men's and women's. He explained to me that both the ground and club had had some work done over the summer, including a new look green and white kit, along with new badge. This was in replacement of the previous blue kit, the colours in which the ground is still painted in. He also told me that the youth teams use the back pitch, while the women and men's first teams, along with Albion Sports all use the main pitch. Kudos to the groundsperson(s).

Following a further shower or two after the main bulk of rain subsided, I left the stand and moved a little further around the ground to get a few more pictures of the main stand from a different angle, thus completing my lap. If you follow me on social media, then you might already know that I like a stand with wooden seats and The John Palmer Stand had exactly that. 400 of them, in fact. I lingered around after the final whistle had blown enabling me to take a few closer photographs of the stand and seats without any spectators in shot. I had almost one hour before my train, so this provided a productive way of spending a portion of that time.

Farsley scored in the fifth minute of the first half and didn't give the visitors much of a chance, with possession staying predominately with them. Despite this, they failed to hit the net for the rest of the half and it was only until the second half where they scored a further two- one being an absolutely fantastic kick by Shirley Murphey from a short corner assist! It could have perhaps been a couple more, because they missed a few what looked like clear cut chances, though a 3-0 win takes them safely into the next round. Despite Thackley not having as much possession, they didn't make it easy for the hosts and too had their fair share of chances- the closest hitting the crossbar.

There were about 50 in attendance, though I didn't actually do a count as I'm too embarrassed to use my clicker on my own! So there could have been more. The admittance was free, though I would happily have paid to watch this game. Congratulations to Farsley as they progress into the First Round Qualifying and commiserations to Thackley who will have to wait another year to try their hand at this prestigious tournament.

I'm now looking forward to the next draw to see where to visit next...

Full set of photographs here.