Victory Park Saturday, November 23rd, 2019 k/o 15:00   National League Attendance: 1,281         Chorley 1-0 Torquay United
2019 /20

Comments :

An easy enough 2-train journey up with a flat 10 minutes walk to the ground. And what ground!! Straight out of the 1950 (or earlier) with iron frames sheds dotted here and there, concrete banked terracing and even with a grassy mound along one side. Makes other 'old school' grounds look positively avant-garde. The game itself was scrappy rubbish for most of the first quarter but warmed up as the surrounding temperature dropped. Not quite to the essential gloves level but most certainly hat and scarf. Chorley are fighting to avoid relegation. Torquay expecting to be in the promotion hunt. But you probably wouldn't have guessed either. And after a period of surprisingly good football Chorley scored with an excellent header. Torquay came back strongly in the last few minutes of both halves but heroic (and sometimes lucky) defending held on. All through the game the crowd were getting on the back of Charlie somebody or other exhorting him to 'come on' or 'get stuck in'. Midways through the second half I accessed the team list (on my phone) and discovered there was nobody called Charlie in the team. That was when I realised it was how the locals pronounce Chorley. Doh!!! Journey back not too bad. Only a couple of hours with a shorty change at Manchester Piccadilly but it felt awfully long. But it was still a good day AND another scarf. Happy happy.