The Match: Radcliffe Borough v FC Halifax Town, Unibond Div 1 North.

The Date: Saturday Feb27th 2010

The Result: Radcliffe Borough 3-2 FC Halifax Town (Phelan,Winter).

Despite an 11.00am pitch inspection we stuck to our original schedule of a hearty breakfast at Jenny's before boarding the 10.12am train to Manchester Victoria. A day out in Manchester finding somewhere to watch the England v Ireland rugby union game was our back-up plan if our game fell foul of the weather ; although early indications were that Ash Addy's garden was playable so things looked promising!!

Once in Manchester and after variant frantic texts it was game on and time to catch the tram to Radcliffe itself and sample the delights of the " borough ". The pubs and eateries were working class and rustic to say the least which suited our merry band of travellers although I had to lower my standards just this once.

After watching the Chelsea v Man City game over a liquid lunch we made the 10 minute walk to the ground and having paid the £7.00 admission and a further £2.00 for a decent programme we entered the well presented clubhouse and mingled with the hoards of Town fans already present.

The ground itself had seating behind one goal with uncovered terracing behind the other and down the length of one touchline. Opposite was a covered standing area split into two halves and also housing the clubhouse and changing rooms. A reasonably priced burger van provided the sustenance and comments as to its quality were in the main favourable.

The game itself saw The Shaymen dominate for over an hour gaining a 2-0 lead before switching off and eventually losing the game by3-2.

The journey home was a sombre one as most of us were still shell shocked by what we has seen and this misery was compounded by an hour's delay on the 9.20pm train back to Halifax from Victoria. We wiled away the time by playing I spy and other classic train journey games before realising the train was going nowhere in a hurry and disembarking to try our luck on the Huddersfield train which was also late and finally left at 10.30pm having changed platform numbers twice. Arriving back in Huddersfield at 11.18pm we has missed all connecting trains / busses back to Halifax and had to jump in a taxi before eventually rounding a long and tiring day off with a top notch ruby at the Sultan Mahal!!

Journey Distance: 56 miles.

Total Distance for the Season: 2,603 miles.

Terry "Chadders" Sunderland.