It was raining. Not a real, heavy rain, just a half-arsed drizzle that soaks you through despite being hardly noticable to the hand test. Suffice to say, I was getting thoroughly wet, had discovered the holes in my shoes (which today I fixed with superglue ;D) and was standing in the middle of one of north Durham's picturesque 1950s estates thinking that the walk had turned out to be much longer than I expected. I was also alone, since Stu had clearly decided that, given the weather, he'd much rather be at the hockey match that he couldn't decide whether to play in or not when I asked him on Thursday. Seeing very few buses (or indeed signs of life) despite the proliferation of stops I was given no choice but to continue on my rather moist and bedraggled way, until eventually, after a 40 minute trudge, I reached the edge of the city and the industrial estate where Durham City make their home amongst the Travel Inns and car dealerships.
The Esh Group Stadium is, in fact, more of an Esh Group Main Stand With Artificial Pitch And A Little Clubhouse Underneath, but as it is a fairly modern ground, and as Durham have only recently stepped out of the Northern League to become a northern outpost in the Unibond, that was probably as expected; after all, you don't win prizes for having a pretty ground (except the Darrell Butler Award that has been bestowed upon Holker Street) and I should imagine that it ticks all of the Step 3 boxes.
The bar itself is rather depressing. For the half an hour that I was there it was nearly empty. Me, the barman, the mother and father of a rather mischevious and entertaining toddler (and said toddler) and a small group of home fans were about the only people basking in the dreary grey dankness of it, at least until Guiseley's flat cap over-60s army arrived. A sole television mounted on a precarious looking table-on-stilts adorned the doorway, and their club merchandise glass case was empty since their co-chairman did a runner, as he was the one in contact with the suppliers. The beer was also on the pricey side (for the north) and Guinness was the only palatable option.
Durham is one of those clubs that are yet to be tainted by the bloody-nosed heights of the apex of our non-league pyramid, so all of the fans, volunteers and officials were very friendly, to the point of reminding me to show my student card on the way through the turnstiles. I can't imagine that being said for, say, Harrogate Town or Northwich Victoria. It was £5 entry for me, £8 for those who don't have an excuse. Programmes are £2 and, quite frankly, pants. That goes for the food too; the burger was awful and the chips not much better. For only a few pence more than the delectable culinary delights of the Moors and the same price as many clubs with acceptable standards, I was definitely unimpressed. The coffee was good though, although I spilled it on my left thigh when Solihull scored a penalty in the 90th minute to beat Harrogate 1-0 and I cheered rather loudly and animatedly, causing most of the ground to turn and look in my direction.
For a side who are meant to be on damage limitation duty and currently have 0 points from 13 unlucky games, Durham looked decent. Guiseley, on the other hand, are the worst playoff chasers I've ever seen in action. If they were to get promoted, they'd be torn apart by even the likes of Vauxhall Motors, Redditch United and Solihull Moors. Durham are a decent side going forward but awful at the back; Guiseley were gifted the opener as a ball slid across the box following some sloppy passing from the home side was not cleared by any of the 4 yellow shirts around it. Liam Needham dutifully slotted home for the visitors.
City's young heads didn't drop though, and they managed to hold the visitors at 0-1 until the stroke of half time, when a silly foul gave away a free kick near the halfway line that Durham never recovered from. A deflection from a last-ditch tackle in the 6 yard box took the shot past Rhys Jobling, who for his part hadn't looked too bad despite his inexperience and poor kicking.
The home side struck back immediately though. A freekick level with the penalty spot on the right wing wasn't cleared by Guiseley and was helped back to Jak Thompson who struck a perfect volley into the top left hand corner. Half time 1-2, game on.
The main, if only advantage for Durham of being on a "Soccarena" complex outside of the city is that they get a few teenage ballboys who bring their mates along to the football before playing themselves. It was from them (even Durham's teenagers are friendly) that I learnt that my family's beloved Birmingham City were beating Sunderland. Not that I cared that much, I just wanted to wind them up a bit, but since I wasn't a Newcastle fan they were unconcerned. I also spotted a few younger kids in Soccarena kits with their parents, so there must be a certain symbiosis between the club and the venue.
The second half was slightly more of a contest. Durham had clearly being buoyed by their goal and wanted to take the fight to Guiseley. Unfortunately for them, Guiseley were able to take advantage of more suicidal defending and score a third. Soon though, the aggresive and bad-tempered display from several Guiseley players came back on them, and James Walshaw got himself sent off for a second booking.
With a one man handicap, Durham actually looked to be Guiseley's equal. Debutant Josh Home-Jackson scored a tap-in to bring the home team back into the game despite looking to be a worse striker than Danny Davidson after Guiseley's dracula goalkeeper had fumbled yet another cross into the path of Keith Hutchinson.
Unfortunately for the home side, that was the last goal of the game, but I'm confident that Durham can pick up at least one point if they play as they did yesterday. Unless their finances dictate too heavily, I don't think they'll need to return all the way to the wilds of the Northern League (a barbarian land that I'm going to be discovering next Saturday at Whitley Bay) if they keep the current squad together, as they seem no worse than Step 4 sides Romulus and Rothwell Town who I saw earlier in the season. If they get two fat old men at the back then they should be a fine mid-table side back in the Unibond One North.
My return to the city centre seemed to pass more quickly. I suddenly felt that all was right with the world following such an enjoyable experience - not just the game or the updates from Damson Park and Aggborough, but the sheer pleasure of being able to watch with no strings attached, in complete anonymity and in such a friendly environment.
I shall be returning to Durham City AFC, and not just to buy some of their stuff when they get some in
