Cammell Laird FC
Kirklands
St Peters Road
Rock Ferry
Birkenhead
Merseyside
CH41 1PY
07931 761429
Ground Number: 333
Tuesday 25th February 2014
Tranmere Rovers Reserves 1-1 Morecambe Reserves
Final Third Development League - West Division
MY VISIT
Originally this ground wasn't a target on my week off. Instead I was going to have a look round a town, probably Southport before the evening's game there. But then I asked on the Non League Forum if there was any games on and to my delight someone mentioned Tranmere Rovers reserves. They said it would either be at Tranmere's home ground of Prenton Park, or at the home of NPL D1 North side Cammell Laird. I was hoping for the latter when I tweeted Tranmere Rovers on the week before and was chuffed when they replied that it would be played at Cammell Laird. This ground had actually been up for consideration for a visit at the end of last season, when the playoffs were on. However I chose the closer option of Stamford, which turned out to be a decent choice and a good Friday night out. On the day, I had a decent lie in, waking up at 9am. I watched the second half of last night's Corrie on my iPad, as well as looking around various sites. By then it was just after 10 and so I had a bath and a relax and left the hotel at 11.30am. After stopping at Asda to get some lunch, I made my way to the ground arriving at 12:45. I met my Tranmere supporting friend David who would be joining me for the evening's match at Southport, and had a good chat to some other Tranmere fans about how our respective clubs were not doing as well as they should be. I picked up a very comprehensive teamsheet which also had other news and info on it, It was free and combined with the £3 entry, made for a good value day out.
I recognised 2 names from Tranmere's line up with Wycombe connections. Firstly their keeper Jason Mooney who had been playing Semi Pro in Ireland when he came over to England and worked for the club in a non football role. Soon enough the playing side heard of his talent and he was given a chance. He did well and despite doing well at Oxford City on loan for a season (he won their player of the year award) , he was released and snapped up by Tranmere. Another player, left back Evan Horwood was a transfer target for Wycombe under Tony Adams, however that move never went through. As for todays game, both players did well, and the game ended in a decent 1-1 draw, James Rowe opening the scoring for the hosts after 10 minutes tanks to a shot into the bottom left hand corner. Both sides had further chances but Morecambe squared it up in the last minute with a Chris Doyle header from a corner. After the game we left pretty quickly, having to pay to go through the Mersey Tunnel. We also visited both Marine and Formby to take some pictures, but more of that in the next blog.
THE GROUND
KIRKLANDS is one of the more basic grounds at step 4 level, and it's quite easy to see, however unfair and daft it is, why they were demoted from the NPL Premier for an insufficient ground. There are a couple of seated areas, along with some more standing under cover, but the rest of the ground is open. There was a club shop, but obviously it was closed on the day of my visit. The tea bar sold basic food and drink, but one nice aspect was that you could add pepper to the bovril, which makes it a whole lot better. The ground didn't appear to have anything around it, though I didn't really have time to check.
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