Durham Corinthians Reserves
Ford Quarry Football Hub
Keelman's Lane
South Hylton
Sunderland
SR4 0HB
Ground Number: 1009
Friday 15th October 2021
Durham Corinthians Reserves 2-2 Wheatley Hill WMC
Wearside League 2
Wearside League 2
DURHAM CORINTHIANS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club appears to be a fairly new one, having been established in 2018, at least that's when their Twitter was established and as far back as records go. They started out in the Wearside League Division 3 and in their debut season, they finished 2nd behind Sunderland Town End, winning 12 of their 16 games. For the 2019/20 season, they were elevated to Division 1, which is a feeder to the Northern League and sits at step 7 of the non-league pyramid. Their first season at this level, playing under the name Durham United saw them sitting in 9th when the season was abandoned. The 2020/21 season was also cancelled with the team returning to their original name and finishing 6th. Currently, the team sit 7th and but have games in hand on the teams around them. The first team play at New Ferens Park, the original home of Durham City. That club left in 2016, following a dispute with the landlord and Durham Corinthians took up residence upon formation.
The club's reserve side was established in 2019 and they have played in the Wearside League Division 2 ever since. They were in good form in the two abandoned seasons, sitting 3rd and 5th when the season was abandoned. This season they are in 9th place at the time of my visit. Their home ground is at the Ford Quarry Complex in Sunderland which is also home to Northern League side Washington FC. The ground is based in South Hylton, a suburb of Sunderland with a population of 10,500. It boasts its own Metro station and has a number of listed buildings including St Mary's Church, The Golden Lion pub and a war memorial.
MY VISIT
When I saw that Newcastle United were at home on the Sunday of my time off, I knew that a revisit was in order. I had been to the ground before but I wanted to update my blog and a weekend in the northeast is always decent. The only question was, when was I going to leave. I'd have done an overnight coach if there had been no Friday night games but thankfully, Durham Corinthians and the Wearside League came to my rescue. Despite the club's name, their reserve side played at the Ford Quarry Sports Hub in Sunderland which was convenient for me. I'd been hoping for a game higher up the pyramid, preferably in the Northern League. With that in mind, I booked a hotel in South Shields which was up nearer Newcastle. When none materialised, I exercised my right to cancel and instead booked a hotel in Sunderland. I had two choices - some rooms in Sunderland centre with some mixed reviews or a B&B on Roker Beach. It was slightly out of the centre but had much better reviews. Although I'd already booked my National Express coach to Newcastle, I was hoping that I could get off at Sunderland half an hour earlier which would give me time to check-in and get something to eat before the game.
I'd not been able to get to sleep on Thursday night so I was slightly tired when a trio of alarms woke me at 6am on the day of the game. I got washed and dressed before slinging the rest of my things in my bag. I quickly had a porridge pot for breakfast before leaving. It was dark when I got up, something I'd been used to when I did 3am and 5am shifts, but not something that I've suffered the pleasure of for a while. I was slightly behind schedule leaving but I made that time up and was parked up as intended in a side road near Chalfont Station by 6.45. In fact, I caught a train ten minutes ahead of schedule. I'd already factored in extra time in case of any problems, so had plenty of time to kill. I used it to visit the toilet facilities at Victoria Station, far more pleasant than on the coach. I was at the coach stop with half an hour to spare and read a paper whilst waiting. The coach was on time at 9 which was a good start and we made good progress up the M1 once we had left London. I was glad of a double seat to myself and pleased that the coach was sparsely populated. I killed plenty of time doing research for the Newcastle United part of my blog.
We were half an hour ahead of schedule, so had an hour in Leeds. I fancied a pint but my favourite venue, The Hop was 15 minutes walk away. Instead, I explored the local area. The first pub I went in only had Lilley's cider so I went next door to the Outlaws Yacht Club. This too was infested by Lilleys so I had to settle for a pint of Orchard Pig Reveller. Although not the greatest, at least it was apple-based and cooled me down a bit for the price of £4.80. I then headed towards Cash Converters, looking for a potential new camera but no such luck. Next up was Pound Bakery for a chilli beef slice before getting some cash out for the weekend. Time was a bit tight for another drink, so I had a look around the market, getting back to my coach stop at 2. I wished I'd planned things better but the coach only usually stops for 20 minutes at services. I got on my coach and soon we were on our way. On previous experience, Leeds folk love a coach and why not. I looked at train fares on the day and it was nigh on £60 for a single ticket to Sunderland, utterly ridiculous. A few more got on this time, but I retained my double seat. My coach ticket incidentally had cost me £11.70, around 4p a mile and an excellent price as driving costs five times that, once you take all your costs into consideration. A lot cheaper than the 61p per mile for the train though. We were making good progress along the route and missed out a few stops along the way. There was horrible news as a Tory MP called David Amess had been murdered in broad daylight in his constituency office. I'm no fan of the government but you should be able to do your job without fear of being killed. I know this sort of thing has been going on for centuries but it feels like this country has really been going down the khazi in the last couple of years.
In the end, the time saved was all eaten up by Friday afternoon traffic and I was at my stop at the specified time of 4.40. I walked to the stop for my bus, which was late of course. I was there and checked into my hotel by 5.20. It was a decent room for £32 a night. I had a bit of luck with the bus back into town, again it was late, but this time in my favour as I missed the specified time by a minute. I was back in Sunderland by 5.40 and headed to one of the Wetherspoons, the William Jameson. They had said on the app that they had Black Dragon Cider, but it had sold out. Instead, I had a pint of Thatchers Gold as part of my fish and chips meal for £8.65. The other Wetherspoons was closed so I headed to the Ship Isis. It was a pub I'd visited when completing the 92 back in 2013. I then got a big bottle of Irn Bru from a local shop before going to a nearby bus stop for a bus to the ground. The first bus didn't turn up, but that didn't matter. The second bus dropped me a few minutes away. First impressions were not great, it was fences galore then I had to give all manner of details away to get in. It wasn't the worst 3G cage I've ever done, but I'd not want to use up a Saturday for it. For my circumstances, it was a perfect Friday night game though.
Durham Corinthians Reserves were in disappointing form. In their last five games, they'd beaten Wynard Village in their latest game. They'd also drawn 2-2 against Polton and 1-1 at AFC Durham. They'd suffered two defeats in this time, losing 1-0 to Ryhope CW U23's in the Washington Aged Peoples Trophy Preliminary Round and 2-1 to the same side in the league. Wheatley Hill WMC were in better form. They'd beaten Blaydon Community on penalties following a 4-4 draw in the Durham County FA Minor Cup 1st Round in their latest game. They'd also won 4-1 at Hetton and 5-2 against the same team in the Washington Aged Peoples Trophy Preliminary Round. However, they'd lost 2-1 at Ryhope CW U23's and 3-0 at Durham United in the first half of September. The referee was a rather rotund chap, but he was pretty good at his job and he wasn't taking any rubbish. It was even early on but on 14 minutes, Wheatley Hill took the lead. Josh Pettler's surging run into the area ended in a good finish. The Durham keeper was injured around the half-hour mark. It was a bit of a late challenge but nothing malicious but it was a good few minutes before the game restarted. The visitors' number 9 made a late challenge, claimed that he won the ball. He was a fool, he told referee John Harkness that he 'Won the ball for fucks sake' which was debatable. He was yellow carded, then proceeded to call the referee a 'fat cunt' on more than one occasion for which he got his marching orders. Rightly so to be honest, as referees shouldn't have to put up with that. The ten men were still on top and they hit the post. They made it 2-0, a run down the left and a finish from a tight angle reflecting the game so far. It was a deserved halftime lead and despite the half ending at 8.23, it was back going again within five minutes. Durham Corinthians were on top and they reduced the arrears on 49 minutes, an Elliot Howey shot going straight through the keeper and it had to go down as an error. It appeared to be his absent teammate that let the side down though, as the second half was a different game. The visitors hit the post, had a lob just over although Wheatley hill had a couple of chances on the break. It was a superb goal that brought things level, a 35-yard strike from Jake McArdle that found the top right-hand corner. Durham Corinthians hit the post again four minutes from time, but couldn't find a winner.
It had been a decent game to watch and whilst Durham Corinthians should have won, the result was not totally unjust. It was a good ground to do on a Friday night with no principal tenant and nothing to set it apart from any other cage. I had promised myself that I'd visit the Times Inn, the pub of your team that I'll be seeing tomorrow. As it was 40 minutes away, I fancied a walk. I was peckish so I got some salt and pepper chips from a Chinese called Peking Express on the way. These were good but not the greatest value. I got to the pub at just after 10. It was a proper Sunderland pub, so maybe not best to mention that I was a Wycombe fan up for the Newcastle game. There's been a bit of bad feeling between the two clubs but aside from a few Internet trolls, every Mackem I've met has been great. North East folk just get what football means and I'm not sure that the general Wycombe public do so much. Certainly the folk at Adams Park too, but not enough people in the town take pride in the team. It was a great pub anyway, with lots of Sunderland memorabilia. I had a couple of pints of Strongbow, the second one free for some reason, I think the barman won a bet. I had another pint of Strongbow Dark Fruits before leaving. The landlord was chuffed to see that I'd be watching their team tomorrow. His name was Lawson and he even gave me a free shirt of the team. One more pint was had before I left at 11.20 and I decided to walk back to my room. I passed the old Roker Park on the way back, getting back just after midnight. I wish I'd had some more as I was pretty much sober and there was constant traffic noise outside my room. I stayed up until around 2, typing my blog and hoping to get some sleep after.
THE GROUND
FORD QUARRY SPORTS HUB is a pretty bland 3G cage but at least three sides are accessible. There are 100 covered seats but the rest of the ground is open. The ground is on bus route 10 from Sunderland, or 20 if you don't mind a walk. There is plenty of parking available. There are basic food and drink facilities available, but there's not a lot nearby as it's a residential area.
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