After the latest European trip I had a few days back in the UK and took the opportunity to pop along to Hornby Park at Seaton Carew for an eleventh-tier game in the Wearside League Premier Division.
Seaton Carew is somewhere that I always associate with being at Hartlepool College of Further Education forty years ago. I was on ‘day release’ from work and if we didn’t spend our lunch break in the pub opposite the college, we would head in to Seaton Carew and play that Track and Field game in the arcades, the one where you made the character sprint by hammering down on a button as fast as you could.
Hornby Park seemed familiar too. I think it was the ground where my son played his first game for an under eights side. That was a wet day with a muddy pitch and he relished the sliding in that would likely result in a red card these days. Just like Hartlepool College, that, too, all seems such a long time ago.
Most of the spectators were loitering in the clubhouse and I was the first person to head out to the pitch. I was quickly followed by the fella who took the gate money and I handed over my three quid.
Industry provides the backdrop to the football. I should probably know what a lot of it is, but I’ve never really paid much attention to that sort of thing. There were some wind turbines out at sea, which I quite like. I accept that some people see them as an eyesore, but they’ll be gone when technology moves on and it will all return to how it looked for thousands of years.
This fixture was sixth v third, with Seaton in black and white and Durham in red and black. The home side got off to a great start with a goal in the first minute that they just about walked in. High winds made play difficult, but Durham seemed to adapt better by keeping the ball on the ground as much as possible.
Seaton looked to have clinched the points with quarter of an hour to go when the Durham keeper’s clearance bounced of the arse of a striker and was tucked away.
An away goal in added time direct from a corner created a bit of late interest but there wasn’t time for Durham to add to it and Seaton held on for the win.
Tags: Seaton Carew, Track and Field Arcade game, Wearside League
Trail of the Lion King 
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