Sheffield's Cup Hopes Washed Away - Sheffield vs. Farsley Celtic

View towards covered accommodation at The Coach and Horses Ground

It was FA Cup weekend again and for this round I arranged to meet my Dad half way between London and Scunthorpe and the tie that provided the best way of doing this was Sheffield's tie with Farsley Celtic. Sheffield don't play in the Steel City itself and play in Dronfield which is just inside Derbyshire. I'd been to Dronfield previously for the multi venue beer festival and I was suitably impressed by the town and its hostelries to chose Dronfield as a meet up. Both sides play in The Northern League with Sheffield in The Southern section with the visitors in The Northern section. The two teams have had very different starts however. Sheffield have lost all four of their league games so far while Farsley have won three and drawn one so far. Sheffield have been suffering a bit of an injury crisis, with up to ten players missing for today's cup tie.   

Kick off at The Coach and Horses

As you can tell from the pictures, the match started in torrential rain and this limited my note taking and so the report is briefer than it normally would be. Farsley dominate from the off and the game never looks like going against form. The visitor come close to taking an early lead when the forward is played in on goal and the Sheffield keeper makes a good save with his legs. They do take the lead when the Farsley midfielder is able to drive from midfield and he slots in the attacker who slots the ball home from inside the area.

Sheffield look for a late consolation in front of the seats

While Farsley continue to dominate in the second half, Sheffield do have more of the ball in the Farsley half and do create a couple of half chances. It is however the away side who double their lead from the penalty spot after the Farsley player is tripped in the box. As the rain eases, the game opens up but it isn't until the final ten minutes that Farsley get the third goal with the attacker tapping in from close range.

Sheffield play the ball up the wing in front of the stand

Dronfield is easy enough to get to from London. You have to take a train from St Pancras to Chesterfield and change there for the train to Dronfield and the trip takes just over two hours. Again the heavy rain limited our enthusiasm for walking about the town sampling the many pubs. Luckily The Dronfield Arms around the corner from the station has an excellent selection of ales as well as a great choice of bottled beers. From here the ground is about a twenty five minute uphill walk but a taxi only costs four pounds. There is no clubhouse inside the ground with The Coach and Horses a short walk from the turnstiles providing refreshment with there being a wide selection of locally brewed Thornbridge Ales on tap. Despite the lousy weather I really enjoyed my visit to the world's oldest football club. For dinner we opted for The Village Fisheries which really did the job.

Fantastic programme for the long trip home

First scoreboard of the season