Ground: The Citadel (3,900 capacity)
Location: Pudsey, England Ticket price: £14
Farsley Celtic is a rough 20 minute walk from New Pudsey train station, which itself is a 10 minute train ride from Leeds.
The National League North was a league I had not yet attended a match in. Having originally planned to go see Derby County take on Burton Albion, I figured that due to costings (as I have a few 'expensive' trips planned) it may be better to go somewhere close to home. Enter Farsley Celtic, a 50 minute journey for £4.35 return at the intimidating Citadel ground. It seemed like a good substitute and of course this was my first National League North game since starting this blog so off I went.
As I approached the ground, I saw the Gloucester City coach trundling in right on cue. The wheels of the coach halted and coughed up the rough tarmac underneath. I stood back as the coach (which was ostensibly a clown car in disguise) opened its doors. Out stepped a couple of sheikhs and a Mexican gangster, with an uncannily Gloucestershire accent as if dubbed from a bad movie starring Simon Pegg. Batman and Robin entered the fray, as did Superman right beside him. A banana, a baby, a man riding a tiger, a Coca-Cola can and who knows what else came rolling out like some sort of Neil Cicierega mashup. This was certainly not going to be your typical Saturday afternoon (certainly not for the angel who couldn't even get through the turnstiles)...
Farsley Celtic, coming into the game, were peering behind as the shadow of relegation was rearing its ugly head around the corner. The Celts are one of a few clubs still operating on a semi-pro basis and have a strong but loyal following. Gloucester on the other hand were safely in upper-mid table. One Gloucester fan was having a chinwag with one of the loyal Celts brigade just outside the ground. "I've been coming here 26 years and I've only missed two games during that time." The Gloucester fan nodded, impressed. "That's how it should be" he chimed.
The game was centred around one Dave Syers. The Farsley Celtic legend, as dubbed in the match day programme, was set to play his last ever game at the Citadel prior to hanging up his boots at the end of the season to, presumably, take up a full time coaching position. Syers is a player who has had quite the interesting career. Joining the Celts in the 2009/10 season, he impressed for the Pudsey club before moving into league football for Bradford City in 2010 (which forced him to end his cricket career in favour of soccer). Syers took to league football like a duck to water, scoring 10 goals in his first season and winning the Players' Player Of the Year Award. He spent 6 years with the Bantams before hopping around the north of England with spells at Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Rochdale, Guiseley and Darlington before re-joining the Celts in 2018. The image on the matchday programme shows Syers donning the gloves in a game where he was forced to play goalkeeper, and without the Sports Bulk Slippers sponsor on the front of shirt, you could argue that he shares a spitting image with Phil Jaglieka. When do they f*cking need a keeper?
Eagle-eyed punters (or people who probably know too much about lower league football) may have noticed Tope Odabeyi on the teamsheet for the away side. Upon reading the man's name, I had to do a double take just to make sure it was actually the former Bolton Wanderers player I was seeing. Tope is a player who had been involved in the professional game as recently as 2022 so I was expecting a big performance from him.
Waiting for the game to start, I caught the tail end of the Leeds match in the swanky bar at the ground where a group of young match-goers were chastising the performance of Patrick Bamford.
The first half started with Gloucester dominating most of the ball, Tope making a nuisance of himself by teasing the opposing full back and playing in a few delicious crosses that were unfortunately not gobbled up by his teammates, however it was Farsley who opened the scoring. A shot from outside the box found a lurking Chris Atkinson after a deflection who tapped it in from close range. Gloucester continued to press and forced a couple of good saves from keeper Max Dearnley before the referee pointed to the spot for what was an innocuous at best foul really. It was that man Tope who stepped up and he slided it to the keeper's left as Dearnley dived to his right. One thing to note about the game is that both teams had long throw specialists and both sides used these to great effect to cause a ruckus in the box. One such instance came in the 39th minute where a long throw was misintercepted by the defender, finding Theo Williams in acres of space who hammered it home on the volley. 2-1 to Farsley and, with Blyth also winning at half time, this was a result that needed to stick for the home side. As some Gloucester fans were escorted out for causing a scene (likely due to some of the most shocking refereeing decisions I've seen), Farsley fans' eyes were glued onto the pitch.
The second half was a scrappy affair really with both sides having a few half chances, but poor finishing and some brave defending from Farsley saw off the threat of Gloucester. Tope, despite his best efforts, struggled to get his teammates involved in the game and Farsley did a good job of shutting him down and keeping a solid low block to force Gloucester into taking pot shots from distance. As the unenthusiastic announcer informed the fans of the additional time, Russ Wilcox made his only sub of the game, subbing off Dave Syers to the noise of cheers and applause. The ref of course had to spoil the occasion by issuing him with a yellow card for 'timewasting' but the Farsley man didn't seem to care. The match ended 2-1. Not the best game of football you'll ever see, but the carinval atmosphere made the trip worthwhile.
Farsley Celtic 2-1 Gloucester City 22/04/23
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