First Train to Cockfield

Spennymoor (A) - FA Cup Round 1 - 1st November 2025

Phallic stops a plenty

We have entered the first round proper of the FA Cup now during the previous five editions of the competition, given that our glorious return to the Football League precludes us from having to participate in the many qualifying rounds that precede it. As the nation’s eyes, well, those whose eyeballs have access to TNT Sports, were glued to the Worthing FC clubhouse on a Monday evening, we pondered what sort of FA Cup draw we would like this time around. As the previous two years have handed us difficult ties away at Northampton and at home to Doncaster respectively, we yearned for something akin to 2021’s trip to Banbury, then managed by a certain Andy Whing, so we could give ourselves the best chance of assuring our passage into the second round.

It was to be destination Spennymoor for a tie reminiscent of our Unibond Premier Division fixtures around the turn of the millennium, where we occasionally locked horns with the predecessor club, Spennymoor United. It was, however, Spennymoor Town who we would be facing this time, set up following the demise of United and a merger with local rivals, Evenwood Town, way back when in 2005, playing at the same stadium and wearing the same kit as their previous incarnation. It was shortly thereafter under the tutelage of former Bluebirds midfielder Jason Ainsley, who in himself is very Unibond Premier, that the club oversaw a meteoric rise during his 14-year initial stint as manager, taking them up to the lofty heights of the Conference North, their highest ever position.

Ainsley is still in position as Head of Football at the club, and there were several other connections between the two teams on the day. Moors’ right back, Olly Dyson, had a stint playing much further forward on work experience at Holker Street in 2018-19, which was Ian Evatt’s first season in charge at the club. Dan Jones was signed by Paul Cox in 2017, who accompanied his arrival with the following quotes: “Speaking six days later, manager Paul Cox said that he had missed out on a number of other targets and that the transfer market was ‘the hardest in a number of years’.” After a mad 2017-18 season we would all rather not talk about, Jones was reinvigorated under Evatt, having been transformed into a ball-playing centre half in the same side as Dyson. He then returned on loan in 2019-20 for a less successful stint, having buggered off to Salford City in the interim. Whilst Daniel Rowe (no, not that one, or that one) had two loan spells also under Paul Cox in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Speaking of Cox, the journey to Spennymoor was to be made partially at least on the Number 6 bus from Durham to the hilariously named Cockfield. I instead elected to alight in Spennymoor and make my way to the away end at the Brewery Field ground. We had been allocated one side of the pitch, approximately 2-3 rows of terracing each, split into two separate sections either side of the structure housing the television cameras, conducive to creating an atmosphere, it would not be. The teams came out and there was one change for the Bluebirds with the returning-from-suspension Shipley replacing the newly suspended MJ Williams. The former’s red card looks much less silly now thanks to the latter. To succeed at Spennymoor today, we would need to ensure nothing of the sort happens here, a display of the utmost professionalism required to overcome any banana skins that may stand in our way.

The effervescent Rob Kelly, resplendent in the autumnal sunshine, led the team through their warm-up alongside Craig Pead, questioning a bemused, demonic-looking man with a pitchfork when he can expect the sun to go away. Anyway, the teams eventually made their way out onto the playing surface backed by a vociferous home following; the opening blow was a Charlie Raglan header into the palms of custodian, Bobby Jones. That was just before Moors’ #10 Rob Ramshaw went down with a nasty-looking injury which our team very kindly put the ball out of play for when they didn’t have to, he was replaced by Junior Mondal after seven minutes. Blocked shots at goal followed from Mahoney and Jackson, whilst the pacy Tom Pugh was causing issues for the Bluebirds and it took a moment of genius for Stanway to keep out a header from 35-year-old maths teacher Glen Taylor.

The home side were arguably starting to have the better of play with former Bluebird, Olly Dyson, shooting wide on 24 minutes and Charlie McCann booked for simulation on the half-hour mark, a couple of our substitutes backing the referee’s decision on this occasion. Just as the game was starting to get scrappy, a defence-splitting pass from former Rangersman McCann found Elliot Newby whose deft lob eventually, after what seemed like a near eternity, found the back of the net, silencing the vociferous home support stationed at that end of the ground. So Barrow went in with a vital 1-0 lead at half-time, far from our free-flowing best but appearing to deal with the occasion in a reasonably sensible manner.

As the second half got underway, Ben Jackson was booked shortly afterwards; this was followed by a good counter-attacking move finding Ben Whitfield who skied his effort high over the bar when placed to do much better. Banter ensued on the hour mark when former Bluebird Dan Jones lined up a long throw, given the tight nature of Brewery Field, the ball was able to be pushed out of his hands. A very cross Jones, who looked like he required the attention of Ken Riley, remonstrated with the referee. I think one of our fans was subsequently thrown out shortly afterwards.

Referee Zac Kennard-Kettle is the son of infamous Football League jobbing referee, Trevor Kettle (he’s thrown Trevor Kettle over the pub—what have you ever done?). He was also becoming increasingly irritating as the game went on, bizarrely booking Isaac Fletcher for simulation when he was clearly fouled whilst bearing down on goal. Like father, like son indeed. Kane Hemmings replaced Conor Mahoney shortly after the aberration of a decision by Kennard-Kettle. Matty Dolan shot wide in the 68th minute for Moors before Kane Hemmings was put through on goal shortly after his introduction but somehow found the goalkeeper rather than the back of the net.

Hemmings redeemed himself shortly thereafter when an excellent McCann pass dispatched Whitfield on the right-hand side with his cross finding Hemmings, who tapped home his first goal for the club, relief all around. Spennymoor changes and pressure belatedly followed before the referee was inadvertently poleaxed by Rekeem Harper to the joy of the entire 2,283-strong crowd, never not funny, this sort of thing. Michael Adu-Poku then entered the fray replacing the tireless Josh Gordon, who, after a quiet first half, really started to influence the game the more it went on. Adu-Poku had a shot on goal saved; there were a few more bookings, fouls and some chances but after three minutes of added time, that was that, Barrow had made sure of their passage into the hat for the draw in the second round.

All in all, it was a potentially difficult tie that was carefully dealt with in a professional manner, we weren’t at our best but you would think that if this was a couple of months ago, we would have been dumped out of the first round at the second time of asking for the second year in a row. For now, we can set our sights on what is hopefully a winnable-but-sufficiently-financially-lucrative second-round tie that hopefully lands us a third-round money spinner. Slough, Brackley, Borehamwood and Chelmsford sound like the list of places that David Brent reeled off in The Office that time. However, a favourable home tie against one of these types of teams would be what we will have our sights set on for the best chances of a cash bonanza in the third round proper.

In the interim, it’s a home clash against Carabao giant-killers Grimsby Town followed by an equally difficult trip to Bromley during yet another international break in mid-November.

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