Esh Winning

Esh Winning FC is a non-league football club that represents a small village in the hills of County Durham and plays at West Terrace in the nearby village of Waterhouses. Clubs have represented the club for nearly a century, although the current club was founded in 1967.

The rich history of football representing the former busy mining village can be traced back as far as 1889. Esh Winning Rangers became members of the Northern League and were crowned as champions in 1912-13 at which point they dropped ‘Rangers’ from their title.

The first incarnation of Esh Winning FC resigned from the Northern League during the 1934-35 season. The new club was originally known as Esh Winning Pineapple. The 'Stags' worked their way through local leagues finishing sixth in the Northern Alliance in 1981-82.

This was enough to be accepted into the newly formed Division Two of the Northern League. The side won promotion in 2001-02 remaining in Division One until the end of the 2005-06 season when they were relegated.

 

Esh went back up in 2008-09 but were relegated once again at the end of the 2010-11 season. Several very average seasons followed, with Esh ending up in twenty-second place at the end of the 2013-14 campaign.

The club finished at the wrong end of the Division Two table for five consecutive seasons before improving under manager Tony Boakes who was appointed in July 2018. He was succeeded by Ian Chandler in September 2021 who was replaced by Anthony Johnson three months later.

Former coach, Bobby Coltman, was given the manager job at the start of the 2022-23 campaign overseeing a marked improvement with consecutive midtable finishes.

Esh Winning FC will play in the Northern League Division Two in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Esh Winning 1 Scarborough Athletic 2 (Saturday 4th October 2008) FA Vase Round One (att: 241)

Planning for my journey had started some time before the tie when I attended the clash between Esh and Scarborough Athletic in the FA Vase First Round. 

I rang the clubhouse to find out their result against Team Northumbria in the previous round from my London flat. I had already booked cheap rail tickets to Newcastle for the Thursday before the game to allow me to do some groundhopping. 

The day of the game was greeted with some extremely inclement weather. I had done my wandering for the day and it was time to catch a train for the fifteen-minute journey to Durham. I was to meet up with my mates Fred and Tony to grab a lift to the ground. 

There was no railway station anywhere near Esh Winning, although there was a disused track that runs behind the ground and the bus service was sporadic, to say the least. We had a couple of beers when I eventually found them after going the long way around the extremely picturesque city. 

We wandered around the cobbled streets in search of a good pub nearby a bookie to get our bets on. We found hostelries of varying standards while getting drenched before we drove on to our destination. Esh Winning seemed a nice enough place even though we heard some of the bored local youngsters could be a pain. 

We just about got the right narrow turning to the ground. You need to be on your toes as it is easily missed. We were greeted by some friendly home stewards and the sight of the Boro team and supporters bus submerged halfway up its wheels in thick mud and the driver couldn't shift it. 

There weren't enough fans around to push and it looked like a hopeless task in any case. We expected a towing company to be sent for. West Terrace must be a beautiful place to visit in good weather. It still looked pretty in the downpour. 

On entry, the near goal has a little flat open standing which is mirrored by the Car Park Side. The top goal had a grass bank behind it which led up into the surrounding moors with a small shelter directly behind the goal. 

The other side had an unusual-looking small seated cantilever stand with a roof that offered practically no protection from the elements. It had two small covers for standing spectators as well as open standing, changing rooms and the clubhouse.

The clubhouse was doing a roaring trade and continued to do so all day. The refreshments were also good and excellent value. The whole club exuded hospitality. I met up with Karl who was to be my chauffeur on the return journey as I was staying in Scarborough for the weekend. 

He had already filled his car despite travelling alone to the game, as Phil and Badger saw the impending problems with the coach on which they had arrived. It was a great atmosphere, both in the club and ground as Boro's large travelling contingent in a crowd of 241, crammed in undercover behind the goal. 

The home side went ahead against the much-fancied visitors and looked well on course to hang on to the lead until a terrible error from their centre back, saw him send the keeper the wrong way with a beautifully placed header as far as the away fans were concerned into the bottom corner of the net with about twenty minutes remaining. 

The Boro coach. Stuck in the mud

Within an instant, Boro pounced on the opportunity and substitute Danny Gray blasted home a thunderbolt from the edge of the area to send the away following into ecstasy. Boro held on to go into the hat for the next round. 

Esh Winning had been a superb host. Meanwhile, the coach was still stuck and didn't get pulled out of the mud until around 8pm. With my directions to Karl on the way home, I'm amazed it didn't overtake us, but that's another story!