Fleetwood town are currently playing in the Conference North, their second season at this level and currently chasing promotion in 4th place. This position is remarkable considering the club folded and reformed in 1997 restarting in the North West Counties League Division Two and in a period of ten years have achieved four promotions and are now potentially two seasons away from league football. Last season, Fleetwood managed to make it all the way to the Second Round of the cup, narrowly defeated at home to Hartlepool 3-2.
Farsley Celtic play in the same league as Fleetwood but their current experiences have been quite different, they were relegated from the Conference National last year and started the season in administration and on minus 10 points. A good start quickly wiped out the deficit but the administrators then folded the club, but extinction was avoided after an investor was found at the eleventh hour.
As Fleetwood has no train station, I decided to get the train to Blackpool North and then the next leg of the journey was a nostalgic tram ride right up to Fleetwood.
Having arrived in Fleetwood, which was my first visit for over 15 years, my first impression was the tantalising smell of chip shops in the air. The temptation to indulge was great, but with the memory of the debacle at Bradford a fortnight ago still fresh I resolved to find my way to the ground first.
Thankfully, Highbury Stadium was found without any major drama, tucked away behind a park in amongst a housing estate. As I entered about 45 minutes before kick-off, the home players were busy warming up with a sea-gull supervising.
My first impressions were good, a giant cod greeting the fans as they arrived and smart new stands gave the ground a nice feel.
Stepping under the stand, I was even more impressed by the bar underneath which easily the most luxurious I've seen for the normal fan in any ground with a real sports bar feel to it. Perfect for catching the early Premier League game whilst enjoying some pre-match lubrication.
Fleetwood boasted former Villa & Blackburn left-back Alan Wright in their ranks and started as pre-match favourites, in fact bookies were not taking bets on the match due to Farsley's precarious financial position after taking a hammering last season on a Weymouth game under similar circumstances. It was no surprise that Fleetwood started the stronger team and the visiting keeper was called into action a couple of times in the first 5 minutes.
Farsley immediately bit back and took the lead on six minutes, Roy Stammer found some space and cracked a great effort into the top right corner from the edge of the box. Fleetwood's reply was almost instant, a blocked shot from a corner fell to Mike Wilde six yards from goal, and he made no mistake to the delight of the home fans. Equally delightful was the jolly sea-shanty which gets played when Fleetwood score.
The game then developed into a pattern of Fleetwood having most of the play without managing any clear-cut chances, in the meantime Farsley had a couple of useful breaks with Ellington missing the best opportunity when one on one with the keeper.
Just when it looked like Farsley were going to hold on for the half-time break, Fleetwood finally got their noses in front when a wide free-kick picked out centre-half Steve McNulty who gave Piotr Skiba no chance with a great headed goal.
The second half started with a sense of urgency for both teams, Roy Stammer again finding some space but failing to really test the home goalkeeper this time and Lee Dodgson being set up for a shot straight at the keeper in reply for the home side. On 52 minutes, Fleetwood nearly scored an identical goal from another set piece but this time Skiba pulled off a superb diving save.
Fleetwood were not to be denied the decisive third goal and one the hour mark a great looping cross picked out Adam Warlow at the far post and his headed finish was precise.
This goal seemed to take any fight that Farsley had left in them and the last half hour was comfortable for Fleetwood who continued to enjoy the territorial advantage and substitute Nathan Pond was unlucky to see his diving header hit the bar.
With the game finished, I decided to head back down to Blackpool before settling down to the team-time Premier League game and was fortunate to find a terrific old school pub near the station, The Ramsden Arms. A couple of very nice pints of Jouster capped off a great day out, and I'm greatly looking forward to Monday's cup draw to see where the next port of call is.
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