7.45pm 13 September 2022
Northern League, Division Two
Washington 1 Boro Rangers 2 (att 335)
It's always good when a football club returns home after a spell away. Washington left their former Albany Park ground more than 10 years ago, but now they finally have a new home back in the town.
This was their first game at the Northern Area Playing Fields, which it's fair to say is still a work in progress. It ticks the relevant boxes for football at this level though, being enclosed, floodlit and with a small seated stand and a covered terrace.
A clubhouse will soon open behind the goal, and a snack bar is already operational. There's plenty of room for expansion and additional spectator facilities if they become necessary.
The venue is opposite a new Washington Football Hub, which provides a floodlit 3G pitch for the local community. A little unusually for a new build these days, Washington's pitch is grass.
The ground's opening fixture attracted a healthy crowd, boosted by groundhoppers but containing a lot of local football followers. It was a good game, and despite Washington's defeat I hope many will be tempted back.
Boro Rangers, a Middlesbrough-based club currently enduring an exile of their own playing at a ground in Durham, are new to the Northern League. They scored the only goal of an enjoyable first half.
The visitors always had the edge but it wasn't until they doubled their lead, after 73 minutes, that their win looked assured. Washington got a goal back in stoppage team, a just reward for their performance but too late to affect the outcome.
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