Nelson's FA Cup preliminary round campaign ended in a 1-0 defeat to Witton Albion, as Freddie Garbutt's first-half goal sent the home side through to the next round of the competition.
The tie came just days after Nelson had finally fixed the floodlights at their own ground, a saga that had consumed the Lancashire non-league club for a fortnight before they travelled to face opponents one tier above them in English football's pyramid.
Nelson arrived at Witton's Bedspace Trust Community Stadium still dealing with a smaller headache. Their new yellow away kit for the season had not arrived, and last season's kit, which they were using instead, did not include a No 18 shirt. Wearing a squad number is mandatory in the FA Cup, where teams are allowed seven substitutes, so someone found a white marker pen and wrote the number 18 by hand onto a plain yellow shirt for substitute James Hooper.
Floodlight fiasco threatened the club
The kit issue was minor compared with the floodlight problem that had been testing Nelson since they won their extra preliminary round tie at their own ground, nicknamed Little Wembley, two weeks earlier. Nelson had signed a £30,000 contract, helped by grants from the Football Association, to replace a lighting system that had started failing during evening games, only to find the new lights still did not work.
The approved contractors had not mentioned that the cables and wiring supplying the lights also needed replacing, yet were sending the club legal letters demanding payment, as Nelson's directors sought advice from the FA about the financial hole they risked falling into.
At Nelson's league away game at Charnock Richard in Lancashire the previous Tuesday, the floodlights were the main topic of conversation as players arrived in the car park. There had even been talk of a temporary ground move, an idea that did not please the North West Counties League. Nelson's club sponsor, Monks Contractors, had offered to supply temporary lighting structures.
Volunteers dig trenches to restore power
In the end, Nelson volunteers dug two 100-metre trenches to lay new cabling to the lights, and on the Wednesday before the Witton tie, the club switched them on again. Witton Albion director Rob Doherty said the lights were working again as of three days before the game. The FA also provided emergency funding to help.
Both clubs badly wanted to win the tie. In his small office at the ground, Witton manager Benny Harrison, who works as a teacher at a special educational school in his day job, reflected on the effect a Third Round tie against Tottenham Hotspur had on Marine in 2021, a windfall that helped that club win two promotions in three years.
As executives from both clubs gathered in Witton's boardroom, there was a sense of mutual understanding about the threats that can face any non-league club. Witton director Paul Sanderson said: "There's what goes on out on the pitch, and the fans and all that lovely stuff. And then there's survivability stuff that fans don't know about. Trying to navigate things that can threaten your existence if you're not prepared for anything."
Nelson had been close to collapse before co-owners Stewart Fort and Chris Price arrived three years ago, investing in the club and building up its team of volunteers. But Witton, whose club museum charts a 139-year history and is billed as probably the best non-league football museum in the world, have also had their own brushes with financial trouble. The club had a spell in the Vauxhall Conference after spending the proceeds of selling their old ground to Sainsbury's on players, then struggled when their new stadium needed repairs sooner than expected. The museum also documents the club's run to the 1992 FA Trophy final at Wembley, where they lost to Colchester United.
Pina coladas and a proud museum
Match day carried a festive note. It was the annual pina colada festival in the Witton area, marking a local connection to the song about the drink that topped the US charts in the late 1970s, and fans dressed as pineapples and wore oversized yellow glasses. The stadium announcer welcomed supporters to "the best football competition in the world by a long chalk."
Groundsman James Spruce prepared the pitch while his partner, Katy Hulse, enjoyed a pina colada alongside her friend Barbara Bazley. Albion statistician Phil Chadwick has helped curate the club's museum. In the stands, Nelson's 87-year-old superfan Harry Manning kept his usual handwritten notes, later turned into a match report for the local Nelson Leader newspaper.
Garbutt's goal settles the tie
Ahead of the game, Witton assistant coach Liam Lishman had focused Thursday's training session on stopping Garbutt, the club's towering 22-year-old striker, from getting time to control the ball and shoot. "When you make s*** decisions, it goes pear-shaped, so if someone makes a s*** decision, back them up and help sort it out," he told players during the session.
Nelson arrived full of confidence after beating Charnock Richard 2-0 in a league game the previous Tuesday, a win led by target man Sefton Gonzalez, who scored and marked it with his trademark somersault celebration. Nelson goalkeeper Chris Thompson also returned for the Witton tie after a bout of sciatica.
Played out against a backdrop of chemical plants in the local salt-mining area, the tie saw Nelson wing-back Darren Holden, who had impressed in the previous round and in the midweek win, spend far more time protecting his own half, which limited the visitors' attacking threat.
Witton goalkeeper Jamie Edwards produced a sharp save, and Nelson's Gonzalez headed a good chance into the ground, before Garbutt rose to meet a corner and put Witton ahead in the first half.
Garbutt is one of only two Witton players signed to a contract, which protects his match fee if he is injured and protects the club if another side tries to sign him, according to Witton chairman Graham Wood.
Prize money and plans for the future
The winners of the tie collected £1,444 in prize money, a sum that mattered just as much to Witton as it would have to Nelson. Witton is a fan-owned club with 400 registered shareholders, none of them wealthy, and is currently trying to build a community football facility on land leased from a local chemical company.
Wood, who has also helped arrange a commercial sponsorship deal with a local homelessness charity, said the prize money "will bring us an income to put back into the club."
Nelson dominated the second half, with Holden pushed further forward, cheered on by his wife Abi, who was live-tweeting the match for the club's website alongside fellow volunteer Amy Holden, who was taking photographs for the next match programme. But the visitors could not find an equaliser, and Nelson's FA Cup run ended when the final whistle blew.
Nelson vow to fight on
Manager Arron Ripley reflected on his side's performance in the centre circle after the game. "Last year we'd have kept launching it in a situation like that but we're looking after the ball," he said. "We look like we're enjoying it. We just weren't clinical enough."
Nelson return to their league campaign with their new floodlights now working, looking to build on the season despite the cup exit.
