Ramsey 0 v 2 Peel

Saturday 11th November 2023, Kick-off 14.00

Isle of Man League Premier League

Ballacloan, Ramsey

Admission: Free

Programme: None

Attendance: 100 (rough head count)

Ever since the FC Isle of Man project was unveiled, I have wanted to get out to the island to catch a couple of games on the island - their Saturday kick-off time of 18.00 makes it simple to combine with an afternoon game in the Isle of Man Premier League, particularly during the winter months, when kick-offs in that league are brought forward to 14.00. My initial tendancies were to head to either Corinthians or Laxey, whose grounds seemed to be the more interesting from those available today. But in the end, I chose to head the furthest away from the airport and my hotel's located on Douglas seafront, lured by the Ramsey's ground looking beautifully quirky, and one of the grounds most resembling a stadium on the island.

Having caught the 8am flight from Gatwick, I arrived at Ronaldsway airport at about 9.30, then catching a bus into Douglas, and then soon catching another bus for a very scenic journey up to the rather sleepy town of Ramsey. After spending time exploring the town centre and seafront, followed by some sample of a local real ale in the very inviting Trafalgar Hotel pub, which a roaring fire most welcome on a cool day, I then headed to the Ballacloan Stadium. There is indeed a lot to like about this ground, and it probably wouldn't be too far away from being able to host pyramid football in the UK. It is a fully cnclosed venue, with a high stone wall behind one end and along one length, whilst along the other length there is an large all-seater stand, with no obstructing pillars, and at the top of the stand, there is a good sized clubhouse, and great views of the action can be had from inside there. Either side of the seating, there are six rows of uncovered terracing. Behind the remaining goal there are also steps, but with many of them very steep and not deep, the area has been deemed unsafe to stand on and is advertised as out of bounds. That did not stop plenty of people taking advantage of some great elevated views of the action from the safer areas there. The scenery surrounding the stadium is very pleasant, with the town's park, the Victorian seafront buildings, the sea and hills beyond visible from the main stand side, while large hills can be viewed behind.

This game would be between two of the early front runners in the division, with Ramsey in second place, following seven wins and a draw from their opening nine league games, while reigning champions Peel were in third place, following seven wins and two defeats from their nine league games. While leaders Ayre United look like running away with the division this season, winning all nine of their league games so far, Ramsey and Peel have the added goal of achieving a top four position at the half way stage, to ensure qualification for the Railway Cup.

I was incredibly lucky weatherwise today, because after days of rain and generally miserable weather, it was gloriously sunny on the island today, albeit the trade off being it was decidedly chilly. The previous wet weather certainly had its effect on the pitch though, with it looking quite muddy and sticky in the middle areas. Another interesting, and surprising, point to note was that no linesmen of any description were used in this game, not even club officials. The game started off quite evenly, but gradually the visitors looked the more threatening, and they opened the scoring on 15 minutes when a low cross from the right by Lee Gale and Paul Whitehead was tapped home. Peel looked quite assured in their lead and indeed had a couple of chances to double their lead,  before Ramsey had a couple of excellent chances to equalise just before the break, first when a ball looked like bouncing out of play but spun back in, resulting in their striker running through on goal, but his shot was excellently saved by the keeper, and then a curling shot for the edge of the area was well saved by the keeper.

Into the second half, and after Peel's Whitehead saw an effort hit the post and go out of play, they doubled their lead on 64 minutes when the ball was threaded through the defence by Lee Gale for Whitehead to run onto and fire low into the bottom left corner. Ramsey's task of getting back into the game got tougher when they lost Dylan Pickles to the sin bin for ten minutes. Nevertheless, Ramsey did have a couple of great chances to pull a goal back, but the Peel keeper pulled off good saves. In the second minute of added on time, it appeared that Peel had scored their third, which would have been rather harsh on Ramsey, when Gale struck a low cross shot which seemed to hit the frame of the goal behind the line before bouncing back out, but the referee allowed play to carry on. Fortunately, it mattered little, even though Ramsey still had time to see a free kick whistle just past the post in the fourth minute of added on time. 

This was a really enjoyable first taste of football on the Isle of Man - a decent game played at a very interesting and scenic ground - but at the final whistle, I did have to rather hot-foot it to the bus station in order to head down to Douglas for my evening game.