Plumbers & Taxi's

Newark Town  2  Lincoln United  3

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Some things are a long time coming, like that plumber who promised to come round at the weekend and fix the tap, and you are now six months on. Or, that taxi that was just around the corner, fifteen minutes ago….

New football grounds do have a habit of falling into that category. To be fair, due to the complexities of planning and then constructing a football stadium, I am often sceptical when I hear the words “We’ll be in for the start of next season….”

Some have a habit of surprising you, and the club is on the money, some don’t give a date because to be honest, they probably don’t have a clue. But, typically, these projects overrun, so I’ve got used to the delays and false starts nowadays. Remember Spurs? In fact, York City, you heard it here first, well, not first, but the first time on this blog!

In the Central Midlands League we’ve got two clubs who’ve been ‘moving’ for a while now. One is Hucknall Town and that has turned into something of a mystery, so much so that you struggle to find two people at the club who can tell you the same thing! I was at the ground recently to be told October, yet two minutes later I was being told it won’t happen this season!

Newark Town has been much less of a mystery, it was meant to be last season, and the project was near as damn it delivered on time, except for one thing, the referee’s dressing rooms were reportedly too small, so for a large part of last season when they thought they’d be at their new home it wasn’t to be.

However, with the problem now seemingly resolved, it was announced recently that Town were in fact set to finally take residence at the YMCA Activity Village, with a programme of pre-season friendlies in place.

The first game was scheduled to be against Lincoln United, so that quickly went into the planner, as it did Steve’s, we hatched a plan!

Turns out it wasn’t a very good plan as the pub I found in a nearby housing estate was shut, so with a quick re-think I found us the Oscar’s Inn close to the lovely town centre of Newark-on-Trent. On a beautiful night the craft Fosters went down an absolute treat, and set things up nicely for a ride down to a ground that according to the map was very close to the old Ransome & Marles ground, which used to grace the Midland League in the fifties and sixties.

I had a pre-conception of what to expect, and to be brutally honest, it wasn’t what we found. I was expecting a grass pitch, railed off with floodlights, a clubroom / dressing rooms and perhaps some basic cover. Probably my own fault really for not looking into it or asking any questions, but it was very different indeed.

The complex is huge, comprising of a sports centre in the middle of it, and large car parks to the side, with the outdoor facilities to the rear. A large running track sits to the left, but on the right is a 4G pitch, inside a cage, albeit accessible for spectators on all four sides. A pay box has been put it in, while the dressing rooms and a tea bar sit to the left of the pitch and dugouts behind some blue wooden fencing.

It does the job, and is probably a work in progress in terms of cover and seats, and what it also does is gets the club back into the town after spending many years out of town at Collingham. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but Newark won’t be worrying about that.

A good crowd turned up to watch a very competitive and enjoyable game of football. Newark look a very decent side having spent the last few seasons in the doldrums somewhat, and I expect to see them challenging up near the top of the league this season.

Lincoln ran out 3-2 winners on the night, but Newark pushed them all the way. The second goal of Lincoln’s from Jack Wightwick who scored a volley from the edge of the box, was well worth the £2 admission alone, or the £1 in Steve’s case as he’s retired. Got to be honest here, they tried to charge me concession admission as well, I was only slightly offended!

So, there we have it, Newark Town are finally at the new ground they’ve been promising, and I have to say the future looks very bright indeed for them. Hopefully as well the football fans of the town will get behind them, and how good would it be to have both Town and Flowserve moving up the leagues?

Over to you now Hucknall……..