Vedett Extra Blond

Acorn Albion  1 Melbourne Dynamo Reserves  7

Friendly

I’ve seen football in the grounds of a brickworks (Kirton), a farm (Red Lion) and a chocolate factory (Cadbury Athletic), but never in the grounds of a brewery!

That all changed when I went on a very wet day to the home of beer, Burton on Trent, of course, where the likes of Bass and Marston’s started life, and in more recent years where the likes of Punch and Greene King have also set up bases.

Burton on Trent isn’t what it used to be though, beer has changed, the major breweries have been acquired by the even more major breweries and kind of shunned by the beer brigade as a result of. Beer, right now, is all about the micro pub and the micro brewery, of which Burton has it’s fair share.

I pretend to know what I’m talking about, however I don’t to be honest, I’m a lager drinker, and Burton is where Carling is made, so as far as I’m concerned you can shove your Pedigree and your Bass, and you can take your front rooms that serve chocolate laden brake fluid in jam jars, and insert them into your mash kettles. 

Lager is uncomplicated, life was meant to be simple so stop over complicating it by trying to gentrify it and creating a pretention that it’s better than it is, please!

So, that’s all my real ale drinking mates well and truly pissed off now, so now they’ve gone, lets talk about the football…..

Acorn Albion appeared in the Staffordshire County Senior League a few years ago now, and in fact were featured in the very first game of this blog. It was an away fixture at Cannock United and I bemoaned the absolute tool of a referee that completely spoiled the encounter.

Anyway, the football club appear to be linked to the Acorn Inn, that is based in a village called Rough Hayes, which is to the West of Burton on the main road that leads to Needwood and Abbots Bromley. 

Initially they played on the outer pitches at St Georges Park, but for this season they’ve moved to the Midlands Regional Alliance and with it relocated to the Marstons Sports & Social Club on Shobnall Road, which is only a mile and a half from the pub.

I was a bit torn where to go today, I had a couple of options, but not really fancying a long drive on a day when the monsoons hit, I plumped upon Acorn’s first game at the venue, against Melbourne Dynamo Reserves.

I did have a few niggling doubts on the way down that the persistent torrential rain may cause a problem, as other games had been postponed already, but on arrival I saw two sets of players heading in the general direction of the dressing rooms so all looked good.

First port of call was the clubhouse, and I was one of only three customers, although I soon reduced that to one when I pitched up on the next table to the couple with a pint of lager, they looked suitably offended and left!

The club sits right at the side of the huge Marstons Brewery, while the sports pitches cover a large expanse to the West side of it. The football pitch is right at the far end of the complex, beyond the bowling club, and has something of an enclosed feel about it.

Surrounded by trees on two sides, the side nearest the brewery backs onto the storage yard for the kegs, and it was Dan Bishop of the MRA who told me that back in the day before the fences went up, many a happy time was spent retrieving footballs from amongst the maelstrom of brewery ephemera!

Anyway, Kegs of the day turned out to be Vedett Extra Blond, which for the educated, is a pretty potent Belgian Lager served at 5.2 abv, and that made me very happy!

What about the game? Well, if I’m honest it was a good afternoon for the visitors and reigning champions of the First Division, who came away with a comfortable 7-1 victory.

Joe Shadbolt got a hat-trick while Harry Foxon got a brace, with Toby Foxon and Dom Hurst also finding the net. The reply from Acorn came courtesy of Nathan Deacon.

Acorn put up a decent fight but Melbourne looked like a side with confidence and experience of having been successful together for a period. They will do well again.

But today was about Acorn, and of course the chance to watch football in a brewery, I could quite possibly get used to that concept, as long as it’s fizzy and yellow!

Diamond Emeralds

Northfield Emeralds  3  Newbold Verdon  2

Friendly

On Wednesday 24^th July I made the journey to Leicestershire to watch a football match.

Blog readers, you’d better get used to this, because I’m going to be going quite a bit this season, eight times to be precise!

You see, when the Leicestershire Senior League created a third division at the start of last season, they effectively opened the doors for a whole raft of clubs to obtain membership, and this is the season when the floodgates have effectively opened.

So, coming in, we have Greenhill Youth Club, Bottesford, Kibworth Town, Fleckney Athletic, Sutton Bonington, Sporting Markfield, Newbold Verdon, and indeed, Northfield Emeralds.

Trying to pin down some friendlies has proved to be a challenge, firstly clubs don’t always advertise them, secondly they don’t always say where they are going to be played at, and thirdly they have a habit of being cancelled at short notice. That isn’t an LSL thing by the way, it’s just a general thing, and it seems to have got worse this pre-season.

However, Northfield Emeralds have been very prompt and efficient in terms of social media and after a cursory check with the club, it was confirmed we had a live one!

I did a bit of research on the club on the basis I’d never heard of them, and what I found was a side based close to Humberstone on the North East side of the City Centre. They play at the Emerald Centre, which is the local Irish Community Hub, and from a playing perspective, they were formed in 2013, and in 2018 they won the First Division of the Leicester & District League, winning promotion to the Premier Division. They finished third in their first season in the top flight last time out.

Getting to the Emerald Centre is not the quickest of journeys to be fair, the easiest route from the M1 being via Beaumont Leys and the A563 Northern Ring Road. The last couple of miles being the most stop / start in the rush hour traffic, but once through the lights on Victoria Road, the ground is just on the left hand side.

It’s an impressive facility, with a small car park, and a clubhouse / dressing room complex adjacent to it. The bar opens at 7pm, and on a lovely night, it did a brisk trade.

The sports ground is primarily for Gaelic games, football and hurling, and as a result it’s a huge expanse. It’s railed off, and it has floodlights, while the car park end has raised areas where the game can be viewed from. The football pitch fits more than comfortably inside the Gaelic field.

Visiting Newbold Verdon were also newcomers to the division, and what’s quite interesting is that one or two of the new sides are playing each other in friendlies, which is unusual to have sides from the same division playing each other.

The game itself was enjoyable, and not without interest.

Emeralds set off at a fast pace and Verdon looked to be struggling, going 2-0 down in the first period, but as the game progressed the visitors started to find their feet and got back into it.

A 2-0 deficit ended up being back at 2-2, which to be fair did look unlikely twenty minutes into the game, but it was the hosts who scored the all important fifth goal which won the encounter.

I have to say, I found the set up very good, and he locals very welcoming, Northfield Emeralds look like being a cracking acquisition for the LSL. I think on the pitch they will also do very well, so I’ll watch their progress with interest.

Seven more visits to go now, and I’m looking forward to them. With my old pal and fellow hopper/blogger Rob Campion now at the helm as Fixtures Secretary, it’s looking fairly straightforward to plan them in well in advance – it’s a shame it’s not quite so simple when it comes to pre-season friendlies!

In Dublin

Shamrock Rovers  7  University College Dublin  0

League of Ireland – Premier Division

It was to be a diplomatic exercise of the highest order.

You see, I had a feeling a couple of League of Ireland games would get moved to the Sunday while we were over the water having our mini break.

It happens every season, the LOI issue a fixture list without the foresight that in the month of July four clubs will be competing in Europe, and this season that was to be Dundalk, Cork City, St Patricks Athletic and Shamrock Rovers.

The Europa League games take place on a Thursday night, so quite clearly, the traditional Friday night league fixture is simply not going to happen, and more often than not it gets moved to the Sunday as long as both clubs are happy with the arrangement.

So, as I suspected, a couple of games did land on the Sunday, so my next task was to convince the wider Hatt population that their Sunday in Dublin would be merely enhanced by a trip on the Luas tram to Tallaght to watch the might Shams take on UCD.

I dropped the initial suggestion in during a family meal at the lovely Tiger Inn at Turnditch one Sunday lunchtime, the initial response was a flat ‘No’, but within minutes after further discussions the idea was kind of half sold. However, it would hinge on whether Junior Hatt was buying it or not, and that would probably all depend on what side of bed he got out of on the Sunday morning!

Out of bed we climbed on Sunday morning and after a superb breakfast at the Seagoe Hotel in Portadown, it was down to the station for the return train trip to Dublin. Dublin was reached by mid-morning and soon we were dropping our bags at the Hilton Garden on the banks of the Liffey, and heading into the action areas.

Temple Bar, Grafton Street, O’Connell Bridge were explored as the crowds built on a busy old day in the fair city. With kick off time approaching, and Master H non-committal (it’s as good as it gets when we suggest football), we made our way over the river to Abbey Street to take the Red Line Luas to it’s final stop in Tallaght.

I’ve been to Tallaght once before, about ten years ago with my old pal Jamesie, on a Saturday afternoon to watch Rovers ‘A’ team take on Cobh Ramblers in the ill-fated third tier of Irish football. The game preceded a trip to Kildare County, and from memory it was a boiling hot day, and the game was literally watched by three men and a dog.

So, it felt like a bit of unfinished business as I’d not seen a ‘proper’ first team game at the stadium, so it was something of a tidying up job.

Shamrock Rovers are probably the most famous name in Irish football, I’ll not give a potted history as it would take too long, but they were a very successful side in the early Eighties winning four successive league titles, this after six successive Irish Cup’s in the Sixties. Also strong in Europe, the club went into decline in 1987 when they left their iconic Glenmalure Park ground in Milltown.

Ground shares took place, fortunes on the field went South and the club, in it’s nomadic state found themselves in the second tier of football. However, it all started to change when the club finally took up residence at the much maligned Tallaght Stadium in the South West of the City.

This happened in 2009, some twenty years after they were granted the land (politics etc), and from that point the club has hardly looked back. The League of Ireland was won in successive years in 2010 and 2011, while Europe sat up and took notice.

Juventus came to town in 2010 and the Shams lost 3-0 on aggregate, but it was the 2011-12 season where things really took off. A defeat in the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League to FC Copenhagen saw them qualify for a Play-Off game in the Europa League, which they won following a fantastic 3-2 aggregate victory over Partizan Belgrade. This meant they were in the Group Stages of the Europa League, the first Irish side ever to do this.

Rubin Kazan, PAOK and Tottenham Hotspur were to be the opponents, and granted, they lost all six games, but they were never disgraced. The games against Spurs finished 1-3 and 0-4, and clearly the whole experience was fantastic, and indeed money-spinning.

There is much excitement around Tallaght at the minute because the previous Thursday they knocked SK Brann out of Europe and now face a tie against Apollon Limassol from Cyprus. So to be fair, with the rain hammering it down as the tram pulled in, it was no great surprise that the crowd of just over 1500 was the lowest of the season, with over 5000 being present three days earlier, and the next home leg in just four days time set to be a sell out also.

The tram journey takes about forty minutes, and in all honesty, we cut it very fine. After buying tickets, we went through the turnstiles just as the game was kicking off, and by the time we got to our seats, the electronic scoreboard showed we were a minute in!

It’s a lovely ground, with almost identical stands on either sides with multi-coloured seats, while a further stand of a similar but smaller variety has just recently been added behind the South goal. The area behind the North goal is inaccessible.

Tallaght is a modern, up and coming area of Dublin, with lots of new build homes and commercial developments going on. It makes sense why Rovers chose to locate their. The pitch was superb by the way, and the surface itself was huge, suggesting, as was the case, that it may have been originally designed for both football and GAA.

With the wind and rain now swirling around the ground, it quickly became clear that this was going to be very much one way traffic on the field.

Rovers took a 13^th minute lead through Graham Cummins, and then scored three times in four minutes to record a commanding 4-0 half time lead. Daniel Carr scored twice while the hugely impressive Jack Byrne scored a brilliant individual effort.

Aaron McEneff got the fifth just after the break while Aaron Greene claimed the sixth and seventh goals. It had been a landslide victory against an abject UCD side who fell to the bottom of the table, and on this performance, they are only going one way.

The rain was still battering down as we jogged back to the tram stop and made our way into Dublin, it had been a damp, but very enjoyable afternoon. Master Hatt did not complain once and Mrs Hatt did claim to enjoy herself.

A meal and some beers later and it was time for bed, the Irish venture still had a day to go though, and that was spent in glorious sunshine lay on the beach in Bray, on what was a complete contrast of a day to the Sunday.

Finally of course, it wouldn’t be the same without paying seven quid a pint in Temple Bar would it? No, of course it wouldn’t, but when in Dublin….do as the tourists do, not the Irish, they aren’t that stupid!

Bucket List

Portadown  3  Belper Town  1

Friendly

It had been a long held dream of mine to see Belper Town take to the field across the water.

I’ve been a regular visitor to be the South and the North of Ireland since 2005, having seen over seventy games in that period, and combining that with a deep rooted love for the place, a game featuring the Nailers was high on the bucket list

.

So imagine my excitement when the Nailers Twitter feed teased us with the fact that they were about to announce details of a pre-season friendly, in the North. Various guessing games were played and a wish list drawn up, but we didn’t have to wait long, it was Portadown, one of my favourites.

Portadown Football Club’s Shamrock Park was a ground I visited in 2008, for a local derby against rivals Glenavon, a game which they lost 1-0 through a late goal. The game was memorable for I got to meet the Club Secretary Bill Emerson, he took me onto the pitch for a chat, gave me a lift back to the Railway Station and presented me with a club tie, which I still have.

So, how did it come about?

Nailers Chairman Ian Woodward, is married to Mrs Woodward, and to cut a long story short, her family is from the area, where they still live. So on their returns to Ulster, they are regular visitors to the football club. Conversations were struck, arrangements were made, we were going!

The official club party was to set off by bus on the Friday morning, then after catching the Holyhead to Dublin ferry, they were due to arrive at base camp in Portadown that evening. The plan was to then travel up to Belfast after the game, have a night out, and then make their way back via the ferry on Sunday.

Mrs H does not do ferries, plus, we had a small matter of Master H’s School Prom on the Friday night, so we had to create a plan of our own. Problem was, it was the British Open Golf in Portrush, so flights to Belfast were extortionate, so using my experience and knowledge of getting to, from and around the Country, we needed to think of something a little different.

Flight to Dublin on the Saturday morning, bus to the City Centre, and then the Belfast bound Enterprise train that stops in Portadown just after 11am. We would then stay in the team hotel on the Saturday night, travel to Dublin on the Sunday and then fly back on Monday night.

Excitement was building at the club as the game got closer, we’d played in Scotland (Gretna), Wales (Rhyl & Colwyn Bay), Cornwall (Falmouth) and even Goole, but never had water been crossed to play a game of football.

3.30am is not a good time to be hearing an alarm clock, but as our flight was touching down in Dublin, the travelling party were waking from their slumber at the Seagoe Hotel having been royally entertained by PFC at Laurelvale Cricket Club the night before. They would hit the gym, hit the Ulster Fry and generally chill, whereas we would be boarding the train for the trip North.

The train journey from Dublin over the border towards Belfast is a stunning route. Hugging the coastline North of the Fair City, the train crosses the Boyne into Drogheda before landing in Dundalk. The border is crossed into ‘Bandit Country’ with the Mourne Mountains as the backdrop, as Newry can be seen down in the valley below. Eventually the train halts in Portadown, we had reached our destination.

Our taxi driver took us a detour down the Garvaghy Road, made famous for the infamous Orange Order marches from Drumcree Church, before he dropped us off at the superb Seagoe.

It wasn’t long before we started to see familiar faces, Mr H Senior was back in the North for the first time since I took him back in 2006, while as we moved towards the departure time for the bus to the ground, more members of the party arrived in the reception area.

Shamrock Park has changed a bit since I last went. The old main stand remains, but is now out of bounds, with a brand new structure having been built on the opposite side. The seated away end remains behind the South goal while the area behind the North goal isn’t accessible for spectators. The pitch I must say, was superb.

The first thing to strike you, other than the fact our bus was too big to get up the drive to the parking area (I bet Porto, Standard Liege and Red Star Belgrade didn’t have that problem in European ties!), was the fantastic welcome we received, Portadown officials were superb and so friendly towards us. I was re-acquainted with Bill after all those years, although, being honest, I don’t think he could remember me!

Portadown Football Club is an institution in Northern Irish football, they have won the league four times, most recently in 2002, and on top of that, they’ve played a total of 36 games in various European competitions, winning four of them. Sides to succumb to the Ports have been Valur of Iceland, OFK Belgrade of the then Yugoslavia, Skonto Roga of Latvia, and most recently Shkendija of Macedonia.

Recent years have seen the club drop down into the second tier of football in Northern Ireland, finishing third last season behind big spending Larne, and Carrick Rangers whom they lost to in the Play Off’s. Even so, this was to be a massive test for the Nailers, and a very proud occasion against a club of such stature.

An extra bonus for us was the fact that my long time friends from Derry, John and Lyndon Coyle had travelled down for the game. John and Lyndon have been superb to me over the years, and I try to meet with them at least once a year in Derry, which usually involves watching Derry City, having a curry and then drinking until the early hours.

So, after all the planning and the travelling, we had a game to watch.

The Nailers took the lead through Derry Robson (the irony!), but almost immediately Danny South put the ball into his own net for the Ports equaliser. Virtually on the stroke of half time, Chris Lavery worked his way into the box to score from a tight angle to give the hosts the lead.

Portadown looked that little bit fitter and stronger in the second period, getting a deserved third goal from an Adam Salley header. They could have got more but Belper battled until the end and performed well against a side who many make favourites to return to the Northern Irish top flight this season.

After the game, the travelling party were treated to a barbecue and beers in the bright sunshine, while presentations and speeches were made. Portadown were perfect hosts, something Belper will be hoping to reciprocate next Summer.

The bus headed North to Belfast so the players and officials could take advantage of the nightlife, while we made our way back to the Seagoe for a more sedate evening after a tiring day.

A dream fulfilled, a tick on the bucket list, and nothing but praise for Portadown and Belper Town for managing to put it all together so brilliantly.

I’m sure both clubs will be watching each others progress with interest.      

Potteries Parity

City of Stoke  0  Eccleshall  9

Friendly

Something is brewing in the Potteries.

Towards the end of last season the news broke that Norton Wanderers was to rebrand, leading to the formation of a new incarnation known as City of Stoke FC. Premier Division outfit Tunstall Town also came under the umbrella and this meant the club could take a place in the top flight of the Staffordshire County Senior League, with a Development team taking a place in the First Division.

The idea is the brainchild of Leigh Robinson, and it was based on the ethos of building a community club for the area, without allegiance to any of the big two (Stoke and Vale) in the locality. Taking advantage of a strong social media presence, the club is reaching out to the youth of the area, alongside the already established senior men’s and women’s teams that will be wearing the clubs colours.

With a ground secured at the rural location of Whisper Lane and a top flight berth in the bag, the club has high hopes of progressing up the pyramid, and giving the City a team to be proud of.

The clubs badge incorporate both the red of Stoke City and the black of Port Vale, while the ground has been named Kiln Park in homage to the pottery industry the area is famed for. Identity is clearly a very important factor here.

I’d never been to Whisper Lane before, or the North Staffordshire Sports Club as it is also known. It has been the home to Shamblers in Sunday football, and also Manor Inne who played briefly in the Staffordshire League. Location wise, it sits just off the road that runs over the M6 towards Madeley.

I know the area well having been a student at Keele University between the years of 1991 and 1994, in fact, I called for a pint at the Mainwaring Arms in Whitmore before the game, a pub I last visited as a tax dodger in my significant idle team between doing very little. It was a nice walk from Keele to Whitmore and you could waste a good half a day doing it!

Whisper Lane, while a very pleasant setting, is not good for team buses, it’s a bumpy old drive down the track to the car park, but thankfully not many sides in the Staffs League, if any, need to use a bus to get to away games. It’s probably not ideal for cars either, but with it negotiated I was in the car park a good while before kick off, which gave me a chance to survey the scene.

The club had already tweeted about the fixture so I had no concerns about the game taking place, Eccleshall had agreed at short notice to play the game, on one of the various pitches at the venue, which it appears was the training pitch, with the main pitch complete with dugouts the nearest to the main road. The club has plans to rail this pitch, with advertising boards already being sold.

A dressing rooms and clubhouse facility sits on the edge of the car park, and is perfectly good enough for a club plying their trade at Step 7, and indeed higher if required.

Having lost 1-0 at Alsager Town the previous week, I was interested to see what Stoke were all about against another North West Counties League side, but to be fair to them, on a very good pitch, they were given a footballing lesson.

Eccleshall won 9-1, having had a three goal lead at half time. Stoke pulled a goal back when they were 5-0 down, but in all fairness, it was a mere consolation. What was noticeable about the game was the competitive, and at times feisty, nature of it. In fact the visitors had a player sent off in the second period, this after the home player manager in the first period took serious exception to some comments made by a visiting player, leading to a confrontation.

So, a tough day at the office for Stoke, against a very useful side from just down the road, but a real learning experience at the same time for a club that has aspirations to reach a similar level.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how this develops. The noises the club are making are positive and professional, while it’s marketing and commercial incentives are both refreshing and forward thinking.

Word of warning though if you are going, be careful where you park, I made the mistake of using the players car park, and as we all know, players don’t leave at the final whistle, especially when you find yourself blocked in!

Back home in less than an hour, and a very enjoyable night out with it.

Number 73

Maidstone United  0  Bromley  2

Friendly

“Hey you, get ready, get on your feet. Get into gear and hit this street. Hey you, get moving – it’s not too far, you’re looking good so come as you are. Hey you, you never know what you’ll see when it’s through that door with the 73…”

Yes, 1980’s kids Saturday morning TV heaven, Sandi Toksvig and Neil Buchnanan starred on ITV’s rival to Saturday Superstore, Number 73, and apart from the usual japes, games and features, the thing I remember about it most was the fact it was filmed and produced in Maidstone!

Yes, the new TVS studios in the Kent town were the home of many programmes, but this was one of the first to be produced from the location, and all these years later, nearly forty of them in fact, I still remember that!

I was telling Derek about it as we drove along the M20 on Saturday, he was non-plussed, despite having been a resident in the town for a few years in the late Eighties and early Nineties. The look he gave me as I was describing it, suggested I’d moved up a couple of notches on his spectrum of weirdness.

Anyway, I’ve wanted to go to Maidstone United for a few years now, but I’ve never been because it seemed a long way. That was until I realised it was as quick to get to as pretty much anywhere South of Heathrow on the M25, or, along the Southend Arterial Road. Derek, who at one point during the clubs glory years of playing in the Football League at Dartford, was a Vice-President, has also never been to the new ground either, nor having seen a game since the club re-formed, was equally keen on a visit.

So we simply had to go, and with some friendlies in mind, we hatched a plan.

A 10am start saw us chugging over the Dartford Crossing in good time, and shortly before 1pm we were parked up in Bearsted looking at what used to be the wine shop that Derek used to be the manager of. It’s now a Costa Coffee. It was nice for Derek to go back and look at a place that used to mean so much to him, so with my Care In The Community bit done, it was time to head in the general direction of the ground.

Bearsted sits to the South of Maidstone, so we simply headed North, passing the sign for the TV Studio’s, which apparently was also the place where Catchphrase was filmed, and Roy Walker once bought a stash of booze from Derek as he was hosting a party for the staff! Very nice man by all accounts….

Anyway, we traversed the one way system and soon found ourselves trundling along the side of the local prison (where scenes from Birds of a Feather were filmed), and found the car park at Maidstone East Station, just as a car load of Bromley fans were arriving.

Now then, Maidstone United, that is a story, one that I will try and do justice to in a few short paragraphs.

Non-League giants, they moved from the Isthmian amateur regime to the professional ranks of the Southern League in the seventies, before becoming founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979.

A league title followed in 1984, but in the days of re-election it came as no surprise that they weren’t elected to the Football League. However, a repeat came in 1989 and this time promotion was automatic, but it came at a cost. The Athletic Ground on London Road did not meet FL requirements so a ground share was agreed at Dartford, while the old stadium was sold to MFI.

The first season in the Fourth Division saw them lose to Cambridge United in the Play Offs, but by now the move was taking it’s toll financially as crowds dropped. Two more seasons of Football League struggle followed until the club went pop on the eve of the 92-93 season, having already been included in the fixtures.

A junior club called Maidstone Invicta became the vehicle that the supporters climbed on board as they sought to bring senior football back to the town. The name was changed to United after a few seasons and thanks to various ground shares they fought their way back up the pyramid to the Isthmian League, which was achieved in 2006.

In 2012-13 the club’s dream of a return to the town came to fruition when they moved into the Gallagher Stadium, and this coincided with a promotion to the Premier Division of the Isthmian.

By 2015, with large crowds and momentum behind them they made it to the Conference South, which turned out to be just a one year tenure as a Play Off Final victory over neighbouring Ebbsfleet United saw them back in the top flight of non-league football for the first time since 1989.

Their spell in the top flight lasted three years before a bottom spot last season saw them return to tier two, where they have high hopes this campaign of a swift return.

The Gallagher Stadium is unusual in a sense that it’s very rare you see a club develop a new stadium in such proximity to the town centre, because ordinarily the best you could hope for is an out of town site with little or nothing surrounding it.

Located just over half a mile North of the town centre, just off the main route that leads to the M20, the ground sits in a dip between the main road and the River Medway. I guess one of the reasons they did get permission is that unless you knew the ground was there, you probably wouldn’t notice it, plus the fact that it does look like the area is seeing quite a bit of redevelopment with apartments and a library having been built.

It’s a cracking stadium, and one the long suffering fans of the Stones must be both delighted and immensely proud of. Access is behind the goal, where the large Spitfire Lounge sits, a spacious and comfortable clubhouse, with offices and dressing rooms flanking either end.

The large main stand dominates the East side of the ground, and being built into the natural bank, it offers a superb elevated view of the pitch. At the top of the stand are glass fronted executive areas.

A recent development is a huge covered terrace behind the North goal, an imposing but necessary structure given the fact crowds average over 2000 and the ground was in desperate need of more elevation. The West side is flat standing while at the South end is a much smaller covered terrace of the Atcost variety. Behind the South end is the club shop, and various catering outlets.

The pitch is 4G, and of course that did create some debate when they won promotion to the top flight because as it stood, and still does, they would not be allowed back in the Football League with it.

A crowd of over 700 rocked up on a lovely day to watch an entertaining game that in all fairness was won relatively comfortably by Bromley courtesy of two second half goals. The Stones, in their fantastic new retro style kit, battled hard but lacked invention and potency.

So, that was it, a superb day out. Derek made it back after all these years, I finally ticked off one that I’ve had on the radar for years, and Maidstone TV Studios continues to keep us entertained, despite the fact the halcyon days of Saturday morning kids TV are just a distant memory for all of us forty somethings nowadays!

Plumbers & Taxi's

Newark Town  2  Lincoln United  3

Friendly

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……..