Allez Les Verts

Torrington  4  Ilfracombe Town  3

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I was really torn about going to a game on the Tuesday evening while on our holiday.

Part of me wanted to go, but another part of me was looking at the weather, looking at the Hotel restaurant and bar, looking at the family and thinking I’d rather stay where I was.

I tried to get Mrs H to talk me out of it, she failed, she almost insisted I went (hint taken!), so I did, but I did something unusual, I left it late, to the point where I was scheduled to arrive just a few minutes before kick off.

Great Torrington is only a short twenty minute drive from Barnstaple, and it’s not a busy route, so off I went, in search of a club and a ground that was suddenly back on the radar.

You see, I remember the mighty greens of Torrington being stalwarts of the Western League since I started to develop a real interest in non-league football back in 1984, right through to 2007, when after finishing in a relegation berth in the Premier Division, they chose to drop down several levels to the North Devon League, where they remained until the end of last season.

Then, they successfully applied to join the newly re-structured Step 6 South West Peninsula League East Division. That in itself is a pretty decent jump, especially considering they only finished fifth in their league last season, but, I suspect much if that was due to the clubs facilities and infrastructure.

So, one of the more traditional Western League clubs and grounds was back on the agenda, and I just happened to spot on Twitter that their reserve team had got a home fixture against the reserves of Ilfracombe Town.

Not a fixture to set the pulse rating with all due respect, but for me I’ll be honest, this was about the ground, I wanted to go and visit the venue and the club.

Great Torrington is a decent sized town, and the journey down was as simple as you would think, so upon arrival I ‘plonked’ the car in the next door swimming pool, not literally of course, my name isn’t Keith Moon!

The gate was open so I just walked straight in to see players warming up on the pitch, and what a cracking ground I saw in front of me!

On the North side of the ground is a seated stand offering an elevated view of proceedings, and to the side of this was the clubhouse and the dressing rooms. On the opposite side was another smaller stand with bench seats in it that sat to the side of the dugouts, while behind both goals it was uncovered standing.

The floodlights were operational, the pitch was in the great nick, and you could evidence that the club were trying to improve the enclosure of the ground, notably with newly added fencing.

Yes, I liked it, I was a bit concerned that one of the floodlight pylons looked a bit wonky, but I took the view that if it was going to fall over, it would have done before now!

It turns out, according to Ilfracombe’s Twitter, that while they fielded a reserve side, Torrington actually played their first team. I cannot confirm or dispute this personally as I wouldn’t know a Torrington first team player from a traffic cone, I’m just reporting what I’ve read.

But, whatever sides took the field, we had a cracker of a game on our hands.

I cannot recall the sequence of goals, but we had a seven goal thriller that the hosts won 4-3. When I say can’t recall, it was over a week ago now, I’ve seen a lot of games recently, and to try and explain the order the goals came in would be impossible. I can barely remember to change my pants once a week so the chances of being able to give a goal sequence, forget it!

Anyhow, it was the 7.30 kick off, it was done for 9.15 and by 9.40 I had a pint in my hand in the Hotel bar. I was glad I went, really glad, despite the heavy rain showers that punctuated the evening and caused to me to change my viewing position on various occasions.

Torrington are back, a proper club and a proper ground is back in the pyramid. Football in Devon is better for it, lets hope they not only survive, but thrive.

Allez Les Verts!