Bobby's

Southam United  4  Chipping Sodbury Town  1

Hellenic League – Division One

Admission / Programme – £5 / £2

My mission, which I had no choice but accepting, was to find a game on the 23^rd of December, but the caveat being that I was home absolutely no later than 6.30pm.

I had an original plan, Welling Town v VCD Athletic, which was being played at Phoenix Sports ground in Dartford, but once the festive shopping delivery slot had been booked and confirmed, that little jaunt had to go by the wayside.

So, I started to look at the local stuff, working on the principle that getting to a new ground would be an impossibility, especially with some leagues having already called it a day until the New Year. I then had a thought, a very random one, about Leamington Hibernian, and the fact that they were playing games at an apparent temporary home in a place called Stockton. Knowing the Hibs have a history of being nomadic, I did wonder whether this short term location may end up being more longer term than first intended. So I had a look, and yes, they were at home, but where was Stockton, and it seemed it was on the outskirts of Southam.

Suddenly, I had an even better thought, how about wait a while to see what Hibs announce for next season, and check to see if Southam United have a home game at their new ground, Bobby Hancocks Park.

They had, Chipping Sodbury Town, so that was it, assuming all was ok weather wise, I was going. But on the basis the ground has been open a number of years now and is only around 70 miles away, why have I not been before, having previously been to the old ground on Banbury Road?

It’s all down to geography, and the fact that the club took a bit of time out of senior football when they moved grounds, but when they did re-appear, they started in the Second Division of the Hellenic League. They then realised like a lot of clubs that direct promotion from that competition isn’t a given so they moved into the Oxfordshire Senior League, a competition I pay less than a passing interest in, in fact, to be brutal, I have no interest in it whatsoever. But they got promoted, and re-joined the Step 6 Hellenic League First Division, which again, is a competition that I’ve never really set about pursuing. So, I kind of took the view with Southam, that if they came back to say the Midland League or the United Counties League, I’d go and have a look, but until then, see ya……

So, I could be home by 6.15pm, a plan was in place, all was good in the World, and not only that, I could spend Saturday morning building up the required points total to help negotiate the travel permits for the festive football agenda!

I went to Southam’s old ground between Christmas and New Year in 2004, it was a derby game against a re-born Leamington FC, and having seen the game at the New Windmill during the previous August Bank Holiday, I was interested to see how it would shape up, especially as Leamington in the first game had been comfortable 3-0 victors.

My memories were of a large crowd, some quirky and somewhat unsafe looking areas of terracing / cover, plus a very vocal set of away fans, and in particular chants aimed at the portly Southam striker Dan Cramp….the chant of “Cramp ate the burger van” being one of the more polite variants. Leamington won 1-0 by the way.

In fact, that season I saw Southam a few times, an away game at West Midlands Police where if I recall Cramp suffered a pretty bad looking injury, and then also an away game at Massey Ferguson where I got to meet the then Southam Chairman Charles Hill, who had kept me up to date about a dodgy pitch and whether the game was going to be on. I remember sitting in Tamworth Services when the call came from him, and to be fair, for a couple of years we had occasional contact via email. Looking at the club directory in the programme, it appears Charles is no longer involved with the club, albeit it does appear he was instrumental in the ground move.

Getting to Southam is pretty straightforward and my initial fears about pre-Christmas traffic in Derby and at the M69 turn off at Leicester proved unfounded. Once on the Coventry ring road you take the Rugby Road and then a quick turn off takes you onto the A423 Banbury Road and after around twenty minutes you are on the outskirts of the Warwickshire town.

The new ground is built at the back of an industrial estate, but at the same time is only a stones throw away from the old ground, which looks like at some point it’ll be built upon given the amount of construction going on in the area. In fact, it might already be somone's front room, I couldn't say for definite. 

They’ve done a very good job of it. A large car park greets you (assuming you go the right way and don’t follow the sat nav), and sat within that is the impressive building that houses the dressing rooms, club offices, a clubhouse and in front of it a balcony that provides excellent views of the action.

Today, you entered via the main entrance and made your way up the stairs to the clubhouse, where it seemed only a couple of club officials were on duty to help (festive unavailability), with the guy behind the bar performing various duties, including printing out a match programme in A3 size, which took me back to the 70’s and early 80’s when you got a newspaper when you went to the Baseball Ground! Free mince pies at half time was a nice touch.

Otherwise, it’s hard standing around the ground, including an elevated terraced area in front of the club building, while on the opposite side to the building is a decent sized Atcost style seated stand, presumably added to meet Step 6 requirements.

By the clubs own admission in the programme, the pitch wasn’t in the greatest of shapes, but to be fair, given that it wasn’t conducive to attractive passing football, the two sides served up a spectacle that wasn’t without incident.

The hosts took the lead after ten minutes through Josh Turton and then the same player made it 2-0. Nathan Scrivens was then sent off for the visitors on the half hour mark for a professional foul, and from the resultant free kick Craig Watkin made it 3-0, however moments later Alfie Davis gave the boys from the edges of Bristol a lifeline when he pulled a goal back.

While all of this was happening, the Sods lost their goalkeeper through injury, and the guy on the public address was having a fantastic time keeping on top of all of the happenings, not least trying to find a different track to play every time the ball found the back of the net!

The second half was a little bit tamer by comparison, with Watkin scoring the only goal, and in turn copying the celebration that West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus had performed a couple of hours earlier when scoring against Manchester United. By that I mean running into the crowd and taking a seat, which seemed to wind up the Chipping Sodbury management team even more than they currently were, having already had a minor spat with the PA guy over some mistaken identity / misinformation!

Talking of management teams, both sides had a member booked in the closing stages over some sort of bust up, not sure exactly what happened but I could see a home supporter getting very irate over something, but anyway, people do tend to get a bit carried away at Christmas don’t they!

So that was it, a 4-1 win for the hosts, and a very enjoyable afternoon in Warwickshire. I like what Southam United have done at Bobby Hancocks Park (he was a legendary former player by the way), it’ll be interesting to see if they do end up getting moved into a more Midlands based competition in years to come. This is a club that spent 37 years in the Midland Combination (including what it became eventually), and you do feel that would be a more natural fit.

That said, they must have their reasons for the route they took (assuming they had a choice), remember, I was on my way to Welling Town until forces out of my control intervened!!

Whamaggedon

Frome Town  2  Wimborne Town  2

Southern League – Division One South

Admission / Programme – £10 / £2

Considering that Frome Town appear to have an ability to get games on in all weather conditions, and attempts to pay them a visit have been on the radar for nearly two and a half seasons, it’s a bit of a story as to why only now, have I actually managed to achieve it!

For the previous two seasons, I’ve tried to link it with being on holiday, and more specifically the return journey from a break in either Devon or Cornwall. But it’s either coincided with a weekend when they haven’t got a home game, or, a desire to get the family back home to Derbyshire at a reasonable hour has taken preference, when previously the best made plans to get to the game have been in place and all that.

At the start of this season I was determined, forget the holiday theory, that never seems to work, just get it in the planner and get it visited. Three weekends have been on the radar so far, one fell by the wayside quite early due to FA Trophy involvement, and then early in December I’d got a game against Exmouth Town all lined up, but I then bottled out of it due to freezing conditions and no Plan B being in place. Naturally it got played. Then only last weekend, Torquay in the FA Trophy, but the monsoons were forecast, and with no Plan B, I bottled it and went to the plastic at Horsham instead. Torquay had a lovely day out…….

I needed more faith in Frome, so far they’ve survived both a monsoon and an arctic blast, so let’s be right, on any other normal Saturday, we should have absolutely nothing to worry about, apart from the traffic which has of course lately been an absolute arse.

Saturday 16^th December, all looked fantastic, but then on the Thursday Mrs H threw me a domestic curveball, but I explained the situation, discussed the prospect of a detour from our next Cornwall venture, and finally she relented, domestic duties were re-apportioned, I could think about Frome once more.

Jensen Button is from Frome you know, I think Master H would have quite like to have gone and looked at his statue being a young petrol head, but he hasn’t got one, so that was a non-starter, I was going on my own, and given the traffic situation over previous Saturday’s I chose to depart earlier than normal, while of course Mrs H was doing domestic stuff.

The journey down via the M42 and the M5 proved to be somewhat entertaining thanks to the content of the Frank Skinner Show on Absolute Radio. The subject of ‘Whamaggedon’ was discussed, a game I play yearly, and as of today, the 21^st December, I’m still in it. Basically, you have to go from 1^st December to midnight on Christmas Eve without hearing the original version of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’. This has become a multinational pastime, avoiding being ‘Whammed Off’ during December, and personally,  in previous years I’ve had some shockers, including an early exit on 2^nd December once thanks to a taxi driver!

The conversation started on the radio over the fact the PA Announcer at Arsenal played it at half time during a recent game, knocking an estimated 7,000 people out of the game, but it then moved on to the fact that the estate of the late George Michael see’s the bulk of it’s proceeds going to charity. So, as the game has grown in popularity, and a number of radio stations no longer play the record, effectively the charities are being denied of valuable money through the royalties.

That’s unfortunate, but on a positive, only three more days to go!!

I left the M5, moved onto the M4 and then headed down towards Bath. I’ve got a new car by the way, and I’ve fallen out with it on a few occasions already, and it’s that piece of kit known as Apple Carplay, it does my nut in. One of the things I’d not done is disabled toll roads usage. How is that going to cause a problem in Bath you might ask?

Has anyone ever driven through Batheaston, in a car that’s as wide as a small tank? No? Well, firstly, two very narrow bridges, and one of them you have to pay a toll to cross, only a pound to be fair, but that’s a pound that I could have given to Frome Town FC in terms of an extra raffle ticket, and then we have a public outcry about George Michael’s lack of royalties??

Once Batheaston had been negotiated it was a pretty straightforward run down to Frome, and after negotiating the town’s ring road I was pulling up into the car park behind the goal just after 1pm, all very stress free (apart from the toll) it has to be said.

Frome Town’s history is of a club that joined the Western League in 1919 and remained in it until 2009 when a runners up spot in the Premier Division saw them promoted to the Southern League Division One South West.

Within two seasons they were promoted to the Premier Division where they remained until 2019 when they suffered relegation back to the second tier. The eight seasons at Step 3 saw a best placed finish of eighth in 2016-17.

Only two full seasons have been completed in the now named Division One South, and it was during 2021-22 that they finished runners-up, only to lose out to Bristol Manor Farm in the Play Off’s. This season, prior to the game against table topping Wimborne Town, they sat in second place.

Nothing remarkable has happened in the FA competitions, barring a First Round appearance in 1954-55 when Leyton Orient won 3-0 at Badgers Hill. The FA Vase quarter final was reached in 2004-05 but a 3-0 defeat at Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association (I know!) saw that run come to an end.

Badgers Hill is a wonderfully traditional type of non-league football ground. You enter via the turnstiles on the Berkley Road side of the ground, upon which sits the dressing rooms, two small covered areas, the original seated stand, a tea bar and a further building that houses the Supporters Club. Behind the goal on the East side of the ground is the large clubhouse that sits high up above pitch level, with a standing area in front of it, while moving round to the North side you have a tall and expansive cover sitting above some terracing steps, running from the half way line right down to the bottom North West corner. Behind the West goal is some more modern seating of the Atcost variety, but to help with viewing this structure is raised a good height above pitch level.

A super set up, I have to say, and while I was having a wee pre-match snifter in the bar, I was joined at my table by a group of Frome supporters. I was minding my own business, when all of a sudden the bloke next to me, who had an accent that I found familiar, said to one of his mates “I send all of the Frome programmes to my mate in Clay Cross, back where I came from”

My ears pricked up, so I leaned over and said “I only live down the road from Clay Cross…”, and that was the moment I met veteran Sherwood Forester, Errol.

A good half an hour chat followed with a man that ended up in Frome due to his military career, but had so many memories of North Derbyshire and it’s surroundings. But, kick off was due, so we bade farewell.

A crowd of 473 turned up to watch a thoroughly entertaining game between two pretty evenly matched sides. The opening goal came in the 33^rd minute when Jon Davies tapped home for the hosts after great work from Kane Richards. Frome had been in the ascendency at this point, but the goal galvanised the visitors and they found an equaliser within five minutes when poor defending let in Harry Morgan to score with ease.

As the game moved into first half added time, Frome retook the lead when a corner fell to the feet of captain Sam Teale and he made no mistake from close range.

The game swung from end to end in the second period, and following a spell of sustained Wimborne pressure leading up to the hour mark, it was an absolute pisswhistler of a strike from Matthew Neale in the 69^th minute that bought the scores level, a stunning strike that no goalkeeper would have saved.

Wimborne found the net again in the 75^th minute but were denied by the offside flag as the game started to get scrappy, and as the final whistle came, you had the feeling that both sides were relatively happy with a point gained.

The escape from the car park was quick, and as my Carplay went on a complete wobble, and I had to use a largely ineffective in car system that hadn’t yet been set up correctly as I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, I ended up back at the Batheaston toll bridge…..happy days!

Otherwise, home before 8pm, it had only been two and a half years in the waiting, but it was worth it, even if the lack of a Jensen Button statue was a bit of a let down, apparently, when you become a freeman of the town, a statue isn’t part of the deal!

One F In Ofton

Walsall  1  Alfreton Town  0

FA Cup – Second Round (Replay)

Admission / Programme – £15 / £2

When the final whistle blew at Alfreton Town’s Impact Arena the previous Tuesday evening, I was in no doubt, I was going to be heading to the Bescot Stadium to watch the Reds in a richly deserved replay at League Two Walsall.

The first game had been somewhat controversial, in the sense that the original game, scheduled to be live on BBC, was postponed due to a frozen pitch, just moments before the kick off. A sell out capacity crowd was in place, but it seems the Walsall Manager, Mat Sadler, got his way and convinced the referee that it was too dangerous to play. Billy Heath, the Alfreton gaffer, had a very different view on things.

Anyway, as disappointing as that was for all involved with the Reds, and for the BBC for that matter who had to quickly bugger about with the scheduling, the re-arranged game was set for the following Tuesday, and that was deemed as a pay on the gate game, which was perfect from my own point view as I could attend.

The game ended goalless but in fairness to Alfreton, other than a couple of spells in the first half, they were more than deserving of another shot at it, and in the end it was the visitors who were the happier to hear the final whistle.

So, the Bescot Stadium beckoned, Mark sold out two supporters buses, fielding numerous calls as we travelled together to Horsham the previous Saturday, whereas I decided to drive down to a ground that I’d only ever previously visited on the one occasion. It was November 1998 and again it was the FA Cup, the visitors were Gresley Rovers and they went down 1-0 to a late Ian Roper goal.

I have to say, the journey down was a shocker, leaving Sheffield at 4pm I thought I’d breeze it, but a pretty serious looking accident at Markeaton Island in Derby caused significant hold ups, whereas the torrential rain that fell pretty much all the way from Derby down to Lichfield didn’t help matters either. By the time I was pulling into the Bescot Railway Station car park, it was getting on for 6.45pm. Mark’s supporters busses, which left Alfreton at 5pm only arrived ten minutes before kick off!

My memories of the Bescot, a ground built in 1989 to replace the old Fellows Park which was less than quarter of a mile away, and now the site of a Morrisons, are pretty sketchy, but since my one and only visit they have actually constructed a new stand behind the North goal, a three tier structure plus some executive boxes, that dwarves the rest of the ground.

The rest of the ground is made up of three single tier seated stands, with the main stand having some corporate boxes to the rear. The away fans sit (stand) behind the South goal, while the East stand, and the two upper tiers of the North stand were closed for the game. It’s a tidy and functional ground, with plenty of car parking around it, and to be fair, it sits right next to the M6, and with the train station being adjacent, access to it is pretty simple depending on your preferred method of transport.

The ground is cashless, so after going to the ticket office to purchase a piece of paper for the sum of £15, it was round to the away end and into the small concourse area that served as the away fans bar. Again, card only, but with many Alfreton fans late arriving at the ground due to the traffic issues, queueing wasn’t a problem. A crowd of just over 2,000 were in attendance with just under 400 of those having travelled down the A38. The atmosphere was all in one end, with the ‘Ofton’ fans in great voice as always. The fact that they were penned into two thirds of the stand helped on that front with the fans close together as opposed to being spread out.

The game got off to the worst possible start for the Reds when an unlucky deflection allowed Jamille Matt to score from close range after just five minutes. It was just the start Alfreton didn’t need, and, you hoped at that point it wouldn’t be a case of the floodgates opening.

I’d not been impressed by Walsall in the previous game, I thought they lacked quality and were low on confidence, but, they recorded an impressive win the following Saturday at Notts County, an outcome few outside of the Black Country predicted. With that result under their belts, and an early goal, what could happen next?

Well, Alfreton regrouped and grew into the game, and very much like the first match, chances for either side were few and far between, and with the Reds support rallying round the team, the score line remained the same at half time.

It was good to catch up with Mark, Lee and a few of the lads at half time, lads I first met at the age of eleven, and forty years later, we are still in touch, still watching football matches, still meeting up from time to time for the odd pint, still wondering at what age you need to grow up and start to behave yourself!

The second half saw Alfreton attacking the end that housed their fans, and to be fair, much like the second period of the first game, Alfreton grew in terms of possession and used their main threat which is an aerial one into the danger area. Walsall had worked out that they needed to avoid giving away throw ins in the final third, so Alfreton’s best hope came from corners and diagonals into the box, but to be fair to Walsall they pretty much got on the end of everything. In fact, I can’t recall a notable attempt on goal from Alfreton despite the ball spending long periods in the Walsall defensive areas.

At the final whistle the run was over, Walsall head to St Mary’s to play Southampton, Alfreton can look back on a memorable experience, and can now focus on the main prize which is the National League North play-off race.

I made a sharp exit at the final whistle, as the Reds players and supporters saluted each other, which meant I was away from the area in double quick time, and, turning the key in the door almost bang on an hour after I left the stadium. 

Normally, when I visit a ground and compose a blog, it’s all about the home club, their history, the experience as a fan, but sorry Walsall, this was all about Alfreton, it could only ever be that way.

In the words of the song, heard occasionally on the terraces at North Street - "There's only one F in Ofton....." 

Hopping The Hop

Horsham  2  AFC Totton  0

FA Trophy – Third Round

Admission / Programme – £13 / £3

Let’s be quite frank about it, December has been a weather related bag of absolute knackers!

I’m at the Alfreton Town v Walsall FA Cup tie up at North Street on the Tuesday night, chatting to my old pal Thorpey about the upcoming weekend, and between us we cooked up a plan. His club (Alfreton) hadn’t got a game, I was planning on heading South for some Isthmian League action, so we decided to travel together, Badshot Lea, with Merstham as a back up, what could possibly and all that??

Then of course, we get to Friday night, the weekly Armageddon gets itself into position, and our plans have to become fluid, no pun intended of course.

Badshot Lea went before 9.30am, and with various pitch inspections being called all over the Country, where we actually set off to, and where we ended up were likely to be two different places altogether.

So, having collected the Thorpester from his Alfreton homestead, we had a plan, we would head down the M1, and work on the principal that if the game at Merstham was to be on following an 11.45am inspection, then that would be the option, but, if that went tits, then we would head a bit further afield to West Sussex for the FA Trophy game between Horsham and AFC Totton on the failsafe plastic at the Hop Oast.

I knew that we would hit the first bit of traffic related shite at Luton, and it was while we were queueing for no apparent reason, it came to light Merstham had warthogs issues, so that was it, it was to be Horsham, and the technology was telling us that 2.20pm would be the arrival time, so we really didn’t need any motorway nonsense to hold us up any more that it was already suggesting.

The M25 was a crock, it usually is, with the roadworks and the A3 turn off being the current nightmare. That was negotiated, and then it was a case of traversing the edges of Leatherhead, heading through Dorking, and then finding ourselves on the dual carriageway that runs to the West of Horsham, before cutting back in towards the town and heading into the park and ride centre on Worthing Road.

Horsham have built a fine new stadium on the very outskirts of the town, but, they have no parking for spectators at the ground, so you have to head into the park and ride, and then walk over the road, and up a path to the Camping World Stadium (or Hop Oast as it was before sponsorship took over). The walk is a good five minutes, but it was well organised with plenty of stewards in place to direct and help where required.

So, this is Horsham FC, the club who have hit the headlines recently. A First Round FA Cup tie away to Barnsley ended 3-3, but the police kindly moving it to a Friday night went down like a sack of plop in Sussex for logistical reasons. The replay was lost in front of a record crowd of 3,000, and the ITV cameras at Hop Oast, but it wasn’t over, not just yet anyway.

Barnsley fielded an ineligible player, so were slung out, and Horsham had the pleasure of a Second Round trip to relatively near neighbours Sutton United. To be fair, having drawn very near neighbours, Dorking Wanderers, in the Fourth Qualifying Round and beating them 2-0, Sutton are one of the nearest ‘big’ clubs to them (Crawley are closer be fair). However, the game ended in a 3-0 defeat for Horsham, but certainly not in disgrace.

The Horsham story is quite an interesting one, post war they found themselves playing in the Sussex, Metropolitan & District, Corinthian, and Athenian Leagues, before moving into the Isthmian League in 1973. They kind of bumbled along for many seasons in the lower divisions until making it to the Premier Division in 2006. This lasted for six seasons before a rapid decline saw them drop into the Southern Combination (Step 5) for the 2015-16 season.

They won the championship at the first attempt, bouncing back to the Isthmian League, and within three seasons they were back into the Premier Division following a play-off final victory over Ashford United.

The FA Cup, this season notwithstanding, has not done the club too badly over the years. My Dad will remember a 9-1 defeat at Notts County in the First Round Proper during the 1947-48 season, while in the 1966-67 season they did it again, losing 3-0 at the then Queen Street ground to Swindon Town.

2007-08 was an exciting season, beating Maidenhead United 4-1 at home in the First Round, before holding Swansea City to a televised 1-1 draw, and then succumbing 6-2 in the replay at the Liberty Stadium. 2021-22 saw a 2-0 defeat at Carlisle United, this after a highly impressive 1-0 home victory over Woking in the Fourth Qualifying Round.

The Queen Street ground in the centre of the town was exited in 2008 after it was sold for housing, and for a number of years they shared at the likes of Lancing, Worthing and former door neighbours Horsham YMCA. Finally though after laborious planning issues that had to be resolved, they gained permission to build on the Southern edges of the town, in an area known as Hop Oast, which, is of course the un-sponsored name of the ground.

They moved in during the Summer of 2019, and that season was of course curtailed in March 2020. The following season was a write off, so the club only achieved it’s first full campaign at the venue in the 2021-22 season.

So what’s it like then?

I have to say, I was hugely impressed. Once you’ve taken the walk from the park and ride, the ground, set in a rural area with a golf course on two sides, has an impressive two storey building behind the South goal that houses the dressing rooms, offices, and a large bar area. In front of this is a raised standing area that is protected by netting, with further standing at pitch level below. Food is served from a hatch at one end of the building, and then if you walk round in an anti-clockwise direction you’ve got two outdoor bars flanking both ends of a good sized seated stand that straddles the half way line.

Moving round to the North side you’ve got some recently added covered terracing, while on the West side you’ve got an additional two areas of covered terracing either side of the dug outs. Impressively on this side is a raised TV / Press gantry, very professional looking, and as good as I’ve seen at any non-league ground, being fully enclosed and not exposed to the elements. This was no doubt something that ITV were more than happy with on their recent visit!

I have a feeling since it was opened, a few bits have been added, but right now it’s very impressive, and clearly it’s a case of, if you build it, they will come, with good sized crowds frequenting the Hop Oast since it opened it’s doors. 644 were in attendance today for the FA Trophy game, and remember this was an all pay game, so no season tickets. The feel around the place is a an excellent one, the support is loud and passionate, everyone seems to be wearing club colours of some sorts, and it did look as though plenty of money was being spent on fodder and liquid. The place and the people oozed professionalism, this is a club on the up, National League South cannot be too far away.

So, with that all being so good, something had to let it down, and that was the game, it was not the best by any means. Both sides seemed to be somewhat bereft of ideas in the final third, but it was the hosts from the Oast who had the edge and managed to score twice to make progress to the last 32 of the competition.

Jack Brivio opened the scoring in the 29^th minute when the ball found it’s way into the net, whether intentionally or not, after the skipper made contact with a cross that was driven to the far post. The second goal was without debate though and it came in injury time. Jack Mazzone headed home at the far post after great play on the left hand side from the dangerous substitute Daniel Ajakaiye. Peterborough Sports will be making a visit in the next round, my money would probably be on Horsham in that one,

A happy crowd left the Hop Oast, and fears that it would be carnage trying to get out of the park and ride were unfounded, it proved to be a doddle and before you know it the delights of Dorking and eventually the M25 were upon us. As is always the case, in comparison to the journey down, the one back was a breeze and I was dropping Thorpey off at the pub in Alfreton at 8.15pm.

Maybe next week, the weather will be a bit kinder, and I might end up at a game I actually set off for, but that's just too much to ask isn’t it? Having said that, in terms of Horsham Football Club, Plan B’s don’t come much better than that!

Strawberry Switchblade

Leeds Medics & Dentists  2  Alwoodley  1

Yorkshire Amateur League – Supreme Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

Frosticles, the Midlands and the North were riddled with them on Saturday morning!

It was going to be a messy weekend according to the forecast, sub-zero temperatures, fog and snow, all the things needed to wreck football plans, and unless you were planning on heading down the South coast, you were going to struggle to avoid it, so 'they' said.

My original plan was Frome Town, and although they did manage to play, I was not prepared to risk that journey, not one bit, especially given the remoteness of the location and the lack of a back up plan should it be called off late on in an Alfreton Town v Walsall style!

So I needed a re-think, and that thinking time started on the Friday night, I was looking at places like Basford United, Leek Town, Sporting Khalsa, Redditch United, and even Ilkley Town! All plastics, all places I’d been to before, but it looked as though it was going to be a needs must scenario.

But then on Saturday morning I had a thought, and it was a thought prompted by the Futbology App, my new favourite thing! I’ve now got every game I’ve ever been to logged, but according to it, I’d yet to complete the top flight of the Yorkshire Amateur League?

Surely that was a mistake, but no, it seemed that Leeds Medics & Dentists, who play at Weetwood Sports Park in Leeds, had not been visited. It had been visited, definitely, a grass pitch right at the far end of the complex to watch Headingley play, but it seems, the app has got more than one pitch logged for the venue, and the aforementioned medical boys were on the 3G up near to the main entrance. The result, an annoying gap on the app!

I had a look, they were at home, and according to Full Time, it was game on. I did a bit of research, sent a couple of texts, and it was all affirmative, it was 2pm, on the 3G, and they were going to turn up and play it!

So that made my mind up, a sort of new ground, in fact no, it was a new ground, the other one I went to was about 400 yards away, the bloody grounds in Dundee are closer! The only downside being the fun and games of getting through Leeds, especially with Middlesbrough the visitors to a sell out Elland Road.

It took ages to get to, the M1 was stop start up towards Sheffield, and then the M621 wasn’t that great in the vicinity of LUFC, but none of that was a patch on trying to get out of Leeds and up through Headingley, especially on a day when the students had decided to have an en-masse fancy dress pub crawl!

I eventually parked up at Weetwood a mere twenty minutes before kick off, and thankfully, once I’d located the pitch amongst the plethora of sporting facilities, I could see two teams warming up, we had a game.

Weetwood Sports Park sits on the far North side of Leeds, just off the roundabout where Otley Road meets the Ring Road. In the past I have gone all the way up the M1 to Thorpe Arch and then gone across the ring road, but today I made life more difficult for myself! The venue is Leeds University’s sports complex, and not to be confused with Boddington which sits over the road, and was indeed the place I went to just over a year ago to watch Leeds University beat Alwoodley 10-3 (which I alluded to in the recent SESKU Miners blog).

Weetwood is made up of a rugby league venue (used by Leeds Gryphons), two hockey pitches, the 3G football pitch, a couple of cricket pitches and numerous grass football pitches. They also have a number of smaller 3G areas for other sports, but I couldn’t be that arsed to walk and have a look at what they were used for, besides, they were probably covered in snow anyway!

Weetwood also has a pub onsite called the Stables, plus it has a Hotel called the Weetwood Park Estate, so it is a pretty plush all round venue. Clearly once the home of some landed gentry, I suspect it was bequeathed to the University and they have now got custody of a veritable goldmine!

Between the rugby pitch and the 3G football pitch is a building that houses both a covered area for viewing the rugby, and a bar / café area raised up and cut into the grass banking upon which it sits, and this allows viewing of the game if you wished to do so in the warmth. I nipped in for a coffee, Strawberry Switchblade were playing on the radio, ’Since Yesterday’, one of the finest poptastic tunes ever, that made my day, the football mattered not anymore…..  

The game pitched a Medics side who were sat in a mid-table space, against a visiting outfit who had only taken four points from their opening 13 games, conceding 66 goals in the process. Choosing to view the game from the top of the grass bank behind the goal (you weren’t allowed inside the cage), it was the hosts who took a very early lead, literally straight from the kick off, but on the ten minute mark Alwoodley found a way back into the game thanks to a well taken equaliser.

The Medics made it 2-1 before half time, but thereafter the second half was a pretty close affair, producing little in the way of clear cut chances for either side, but it wasn’t without plenty of effort and endeavour.

So that was it, back in the car, back through Leeds the same way I came (why did I do that??), and eventually onto the motorway network, giving me the opportunity to take in the second half updates across the country via 5 Live, one of the benefits of a 2pm kick off and certainly a way of making the journeys feel like they are going that bit quicker.

Once home, it was interesting to see what actually took place on the football front, and it was very much a North / South divide. The North was obliterated, the South not so much. The following midweek didn’t look too promising either. Looks like plastics for the foreseeable, and some would say were mad, venturing out in the conditions we do, but we keep doing it don’t we, not wanting to miss a moments opportunity to watch some togger? Which nicely take me back to the profound lyrics of Strawberry Switchblade…

“When tomorrow comes, you’ll wish you had today…” 

Pedigree

Stafford Rangers  2  Atherton Collieries  0

Northern Premier League – Premier Division

Admission / Programme – £13 / £2

I waxed lyrical recently about Frickley Athletic, and how they are what I would describe as a ‘Proper’ non-league football club, with history, tradition, an iconic ground, and, a knowledgeable and passionate fan base.

Well, you can add another club to that last, Stafford Rangers, one of the giants of Midlands non-league football, and a club I first visited in 1994, for what was only my second ever game in the then GM Vauxhall Conference, or, the top tier of semi-professional football.

I have pretty good memories of the day, it was a home game against Yeovil Town, another non-league giant at the time, and a club, when compared to Stafford, that went on to have a very different journey altogether.

I remembered how impressed I was with the ground, how vocal both sets of fans were, and on the day how Rangers smashed Yeovil 4-1. I actually saw the corresponding game later in the season at Huish Park (I was friends with a Yeovil fan from my recently ended University days), which Yeovil won 1-0. By this stage Stafford were looking in deep trouble and did eventually end up getting relegated after finishing next to bottom.

I’ve been a few times since, I took my Dad once to see a pre-season game against Hednesford Town, whereas more recently I went on New Years Day in 2015 to see Leek Town defeated 1-0, and then again a couple of seasons ago when I turned up at Madeley White Star only to find the game was off, so opted for a Plan B which was Rangers against Bamber Bridge.

It’s one of those places though, close enough to visit as and when it takes your fancy, but just far enough away for it not to become somewhere you go three or four times a season. Stafford from Belper is a touch over an hour, so having arrived home from a lovely morning and lunchtime in Salford to celebrate my daughter’s graduation, I decided to take a ride over for the midweek game against Atherton Collieries, and as it turned out, the battle of the bottom two in the top flight of the Northern Premier League.

Rangers, or ‘Boro’ as the locals call them, have one hell of history. After being a Cheshire League club from the early fifties, they became founder members of the NPL in 1969, before then winning it in 1972, beating giants like Boston United, Wigan Athletic, Scarborough and Altrincham to the crown. The NPL era (the first one), saw Boro consistently finish in the upper reaches, and as a result they were invited to become founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979.

They found the step up tougher, lasting four seasons before being relegated, but two years later and they were back again after claiming a further NPL crown in 1985. A ten year spell in the top flight followed, with a best finish of sixth place, but then as I mentioned earlier, they were relegated again in 1995, and following that the club had a tough period.

Another relegation immediately followed and they spent a further four years in the regional divisions of the Southern League, finally getting back to the Premier Division in 2000. Another four years later they finished high enough up to be invited to become founder members of the Conference North, and within two seasons they had beaten both Harrogate Town and Droylsden in the Play Offs, to make it back to the top table again.

It lasted two seasons, then three seasons came and went again in Conference North, followed by three more n the NPL Premier, before a relegation to the fourth tier of non-league football came in 2014. The club were now at their lowest point, and it two took seasons to get back to Step 3, courtesy of a comfortable league title winning campaign, but for now, they remain at the third tier, and haven’t really threatened to make another leap forward.

It’s been a real rollercoaster of journey for the club, but notwithstanding what’s happened in the league, what about the cups?

Wow, let’s start with the FA Trophy. They beat Barnet at Wembley in 1972 courtesy of a 3-0 score line to win it a first time, they then lost in the semi-final to Wigan Athletic the next season before going to Wembley again in 1976, this time losing 3-2 to Scarborough.

A third visit to the Twin Towers came in 1979, and in front of a then record crowd, Kettering Town were beaten 2-0, whereas in 1990 they reached the semi-final again, only to lose over two legs to Leek Town.

In the FA Cup they’ve reached the First Round Proper numerous times, but a best season came in 1974-75 when three Football League clubs were beaten (Stockport County, Halifax Town, Rotherham United), before losing 2-1 at home to Peterborough United in the Fourth Round. Who did they beat in the First Qualifying Round, needing a replay? Belper Town of course (and I have both programmes!)

So, taking all of this into account, you can clearly see why I would describe Stafford Rangers as a ‘Proper’ non-league club, but what of Marston Road these days? The ground is located to the North of the town centre, in an area dominated by both housing and industry, and coming from the Uttoxeter area, you nip round the ring road and approach it from the North, avoiding having to go into the centre of town. Parking though, isn’t that plentiful in the area, or if it is, I’ve never been able to find it!

If you want to get in the car park, you need to be an early bird, which I was. The car park sits behind the North end of the ground, with the large clubhouse contained within it. The clubhouse is made up of a numbers of rooms, with one of them, a large area, backing onto the terraces, and if you so wish, you can choose to view the game out of the windows.

The turnstiles are in the North West corner, with the dressing rooms immediately on the right had side as you enter. Following the ground round in an anti-clockwise direction you’ve then got a club shop and a burger van before you get to the steep seated stand that straddles the half way line.

Beyond the stand is some terracing which extends round the South goal, with an area of cover to the rear of the steps, this end is known as the ‘Shed End’. I can recall back when I first went, this end was more of a cinder bank, albeit still covered.

Moving round to the East you have more terracing, which extends the length of the side, with some low cover running along around two thirds of it. This side has gates and fences that would allow for segregation as and when needed.  You then come round to the North end, where again you have a couple of steps of terracing, which sit right in front of the aforementioned clubhouse.

Boro had appointed a new manager prior to the game, the chap who had success with Nantwich Town, Dave Cooke. It’s doubtful he would have had much time to influence matters, but his presence certainly saw the hosts put on a performance that earned them a deserved three points.

The impressive Ethan Stewart slotted home from close range virtually on the stroke of half time, and then not long after the restart the same player flicked the ball over the Colls goalkeeper with the outside of his foot. That was pretty much game set and match, with Colls having plenty of effort, but no end product, whereas Rangers could have gone on to extend their winning margin.

With the cold starting to bite, the crowd of 422 made their way into the Stafford night, hoping that the change in manager will see them pull clear of the relegation zone. A club like Stafford Rangers, on so many levels, should not be plying their trade at Step 4 again, under any circumstances.

Chocolate Orange

Chipstead  2  Sutton Common Rovers  3

Isthmian Football League – Division One South Central

Admission / Programme – £10 / Online

I’ll be honest, since the M25 debacle a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been right royally irritated about being denied the opportunity to go to Chipstead.

Not like it really makes any difference to be honest, just a case of reshuffling the fixtures and pencilling it back in again, it matters not really. That said, I felt irritated all the same, Ascot was great, but it wasn’t Chipstead. Touching the FA Vase was fantastic, but it wasn’t Chipstead.

Getting the picture yet? Very inexplicably, and quite irrationally, it’s been bugging me, so the first opportunity to redress the balance, and I was going!

Two weeks it’s taken, of stewing, pondering and wondering what might have been, but the time arrived, Saturday 25^th November, a home game against near neighbours Sutton Common Rovers, and for me, as it was my birthday, the second most exciting thing of the weekend after Mrs H treated me to a meal at a Thai Restaurant the night before!

I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again, this time setting off well in good time, and despite the usual shite around Luton, the M25 was pretty much plain sailing, and as the clock ticked just past 1.30pm, I was winding my way down the leafy back lanes that bought me into Chipstead from the South. Chipstead is only a village, located not far from Banstead, and indeed very close to Kingswood, a place I spent some time in while I was on residential training at Legal & General (the location where some of St Trinian’s was filmed apparently!). I may be wrong, but I seem to think George Best spent some of his latter years living in Kingswood.

The football ground is located on the right hand side, just before you enter into the residential part of the village, and as a result it’s very rural and leafy, and on a cold autumnal day, it was a pleasant place to be, despite what was without doubt the bitterest Saturday of the season so far.

The car park sits between the football ground and Chipstead, Coulsdon and Walcountians Cricket Club (yes, the area is as middle class as the name would suggest!), it wasn’t the biggest so I was glad I was early, and thinking about it, if I had made it in time for kick off the other week, Christ knows where I would have parked.

The clubhouse sits just outside the ground, with the dressing rooms conjoined, however, if you want a pint, you need to go into the club before you go into the ground as it’s not accessible once through the turnstiles.

After you’ve had a pint, and gone through the turnstiles, High Road (yes, that is the grounds name), is a pleasant facility, with three areas of cover. Behind the South goal is some narrow terracing with a roof on it, which runs down to the goal from the corner nearest the turnstiles, whereas behind the opposite goal is another smaller area of cover which is of the scaffold and cladding design, just covering the concrete walkway. The seated area is on the West side of the ground and is a typical Atcost style structure, with the tea bar to the side of it and the toilets behind.

The history of Chipstead is a lengthy one. They were formed in 1906, and in 1962 joined the Surrey Intermediate League, before moving to the Surrey Premier League in 1982.

The Combined Counties League beckoned in 1986, and their period in the competition was a successful one. Winning the league twice and being runners up on three occasions. The final championship came in 2006-7 when a 99 point haul combined with 114 goals scored, saw them promoted to the Isthmian League for the first time ever.

If we are being honest, the Isthmian, at times has been a struggle. The club have finished tenth three times, but five times have ended up in the bottom four, albeit surviving every time. This season they were sitting in a mid-table position prior to the game, very much like the visitors.

A best FA Cup performance came in 2008-09 when they reached the final qualifying round, only to lose 4-1 at Torquay United, while the Vase and Trophy have not really provided any notable highlights. That said, when it comes to trophies, a number of League Cup’s and Divisional Cup’s were plundered in the Combined Counties League days, albeit the bulk of them back in the Nineties.

The game itself proved to be entertaining. The hosts took the lead in the 20^th minute thanks to a neat finish from Daniel Berry, but SCR (I will go abbreviated from now on) grabbed an equaliser ten minutes before the break through Charlie Martin.

SCR came out for the second half looking that bit more fired up than Chipstead, and it was Martin who game them the lead when he ran onto a ball over the top and lobbed the goalkeeper, and then within five minutes that same player grabbed his hat-trick goal from the penalty spot following a handball decision.

At 3-1, you felt SCR had it in the bag but as we moved into injury time the hosts were awarded a penalty and up stepped Martin Sontan to score, but it was to no avail, and despite six minutes of added time, I felt it was a deserved victory for the boys from up the road.

125 watched it, many taking advantage of the fact that the door between the bar and the ground was left open for the second half…..a wise move on the part of the club. I couldn’t partake though, I had the M25 and the M1 to contend with, which both behaved impeccably, as they normally do when you aren’t on a deadline!

It was satisfying though, satisfying to scratch the itch, to rip off the plaster, to put it to bed, call it what you like, but when you turn 51, little things are all it takes to please….like a chocolate orange for example, but that can wait until tomorrow!

In The Country

SESKU Miners  10  Youdan  3

Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League – Division Two

Admission / Programme – No / No

It never crossed my mind when sat in the car park at Frickley Athletic on Tuesday night, that I’d be back in the very same car park four days later!

I had a plan, a wonderful plan to be fair, I was going to set off down the M1 and head into North East London for a game at the Barkingside football ground, where Redbridge FC play. The weather forecast was a bit iffy, but on the balance of things, it should have been ok.

Except, I was on the train to Manchester on the Thursday for a day sesh round the Christmas Markets with daughter, when I thought I’d follow Redbridge on Twitter to keep an eye on things. It was only then that I thought something wasn’t quite right because they were advertising a bus trip to Hereford!

Turns out I’d not spotted the fact they were still in the FA Trophy, and instead of being at home in the league, they were having a day out instead! That blew that one out, so I decided to have a re-think and have a proper look on the Friday at what alternative options were available.

The weather forecast for the South East was Billy Grimbo, I toyed with a 2pm at Sittingbourne, but with no plastic options in the vicinity, and having agreed to do something on the home front at 7.30pm on Saturday night, the idea of travelling a distance was looking less and less appealing.

I then remembered about SESKU Miners, a new team in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League, who had set up home on the new 3G pitch which sat in Frickley Country Park, effectively North East of the home of Athletic, around 200 yards or so away.

I didn’t put the venue on the list at the start of the season, largely because adjacent to the 4G is a grass pitch within Frickley Country Park that I’ve seen South Elmsall  United Services play on, but, I decided to keep it in mind for an occasion when I was struggling elsewhere due to weather etc.

That moment had arrived, a look at the fixtures confirmed they were indeed due to be at home, and after connecting with them via Facebook and asking the question, all was quickly confirmed as good to go, against visiting Youdan from deepest Sheffield.

So, parked in the same car park, this time in daylight, it was a case of waiting for the players to arrive, from the both sides, which they duly did, but somewhat confusingly they were heading straight down to the pitch rather than into the relatively newly built changing room block behind the goal at Athletic’s ground, which United Services used when I last visited. Turns out there is a little bit more to the 3G at Frickley Country Park than you might expect!

For a start, you can access three sides of it, and as you walk in you’ve got cabins that serve as toilets, and a Tea Bar (separately I might add). The changing room issue was quickly resolved, turns out on the side that spectators can’t access, in each corner is a wooden building (not to be confused with a shed) that the teams use to change in. Whether they have showers etc is unclear but you would assume so? In short, it was better than I was expecting, and rather than looking and feeling like a school or leisure centre facility, it actually felt like and resembled a football ground! The facilities, which are built on what was the former slag heap that dominated the local area, look to have been funded by, and are owned by South Elmsall Town Council, in partnership with the local sports association.

So what is SESKU?

An acronym, South Elmsall, South Kirkby, Upton, three former mining communities in the locality, who have a combined football club, recently formed it seems, serving all ages. They put a side in the bottom tier of the County Senior at the start of this season, and so far it’s been going ok, six wins from eight games has kept them in touch at the top, whereas visiting Youdan, well they’ve lost every game!

Before the game I had a wander into the Country Park, largely to admire the views from the top and get a decent aerial photo of the ground, it’s quite a serene location, with runners, dog walker and mountain bikers doing their thing, a far cry from the days of the coal mines. If someone had said twenty years ago what this place would end up looking like, you wouldn’t have believed them!

The game was entertaining, watched by a decent sprinkling of spectators.

Twice SESKU took the lead, but twice Youdan pegged them back. SESKU then scored two more to make it 4-2 before another goal from the visitors saw the half time score line 4-3. To be fair though, SESKU were much the better side but poor defending was their undoing.

The second half was a different story, SESKU scored six times without reply, winning 10-3, with Nathan Harrop claiming a double hat-trick! Youdan also had a player sent off for a bad challenge to make matters worse.

Weirdly, looking at my notifications on Futbology, on the corresponding weekend of the previous season I was also watching a game on plastic, Leeds University v Alwoodley. The final score? 10-3

So, bit of a rescue job, but a worthwhile one, and a pleasant surprise as well in terms of what I found.

Turns out Sittingbourne played in the end!