Warwick

Elston United  2  AFC Top Valley  6

Nottinghamshire Senior League – Division Two

There was a tragic irony in the fact today was the first time in over thirteen years that I’d been to watch a football match in Newark.

It would have been 2005 when I made my one and only visit to watch Newark Town play, and since then the opportunity has simply not arisen, despite at the time being somewhat bemused by the Antideluvian Order Of Buffaloes that met in the clubhouse! 

The opportunity did arise this season when it came to light on the eve of the campaign that Elston United, a club from a village near the town, who were originally scheduled to play their games at Cotgrave, would be playing at the Balderton Sports Ground on the outskirts of Newark.

Today was always planned to be the day I was going to be making a visit, with fellow newcomers AFC Top Valley due to be the visitors, but currently Newark is a town mourning the loss of one of its Sons.

It was the previous Saturday that I found out on social media that Warwick Lane had passed, losing a very brave battle with leukemia. Warwick, who was only 25, and also known as Rick, had beaten the disease once, but it came back very recently. I was shocked to hear of his passing because since his diagnosis he had been prolific and very upbeat on his Twitter account, and nowhere did he give a clue as to the sheer graveness of his situation. A mark of the man, clearly.

I knew Rick to speak to, but I know his Father, Richard much better. I’ve been bumping into Richard for years at various games, for Richard is a huge follower of local football, and the Central Midlands League in particular where he is the Press Officer.

He’s helped me out over the years with snippets of news, and was always good for getting the programmes from the new clubs that I sought. Invariably always at Richard’s side at games was Rick, and I remember speaking to Rick at Harworth earlier in the year where we discussed his recovery from his first bout of the dreadful illness. He looked well, he was on good form and was about to embark on a programme to both highlight and raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Anthony Nolan Trust. Running the Newark Half Marathon being one of the events he had planned, but his second diagnosis just prior to the race meant he had to withdraw.

Rick’s passing is an absolute tragedy for the family, but clearly it was felt within the local community, where Rick worked as a reporter for the Newark Advertiser, as well as doing stints on the local radio station. Tributes flooded in, minutes silences were observed at games, Rick was remembered fondly.

A huge credit to Richard though, because the day after Rick left us, like clockwork, he produced the CMFL round-up and had it posted on the various outlets as promptly as he always does. Incredible really under the awful circumstances.

So, there was a sense of tragic irony as I drove into the small but pretty town on a damp September afternoon. The route from the A46 took me into the centre of the town, and then back out on the road to Balderton, before turning left at the Retail Park and onto Coronation Street where the Sports Ground sits at the end.

I was early, but after parking up and checking the game was on (along with what seemed to be a crucial cricket game) I made my way to the nearby Grove pub for sustenance. Suitably sustenanced (a word I’ve made up), I had a gentle stroll back to the ground to have a look at the facilities.

It was very nice. A community hall sat at the end of the car park with the dressing room block bolted next to it, serving the various pitches that were available, of which I counted at least three football pitches of the full sized variety, and also the aforementioned cricket field. Next to the changing rooms was a very pretty café that also served as a children’s craft centre. It looked to be a busy place, with young families taking advantage of some entertainment and creativity for the kids, while lunch or coffee could also be taken.

The pitch Elston play on is at the very far side of the complex and runs lengthways to some adjacent houses. It is enclosed in part by trees, but otherwise it is open, but due to being at the edge of the site, it does have a slightly secluded feel about it.

Elston had yet to win this season but Top Valley had made a better start to the campaign, however the hosts did take the lead through Euan Sweeting not long after the game kicked off.

By half time though the visitors had clawed their way back into the game and had reversed things by moving into a 2-1 lead. Top Valley continued to have chances in the early stages of the second period but then we had a potential game changing moment when the referee decided to give Elston a penalty for pushing in the area, despite the ball not actually being in play!

Sweeting made it 2-2, and despite being rattled for a period, the visitors quickly restored the advantage, and that seemed to deflate Elston who then went on to concede three goals in quick fire succession to win the game 6-2. The goals coming from Tom Cowling, Luke Gregory and the impressive Kane Pearson who found the net four times.

That was Newark again, and I’m not sure when my next visit will be, hopefully not another thirteen years. But what I do know is the Rick would have enjoyed that game, just like he enjoyed every game he went to with his Father and his best friend, Richard.

Why do the worst things always seem to happen to the nicest people? There but for the grace of God go I…… 

Bradford Olympics

Bradford Olympic  1  Palestino  3

West Riding County Amateur League – Premier Division

I’m well versed with Bradford.

I’ve lost count of how many different football grounds I’ve watched matches on over the years while following games in the West Riding and West Yorkshire League’s.

The mix has been very eclectic, from the delights of Salts in the historic suburb of Saltaire to the West of the City, to the rugged Tyersal in the East, and then of course urban central locations such as Field and Campion that are hemmed in by houses and industry.

Clubhouse & Dressing Rooms

In recent years my football watching in Bradford has tended to centre around clubs playing on 4G pitches at Universities, Schools or Leisure Centres, typically in the depths of Winter, but when an ailing West Riding County Amateur League announced that Bradford FC, who were now named Bradford Olympic following a merger with a successful Sunday side, would be playing at the Eccleshill Sports & Social Club on Harrogate Road, we had a proper football ground to visit.

The league had the foresight to arrange early kick offs on what is realistically the last midweek of non-floodlit football, so it gave me the perfect opportunity to go and have a look.

Atop The Bank

I’d seen Bradford FC play on a couple of grounds, the first being the picturesque sports ground at Esholt, where Emmerdale is of course filmed, and quite appropriately I managed a pint at the Woolpack. The second ‘home’ I saw then at was a 4G surface at a college close to the centre of the City, this after arriving at Thornton United to find the game was off, so it proved to be a handy rescue job for me.

But now, with a merger sorted, they had decamped to a ground that had been used previously by Victoria Rangers Rugby League, and prior to that it was a cricket venue. Entering down a drive into the car park, the pitch is set at the bottom of a steep bank. It’s fully railed off and has floodlights, but I’m not sure that they are operational nowadays.

Players Access

A clubhouse sits at the end of the car park, while the dressing rooms are built below the clubhouse on the bank, offering an elevated viewing area in front. Some old terracing lies alongside the dressing rooms, while it looks like a serious clean up and renovation job is well underway. Olympic appear to have found a venue that they want to turn into home.

It’s a curious venue, definitely in need of some tender loving care, not least to make it more aesthetically pleasing, but from a potential point of view it could be turned into a facility that could see the club make the Northern Counties East League.

In The Jungle......

Visiting Palestino are listed on the leagues website as PFC, and prior to that they were known as West Horton, a club that I blogged last year. I’m not sure why the change in name, or what the relationship of the club is with Palestine (forgive my naivety), but on the night they won a cross City local derby by three goals to one.

It was a feisty game at times, and both the second and third visiting goals had an element of comedy about them. The second saw two players clash in the middle of the pitch, and while various other players from the home side decided to throw their handbags into the equation, the PFC players who had possession played on, and with the referee not having blown his whistle, they strode forward and scored a simple goal completely unchallenged.  Olympic were furious, but the referee was spot on, and if playing to whistle was an apt phrase, then this was a perfect example.

The Old Try Line

The third goal, just after the break saw the hosts goalkeeper torn between picking the ball up and booting it clear, he did neither and the ball trickled into the net. The PFC bench found this highly amusing and quite how ‘Karius’ kept his cool given the stick he was taking is anyone’s guess!

At 3-0 they were coasting and despite a late goal for Olympic, it was a comfortable victory for the away side.

So that’s Bradford for another season, but I’m sure it will throw up a few more options to visit further down the line. It’s the nature of the beast.

Wombats Doing It Right

Wombwell Town  2  Worsbrough Bridge Athletic Development  1

Sheffield County Senior League – Division Two

I think the newly formed Wombwell Town Football Club have missed a real opportunity.

On the 9^th of August they set up a Twitter poll to try and find a nickname for the club, and the options were, the Wellers, the Colliers, the Wombles and the Wombats!

In the end it appears Wellers was the elected name with 33% of the vote, but in second place on 25% was Wombats. Now, don’t get me wrong, Wellers is ok, but Wombats, just think of the opportunities that would present from a marketing and commercial perspective? My God, they’re endless, social media would have gone into a frenzy, even the mighty Streatham Rovers would have had competition, and they aren’t even real!

Yes, if they’d been called the Wombats, it would have been a potential game changer, but the public have spoken and it is what it is….

However, if, in my opinion, that is something that they perhaps didn’t get quite right, then it’s the only thing that would fall into that category, because absolutely everything else they appear to have done so far has been spot in, unquestionably.

Fully Refurbished

From the moment they formed, they became very active on social media, via both the primary platforms of Twitter and Facebook. This was incredibly informative, from both the ground development that was taking place, the players they had signed, and the fixtures they’d got lined up. I actually made contact with the club via social media and they quickly responded to me whereby we ended up having an online conversation with proved very helpful.

It became abundantly clear that this was a progressive football club, and the fact they’d secured the facilities that the old Wombwell Town (previously Sporting Association) used on Station Road, which was equipped with a covered terrace, a clubhouse and floodlights, then it’s safe to say they meant business.

But what about the history?

Wombwell Sporting Association first appeared in the Yorkshire League in the early Sixties,  going up and down through the divisions over the years before the league became the Northern Counties East League. They stayed in the NCEL until 1988, where they had continually struggled, but then joined the Central Midlands League, whereby in 1990 they changed their name to Wombwell Town.

The Crowd Gathers

The new incarnation lasted three seasons, which again were very much a struggle, leading to a drop into the Sheffield County Senior League in 1993. They started in the First Division but within three seasons they’d gained promotion to the Premier Division. They remained there in 2000 when they left the league and seemingly disappeared as a club.

The ground on Station Road became somewhat derelict, and with the newly formed club taking over the site thanks to support from the trustees, they did a simply awesome job in terms of getting it ready for the season. It’s clearly a work in progress, but the terraces have been tidied, much of the scrub has been cleared while a refurbishment programme looks to be taking place in the clubhouse. It is also important to point out that they haven't been alone in terms of getting the ground ship-shape, junior outfit AFC Yorkshire, and Sunday club Woodville have also been heavily involved, particularly in terms of the clubhouse. 

In their eagerly awaited opening game of the season on the first day of September, they recorded a very late win at fellow newcomers United Worksop, but the first home game was conveniently going to be under the Station Road floodlights against neighbours Worbrough Bridge Athletic Development.

Panoramic

Again, the publicity machine went to work, and it’s safe to say that no one who follows the club on social media would be left in any doubt about the game taking place! Myself and Steve arrived just over an hour before kick off and the car park, which was being carefully co-ordinated by a club official, was already filling up.

We received a warm welcome and  despite arriving prior to the official bar opening time, pintage was made readily available to us, good work chaps! The admission was free and four page programmes were also given out for free, and what was interesting in the programme was that the club publicised the fact they would be issuing on paper and online for every game, and advertising opportunities were available. They have already got a decent number of local businesses sponsoring them so clearly from a commercial perspective they are on the ball.

It became clear that a good sized crowd was going to be in place to watch the game, and in the end it was estimated at around 150 which is fantastic for the level of football. The ground looked tidy, the clubhouse is a work in progress but it does the job absolutely fine, while the pitch was in decent condition following the groundsman banning them playing on it during pre-season!

The game was pretty tight in the early exchanges, but it was the visitors who took a first half lead through Adam Crouch following the host’s inability to deal with a corner kick. Ryan Smith squeezed the ball home from a tight angle minutes later to equalise, and from that point onwards it was Wombwell who had the lions share of the play.

Clubhouse

The game looked to be heading for a draw, until the 88^th minute when Luke Norbury, who if he isn’t the son of Mick Norbury, the current Belper Town assistant manager and former prolific striker in non-league football, then he looks very much like him, found the net from ten yards with a low drive.

Two wins out of two for Karl Rose’s side, and his appointment alone speaks volumes for the clubs ambition. The future looks very rosy indeed for them and given the way they’ve gone about their launch and the way they appear to be doing things, I’ve got no doubt about them achieving their ambitions of Northern Counties East League football.

Should still have been called the Wombats though…….

Rowsley League Revisited

South Normanton Colts  2  Willington Reserves  1

Midlands Regional Alliance – Division One

The name South Normanton Colts was like a real blast from the past when I saw them listed in the Midlands Regional Alliance constitution for the current season.

From the ages of twelve to sixteen I played junior football for a team called RJN Juniors who were based at the Richard Johnson Wireworks in Ambergate, I wasn’t very good and neither were the team. We were perennial strugglers in the Rowsley & District League, and from memory we were only ever capable of beating two sides, Somersall Rangers and Clay Cross Rangers, hence why we managed to avoid finishing bottom every season.

That said, there were some pretty good sides, Northwood from Darley Dale were pretty good and a number of their players could be found in the Central Midlands League in future years, while ADASC, an Alfreton based side, had some very good lads, one of whom that went on to have a brief professional career at Derby County. Others from ADASC went on to play Northern Counties East and Northern Premier League football.

The other top side were indeed South Normanton Colts, and at the time they had a player called Jason Burnham. He went on to play for Northampton Town and Chester City, and playing against him was one of the very few games I actually remember with any sort of clarity. We got battered, double figures if I recall, and also from memory, I seemed to think it was played on the Recreation Ground that the MRA side had listed as their home venue.

Santiago Normabeu

Having had confirmation from both club secretaries that the game would definitely be on (always wise to check at this time of year due to holidays etc), I made the short journey along the A38 to South Normanton, a village that now boasts four Saturday football teams. Athletic in the Midland League, and now Colts have joined United in the MRA, plus you've got ASHA who share with Athletic and compete in the Midland Amateur Alliance.

The ground is located at the end of Landsbury Drive, which in is a right turn off Market Street which in itself links the main Alfreton Road with the centre of the village. The Recreation Ground is accessed down a short and narrow drive, with a modest sized car park at the end. To the right, upon entering the car park, is the pavilion, and this contains both dressing rooms combined with a communal entrance area. I got the sense that the building was very much belonging to Colts, as opposed to being a council provided municipal building, but I could be wrong.

Picked The Ball Out Of That Net A Few Times

The pitch runs length ways at the bottom of a grass bank which drops from the car park to the pitch side. It is roped down one side, and despite having clear public access, the pitch was absolutely immaculate. The remainder of the Recreation Ground is quite undulating, with a children’s play area and also a skate park where an event was taking place throughout the afternoon.

Having parked the car and established that this was indeed the scene of one of my many junior football debacles, it was time to head for refreshment. A short walk along Landsbury Drive leads you back onto Market Street where the Clock public house is located. With the pub having been listed in the Good Beer Guide, I did the decent thing and sank a pint of Fosters, which to my mind is absolutely the right thing to do in such establishments, I mean, would you drink something that someone has potentially brewed in a garden shed?

Colts went into the game having lost their opening two fixtures, while for the reserve team of Willington, this was to be the opening game of the season. It was clear as the two teams lined up on a glorious afternoon that Colts were a very young outfit, and I suspect one that was making the step up from youth’s football to men’s football for the first time.

Blue Skies Over South Normanton

In the opening exchanges it was quite an even encounter, and while Colts had good shape and passed the ball, they were struggling to find a killer pass or composure in the final third of the field. Willington on the other hand posed more of a threat going forward and it came as no surprise when they went in at half time with a goal lead.

The second half saw a real shift in terms of the game. Willington, in search of a second goal got frustrated and tensions developed between certain players and the management. They seemed to lose concentration and switch off at the back, and although Colts were down to ten men for a period due to an injury, they started to grow in confidence.

Chances went begging for Colts as again they struggled to find any composure, but then when the equaliser did arrive, it gave them added confidence and you felt at that stage there would only be one winner, assuming of course they could find the net.

The Willington goalkeeper pulled off numerous saves as Colts managed to go one on one on several occasions with the defence absent without leave. But, the pressure told and finally a second goal came, and it was now a case of Colts concentrating and holding their nerve.

The Pavillion

By this stage Willington looked a mess to be honest, all shape had gone and heads had dropped. Colts on the other hand did the right things and at the final whistle the cheers on and off the pitch were audible as they recorded their first ever victory as a senior Saturday side.

Overall, Colts are a well established club and look to be very well run, so I see no reason why they can’t make a real fist of it in senior football, I wish them well in their new adventure.

Some of those lads will have come right through the ranks at the club, and I’ve always felt it important that thriving junior clubs can offer a senior route when players are ready to make the step up. Too many junior organisations don’t always do that, allowing players to simply find their own way elsewhere, and that’s a shame.

As for my own playing career, it went Juniors, College, Pub, Injury, Retirement. The Rowsley League clearly set me up nicely, but to be fair, I won’t be in the minority when it comes to following a similar path, Jason Burnham I absolutely wasn’t!     

The Peacock

Manchester Central  4  Beechfield United  0

Manchester Football League – Premier Division

It was a bizarre sight, I was just walking out of the car park at the Nicholls Campus of Manchester College, when I saw a peacock jump through the gates of the next door Eccles Cake factory and saunter down onto Hyde Road.

I lost sight of it as it made its way in the general direction of the City Centre, but clearly Thursday nights is peacock night when it comes to Manchester nightlife.

Peacock’s are proud creatures, they like to strut, they like to make a display, they like to let everyone know they are around. Not everyone likes a peacock, but then again in their World it’s all about the posture and the display, and that isn't for everyone.

As Urban As It Gets

Having seen Manchester Central play very well in the second half at Walshaw Sports last week, I decided, with them having a Thursday night game, that it was time to have a meander across the Snake Pass and have a look at them in their home environment.

The Nicholls Campus is very close indeed to Manchester City Centre, right at the very end of Hyde Road, just before the roundabout that takes you up to the Mancunian Way. It sits almost adjacent to Ardwick Railway Station which for many would be a convenient alighting point for the Etihad Stadium.

Central Warm Up

Arriving an hour or so before the scheduled 8.05pm kick off, because this is a plastic floodlit pitch at the college and they have to fit in around other bookings, I decided to cross Hyde Road and head for Stockport Road. Stockport Road has a massive exotic pet centre, and that might explain the peacock, although to be fair I’ve been in many a pet shop and never seen a peacock. A chinchilla maybe, but never a peacock. I managed to grab some fodder before making my way back to the college.

Manchester Central have tried to make the place their own. Advertising hoardings are fastened to the wooden pitch side barriers, whereas in the dressing room building much of their propaganda is displayed on the walls. It seem they have a link up with Morecambe Football Club, via the college, and that suggests that the club is as much an academy as it is a football club.

City Centre Direction

Last season was quite interesting as Central finished runners up in the First Division while tonight’s visitors Beechfield United came third. Both were promoted, along with champions Chadderton Reserves. Central have had an indifferent start to the current campaign and seem to be finding their feet, while Beechfield  were sat mid-table after a mixed bag of results.

A modest sized crowd pitched up to watch it, but the bulk seemed to be young footballers who had some sort of connection with the College and indeed Central. Central looked the better side right from the off and took the lead in the fifteenth minute through Cory Knight.

Ten minutes later and it was 2-0 thanks to a quite superb free kick from Joshua Frith. Beechfield had battled well, but Central had that bit of quality and pace to pick them off.

Night Time Falls

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first period. Central had the fancy flicks, the passing and the movement that gave them a considerable edge. It’s very easy on the eye, but part of you wonders that when the showboating inevitably happens, and it does from time time, whether a certain type of opposition might take exception to it and decide to adopt ‘prison rules’.

Central are young lads, and  I’m not sure just how they would react to a getting a good ‘banjo-ing’, which at some point I’m pretty sure will come from a less than tolerant and somewhat long-in-the-tooth Manchester League outfit.

That said, two more goals arrived and well crafted they were too. Bevan Burley found the net before Knight went on to get his second of the game.

No question about it, it was a deserved victory for Central, and they have some fine footballers who will go on to better things I’m sure. But, like the peacock, some people like to see a strut, a swagger and a display, myself included, but others aren’t quite so keen on those characteristics, deeming them to be slightly arrogant.

The Hub

This is the Manchester Football League, where honest lads like to play an honest game of football, and Manchester Central, while to be much admired for what they are offering in terms of progression, might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

I have no issue with them at all and would be only too happy to watch them again because they have some fine football players, but I’m not overly convinced I’ve got 100% support on that in the wider community.

Maybe the peacock has other ideas.      

Green Shoots For Ball Haye?

Ball Haye Green  1  Leek CSOB Reserves  5

Staffordshire County Senior League – First Division

Leek has been somewhat blessed over the years when it comes to football.

Leek Town, playing at the fantastic Harrison Park, at one point managed to attain Conference status, but while that experience was short lived, they’ve always been a club that has played at Step 3 or more latterly, Step 4. I’ve been to Harrison Park on umpteen occasions, and perhaps the most memorable being when Belper Town won a play-off semi final in front of a large and partisan crowd.

Leek County School Old Boys for many years were a North West Counties League side that shared Harrison Park. But, they left the NWCL to join the Staffordshire County Senior League and in the last few seasons have managed to obtain a facility of their own down in Cheddleton which is equipped with floodlights. A return to the NWCL might not be that far away?

Also based in Leek, on the North side of the town was Ball Haye Green, playing on a floodlit ground with a covered terrace at the back of the local working men’s club. It was a fantastic facility considering it was hosting Step 7 football in the Staffordshire County Senior League, and with the huge factory as a backdrop behind the terraces, it was something of an iconic venue. I made my one and only visit back in 2006, one Wednesday night where I saw them beat Norton 3-0.

The College - In The Distance

I’m sure that with a bit of refinement, Ball Haye Green had the facilities that could see them make a leap up the pyramid if they so wished, and with a decent support, it didn’t seem that unrealistic to see them make a fist of it. But, stay put they did for reasons that are clearly very justifiable, however the whole landscape changed last season.

2017-18 was to be the clubs last season at the ground they called home, because the landowner, who had previously had no issue with the club using the ground, decided they could no longer use it, this despite the club managing to register the ground as a an Asset of Community Value which meant nothing could have been built on it until at least 2022.

Notice was given and the club had to find a new home and quickly. The problem being, if they didn’t find a ground that was suitable for Step 7 football then they would find themselves relegated. I guess in the grand scheme of things, being relegated was a small price to pay for being able to stay in existence.

Rural Staffordshire

Relegated they were because the facility they found was the Westwood College New Hall campus on the Western edge of the town. Effectively a school playing field with a rope around it, but, it meant they could continue and eight years of history would not come to an abrupt end.

The college is found easily enough, if you have a sat nav, because it’s accessed via a housing estate and involves a bit of bobbing and weaving along the matrix of roads that eventually lead you to your destination.

Parking is limited, and I had to make do with the road outside, while the pitch is quite a way from the dressing rooms, set at the back of the colleges sports fields. Leek CSOB reserves were the visitors so we had a true Leek Derby, el classico if you like, and a modest sized crowd had tipped up to watch it.

Twilight Zone

The hosts took the lead in the first period and looked in the early part of the game to be the better side, but it all subsequently went wrong. Leek CSOB turned a one goal deficit into a 5-1 victory, and in the second half in particular, they simply had far too much for Ball Haye Green.

It was quite a physical game at times, but then local pride to a certain extent was at stake. CSOB saw their manager dismissed from the dugout after one particular outburst, while some of the tackles were on the meaty side.

You know what though, as much as I admire Ball Haye Green for their perseverance and determination to continue as football club, I’m not too sure what the future holds. I’m sure they would dearly love to get back to the top flight of the SCSL, but without a ground that meets the standard, that is going to be nigh on impossible.

Not Quite Ball Haye

If the old ground at the Working Men’s Club does ultimately cease to be a sporting venue, and that looks likely, then it will be a real shame for non-league football in Leek. That said, while those involved at Ball Haye Green Football Club have the desire to keep the club running, where there is light, there is always hope, and maybe, one of their neighbours might just lend a helping hand?

I can think of a couple of suitable venues not too far away.......

Escaping to Bloomfields

Needham Market  2  Leiston  2

Southern League Premier Division Central

With Beth Chatto’s stunning garden having been visited, and Clacton-On-Sea pier traipsed up and down on a wild and wet Sunday afternoon, the visit to Suffolk was nearing its tumultuous conclusion.

It wasn’t going to be straight to Needham Market from Ipswich though, oh no, we had a date with the Escape Rooms to keep. We managed to escape with a minute and a half to spare, a result if you ask me, I wasn’t aware of what the consequences were for not escaping but I had no intention of missing kick off….

It was August Bank Holiday Monday and it was the big one, I don’t know if has a nickname like ‘El Classico’ or something equally cheesy, it probably does, but as far as I was concerned Needham Market v Leiston spoke for itself. It was the Suffolk Step 3 Derby, reputations and pride were on the line, forget Ipswich v Norwich next week at the tractor pen, this was the game that really mattered!

The recent history of both clubs has something of a parallel, Leiston’s story is detailed in the previous blog, but very much like them, the Marketmen progressed to the Eastern Counties League from the Suffolk & Ipswich League in 1996, and then progressed from Step 6 to Step 5 in 2005.

Life in the top tier of the ECL was pretty fruitful and in five seasons they never finished outside of the top six, culminating in the championship being won 2009-10, and with it promotion to the Isthmian League. An FA Vase semi-final was also reached, as were the quarter finals on two other occasions.

Their first season in Isthmian Division One North saw them finish runners-up, but promotion was not achieved following a play-off semi final defeat. The play-offs were reached on a further two occasions, and lost both times, again at the semi final stage. However, in 2014-15 it all came together and the club were crowned Champions.

So, with the Isthmian League Premier Division reached, it was time to consolidate, and in two of the three seasons they’ve competed at that level, they’ve managed to evade the relegation trap door. Of course, along came restructuring, and just like Leiston, they find themselves in the ‘Central’ division which involves some arduous journeys to the Midlands.

The Bloomfields ground is set on the very edges of the small but pretty market town (he says, stating the bleeding obvious!). Accessed via an estate, the ground in itself is set in a large complex which also houses a brand new 4G pitch which is a very smart facility with floodlights and seated stand. I guess when it comes to the winter, the reserves, who compete in the ECL will be able to take advantage of it.

The football ground is a very tidy facility indeed. A two story building houses the clubhouse, dressing rooms and a boardroom, while the pitch, set on a plateau, rises up from the clubhouse. The old seated stand with a steep rake sits on the half way line, while a smaller Atcost type seated stand is perched directly behind the North goal. Two areas of cover run down the side opposite the main stand, separated by an elevated press box, while behind the South goal is a sizable area of covered terracing that looks very new.

With lots of structures and features, combined with a very nice playing surface, it’s a welcoming venue and clearly a lot of time, effort and money has been invested in the facilities at the same time as the team has progressed on the pitch, which is just how it should be in my opinion.

The Marketmen were hopeful of a crowd in the 650 region, and whoever does the estimating is bloody good because the announced crowd was 657. It was a nice atmosphere around the ground, with a good number having travelled the 27 miles West, mingling freely with the homes supporters.

The game was an entertaining affair, and it was the visitors who took the lead in the eleventh minute when Cemal Ramadan found the bottom corner of the goal with a low shot.

The hosts battled back though and scored via a Joe Marsden penalty kick following a foul by Joe Jefford. Within minutes, Market had turned a deficit into a lead when Adam Mills angled the ball past the impressive Marcus Garnham in the Leiston goal.

The first half had been pretty even, but once Chris Henderson had notched a 65^th minute equaliser, the balance of power swung towards Leiston. They had plenty of possession but couldn’t find a way through though, and ultimately both sides had to settle for a point.

Another cracking afternoon’s football in Suffolk, and just a steady three hour drive back home afterwards, but just think what might have happened had we not cracked that final code in the Escape Rooms?

Best case, we’d have struggled to get one of the remaining spaces in the car park, worst case, well, maybe its best just not knowing!