Saturday, 7 January 2023

Hereford Pegasus - Old School Lane


Hereford Pegasus FC
Old School Lane
Hereford 
Herefordshire
HR1 1EX

01981 551139






Ground Number: 1144
Saturday 7th January 2023
Hereford Pegasus 2-3 Corsham Town
Hellenic Premier







HEREFORD PEGASUS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was formed as Pegasus Juniors in 1955 by a group of players from the Herefordshire County Boys team who wished to continue playing together. Their name was inspired by the great amateur team Pegasus. They played in the Herefordshire League initially where they were very successful, although records for those years are scarce. In 1982, they made the step up to the Hellenic League. By 1985, they had won the Division 1 title, earning promotion to the Premier Division. Their best-ever finish of 5th (in what at the time was a step 4 league) was 5th in 1989. The early 90s proved to be turbulent - relegated on the pitch in 1993, although they bounced back straight away with a runners-up spot behind Carterton Town. However, they were demoted in 1995 despite a 9th place finish, this was owing to their Essex Arms Sports Ground being deemed not good enough for the Hellenic Premier. They were Division 1 champions in 1999 and having secured a groundshare at Hereford United's Edgar Street, played in the Hellenic Premier once more. They moved to their present home in 2005 but rarely troubled the top half of the table. In 2011, the club took the decision to drop down to the West Midlands (Regional) Premier to cut down on travelling costs. They gained 100 points in 2014 but still finished a point behind champions Lye Town. In 2019 after finishing bottom of the WMRL Premier, they rejoined the Hellenic League's second tier and last season a 4th place finish saw them return to the Hellenic Premier for the first time in 11 years. 2019 also saw them change their name to Hereford Pegasus and change their pitch to a 4G surface.


Pegasus Juniors' best-ever FA Cup run came in 2009. They beat Ellesmere Rangers 5-1 before a 2-2 draw against Willenhall Town. They won the replay away from home and were awarded with a tie at Conference North side AFC Telford United. In front of a crowd of 1,136, they lost 4-1. They've also reached the FA Vaser 2nd Round twice taking Nantwich Town to a replay in 2001 and losing to Brocton in 2014. Local cup wins include the Herefordshire Senior Amateur Cup in 1972, the Herefordshire County Challenge Cup five times and the Worcestershire Senior Urn in 1986. The team were renowned for their fair play and boasted a record of not gaining any red or yellow cards . . . they were an example to follow. Pegasus grew from strength to strength and travelled Europe playing against the best teams in Belgium including Royal F.C. Bruges, many famous names graced Pegasus as Vice Presidents reading more like a programme from the Palladium – Norman Wisdom, Frankie Vaughan, Petula Clark, Dave King, and Alma Cogan, they all took great interest in the success of the club.


Hereford is a cathedral city and the county town of Herefordshire. The population of around 53,000. It is known chiefly as a trading centre for a wider agricultural and rural area. Products from Hereford include cider, beer, leather goods, nickel alloys, poultry, chemicals and sausage rolls, as well as the famous Hereford breed of cattle. Famous people from Hereford include the singer Ellie Goulding. Other teams from Hereford include Hereford FC of the National League North and fellow Hellenic Premier Clubs Westfields and Hereford Lads Club. Lower down, local clubs in the Herefordshire League include Hereford Civil Service, Hinton, Belmont Rangers, Bartrestree, Holme Lacey and Hereford City.


MY VISIT

This blog was originally penned for Tuesday when options were extremely thin on the ground, thanks to the Bank Holiday decimating the fixture list. The options were even more limited thanks to fellow hopper Colin having to work later than usual. This meant it would be extremely tight for kick-off, so the nearest option at Fleetlands was chosen. That was wiped out when the venue was switched around to Folland Sports which I'd already done. The new year had started strangely. I headed to work on New Year's Day, but it turned out it was opt-in rather than opt-out in terms of it being voluntary. So I'd had a wasted journey but wasn't really that bothered about a day off. There was a handful of fixtures on offer, but I didn't really fancy any of the localish ones. A revisit to Oldham Athletic would have been nice, but it was too late to arrange passengers and therefore financially unviable. Plus the fact that I'd rather make a day of it on public transport. Instead, I walked to town and had a nice meal at Pepe's Piri Piri. I then came home and watched Peterborough v Wycombe with a couple of cans. The Chairboys triumphed 3-0 with an excellent away win and so it had been a decent start to 2023.


It wasn't a happy Monday though. I used to get most Bank Holidays off, but thanks to an enforced and unwanted contract change meant that I now had to work them all. Whilst a large chunk of games had been called off, there were still plenty of games for people to enjoy. I had to go back to my old department to help as they were under siege with orders. The rest of the store was not much better and was utter carnage as people used the Bank Holiday to shop and use the place as a creche for their kids. I was glad when 5 PM came and I got to go home. The news was not that grand when I got home. Looking at the weather, it looked as if my game being on would be fanciful. As a result, I decided not to do my usual pre-match research as I was worried it would go to waste. Tuesday came and the constant rain prevented me from taking my usual enjoyable walk into town. With pitch inspections and postponements popping up all over the place, I was getting prepared for a night in. Three of the four games were called off but Downton remained. With the rain set to stop soon, I decided to take their word for it and risk the trip.


I headed out to pick up Colin, who was as expected, late. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as upon arriving around 6.20, the referee decided that he did not agree with the club's assessment and promptly called the game off. We were around Heathrow at the time, so it was easy enough to divert to Bedfont Sports. There I watched a decent game as Deportivo Galicia beat Baghot 3-1. It was a revisit, but at least I got to see a game. Wednesday bought awful news as Notts-based groundhopping legend Malcolm Storer died. His On The Road blog was very useful for finding games up that way and on top of that, he was a lovely bloke. It seems as if relevant people pass away with increasing regularity as you get older as recent times have bought lots of sad deaths. There was disappointing news for this Saturday too, plans were thrown up in the air as the Cwmbran Town game we were heading to was cancelled in favour of a cup game. A replacement was quickly sought, with all three Hereford clubs at home it gave Colin the chance to do Hereford, me the chance to do Pegasus and Richard and Dan the chance to do Lads Club.


Thursday saw us finalise plans for this game and I put in a fair bit of research for the blog and the day out generally. Friday bought more bad news via a speeding fine, an unwanted souvenir of my trip back from Airbus UK last Saturday. Usually, I get a clue if I've been caught out, but this one took me by surprise. I looked it up and it is one of the most profitable cameras in the Midlands - being on the M6 - M42 link road where I was busy concentrating on avoiding the M6 toll more than anything. I've done nearly 120,000 miles since last being done 8 years ago and so hopefully have the option of a course and no points. There was more stress when I had printer issues trying to print the address label to send the form off, it took nearly an hour trying to diagnose and fix. The evening bought a bit of relief as a made my third visit to Chinnor as they beat Holmer Green Development 2-1. I came back and had a couple of ciders and that helped relax me and send me off to sleep.

I awoke at 7.20 on the day of the game, my usual work time. I did the usual morning routine of Wordle, Timehop and Futbology. Dan was arriving later than planned, which gave me time for a shower. After breakfast and getting dressed, I left at 9.05 and drove to ASDA. It was most welcome to be a passenger in a car on the day of government-induced train strikes and also a 3G pitch with the second evil of bad weather. Dan picked me up at 9.40 and we were soon on our way. It was slow progress through winding country roads but we were parked up in Morrisons by 12.15. I'd been looking forward to my Yorkshire beef wrap all day but as usual, Morrisons cannot be trusted to provide a proper service and had about five items on offer. I decided to give it a swerve, leaving the lads and walking to the excellent Hereford Beer House. I'd visited on my last visit a month ago, this time my first drink was a pint of RDH & Breakwell from Bartestree. This was very good and next was a pint of Olivers Yarlington Mill. Time was running out and I was peckish so I went in search of food. It was a tricky search with three places recommended by Google Maps shut down. I sacrificed another pint for food, opting for a half-pound Tex-Mex. It was OK, nothing special, but filling. It was 30 minutes walk to the ground from there and I arrived right on kickoff, paying £7 for entry and £1 programme.

 Hereford Pegasus sat 6th in the table. They were in rotten form, having lost their last game 1-0 to Cribbs. They'd also lost 1-0 at Tuffley Rovers, 4-0 to Roman Glass St George and 2-1 at Thornbury Town. On the positive side, they'd beaten Shrivenham 4-3 and Longlevens 2-0. Visitors Corsham Town were a place above in 5th and were in far better form. They were unbeaten in seven games and had done the double over Hereford Lads Club 2-1 and 3-1. They'd also beaten Westfields 5-0 and Lydney Town 6-1 as well as winning 3-1 at Royal Wooton Bassett Town and 1-0 at Roman Glass St George as well as drawing 1-1 at Longlevens. Corsham dominated proceedings and they took the lead on half an hour, a right-sided corner bundled home by Ollie Pitt. Three minutes later, it was all square, a quick break down the left, Jordan Williams cut in and finished into the bottom left corner. On 38 minutes, Corsham restored their lead, with another quick break and a low shot by Daniel Demikev. Just on half time, it was 2-2, Matt James sliding home a cross from the left at the far post. Corsham continued to be the better side but they were reduced to ten men, having Joel Smedley sent off for lashing out, spotted by the linesman following a melee 20 minutes from time. Corsham put the pressure on and got themselves a last-minute winner, a curling cross was poked home at the far post. 

There had been the option of a second game at Cirencester Town as Malmesbury Victoria had moved their game there. I'd have loved a revisit to get fresh pictures but Dan was dead set against it as he would miss a few minutes at the start of the game and would rather not bother. I could not understand his rationale but as the driver, I respected his decision. He had possibly been bullied out of an extra game at Bishops Lydeard a month ago and I didn't want to be that demanding passenger that thought his view and nobody else's mattered. From the ground, I headed back to meet the lads near Hereford FC. It was 5.40 by the time we left. I'd noticed that all four Hereford clubs were at home, albeit only Westfields Reserves. It was a shame that there was not more staggering of kickoffs as it would have been nice to get more than one game in. The plan for the evening was to head home and get a curry for dinner once back in Wycombe. However, we stopped at Tesco in Gloucester and spotted a Taco Bell. Dan was keen and I'd never pass up a chance of a Taco Bell. We both enjoyed it but there was frustration when pictures wouldn't upload to my blog. We were back in Wycombe at just before 9. I headed to Lidl for some shopping, getting home around 9.30.
THE GROUND

I first visited OLD SCHOOL LANE on 15th March 2008, prior to Wycombe's 1-0 defeat to Hereford. The ground was only a few years old at the time and an impressive setup with a stand that held around 150. It was also very well kept, they were known as Pegasus Juniors at the time. I chose Hereford Lads Club above this around a month ago due to its proximity to the town. The ground is located around half an hour, or around 1.5 miles walk from Hereford centre which has a great range of food and drink places. Not a lot had changed on my second visit, bar a 4G pitch being added and some cosmetic changes. The ground had been renamed the KGS Stadium for sponsorship purposes. There was also a decent second grass pitch at the back, probably worth a visit on its own.

PICTURES OF THE GROUND - 15TH MARCH 2008

2023 PICTURES 


SECOND PITCH

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