Elburton Villa - Haye Road

Elburton Villa FC

Haye Road

Elburton

Plymouth

Devon

PL9 8HS

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Ground Number: 1290
Saturday 30th March 2024
Elburton Villa 1-2 Bovey Tracey
South West Peninsula East

ELBURTON VILLA FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1982 as a successor to Elburton Red Triangle who played opposite their current home in local leagues. They joined the Plymouth & District League and won the Division 1 title in 1991. In 1992 the club were founder members of the Devon County League. They would remain there until 2007 when their last season saw their best finish of 3rd behind Dartmouth and Newton Abbot. That year, they became founder members of the South West Peninsula League, formed out of a merger between some Devon League clubs and the South West League. In 2013, they enjoyed their best finish in their history as they finished 3rd in the Premier Division (step 6) behind Bodmin Town & Plymouth Parkway. In 2016 they finished bottom and were relegated to Division 1 West. In their first season, they finished as runners-up to Sticker but had to wait until the following season when they finished 3rd to return to the Premier Division following Stoke Gabriel's relegation One season was spent back in the Premier Division before the league was expanded to two regional divisions. Elburton Villa have played in the East Division ever since.

Elburton Villa have yet to play in the FA Cup but they have played a few seasons in the FA Vase. Their best run came in 2022 when they beat Dobwalls, Torrington and Ashton & Backwell United before being beaten by Bridgwater United in the 2nd Round. In terms of local cups, the club won the Devon County League Throgmorton Cup in 1995. Elburton is a village or small suburb of Plymstock, part of the City of Plymouth in southwest Devon. It lies on the southeastern edge of Plymouth and is a gateway to the South Hams. Elburton has a small shopping area with a supermarket, newsagent, post office, butchers, and fast food restaurants. There are two pubs in the village as well as a garage. Along with nearby Dunstone, it has a population of just under 6,000.

MY VISIT

It had been a horrible year for weather and especially rain. This was highlighted by fellow hopper Colin, who has to rely on public transport and favours had been to Elburton Villa before me. This was as much due to wear and tear on Plymouth Parkway's pitch that he needed the backup to avoid a wasted journey, but at least it boded well should it rain again. We'd already lost two games in Blackpool earlier in the month and there were even mass postponements in July and August, basically amounting to no or minimal summer. Unless the weather changes its attitude and there's little to suggest that it will, then a takeup of 3G pitches will be essential. The stubborn FA are pretty inflexible with the season-end date for some leagues which must put a fair bit of pressure on playing squads and volunteers at non-league clubs. For the South West Peninsula League, the start of the week marked the 150th wet weather postponement of the season.

From our last game at Liskeard, I needed petrol. The nearest was a well priced BP a few minutes away. However, due to the cramped nature of the station and people having large cars, there was a queue and barely enough room to open my door. From there a journey that should have taken half an hour took 70 minutes due to us being diverted due to a road closure. We got there at 2.50, parking in the playing fields opposite and walking a few minutes to the game. I grabbed a can and headed in, getting on a few minutes before the teams came out. It looked as if a fair few others had the same travel issues.

Back in the East Division for this game, Elburton Villa sat in 10th. They'd drawn 2-2 against Bridport on Saturday and were unbeaten in ten games. Bovey Tracey were in 4th and had barely played lately, but had won 7-0 at Torridgeside in their last game on 9th March. They were unbeaten in five games. It was Elburton Villa having the better of the game early on though a great away kit from Bovey Tracey. Elburton had one cleared off of the line early on but it was Bovey Tracey who struck first after 15 minutes. Haynes following up after an initial shot was saved. It was 2-0 on 29 minutes. Bovey got a throw in down the left, Perring picked out Aplin who flicked it on perfectly for the run of Haynes who made no mistake from close range. On 63 minutes, a strange old goal. Bovey Tracey player clears a shot off the line, takes the ball in his knackers. The ref says handball, sends the player off and awards a penalty that Elburton Villa score. Baffling. It had been a good game but Elburton skied a couple of chances from which they should have done better. There was a scuffle near the end, the two players walked off the pitch together and chatted to each other for the final few minutes. A free kick from Elburton came close but the resulting corner came to nothing.

THE GROUND

HAYE ROAD is part of a large complex of multiple pitches, a lot of which are railed off and worth a visit in their own right. Outside the main pitch is a smart bar serving mainly cans and a food hatch around the side. The ground itself has steep banking and a viewing area above which offers an elevated view of the action. In addition, there are two covered areas, holding around 50 each. There is also a decent amount of parking around the area.