Sherborne Town - Raleigh Grove

Sherborne Town FC

Terrace Playing Fields

Raleigh Grove

Sherborne

Dorset

DT9 5NS

01935 816110

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Ground Number: 1355
Saturday 28th September 2023

Sherborne Town 2-3 AFC Portchester
Wessex Premier

SHERBORNE TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club is one of the oldest in Dorset, having been formed in 1894. They played friendlies at first before competing in local leagues. In 1963, they joined the Dorset Combination where they were champions in 1982 and runners-up three times more. The latter of these runners-up spots was behind Holt United in the 2005/06 season and following this, they made the step up to the Western League D1. They coped with the step up with aplomb and in 2008 finished as runners-up to Wellington to earn promotion to the Premier Division. They spent eight of the next nine seasons in the Premier Division, the 2013/14 season seeing the best finish in the club's history with a 9th-place finish. They finished bottom of the table in 2017, conceding 150 goals in 38 games. This meant relegation and they spent five years in Division 1 before winning the title in 2022. At the start of last season, they were moved to the Wessex Premier.

The 2010/11 season saw their best-ever FA Cup fun. Following victories over Portishead Town, Hamworthy United and Wimborne Town before a defeat to Hungerford Town in the 2nd Qualifying Round. The 2006/07 season saw the best FA Vase run as Sherborne beat Minehead Town, Bishop Sutton, Brockenhurst and Hailsham Town before a 4th-round exit to Mildenhall Town. Local cup wins include the Dorset Senior Cup in 1983, 2004 & 2008. The club's record attendance of 1,000 came for a testimonial game against an Eastleigh side containing Matt Le Tissier in 2003.

A market town of around 9,500 people, Sherborne's historic buildings include Sherborne Abbey, its manor house, independent schools, and two castles: the ruins of a 12th-century fortified palace and the 16th-century mansion known as Sherborne Castle built by Sir Walter Raleigh. The football ground itself is named Raleigh Grove in his honour. Much of the old town, including the abbey and many medieval and Georgian buildings, is built from distinctive ochre-coloured ham stone. Raleigh lends his name to the football ground and remarkably for a small town, it is twinned with 24 other towns across the European Union.

 

MY VISIT

I first thought about my choice of game for this weekend on Tuesday morning, having had a very busy time off work.  As usual. Futbology was my friend in finding games. I wanted a game in a league I was close to completing, or a cup game. It also had to be well-priced and convenient on public transport and have the potential of some good pubs or food on the day out. Sherborne Town v AFC Portchester came up well in most categories and so that was my initial chosen game. The only proviso was that I'd swap it out for a cup game at a decent venue if one came up in the Football Traveller on Wednesday. I'd really have loved to have done an FA Cup game but I had already done every ground of every side left in the FA Cup for this season. A double might have been a possibility had the BBC selected their 12:30 kickoff somewhere I fancied a revisit to but they selected Wythenshawe Town v Farsley Celtic. A good game and ground, but at 200 miles away, it's hardly economical after recent expenditure.

It was a very rainy welcome back to England from my trip abroad and the country had seen widespread flooding and damage to important assets. From AFC Wimbledon being forced to vacate their stadium for a period to the road to get out of Milton Keynes closed due to flooding. Thankfully, it was nice and dry on Tuesday and I walked down Wycombe and got a few essentials before getting the bus home. I spent the afternoon at home, watching TV and planning my trip. The price had gone up by a few quid since I looked a few weeks ago but it was still reasonable value and a good day out. It was the usual pre-match ritual of a couple of pints at the Rose and Crown before an excellent Dhansak from a local takeaway. As for the match, Wycombe played a very weak side against Aston Villa who themselves played a squad side. We played well and the 2-1 defeat was probably a fair reflection of the game. I had no life back and so had to rely on public transport. The bus left quite late due to the Sky kickoff and I missed the last bus home by seven minutes. I had to get a taxi home at the cost of £8 and it might have been a better idea to drive and skip the pub but nevertheless, I enjoyed myself.

The switch back to a 4 am alarm threw me and I had a bad nights sleep on Tuesday night. I was glad it was only a short shift as I needed to go back to bed for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Once I woke up, I confirmed that Sherborne would be my destination for this weekend after finding nothing inspiring in the Football Traveller. This would be my third attempt at ticking the ground but the first by car. The first attempt on Boxing Day 2021 had been cancelled of my own volition owing to my Dad being on his last legs at the time. I attempted it again on Wednesday 20th September 2023 for their game against AFC Stoneham. This was on my week off but it did not stop me from having a wasted day as the game was rained off. Thursday and Friday were a slog at work - so much for the break reinvigorating me. With no Friday night football that I fancied, I settled for a curry and a night in. It was a pretty crap effort from Chutney in High Wycombe via JustEat which was a shame as my dine in experience there years ago was brilliant. I also treated myself to a 'new' laptop after months of hankering. I love my old laptop but the battery is not great and the screen lacklustre. As I use it for hours every day, I guess it's a wise investment. A couple of drinks are had but I get an early night.

 

I woke around my usual work time of 4 on the day of the game. With me unable to get back to sleep I watch a bit of YouTube until my alarm goes off at 6.15. I'm still pretty sluggish though and am late getting out of the door. It's a pleasant time of day for a walk with no one around but I have to quicken my pace to arrive in time for the 850 bus to Reading. This is the key to making the whole thing affordable as it's only £4 return as opposed to £21.50 on the train and it takes the same amount of time. I am at Reading station in good time for my train. The ticket price the Trip.com app throws up is a couple of quid more than the one I worked out on Trainsplit so I buy the tickets manually. I only buy the part to Salisbury for now as I plan to stop there and this comes out at a better than expected. I have the chance to get an earlier train although the CrossCountry service is far less pleasant than the GWR I usually take and is pretty crowded. There is a brief glimmer of hope that I might be able to get an earlier connection to Salisbury as the train is delayed although so is mine and the change of platforms would have taken too long anyway. Instead, I have a half-hour wait in Basingstoke. I'm tempted to pop over to Londis for cans, but resist the urge and stay on the platform instead.

 

The train departed on time but wonderful news came in as I got into Salisbury. I'd suffered a delay thanks to Easyjet cancelling my flight from Belfast to Liverpool a couple of weeks back. I had to get on a later flight and it messed up my planned trip to Liverpool. Instead, I had to go straight to Widnes but still got the Spoons and the game. I researched my rights and discovered I was entitled to £220 compensation. I was expecting Easyjet to put up a fight but I got an email to say that the money would be in my bank account within the week. This basically paid for my entire trip to Belfast and Widnes and put me in a good mood. I headed to Wetherspoons 361, The King's Head Inn in jubilant mood. Too full of families for my liking but a £1.99 pint of Stowford Press was decent. I then headed to a proper pub, The Coach and Horses which was excellent with it being traditional and dog friendly. A pint of Cranborne Chase Medium Sweet cider was pleasant and a new tick for £5.60. Salisbury was a good place and a surprising hub for buses to many destinations and I can see myself returning in the future. The second half of my ticket was purchased for £8.30 which would be the same journey but for a little less than I was expecting. The departure four minutes late was disappointing but no big issue. The train's eventual destination of Axminster was another that I fancied exploring via the medium of groundhopping. In Salisbury, there had been lots of Bath City fans heading to their local derby at the Ray Mac. Bath is another wonderful city that I've only scratched the surface of, the problem is, so many places, so little time,plus excessive transport costs if you don't plan accordingly. We got into Sherborne more or less on time and I headed straight to the Digby Tap. A lovely free house, I had done my research and went for homemade chill con carne with chips and a pint of Harry's Corker (another new tick) for £14.40. I could have had a second pint but preferred a more relaxed walk to the ground so stopped at one. It was worth getting there in good time as the bar had another new cider, a pint of Twisted Zenith which was deliciously dry. It also came with another club cup for the collection and £8 entry was good value. I also had a sausage roll for £2.50.

 

Sherborne Town were having a great season and sat in 7th place. They were on a run of five consecutive wins and seven games without defeat. Last week  they had won 4-0 at Whitchurch United in the FA Vase. Visitors AFC Porthchester were flying high at the top of the league. They were also unbeaten in seven games (save for a defeat on penalties against Brockenhurst in the Hampshire Senior Cup). Their last game had seen them beat Hamble Club 2-0. The visitors were well on top in the opening period. Ryan Pennery put them ahead on 10 minutes, a speculative 30 yard shot the keeper should have seen coming. It was 2-0 to AFC Portchester on 61 minutes, the home keeper caught well out of his area and Ryan Wilkins had a simple finish. Sherborne finally woke up and started having some chances. Ollie Hebbard planted a shot in the bottom corner on 71 minutes to give the game a competive edge. But less than a minute later AFC Portchester restored their two goal lead, Pennery with his second on 72 minutes. Not ones to lie down, Sherborne pulled a goal back via a free kick on 85 minutes thanks to a great effort by Brad Shepherd making it 3-2. It had been a great game and as I headed towards the station, I heard that Wycombe had won 2-1 at Bristol Rovers. That put me in a decent mood and I stopped at Sainsbury's before the 17.35 train that would get me all the way to Basingstoke for the first leg of my return journey.

 

THE GROUND

I first visited Raleigh Grove on 13th September 2011. I was on the way to Yeovil Town v Wycombe Wanderers which ended in a disappointing defeat for my team. I'd only just started hopping back then and wasn't thinking about grounds for games at that point. I found a pleasant ground, albeit a bit basic. There was the standard pre-fabricated stand, seating around 80 but it was at least in club colours and with branding on it. The tea bar looked to do a reasonable range of items.

My proper visit to the ground was good.Not a huge amount had changed aside from cosmetically. There was some cover behind the goal that I did not notice last time though. There was a tea bar that had wholesome but basic food. The bar was the best bit with a cider from local firm Twisted. No merch that I could see, probably online. Tons of parking with other rugby and football pitches nearby and the ground was around 20 minutes walk from the station with trains leaving for the West at 32 past the hour and for the East at 35 minutes past the hour when I went.