Fulwood Amateurs - Lightfoot Green Lane

Fulwood Amateurs FC

Lightfoot Lane

Fulwood

Preston 

Lancashire

PR4 0AE

Official Website

NWCFL Page

Twitter

Ground Number: 1518

Saturday 28th February 2026

Fulwood Amateurs 2-2 Garstang
NWCFL D1 North

FULWOOD AMATEURS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1924, spending 64 years in the Lancashire Amateur League from 1928 until 1992. They spent time in all three of its divisions and won the competition overall in 1938 and 1971.  A notable club captain at this time was Joe Finney, brother of England international and Preston North End star Tom Finney. In 1992, Fulwood Amateurs joined the West Lancashire League and were runners-up in its second tier behind Leyland DAF in their debut season. For all but one season during their stay here, they remained in the top tier. The one exception was in 2014 when they were relegated but won Division 1 at the first attempt. They were Premier Division champions in 1995. 1999 and 2019, and runners-up twice more, the latest in 2022. After three successive 4th-place finishes, the club was admitted into the North West Counties League at the start of this season.

Despite only making their debut in the FA Vase this season, Fulwood Amateurs enjoyed a great run. They beat AFC Blackpool, Kendal Town, Runcorn Town and Yarm & Eaglescliffe before a 2-0 loss at Droylsden in the 3rd Round. Local cup wins include five Lancashire FA Amateur Shields. Fulwood is a suburb of Preston with a population of around 28,500.

MY VISIT

This was to be the seventh season of the North West Counties Hop after it was established in 2017 to replace the Northern Counties East League, after all of their grounds had been completed. It had been an idea which the league adopted with enthusiasm, and the same could be said for the vast majority of the clubs. There had been a reasonable turnover of clubs, too, meaning that the hop had lasted a lot longer than less vibrant leagues. There was still plenty of life left in the league yet, quite remarkable given how long it had been running. I had been on most of the hops, but missed some games years ago due to not wanting to waste my season ticket or having to work. That meant that I'd be left to my own devices for Charnock Richard, with me hoping to catch up on the hop by doing Pilkington on the Sunday. Groundsharers were not permitted to host, so that meant that AFC Liverpool, City of Liverpool and MSB Woolton would not get a payday unless they moved. Additionally, the Isle of Man was unlikely due to the extra logistical work that their location involved. That just left Burscough, Prestwich Heys, Holker Old Boys, Maghull, Ashville, Haughmond and Shawbury that we both needed to do, and I was keen to save these to do with the hop. Additionally, I had been to Chadderton, Irlam, South Liverpool, Colne, Cammell Laird, Market Drayton Town, Telford Town, Wolves Casuals and Wolves Sporting but the hop. An element of compromise would be required on my part for either revisits or finding other games, but that was something I was willing to do to make the most of seeing multiple games.

 This weekend was booked way back in mid-August as soon as the teams hosting were announced. I had got my calculations slightly wrong when I was forced to decide what holiday dates I wanted back in March, and originally didn't have the needed time off. It was the first-ever hop that was mainly in February, such is the limited range of dates available on the calendar for hops. Thankfully, my manager is a pretty easy-going guy and I was able to book the Sunday off unpaid. This was also the hop with the best choice of well priced accomodation. I was able to get a hotel for Friday night in Blackburn for £55 and Saturday night in Blackpool for £35. Both were twin rooms to split the cost with Colin and both were ideally located for going to the evening games. Compare and contrast with the hotels in Scotland (£90 per night but well located) and the North East & Somerset hotels (around £70 a night with much compromise on the location), and so this was the hop that I was looking toward the most. It had been going for many years and was in the twilight years as far as clubs were concerned. It was redemption for Atherton Laburnam Rovers (who turned down the chance to host years ago under a different committee) and the two Blackpool clubs (who had been shafted by the weather a couple of years ago).

After getting my blog up last night, I had a couple more drinks whilst watching Newsnight and The Last Leg. So much for a sensible night, I was in bed by about half past midnight. I got around six hours of sleep, more than enough for me. In the morning, I got hydrated, washed and ready in time to leave at 9. Colin was watching his wrestling, so I killed time by looking forward to future trips. Seeing that Kilmarnock were playing Hearts, I played it safe and purchased our tickets for a couple of weeks. We left at 8.50 and drove to Morrisons. It was under ten minutes' walk to the Wetherspoons, the Postal Order for breakfast muffin, black pudding and energy drink. All was excellent and set me up for the day. I got a cake from Morrisons for dessert and also some bits for later. Of course I, it started raining as we got near the ground, and we had a fair walk due to the bumper attendance. The entry was a bargain £5, and as the kickoff got nearer, the rain started to ease off.

 

Fulwood Amateurs were in 8th place, having won ten, drawn five and lost ten. In their last six, they had won two and lost four. In their last game, they lost 4-1 to Nelson. Garstang were bottom, having a rotten season in which they had won three, drawn seven and lost eleven. Their form was not much better, with them winning one, drawing one and losing four. The weather had not been kind to them in recent weeks, but they gained a spirited draw at Steeton in their last game. Both teams came close in the opening five minutes but it was Fulwood that opened the scoring when a left-sided cross was tapped home by Spencer Lucas. It turned out to be a double salvo as it was 2-0 less than a minute later, a shot into the roof of the net with eight minutes on the clock. Colin had spent the entire game looking at the badge stall, so he must have missed the goals. The rain started up again, and the hosts had a third goal disallowed for offside. Just before halftime, Garstang pulled a goal back, following up after the keeper palmed the initial shot out. It was all square, even deeper into injury time, an excellent shot into the top right-hand corner. The second half didn't match the entertainment level of the first game, but Fulwood had another goal disallowed. Garstang came close too, a shot deflected wide by the keeper. They also hit the post during a late goalmouth scramble. 

THE GROUND

LIGHTFOOT GREEN LANE is a superb venue set in a peaceful location. The highlight is the cover behind the goal; this was procured from a local driving range and has seats in the middle. In addition, there is some uncovered seating in one corner. The cover kept a good proportion of the 519 crowd dry. The bar had a couple of pumps and a range of bottles, whilst the food range was excellent. A small range of merch was available whilst parking was plentiful, albeit along the street with the areas nearest the ground restricted for safety reasons. 

Darwen - The Anchor Ground

Darwen FC

The Anchor Ground

Anchor Road

Darwen 

Lancashire

BB3 0BB

Official Website

NWCFL Page

Twitter

Ground Number: 1517

Friday 27th February 2026
Darwen 0-0 Colne

NWCFL D1 North

DARWEN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The current club was established in 2009 as AFC Darwen. A successor club to the former Football League side, they had to start in the West Lancashire Premier. Despite only finishing 8th, they were admitted to the North West Counties Division 1. In 2015, a 3rd-place finish behind Atherton Collieries and Cammell Laird saw them promoted to the Premier Division after beating Chadderton and Hanley Town in the playoffs. Two 18th-place finishes were as good as it got for the club, and in 2018, they were relegated to Division 1 North after finishing bottom. For many seasons, they finished in the bottom half of the table, but a name change to Darwen in 2023 has seen them finish in the top half ever since.

The club has played five seasons in the FA Cup since reforming, but has recorded just one victory. That came in 2018 when they beat Barnton 3-1 before losing 4-1 to Trafford in the Preliminary Round. Darwen had a decent run in the FA Vase in 2022. They beat Handsworth, Charnock Richard and Thornaby before losing 2-0 at Horden CW in the 3rd Round. Local cup wins include the North West Counties Division One Trophy in 2015 and the Martin Vizzard Memorial Trophy in 2016. Their record attendance of 982 came against Bury in October 2021. Links with Wycombe Wanderers include striker Andy Bell, who scored three goals in eleven games for the Chairboys during the 2003/04 season before seeing out his career at AFC Darwen in 2016. Former managers include Peter Devine, who resigned after just one pre-season friendly in 2015. While playing for Lancaster City, Devine became infamous for a missed penalty kick attempt during the 1991 HFS Northern Premier League Division One Cup Final against Whitley Bay. The miss has been voted one of the worst penalty misses of all time and was included on the football blunders videos, Danny Baker's Own Goals and Gaffs and Nick Hancock's Football Nightmares.

 

The original Darwen FC was formed in 1870. They turned professional five years later and were an early pioneer of professional football in Northern England, reaching the semi-finals of the 1881 FA Cup, where they lost 4-1 to Old Carthusians at the Kensington Oval. Three further Quarter Finals were reached. In October 1878, at their Barley Bank ground, Darwen played a representative team from Blackburn under floodlights. This is believed to be one of the first in football. The game was a huge success (not only because Darwen won 3–0), but the experiment was not repeated in that era. They were Football League members from 1891 until 1899, spending one season in the top tier. They were voted out in 1899 after finishing bottom of the 2nd Division and losing their original ground. They remained in Non-League for the rest of their history, playing in the Lancashire Combination up until 1975 and then the Cheshire League before joining the North West Counties League. Their best finish here was 6th in the top tier in 1990. They resigned from the league in 2009 following multiple winding-up petitions in their latter years.

MY VISIT

From my game at Cullompton, it was a 15-minute walk to the bus stop. I had little faith in the service after the earlier palaver. But happily, it was on time. I got the vast majority of my blog done, but I wasn't sure if I could get the earlier rail replacement to Honiton. There were certainly a lot of people waiting outside Exeter Central Station. The first bus went to Exmouth, and the second to Honiton was a few minutes late. This made things tight for the passengers heading straight onto the train as it was set to leave within two minutes rather than the seven that it should have been. I was glad I was heading to Spoons rather than rushing around. There, at Wetherspoons 481, I first ordered chicken wings and a pint of Black Dragon for £6.29. Then a pint of Stowford Press for £1.99. It was a lovely place to spend an all too short 40 minutes. From there, it was Spar for a couple of bottles of both cider and soft drinks. The former was most certainly needed as it was a boisterous, or to put it another way, annoying atmosphere on the train. The thought of doing this sober did not bear thinking about. It was the old Amish train with no charging facilities, so I'd just have to see how long my laptop battery lasted. The train emptied at Yeovil Junction, and by the time we got to Templecombe, my laptop battery was as dead as the atmosphere. But at least I got the NCEL Premier in the bag, my fourth promotion in a row. From there, it was a nice, relaxed journey, and I was in a good mood as I got back to Waterloo. The Bakerloo took me to Marylebone, where I waited 15 minutes for the train back to Wycombe. I didn't have long to wait for a taxi, and I was back home by 12:45. I managed to drop off straight away and ended up getting just over three hours of sleep. I felt fine in the morning, though, which was just as well on the busiest Sunday of the year, which led to me having to stay on for an hour. A two-hour nap was taken in the afternoon to catch up.

Monday was fairly uneventful, but it was D-day for my car as it had its annual MOT and Service. Never a cheap time, but far better than last year, with the year's bills being a third of what they were last time out. I was back home early afternoon and after dinner, headed up to Sporting Benfica London v Deportivo Galacia at Amersham Town. It was postponed en route, however, due to the hosts only having eight players. Or was it due to the pitch, I couldn't work out as the two Twitter accounts argued. At least it was local, and I was back home in time to watch a stream of Exeter City v Wycombe Wanderers with the Chairboys leading 1-0 at half time. We eventually conceded a last-minute equaliser, but it was a good game to watch with a couple of pints. Wednesday and Thursday were standard work days. But disappointing news came in the evening when I checked the weather ahead of a potential game at Afan Lido tomorrow. It was due to bucket down yet again in the few hours before kickoff. Even if the match survived, I was planning on parking at the ground and walking into town, which would not be pleasant in the rain. It continued a long, barren run for midweek football, which has lasted for the entirety of 2026. To make matters worse, I was having no luck with linking up SkyScanner flights and potential games for my weekend in March. It will be all UK and Ireland for the first three weekends, and I really fancied something proper abroad for the fourth of my weekends I'd booked off from work.

Friday came, and with a few having the Wycombe game on Tuesday, it was a sober one. It didn't stop me from making an error in booking a non-refundable, poorly located hotel in Salzburg, though. It will require an Uber to get me to the early-morning coach stop on time, and it wasn't like me to rush and make errors. All being well, though, it'll be a nice trip to Salzburg, Ljubljana and Venice, though, all a bit more rushed than I'd have liked. I also booked a trip to Scotland for the previous weekend with Colin, the latter once being a solo trip. It played on my mind, the hotel misstep, but I'll sort it out in time. The worst-case scenario, I lose £27 in real money, as half of it was in loyalty points. I was asleep by 10.30 and up at 6, watching TV in bed for a bit. After getting up and getting ready, I walked down Wycombe and was in Wetherspoons by 10.15. Breakfast muffin, black pudding, Stowford Press and energy drink were £5.93 for my first order, then a pint of Pear Mania was £3.24. All great value for money. As was my bag of bakery goodies from Lidl, and the final can from Tesco Express. I was at the ground in a happy state half an hour before kickoff. It was not the greatest of games, but Wycombe won 3-1, and debutant Nathan Lowe scored within five minutes of coming on. Then a lift home before I headed up to Holmer Green for the second half of their 0-0 draw against PFC Victoria. It was a brave performance against their high-flying visitors, and it was a shame they couldn't grab a goal on the break. It was a few more drinks when I got home, but I was in bed by 8 and asleep before 9. As a result, I was awake nearly two hours before my alarm, as I've never really needed much sleep.

I was glad of my day off on Tuesday, doing my usual walk to Wycombe and back. I also carried on with my Hull United FM17 save, gaining my 5th successive promotion, this time through the playoffs to the NPL Premier. Having not played the game for over five years until recently, I've been playing it incessantly in 2026. The evening was spent making my 39th visit to Holmer Green as they beat Hillingdon Borough 4-2. There were hoppers there from Falkirk and Brighton, and it was good to bump into Kizz, who had come down from Nuneaton. It was just a matter of wishing away the week and looking forward to the first hop of the year. I awoke on Friday to the good news that the Green Party had won the Gorton & Denton election. Having been far worse off under Starmer with increased bus fares, more tax and those on benefits better off money-wise than me. It was a hard day, but I found it therapeutic. I saved my break until the end, got a sarnie and got changed with us leaving just before 1. It was a nice journey up at first but it all went bad when we hit the M42 and M6 around Birmingham. Delays galore and a very frustrating hour. We then got going, but it was not the usual delay at Stoke, just a sticky bit near Knutsford. It was then OK until we got to our room just outside Blackburn at 5.20. The Willows was a nice place to stay, and we were all checked in quickly. Having worked for 13 hours, I had a couple of drinks to help me wind down and ordered an Uber.

 

Good Old Quaisar was on time for the £8 Uber to the Wetherspoons in Darwen. A clean and pleasant car journey. Wetherspoons 482 was The Old Chapel in Darwen. Lovely building, but very busy. Some disgusting, filthy pigs left the table in a right state with drinks and food left but the excellent staff soon cleared it. Cheese Meltdown burger, etc., with Fierce Irn Bru was £10.02. Mine all came before Colin's, much to his disappointment. We left at 6.45, and it was a mixed walk to the ground, pleasant park and river giving way to main roads. £7 entry was given before I heard someone saying that scarves were a fiver, so I snapped the last one up before going into the ground.

Darwen were in 2nd place and were in great form. In their last six, they had won five and drawn one. Last time out, they won 1-0 at Maine Road. Colne were in 15th, but comfortably clear of the relegation spots. They were in decent form, having won two, drawn three and lost one of their last six. Last week, they beat Holker Old Boys 3-1. It was a boring first half with lots of huff and puff but no end product. Probably Colne had the better efforts in the second half, but it was tepid. The best chance came in the dying embers, but the Darwen keeper's last-ditch save kept it goalless. The ball was in the net in favour of Colne in the last minute, but it was disallowed. A drab game but an excellent post-match pint at The Anchor, which had a brilliant vibe and a lovely dog. A pint of Strongbow was all I had before Colin yearned for the hotel room. I had cans back at the room, and as it was cost-effective, I got us an Uber. We were back at 10.20, and I watched Newsnight as I typed my blog. 

THE GROUND

I first visited The Anchor Ground on 30th September 2006, on the way to Accrington Stanley v Wycombe Wanderers. This was back in the days of before I discovered groundhopping proper, but still liked visiting grounds for photos. The clubs were always most accomodating and Darwen were no exception. It was a pleasant ground with a decent main stand and a good amount of terracing. 

Upon my proper visit, I was impressed by the range of merch. The food was also good and the bars were palatial, and they had Somersby Cider. Right outside the ground were various takeaways and a fantastic pub, The Anchor. Not the most amazing range, but it had a brilliant vibe and a friendly atmosphere.

2026 PHOTOS