St Ives Town - Westwood Road

St Ives Town FC
Westwood Road
St Ives
Cambridgeshire
PE27 6DT

Official Website
Twitter

Ground Number: 320
Tuesday 10th December 2013
St Ives Town 0-1 North Greenford United
Southern League D1 Central







ST IVES TOWN - A (VERY) BRIEF HISTORY

St Ives had been promoted from the United Counties League last season despite finishing 2nd. Holbeach United won the league but did not apply for promotion, leaving the door open for St Ives to step in. They only finished 2nd by virtue of this year's runaway leaders Spalding Town fielding an ineligible player, an offence that also saw Spalding kicked out of the FA Vase last week. Someone really should shapen up on their paperwork! This hadn't stopped St Ives having a good season so far, sitting comfortably in mid-table with 28 points. I had seen them once already this season, as they went down 4-3 in an entertaining FA Cup game at Concord Rangers. I was hoping for a similar game tonight.



MY VISIT


Last season I completed the Southern D1 Central, but due to changes, three new teams came in that I had not been to. The first of which, Potters Bar I went to a fortnight ago, and after tonight I would only have Kettering's 'new' ground at Burton Park to do. I and Anwar decided this one last week whilst we were at the AFC Rushden and Diamonds game. We were hoping we would be able to do these teams against Anwar's local team Aylesbury but the fixtures didn't fall right. I had actually been up this way recently on my trip to Kings Lynn but I purposely missed out St Ives despite visiting nearby Huntingdon and Godmanchester Rovers. I was certain I would be coming back and didn't want to spoil the surprise of what the ground would be like when I went for the game. Leading up to the game, the night before my crown came out for the second time in a month and this time I swallowed the damn thing. I'd have to wait over a week to even see the dentist and another tooth was a bit sensitive too. I had a productive day on my day off though - getting my haircut, getting my car washed and getting a few things to take to footy. I left at 4.15 with the intention of meeting Anwar in Aylesbury at 4.45.



I got there more or less on time and after around 20 minutes delay, we got there around 6.45. We parked in the nearby leisure centre and as we were both hungry decided to take the 10-minute walk into town. It turned out to be worth it, as we found a decent place called 'Hot and Spicy' in the town. I got a Mexican Burger with chips for £3.30. The portion sizes were great and they even threw in a free drink, a good un too, one of those Rubicon Mango ones. Best of all the food was delicious and I would certainly recommend eating there. I may even come back on the way to another game if it is near, as it was good value. We got a bit lost on the way back to the ground, going down 1 turning sooner than we should have but we still got back with 10 minutes to spare till kick off. We paid to get in and each got a programme for £1. For the price, it was a very decent effort, well presented and on good quality paper> There were a few typos, but it had plenty to read for someone who had not bought it before, with histories of both clubs and a few other articles. I'd say it's one of the better ones I have seen this season. I saved it till I got home and went and had a quick look in their bar to use the toilet.

The game was a reasonably decent one, with North Greenford deserving the win after having the better of the game. They got a last-minute penalty and despite St Ives keeper Barney McLaughlin initially saving it, the rebound was put in by Liam Hind for the only goal of the game. That was despite the visitors being down to 10 men as Carlton Stewart had been sent off for a couple of bookings. So while St Ives looked poor in comparison to when I saw them in the FA Cup at Concord, and especially considering their league position, North Greenford looked like a side that should come away from the bottom places with ease. It had been very close to being a 0-0 draw, which wouldn't have really reflected a half-decent game, a complete contrast to the last 0-0 I saw - a boring game between Enfield 1893 and London Tigers in August.



The journey home was a lot better, the only problem we encountered was the A418 being closed between Wing and Bedgrove, with no diversion signed. Luckily I just went down a road that seemed in roughly the same direction and eventually we found ourselves back on the main road. It was only a short delay and I was back at Anwar's house in Aylesbury by 11.10 and back at mine by 11.35. As usual, I didn't want to go to sleep when I got in and ended up getting just a couple of hours of sleep. Luckily I am used to that on a Wednesday morning and the tiredness does not affect me much now.



THE GROUND

WESTWOOD ROAD is like Potters Bar in the respect that it was a traditional step 5 ground, and hasn't seen too much improvement to make the step up as it already met regulations. Although it is one of the more basic ones at this step, it has plenty of character with both stands being fairly old. On the side where you come in, there is a stand that has a mixture of standing and seating and this side also houses all the facilities like bar and dressing room. The other side is a slightly newer stand, all seated, though some seats are out of action, while they are being replaced. Other than that, it is all open, I'd say there was cover for around 500, which is all you need for this level.

The bar is your typical clubhouse with Sky Sports on, for cider fans, it is Aspalls on draught which makes a nice change. You can also order a small range of items merchandise wise, either online or in the bar. I didn't use the tea bar as I had already eaten, but prices seemed reasonable and the chips looked nice.

Coalville Town - Owen Street

 

Coalville Town FC
Owen Street
Coalville
Leicestershire
LE67 3DA

01530 833365
Official Website
Twitter

Ground Number: 318
Saturday 30th November 2013
Coalville Town 1-1 Grimsby Town
FA Trophy 1st Round





COALVILLE'S 2004 FA CUP RUN

Now some more on that magical FA Cup run for Coalville. Or rather than to when we found out we were playing them. It was approaching the end of Tony Adams' miserable spell of manager of Wycombe. This consisted of horrendously boring football (though not as dreadful as the stuff we would experience under Peter Taylor a few years later). True to the form, we had suffered a mind-numbingly dull 1-0 defeat at Darlington and at the time I went on the coach, so faced a long journey home. The FA Cup draw proved a brief distraction as we waited to see who came out the hat. A lot of people on the coach were delighted when we were drawn at home to Coalville Town or Liversedge, though we would have preferred it to be away from home. We knew virtually nothing about either team as I didn't really follow that level of football at the time. But it was great to draw out someone that not many people had heard of - not because we were hoping for a big win, but because it would be nice to see something and someone different.  The replay between the 2 sides would be in Leicestershire the following Tuesday, the 2 teams having drawn at Liversedge's Clayborn ground up in Yorkshire on the day the draw was made. The game was the same day as we played Swansea City in the LDV Vans Trophy, which happily we won 1-0. These were the days when the mobile internet was in its infancy - well before the days of social networking like Twitter too. Even a message board would have been a long shot, as would the club websites at the time, certainly no chance of a real-time update anyway. I had to rely on the old-fashioned phone call. Having put the number of Coalville Town in my mobile before leaving home, I rang them up at full time to ask what the score was. The man on the other end confirmed that they had won, 2-0 I think it was and so we knew our opponent for the next round, which would be played in 10 days time. In the intervening time, Tony Adams resigned from his job as manager. But bizarrely he didn't tell anyone at the club - chairman Ivor Beeks found out on BBC News at teatime! A parting of the ways was a good thing - he left us in 17th in League 2. It was in the week after a 1-0 defeat at home to Yeovil Town. After the media circus died down, we got on with it and put Peter Cawley in charge for the upcoming game.



Coalville started in the very first round of the competition in August - the Extra Preliminary Round. They beat Daventry Town 3-0 before beating Gedling Town by the same score in the Preliminary Round. A 2-2 draw at Deeping Rangers in the next round saw them face a replay which they won 3-1. They then faced Rushall Olympic in the second qualifying round, winning that game 2-1. They won away to another Midlands side to set up a game at Willenhall, which again they came through. That saw them in the final qualifying round. Whilst the FA Cup draw had been fairly kind to them, their opponents Liversedge had a couple of giantkillings along the way, most notably beating Conference North side Harrogate Town. In the first game played in Liversedge records show that the home side had a goal wrongly chalked off for offside, a fact later backed up by the Sky Sports cameras that covered highlights of the game. But Coalville prevailed in the replay and so they would be the side to face Wycombe at Adams Park in the first round.



As mentioned above, the build-up to the game from Wycombe's point of view was tough, having lost a manager and been on a poor run of form in the league. Despite all this, the general consensus was that Wycombe would still win at a canter. Not that this dampened Coalville's enthusiasm at all - 908 fans travelled down to see the game. The first 10 minutes saw chances for Wycombe as the visitors started nervously. But on 15 minutes it took a smart save from Frank Talia in the Wycombe goal to keep out Chris Woodhall's free kick. Ashley Warner hit a shot into the side netting on 27 minutes as Wycombe lived dangerously. The home side did have a good chance before halftime though as Nathan Tyson headed wide. The second half was a bit more restricted chances wise and it took a solitary header from Roger Johnson to put Wycombe through on 70 minutes. Wycombe fans in the terrace unveiled a banner that said 'SACK THE BOARD' but it would take many more years of mistakes, incompetence and brinksmanship before the supporters finally got to take over the club. In many ways, it got worse with our very existence threatened due to financial mistakes.  Wycombe had avoided a big shock and can count themselves lucky not to have been on the end of an upset. Though we were the better side, there was no way at all that we performed to our full capabilities and the Coalville side and their fans that day can be rightly proud of their 9 game FA Cup run. The team got a great reception from the fans and deservedly so. Wycombe couldn't perform a giant-killing of their own and lost in the next round to League 1 leaders Luton Town 3-0 at Adams Park to end their interest in the cup.



MY VISIT

I had waiting to go to Coalville for quite a while. Ever since we played them in the FA Cup 1st Round back in 2004 I had been interested in learning more about them. At the time they were at what is now step 5 level and we were drawn against them or Liversedge, another step 5 side who play in the NCEL League. In the intervening years I had stopped by and got some pictures from outside their ground on the way to a Wycombe game up north. They were still in the Midlands Alliance at the time and from what I could see it was your standard step 5 ground. Once I started doing groundhopping properly in 2011 I had vowed to return for a game. I tried to sell it to Anwar but he always fancied another option, so it remained unticked. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise as a couple of weeks ago they were drawn at home to Grimsby in the FA Trophy first round. As regular readers of my blog know, I have a lot of friends from up there and will always select them as an option should they be playing at a ground that I have not been to before, unless Wycombe are playing at home of course. I announced my intentions of doing this game as soon as the draw was made and with Anwar looking to complete the 92 first and foremost, he asked could I drop him off in Leicester on my way up, as he had not done the Walkers Stadium yet. I was more than happy to oblige - it gave me company for most of the journey and just as important, helped me out with fuel costs. Things were nearly as bleak in the lead up to this weeks game. Wycombe had only won a third of their games at home and been on a very poor run. The latest showing against Exeter was again poor, we started well enough - taking the lead through Steven Craig on 8 minutes. But then, sadly as seems to be the case with Ainsworth's teams this season we time wasted and used gamesmanship to the extreme and are gaining an unsavoury reputation for using these sorts of tactics. It's not great to watch and it certainly doesn't make you proud to admit that your team uses them sorts of dirty tricks almost week in week out. Gareth Ainsworth has my full backing for the job, I still think he is the best we could hope for, as I do with the trust being in charge of the club. But I just wish we would cut out all the negative stuff as Exeter were there for the taking, having been on a poor run of form themselves.



But it wasn't Wycombe who I would be going to see this game. While Wycombe were playing at Dagenham I would be off to meet up with some mates from Grimsby as they faced Coalville. I had only met them a fortnight ago when I went up there for a couple of days. The next meet at Barnet in January seemed a long way off and so I was pleased when this draw came out. I had already seen Grimsby play this season as they scraped a 1-0 victory at Hyde back in August. As a strange coincidence, I also saw Grimsby last season when Wycombe were away at Dagenham. They drew 0-0 at Newport while Wycombe were losing 3-0 in Ainsworth's first game in charge. In fact, I had only seen 1 goal in the 3 latest Grimsby games that I had been to, as I saw a 0-0 at Telford the season before last. I had however seen a 1-1 draw as their reserves drew 1-1 with Rotherham, but it had been a poor goals return nonetheless. In the week leading up to the game I had another busy week at work, plus a couple of extra casual jobs so I was saving a bit thankfully, after having an expensive November. I was disappointed on Friday to learn that William wouldn't be coming, but he was like I got with the Wycombe games in that he didn't think he would enjoy it that much. When it gets to that stage, you are better off taking a break - I wen't home and away with Wycombe for 7 years and resented having to go back to the same old places that had little attraction for a day out. When the football got really bad under Peter Taylor I finally kicked the habit, but I wished I had done it earlier as I'd not been enjoying it for a while and was going out of habit rather than because I wanted to. It was costing me a lot of money too, that could be better spent on something I actually fancied. This season I am just going to the games that have something attractive about them - a meet, or more than likely in my case - a good pub. I have only done 2 so far and am only expecting to get 5 or so done in total.



On the day I woke pretty early and had a bath. I was thinking of Wycombe's game at Dagenham and recalled the first time I went there with Wycombe. It was a good occasion for them - their first game back in the football league. But it's the only ground I have been to where the BNP were actively canvassing. Luckily they got short shrift from everyone and are about as popular in politics as MK Dons are in football. I picked Anwar up at 10.30 and soon we were on our way. After a bit of traffic in Aylesbury I dropped Anwar off at Leicester at 12.30 and by 1 was in Coalville. I knew John and Tom, the 2 brothers that I knew would be coming today which was a great bonus as I get on really well with them, and they are the nicest people you could wish to meet. I had a couple of hours to kill, so I headed down to Wetherspoons in town, and had a pint of Black Dragon from my favourite brewer Gwynt Y Ddraig. I saw there was a cider I had not tried called Manza Loca. It was £3.15 for one bottle or £5 for 2. They were fairly small so I opted for 2. It was quite unique in that it had Tequilla in it, and most important of all I enjoyed it. The pub was packed full of Grimsby fans who had made their way down for the game. After that, it was nearly 2 and so I headed to a nearby chippy and bought battered burger and chips before going back to the car to collect my things for the game. I paid my £10 to get in and looking at the attendance, they must have made a bit of money which is great news for the club. Despite a visible police presence, there was not any sign of trouble, so hopefully, Coalville weren't made to waste money on that side of things. I was delighted to meet John and Tom and we had a good chat before the game started. The game wasn't the greatest performance by Grimsby, but like the last time I saw them, Coalville played very well and fully deserved their draw. I have included the report from the non league paper below.



After the game, I said my goodbyes and walked back to the car park with the lads as their coach was parked there too. There was an impromptu firework display to celebrate Coalville's result and it was around 5.15 before I left. I picked up Anwar from Leicester just before 6 and after a decent drive home, we were back home, having enjoyed our games. It was a lot better than going to Dagenham, that's for sure, what with Wycombe losing 2-0 and continuing their bad run of form.

THE GROUND

OWEN STREET started life as a basic step 5 ground and this shows as it is one of the smaller ones at step 4. There are 3 covered areas - a seated area along each side I think (probably a few hundred seats in total) It still provides enough cover for even their highest league attendance so far this season (212) Completing the set is some cover behind one goal, probably holding around 300. The rest is open standing, and Grimsby got just under half the ground, all of it open. Luckily the weather was fine today though. The segregation was of a very temporary nature. It's a shame they had to have it as both sets of fans are well behaved in the general scheme of things. Though both do have a minority who like to come and cause trouble for the big games, sadly this means the club didn't make that much out of today after paying Grimsby's expenses and giving them half the gate too. 

They had a club shop which a steward very kindly took me round to see. It offered a fair range of stuff but no pens or pennants that I collect. There were temporary food and bar facilities in the Grimsby end, not that I used them as I had eaten beforehand. Overall I was happy I came here, the club was friendly and helpful and with them in second place in the NPL D1 South, they stand a great chance of going up. Special mention to the excellent programme which was well presented and with plenty to read in it as well.

Potters Bar Town - Parkside

Potters Bar Town FC
Parkfield
Watkins Rise
Potters Bar
Hertfordshire
EN6 1QB

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 317
Monday 25th November 2013
Potters Bar Town 2-1 Aylesbury
Southern League - Division 1 Central

POTTERS BAR TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1960 and were originally known as Mount Grace Old Scholars, changing their name to the present one in 1991. The team was established by Ken Barratt, a PE teacher at Mount Grace school who formed a side for former pupils of the school. They initially played in the Barnet & District League which became the North London Combination when it merged with the Finchley League. Mount Grace were champions in 1968, after which they moved to the Hertfordshire League. They won Division 2 in their first season, earning promotion to Division 1. The 70's and 80's were spent in Division 1 and the Premier Division. They won the title in 1991 after which they joined the South Midlands League. This merged with the Spartan League in 1997 and Potters Bar were champions in 1997 and 2005, plus runners-up twice. After the latter title win, they made the step up to step 4, playing in the Southern League Eastern Division, the Isthmian Division 1 North and the Southern Division 1 Central. They finished 2nd in Isthmian D1 North in 2018 and were promoted to the Isthmian Premier. They finished 16th in their first season at step 3 and were in 14th place when the season was cancelled last time out.

Potters Bar Town enjoyed a brilliant FA Cup run last season, though it was the third time that they have reached the 4th Qualifying Round. In 2006 they lost narrowly 3-2 at Woking, in 2016 they went out 1-0 at Chesham United and last time out, they took Barnet to a replay before going out 3-1 after the original game had been screened live on BBC Red Button and attracted their record attendance of 2,011. The FA Trophy has not been a great competition for the club with them only reaching the 2nd Qualifying Round. They enjoyed a notable run in the FA Vase in 1997/98 beating Potton United, Fakenham Town, Whitstable Town, Bridport, Stamford and Great Wakering Rovers before a 2-0 defeat at Kidsgrove Athletic in the Quarter Final. Local cup wins include the SSML Floodlit Cup (1998 & 2006), the Herts Charity Shield (2003, 2005 & 2007), the Potters Bar Charity Cup (1996, 2004 & 2005) and the Auberry Cup (1991). The town of Potters Bar has a population of just under 22,000 and has been home to musician Acker Bilk, golfer Tony Jacklin and actor Thomas Law who played Peter Beale in Eastenders from 2006 - 2010.

MY VISIT

Last season, I completed the Southern League Division 1 Central, finishing off with the one I was least looking forward to in Guildford City. The reason - the running track around the pitch. As it turned out, it wasn't so bad and was a decent game against Biggleswade Town, who subsequently went up through the playoffs. But changes to the league due to restructuring, promotions and relegations meant that 3 new teams were entered into the league and I wanted to complete it again. Kettering and St Ives could wait, for tonight it was the turn of Potters Bar Town, a ground that I had seen the outside of when passing through, but obviously had not seen a game at.

Tonight's opponents were Aylesbury, which was the main reason we were going tonight. My regular groundhopping buddy Anwar lives in the town and supports them - it's them I have to thank for getting him back into non-league football and being company for random games, as well as the obvious help with fuel costs. Talking of Aylesbury, last season they had a faint hope of the playoffs for some of the season, but this season they had struggled and were in 19th place before tonight's game. Potters Bar were a few points better off in 16th place and would be slight favourites for tonight's game, but it was by no means a foregone conclusion. I hadn't seen Potters Bar play before, but I was glad when they started scheduling matches on a Monday night as it was an easy tick with no other competition for matches, well not much anyway. It was a good night for TV though and we always had a good dinner on Monday, but with my folks away and having Sky Plus, it was the ideal time to go there. Aylesbury, on the other hand, I had seen twice before. Back in 2009, they faced Wealdstone in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round and despite taking the lead, they ended up losing 4-1 to the Stones. Wealdstone went on to face Rotherham in a decent tie in the next round, where they lost but made a good show of themselves. The other time was last season, when they played out a dull 0-0 draw at Daventry, the highlight of the game being a penalty save from the Aylesbury keeper.

I was working on the day of the game and had a meal lunchtime to save me having to spend too much later on. I left home at 5.45, meeting Anwar in Aylesbury at 6.20 after hitting a bit of traffic. Despite this, we made good progress to Potters Bar arriving at 7.15. I had read about the small amount of parking at the ground and there were already cars dotted around everywhere as the main spaces were full. I still found a space easily enough though. We both went straight into the ground, buying a programme each as per usual. I checked what had been happening on Facebook since I left home before taking some pictures and reading some of the programme. It wasn't the most exciting of grounds but it did its job OK. I found out that one of my Facebook friends, Splodge, was also at the game. He is secretary of Fareham Town FC in the Wessex League and has done over 1300 grounds which makes my total of 317 as of tonight's game look tiny.



Aylesbury had just been taken over by former Slough manager Steve Bateman and he had bought in plenty of players. The most notable of which was Dan Burnell who will always get you plenty of goals at this level. But it was winger Aston Goss who opened the scoring on 8 minutes after he slotted home from a low ball into the box. Aylesbury were pretty much always in command but just lacking in the final third. Goalscorer Goss, in particular, made several good runs down the left side but was unable to put a decent cross in on more than one occasion. It was still 1-0 at the break and if anyone was going to score it was going. The second half saw Aylesbury have the lions share of the possession. It was around 59 minutes that Splodge commented 'Potters Bar will never score in a month of Sundays'. On the hour mark, Potters Bar get a break and the ball is put on a plate for Tobi Akin to score. Aylesbury had further chances to score but nothing really clear-cut. It was Akin again who got the winner when a corner was touched on for him to get his second. Aylesbury had a late chance to equalise but former Grays keeper George Kamarusi just managed to grab the ball in time to prevent the follow-up. It hadn't been the greatest of games and a draw would have been a fair result. We said goodbye to Splodge who had a 2-hour journey home back to Fareham. On the way home, we were planning our future hops. On Saturday, all things going to plan I will be dropping Anwar off at Leicester before heading on to Coalville Town v Grimsby Town. With Anwar still having a lot of the 92 to do, I can see similar situations in the future as there are plenty of non-league ones that I'd like to do around the country.

MY SECOND VISIT

I only decided I was going to revisit Potters Bar at around 12PM on the day of the game. I thought it would be nice to revisit and get better photos and update my blog, but upon checking, I had done pretty well on both counts, albeit not researching the club history when I visited in 2013. The admission fee was a tad steep at £12 but I'd forgotten they'd been promoted to step 3 last season. The tie had been reversed from Concord Rangers where it had been supposed to take place yesterday but had been called off due to a waterlogged pitch. The autocratic FA had decreed that if games had not taken place by the end of Monday, then both teams would be kicked out of the FA Cup - utterly ludicrous on one of the wettest weekends of the year. But the madness didn't stop there, they had also put a ban on away fans of Conference North and South clubs attending, meaning that a lot of clubs missed out on revenue and fans missed out on seeing their team, just because they were considered 'elite'. Imagine if they said only white people could attend because of the spread of the virus being worse in the BAME community - there would be an outcry and rightly so. But it seems the bigoted FA are happy to discriminate against you for the colour of your football shirt as opposed to the colour of your skin. Normally, I'd have offered Anwar the chance to come, but as time was tight for getting back for dinner, I offered it to Colin, a hopper that had wanted to come with me for some time, but I'd not offered him the opportunity yet as I'd always had other hoppers coming and the detour would have been too much. I left just before 1.30, picking up Colin at Amersham college at 1.45. It was around 35 minutes to Potters Bar. The streets were packed around the ground and had lots of restrictions, though luckily none applied on Sunday as the club car park was busy. We paid our money and went in, though it was drizzly I stood out in the open for most of the game. At half time I treated myself to a Chilli Sausage Hot Dog which was excellent, as it was something special, I didn't count it towards my football costs.

Potters Bar had got this far by beating East Thurrock United 1-0. In the league, they had started slowly with defeats at Carshalton Athletic (0-3) and to Corinthian-Casuals (1-2). They'd won their last game 3-0 against Cheshunt to get off and running. Concord Rangers were playing their first game of the season but last time out, they finished 17th in the Conference South. It was the hosts with the first real chance on 7 minutes, a good through ball found Bern Ward-Cochrane but his chip went narrowly over the bar. Callum Ellesley too had a chance a minute later but he shot straight at the Concord keeper. Potters Bar finally took the lead on 21 minutes when Samson Esan finished with a low shot from the edge of the area. Potters Bar dominated the first period but ina classic game of two halves, Concord came out a reinvigorated team after the break. They had a number of chances before they equalised on 55 minutes. A free-kick was put in, the Potters Bar keeper could only parry a header away and Alex Wall followed up from point-blank range. The hosts tried to get back into the game and they were unfortunate when Esan hit the bar. The visitors were still on top and Wall got his second when he deflected home a cross on 72 minutes. Potters Bar threw everything forward and had the better of the later stages of the game. Concord substitute Femi Babiola was sent off for two quick bookings and a player for each side - Concord's Tom Hanfrey and Potters Bar's Keiron Cathline were sent off for a fairly minor scrap as tempers boiled over late on. It had been an enjoyable contest to watch but it was 5.05 by the time we got back to the car. We listened to the Non-League show on the way home with me dropping Colin off at 5.40. I was home myself 15 minutes later and watched the end of the TV game as Spurs won 6-1 at Manchester United. After my dinner, I listened to the 6-0-6 phone-in on Radio 5 whilst I typed my blog.

Equaliser for Concord Rangers who were terrible first half but vastly improved in the second. 1-1 now pic.twitter.com/J1ILCsyYzR

— Russell Cox (@RussWWFC) October 4, 2020

THE GROUND

PARKSIDE is a fairly decent ground for the level . As you come in there is a smart newish stand in front of you, this holds around 150 and offers good views of the action. To the right is a small covered area for around 100 people behind the goal. Opposite is what looks like the original main stand, it has a couple of rows of benches with room for standing behind it. The rest is just open hard standing.

I saw club shop stuff advertised in the programme, and assume it is on sale behind the bar. Talking of the bar, although it's not the most well furnished or modern I have seen, it does have Sky on the big screen. And even better they do a couple of real ciders which is very rare in any club bar. I had tried both before so I didn't indulge but it was excellent to see nonetheless. The tea bar sold burgers and bacon and sausage rolls, but sadly no Bovril which would have done me nicely on a chilly night.

2020 GROUND UPDATE

The ground had changed a fair bit since my initial visit. The club had changed colours since my first visit and so the main stand had been given a facelift and new seats. A smaller stand has been erected to the side of it and also a new terrace had been added behind the goal. Although they were metal ones, they are pretty good quality. The benches had been taken out of the stand on the far side, but the rest of the ground was as it was in my initial visit. The food was great on my second visit - gourmet hot dogs and burgers with the prices not much higher than you pay for bog-standard fare at other grounds.