Monday 10 October 2016

Westbury United - Meadow Lane


Westbury United FC
Meadow Lane
Westbury
Wiltshire
BA13 3AF






Ground Number: 630
Saturday 8th October 2016
Westbury United 0-1 Malmesbury Victoria
Western League D1




WESTBURY UNITED - A BRIEF HISTORY

Westbury United were formed in 1020, following the merger of 2 local sides Westbury Old Comrades and Westbury Great Western Railway. Playing in local leagues for the vast majority of their history, they joined the Western League in 1984. They've spent the bulk of their time in the lower tier and struggled in their first few seasons. Their golden period came between 1992 and 2002 when they were members of the Premier Division Their best season came in 1994/95 when  they finished 5th in the Western Premier. Though they had a good season in 2009/10, finishing 5th in Division 1, they've found things tough since, never finishing above 17th.

The best progress in the FA Cup came in their debut season of 1937/38 wen they reached the 1st Round. However they only won one game to get that far, and the most notable run of revcent times came in 2003/04 when they beat Keynsham Town and Christchurch before a 2nd Qualifying Round clash where they took Salisbury City to a replay before a narrow 2-1 defeat. In the FA Vase, the 3rd Round has been reached on a number of occasions, the most recent being in 2003/04 when they lost to Wroxham.


MY VISIT

It was a surprisingly quick get away from my previous game at Wells and I arrived with plenty of time to spare before kick off. En route I listened to the first half of the Yeovil v Wycombe game, which started in the usual dreary fashion that our games do and ended with us 1-0 down and hanging on. I got some pictures of the ground before going to see what food was on offer. They had some great stuff at great value prices but the service was very slow due to a combination of lots of chip orders and a small fryer. With such a great range on offer I opted for the chicken curry and chips for £2.50 which was very good and probably worth the wait.



Some young Westbury fans were aiding their team with enthusiastic support and a drum although they couldn't motivate their team to score in what was a lacklustre first half. Malmesbury were probably the better side and they took the lead with a header from a corner after around an hour. There were not many more chances, though both teams did come close. In truth, an over fussy and inconsistent referee killed the game by not letting it flow.



It was around half an hours drive to Calne.  I checked in at my B&B which was a right strange affair -  just some old dear renting out the rooms in her house. It wasn't bad, but I'd have just booked on Air BnB if I'd known it would be like this. One good thing about it was that it killed my reservations about staying at someone's house, as prior to this I'd wanted my own privacy. It was only a few minutes walk from the football ground, so I dropped off my things before going to the game. I was glad I'd done this before, as this was easily the most disappointing host of the hop so far. Just one lady serving at the bar -  half of which was closed to a private function. Nothing special on the food front either,  though at least service was quick due to lack of interest. It all felt a bit of a missed opportunity for them and that was a shame as they had been very welcoming on both my visits. 



It was a decent game, with the hosts winning 3-2. This was a bit flattering to Corsham as Calne were well on top and the visitors only grabbed their second right on full time. After the game, I went out on the town for a couple of pints,  with the plan being to kill time until the England highlights came on. I'd predicted an uninspiring 2-0 win over Malta and that was exactly how it turned out. Perhaps that was the reason why I fell asleep about 10 minutes into the show, although the few pints I'd had might have had something to do with it.



THE GROUND

MEADOW LANE is a traditional setup, with 2 covered areas. One is a seated stand, holding around 100 and is situated around the halfway line. There is also a reasonable sized terrace at one end of the ground, holding around 250 under cover. The rest of the ground is open standing. There is a decent tea bar, offering a great range of food, whilst the bar offers your usual range of drinks



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