Sunday 30 July 2017

Bourne Town - Abbey Lawn


Bourne Town FC
Abbey Lawn
Abbey Road
Bourne
Lincolnshire
PE10 9EN








Ground Number: 704
Saturday 29th July 2016
Bourne Town 1-2 Raunds Town
United Counties League - Division 1






BOURNE TOWN - A BRIEF HISTORY


The club was formed in 1883 and up until the start of the second world war, participated in local leagues such as the Peterborough & District. Between 1947 and 1956, they enjoyed their first spell in the United Counties League. Despite having two 7th placed finishes, Bourne generally struggled and would drop back down to local football for a few years. They would join the Midland League in 1961, but again they found results hard to come by. A return to the United Counties League in 1965 would see a dramatic improvement, however. From 1965 until 2010, Bourne Town enjoyed unbroken membership of the UCL's top tier and were champions on four occasions, the golden spell being between 1968 and 1972 when they won three of those titles. In 2010, despite finishing 17th out of 21 teams, they were relegated to Division 1 where they remain to this day. Finishes have generally been disappointing, with an all time low of 21st in 2014, though two years later they enjoyed their best finish since returning of 5th.

In the FA Cup, Bourne Town enjoyed their best run on three occasions, the last being in 1965 when they went out to Wellingborough Town after a replay. A spell in the FA Trophy saw them reach the 1st Round in 1972 before losing to Bridgwater Town. In the FA Vase, the clubs best ever run saw the club reach the 4th Round in 1990 where they lost to local rivals Spalding Town in a replay. Locally the club have won the UCL Knockout Cup in 1970, the UCL Benevolent Cup in 1991 as well as 4 various Lincolnshire FA Cups. Their record attendance of 3000 came for an FA Trophy game against Chelmsford City in 1970.



MY VISIT

From our game at March, Eddie and I made our way to Bourne, the journey taking 45 minutes which meant we got there at 5.45, two hours before kick-off. We both went our separate ways for our pre-match plans, with me heading off to an interesting pub called Smiths. Before I could take any more on board, I needed to offload and so encountered possibly the smallest toilet cubicle in the world. Once I got back downstairs though, I was a lot happier. They had a great range of real ciders, of which I tried a couple. First up was Cockeyed Mad Jack, which was nice enough, but not exceptional. My second cider was a half of Roundabout by Circle cider. It was an accidental retry, but the recipe and strength was different to the one I'd previously tried. By now it was 6.50, so I went in search of food. I found a decent looking place called China Garden. Despite saying it would be half an hour, my chicken satay skewers and salt and chilli chips only took 10 minutes. It was fairly average fare, which I ate on the way back to the ground. It was whilst en route that I encountered Bourne's answer to Vicky Pollard, a highly-strung woman in pink leotard and grey joggers who'd obviously encountered the authorities before 'We're gonna f*cking lose him now, Dave you bastard' she screeched at her boyfriend. Dave to his credit, remained calm, picking up the child in a pushchair that his feral girlfriend had dumped before walking off, telling her to go home and get some sleep. Like March, it had been a town of contrasts, some really nice pubs, but some parts that didn't reflect well on what was a decent place.




By 7.15 I was at the ground, so I fetched my bag from the car and went in. Entrance was well priced at a fiver, plus it was £2 for a glossy but thin programme. I also went in the bar and got a nice pen for £1.50. I met Rob, a Winchester City fan as well as a few other hoppers before taking my place on the far side, near the halfway line. The game kicked off at a lively pace, strangely both captains were the goalkeepers and within 5 minutes both had made good saves to keep the game goalless. By now, it had started to spit, so knowing that a fair bit of rain was forecast, I moved to the cover on the other side. The game didn't live up to its lively start, with chances soon drying up. Raunds had a dominant spell around the half hour mark and took the lead on 38 minutes, a nice through ball leaving the Dan Porter with a simple finish. The rain came and went, then came again, so I found myself sheltering under a tree behind the goal. Both sides had chances but Raunds doubled their lead on 83 minutes. Dave Townsend held off a couple of challenges before finishing with a low shot just inside the area. Right at the death, Bourne Town were awarded a penalty to reduce the arrears. Josh Russell was fouled in the area by visiting keeper Chris Jones before dusting himself down and converting a spot kick.



There had been a decent crowd of 459 at the game, the highest of the day. We left Bourne at 9.45 with me dropping Eddie off at Peterborough Station at 10.15. My way home was blighted by dawdling drivers, travelling at a third of the speed limit in some cases as well as gloomy weather outside. I got back at 11.45 and stayed up for half an hour. It wasn't the ideal preparation with me being up for work at 4 am. It had been a good day anyway, with me catching up with lots of people and enjoying three games of football at three nice grounds. Next up for me on Tuesday is the nearest competitive 'tick' that I could find in Andover Town v Bemerton Heath Harlequins.



THE GROUND

ABBEY LAWN is a smart and well-kept venue that would probably be good enough for a couple of levels higher. All the covered accommodation is on one side and comprises of a seated stand for around 200 and covered standing for around 300. The rest of the ground is open but is surrounded by hedges and trees which give it a pleasant feeling. The best feature is the club shop which has lots of choice at good value prices.

The town is close by, and this offers a very good range of both food and drink options. The best choice for a pre-match tipple is Smiths, an excellent establishment with a great choice of drinks. Food wise, there was a busy chippy opposite the ground. Back in the ground itself was a nice looking BBQ and feedback I had from other hoppers was positive. There was also a bar offering the usual range of drinks.

SCORES ON THE DOORS

1: Ground facilities & condition (for the level)
Very well kept in pleasant surroundings (7)

2: Area around the ground (parking, food/drink, public transport)
Near town, plenty of choice and parking (7)

3: Welcome / Club Friendliness


Decent enough (6)

4: Value for money
A fiver was great value (8)

5: Social Media & Website

Good twitter regularly updated and interactive, Website isn't great though (7)

6: Programme

A thin effort, with lots of adverts, expensive too at £2. Points back for being glossy, and having a free teamsheet (3)

7: Game entertainment
Not a bad game, but not gripping either (6)

8: Tea Bar
A nice BBQ, plus other outlets (7)

9: Bar / Clubhouse

Standard range of drinks (6)

10: Club Shop

Well above average for the level, good value too (8)

TOTAL OUT OF 100: 65
AVERAGE SCORE: 6.5


GROUND PHOTOS


March Town United - GER Sports Ground


March Town United FC
GER Sports Ground
Robingoodfellows Lane
March
Cambridgeshire
PE15 8HS








Ground Number: 703
Saturday 29th July 2017
March Town United 0-3 Holland
Eastern Counties D1





MARCH TOWN UNITED - A BRIEF HISTORY


The club was formed in 1885 as MARCH TOWN. They added the 'United' part following the second world war when they took over the ground of March GER United. They joined the United Counties League and stayed for 6 seasons, with them being crowned champions in 1954. They switched to the Eastern Counties League in 1954 and remain there to this day. In the final season of the league being a single tier, March Town United were champions in 1988. They then had a spell until 1997 in the Premier Division, when they finished bottom and were relegated to Division 1. They'be been there to this day, the best finish being 12th in 2012.

The club has had a number of good FA Cup runs, reaching the 1st Round twice - in 1955 they lost 4-0 at Brentford and in 1978 they lost 2-0 at Swindon Town. A spell in the FA Trophy passed without much success, although they did reach the FA Vase 3rd Round in 1989, where they lost 2-1 at home to Sudbury Town. Their record attendance of 7,500 came in 1956 for an FA Cup game against Kings Lynn.

MY VISIT

Although I was more than happy to do the United Counties part of the organised groundhop, I wasn't as keen on the Peterborough & District part. I'd checked both of the grounds and they were both just fairly plain fields. Whilst some hoppers enjoy them, in fact there were a few that were going solely to the middle two fixtures, they weren't for me. I was glad that the Eastern Counties League had scheduled games on this weekend, thanks to the FA Cup starting really early for the second season in succession. There were possibilities at Fakenham & Wisbech St Mary, but the one I'd wanted to do for ages was March Town United. I'd been to their ground on the way to Kings Lynn a few years ago and it was a ground with plenty of character. There was a terrific old wooden stand that wouldn't be around for much longer according to the groundhopper magazine, so I was glad to see a game there before they potentially replaced it with some dull flatpack monstrosity.



I'd also been impressed with the range of pubs in March and it was a bit of a shame there was a little too much to enjoy, what with me limited by driving. I was planning on keeping it fairly simple, the Wetherspoons was pretty near the ground and would provide reasonably priced food and a decent choice of drinks. I had been considering George's, a decent looking pub with food and 5 real ciders. However, I knocked that on the head when I discovered that the 'craft cider' was from the Blind Pig company, which most definitely wasn't 'real' and was some ghastly alcopop that had tasted horrendous. There was one other pub, the Rose & Crown, which did a local cider, but that was 20 minutes walk walk away.



It was a slow getaway from the previous game at Holbeach, thanks to a road junction that had more traffic than it was used to thrown at it. We got to March at 1.25 after making good time. First stop was the Hippodrome, an excellent Wetherspoons where I had an unexpected bonus, ticking cider 19/20 in the festival, a week after it had ended. The 4% Broadoak Moonshine Rum & Raisin was very pleasant. As it was quite busy, I didn't bother with food and moved on just before 2. I made my way to a nearby chip shop where I had a chicken wrap with chips and drink for a fiver. I then popped into Heron Foods where I spent a few quid on some well-priced snacks. Back at the ground, there were similar bargains, entry was just a fiver and a decent programme with free raffle was just £1.



There was a minutes silence before the game for a couple of people from the hosts who had sadly passed away. Holland started on the front foot and they had a goal, a header from a left wing cross, ruled out for offside after 5 minutes. They eventually did take the lead with a cracking left foot volley from 25 yards by Tom Holdstock which flew into the top corner. They doubled their lead on 32 minutes, a nice through ball presented Keelan Sorrell with a chance and he finished well with a low shot from just outside the area. They'd had the better of the first half, but March stepped it up in the second. On 72 minutes, they had their best chance when a shot was cleared off the line. But instead of reducing the arrears, Holland broke and it was another cracking goal by Holdstock from 20 yards for their third, which pretty much sewed the game up. There were no further goals, and so the season got off on a bad foot for March.



THE GROUND

The GER SPORTS GROUND was a venue that I had visited on Saturday 2nd November 2013 whilst on my way to Kings Lynn Town. Luckily the ground was open as the team were collecting their kit to go to an away game. I was very impressed with what I saw, plenty to take pictures of, including a wooden seated stand that looked bigger than its stated 500 capacity. To the side of that was an interesting stand alone press box which was brick built and had a unique viewing gallery. Opposite is cover for a few hundred fans, whilst the rest of the ground is open hard standing.

Upon my revisit for a game some 4 years later, there had been some decay and I noticed that half of the ground was closed. It was still a great ground and had a very smart bar, though drinks choice was a little limited. The tea bar was very good, as was the programme. The ground is very close to the town and you will find a great range of pubs and takeaways.


SCORES ON THE DOORS

1: Ground facilities & condition (for the level)

Great ground, looking a bit jaded mind (7)

2: Area around the ground (parking, food/drink, public transport)
Lots of parking, near a town with a great selection of pubs (9)

3: Welcome / Club Friendliness

Nice person on the gate (7)

4: Value for money

Great stuff, £5 entry, plus other things are good value (8)

5: Social Media & Website

Fairly regular updates (6)

6: Programme

Excellent for £1, like many others in this area, handled by Barnes Print (8)

7: Game entertainment

A reasonable contest (6)

8: Tea Bar

Decent, with good prices (7)

9: Bar / Clubhouse

Smart enough, drinks choice reasonable (6)

10: Club Shop
Standard for this level, just club badges (5)

TOTAL SCORE OUT OF 100: 69

AVERAGE SCORE: 6.9

GROUND PHOTOS

 

Holbeach United - Carters Park


Holbeach United FC
Carters Park
Park Road
Holbeach
Lincolnshire
PE12 7PT






Ground Number: 702
Saturday 29th July 2017
Holbeach United 6-0 Sleaford Town
United Counties Premier





HOLBEACH UNITED - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1929 and they started out life in local leagues such as the Kings Lynn, Spalding and the Peterborough & District. In 1946, following the end of the second world war, Holbeach United joined the United Counties League. They've remained there to this day, apart from a spell away between 1955 and 1963 when they played 7 seasons in the Eastern Counties League (best finish of 5th in 1960) and the Midland League (finishing second bottom in 1963). Whilst the UCL was a single-tiered league, the club's best ever finish came in their debut season of 1946/47 when Holbeach finished 8th. Since 1950, they've remained in the top tier and despite finishing in a lowly position a few times, they've never been relegated, making them one of the most consistent teams in the league's history.They've been champions three times - in 1990, 2003 & 2013 as well as runners-up on 4 occasions.


In the FA Cup, Holbeach United had a great run to the 1st Round in 1982. Long Eaton United, Rushall Olympic, Moor Green and Corby Town were beaten to secure a potential tie against a football league side. They were not disappointed, pulling out Wrexham at home. They were forced to play the game at Peterborough United where they bowed out 4-0. There was also a spell in the FA Trophy, with Holbeach never getting past the 2nd Qualifying Round, although they did take 4 games to overcome Hinckley Athletic in their first ever tie. Once the FA Vase was introduced in the mid 70's, the club competed in that instead. They've reached the 5th Round twice - losing to Wisbech Town in 1989 and Erith & Belvedere in 2015. Locally, Holbeach United have won the Lincolnshire Senior Trophy twice, the Lincolnshire 'A' Cup on five occasions as well as the Lincolnshire 'B' Bup and numerous league trophies.



MY VISIT

I'd been looking forward to this groundhop for a while, back from when it was first announced. I was glad that the two games on offer in the United Counties League were grounds that I had not done, at least on this Saturday anyway. In the week leading up to the games, I'd seen Wycombe win the Cherry Red Records Cup (basically a glorified friendly) when they beat AFC Wimbledon 2-0 on Tuesday and also put some plans in place for my weeks off. Though I'd been struggling to nail down games in the UK, I had booked a trip to Brussels. This was thanks to me going on the Eurostar site by chance and finding that you could travel for £29 each way. Having paid more than that just for airport parking in the past, it was a real deal and I've always thought that going via train is a far more relaxing way of doing things anyway. I wasn't completely sure of what games I'd be doing, but there was plenty to choose from. Having been to Brussels before around 10 years ago, I'd always wanted to go back, and with a lot of the tourist stuff already done, I'd have plenty of time to take in some games and try some new cherry beers.



I'd been unsuccessful in my attempts to get Anwar to come with me as he had family commitments. I was glad then, when another hopper, Eddie the Grimsby fan, said he would meet me at Peterborough & was happy to chip in for petrol. The previous night, I decided to stay in, rather than go to Maidenhead United v Wycombe Wanderers, a game I'd been to last season. It turned out to be a good decision, as the hosts won a dull game 1-0. I listened to the commentary on our local radio station, which kept me entertained with a few drinks. I got off to bed, shortly after 10 and at least got a reasonable night's sleep, waking an hour before I needed to at 6 am. To kill time, I watched last night's Coronation Street and caught up online. I saw that there had been plenty of games called off, following an unseasonal bout of heavy rain and my mate Dan had suffered more than most, travelling up to Manchester and seeing both his Friday and Saturday plans ruined. After getting ready, I left at 7.25, filling up my car at the local petrol station. I also needed fuel too, so I stopped at Subway for a breakfast sub. I'd forgotten how good they were and really enjoyed it. I then made my way to Peterborough and as I was early, pulled over for a drink before collecting Eddie from the train station at 9.40.



We got to the ground half an hour later, paying £6 to get in, plus £1.50 for a decent programme. I caught up with some other hoppers and took some pictures of what was a very decent ground whilst waiting for kick off. I took up my favourite position, standing between the dugouts on the halfway line and listened to two very vocal managers encouraging their teams in a fierce local derby. The hosts started the better side and took the lead on 13 minutes after a good through ball left Will Bird with a simple finish from around the penalty spot. Despite the Sleaford manager claiming offside, the goal stood and Holbeach continued to dominate. They doubled their lead on 16 minutes when a square ball across the area allowed Lewis Leckie to finish from around 6 yards. The visiting keeper made a couple of really good saves to keep his team in the game just before the break. He was called upon again just before Will Bird got his second and his teams third on 52 minutes as he finished from close range. Nick Jackson made absolutely certain where the points were heading when he headed home from a corner on 55 minutes as the hosts continued to press. There was a brief lull before Charlie Sanders made it 5-0 with a penalty on 83 minutes before a deflected own goal made it six a couple of minutes later. That was it as far as goals were concerned, it had been a comprehensive victory. Sleaford must have been sick of the sight of me, last time I saw them was at Leicester Nirvana where they lost 7-0.



THE GROUND

CARTERS PARK is a smart venue for step 5 football and would have no problem holding its own at a higher level. The seated stand holds 200 fans and is decked out in black seats with 'HUFC' picked out in yellow letters. Next to this is an area of standing cover, and there are also small areas behind each goal. This standing cover amounts to around 500, whilst the ground has an overall capacity of 2000.

The club shop is one of the best I've seen at this level. They did pennants, scarves, badges, old programmes, old shirts and many other things. The bar area was smart and spacious and offered the usual range of drinks. The only disappointment was the catering - I saw a few bought in vans, so with no profit going to the club, I wasn't going to put any money in their pocket, especially as it was standard football fare.

SCORES ON THE DOORS

1: Ground facilities & condition (for the level)

Very good, well above average and well kept too (7)

2: Area around the ground (parking, food/drink, public transport)
Near to the town, lots of parking (7)

3: Welcome / Club Friendliness

A nice welcome at the gate and friendly people (7)

4: Value for money

£6 is around the standard price at this level (7)

5: Social Media & Website
Both are regularly updated and are good at interacting (8)

6: Programme

A nice 48-page effort for £1.50, informative and well designed (8)

7: Game entertainment

A bit one sided, but lots of chances and a good pace for the most part (7)

8: Tea Bar

Bought in catering a lot of the time (5)

9: Bar / Clubhouse

The standard choice of drinks, spacious and well kept (6)

10: Club Shop
Above average for the level (8)


TOTAL SCORE OUT OF 100: 70
Average: 7/10


GROUND PHOTOS