Asfordby - Hoby Road

Asfordby FC

Hoby Road
Asfordby

Melton Mowbray 
Leicestershire
LE14 3TL

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Ground Number 1130
Wednesday 9th November 2022
Asfordby - St Andrews
Leicestershire & Rutland Senior Cup

ASFORDBY FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Asfordby FC started out as Asfordby Athletic Juniors FC in 1976, playing at Station Lane, Asfordby, in the Melton and District League. In their first season, Asfordby Athletic finished third in the league and Stephen Warren was their top goal scorer with 21 goals in the league and cup. They eventually transitioned into adult football and joined the Leicestershire Senior League in 1991 following a name change to Asfordby Amateurs. Starting in Division 1, they won the title in 1993, earning promotion to the Premier Division. They'd spend three seasons here, their best finish 11th in their debut season. Eleven years were spent in Division 1 before they won the title again in 2008.  Asfordby Amateurs spent three seasons back in the Premier Division but their stay was not a happy one with them winning just one game in three seasons. They even managed to finish 2010/11 on minus points after having three points deducted. After this, they were finally relegated to Division 1, again finishing bottom. They carried on here until 2015 before leaving the League for a couple of years, during which time they changed their name to Asfordby FC. They rejoined Division 1 in 2017, finishing 3rdf behind Thurnby Rangers and Rugby Borough.  A couple of seasons were spent in the Premier before they took the decision to drop down to Division 2 North East. Their only season here was abandoned due to the pandemic but their record was good enough to be promoted back to Division 1. They won the league title last season and now find themselves back in the Premier Division.

MY VISIT

This game was decided last Wednesday when I saw that Asfordby were at home, following me looking in the Traveller. I was looking at doing it around a month prior with MK-based hopper Chris. However, he had a suspected case of Covid and with me off to the Netherlands the following weekend, we decided to leave it. It was a busy week for me, so I won't have as much to say in this blog, no doubt to the relief of some!

From my game at Stanway Pegasus last night, it had been a bit of a pain. I'd needed petrol and intended to head to Sainsbury's only to find the road closed and a ten-minute diversion. Eventually, I filled up on the A12 with the price being decent for such a convenient location. I've noticed recently that Supermarkets are no longer necessarily the cheapest place to fill up and their prices stay stubbornly high. I was back home by 11.25 and even got my blog done before going to sleep. It was a pain getting to work the next day, due to abundant roadworks but it was a decent enough day and I was out around 4. The journey to Chris was very slow at both ends and I got to him at 5.40. We then had a good journey to Asfordby with us getting there at 7. We headed for a Chinese, Chung's Cottage where I had salt and chilli pepper chips and Bamy Goreng noodles. The chips were so huge they filled me up and so I saved the noodles for later. We headed to the ground where I met fellow hopper Kiz. There were plenty of hoppers in attendance, mainly from the East Midlands.

 Asfordby were in stunning form in the step 7 Leicestershire Senior League, sitting top of the table having won all ten games. They'd notably won 8-1 at Friar Lane & Epworth recently. St Andrews had travelled around 21 miles to tonight's game. They were not in the greatest form and sat 18th in the step 6 United Counties D1. The last match they had played was just down the road from tonight's contest as they lost 3-1 at Holwell Sports, just 2.5 miles away. The game started evenly, Asfordby in light blue and black and St Andrews in black and white stripes. The hosts took the lead on seven minutes, a good through ball finding a man who slotted it neatly past the keeper. After 19 minutes it was 2-0, a succession of corners before a home man headed past a static St Andrews defence. The visitors were by no means out of it and they had a flurry of chances and a goal ruled out for offside. A shot into the roof of the net made it 3-0 on 42 minutes, a really smart finish. It was 4-0 on 65 minutes following a well-worked move but the scoreline was harsh on St Andrews. They finally pulled one back 15 minutes from time with a close finish. Asfordby restored their four-goal lead, a goal worked from a right-hand side corner and a low shot from ten yards to make it 5-1.

 

The goalscorers were Brandon Hands (3), Dolton Taylor and Andy Melville for Ashfordby. The attendance was 107 (headcount). We got away pretty quickly after the game. It wouldn't be a journey without some kind of issue on the roads. The M1 was closed for a couple of junctions and the diversion took us down the A45 which itself had roadworks and single-file traffic. Luckily, as it was not too busy, only 20 minutes were added to the journey. I dropped Chris off at 11.20 and got home myself 55 minutes later. It took me a fair while to get off to sleep and I needed an energy drink to wake up the following morning. Next up for me is a revisit to Dunstable Town for their FA Vase game against Enfield on Friday.

THE GROUND

HOBY ROAD is a smart setup for step 7. With a stand added and an enclosure of some sort, it's good to go for step 6 football. There's a decent bar beside the pitch although I'm not sure about the food. There are takeaways, including a decent Chinese, around a mile away. The car park at the ground is huge and there were plenty of spare spaces when I went.