Thornbury Town FC
Mundy Playing Fields
Kington Lane
Thornbury
Gloucestershire
BS35 1NA
Ground Number 1131
Saturday 12th November 2022
Thornbury Town 1-2 Cribbs
FA Vase 2nd Round
Saturday 12th November 2022
Thornbury Town 1-2 Cribbs
FA Vase 2nd Round
THORNBURY TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The exact date of the formation of the club is uncertain, but there are records of football being played in the late 1800s, with the first mention of "Thornbury Town" in 1898. Before the outbreak of World War I, Thornbury played in the Dursley & Wotton League. During this time Dr. E. M. Grace, elder brother of the cricketer W G Grace, played for the team. After the war, the club re-formed and joined the Bristol and Suburban League. The club played in what is now the upper end of The Castle School Sixth Form Playing Field, on a pitch surrounded by an iron fence. They used changing rooms at a social club on the High Street which is now the Thornbury branch of HSBC. In 1933, multiple clubs in the area merged to form Thornbury Sports, later becoming Thornbury, and finally, Thornbury Town. At the end of World War II, the club moved to its current home at the Mundy Playing Fields. After using various establishments for changing room facilities, a pavilion at the playing fields was built in 1964.
After playing in the Bristol and District League, they became founding members of the Bristol Premier Combination, winning the league in 1957. In 1968, the club became founding members of the Gloucestershire County League and in the following season recorded attendances in excess of 500 spectators. In 1971, the club was accepted into the Western Football League after finishing third in the County League. However, the Mundy Playing Fields didn't meet the requirements, therefore, the club remained in the County until their relegation to the Bristol Premier Combination in 1977. They would stay here until 2002, winning it for the second time. They then returned to the Gloucestershire County League. Three successive 7th place finishes was a good start and the club finally won the title in 2010. Again, the lack of facilities meant that they couldn't go up. Thornbury Town would have to wait until 2018 for promotion when they won the league again. Their first season in the Hellenic D1 West was a great one as they finished 3rd behind Easington Sports and Cheltenham Saracens. It was just a point short of a promotion spot but they remedied that over the course of the next two seasons. Their performance over the two pandemic-affected seasons was good enough for promotion to the Hellenic Premier. Last season they finished a safe but unspectacular 14th. This season has seen them up against it and struggling.
MY VISIT
I was having a real headache trying to find a game this day. My only requirements were that it be a cup game and that it was on public transport. I would have also liked to get in a double but there was nothing that worked out. St Panteleimon at Hertford Town would have been a great revisit, but I couldn't find a decent afternoon game. I thought I'd found a game in Wolves Casuals v Whitchurch Alport but then I discovered that the hosts had been booted out of the competition due to an ineligible player. This is madness in the online day and age of apps. You could easily get managers to submit teams online to avoid this. The FA Full Time system is an utter embarrassment compared to the Welsh Comet system, but even that isn't infallible. Talking of Wales, I thought I'd found my game in Cwmbran Celtic v Carmarthen Town which looked a lovely ground. However, the morning coach had sold out.
I'd much have preferred to have used the train from High Wycombe but after spending a couple of hours looking at games only to be disappointed by the venue, location or scandalous train price, I gave in and decided to look again at National Express. Thornbury Town were at home in the FA Vase and it was ground I'd offered several times to Anwar without him fancying it. It was doable by going to Bristol on the National Express with which I secured return travel. The bits at each end were fairly reasonable too and all in all, once I'd got to Amersham station, it would cost me £26. It wasn't ideal but I was glad to get something planned in. I had some Friday night FA Vase action to enjoy before the main event. It was a revisit to Dunstable Town for their FA Vase game against Enfield. It was two clubs who have dined at the top table of non-league football - albeit the hosts before the establishment of the Conference. They played out a competitive game, though it was a bit dull in terms of chances. Dunstable won 1-0 against the Essex Senior League leaders and looked fairly comfortable.
The only downside to the revisit was a potential speeding ticket as I only noticed the ludicrous 20 zone and speed camera on the way back due to what appeared to be a kerb crawling motorist. Whatever happens though, I've not had a ticket in six years or points on my licence for 15 years as I was able to do a course last time. I came home and had a couple of drinks, going to sleep around half midnight. I awoke six hours later, half an hour before my alarm. It was still a bit of a rush though but I was at Amersham station to meet Colin at 7.35 with us getting the train a few minutes after. We headed to Victoria Coach Station where Colin was coming before heading off to Paddington to get the train to see Forest Green Rovers v Wycombe Wanderers. The coach was on time and I was lucky enough to bag a double seat to myself. However, the journey was pretty bad, mainly due to a vehicle fire on the M4. The driver did his best but when we were supposed to be in Bristol at 12.15, we were still stuck in Chippenham. We finally got into Bristol at 13.20. The passengers then took their time getting off but I still had time to pop to the local Tesco Express. It was a big disappointment to be having Strongbow in a big cider city but at least it took the edge off of what had been a disappointing day. The bus was also late, 15 minutes and so it would be very tight for kick-off. Indeed, after an unusual but pleasant walk, I got to the ground just in time for the game. £6 including a programme was very reasonable.
Thornbury Town were bottom of the league and not in the greatest form. Since today's opponents had beaten them 2-0 on 20th September, they'd lost 1-0 to Royal Wootton Bassett Town, 3-2 at Hereford Lads Club and 5-1 at Brimscombe and Thrupp. They'd drawn 1-1 against Westfields and had a good 3-0 win at Shrivenham. Cribbs meanwhile were sitting pretty at the top of the table. They were in good form, despite losing their latest game 2-0 to Malvern Town. They'd chalked up five straight wins before this, winning 2-1 at Lydney Town, 2-0 at Mangotsfield United and 2-1 at Tuffley Rovers. They'd had big wins at home - 7-0 against Shrivenham and 6-0 against Hereford Pegasus. Cribbs started on top but Thornbury battled and defended well. The hosts took the lead on the break through Marcus Wormwell just before halftime. Almost straight away, Cribbs equalized, a cross from the right which was headed home at the far post by Joe Hillard. The second half saw Cribbs dominate once more. It wasn't until 75 minutes that they took the lead, a shot on the turn by Ben Bament, a volley in fact. Thornbury had been resolute and they came close to squaring the game up on 78 minutes, denied by a good save. That was how it stayed though but Thornbury showed plenty of spirit to try and get back into the game.
Overall, the day had not been what I'd wanted it to be. The only hot food I'd managed all game was a small sausage roll for £1 which was nice. It wasn't the club's fault though and they'd been decent hosts. It was the same old route back to town and after a false start, I found my stop. As with the theme of the day, the bus was ten minutes late, although I was comforted by the automated bus announcements having a Bristolian accent. We were back in Bristol by 18:10 and it was a quick dash to the Commercial Rooms Wetherspoons. I'd have loved food but time was too tight. Instead, it was a pint of Healey's Flattler, good value at under £4. This went down a treat and the journey back to the bus station was far easier. I stopped at Tesco on the way and got a meal deal before boarding my coach. Again, it was a few minutes late leaving and there was further disruption on the M4 which had caused issues earlier. Whatever, I had a couple of hours' leeway to get back, something that wasn't the case on other journeys.
THE GROUND
MUNDY PLAYING FIELD is a very basic setup with only two metal seated stands for cover. These do the job and although not pretty, provide seats and cover for 100. The rest of the ground is open, there's a clubhouse which offers basic food and drink. There's lots of parking or the town is 15 minutes walk away.
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