Horbury Town - Slazenger Sports Ground

Horbury Town FC

Slazenger Sports Ground

Southfield Lane

Horbury

Wakefield

West Yorkshire

WF4 5BH

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1253

Tuesday 26th December 2023

Horbury Town 2-2 Wakefield

NCEL D1

HORBURY TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1965, playing in local leagues at first. They were mainstays of the Wakefield League before they joined the Premier Division of the West Yorkshire League in 1997. Two mid-table finishes were a solid start but in 1999, they resigned mid-season. Horbury Town would return to the Wakefield League, winning the title in 2005. A return to the West Yorkshire League followed - this time in Division 2. The club won the league in 2007, earning promotion to Division 1. A third-place finish behind Hunslet & Shelley in 2013 saw them promoted to the Premier Division. In 2022, they finished as runners-up to Horsforth St. Margarets and were promoted to the Northern Counties East League Division 1. A 6th place finish last season was a solid start to life at the higher level.

They would enter the FA Vase for the first time this season but fell at the first hurdle against Goole. The town of Horbury is located near Wakefield in West Yorkshire and has a population of 10,000. It is situated north of the River Calder. Old industries include woollens, engineering and building wagons for the railways. Horbury forms part of the Heavy Woollen District. Horbury Bridge, a wooden bridge spanned the River Calder on the road from Wakefield to Huddersfield in the 15th century. Money for its upkeep was left in local wills dated 1404 and 1492, a custom that continued into the 16th century. A stone-arched bridge that replaced the wooden structure in the 17th century lasted until it partly collapsed in 1918. A new bridge was completed in 1930 and was repaired in 1991 for £2 million.

MY VISIT

This set of games was decided upon exactly a week before the day of the game. I'd created a huge list by cutting and pasting all the matches from the Football Traveller into Simplenote. All these were then placed onto a Google My Map to look for potential doubles. A number were identified, initially, I was planning on the derby between Eastbourne United and Eastbourne Town. This would complete the Southern Combination Premier for me, following several failed attempts due to the weather. However, the second match would have been a revisit and with both of my regular hoppers elsewhere, I'd be on my own. I instead looked at something I could do with Wavendon-based Chris. The ideal 12 PM kickoff was Horbury Town v Wakefield although there was only one 3 PM that I needed. Initially, I'd pencilled in Glasshoughton Welfare but that was moved to 1 PM. Campion was slightly further afield but I'd have to get my skates on with Chris needing to be back at 7.30.

It was a long week with extra Christmas hours and no game on Tuesday. I did consider a  revisit to Sandhurst but my heart wasn't in it. Wednesday brought another long day at work and the unusual sound of a bloke taking a dump whilst brushing his teeth in the cubicle next to me while I was having a skive. It was a unique case of multitasking but there was disappointment when my second choice Campion was moved to 2 PM. My third choice was a revisit, albeit a cracker in Frickley. All I needed was agreement from my fellow passenger. He was pleased with it and so it was game on. The rest of the week was torture with it being so busy so I treated myself to a few drinks on Friday night after intending to stay sober. It was a disappointing Saturday, I had to work until 10 and then Wycombe could only draw 1-1 with Port Vale in another disappointing game, now ten games without a win. It was a boozy old day ahead of the worst day of the year. It was a double horror with it being Sunday and Christmas Eve, each horrible enough on their own in the world of retail. As it was, it was rammed but not as bad as I expected.

It was a sober Christmas Eve before a very long Christmas Day. Various things, including lots of booze, kept me occupied. It was just a matter of passing time until Boxing Day. It was all very pleasant though, maybe too much so for Ashby Ivanhoe and Loughborough Students who called off their game early evening. There was no rain whatsoever showing before kickoff, so it might have been a bit premature. I had a restless night's sleep the night before and woke when my alarm went off at 7.10. I took a while to get going but I left at 7.50, stopping for petrol at Tesco in Aylesbury on the way. I was with Chris by 8.50 and we had an excellent trip up to Yorkshire. The last few miles were through some lovely villages with great scenery. We were there at 11.15, parking on the road outside and paying £5 to get in. A delicious Chicken Shawarma Wrap was had before kick-off for a fiver.

Around four miles separated the two grounds with the visitors playing northwest of today's venue.  In terms of league placing, it was 8th v 1st. Horbury were in excellent form, having lost just once in fifteen games. That came recently as they fell to struggling Yorkshire Amateur. They'd recovered to beat Nostell Miners Welfare in their last game. Wakefield were in similar form but had lost 1-0 to Armthorpe Welfare in their last game. Horbury started on the front foot and took the lead after a few minutes, James Cusworth finishing through the keepers' legs after a great through ball. On 14 minutes, a combination of the slope and scrappy defending resulted in Wakefield equalising through an own goal. It was a pretty even, toughly-fought local derby but was level at the break. At the start of the second half, Horbury came close, firing wide of the right-hand post. Wakefield thought they'd taken the lead from a header from a free kick just after 70 minutes but it was disallowed for offside. Wakefield took the lead on 73 minutes, the Horbury keeper's miskick seized upon by Gelder for Wakefield, the shot rebounding in off his back. On 80 minutes, the glovesman more than made up for his earlier error with a great block at his near post. Horbury probably deserved their equaliser in injury time, Gibril Bojang sending the keeper the wrong way following an infringement in the area.

There was a bumper crowd of 502 at the game, swelled by several groundhoppers and neutrals. It looked less but was a big crowd nevertheless. The noon kickoff had helped no end and they'd done a roaring trade in food sales. I wondered about the wisdom of the 1 & 2 PM kickoffs, other than to save on floodlight costs and look after their volunteers. They only attracted a crowd of 130 at each of their games though which were some of the lowest on the day. From my game at Frickley, we left at 5.05, putting on BBC Three Counties to hear about the Wycombe game. They had lost 1-0 down at Exeter, a team that had not won since mid-September. It is now eleven games without a win or the Chairboys under the poor management of Matt Bloomfield. It is the very reason why I now vastly prefer hopping. Fellow hopper Dan had decided against going hopping due to the weather and was forced to endure a miserable afternoon as his Braintree side was thumped by local rivals Chelmsford City. He attracted controversy on Twitter by winning money by betting against his team, not something I would do personally, as profitable as it would have been in recent times. We switched to the Radio 5 phone in at 6 and I dropped Chris off at 7.20. After stopping at Tesco in Aylesbury for petrol, I was back by 8.30. I finished most of my blog but it took me ages to sort and edit my photos. I aimed for getting into bed at 11 what with me up at 5 for work.

THE GROUND

SLAZENGER SPORTS CLUB is part of a larger complex which houses several other clubs. There was plenty of parking and a bar I didn't visit. Inside the ground are a good range of food and drink options. The ground is scenic but quite basic, just a couple of metal seated stands holding around 100. It is a lovely place to visit though, it appeared to be in a mainly residential area. The pitch slopes from side to side and although the far side was officially out of bounds, they were not too fussed with it being a big crowd.