FC St Helens - Windleshaw Sports Ground

FC St Helens

Windleshaw Sports Ground

Windleshaw Road

Denton's Green

St Helens 

Lancashire

WA10 6TD

Official Website

NWCFL Page

Twitter

Ground Number: 1266
Friday 1st March 2024
FC St Helens 1-0 Daisy Hill
North West Counties D1 North

FC ST HELENS - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 2014 when they split from the reserve team of St Helens Town FC to form a new club. Their first season saw them pick up where the reserve team last played and they finished 6th in the West Cheshire League Division 3. The following season saw them join the Chesire League where they started in Division 2. A 4th place finish was good enough for promotion to Division 1 where they finished in 5th place two seasons in a row. In 2018 this was good enough for promotion to the Premier Division where they could only finish 14th in their first season. Their performance over the two pandemic-hit seasons improved greatly but results counted for nothing. In 2022, they won the Premier Division, scoring over 100 goals in the process. This gained them admission to the North West Counties League where they finished 3rd last season. This was good enough for entry to the playoffs where they beat Ilkley Town on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the semi-finals. In the final, they came up against Chadderton where they again drew, this time 1-1. However, this time they were on the wrong end of a penalty shootout and missed out on promotion.

The club enjoyed a decent FA Vase run last season. They beat North Ferriby, Rossington Main and Penistone Church before losing to AFC Liverpool in the 2nd Round. The Windleshaw Sports Ground is a site of great historical significance in the town, currently the home of FC St Helens but also being the headquarters of St Helens Cricket Club for many years and the home of St Helens RFC until their move to Knowsley Road for the 1890-91 season. The Saints enjoyed large crowds for their matches and Windleshaw Sport was the venue for the very first ‘organised’ encounter between St Helens R.F.C. and Wigan RLFC which took place on 1 March 1890, where the ground was illuminated by twelve Well’s Patent Electric Lamps.

St Helens is a town in Merseyside which has a population of around 183,000. The town was famous for its heavy industry, particularly its role in the coal mining industry, glassmaking, chemicals and copper smelting and sailmaking which drove its growth throughout the Industrial Revolution. The town is today most famous for its Rugby League team St Helens R.F.C. who have won 3 World Club Challenge cups in recent years, and museums such as the North West Museum of Road Transport, the World of Glass and art installations such as Dream. Football-wise, St Helens Town were once the town's premier football team, famous for being the first English club of Manchester City hero Bert Trautmann. They've finished as high as 3rd in the North West Counties Premier on many occasions. However, they've been in freefall in recent years and have suffered two successive relegations. They currently find themselves in the ninth tier of non-league in the Cheshire League Division 2. Famous people from St Helens include the legendary comedy folk band, The Lancashire Hotpots.

MY VISIT

It had been a decent but exceptionally boozy Saturday. So much for my New Year intentions to cut down, the same could be said about snacking and fizzy drinks. Sunday was as brutal as ever and easily the toughest day of the week. At least I had the consolation of not missing out on anything, unlike the coming Sunday. Being forced to book my holiday for the whole year by the end of March is not ideal. Consequently, I had none left to use for the Sunday of this hop. I will plan better next time but for this year, it'll be a long and lonely trip back from Blackpool on Saturday night. Monday was another killer ten-hour shift, so I was glad of my day off on Tuesday. It was a very productive day, picking up and sending off parcels, getting a nice walk in and picking up some shopping I needed. In the evening, I had an enjoyable visit to Adams Park. The usual pre-match pub and food and although Cheltenham frustrated us for 85 minutes, we came through 2-0 with the highlight of a great strike from Beryly Lubala. Wednesday was a decent day at work, despite my needing to take a couple of ibuprofen due to an achy back. The only dampener, quite literally was the risk of the weather ruining things this weekend. The biggest concern when I looked on Wednesday was a few hours of snow scheduled between 8 & 10 PM on game day, though I was hoping that would change.

It had disappeared by the time I checked on Thursday and it looked to be OK weather-wise. Thursday was another good day but Friday was not. It was more like a Sunday with a bloke having an argument at full blast on the phone with his missus and a child who was in the store for over an hour and wailed constantly. I was glad when it came to 2pm and time to go. It was a good journey up. The M42 and M6 were congested near Birmingham and then there were a load of roadworks up near Warrington. We got to the hotel at 5.40 and checked in. I was annoyed to have a room near a noisy road and hoped that it calmed down later. I stayed in the room until 6.05 and went off to the game. Dan, Richard and Paul had suffered a late call-off at the Leyland Ground but met us at the hotel. It was an easy but busy drive to the ground. We parked in a side road which saved us from going around the houses to get to the ground. Entry was a bargain at £5 and it was a nice friendly atmosphere. After saying a few hellos, I made my way to the Groundtastic stall where I got an excellent book on the history of the Alliance League for just £2. It was then to the bar for a pint of Inch's, not the best but low strength and it quenched my thirst. It was then a long wait at Fat Mal's Food Truck but the menu was interesting. I had salt and pepper chicken melt wrap and seasoned fries for £9.20. The food was excellent and well worth the money. I then went around the other side of the ground to watch the game.

FC St Helens were sitting proudly at the top of the table, eleven points clear. They were top of the form table too, despite only drawing 0-0 at Ashton Town in their last game. In their last home game, they beat AFC Blackpool 5-2. Daisy Hill was in 14th, six points above any potential relegation places. They were 15th in the form table, having drawn 0-0 at Darwen in their last game. Their sole win in the last six came as they won 1-0 at Runcorn Town. The game was fairly even at the start. St Helens were awarded a penalty 22 minutes in, but it was well saved by the Daisy Hill keeper. A couple of minutes later, they did take the lead, Josh Hall bundling in from the corner to make amends for the missed penalty. The visiting keeper Morgan Newns was having an inspired game, tipping a shot onto the post. Daisy Hill had a few chances on the break but St Helens were dominated. The visitors even hit the post with ten minutes to go as they looked for a late equaliser.

 It was not to be however and for all their fight, which boiled over into a scuffle at one point, they had nothing to show for it. The lack of quality up front was evident to see as it was not the greatest of games. Off the pitch, as well as on the pitch though, FC St Helens were surefire winners. The attendance of 504 was their largest of the season by some distance and they had been excellent hosts too. They had made the most of the opportunity and I don't think there was much more they could have done better. It was good to catch up with old faces and meet some new ones too. We left at around 9.45 with Colin opting to go to ASDA with the others on the way back. I headed straight for the hotel with it taking nearly half an hour due to a build-up of traffic near our hotel. I typed my blog and sunk a few cans, hoping that the traffic would quieten down later.

THE GROUND

WINDLESHAW SPORTS CLUB is a basic but pleasant venue around half an hour from St Helens Town centre. It has good public transport links and there is plenty of parking at the ground and on the surrounding streets. The ground is well kept and has two stands - one seating around 50 and the other holding the same number standing. They are the standard metal-type ones that are commonplace. The bar is very smart and offers a reasonable range of drinks. Merchandise is available and a small tea hut is in situ too. For my visit, an excellent catering van called Fat Mal's was also in attendance.