Lemsford - Welwyn Sports Club

Lemsford FC

Welwyn Playing Fields

Welwyn Sports & Social Club

Ottway Walk

Welwyn 

Hertfordshire

AL6 9AT

01438 714183

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Ground Number: 1307

Wednesday 8th May 2024
Lemsford 2-2 Hatfield Town

Herts Senior County Premier

LEMSFORD FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Like with many clubs at this level, details of the club's history can be hard to find. The earliest mention of them comes from 1908, which appears to be their year of formation. They started out in the second tier of the Mid-Herts League although information on the history of those years is limited. In 2001,  the club joined the Herts Senior County League, starting out in Division 1 which is the eighth step of non-league football. In 2008, a 4th place finish was good enough for promotion to the Premier Division. The 2008/09 season saw the club have the best finish in their entire history as they finished 8th in the Premier Division. By 2011, results had deteriorated and following a bottom-place finish, they were relegated back to Division 1. The club finished as runners-up to Hatfield Social and returned to the Premier Division for a single season before being relegated back. They've spent a number of seasons in Division 1 before another relegation to Division 2 in 2019.  Lemsford were Division 2 champions in 2022 and won a second successive promotion last season, finishing as runners-up to Baldock Town Reserves.

The club won the HSCL Greg Cup in 2022. The reserves play in the village of Lemsford still. However, the first team usually play at Welwyn Sports & Social Club, 3.5 miles away. Today, they were playing at Roundwood Park in Harpenden, seven miles away. Lemsford is a village in Hertfordshire. It is located near Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield. Lemsford Springs is a small nature reserve. Its lagoons are important for birds such as the Green Sandpiper. The yearly Lemsford Fete garners thousands of visitors and is a traditional English country fete. Held at St. John's School and Church, activities include maypole dancing, raffles and live music.

MY VISIT

Originally on this day, I had intended on going to Brill United v Launton Sports. It looked like a decent club and it wasn't far from Aylesbury for picking up Anwar. However, I had seen that they had changed home venues on a couple of occasions recently. I did tweet them on Friday but received no response to my enquiry despite them posting since then. So instead, I preferred to get another ground in the Herts Senior County League done, namely Lemsford. They were another one that occasionally changed venues, indeed I had seen them at a 4G venue around this time last season. They were pretty responsive on Twitter, as were visitors Hatfield Town, so I pencilled it in on Tuesday afternoon. Another fallback was Indian Gymkhana Club v PFC London although I'd be relying on the away team for info on that one as the hosts had not posted in ages. All three venues were ones I really wanted to do, so I was hoping that everything would run smoothly.

Since my last game, I had opted to have a night in on Tuesday. There was not much on, my nearest unticked ground was in Corby and that was only a basic pitch. I was hoping to go there when I could double it up with something but opportunities were few and far between. I still had a decent day off though, walking down Wycombe before getting the bus back. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home and catching up on jobs such as listing on eBay. Ganeday came and it was a busy day at work. During this time I found out that my original choice of Brill United was off and having already lost a game two Fridays on the trot, I was glad I'd pre-empted it. I could say that Brill United put the same amount of effort into raising a team as they did responding on Twitter but to be fair, these early kickoffs must be tricky to get to for some after work.

I came home and had a couple of hours before I was due to leave. There were a number of hoppers heading to tonight's game but both social media accounts were silent, Seeing as a lot of Lemsford's recent games had been played at the listed venue, it boded well. Our other backup at Indian Gymkhana had been moved from their lovely building to a nondescript 3G. I was in contact with Dave - Hertfordshire Hopper who was also coming to the game as well as Torquay Hopper Chris who lived locally. I was all set to leave at 4.40 but a computer error led to me losing 20 minutes work and leaving over five minutes late. I was at Colin's a couple of minutes late but he was waiting for me. We had a mixed journey, quick at first but really slow when we got off the M25. We got to the ground just after six and were glad to see lots of activity. Dave was also there as were hoppers from as far afield as Leicester. I was given one of the few programmes by a friendly club official who knew I was coming.

Lemsford had pulled clear of the relegation battle recently and sat in 15th. They were unbeaten in three games, their last outing was a vital 2-1 win against Baldock Town Reserves. Hatfield Town were 2nd and unbeaten in 4. Their last game was a 2-2 draw against Hertford Heath. The hosts lined up in a blue kit, the visitors a purple shirt with yellow shorts. It was a fast start and they took the lead in the opening few minutes, an attack down the right and a close-range finish by Martel Reid-Yethman. Lemsford hit back and they had one cleared off the line on 15 minutes in a goalmouth scramble. It was a great save from the Lemsford keeper to deny Hatfield on 40 minutes and his opposite number had to be on his toes to prevent an equaliser just before halftime.The hosts did have the ball in the net with a shot on the turn on 47 minutes but it was ruled out for offside. They then hit both posts in a chance a minute later. On 52 minutes, a Hatfield striker left his boot in on a challenge on the keeper. The referee showed no card but it caused a mini fracas and the keeper required treatment. Hatfield went up a gear and on 57 minutes it was 2-0, Reid-Yethman grabbing his and his team's second from a tight angle. Twenty minutes from time, Lemsford pulled a goal back, putting the ball past a stranded keeper. Hatfield hit back, having a low shot very well saved on 75 minutes. On 85 minutes, a foul by the last man gave Lemsford a chance to to equalise. He was yellow-carded and another man was sin-binned for his protests. Once things had calmed down, the penalty was scored to give the hosts a deserved equaliser. Hatfield had a couple of chances late on but Lemsford held on for a valuable point. 

Good game here, Lemsford equaliser to make it 2-2 after being 2-0 down against Hatfield Town. pic.twitter.com/PqYa9EEDrR

— ⚽Russell Cox💙 (@RussWWFC) May 8, 2024

There were 33 in attendance including a strong home support and a fair few hoppers. It had been a really good game, swinging to and fro. I was glad that Lemsford had got a point, they deserved it for their efforts but Hatfield were the better side.It did mean that Lemsford had got the point that they needed to stay up. Due to the amount of injury time, it was around 8.35 by the time we left. It should have been a simple journey home but as usual, the M25 had a delay. It was only ten minutes but annoying all the same, near the junction for the A41 to Aylesbury. I dropped Colin off at 9.10 and got home myself 20 minutes later. I got my blog done before bed. I was hoping for a game Friday but there was nothing. I could have gone to Cricklewood Wanderers tomorrow but had already ruled it out when I planned Friday in. Therefore, next up will be Ludgershall Sports on Saturday should all go according to plan.

THE GROUND 

WELWYN SPORTS & SOCIAL CLUB is a decent venue with a rail around three sides. Along the side is very restricted to a very narrow path with more space behind either goal. The social club wasn't open when I visited but there was plenty of parking. It's better suited to drivers as opposed to public transport due to it's isolation. There is a pub nearby called The Steamer and a local shop but not much else.