Euxton Villa - The Jim Fowler Memorial Fields

Euxton Villa FC

Jim Fowler Memorial Fields

Runshaw Hall Lane

Euxton

Chorley

Lancashire

PR7 6HQ

Ground Number: 1389
Friday 28th February 2025

Euxton Villa 4-0 Skelmersdale United
NWCFL D1 North

EUXTON VILLA FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1907 as Euxton, adding the Villa suffix in 1963. They were long-time members of the West Lancashire League, presumably in the lower divisions. They joined Division 2 in 2002, winning promotion as runners-up to Lytham St Anne's in their first season. A second promotion from Division 1 the following season, this time behind Hesketh Bank saw them in the Premier Division by 2004. Finishes were mixed, their highest was 3rd on three occasions. After the last of these in 2022, they were admitted to the North West Counties Division 1 South. They finished 5th in their debut season, losing in the playoff semis to Chadderton on penalties. Last season they finished 4th, again losing in the playoff semis, going down 4-3 to Ashton Town.

This season, Euxton Villa enjoyed their best-ever FA Vase run. They beat Squires Gate and Bacup Borough before losing to Ramsbottom United in the 1st Round. Their record attendance came on last season's North West Counties Hop when 618 turned up for their game against Darwen. The village of Euxton is situated near Chorley in Lancashire and has a population of around 14,000. There was a large Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF Chorley) built here in the buildup to the Second World War. At its peak, the factory employed over 40,000 people, and had its own railway station. It was probably the biggest munitions-filling factory in the world, and it is said that the bouncing bombs used in the Dambusters raid were made there. The former ROF Chorley sports ground was used by English football team Bolton Wanderers as its training headquarters, later sold to Wigan Athletic and latterly Preston North End.

MY VISIT

There was plenty of disappointment when the North West Counties Hop clubs were announced this year. Out of the seven selected clubs, I had visited five with just Abbey Hey and Stockport Georgians needed. Initially, I thought about skipping the weekend completely or spending Friday night in Ireland. With the latter, however, the same weather threats that had derailed many other UK trips still applied. Therefore, it was a real bonus when Euxton Villa moved their game to Friday night as I had missed out on it last year's hop. It was also a 3G pitch which meant it could go ahead in most conditions. A combination of the rail sale and Colin sharing our hotel room helped make the trip good value. An advance single from London - Preston was secured for £21.50 with my half of the Travelodge costing around the same. It would also give me a chance to tick off the Wetherspoons that I needed in Preston - something I'd missed out on due to a late supporters coach from Wycombe a few weeks prior. 

It had been a decent Saturday for once, but the usual late night. The trickiest shift of the week - Sunday was a busy one, although at least it meant that it passed quickly. I was slightly tired due to a lack of sleep in the afternoon but still walked up my local side Holmer Green. Their women's team easily beat Aylesbury United 6-0 in a one-sided contest. Monday was much of a muchness but I was glad that the series 'Dave Gorman's Modern Life Is Goodish' was back after an absence of seven years. I watched the live episode on Monday evening and due to my body clock being set for work went to sleep and woke up early. I watched the remainder of the episodes on catchup the following morning and after having my car collected, walked to Wycombe and back. Over nine miles in all, the bag I got at Whitchurch Alport on Saturday proved super useful. February had been a rotten month with a couple of rare good days. My car bills were the worst for a long time - front and rear brake pads and discs and a new tyre cost me £831 and with all the other bills this month, the servicing costs have totalled £1320 or 11p a mile. I also booked a wheel alignment check to ensure that my investment in three new tyres is not wasted but that can be added to next year's costs. Fuel costs me about 15p a mile, so in total 26p a mile to my footballing costs as I don't include insurance or depreciation costs. The option to use public transport this weekend was most welcome, especially with some great deals sourced in the rail sale.

We got on our train well in advance. The helpful staff pointed us to coach C where it was unreserved seating. It was nice and empty and a pleasant place to spend a few hours. A decent ham hock and smoked cheddar sarnie was purchased for £4 to stave off my hunger. We were in Preston just before two. We aimed for the Grey Friar Wetherspoons, luckily it was the one we both needed. Number 392 for me and a mixed bag. Great deals and selection - all-day brunch with Black Dragon £6.98. Food took five minutes, drink 14 minutes. Overall happy though. It was then to the Travelodge via Lidl where I picked up some supplies. We then went back to the room for a while. I had intended to get the 16.43 to Leyland but Colin dithered and then forgot his phone. I stayed in the room for a bit and went out intending to get the 17:14. However, that never turned up and I got another off-schedule alternative. I was already thinking a taxi back might be the best option although I still wasn't in a rush. I was at the Leyland Lion Wetherspoons by 6 and got myself a pint of Stowford Press for £1.99. I was going to go to the Market Ale House but when I checked, it had nothing special on the Cider front. So I decided to stay for a second and a pint of Old Rosie. Having been stuffed all evening, I waa starting to get a hunger on but had to carry on with me due to arrive 20 minutes before kickoff. The last bit was down unlit roads but £6 to get in was very fair. The food and drink selection was nothing special though and I had snacks on me.

 

Euxton Villa were 5th in the table, they had won three and lost three of their last six. In their last game, they beat Route One Rovers 4-1. Skelmersdale United were bottom of the table, conceding over 100 goals and had lost five of their last six. Remarkably they beat Garstang 2-1 last time out, one of only two wins this season. They'd fallen a long way since I'd seen them at their old ground in 2017, at which time, they were in the NPL Premier and were a fantastic club to visit. Now they are facing relegation to step 7 which is sad to see.  It was a fairly equal opening with chances for both sides. Joseph Barker did not pull the trigger when given a chance for Skem and it would prove costly. Euxton Villa had a bit more about them up front and from a free kick from the right it was 1-0 a header from Ethan Darr. Skem were then reduced to ten men on 32 with Luca Boon getting a red. Harsh maybe but the visitors' inability to defend crosses saw Euxton make it 2-0 on 37, another header from Darr. A good ball forward and a nice finish but it was ruled out for handball, a rare decision going the way of the visitors. A half-time break and it was 3-0 on 52 minutes, a smart low finish from Alex Colquohn. Jordan Bentham made it 4-0 at the back post on 78 minutes and it was turning into a rather one-sided contest. That was how it stayed in front of an attendance of 320.

 

THE GROUND

THE JIM FOWLER MEMORIAL GROUND is a fairly basic but smart ground. The seated stand behind the goal holds around 100 and there is a similar-sized standing area. The rest of the ground is open hard standing. There is a club room offering a decent range of drinks and basic food. There was also a small van selling draught beer. Car parking is available in the ground or on the street outside. The bus stops and Leyland town centre are around 25 minutes walk away.

Whitchurch Alport - Yockings Park

Whitchurch Alport FC

Yockings Park

Black Park Road

Whitchurch

Shropshire

SY13 1PG

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1388

Saturday 22nd February 2025

Whitchurch Alport 2-4 1874 Northwich
Midland Premier

WHITCHURCH ALPORT FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was formed in 1946 during the football season that followed World War 2. It was named after Alport Farm in Alport Road, Whitchurch, which had been the home of Coley Maddocks, a local footballer who had been killed in action in the war. They spent two seasons in the Shrewsbury & District League, winning the title in the second season. Whitchurch Alport joined the Mid-Cheshire League in 1948 where they remained for many years. Before expansion, they were runners-up three times and champions in 1970. A second division was added from 1975 until 1983 and then again in 1987. The following year, Whitchurch went down to Division 2 where they finished 3rd twice and went back up after two seasons. They went down again in 2001 and remained in Division 2 when the league was renamed to the Cheshire League in 2007. In 2012, the club was forced to resign from the Cheshire League after 64 years, surviving narrowly and playing in the Mercian Regional Football League until they joined the North West Counties League following a successful appeal in 2015. They started in Division 1, finishing bottom in their first season. By 2018 they had improved to finish 4th and beat Sandbach United and Cammell Laird in the playoffs to reach the Premier Division. They've been there ever since with a best finish of 9th in 2023.

Whitchurch Alport have reached the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup twice - most recently this season when they took step 4 side Wythenshawe Town to a replay before losing 2-1 in Manchester. During the 2021/22 season, they reached the FA Vase Quarter Final. Tividale, Pershore Town, Sleaford Town, Malvern Town, Atherstone Town, Congleton Town and Coventry Sphinx were beaten before they lost to eventual winners Newport Pagnell Town. They have a chance to better that in around a week as they travel to Whitstable Town in another quarter-final. Local cups won include the Welsh FA Trophy in 1974, five Shropshire County Cups and the Shropshire County FA Huddersfield Cup and Shropshire Senior Cup in 2019. Former Northern Ireland international (46 caps, 12 goals) and football league striker Jimmy Quinn, most noted for his spell at Reading in the 1990s started his career at Whitchurch Alport as a teenager in 1977.

The club plays at Yockings Park. The dressing rooms were constructed from wooden packing crates acquired from the Military Camp at Prees Heath shortly after the end of World War 2. Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies 2 miles east of the Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border and 20 miles north of the county town of Shrewsbury. The population is around 10,000 and it is noted for its traditional architecture. Historically the town has been the centre of cheese-making. Today Belton Cheese continues to be a major employer. It has been in existence since 1922. The town has a railway station but with infrequent trains.  Monday to Saturday, the station is served both by the local stopping service between Shrewsbury and Crewe (every two hours each way) and certain longer-distance trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central. Whitchurch Rugby Club currently competes in the Midlands 1 West league, the sixth tier of English rugby. Founded in 1936, the club plays at Edgeley Park, around a mile from town. Whitchurch is twinned with Neufchâtel-en-Bray in northern France.

MY VISIT

Whitchurch Alport had long been a target ground of mine, ever since I had seen a favourable review on Joe Gibbons' excellent blog. This was made even more important with them being moved to the Midland League as I only had them and Uttoxeter Town to visit to complete the Premier Division. The one thing that had prevented me from visiting though was the train prices. When looking on the Wednesday before, the asking price was a whopping £67, even using the best value splits. It was not that much more to drive, even if I took into account servicing costs in what had been an expensive year. It was with that fact in mind that I decided to try and get a few more miles out of my brake pads and tyre before they got changed on Tuesday. I decided to try and find a double to make driving worthwhile, Chelmsford-born hopper Daniel Turner had been to Stafford Rangers last Saturday and it really got me in the mood for a revisit. My blog for that ground could do with some work on the club history and as it was, I spent the whole of Wednesday afternoon updating my blog. The two clubs were a decent pairing and with Colin coming with me, it was going to be a decent value day out for two games.

I was back in Wycombe on Saturday around 9.20. I even had time for salt and chilli chips from the ever-excellent Peking House. The food was great, prices cheap and I was on the 9.35 bus home as the service was great. It had been a boozy old day but not a great one in terms of pubs as my original plan in Solihull had involved a load of Wetherspoons. As it turned out, everything in that area was wiped out, so Wombourne was a decent choice and a good club. I only got a few hours of sleep ahead of my day at work on Sunday. I already knew that my FA Sunday Cup game was off but it was a reasonable day at work on both Sunday & Monday. Tuesday was my day off as usual and as well as a walk down Wycombe and back, it was my car's annual MOT & service. It was not good news. The MOT & Service cost £337.15 and I'll be without my car next Tuesday too as it needs new front and rear brake pads and a new tyre. The dire month of February has continued for a while.

 

It was Wycombe once more on Tuesday as they faced Bristol Rovers. The main talking point though was the outrageous £32.50 Birmingham City was asking for away fans tickets for our game up there soon. I was looking forward to a revisit there but I am glad that I'm busy elsewhere in the North West that weekend. Wycombe barely had to get out of first gear to beat a poor Bristol Rovers 2-0 but it was a nice win. My local team Holmer Green also beat Windsor 3-0 to make it a good night. The bad February continued though when I was up for some of the night with a dodgy stomach, so I was glad of the short shift at work on Wednesday. I finally gave myself something to look forward to with this double with the weather looking good, still anticipating something going wrong though. The rest of the week was fine at work. As much as I'd have fancied some Friday night football, I didn't fancy a 300-mile round trip to a new ground or a visit for the second Friday in a row to Beaconsfield, so a few cans it was.

We left our previous game at Stafford at 12.30. From there it was a cross-country route. We passed through the pleasant-looking town of Eccleshall and past the ground which I still need. When I looked, it was very tricky by public transport. We got to Market Drayton just after 1 and parked up. The pay and display was just 40p for an hour, retro pricing. The reason for the visit was Wetherspoons 391 - The Hippodrome in Market Drayton. I'd missed out when visiting the ground but it was a pleasant place. I had a chicken strips meal with non-alcoholic Kopparberg for £7.78. From there it was 25 minutes to the ground where we parked in the overflow car park. It was a short walk to the ground where I paid £8 to get in. In the club shop, a hoodie was £10 and a drawstring bag £8. It was nice to put some money into clubs, unlike a certain naughty hopper who got in on a free carers ticket at Sutton United. That said, £21 is pretty steep for non-league, so I don't know. I also got a can of Magners for £3. Everyone was lovely and friendly and I knew I'd made a good decision to come.

 

Whitchurch Alport were in 6th place, one position but six points off the playoffs. They'd won five league games in a row, the latest a 3-1 win at Studley last Saturday. 1874 Northwich were in 4th place and were in mixed form. Their last result was a 0-0 draw at home to Shifnal Town last Saturday. It was the visitors who took the lead on 25 minutes, a great strike from Mark Jones who finished into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Whitchurch only had the occasional chance on the break and 1874 made it 2-0 on 37 minutes when a corner was bundled home. Whitchurch Alport started the second half brightly but it was 0-3 on the hour, Shaun Weaver finishing off a move on the break. Whitchurch Alport reduced the arrears by 64 minutes, and Freddie Bishton converted a very soft penalty. Northwich made it 4-1 on 82 minutes, a ball across the area was poked home by Henry McNulty. The hosts reduced the arrears from close range in injury time but it was too little, too late.

 

The attendance was 314 including a healthy following from Northwich who would be gone home happy. It was a lovely club to visit but on the field, they were second best.  It had been a lovely day in lovely company. We got back to the car at 5 to discover that we had missed a 0-0 draw at Wycombe, my decision to go hopping vindicated. Mike Dodds, our new manager, seems a bit obsessed with clean sheets for my liking. Gone is the free-flowing football with iffy defence under Matt Bloomfield, replaced with a more safe style of football. The jury is very much out on the new man in my opinion. It was disappointing to see former boss Gareth Ainsworth's Shrewsbury Town had lost to Stevenage. My local side Holmer Green had been thumped 5-0 at Yateley United. In fact, the only good news from Bucks was that Milton Keynes lost. It was a decent journey home although Colin fell asleep. The radio was very poor, Troy Deeney on TalkSPORT not a patch on other phone-ins. I dropped Colin off and was in at 8.15, having dinner, a few drinks and typing my blog before bed.

THE GROUND  

YOCKINGS PARK is a great venue to visit which has cover on all four sides. The only negative is that you can't walk all the way around as a quarter of the ground is closed off. The main stand holds around 150 and is a traditional structure. Opposite, the cover runs all the way along, with around 25 seats. Behind one goal is a small terrace, keeping a few hundred under cover. The far goal has a small seated pre-fab stand, holding around 50. The bar offers a decent range and the food is fairly priced. The best aspect is the club shop with a huge range of merch at fair prices, sadly no old programmes though. Parking is plentiful, mainly in the overflow car park. The town is a short walk away with irregular bus and train services out of the area.