Hamworthy United - The County Ground

Hamworthy United FC

Specsavers County Ground

Blandford Close

Poole

Dorset

BH15 4BF

01202 674974

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 892
Saturday 30th November 2019
Hamworthy United 1-4 Plymouth Parkway
FA Vase 3rd Round








HAMWORTHY UNITED - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1970 thanks to a merger of two clubs - Hamworthy (formed in 1926) and Trinidad Old Boys (established in 1965). They started out in the Dorset League and remained here until 2004, becoming champions in 1977, 2003 and 2004. After the last of those title wins, Hamworthy United joined the Wessex League. Starting out in the top tier where they remain to this day, their best finish has been 5th, achieved in 2018 with the previous two seasons seeing their lowest finish of 16th. After last weekends games, Hamworthy sat in a mid-table position of 12th.

In the FA Cup, the club has twice reached the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round. The last of these came in 2013 when they beat Melksham Town, Wimborne Town and Hallen prior to a 4-2 defeat in a local derby against Poole Town. In the FA Vase, last season saw a record-breaking run for the club. Amesbury Town, Fawley, Shaftesbury, Falmouth Town and Hamble Club before a defeat in the 4th Round to Willand Rovers. Local cup honours include the Wessex League Cup in 2005, the Dorset League Cup in 1990, the Dorset League Charity Shield in 2004 and the Dorset Senior Cup in 2006. Despite being based in Poole geographically, the team represents the suburb of Hamworthy which has a population of 13,141 and has its own train station.



MY VISIT

With the draw for the second round of the FA Cup being made a few weeks ago, I knew that I'd be free on this Saturday. Wycombe or Tranmere were drawn at home to Chichester City but the game was moved to the Sunday with an early kick-off. As it turned out, Wycombe went out in the replay despite being the better team, but in any case, I'd already made my decision. The day before, I'd booked a National Express coach from London to Poole for £15, making the whole journey cost including getting to the station and getting into London £26 as opposed to around £70 on the train from High Wycombe or £40 costs when driving. My game of choice was Hamworthy United v Plymouth Parkway in the FA Vase 3rd Round, not only was it a decent looking game, but it was on a 3G pitch, essential in the current weather conditions, especially when booking in advance. I'd decided to have a sober and quiet Friday night and was asleep by 10 after watching Maldon and Tiptree unluckily lose to Newport County in the FA Cup on TV. I didn't really get the good night's sleep I'd desired, waking up a few times before my alarm went off at 6.15 am. I was a bit slow getting ready and so only had time for toast before leaving. It was frozen and foggy out, so I took a few minutes to clear my windscreen before driving to a side road near Amersham Station.

 

I got the earlier train of my possible two and after changes at Marylebone and Oxford Circus, I was at Victoria shortly after 8. With time to kill, I had a festive panini from Starbucks and got a Daily Mirror from the shop. I was half an hour early for my coach but soon received news that it would be delayed. Passengers were kept in the dark for a bit but in the end, the delay was around an hour and a half as the driver also needed a break and was in no rush after that, standing around gossiping for ages.. Eventually, we left just before 10.30. The journey dragged more than it should have done and worse was to come when the company decided to terminate the coach at Bournemouth, making us wait another ten minutes. The poor rep took a bit of stick for managerial decisions but did at least mention a possible refund. I eventually arrived at Poole at 1.30 - 100 minutes after my scheduled arrival. My first stop was twenty minutes away. The Stable was a great place for cider, but I didn't have a huge amount of time. I had a pint of Badgers Spit and a bottle of Max Lux, feeling a bit better after that. I stopped at Sainsbury's for a cash machine before heading to the game. I wasn't sure what the food was going to be like at the ground so I stopped at a takeaway called New Capital. This was OK and I had a Capital Burger - comprising of a beef burger, chicken burger, doner meat and also a portion of chips. It was fairly pricey at just over £7 but the portions were big. The ground was only five minutes away from here and I got there at 2.50, paying £6 to get in and £1 for one of the better programmes I've seen this season. I got some pictures of the ground before taking a spot on the halfway line.

 

Looking at the form book, Hamworthy United had enjoyed a reasonable November. Wins over Abingdon United (6-1) and  Cowes Sports (5-2), a draw against AFC Stoneham (2-2) and a defeat to Baffins Milton Rovers (1-2). Plymouth Parkway had won all their games this month beating Brockenhurst 3-0, Chipping Sodbury 5-2, Bitton 4-3 and Wellington 2-0. In fact, they were unbeaten since September 7th when they lost narrowly to Southern League side Merthyr Town in the FA Cup. Visitors Plymouth Parkway dominated proceedings and they took the lead on six minutes through Jordan Copp when he finished with a low shot from just inside the area. They could have had more but on 37 minutes Hamworthy got the equaliser, Ollie Davies' shot smacking the post on the way in. It was all square at the break and I went into the clubhouse to see the halftime scores, though interest was limited from my perspective with no Wycombe game. I got outside just in time for the second half, making a fuss of a friendly dog before the game restarted. The visitors retook the lead on 55 minutes, Copp getting his second with a low shot into the centre of the goal. A close-range finish by the same player ten minutes later netted him his hat trick and sealed the game and he even got his and his teams fourth when he finished after the Hamworthy keeper could only parry the initial shot.



After the game, I had a slow walk back into town, getting some photos on the way. I called back in at the Stable. I had a half of Hallets PX and a two-thirds measure (schooner) of Pilton Murmuration while I caught up online. Soon it was time to leave and make my way back to the coach station. I arrived with 15 minutes to spare, my coach waiting there for me and leaving just before 7. I was pretty sleepy by now and so slept the entire journey up to London. I was back at Victoria by 10 and on the train shortly after. It took a bit longer than I'd hoped due to having to wait for a connection to Amersham. Once we were overground, I watched the first couple of games on Match Of The Day and had hoped to watch the rest when I got in. I was back at 11.30 and drove the few miles home. I thought it would be a simple case of switching on the TV and putting on BBC1 +1. However, this was tricky as the channel didn't exist despite numerous other channels offering this service. I still wasn't tired, so caught up on my YouTube subscriptions, going to sleep at 1 am, not ideal when I was up for work a few hours later.



THE GROUND


The County Ground is a decent setup for the level. There are two covered areas - a stand along the side holding around 200 on benches and covered standing for around 100 behind the goal. The rest of the ground is open and well kept. I didn't try the bar or tea bar but both looked pretty decent. There's a takeaway five minutes away or the pleasant town and harbour of Poole is twenty minutes away.

Brocton - Silkmore Lane

Brocton FC
Silkmore Lane Sports Ground
Silkmore Lane
Stafford
Staffordshire
ST17 4JH

01543 571964
Official Website
Twitter

Ground Number: 891
Tuesday 5th November 2019
Brocton 0-4 Stafford Rangers
Walsall Senior Cup 1st Round







BROCTON FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was founded in 1937 but had to pause plans due to the outbreak of the war. Previous grounds included the Chetwynd Arms Ground and a groundshare at Stafford Town's Rowley Park. The Cannock Sports Stadium was home between 2002 and 2004, then a groundshare with Heath Hayes for a couple of years after that before moving to Silkmore Lane in 2006. Their early days were spent in the Rugeley & District, Cannock Chase and Staffordshire County South Leagues. They made the step up to the Staffordshire Senior League in 1991, this, in turn, became the Midland League with a 4th place finish in 1995 and 1997 being the highlight during their time here. They joined the Midland Combination (step 6) league in 2003, winning the title in 2014. Reorganisation meant that they were promoted to the step 5 Midland Premier and they spent 3 seasons here, a 13th place finish in 2015 being the best finish in the clubs history. They were relegated to Division 1 after finishing second-bottom in 2017 and didn't pull up any trees for the following couple of seasons. This season has seen a huge improvement, currently, Brocton sit second, four points behind Leicester Road with two games in hand.

In the FA Cup, Brocton have twice reached the 1st Qualifying Round, losing 2-1 at Halesowen Town in 2013 and 4-2 to Deeping Rangers in 2017.  Their best run in the FA Vase came during the 2014/15 season as they defeated Kirby Muxloe, Rocester, Pegasus Juniors and Bolehall Swifts before a 3-2 defeat at Tadcaster Albion in the 4th Round. Local cup wins include the Staffordshire FA Vase, lifted in 1997 and 2000. The record attendance came for a 2015 league game against Hereford, 362 in attendance on that day. The village of Brocton is a small one, with a population of just over 1,000, it lies between Stafford and Cannock Chase.

  

MY VISIT

Around a month ago, fellow hopper Chris announced that he'd be free on this date so I noted the date and said I'd get back to him nearer the time. With around a week to go, I checked the fixtures but there was a real lack of choice. Just Brocton and Sandbach United were within a reasonable distance and these were joined by Bromyard Town & Leicester Nirvana after further research at the weekend. I favoured Brocton v Stafford Rangers whilst Chris preferred Leicester Nirvana v Westfields. In the end, as it was an FA Vase game, I was happy to go with his choice and was hoping that the weather would play ball after the original tie at the weekend was called off. I woke on the morning of the game after a good nights sleep and had a bacon and sausage sandwich. After getting bathed and dressed, I walked to town and back for exercise, getting some Irn Bru and fruit. I arrived back at 1.15 to the news that Leicester Nirvana were having a 3pm pitch inspection, so I further researched my backups and added a few more, just in case. Bad news came on the way to meet Chris with the Leicester Nirvana game off but at least they had tweeted early with the Westfields coach leaving at 4.



I met Chris just before 4 and he phoned Brocton to confirm that the game was on. The club said there were no issues and so we headed for there. The roads were lousy as usual, an hours delay overall, with the majority of it coming on the M6 due to a broken-down car. We were in Stafford at 6.40 and went to a pizza place called Slices, getting a large Mexican pizza each to take back to the ground. They were on a special offer for the pair, but even with having not eaten in 7 hours, I struggled to eat mine it was that big. It took ages to cook and I was glad we had time to play with. It was a bit concerning that neither club was tweeting any news about the game, but I needn't have worried. Finally, at 7.05, Brocton tweeted to say that the game was on. We made our way to the ground, arriving at 7.15 and eating in the car. Entry was a fiver and a thick programme £1. We headed to the bar which had a great choice, I had a bottle of Henney's Cider for £3. It was one of the better ones that I have had in a football ground. There was just under three miles between the grounds and also a three-division gap with Brocton in the step 6 Midland League Division One and Stafford Rangers were in the Step 3 NPL Premier although the latter had been Conference mainstays in the 1990s.



Brocton came into the game having enjoyed five straight wins. October had been especially productive when the weather had not got in the way. They'd enjoyed rollercoaster away wins at Bilston Town (4-3) and Rocester (5-4) as well as hammering Nuneaton Griff 14-0 at home. Stafford Rangers, by contrast, had only won one of their last eight and had dropped to bottom place following a defeat to fellow strugglers Bamber Bridge on Saturday. They named seven of the side that started that game in tonight's lineup. They dominated the first half and took the lead on 40 minutes, a close-range finish by Joe Berks. Brocton came close to an equaliser a couple of minutes later but were denied thanks to a smart save by Rangers keeper Lewis King who tipped a header around the post. The visitors doubled their lead on 49 minutes, the initial shot was saved but Bradley Grayson followed up from close range. Berks got his second on 64 minutes with the goal of the game, a great strike that found the top corner from the edge of the area. The game was wrapped up on 80 minutes, this time it was Euan Garnett who took advantage of hesitancy in the Brocton defence to send a decent portion of the 217 crowd home happy as he made it 4-0.

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Stafford Rangers second goal at Brocton last night, scored by Bradley Grayson on 49 minutes. They went on to win 4-0 in front of a crowd of 217.

A post shared by Russell Cox (@russ_wwfc) on Nov 6, 2019 at 10:44am PST

After the game, we left at 9.40. The big talking point on TalkSPORT was Chelsea coming back from 4-1 down against Ajax to draw 4-4 with them even having a winner ruled out due to VAR. Wycombe's second-string side had lost to Fulham U21's in the Leasing Trophy, not that I was the slightest bit bothered by that. In terms of the other games that were under consideration, Leicester Nirvana had already bitten the dust by the time we left and the same fate also befell Wythenshawe Amateurs and Barnton. In the games that did go ahead, Sandbach United beat Congleton Town 3-1 in a friendly game whilst Bromyard Town overcame Ewyas Harold 7-3 in the Herefordshire Cup. After we'd got fed up of the limited range of football debate, we switched to Radio 4 and listened to Alexi Sayle. A closure on the M6 meant that we had to come back via the A45 and witnessed some petty road range between a Hermes lorry and a Royal Mail lorry after one cut the other up. The other party tried to get in their revenge by slamming their brakes on and driving slowly, luckily I left plenty of room as their childishness could have caused an accident. It didn't add much time to the journey though with me dropping Chris off at 11.30. I listened to a recording of the BBC Three Counties Non-League show on the way home, getting in an hour later. With work at 4 am in the morning, I didn't hang around before going to sleep and was only slightly tired the following morning.



THE GROUND

Silkmore Lane is typical of a ground of a club that has recently started playing senior non-league football but they've actually only played there since 2006, gaining a 30-year lease on that was the former Police sports ground. There are the obligatory metal stands, one seated and one standing both holding around 100 fans each. The rest of the ground is open but is nicely kept. I didn't try the tea bar but the bar was very good, offering a selection of real ales and a decent cider, mainly in bottles. There wasn't a huge amount near the ground, but the town is under two miles away with places in between.