The Wycombe Wanderer

The exact origins of Ludgershall Sports are not documented but the formation date is given as 1900, taken from the Wiltshire FA's records. In 1918 two existing village teams merged, to form Ludgershall Sports Football Club. The club’s headquarters were in the back bar of the Prince of Wales Hotel in the town and those who were too young to go in the bar waited on the pavement outside to see if they had been picked. Their first major league success came in the 1930s when they were runners-up in the Salisbury League and this was also the time that they moved to their present ground. Their first foray into Wiltshire Senior League Football came in 1976/77, the new league's inaugural season but they left after just one year after finishing second bottom.

Spells in the Andover & District and North Hants League followed. They joined the Hampshire League in 1993 and won Division 3 in their first season. Four unremarkable seasons were spent in Division 2 before the club resigned mid-season and returned to the Andover & District. They won the title in 2001 and a nomadic spell followed in various incarnations of the Hampshire & Wessex Leagues. They finally found a home in their own county in 2010 when they joined the Wiltshire Senior League. They were runners-up in Division 1 in their debut season behind FC Sanford. A sustained spell in the Premier Division followed including a record 4th place finish in 2015. They; 've struggled at times, especially during the pandemic seasons when they were saved by results being declared null and void. They were finally relegated back to Division 1 in 2022 but won promotion back from a six-team league despite only finishing 3rd. Local cup wins came in the late 1920s and early 1930s when the club won the Morrison Cup and the Faber Cup. They also won the Wiltshire Junior Cup in 1931 & 1963 as well as being finalists in 1930.

Ludgershall (pronounced Lug-ər-shawl, with a hard g) is a town 16 miles northeast of Salisbury. It is on the A342 road between Devizes and Andover. After the building of Ludgershall Castle in the late 11th century, the village grew to its south and became a medieval borough. The village lay on the old Marlborough to Winchester road, an important route in the early 13th century. Later the village lost its importance and was damaged by fire in 1679. Among the oldest buildings are the Queen's Head public house, from the 16th and 18th centuries, and cottages on Castle Street from the late 17th. The town had a railway station up until the early 1960s when it was closed by the Beeching Cuts. The parish falls in the 'Ludgershall and Perham Down' electoral ward. The ward stretches southeast from the Ludgershall area to Perham Down. The total ward population at the 2011 census was 5,874. A common misconception is that the town is in the county of Hampshire rather than Wiltshire. This is compounded by the postal code of SP11 and telephone dialling code of 01264 which are both associated with Andover, Hampshire. However, it is a couple of miles over the border in Wiltshire.

MY VISIT

Originally on this date, I was going to go to long-term target Indian Gymkhana, something nice and local and with an attractive club building to boot, However, a lot of their games had been moved recently owing to cricket taking precedence. They had no reliable social media, so I decided to miss it. An alternative was sought and I took the lazy option to use Futbology. It threw up a decent option in Ludgershall Sports v Kingsdown Lions. It was a decent railed pitch, one towards the Wiltshire League which I was well on my way to completing and good value on public transport. It was a bus to Reading, a train to Andover and then a bus to Ludgershall. With the train fare being £8.15, it would come in at well under £20. It would also allow me to visit Basingstoke and both of their Wetherspoons as I had been to the Andover one. Later in the week, Colin decided to join me. That lucky basket would be getting his day out for £8.15 owing to his free bus pass. My only concern was sides pulling out of the game and I was hoping that they would give good notice if so as there were very few backups.

For that reason, I decided to wait until Friday before diving into the club's history. I shouldn't have been really apprehensive - the Wiltshire Senior League were going to complete all of their fixtures. Other leagues had walkovers, points deductions and forfeits galore due to the weather and failure to fulfil. It was a real credit to the league and Lusgershall had a decent pitch too by the looks of it. Not that the weather was going to be an issue with it being warm and sunny for once. Thursday was OK at work but Friday is always very busy and full of people asking daft questions. I stayed on for an extra hour until everything was done and went home and had a few drinks. The Wiltshire League site was an excellent help for my research although I was easily distracted. I aimed to get into bed by 10 PM and get a reasonable night's sleep for once.

The day of the game came and it was a bit of a lie in for me. I still woke up twenty minutes before my 7 am alarm. I got up and got ready, having breakfast before leaving at 7.30. I met Colin on Amersham Hill and we walked to the bus station, arriving at 8.50. Ten minutes later, we were on the 850 bus to Reading. The bloke adjacent to me had already cracked open a beer, fair play. It was a lengthy 100 minute trip. I booked my train tickets just after 10, refundable if needed. We left later than I hoped, getting the 11.37 out of Reading. We were at Basingstoke shortly after 12, it was then a walk through a crappy indoor shopping centre to our first Wetherspoons, The Maidenhead Inn. It was a cracker too, all day brunch, black pudding and a pint of Black Dragon for £7.14. The pint was £3.75 alone, so it was a steal. Due to time constraints, we headed to The Angel, the second Spoons in the town. This was pretty crap with all draught products out of stock. Even so, I was able to get a pint of Thistly Cross Whisky Cask at £3.75 which was a bag in box in the fridge. ID Mobile was crap again, so I was glad of the free WiFi. From there, we were at the station well in advance of the 13:38 to Andover. It was disappointing to see neither team Tweet about the game, it's very much focused on the players at this level but there were two clubs that should be proud of their existence. The buses towards Salisbury appeared a bit erratic but it turned up more or less on time. It was a reasonable journey aside from the screaming brat down below. We were there around 2.30 and glad to see players warming up. I decided to get a pint of Thatchers Gold, along with a Yorkie for Colin it was £5.45 from the adjacent club.

Ludgershall were rock-bottom and had won just three times all season. They'd lost their last 21 games, though the last one had been a respectable 3-2 reverse against Wroughton. Those prized three wins all came in the opening month of the season - 2-1 against Malmesbury Victoria, 3-0 against Shrewton United & 2-0 against Salisbury Development. When the two sides met on 13th April KIngsdown won 4-2. The visitors sat in 11th and travelled around 28 miles from the Swindon area to today's game. They'd not won in four games and had drawn 1-1 at Larkhall Athletic Development last time out. It was a fairly equal opening. The scoring was nearly opened on 18 minutes when a Ludgershall defender headed against his own post. The keeper who had already made some decent saves kept it out though Kingsdown were starting to take control. Ludgershall had some chances on the break but Kingsdown took the lead on 36 minutes, a low shot into the bottom left corner. It was end to end but lacked quality, Kingsdown had a header against the post in a scrappy second half. A good ball forward and a decent header saw Kingsdown lead 2-0 around 70 minutes in. Five minutes later, Kingsdown confirmed the win, a free kick that hit the right-hand post on the way in.

A good free kick makes it 3-0 to Kingsdown Lions on 75 minutes, deserved TBH. pic.twitter.com/B0zrkxRk6a
— ⚽Russell Cox💙 (@RussWWFC) May 11, 2024

That was it as far as scoring was concerned and you could see why the hosts were bottom. It was a nice visit though and it around 5 before the game was finished. We walked the five minutes to the bus stop and it was another five minutes until our bus. It was disappointing to see Luton almost relegated but there were not many matches on at this time of the year. The plan was to get back to Andover for the 5.38 back to Basingstoke, pop out to Londis as we had a tight connection at Reading. All being well, I'd get the 7pm bus to Wycombe and the 8.30 back home, getting in at 9.

THE GROUND

LUDGERSHALL SPORTS CLUB is a decent venue, railed three sides. The grass could do with a mow though. There is a smart bar which offers drinks at reasonable prices, plus shops and pubs nearby. Transport wise, there is plenty of parking or the half-hourly Activ8 bus runs between Andover, Tidworth & Salisbury.

Wednesday, 8 May 2024

Lemsford - Welwyn Sports Club

Lemsford FC

Welwyn Playing Fields

Welwyn Sports & Social Club

Ottway Walk

Welwyn

Hertfordshire

AL6 9AT

01438 714183

FA Full Time Page

Twitter

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.

Monday, 6 May 2024

Earlswood Town - The Pavillions

Earlswood Town

The Yakinori Pavilions

Malt House Lane

Earlswood

Solihull

West Midlands

B94 5DX

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1106

Monday 6th May 2024

Earlswood Town 2-5 Littleton

Midland D2

EARLSWOOD TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was born out of an older team, Churchgreen United and were established in 1968. They competed in the West Midlands Metropolitan League for the first three years before joining the Mercian League in 1971. They were Premier Division runners-up in 1980 before winning the title two years later. They then moved to Division Three of the Midland Combination in 1982, renamed Division Two the following year. They would remain here until 2007 when they finished 4th and were promoted to Divison 1. They finished as runners-up to Stockingford AA in 2010 before winning the league and promotion to the Premier Division the following year. Three seasons were spent here with a 3rd place finish in 2013. That remains their best finish to this day. In 2014, the leagues were restructured and Earlswood were placed in the Midland League Division 2 where they remain to this day.

Earlswood Town have played two campaigns in the FA Cup, taking Nuneaton Griff to a replay in 2012 but losing both of their other ties. In the FA Vase, 2013 produced their best-ever run as they beat Shifnal Town and Pershore Town before a 1-0 defeat to Causeway United in the 1st Round. Local cup wins include the Queens Hospital Cup in 1973, the Aston Villa Shield in 1979 and two Midland Combination Challenge Vases. Former Republic of Ireland international Don Givens is a vice-president while ex-England goalkeeper Ben Foster is the club patron and his podcast, the Fozcast, is also the shirt sponsor. The club moved to Lady Lane in Earlswood in 1966, before relocating to the Pavilions on Malt House Lane in 1970. In 2010 the club moved to Pilkington XXX's Triplex Ground in Kings Norton in order to be meet the ground grading criteria to be promoted to the Midland Combination Premier Division. In 2012 the club relocated to Studley's Beehive ground, and played the 2013/14 season at Bromsgrove Sporting's Victoria Ground before later returning to the Pavilions ground.

Earlswood is a small village in Warwickshire with a population of just 651. The village is surrounded by farmland and forests and it gives its name to Earlswood Lakes (entirely within Warwickshire) as well as to Earlswood railway station (on the border with West Midlands), even though The Lakes railway station is located closer to the main part of the village. The Earlswood Lakes are close to the centre of the village. Numerous footpaths exist for walking around the lakes and in the adjacent forest. It is possible to fish in some of the lakes and there is a sailing club. The village has a convenience store, village hall (also the home of the village museum), garage and petrol station. Earlswood is in the parish of St Patrick.

MY VISIT

Bank Holidays used to be a time of joy for me, with my 23 years of service at work entitling me to elect which three I voluntarily worked. However, in 2019, my employer, aided by the treacherous Tories stole all that from me, stripping away all my rights and privileges in an enforced fire and rehire. It used to be even worse with me scheduled to work until 4 but with that changing to a 1 pm finish, at least I had a bit of choice. The wonderful morning kickoffs I used to enjoy were out of the question, however, as were all but moderate-distance journeys. Fellow hopper Colin had the luck of the devil, despite being scheduled to work and his store being open, he got the day off which upset the other staff at his store. I'd be without him as he had got a ticket for Worthing v Braintree, one of 400 for Braintree fans from another hopper and temporary ticket tout Daniel.

Finding a game was proving to be a right pain. My first choice was Trowbridge Town, but even if I left on time, I'd only have fifteen minutes to play with in terms of delay, on a busy Bank Holiday. I thought I'd found a great second choice in Indian Gymkhana as it was a ground I fancied going to for a while. However, their game against Slough Town JFC was played as a doubleheader on Thursday night. My third choice was Liphook United but this match was cancelled well in advance for whatever reason. Choice number four was Overton United, but that was moved to another ground due to a cricket clash. Choice number five was Stopsley United, but that was another game reversed to Caddington where I had already been. Choice number six was LU Donz. Again they suffered a change of venue from their normal home of Dunstable Cricket Club. They were excellent on social media but didn't have much of a history, being formed in 2023. What is it about the Dons' name in that part of the world? It was a real shame that the game was not reversed as Bletchley Scot looked like a great venue for the level and one to bear in mind for the future. It'd have been perfect to double up with a revisit to Kempston Rovers in the evening too. In the end, Earlswood Town fitted the bill, further than I'd have liked but a nice venue. It was also quite fiddly by public transport, so it was ideal to do in this situation.

After a boozy but fun Saturday, it was the usual Sunday. I've started to cope better with my least favourite day of the week. However, it was still a slog, the first screaming brat showed up at 9.57 and there was the usual excess of people asking questions and families having a day out. We were also swamped with orders so I was glad when 4 PM came and I could go home. The evening was spent researching Earlswood Town's history and preparing my blog which took longer than I expected. I then had an awful night's sleep owing to a back pain that I occasionally get. Painkillers did little and it still persisted into the next morning although it started to get better as the day wore on. It was busy in store but not in my department and I finished at 12. I wish I'd brought my laptop with me and was in no rush, leaving at 12.20. It was raining once again, but up in Warwickshire, the forecast said it was dry. It stopped raining north of Oxford, then lesser recognised blue skies and sunshine emerged as we got into Warwickshire. I was near the ground by 2, having driven up as economically as I could. I filled up with fuel as it was 2p cheaper a litre than back home. I got to the ground around 2.10 and saw TalkSPORT's Tony Incenzo who was also up for the game in his role as groundhopper and non-league ambassador. I paid £4 to get in and £1 for a decent programme. It was a smart setup and though my back had a bit of an ache again from driving, I was in good spirits.

Earlswood Town were 12th, having confirmed that they were staying up on Saturday, despite losing 3-0 to Cadbury Athletic. This was one of three consecutive defeats. Littleton were still very much in the mire and needed to win both of their remaining games to stand a chance. They'd not won in three but got a credible 2-2 draw at Coventry Alvis last week. The game started fairly equally. Littleton scored with their first chance of the game on four minutes, a curling shot was only parried by the keeper but James Batchelor followed up from a few yards out. It was 1-1 on nine minutes, a corner was fed back in, lines were not cleared and Joseph Drake-Cervantes shot home on the turn from fifteen yards out. Both sides had chances, Earls with a lob a few minutes after their equaliser and Littleton has a goal ruled out before halftime. It was the visitors that looked more likely to score. They did indeed score in first-half injury time when Michael Boyd was given too much space and had plenty of time to twist and turn and fire home from around the penalty spot. Littleton continued to have the better of the game. On 61 minutes, they were awarded a penalty but Harry Patterson saved Dan Cottrill's effort. They were not to be denied for long, a combination of a well-worked move and sloppy defending saw Batchelor score his second and Littleton's third on 67 minutes. The game was put beyond doubt on 72 minutes, Dan McArdle with a powerful low shot into the bottom left of the net. Or was it? A rare Earlswood attack saw them pull it back to 4-2 with a looping header by Tom Kinsey on 74 minutes. Littleton made sure on 84 minutes, Ben Cowlishaw springing the offside trap before finishing well to make it 5-2. Earlswood did have one cleared off the line in the last minute but they were very much second-best on the day.

At half time I had a decent hot sausage roll for £2. Not as good as a tie-up with their ground sponsor but decent all the same. It was a really good game to watch, the referee had a decent game despite a lot of whinging by both sides. It was a mystery as to how Littleton are struggling so badly as they could have had a few more. There was a significant amount of injury time, the game ended at 4.55. The attendance was later given as 74 and it took me five minutes to get my things together and leave. It should have been an easy journey home but due to an accident pervert rubber-neckers, I had to come off a junction early. It only added ten minutes to my journey and I was back in just after 6.30. It was a good day for Braintree fan Dan and fellow hoppers Colin & River as they saw Braintree win an excellent game 4-3 at Worthing to seal promotion to the National League. I was also chuffed for Marine, one of they most friendly clubs I've been to. They overcame Macclesfield to seal promotion to the National North. Macclesfield & Bury were really nice clubs to visit in the EFL but in the non-league, there's a bit of the billy big bollocks about them and an entitlement that they should go up by dint of being a big club. It'll be a day off for me tomorrow both football and work-wise but I'll be back at it Wednesday in both senses.

THE GROUND

THE YAKINORI PAVILIONS (sponsored by a local Japanese restaurant is a pleasant ground. It's fairly isolated although The Lakes railway station is nearby. There's also a decent amount of parking. The pitch itself is fully railed and there is a small amount of cover in front of the clubhouse. In here is a bottle and can bar, snacks and lots of club memorabilia. Also for sale are club shirts (£30) and a large selection of old programmes (donations). Nice touches like a visitor's book all add to the day out. Overall, it's a nice place to watch a game at. The pitch also has a slope with the car park end being a bit higher than the far end.