Skegness Town - Burgh Road

Skegness Town FC

Burgh Road

Skegness

Lincolnshire

Official Website
Twitter

Ground Number: 590
Wednesday 11th May 2016
Skegness Town 4-3 Wyberton
Lincolnshire League







SKEGNESS TOWN - A BRIEF HISTORY

SKEGNESS TOWN FC was founded in 1946 as a successor to the town's two pre-war clubs, Skegness United & Skegness Blue Rovers. They were founder members of the Lincolnshire League in 1948 but in the late '50s switched to the Midland League. That league folded in 1960 which saw them complete the 1960-61 season without a competitive league fixture. When the league reformed the following season they struggled at first but never finished in a relegation place. Things gradually improved and by the 1978-79 season, they had their best ever placing in that particular league when they finished as runners-up to Boston Town on goal difference. A sole season was spent in the Northern Counties East League in its inaugural year of 1982/83 but after an 18th placed finish they rejoined the Lincolnshire League the following season. They have remained there ever since and this season have been crowned Champions for the sixth time. With a new ground in the offing there is potential for promotion to the United Counties or Northern Counties East League should they so desire.

In terms of cups, they used to be regulars in many of the FA's competitions. The first few FA Cup ties were goalfests with a 6-4 defeat to Alford United and a 10-3 defeat to Boston United. On their third attempt in the 1951-52 season, they finally got it right when they beat Ashby Institute 6-3. They'd go on to reach the 4th Qualifying Round that year, gaining revenge on local rivals Boston United for the previous years defeat with a 2-1 victory in the Third Qualifying Round. The dream would end in the final qualifying Round with a defeat to Rawmarsh Welfare but they did reach the 1st Round proper a few years later only to crash out to Worksop Town who beat them 4-0. The FA Trophy never bought a huge amount of success with them failing to get past the Qualifying Rounds but the introduction of the FA Vase bought some salvation. Their best run came in 1982 when they got to the 5th round, only to lose to eventual finalists Rainworth Miners Welfare.

In terms of local competitions, the club won the Lincolnshire League Cup in 1952 and 1954 and various incarnations of the Lincolnshire Senior Cup on 10 occasions. Amonsgt their former players is the former Doncaster Rovers legend Charlie Williams who appeared on TV in the 1970s, most famously in the politically incorrect stand up show 'The Comedians' The town itself although more famous for tourism was birthplace of former England keeper Ray Clemence and was home to the first ever Butlin's holiday resort in the 1930s

MY VISIT

As it was nearing the end of the season I was keen to get as many games in as possible. There were a few grounds closing and I was keen to get as many of the ones I'd not done as I could. Skegness Town was a bit out of my comfort zone at below step 6 of the pyramid but when I saw that their last ever game at their old ground had been abandoned due to heavy rain I was keen to get to the rematch. I kept an eye on Twitter for news of a rearrangement and was happy when it was put on a date when I had no other commitments. I'd need help with fuel costs though and was happy when Chris made the trip possible by telling me he would be available. On the day of the game, I was up for work at 4am and was still pretty tired from the previous night’s excursion to Cradley but I soon perked up after some breakfast. Luckily it was a fairly easy day at work and I was out by midday. I came home and had lunch and a bath before researching the history of tonight's hosts. Given the recent rainfall, I was constantly checking the weather, but it had been dry in Skegness all day so I didn’t foresee any problems. I left just before 3PM, driving through torrential rain and meeting Chris at his work in Milton Keynes just after 4. He was there waiting for me and we were soon on the way. There was a huge queue at the Black Cat Roundabout to get on the A1 and so Chris knew a nice little back route which saved us 40 minutes delay. We also avoided Peterborough but where the A1 meets the A47 we were delayed for 20 minutes as someone had an accident just after our junction and we were caught in the hold-up. Apart from a 5-minute hold up at a level crossing, the rest of the journey was decent. I was hoping to visit the town’s Wetherspoons for dinner but we arrived 20 minutes before kick off and had to go straight in.

Paying £2 for entry plus £1 for a programme the first stop was at the bar. Strongbow is pretty crap at the best of times, but when it’s warm due to being at the bottom of the barrel it’s even worse. At least I can claim to have had one of the last ever pints of it at the old ground. The whole place had an aura of closing down about it with the last few items being sold off. From there we went outside and had a bacon burger and chips for £4.50 which was pretty decent. As for the game, I’d usually love a 4-3 goalfest but for whatever reason, I couldn’t really get into it and stood chatting to other hoppers, including Anders who had made his way over from Norway for the game. Maybe I was feeling jaded after only a few hours sleep the previous night or was getting a bit fatigued after so many games this season. In reality, though it’s probably as it was all rushed and a bit mechanical as I do like to make a day of the game and have a decent pre-match. For the record, Curtis Revell gave Wyberton the lead on 10 minutes. The hosts equalised through Will Britton on 24 minutes. They took the lead on 38 minutes with a Ben Davison goal on 38 minutes. It was 3-1 on the stroke of half time as Luke Raymer-Mistry netted. The second half saw Luke Orrey reduce the arrears on 50 minutes before Davison got his second to make it 4-2 on 67 minutes. Finally a minute from time Ben Jacques pulled another back for the visitors.The light was getting pretty poor towards the end of the game thanks to the earlier dull weather. We left just before 9PM, choosing not to watch the post-match presentation to mark the closing of the ground as we both wanted to get back. The journey started off well enough and we listened to the football on Radio 5 at the start of the journey. That gave way to the Two Mikes podcast after all the games had finished. It was all going swimmingly until we got to the outskirts of Milton Keynes. Not my favourite place at the best of times owing to their football franchise thievery, it was made even worse by a load of road closures that led to a 20-minute delay and several miles being added to the journey. Thanks to Chris’s local knowledge we found a way through the back streets as I dropped him off at 11.05. 45 minutes later I was back home, with me watching Coronation Street before going to sleep. I was pretty tired the next morning with me up at 4 am and caught up with a sleep the following afternoon. Next up for me will probably be something in Hertfordshire on Saturday, possibly the County FA ground for the Anagram Cup final. I had hoped to get for a revisit to Ebbsfleet for the Conference South playoff final but owing to building work the game is all ticket and has a reduced capacity, so supply has outstripped demand.

THE GROUND

BURGH ROAD was a pretty basic ground, though it was a decent one for step 7. There are no floodlights and only a small stand. Food is decent from the tea bar and has a very good menu for the level. The bar is pretty basic, though it does at least have a large amount of club memorabilia on the walls. The ground is strange in the fact that the pitch area is so huge people can walk in front of the surrounding walls and just settle along the side of the pitch. It’s around a mile from the town though I did see a pub fairly nearby as well.

Pinxton - The Welfare Ground

Pinxton FC
The Welfare Ground
Wharf Road
Pinxton
Derbyshire
NG16 6LG

01773 810650
Official Website
Twitter

Ground Number: 588
Thursday 5th May 2016
Pinxton 1-3 Belper United
Central Midlands League South






PINXTON FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

PINXTON FC was founded in 1994, making them a fairly young club. They started out in the Mansfield Bitter League and were an instant hit. 95/96 saw them Division 2 champions and league cup winners. The following year they joined the Midland Regional Alliance, winning the Derbyshire Junior Cup in 1999. A promotion followed from Division 1 in 2002 and they found themselves promoted to the Premier Division. 6th place was their highest ever placing in this league and that signalled time to move on for the club.

Since 2004 they have been in the Central Midlands League. Starting in the second tier Premier Division, they won promotion to the wonderfully named Supreme Division in their first season. However, for some reason, 15th out of 21 teams was not good enough and they went straight back down. They bounced back well though and since 2007 have remained in the top tier, though the leagues have now split into a North & South regional split rather than a two-tier system. They've had their best ever placing of runners up on 3 occasions with the most recent being last season. This season has seen them fall away a bit, but they've had a fantastic run in the FA Vase. A comprehensive 4-1 win over Lincoln Moorlands Railway who play at the level above put them into the first round for only the 2ind time in their history They gained victories over Cradley Town and Long Eaton United despite the latter being a highly successful team at 2 levels higher. The dream ended in the third round with a rollercoaster 4-3 defeat away to Nuneaton Griff.

MY VISIT

As it was nearing the end of the season, I was trying to get in as much football as possible. That said, I’d spent a heck of a lot of money recently and so wanted to try and go to games where I could pick up other hoppers. So I sent lists to the two main hoppers I go with, Anwar & Chris. The former is a little more fussy about where he goes and has more commitments, so it was no surprise that it would be just myself and Chris again. We like the same things on a groundhop, albeit in a different order. Chris’ first choice was at Warboys Town, but that had very little around the area in terms of a decent pint or pre-match meal, had it done it would have been the ideal choice as it was the nearest. My first choice was a team called Wonder Vaults, playing at Wednesfield FC, however, Chris was not a fan of bracketed (where a team other than the owner of the ground are the host) ticks. This had a Wetherspoons 10 minutes away from it, which would have been ideal. So we left it until 4PM on the day of the departure to decide, with the chosen game dependent on what the traffic was like on each route.



On the day of the game, I was working as per usual, and as has been the case recently it wasn’t very busy. I was out by 11.30 but on my break, I was taking another look at tonight's options. I was just coming round to the idea of Warboys Town when I worked out that we could stop somewhere decent en route. When I got home I searched to see if the game was still on, Warboys were still in the dark ages with no Twitter or website, and the Peterborough & District twitter hasn’t been updated since yesterday. It was a good job that someone from Stamford Belvedere, the nights travelling team were on the ball. Despite probably having the smallest audience of the 3, they had tweeted around midday that the game was off. There was no reason given, though I was pretty miffed that the chances of getting back home at a decent hour had been blown. I had my lunch and a bath before going out to vote in the local election. I left at 2.45 and after a bit of delay due to a closed road in Aylesbury, I arrived at Chris's work in Milton Keynes at 3.50. I waited for him to finish and by 4.05 we were on our way with the mutually agreed destination being Swanwick Pentrich Road. Chris requested 'Punk FM' as the soundtrack and they had some good tunes on including Sham 69 and The Undertones. The M1 was on disgraceful form as ever, as was the alternative route we took. With our original choice kicking off at 7pm we decided to go to Pinxton instead and also stop at Alfreton Wetherspoons for dinner. I'd much rather park up and go to a pub near the ground but there was nothing decent near Pinxton. The Wagon and Horses was an excellent Wetherspoons and had 4 proper ciders on. I had my favourite cider of all, Black Dragon, along with a Tennesee Burger before making my way to the ground, a 5-mile drive away. Thanks to the local Tesco we hadn't had to pay to park so that was a bonus. We'd had a bit of time before kick off, but it was still too tight for my liking, I could have done with an extra half an hour and that was with choosing a match that kicked off 45 minutes later than my original choice.

We got to the ground at 7.30 and went straight in. I updated my Facebook and settled down to watch the game. Before it started I went in the tea bar and got a pie as recommended by experienced hopper and pie consumer Laurence. He was spot on and it was fantastic, amongst the best pies I have had. For the first half, I stood with Chris and another Chris, fixtures secretary of the Central Midlands League who had kindly saved me a programme. The first half was all Pinxton and they took the lead on 35 minutes with a scrambled goal from close range by Tom Ellis. Belper equalised just before half time with a goal on the break. The visitors had the better of the second half and they took the lead on the hour mark with a headed effort from around 4 yards. On 70 minutes Pinxton thought they had equalised but it was ruled out for a foul on the keeper. The game was sealed right on full time when Belper's number 12 got away from the defence and drove an angled shot in the bottom left-hand corner. We left around 9.40 and it was a good journey home. The average speed cameras through the roadworks were out in force again, though in the dark with unlit signs it was difficult to tell which sections were limited and which were not. A definite scam by the authorities and I just hope that I don’t get a nasty surprise though the posts as there were no other cars on the M1 to judge my speed by. The sports radio bulletins were full of Liverpool beating Valencia but the real result of the night came up at Grimsby. I have great mates in both camps but Braintree went up to Humberside and got a shock 1-0 win to put them in great step for the second leg on Sunday. Thanks to a good mate at Braintree I have a ticket in the home end for what must be the biggest game in their history, and all I wanted is there to be something to play for in the second leg which there sure is with that result. The rest of the journey was spent searching through rubbish radio station after rubbish radio station and I was glad to drop off Chris at the fairly early time of 11.15. I got home myself at midnight, spending an hour before dropping off to sleep. With me up at 4am, 3 hours was not a great amount of sleep but at least I caught up with a couple of hours the following afternoon after the busiest day at work in ages. I only hope that the pace relents for Sunday as I am hoping to head to Essex as early as I can, and the last thing I need for that is a big workload.

THE GROUND

THE WELFARE GROUND is an excellent venue for step 7 football and could easily serve a couple of levels higher. There is one stand at the ground, tucked away down one end which holds around 100 fans seated under cover. The rest of the ground is hard standing. The tea bar at one end offers a decent selection of pre-match food and drink and the pie, peas and gravy I had were fantastic. Outside the Miners club provides a good choice of drinks, albeit that cider drinkers are restricted to Strongbow on draught. This venue shows live games from BT Sport & Sky Sports and a separate room has a huge screen to make viewing all the better. Overall It's a great friendly place with a real community spirit and is well worth a visit.

Bovingdon FC - Green Lane

Bovingdon FC
Green Lane
Bovingdon
Hemel Hempstead
Hertfordshire
HP3 0LA

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 587
Tuesday 3rd May 2016
Bovingdon 1-1 Evergreen
Herts Senior League - Premier Division






BOVINGDON FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

BOVINGDON FC was formed in 1910 and spent their early years in the West Hertfordshire League. In 1955 they joined the Herts Senior League, winning its second tier in their first season. That earned them promotion to the league's Premier Division and it is there where they have spent most of their time ever since. Their worst spell came in the mid '60s where 2 successive relegations saw them relegated to Division 2, finishing 10th to mark their lowest ever league position and spending 3 seasons in total at the lower level. They've been in the Premier since 2007 and last season had their joint best ever league placing when they finished 3rd. They sat 6th before this evening's game, with a mathematical chance of finishing 2nd due to games in hand, however, this is extremely unlikely.

In terms of cups, they have never entered the FA Cup or FA Vase, probably due to lack of floodlights. They have won every local cup competition going through with the Apsley Senior Cup, Watford Peace Cup, Webster Cup, Chiltern Villages Cup, Herts Junior Cup, St Mary's Cup and most recently in 2005 the Rickmansworth Cup. The village has one notable sporting resident - former Arsenal and England keeper David Seaman. Opponents Evergreen were struggling and lost 2-1 at home to London Lions on Saturday, while Bovingdon lost 4-1 at Buntingford Town to carry on a run of 3 games without a victory.

MY VISIT

Once again I'd be on my own for groundhopping and so I wanted something local and low cost. I'd actually tried to visit here back in April but was thwarted by an afternoon downpour which meant that their game against London Lions was postponed. That was replayed last Thursday and resulted in a 2-2 draw - however I only noticed a few minutes before kick off that it was being played. Instead, I chose tonights encounter against Evergreen as the game to go to. As it was only 13 miles from me it was ideal. I'd actually been considering visiting here back in May 2014 but chose Belstone instead. They both play in the Hertfordshire Senior County League at step 7 of the non-league pyramid, or level 11 of football overall. I had been to the village of Bovingdon several times before, mainly for its market. Pretty much every single stall is full of knock offs so if you want a DVD of the latest cinema release, a moody Rolex or fake Gucci tracksuit, then this is the place to go. It was the usual Tuesday drill of my day off and a walk down town. After I came back I spent the afternoon checking out some stats on tonight's game and carrying on watching my 'Goodnight Sweetheart' box set. I spent the last part before dinner going through my savings accounts for the first time in a couple of years, trying to make the most of the pitiful rates on offer. After a dinner of chilli con carne, I left at 5.45. It was a very cross country route with plenty of tiny roads, but at least it avoided the traffic in the most part. I arrived at the ground at 6.15, parking in the nearby tennis club car park. After getting some pictures of the ground I picked a spot near the halfway line and settled down to watch the game.

The game started fairly open but without many clear cut chances. It came alive on 38 minutes when Bovingdon were awarded a free kick just outside the area. The effort was off target but the referee spotted a push in the area and awarded a penalty. The effort was initially saved but the linesman adjudged that the keeper had come off his line and ordered a retake. Though the keeper made a decent effort at saving it, the ball just crept past him to make it 1-0 to the hosts. Shortly before half time Evergreen also had an effort but it was well over the bar. The second half was pretty even too and Evergreen got their equaliser just before the hour mark. A decent corner was put in, the Bovingdon keeper flapped at it and there was a player on hand to force it over the line from close range. That was how it stayed, thanks in no small part to a number of great saves from the Evergreen keeper. It hadn’t been as good as Monday’s game at Eversley & California, but it was still a decent evenings entertainment. The game was over by 8.10 and I was home 20 minutes later. This made a pleasant change to the usual scenario of getting back well past midnight, then being knackered as I was up for work at 4am. I even had time to put this blog up, as well as catching up online before watching TV in bed and getting to sleep at a reasonable hour.



THE GROUND

GREEN LANE is an excellent ground for the Hertfordshire League and with the addition of floodlights could easily serve as a step 6 ground and a step 5 with the addition of a small stand. There is just the one area of cover, but it’s pretty big and you could probably get a few hundred in standing up. It is however mainly used for seating with around 30 spaces on the back row. Legroom is unlimited and the view is good despite a number of supporting poles. It's also in a nice peaceful area and very well kept, with pride taken in the appearance of the ground, which isn't always the case.

The bar is also a decent place, with a number of choices on draught, including Thatchers Gold for cider heads like me which costs £3 a pint. I didn’t indulge on the night, but also available are hot and cold non-alcoholic drinks. I didn’t see any food for sale, but the kitchen has a 5-star rating from the health authority. Programmes are issued sporadically, with them tending to issue for the bigger weekend games, so none available tonight. But that’s no concern for me, I saw a reasonable game of football in a friendly atmosphere and best of all it was free entry and is so for every single game. I'd certainly consider visiting again and would recommend a visit to any hopper.