Barton Rovers - Sharpenhoe Road

Barton Rovers FC

Sharpenhoe Road

Barton-le-Clay

Bedfordshire

MK45 4SD

Official Website

Twitter

Ground: 66

Date: Saturday 29th December 2018

Barton Rovers 0-0 Yaxley

Southern League Division 1 Central

Attendance: 101 (official)

Barton Rovers FC - History

Barton Rovers were founded in 1898 and played village football until World War 2. After the war, the club joined the Luton & District League and remained here until joining Division 2 of the South Midlands League for the 1954/55 season. They won back-to-back promotions to the Premier Division and then remained there until being relegated back to Division 1 at the end of the 1962/63 season. The club then spent two seasons back in Division 1 before winning the title to return to the Premier Division for the 1965/66 season.

This then saw the club enter a decade or so of success, never finishing outside of the top 3 of the Premier Division and winning the title on eight occasions (including a run of five consecutive titles ending in the 1978/79 season). After this final title win, the club were promoted to Division 2 of the Isthmian League, remaining there until it was regionalised into North and South Divisions, with the club joining the North Division. 

The club continued to have inconsistent finishes in Division 2 North, before Division 2 returned to one single division after seven seasons. The club then spent a further four years in Division 2 before finishing as runners-up in the 1994/95 season to earn promotion to Division 1. The club remained in this league for six seasons but, having failed to break into the top half in any of these campaigns, they were eventually relegated back to Division 2 after finishing bottom in the 2000/01 season.

After one season in Division 2, restructuring saw the club placed in Division 1 North, which is where the club remained for two seasons before being transferred to the Eastern Division of the Southern League. In 2006, further restructuring saw the club placed in Division 1 Midlands, which then changed named to Division 1 Central for the 2010/11 season. This is where the club have remained ever since, and they have reached the play-off final twice in recent years: in the 2014/15 season, they beat Royston Town in the semi-finals before losing to Bedworth United; in the 2016/17 season, they beat Marlow in the semi-finals before losing to Farnborough.

In the FA Cup, the club's best run saw them reach the 1st Round in the 1980/81 season, beating Camberley Town, Walton & Hersham, Slough Town and AP Leamington before losing to Torquay United. In the FA Trophy, the club's best run saw them reach the 3rd Round in the 2000/01 season, beating Banbury United and Uxbridge before losing to Forest Green Rovers. As for the FA Vase, the club reached the final in the 1977/78 season, beating Leyton Wingate, Rushden Town, Kempston Rovers, Billericay Town, Haringey Borough and Hungerford Town before losing to Blue Star in the final. The club also progressed to the semi-finals in the 1976/77 and 1981/82 seasons, as well as reaching the Quarter Finals in the 1978/79 season.

My Visit

This was a match I had been looking forward to ending 2018 with for a while, ever since the fixture list first came out and even more so after our 4-1 home win against them in our first ever game at Step 4. It was then just a matter of the weather cooperating (I had a list of backups if it ended up taking a turn for the worse) and by Friday morning it was pretty clear that I had nothing to worry about on that front.

After heading out for some post-Christmas shopping on Friday morning, I texted Jeff to book my seat on the Supporters' Coach, which was set to leave the ground at 12:15pm yesterday. I left the house around 35 minutes before that and arrived with just over 5 minutes to spare, quickly taking a seat and making an overdue start on some coursework as the coach headed south into Bedfordshire.

By the time the coach arrived (around 70 minutes after departure), I had written 600 or so words for my coursework, which felt like decent process to me (about a third of the way through the main portion of the coursework, so reasonable enough for just over an hour of work). Having been put down as one of our complimentary guests for the game, I got into the ground for free, although I did contribute to the club's coffers by buying a programme for £2 and a 50-50 ticket for £1.

I then did my usual circuit of photos to kill some time, before eventually heading into the boardroom in the back of the main stand at around 2:15pm. Some of the other Yaxley club officials were there, and I joined them in talking about recent games (including the derby defeat on Boxing Day that I missed) while the last ten minutes of the Old Firm derby played in the background. We remained in here until just before kick-off, joining some other Yaxley fans standing beside the main stand as we awaited kick-off, then moving towards whichever end we were shooting at in each half.

The league table suggested there wasn't much between the two sides and, despite the 4-1 victory on the opening day of the season, that certainly seemed to be the case at that point. I was hoping we could bounce back from the Boxing Day defeat and end 2018 on a high, but with Matt Sparrow suspended and key striker Tom Waumsley unavailable I knew it would be a bit trickier for us to secure victory here.

Here's my report on a tight and poor game which neither side ever took control of, with the goalless draw that came being an entirely fair and acceptable result:

Well, there's not really much to say about this one. On a sloped and bobbly pitch, both teams pushed and battled hard for the 90 minutes, but chances were few and far between in both halves and neither team ever truly looked like scoring.

In the first half, Barton were playing down the slope and had the better of what few chances there were, most notable of which being a close-range header that James Blake somehow reacted to and kept out with one hand. As for us, we were limited to a couple of long-range efforts that were never going to trouble the keeper.

In the second half, we had the slope and took advantage by creating much better chances than in the first half, but even then we rarely tested the Barton keeper other than from a few audacious Dan Cotton free kicks from range.

Overall, a draw was a fair result but we are certainly capable of beating teams like Barton, and most likely would have if we had been able to keep hold of the ball in the attacking third more often than we did.

MOTM: James Blake (for that vital first half save and a couple of other crucial ones)
Honourable Mention: Cain Eagleton (a solid performance from him at right back with some crucial defensive tackles and decent play going forwards)

So, not exactly the greatest football match to end the year with, but it was still a reasonable result to close out what has been a remarkable 12 months for the Cuckoos. This time last year we were 7th in the United Counties League Premier Division and still well adrift of the top two, yet now we find ourselves 10th in the Southern League Division 1 Central. It's been a great year for the club and I'm quite annoyed that I've missed a lot of it due to University.

As for the groundhop itself, despite the poor match I did enjoy the day out at a quirky ground and a friendly club, with some lovely post-match food in the form of chilli-covered jacket potatoes to top off the day. 

On the way back I should have continued with my coursework, but I was inexplicably tired so didn't bother doing any more of it. The journey back was quiet and uneventful, with the bus arriving back at our ground at 6:50pm, with me getting back in the house half an hour later.

With 2018 coming to a close, here are my stats for the calendar year. Compared to last year, I saw more games but far fewer goals (partially because of three goalless draws, I suppose). I also visited a lot of new grounds again, but ended up falling just two short of doubling my overall tally for the second year running. Still, 32 new grounds in a year is fantastic progress for me, and 18 for the season so far means I'm well on course to beat last season's ground total (26) already. Up next (weather permitting) will be another Yaxley away day as we once again head into Bedfordshire for a game against former UCL opponents Kempston Rovers, who now have former MK Dons and Barnet (among many others) striker Izale McLeod playing for them.

The Ground

Sharpenhoe Road is a quirky ground with plenty of character, one that I definitely enjoyed despite its bobbly pitch and the effect this had on the match. The only seating at the ground is in the main stand on the near side, which contains 160 covered seats. Inside the back of this is the boardroom, with an excellent view overlooking the pitch.

Directly across from the main stand are five areas of covered standing, built in such a way as to emphasise the slope of the pitch. Each of these are virtually identical in design and contain a couple of steps of terracing, probably giving them a capacity of around 150 each. There is also a couple of steps of uncovered terracing behind the far goal, which can probably hold around 200 people.

Other than this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, but there is an unusual area behind the near goal which is flat standing, but has been at least partially cordoned off, perhaps in preparation for future ground upgrades. There is also a bar behind the main stand, which provides a small range of food and drink options for spectators.

The ground has an overall capacity of 4,000, with a record attendance of 1,900 for an FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round game against Nuneaton Borough in 1976. There is still a decent amount of space to expand in the future if necessary, at least behind the near goal. 

Photos

Berkhamsted - Broadwater

Berkhamsted FC

Broadwater

Berkhamsted

Herts

HP4 2AL

Official Website

Twitter (two accounts)

Ground: 65

Date: Saturday 8th December 2018

Berkhamsted 1-2 Yaxley

Southern League Division 1 Central
Attendance: 98 (official)

Berkhamsted FC - History

Berkhamsted were founded in 2009 after predecessor club Berkhamsted Town folded and they initially joined Division 2 of the Spartan South Midlands League. The club won this league at the first attempt to earn promotion to Division 1, before then immediately winning Division 1 to earn promotion to the Premier Division for the 2011/12 season. 

Their first season in the Premier Division saw them finish 7th, but the following season saw them drop to 11th (their lowest finish in the Premier Division to this day). From the 2013/14 to 2015/16, the club consistently remained around 5th or 6th in the division, but in the 2016/17 season the club dropped down to 8th in the table. The 2017/18 season saw a significant improvement as the club lost just four games all season and finished 2nd in the Premier Division, which due to the restructuring at Steps 3 and 4 was enough for the club to earn promotion to Division 1 Central of the Southern League for this season.

In the FA Cup, the club's best run saw them reach the 2nd Qualifying Round in the 2012/13 season, beating Hoddesdon Town, Hadley and Uxbridge before losing to Metropolitan Police. In the club's debut FA Trophy campaign this season, they made it to the 1st Qualifying Round, beating South Park before losing to Chipstead. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run saw them reach the 5th Round in the 2015/16 season, beating Woodford United, Northampton ON Chenecks, Northampton Spencer, AFC Kempston Rovers, Saffron Walden Town and Hullbridge Sports before losing to eventual winners Morpeth Town.

My Visit

Originally, as I have made clear in a couple of my recent blog posts, I wasn't going to bother with this Yaxley away game and was instead going to go somewhere else. Initially, with it looking likely that Matt would once again be able to join me, we were thinking of finally going to tick off East Grinstead Town, as that was one of the ones (other than Windsor) that we had frequently discussed going to last season.

However, on Thursday Matt told me that his revision wasn't going as well as planned, so he would be unable to join me as a result. By this point, I was seriously considering going to this game again and indeed suggested it to Matt, but I also had a few more local options in mind (most notably Farnborough) if I ended up not feeling like it after all. On Friday though, it was clear that, despite my misgivings after some recent results, I couldn't resist the temptation of another Yaxley away day (not even one that would cost me just under £20 on the train).

It was then just a matter of waiting on news yesterday morning about whether the game was going to go ahead (as the Berkhamsted chairman had stated on Twitter that the pitch was heavy but playable and would be checked again in the morning on Friday night), and fortunately that news came through just after 10am, at which point I ordered my train tickets and started getting ready. I had an early lunch at 11am and left the house 35 minutes later, getting to the train station 15 minutes before my train into London arrived.

Despite the distance, the journey to Berkhamsted was probably one of the easiest I've ever done on the train (other than the most local options, obviously), with an initial train direct from Guildford to London Waterloo, then straight on the Northern Line in the Underground to Euston and then direct from Euston station to Berkhamsted. To make matters even easier, the ground was right next to the station, so I ended up arriving at the ground at around 1:45pm.

Initially, I headed into the clubhouse with a few other Yaxley fans (as it had just started raining again as my train came into Berkhamsted station) and sat down to watch the last half an hour or so of the National League match between Boreham Wood and Leyton Orient. By the time that match was finished, the rain had stopped again so I finally headed into the ground itself, paying £8 admission and £1.50 for the programme. I then did my usual circuit of photos before joining the other Yaxley fans standing by the near goal as we awaited kick-off. Before kick-off, a minute's silence was held in tribute of UCL chairman John Weeks who recently passed away.

A look at the league table showed that this would be another immensely difficult game for us, so I have to admit I went in with only hope rather than expectations of getting a result (and not just because I'd seen us lose all five away games I'd been to this season up to this point). Here's my report on what was a tough and competitive game in which we put in a strong performance to pick up a crucial three points:

The early stages of the game saw both teams struggle to adapt to a very slick and muddy pitch, with several wayward passes from both sides in the first 5-10 minutes. We soon found ourselves on top, with Dan Cotton causing the Berkhamsted right back all sorts of problems and with Tom Waumsley and Phil Stebbing putting plenty of pressure on the centre backs. As such, it was unsurprising when we took the lead after 20 minutes: the referee opted to play advantage after a tackle in midfield and the ball was then played central to Waumsley who then passed it to Cotton on his left, whose low shot from the edge of the box crept under the Berkhamsted keeper and into the back of the net. We then maintained control for a further five or so minutes, but Berkhamsted steadily started to wake up and force themselves back into proceedings.

However, the home side's equaliser after 28 minutes had little to do with their steady improvement: a long ball was played up the pitch and it should have been a routine header clear from Charley Sanders, but he attempted to kick it clear and ended up scuffing it, with Berkhamsted's Jonathan Lacey capitalising with an overhead kick to level things up. Another Sanders mistake a few minutes later almost saw Berkhamsted take the lead, but Ollie Sutton kept his cool and saved the one-on-one effort. It was at this point that Berkhamsted started to dominate proceedings, putting immense pressure on our goal for the rest of the half: on several occasions, an excellent save from Sutton or an excellent defensive block was required to keep the home side out, and in all honesty we were relieved to go in at half-time with the scores still level.

The second half initially started with some more strong pressure from Berkhamsted, but the half-time break seemed to have taken some wind out of their sails, which allowed us to steadily grow back into the game. This initially saw us reduce the number of chances the home side were creating, but it wasn't long before we started pushing forward again ourselves. Chances came and went for both sides, but much of the second half was a tense impasse between the two sides, and as the game entered the final fifteen minutes it looked as if this would remain the case. However, a quick attacking move from us changed things entirely: a long ball was played from midfield and found its way to Waumsley (after initially being blocked by a defender), who then passed it on to Cotton who shot from just inside the box, the keeper parrying the shot into Stebbing's path for an easy tap-in.

After this, we made a couple of substitutions and tactical changes (Stebbing off for Hook and Butterworth off for Eagleton, with Watson moving into defence and Sanders moving up front) as we attempted to see the game out. While there were a few scares here and there in the final ten minutes (Berkhamsted always looked threatening from set-pieces and had a few of these to work with in the final ten), we fairly comfortably held out and actually looked slightly more dangerous in the final third, the combination of Sanders and Waumsley causing serious problems for the home defence.

Overall, this was a solid performance from us against a very strong and organised promotion-chasing side in Berkhamsted, and for once we came away with the points that our performance merited. It wasn't at all easy though and it was a little smash-and-grab, but at the end of the day the important thing is that the whole team applied themselves very well and maintained their composure throughout; if we can continue to do that in the upcoming home games we will be in a much better place in the table going into 2019.

While I obviously enjoyed this game and the result, I'd be hard-pressed to say that this was a good match for the neutral (although this Twitter post would suggest otherwise) as the ball did spend a lot of time in the air and there were a lot of misplaced and miscued passes from both sides. Regardless, I enjoyed this groundhop, partially because of the result but also because Berkhamsted came across as a very friendly club on the day.

The journey back was as easy as the journey there, the only difference being that the Underground was much less busy at 5:40pm than it was when I got into London five hours before (seems a little strange to me, but it was at least convenient). I got back into the house just after 7pm, which I was quite pleased with considering the distance I had travelled.

As we're nearing Christmas again, my groundhopping is going to slow down this month. I'll be heading home for Christmas break next Saturday and going to Yaxley's home game against North Leigh that day, while the following weekend I'll be watching Yaxley's home game against Dunstable Town. I don't think I'll go anywhere on Boxing Day this year (and Yaxley are away at Peterborough Sports, who I've already visited, anyway), so my next groundhop will not be until the 29th of December, when I'll be on the Yaxley Supporters' Coach for our away game at Barton Rovers (if the weather holds out, that is). That will be my 32nd and final groundhop of 2018, meaning I've fallen just two short of doubling my number of grounds visisted in the space of 12 months like I managed in 2017.

The Ground

Broadwater is a ground with a decent amount of character, but one that is showing its age here and there. The only seating at the ground is in the 170-seater main stand on the near side. Next to this and the turnstiles is a small uncovered terrace, while on the other side of the main stand is a red gazebo (I think that's what you'd call it), which I imagine is used for larger crowds, such as when Bromsgrove Sporting visit).

Behind each goal is an additional area of covered standing, each of which contain a few steps of terracing and could probably hold 150-200 people. Other than this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, though on the far side this is ridiculously narrow (as you will see in the photos below). Behind the far goal and up a small incline is the railway line, so you see dozens of trains go by during the game. The record attendance at the ground (for the current club at least) is 366 for an FA Cup game against Slough Town in 2017.

The ground is tightly-hemmed in by houses on three sides and the railway line on the fourth, so there isn't too much room to expand should the club continue to rise up the leagues, but I imagine they could find ways to make the ground at least meet Step 3 ground grading requirements should that prove necessary in the future.

Photos