Stowmarket Town FC
Greens Meadow
Stowmarket Community Sports & Social Club
Bury Road
Stowmarket
Suffolk
Suffolk
IP14 1JQ
Ground: 50
Date: Saturday 11th August 2018
Stowmarket Town 0-2 Basildon United
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Attendance: 282 (official)
Stowmarket Town FC - History
Stowmarket Town were originally founded in 1883 as Stowmarket Association, forming from the merger of Stowmarket St. Peter and Stowmarket Ironworks. In 1885, the club became founder members of the Suffolk County FA, before joining the newly-formed Ipswich & District League in 1896, changing name to Stowmarket FC around the same time.
The club won the title several times - the first two seasons, the 1899/1900 season, the 1909/10 season and the 1921/22 season - before transferring to the Essex & Suffold Border League in 1925. The club remained in this league for the next decade - winning the Suffolk Senior Cup a couple of times (1931 and 1933) along the way - before disbanding in 1937 due to financial difficulties.
After World War 2, local club Stowupland Corinthians moved into what had been Stowmarket's ground and joined the ESBL in 1946. The following year, the club changed name to Stowmarket Corinthians, then changed name to Stowmarket Town a month later before changing to Stowmarket FC due to legal advice. The club won the Border League, League Cup and County Cup at the end of the 1950/51 season and, after winning the two cups again the following season, the club joined the Eastern Counties League.
Over the next few decades, the club finished in a variety of positions in the ECL, finishing as high as 4th on three occasions in the 1960s and finishing bottom of the league in the 1981/82 season. This did not see the club leave the league though, and in 1983 the club changed name to the current name, moving into the current ground a year later.
The club maintained its place in the ECL for the next few years and, when a second division was added for the 1988/89 season, the club was placed in the Premier Division. This is where they remained until, at the end of the 2004/05 season, the club finished 3rd from bottom and, as a result, suffered their first ever relegation and dropped into Division 1.
The club did not fare especially well in Division 1, finishing in the bottom half almost every season (with a 7th-place finish in the 2010/11 season being a notable exception). However, the 2016/17 season saw a drastic change in the club's fortunes, with the club storming to the title - and losing just two league games all season - to return to the Premier Division for the first time in 12 years. This was then followed by a 3rd-place finish last season, with the club narrowly missing out on promotion despite accumulating over 100 points.
The club's best FA Cup run came in the 1953/54 season when they reached the 4th Qualifying Round, beating Leiston, Whitton United and Lowestoft Town before losing to Cambridge United. In the club's four FA Trophy campaigns, two saw them progress to the 1st Qualifying Round: in the 1974/75 season, the club beat Great Yarmouth Town before losing to Hitchin Town after a replay, while in the 1977/78 season the club beat Letchworth Garden City before losing to Harlow Town after a replay. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run saw them reach the 4th Round in the 1982/83 season, beating East Thurrock United, Coggeshall Town, Beckton United and Basildon United before losing to Wivenhoe Town.
My Visit
For my second groundhop of the season - and my 50th overall - I was looking to do something a bit more special, if at all possible, with the proviso being that it had to feasible via public transport from Norwich (due to me spending a week there with family). At first inspection of options in the FA Cup draw (where else would I have started, as nothing beats the FA Cup's early rounds), the easiest and most exciting tie appeared to be Thetford Town's home game against Fakenham Town. However, this idea had to be given up on early on, with the game being moved to the Friday night.
A second inspection of the games revealed that my next-best option would be Great Yarmouth Town's home game against Hadleigh United, but this too had to be given up on fairly quickly when I noticed on Twitter that the game had been moved to Hadleigh United due to the poor state of Great Yarmouth's pitch, as caused by this overly-dry summer we've had.
This left me limited on options and I started to consider games outside of the FA Cup, such as Diss Town vs King's Lynn Town Reserves and Mulbarton Wanderers vs Leiston Reserves. Naturally, with my general aversion to watching matches between a Reserve side and a senior side if I can avoid it, I was reluctant to attend either of these, but it was looking like I wouldn't have much choice.
However, a third inspection of the FA Cup ties revealed this game and, after looking at trains, it looked like a perfectly viable option. Even so, I didn't make a final decision until Friday but once I did, I ordered my train tickets. Even then, though, things weren't easy as the train I originally intended to get was cancelled, and it started to seem like everything was hellbent on ruining my Saturday.
Thankfully, the next train headed in that direction at half 1 - which doesn't normally stop at Stowmarket - was changed so as to stop there, so I eventually arrived in the town at 2pm. From here, it was an easy 15-minute walk to the ground, where I paid £2 for student admission and £1.50 for an impressive matchday programme.
With plenty of time to kill before kick-off, I did my usual circuit of photos before and, after finishing that 25 minutes later (I was in no rush, after all), I bought a cheese burger in front of the clubhouse (decent value at £3.50) and, after eating that, got in place for kick-off (I then had the irritation of a wasp flying uncomfortably close to my face for a couple of minutes, but it soon left to bug someone else).
Considering Basildon's promotion to Step 4 last season and how close Stowmarket came to doing the same, I was expecting a close but competitive game and, for the first half at least, that's how it panned out, as I report below:
On the whole, this was a good groundhop for my 50th: a reasonable game, a decent ground and the magic of this early stage of the FA Cup (an impressive crowd of 282 in attendance at this game, including 25 or so from Basildon).
The next groundhop will be on the 21st for Yaxley's first away game in our new Step 4 league, when we head to Bedford Town. After that will be something while on holiday in Chester, depending on what's available (I'm hoping Runcorn Linnets win their FA Cup tie today, as that would be a fairly easy and interesting one to do).
The Ground
Greens Meadow is an impressive ground by Step 5 standards, with no Arena stands in sight and a good amount of character. All the cover at the ground is on the near side, with a main stand that seats around 150 people (at a guess, not entirely certain if that is accurate though) on one side of the entrance, and a smaller covered standing area (with a few seats) on the other side.
There's also a small bit of cover in front of the clubhouse where you get food, and just in front of the clubhouse is a couple of small buildings: a physiotherapy hut (based on the signs on the front of it, at least) and a shed marked as "S.T.O.W. FM" with radio equipment inside.
That aside, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with some room to expand should the need arise and with almost everything painted in club colours to make it feel more homely. However, in the likely event that the club are soon promoted to Step 4, the ground is probably mostly sufficient for that already.
The record attendance at the ground was 1,200 for a friendly against an Ipswich Town XI in the 1994/95 season.
Photos
The club's best FA Cup run came in the 1953/54 season when they reached the 4th Qualifying Round, beating Leiston, Whitton United and Lowestoft Town before losing to Cambridge United. In the club's four FA Trophy campaigns, two saw them progress to the 1st Qualifying Round: in the 1974/75 season, the club beat Great Yarmouth Town before losing to Hitchin Town after a replay, while in the 1977/78 season the club beat Letchworth Garden City before losing to Harlow Town after a replay. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run saw them reach the 4th Round in the 1982/83 season, beating East Thurrock United, Coggeshall Town, Beckton United and Basildon United before losing to Wivenhoe Town.
My Visit
For my second groundhop of the season - and my 50th overall - I was looking to do something a bit more special, if at all possible, with the proviso being that it had to feasible via public transport from Norwich (due to me spending a week there with family). At first inspection of options in the FA Cup draw (where else would I have started, as nothing beats the FA Cup's early rounds), the easiest and most exciting tie appeared to be Thetford Town's home game against Fakenham Town. However, this idea had to be given up on early on, with the game being moved to the Friday night.
A second inspection of the games revealed that my next-best option would be Great Yarmouth Town's home game against Hadleigh United, but this too had to be given up on fairly quickly when I noticed on Twitter that the game had been moved to Hadleigh United due to the poor state of Great Yarmouth's pitch, as caused by this overly-dry summer we've had.
This left me limited on options and I started to consider games outside of the FA Cup, such as Diss Town vs King's Lynn Town Reserves and Mulbarton Wanderers vs Leiston Reserves. Naturally, with my general aversion to watching matches between a Reserve side and a senior side if I can avoid it, I was reluctant to attend either of these, but it was looking like I wouldn't have much choice.
However, a third inspection of the FA Cup ties revealed this game and, after looking at trains, it looked like a perfectly viable option. Even so, I didn't make a final decision until Friday but once I did, I ordered my train tickets. Even then, though, things weren't easy as the train I originally intended to get was cancelled, and it started to seem like everything was hellbent on ruining my Saturday.
Thankfully, the next train headed in that direction at half 1 - which doesn't normally stop at Stowmarket - was changed so as to stop there, so I eventually arrived in the town at 2pm. From here, it was an easy 15-minute walk to the ground, where I paid £2 for student admission and £1.50 for an impressive matchday programme.
With plenty of time to kill before kick-off, I did my usual circuit of photos before and, after finishing that 25 minutes later (I was in no rush, after all), I bought a cheese burger in front of the clubhouse (decent value at £3.50) and, after eating that, got in place for kick-off (I then had the irritation of a wasp flying uncomfortably close to my face for a couple of minutes, but it soon left to bug someone else).
Considering Basildon's promotion to Step 4 last season and how close Stowmarket came to doing the same, I was expecting a close but competitive game and, for the first half at least, that's how it panned out, as I report below:
The first half was an exciting, end-to-end affair, with the general trend being that Stowmarket were creating more chances while Basildon were creating a higher quality of chances. The best example of this was that, around the ten minute mark, Stowmarket had a period where they created around five chances in a matter of minutes with the ball over the top to pacey runners down the wing (aided by Basildon starting the game very deep), while Basildon had two excellent chances just after that, one that took an excellent save to keep out and another that took a last-ditch goal-line clearance to keep out. This continued until the 27-minute mark when, with Stowmarket having committed men forward but given the ball away in the middle of the park, Basildon striker Brian Moses was able to charge forwards on the counterattack before getting into the box and shooting unchallenged to score.
At this point, it was arguably against the run of play as Stowmarket didn't really deserve to be behind, but the same could have been said if Stowmarket had taken the lead instead. Either way, the half continued as described above, with both goalkeepers being called into action on numerous occasions and making several excellent saves, but no more goals came and Basildon went in at half-time with a slim, arguably undeserved lead.
However, in the second half, a few minutes of Stowmarket pressure were followed by Basildon upping the pressure and rapidly taking control of the game, with Moses scoring his and Basildon's second of the game on 55 minutes: the Stowmarket defence were briefly caught napping, and this allowed a cross to reach Moses at the far post for a free header and tap-in. After this, Stowmarket did their best to try and work their way back into the game, but Basildon's defensive organisation was massively improved from the first half, causing almost every Stowmarket attack to be comfortably stifled. With the home side committing more and more men forward as time went on, this provided a bit more space for Basildon to play in and they attempted to capitalise and increase their lead, but as time went on it became clear that this wasn't really necessary and Basildon claimed the win.
Overall, the first half was an interesting and exciting contest, but in many the second half verged on tedious after Basildon's second and was even more disappointing coming after such a compelling first half. That being said, even if it wasn't their day in front of goal, Stowmarket still looked very strong and I would imagine they will be competing right at the top end of the ECL Premier Division this season. Basildon United were also impressive, being very well-drilled and pressing with intensity, but as I don't know the general strength of Step 4, it's hard to say how well they will do. However, I would imagine that they will be perfectly fine.
At this point, it was arguably against the run of play as Stowmarket didn't really deserve to be behind, but the same could have been said if Stowmarket had taken the lead instead. Either way, the half continued as described above, with both goalkeepers being called into action on numerous occasions and making several excellent saves, but no more goals came and Basildon went in at half-time with a slim, arguably undeserved lead.
However, in the second half, a few minutes of Stowmarket pressure were followed by Basildon upping the pressure and rapidly taking control of the game, with Moses scoring his and Basildon's second of the game on 55 minutes: the Stowmarket defence were briefly caught napping, and this allowed a cross to reach Moses at the far post for a free header and tap-in. After this, Stowmarket did their best to try and work their way back into the game, but Basildon's defensive organisation was massively improved from the first half, causing almost every Stowmarket attack to be comfortably stifled. With the home side committing more and more men forward as time went on, this provided a bit more space for Basildon to play in and they attempted to capitalise and increase their lead, but as time went on it became clear that this wasn't really necessary and Basildon claimed the win.
Overall, the first half was an interesting and exciting contest, but in many the second half verged on tedious after Basildon's second and was even more disappointing coming after such a compelling first half. That being said, even if it wasn't their day in front of goal, Stowmarket still looked very strong and I would imagine they will be competing right at the top end of the ECL Premier Division this season. Basildon United were also impressive, being very well-drilled and pressing with intensity, but as I don't know the general strength of Step 4, it's hard to say how well they will do. However, I would imagine that they will be perfectly fine.
On the whole, this was a good groundhop for my 50th: a reasonable game, a decent ground and the magic of this early stage of the FA Cup (an impressive crowd of 282 in attendance at this game, including 25 or so from Basildon).
The next groundhop will be on the 21st for Yaxley's first away game in our new Step 4 league, when we head to Bedford Town. After that will be something while on holiday in Chester, depending on what's available (I'm hoping Runcorn Linnets win their FA Cup tie today, as that would be a fairly easy and interesting one to do).
The Ground
Greens Meadow is an impressive ground by Step 5 standards, with no Arena stands in sight and a good amount of character. All the cover at the ground is on the near side, with a main stand that seats around 150 people (at a guess, not entirely certain if that is accurate though) on one side of the entrance, and a smaller covered standing area (with a few seats) on the other side.
There's also a small bit of cover in front of the clubhouse where you get food, and just in front of the clubhouse is a couple of small buildings: a physiotherapy hut (based on the signs on the front of it, at least) and a shed marked as "S.T.O.W. FM" with radio equipment inside.
That aside, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with some room to expand should the need arise and with almost everything painted in club colours to make it feel more homely. However, in the likely event that the club are soon promoted to Step 4, the ground is probably mostly sufficient for that already.
The record attendance at the ground was 1,200 for a friendly against an Ipswich Town XI in the 1994/95 season.
Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment