Downham Town FC
Memorial Field
Lynn Road
Downham Market
Norfolk
PE38 9QE
Ground: 102
Date: Saturday 28th December 2019
Downham Town 0-3 March Town United
Eastern Counties League Division 1 North
Attendance: 203 (official)
Downham Town - History
Downham Town were founded in 1881 and initially played in local leagues in the King's Lynn area. The club then joined the Peterborough & District League in 1949, gaining senior status upon being elected to its Premier Division. In the 1962/63 season, the club won the league title for the first time and also won the Peterborough Senior Cup for the second season running. In the 1963/64 and 1965/66 seasons, the club won the Norfolk Senior Cup.
In the 1966/67 and 1971/72 seasons, the club won the Peterborough Senior Cup again, before winning the league title again two years later, and again in the 1978/79 season. In the 1986/87 season, the club competed the league-cup double again and, after winning the title again the following season, the club became a founding member of the new Division 1 of the Eastern Counties League. The club have remained at that level ever since and started with a series of strong top half finishes at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s. In the 1998/99 season, the club finished 3rd in the league and followed that up with a 4th-place finish the following season.
However, the new millennium saw a downturn in the club's fortunes as they consistently finished in the bottom half from the 2001/02 to 2013/14 seasons, finishing second-from-bottom on three occasions. Fortunes have improved slightly since then, with a 8th-place finish in the new Division 1 North last season looking set to be followed by a promotion charge this season.
The club have yet to compete in the FA Cup, but they have competed in the FA Vase since the 1979/80 season. Their best performance in the competition came in the 1986/87 season when they reached the 3rd Round, beating Diss Town, Bowers United, Eynesbury Rovers and Staveley Works before losing to Rocester.
My Visit
After Yaxley's planned visit to Wantage Town was rained off last Saturday, I was determined to try and fit in one more groundhop in 2019, which meant looking for options on the 28th instead. The main problem with this was that, because it was just after Christmas, I thought it would be unfair to ask for a lift (even more so given my upcoming plans), so I was stuck with relying on the trains to get anywhere.
As my regular readers (if I have many of those) know, this wouldn't be a problem if I was down in Guildford, as railway links down there are excellent in terms of the sheer range of options accessible (less so at the moment when South Western Railway are on strike, but I digress). In Peterborough, however, options from the train are much more limited, even more so at the moment due to ongoing issues with Greater Anglia.
I had a look at my options on the Futbology app (formerly the Groundhopper app) and it soon became apparent that this was my only option, so I had no choice but to hope that the weather wouldn't ruin my plans again. Fortunately, other than a very wet Boxing Day - which saw me go and watch Yaxley get tonked 0-3 by Corby - the weather wasn't an issue over the festive period and, going into yesterday, the club sounded confident that there would be no issues.
At the Yaxley game on Boxing Day, there was some talk that we were trying to rearrange our visit to Wantage Town for yesterday, but unsurprisingly this didn't happen. As such, it was a relief to see a dry forecast on Saturday morning and to be able to head out with confidence. I did double-check the trains before I left, but after a while I realised that I wouldn't be using Greater Anglia at all and probably wouldn't have anything to worry about.
With everything being in order, I ordered my train tickets, asked for a lift and got myself ready to leave the house just after 12pm. I was dropped off at the station with around 20 minutes to spare, so I had plenty of time to collect my tickets and get some cash out too. I then waited within the train station entrance (or would you call it a lobby? not really sure on the correct terminology here) for a little bit, as my train was supposed to be six minutes late.
I eventually headed over to the Platform with ten minutes to spare, with the train eventually arriving just a couple of minutes later than its expected 12:45pm arrival time. The journey to Ely was fairly uneventful, as I did some reading and ate some lunch that I had packed for myself.
Upon arriving in Ely, I had half an hour to kill, so I went into a shop on Platform 1 and bought some crisps and a drink for later in the afternoon. I then ended up being spoken to by what appeared to be a trainspotter, though I only half-listened to what he was saying as I was more focused on the information boards. This is because they were stating that my train was delayed due to a member of staff being unavailable, while also saying that the train was going to be on time. I was absolutely baffled, as the only update given was a late change in platform, so I just had to wait and hope that it would arrive on time or not be delayed for very long.
Thankfully, despite the conflicting information on the boards, the train did arrive on time and made quick progress towards Downham Market, arriving twenty minutes later at around 2:15pm. From the station, it was a twenty-minute walk to the ground that saw me pass through the high street on the way. This got me thinking about potentially stopping after the match to have some food (due to the train back not leaving until 6pm), but I was unsure if I would really have enough time.
In any case, I arrived at the ground with twenty minutes to spare before kick-off, initially having to walk past it to head in through the car park. As I walked past the clubhouse towards the entrance, I could already tell that it was going to be a large crowd and that March had brought a good following down, as the clubhouse was completely packed (as it turned out, the crowd was 203, which is an excellent figure for Step 6).
I eventually found my way towards the pay hut and paid £5 for admission and a programme, as well as £1 for a raffle strip. I was then surprised by the sight of Yaxley chairman Malcolm Clements talking to former manager Brett Whaley (who now manages March). This was an unexpected coincidence, so we had a quick chat before I grabbed a photo of the teams and went around to do my usual circuit of photos.
For the duration of the match, I chose to stand on the far side where all the cover was. At half-time, I did consider heading over to the other side so as to allow for a quicker getaway after full-time, but as it was still wet underfoot I decided against this and returned to where I had been standing in the first half.
Looking at the table before the match, I concluded that there wasn't much between the two sides at all, with both sides firmly in the promotion race and March only five points behind if they win their games in hand. As such, I was expecting a close but entertaining encounter to be just about edged by the home side, but at that point I didn't know that March had just managed to sign Lewis Hilliard on dual registration from Step 3 side Peterborough Sports (this was undoubtedly a massive boost for them).
Three former Yaxley players (albeit two of them were only so very briefly) in that March line-up, including title-winning winger Jack Saunders
Here's my report on a match which saw March surge to victory with a high intensity style that Downham struggled to match:
March almost made the perfect start to this match after an excellent chance in the first minute, a shot from range clattering the underside of the crossbar before bouncing back into play (there were some appeals for a goal to be given, but these were ignored by the referee). Five minutes later, the away side went close again when a throw-in was headed towards goal, but Downham keeper Duncan McAnnally was able to get down and make the save.
At the other end of the pitch, Downham struggled to deal with the away side's high intensity and quick pressing and found themselves pinned back early on. As such, they were largely forced to rely on long balls over the top in an attempt to catch March's high defensive line out, and this almost paid off in the 11th minute: Jack Frohawk ran onto a long ball in the box and got a low shot away, forcing March keeper Charlie Congreve to save and give away a corner (which then came to nothing).
In the 18th minute, March opened the scoring with an excellent, but probably unintentional, finish from former Yaxley winger Jack Saunders: he received the ball on the wing in line with the box and crossed into the box, his effort flying beyond McAnnally and into the far corner. Surprisingly, this seemed to give Downham a slight boost as they had a decent spell on the ball, keeping it on the ground and quickly transitioning from defence to attack. This culminated in a chance for Isaac Bloodworth in the 27th minute as he twisted and turned through three defenders outside the box and dragged a shot narrowly wide of the post.
March regained their foothold after this and had a goal disallowed for offside in the 31st minute: a cross-field ball reached Dylan Edge on the left wing and he went past the full back and into the box, before crossing to Craig Gillies to tap in from close range. Unfortunately for the away side, the linesman had flagged for offside as soon as the ball was played to Edge, with play only continuing because the referee did not notice that the flag was up (and that wasn't the first time that had happened, either). There was one more good chance in the first half after this, March's new signing Lewis Hilliard (on dual registration from Peterborough Sports) trying his luck with a 25-yard free kick in the 43rd minute and forcing another save out of McAnnally.
The away side doubled their lead two minutes into the second half, a Hilliard free kick reaching Gillies to head home unmarked in the box. In the 49th minute, Downham almost pulled one back from a free kick of their own when an unmarked Pat Yates volleyed over from close range. After these early chances, March began to drop their intensity and this made the match into a much more even contest.
As the second half progressed, the two sides started to cancel each other out, meaning that for the most part the ball remained in midfield as neither side could truly break the other down. Even so, March steadily began to take control again and eventually added a third in the 82nd minute: I didn't see it all, but Jack Friend got a powerful shot away from inside the box to score. Downham had been trying to make the comeback in the second half, but this took the wind out of their sails and allowed March to manage the game to its conclusion. Even then, Friend almost added a fourth in the 89th minute with a low shot from 25 yards, but McAnnally was able to make the save.
So, despite a drop in intensity for much of the second half, this was still an entertaining contest to end 2019 with. March were more or less in control throughout, so much so that it is somewhat hard to understand how they aren't in the top 4 already. As for Downham, they gave it a good go throughout and never gave up, but simply could not answer March's high intensity, high pressing football.
That aside, the match was mostly good-natured, despite a few moments of handbags late on and a couple of heated exchanges between the Downham managers and the supporters behind them. The large contingent of March fans were also in good voice throughout and added a layer of atmosphere to the contest.
Beyond the match, this was a decent enough groundhop to end the year with, even if it was extremely cold throughout.
By the time the match finished, I had ruled out getting food on the way back to the station and just accepted that I would have to wait at the station for half an hour. However, on my way out of the car park, Malcolm offered me a lift to the station and I accepted, which saved me a long walk in the cold. Unfortunately, due to there being over five minutes of stoppage time in the second half, I just missed the hourly train back to Ely, so I had an hour wait for the 6pm train (which I had planned to get anyway).
To make the journey back even more tedious, I then had to wait a further half an hour upon arriving at Ely station, with my train back to Peterborough eventually leaving just before 7pm. This got me back into Peterborough half an hour later, meaning I had spent 50 minutes travelling and an hour and a half waiting after leaving the ground just before 5pm. I was then picked up at the station and got back home at around 7:40pm.
Before I talk about my plans going into the New Year, let's have a look at how 2019 panned out for me in footballing terms. Compared to last year, I saw six more games and visited four more grounds, meaning that 52 matches and 36 new grounds in a year stand as my new records. I also saw 25 more goals than last year in those six extra matches. Perhaps more notably, I finally broke the landmark of 100 grounds visited at the end of November, which is slightly quicker than I was anticipating at the end of last season. A pleasing year, overall.
My next groundhop will be on the 11th of January now. Originally, it was going to be Yaxley's visit to Halesowen Town, but this has been postponed due to Halesowen's continued progress in the FA Trophy. As such, I'm hoping to visit Boston United instead due to their impending ground move, but this too is dependent on events in the FA Trophy, as I'll need Darlington to lose their replay with Solihull Moors the Wednesday before that. If that doesn't happen, or if the weather intervenes, I've got a list of back-ups ready and I'll see where I'm able to get a lift to. After that, I'll be heading to Notts County on the train on the 18th of January, which will be my last groundhop before I head back to University for my final semester.
The Ground
Memorial Field is a fairly basic ground, but one that is well-equipped for the club's current needs. All the cover is on the far side of the ground, and this consists of two areas of covered standing with a seated stand in between. The two covered standing areas provide cover for 50-100 people, while the seated stand provides bench seating for around 100 people.
Besides this, the ground is three-sided as it is shared with the local cricket club. As a result, there is only hard standing on three sides of the ground, with the near side consisting of grass standing and a perimeter fence (this can presumably be removed for the cricket, but didn't look as obviously temporary as the equivalent at Wokingham & Emmbrook's ground).
The ground also sits on a slope from one side to the other due to it being on a hill. The clubhouse is situated above the pitch and closest to the entrance at the top of the hill. The ground is sufficient for Step 6, but I would imagine that work is needed in a few areas to make it ready for Step 5 in the likely event the club is promoted to that level for next season.
The record attendance at the ground was 1,500 for a friendly against Norwich City in the 1948/49 season.
Photos
