Barnet - The Hive

Barnet FC

The Hive

Edgware

Greater London

HA8 6AG

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 69

Date: Monday 28th January 2019

Barnet 3-3 Brentford

FA Cup 4th Round

Attendance: 6,215 (official)

Barnet FC - 10 Facts

1) Barnet were first founded in 1888 and became inaugural members of the North London League in 1892. However, the club ceased to exist at the end of the 1901/02 season and were eventually replaced by a team called Alston Works, who were formed in 1901 and moved into Underhill (Barnet's previous ground) in 1907, before merging with Barnet Avenue in 1912 to become Barnet & Alston. After World War 1, this team became the current Barnet.

2) The club remained in the Athenian League from 1912 to 1965, winning the league seven times in this period. After World War 2, the club won the FA Amateur Cup by beating Bishop Auckland 3-2 in the 1946 final. The club reached the final again in 1948 and 1959, but were beaten 1-0 by Leytonstone and 3-2 by Crook Town. In 1965, the club turned semi-professional and left the Athenian League to join the Southern League.

3) The club spent much of the next decade yo-yoing between Division 1 and the Premier Division of the Southern League. During this time, the club reached the 3rd Round of the FA Cup for the first time in 1965, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Trophy in its first season in 1969/70 (the club lost 1-0 to Macclesfield Town).

4) In the 1971/72 season, the club reached the FA Trophy final, losing 3-0 to Stafford Rangers at the old Wembley. However, that season saw the club win the Southern League Cup, eventually beating Hereford United in the final. 

5) Due to high finishes in the Southern League Premier Division near the end of the 1970s, the club were given a position in the newly-formed Alliance Premier League. Initially, the club struggled but by the end of the 1984/85 season the club had stabilised.

6) In the 1986/87 season, the renamed Conference now had automatic promotion to the Football League, and at this point the club started competing at the top of the league. On several occasions, the club finished as runners-up to miss out on promotion, finishing between the likes of Lincoln City and Darlington. Eventually though, the club earned promotion to the Football League for the first time at the end of the 1990/91 season.

7) Initially, the club spent a decade in the Football League, reaching the 4th Division play-offs at the end of their first season in the League (but losing to Blackpool in the semi-finals). The following season, despite controversy off-the-field the club finished 3rd to earn promotion to the renamed Division 2. During that summer, the club survived a vote of expulsion at an EGM, but were relegated to Division 3 the following season after losing much of the squad. The club remained in Division 3 until 2001, when they finished bottom to return to the Conference.

8) This time, the club remained in non-league for just four seasons, finishing as runners-up in the Conference in 2004 before winning the league in 2005 to return to League 2. Upon their return, the club drew a lucrative away tie against Manchester United in the League Cup, losing 4-1.

9) In this spell in the Football League, the club generally struggled, not securing survival until the last day in three consecutive season (2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12) before being relegated at the end of the 2012/13 season on 51 points (the highest points tally a team has ever been relegated from League 2 with). However, the club made a swift return to the Football League, winning the Conference in the 2014/15 season to once again return to League 2. However, three seasons later the club were relegated again, this time on goal difference.

10) In 2013, the club moved out of their Underhill ground and into the current ground. Initially, this was only going to be temporary, with plans on the table to build a 10,000 capacity ground in the Borough of Barnet, but in 2015 it was announced that those plans had been scrapped and that the club would remain at The Hive for the long-term.

My Visit

After missing out on a groundhopping opportunity on the 12th of January, I had a look at the games on over FA Cup weekend to see if any would be viable. Chelsea was briefly considered, but quickly ruled out once it was announced as a 6pm kick-off on a Sunday. After that, it was between AFC Wimbledon (Saturday evening) and this game. Due to my desire to start making some progress on the 92, AFC Wimbledon was tempting but it seemed like a logistical nightmare to go straight into that after Yaxley's game in the afternoon (not least because tickets sounded like they would be scarce).

So, with all that taken into account, this seemed likely to be my destination, especially when the very reasonable ticket prices were announced. I was initially going to wait a few days before buying my ticket, but I was worried they'd sell about so ended up buying mine on the 11th. I had text Matt just before this to see if he was available on that weekend, but I didn't want to wait however long for him to respond so just went for it (fortunately, when he did respond and confirmed he was available, the seat next to me was still available for him to book).

By the time I returned to my house in Guildford for University, my ticket had already arrived, so I kept it on my desk so I wouldn't lose it before the game. By this point, I had also ordered my train tickets already, so there wasn't much to think about until after Saturday (Saturday did at least save me the effort of looking up a route to take).

When yesterday did come about, I realised a slight problem, namely that I would be leaving the house at around 4:40pm to head to the train station, so I didn't really have time for a proper dinner beforehand. Also, I was trying to be a bit more careful with money (ahead of Yaxley's away game at Didcot Town on the 9th of February), so I didn't want to be eating out if possible. 

To alleviate this, I had a cooked lunch and then made myself a sandwich for the train, as well as taking some crisps and sweets for me. Also, with the announcement in the morning that a programme would be available, I got some cash out of my secondary account for that (as it was £5 for a bumper 92-page issue) and decided I'd use the rest to get some food at the ground.

Before I left, I discussed with Matt our plans to meet up, and we decided that he would wait for my arrival at Waterloo, and then we would head on the Tube to Canons Park from there. I got into Waterloo at around 10 past 6 and, after a brief trip to the toilets, we headed to the Tube (which was extremely crowded due to it being rush hour) and found somewhere to stand for the direct journey, talking about various things along the way while I also ate my sweets.

Once we got off the Tube, we simply followed some other fans to the ground, before then spending a few minutes trying to figure out where the turnstiles we were supposed to go through were, as well as trying to figure out where I could buy a programme. As we figured this out, I took a couple of photos on my phone of the outside of the ground. Eventually, we found the correct turnstiles and headed into the ground, quickly finding our seats and sitting down. I then took a few photos of the ground while we waited for kick-off, also flicking through the programme and checking on the 5th Round draw while we waited.

On paper, there was only one way this game was likely to go, but with the FA Cup you truly never know what is going to happen or which way it's going to go. Even with Brentford seemingly putting out a strong 11 (I don't know enough about them to say if it was a full-strength 11, but with the likes of Maupay and Canos it certainly seemed like it), it wasn't easy to actually predict this game at all.

Ordinarily, I write my own match reports, but for this match I just wanted to relax and enjoy it so didn't end up doing anything of the sort. Instead, here's one taken from the Barnet website:

It was the visitors who struck first though courtesy of a long-ranged shot from Ollie Watkins five minutes before the break.

Brentford took the one-goal advantage into half-time but Barnet hit back in the early stages of the second period.

Two goals in three minutes from third round hero Shaq Coulthirst turned the game on it’s head and the Bees looked to be claiming another scalp.

However, after David Tutonda was adjudged to have brought down Watkins just shy of the hour mark, Neal Maupay stepped up to draw the game level again.

12 minutes later and the Championship side took the lead again, this time through Sergi Canos, who fired the ball home from close range.

There was another twist in the tale though as Dan Sparkes came off the bench and bent in a delightful free-kick from just outside the box to force a replay.

So, on the whole, going to this match was a great decision, as it was easily one of the most entertaining I've seen all season. Add to that the crazy atmosphere, and this was truly a magical cup tie. Though I am a neutral, I will readily admit that I was hoping for a Barnet win late on, as I do feel that the replay will be one step too far for them. Speaking of the replay, I wish I could go but simply can't afford it at the moment, which is a shame.

Once we got out of the ground, the journey back into Waterloo was fairly easy (much less crowded than the way there, even with all the football fans), and I was able to get the 10:45pm train back to Guildford, getting into Guildford 40 minutes later and into the house just after 11:30pm.

Up next will be something much more local this Saturday, and I have a few options in mind. There's the possibility of Matt being able to join me for each of the next three weekends, so that will be good if he proves to be the case. In any event, it will be Didcot on the 9th of February if possible, and then the following weekend might be something in the FA Cup if it works out, but other than that it's too soon to say.

The Ground

The Hive is a fairly new venue - having opened in 2013 - but is certainly an impressive one that feels appropriate for a club that yo-yoes between League 2 and the National League. Obviously, there's cover on all four sides, with three of the stands providing seating and the other serving as covered terracing behind one of the goals.

Of these three stands, one has only a few rows of seats with the roof way above, while the other two stands are conventional Football League stands: large with lots of seats going all the way up. Overall, the ground has a capacity of 6,500, of which 5,419 is seated. The ground's record attendance was set at this match last night, with an impressive 6,215 people in attendance.

Photos

Chesham United - The Meadow

Chesham United FC

The Meadow

Amy Lane

Chesham

Buckinghamshire

HP5 1NE

Official Website (Chesham United)

Twitter (Chesham United)

Official Website (Aylesbury United) 

Twitter (Aylesbury United) 

Ground: 68

Date: Saturday 26th January 2019

Aylesbury United 2-1 Yaxley

Southern League Division 1 Central

Attendance: 131 (official)

Chesham United FC - 10 Facts

1) Chesham United were founded in 1917 as a merger of Chesham Generals and Chesham Town, making them one of a very small number of clubs established during World War 1.

2) Up until World War 2, the club played in the Spartan League, winning the title in the 1921/22, 1922/23, 1924/25 and 1932/33 seasons.

3) The club reached the FA Amateur Cup final in the 1967/68 season, but lost 1-0 to Leytonstone at the old Wembley Stadium.

4) The club reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup for the first time in the 1966/67 season, losing 6-0 at Enfield. Two more 1st Round eliminations followed (in the 1968/69 and 1976/77 seasons), before the club progressed all the way to the 3rd Round in the 1979/80 season, beating Minehead in the 1st Round and Merthyr Tydfil in the 2nd Round before hosting Cambridge United in the 3rd Round and losing 2-0.

5) The club joined the Isthmian League's Division 2 in 1973 (this was renamed Division 1 in 1977), having played in the Corinthian and Athenian Leagues prior to this point.

6) In the 1990/91 season, the club won Division 1 of the Isthmian League to earn promotion to the Premier Division, winning that two seasons later. While this should have seen them promoted to the Conference, their ground did not meet the necessary criteria so they were denied promotion.

7) After this, the club spent the next decade yo-yoing between the Isthmian's League Premier Division and Division 1 (North), but promotion in the 2003/04 season saw the club placed in the Southern League Premier Division instead, with relegation to its Division 1 South & West following two seasons later.

8) After one season in that Division, the club were transferred to Division 1 Midlands for the 2007/08 season and followed this with two play-off campaigns in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons: the first saw the club lose to Nuneaton Town in the semi-finals, while the second saw the club beat Burnham in the semi-finals and Slough Town in the final to return to the Premier Division.

9) After just missing out on the play-offs in their first season back in the Premier Division, the club entered the play-offs in three successive seasons: in the 2011/12 season, they lost to AFC Totton in the semi-finals; in the 2012/13 season, they lost to Hemel Hempstead Town in the semi-finals; in the 2013/14 season, they beat Stourbridge in the semi-finals but lost to St Albans City in the final. The club have remained in the Premier Division ever since.

10) In the FA Trophy, the club's best run saw them reach the 4th Round in the 1998/99 season, beating Yeading and Crawley Town before losing to Hendon. 

Aylesbury United FC - 10 Facts

1) Aylesbury United were founded in 1897 as a merger of Night School, Printing Works and Aylesbury Town. The club initially played in local leagues before joining the Spartan League and remaining there until the outbreak of World War 1.

2) After the war, the club remained in the Spartan League and played in its Division 1 until the Division was split East-West in 1928 (the club joined Division 1 West at this point). More restructuring saw this become the Premier Division one season later, from which the club were relegated after finishing bottom. Prior to World War 2, the club continued to yo-yo between the Premier Division and Division 1.

3) After the war, the club were founder members of the Delphian League in 1951 and, in the 1951/52 season, the club reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup for the first time and lost 1-0 to Watford. The club won the league in the 1953/54 and then remained in the league until joining the Athenian League in 1963.

4) In 1976, the club joined Division 1 South of the Southern League, which then became the Southern Division in 1979 after restructuring. The club were then transferred to the Midland Division in 1981 and earned promotion to the Premier Division at the end of the 1984/85 season.

5) After another couple of 1st Round appearances in the FA Cup (ending in defeats to Slough Town in the 1985/86 season and to Bath City in the 1986/87 season), the club won the Premier Division of the Southern League in the 1987/88 season to earn promotion to the Conference (they also reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup again, this time losing to Bristol City). However, the club lasted just one season in non-league's top tier before being relegated to the Premier Division of the Isthmian League.

6) Though that season ended in relegation, the club reached the 2nd Round of the FA Cup for the first time after beating Waterlooville, but they lost to Sutton United. They then reached the FA Cup 1st Round every season between 1989 and 1995: in the 1989/90 season, they beat Football League opposition for the first time in Southend United, before losing a replay to Northampton Town in the 2nd Round; in the 1994/95 season, the club made it all the way to the 3rd Round, beating Newport (Isle of Wight) and Kingstonian before losing to Queens Park Rangers.

7) After finishing as runners-up in the 1998/99 season, the club's fortunes saw a dramatic decline as they were relegated to Division 1 the following season, only to finish 3rd in the 2000/01 season to return to the Premier Division.

8) In the 2002/03 season, the club reached the semi-finals of the FA Trophy, beating Burnham, Chippenham Town, Kingstonian, Altrincham, Windsor & Eton and Gloucester City before losing 2-1 to Burscough over two legs.

9) In 2004, the club were transferred to the Premier Division of the Southern League, before being relegated to Division 1 Midlands at the end of the 2005/06 season. In 2009, the Supporters Trust took control of the club, but the 2009/10 season saw the club relegated to the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division. The club returned to Division 1 Central of the Southern League after finishing as runners-up in the 2012/13 season, and have remained there ever since.

10) In the FA Vase, the club's best run came in the 1974/75 season when they reached the 4th Round, beating Shefford Town, Harpenden Town, Northampton Spencer and Wolverton Town & BR before losing to Bracknell Town.

My Visit

As with the last few Yaxley away matches I've groundhopped at, this one was very much on the radar ever since the release of the fixture list back in July, even if it meant breaking a groundhopping principle of mine: generally speaking, I prefer to watch a game involving the actual "owner" (i.e. main team) of a ground when possible, and I'm generally reluctant to visit a ground when the tenants are the home side. Granted, I've broken this "rule" for both of Yaxley's recent UCL KO Cup final appearances, but it was still something on my mind going into this. However, I ultimately decided to go along anyway as supporting Yaxley is much more important than my groundhopping principles.

To make sure I got my train ticket at the cheapest price, I ordered tickets into and out of London Waterloo for yesterday after I returned to University a week ago. Normally, with the chance of the weather ruining everything I would be incredibly reluctant to do this (especially at this time of year), but there are so many groundhopping options in London that are accessible via London Underground that I wasn't worried. Still, the weather took a startling turn for the worse on Tuesday or Wednesday when it started snowing in and around London, so after my exam on Thursday I was quick to draw up a list of back-ups.

It also became clear prior to the game that Matt would be able to join me as he had also finished his exams, so I sent him the list of back-ups once it was done and we then discussed the logistics of each of them in case the weather turned again. By Saturday morning though, it was apparent that the worst of it wouldn't come until after the game, so there was no need to worry about a postponement.

Once that conclusion was reached, I left the house 25 minutes before my train was due to depart, picking up my tickets at the station upon arrival and then waiting on the platform. The journey from Guildford into Waterloo was easy as ever (albeit surprisingly crowded) and I arrived in Waterloo at around 12:45pm. I then quickly headed to the other end of the station to head to the Jubilee Line, getting on the Tube there and changing at Finchley Road. 

Upon arrival at Finchley Road, I had to wait a while for the next connection to Chesham, so I took a seat and waited for Matt to arrive. He eventually arrived just a few minutes before our connection did, and when it did we got on and chatted for the duration of the 45-minute journey to Chesham. It was a quick ten-minute walk to the ground once we arrived in Chesham, and we each paid £6 for student admission and I picked up the free programme that was available.

At this point, it had just gone 2:30pm, so Matt and I walked around the ground for a bit as I took my usual circuit of photos, stopping a few times to talk to some of the Yaxley players or remark on some of the ground's more unique fixtures (such as the tribute to the late Ryan Moran on the stand on the far side of the pitch). This killed around 20 minutes of time, and we stood in front of the main stand with the other Yaxley fans as we awaited kick-off and to see what end we were shooting at. As usual, we moved towards the right wing near the goal we were shooting at, but in the first half Matt and I moved under the cover behind the goal as the rain starting falling.

With the table showing that there was little between the two sides, I was expecting a tight game but hoping that we could come out on top, even if our 7-3 drubbing in the reverse fixture was in the back of my mind the whole time. With a virtually full-strength XI out, my confidence in our chances only increased as kick-off approached.

Here's my report on a match in which we generally competed well, but ultimately deservedly lost due to a rare poor attacking performance:

After a slightly shaky start to the game, we initially looked on top and were creating some decent chances through Matt Sparrow. However, against the run of play, Aylesbury United took the lead in the 21st minute, Aaron Berry picking up the ball just outside the box and given space to shoot into the top corner. This saw momentum swing the home side's way for the next ten minutes as they created a few good chances to double their lead. As for us, we worked hard to try and pull a goal back but struggled to create many clear-cut chances in the final third, so deservedly went in a goal down at half-time.

The second half saw Aylesbury United start on the front foot, with the home side coming very close to doubling their lead on 56 minutes: a header looked to be heading in, but James Blake made a wonderful save to tip the ball onto the crossbar and back into play. However, three minutes later - and just after we had made a substitution, bringing Frazer Garner on for Liam Hook, slotting Garner into defence and sending Charley Sanders up front - the home side did make it 2-0, an excellent through ball eluding our defence and setting Tre Mitford through to place his shot under Blake and score.

After this sucker punch of a goal, we attempted to make our comeback, with the decision to send Sanders up front creating a few problems for the home defence. With some renewed determination, Sparrow and Dan Cotton attempted to help us carve out some chances, but with little success until the last 10 minutes when we upped the intensity a bit. In the final ten a powerful cross from Sparrow was almost the perfect set-up for Dalton Harris, but he put his effort wide. A couple more efforts came before we deservedly pulled back a goal in the 87th minute: Sanders received the ball just outside the box, turned past his man and curled a shot into the net. We upped the pressure even more after this - while the home side went into time-wasting mode - and almost equalised through Cotton, but his low effort went the wrong side of the post and hit the side netting. Aylesbury United then saw out added time to claim the three points.

This was a frustrating game, as Aylesbury United did not look particularly great and were probably there for the taking on a good day. However, this was a rare game in which our attacking performance let us down more than the defensive side of things: unfortunately, neither Cotton nor Sparrow played at their best today, the former seemingly hell-bent on scoring and wasting several good chances as a result and the latter seeming unusually reluctant to drive at his man and put pressure on. As for Tom Waumsley, he didn't play badly but didn't really receive enough service to influence the game very much (though it also didn't help that the home defenders had their arms around him at every opportunity to hinder him).

Other than this, our big weakness today was a lack of pressing and intensity: too often we were slow to react to loose balls and too often we stood off Aylesbury United's players rather than pressuring them (it felt like they were just walking through us effortlessly at times). We certainly didn't lose today for a lack of trying, but we absolutely need to be reacting quicker and pressing harder than today at this level of football. Saying that though, we didn't really play too badly for the most part, we just needed a little more in places.

MOTM: Charley Sanders (a solid defensive performance and then some great attacking play when moved up front, topped off with a well-taken goal)

So, a disappointing result for us again, but it was nice to do another groundhop again after going three weeks without (after seeing family on the 12th meant I missed out on a groundhopping opportunity that day). More importantly, it was good to see Matt again and our conversation throughout the game kept things interesting as conditions worsened and hindered play more and more. Also, this was a landmark game for me, as it was the 75th time I've seen Yaxley play. A win definitely would have been nice in such circumstances, but it wasn't to be.

The return journey was about the same as the way there: lots of time spent on the Tube (albeit a little more crowded at this point as we were on near the end of rush hour on a Saturday) and a simple 40-minute journey back to Guildford. I got back into the house at around 7:30pm and went straight to work on a late dinner, writing up my match report while the pizza was in the oven.

As for what's next, to make up for missing a groundhop on the 12th I booked myself a ticket for the Barnet FA Cup game tomorrow night, which Matt will once again be joining me for. As it's a midweek game, I'll be impressed if I can get any good photos of the ground for this blog, but I'll do my best and see what I can get. This will also be my first neutral game since my visit to Dorking Wanderers on the 1st of December, so it will be a nice change of pace to go into a game with full objectivity for the first time in a while.

The Ground

The Meadow is an excellent non-league ground with plenty of character, but it's also showing its age in several places. There's some cover on all four sides of the ground, but only the main stand on the dugout side of the ground contains any seating: this contains 284 seats, elevated well above pitch level. In front of this is some uncovered terracing. Also, there is more uncovered terracing each side of the stand, with the far corner also having some additional turnstiles (that clearly haven't been used in years, judging by the state of them and the terracing).

Behind the near goal is a couple of new Arena terraces, in front of which is some more uncovered terracing. On the far side is yet more uncovered terracing, with an area of covered standing at the top of the terracing that stretches most of the length of the pitch. Next to this is some additional cover in front of the tea bar (not in use today) and the toilets. Behind the far goal is even more covered terracing and some more covered standing. Long story short: most of what isn't under cover at this ground is terracing, with there being very little conventional hard standing available (other than in front of the turnstiles where you first enter the ground).

The ground is more than good enough for both Steps 3 and 4 (where Chesham and Aylesbury United play respectively), but would likely need more seating for Step 2. However, the club are apparently planning to move into a new ground soon due to the high maintenance costs of this ground, and it's certainly understandable why. The ground has an overall capacity of 5,000, with the ground being filled to capacity for the FA Cup 3rd Round game against Cambridge United in 1979.

Photos

Kempston Rovers - Hillgrounds Leisure

Kempston Rovers FC

Hillgrounds Leisure

Hillgrounds Road

Kempston

Bedfordshire

MK42 8SZ

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 67

Date: Saturday 5th January 2019

Kempston Rovers 2-2 Yaxley

Southern League Division 1 Central

Attendance: 101 (official)

Kempston Rovers FC - History

Kempston Rovers were founded in 1884 and initially played in both the Bedford & District and Biggleswade & District Leagues, winning both twice before the outbreak of World War 1. In 1927, the club joined the Bedfordshire & District County League, which changed its name to the South Midlands League two years later.

The club remained in this league until after World War 2, joining Division 2 of the United Counties League in 1953 and winning the title in the 1955/56 season. The following season saw Divisions 2 and 1 merge to form a single division, with the club finishing as runners-up in the first season and then winning the title in the second. For the 1961/62 season the league split back into Division 1 and 2 and, despite finishing 4th the previous season, the club were placed in Division 2.

The first season back with two divisions saw the club finish 10th in Division 2, which somehow saw them earn promotion to Division. However, the club struggled in Division 1 and finished bottom to immediately return to Division 2. It then took five season in Division 2 until a runners-up finish in the 1967/68 season saw the club earn promotion back to Division 1 again. For the 1972/73 season, Division 1 was renamed the Premier Division (and Division 2 was renamed Division 1) and the club went on to win the title the following season.

After this, the club remained in the Premier Division until finishing bottom in the 1982/83 season to be relegated back to Division 1. However, it only took three seasons before the club won the Division 1 title to return to the Premier Division. The club then remained in the Premier Division for the next 15 or so years, but only broke into the top half of the table on two occasions (the 1999/2000 and 2000/01 seasons) and finished bottom on four occasions (the 1994/95, 1995/96, 1997/98 and 2002/03 seasons). The last of these bottom-place finishes saw the club relegated back to Division 1.

In 2004, the club changed its name to AFC Kempston Rovers and, at the end of the 2006/07 season the club finished 3rd in Division 1 to return to the Premier Division. However, a season of struggle followed and the club picked up just 11 points as they finished bottom to be relegated back to Division 1 at the first attempt. The return to Division 1 stabilised the club and, after two consecutive 5th-place finishes, the club won the title in the 2010/11 season to earn promotion back to the Premier Division.

Other than a 17th-place finish in the 2012/13 season, the club's position in the league steadily improved until a remarkable title-winning campaign in the 2015/16 season: the club lost just one league game all season but still only finished a point above Leicester Nirvana, but that was enough to earn promotion to Division 1 Central of the Southern League for the first time. After this promotion, the club removed the AFC from its name and have so far had two good Step 4 campaigns, finishing 6th and 7th in the last two seasons.

In the FA Cup, the club's best run saw them reach the 4th Qualifying Round in the 1978/79 season, beating Gornal Athletic, VS Rugby and Willenhall Town before losing to Wealdstone. In the club's three FA Trophy campaigns, they have progressed to the 1st Qualifying Round twice: this season, they beat Barton Rovers and Dereham Town before losing to Beaconsfield Town in a replay. As for the FA Vase, the club have twice progressed as far as the 5th Round, most recently in the 1980/81 season when they beat Royston Town, Sawbridgeworth Town and Burnham before losing to Devizes Town.

My Visit

As with last week's visit to Barton Rovers, I had been planning this as my first groundhop of 2019 ever since the fixture list came out last July. Not even a tough 4-0 defeat for Yaxley at home to Corby Town on New Year's Day could change that, so it was just a matter of waiting to see if the weather would cooperate or not. It quickly became apparent that there would be nothing to worry about on this front, so I booked my seat on the Supporters' Coach late on Thursday.

When yesterday came, I left the house at around 11:15am, as I needed to (or thought that I needed to) get cash out on my way to the ground and didn't know how long it would take. Ultimately, it barely took any time at all so I ended up arriving at the ground half an hour later, expecting to only have a 15 minute wait before the Supporters' Coach would depart. However, when I arrived the club secretary was there and told me that the coach wasn't actually going to depart until 12:30pm instead, so he allowed me to get out of the cold and sit in his car as we waited.

Eventually, the coach departed just after half past and it was swift progress down into Bedfordshire as we arrived at the ground just an hour after departing. Once again, I had been put down as one of our complementary guests for the game, so I got into the ground for free. As with last week though, I did put some money into the club by spending £2 on raffle tickets and then an additional £3 on a fish finger bap and some chips at half-time.

Due to the cold, I opted to stay inside the boardroom to watch the second half of the FA Cup match between Manchester United and Reading (which was ultimately pretty dull, but did kill some time). After being given a cup of tea upon arrival and socialising with the other Yaxley officials in the boardroom for a while, I eventually headed out just after a 4-page programme/teamsheet was given out to do my usual circuit of photos. Once this was done, I waited in front of the stand for kick-off and to see which way we were shooting, moving across that side of the pitch to the appropriate end each half.

 

After looking at the league table and noting that Kempston had lost to struggling North Leigh on New Year's Day, I was reasonably confident that we could win, but a draw seemed like an acceptable result as well, especially after seeing the teamsheets and noting that former MK Dons striker Izale McLeod was starting for the home side, while we were still without Matt Sparrow (the last game of his three-match ban) and Tom Waumsley was only on the bench (our bench arguably looked stronger than our starting 11 in this case).

Here's my report on an exciting end-to-end contest in which a draw was perhaps a reasonable result, even despite some intense Kempston pressure late on against our ten men:

The initial stages of this game saw both teams go straight on the attack, with Kempston just having the better of the early chances as we grew into the game. In the 17th minute, the home side took the lead after a poor defensive clearance gave Dan Clifton a chance to shoot from the edge of the box, his shot sneaking into the bottom corner. A Kempston fan near me was pleased but claimed that his side's lead wouldn't last long, and so it proved when we equalised two minutes later: some neat interplay between Fraser Sturgess and Joe Butterworth eventually saw the ball find its way to Dan Cotton, whose shot from the edge of the box was poked past Kempston keeper Carl Knox by the boot of Sturgess.

It only took another three minutes for Kempston to reclaim their lead though, an Izale McLeod shot blocked by Sam Spencer and then falling kindly for Shane Bush to finish on the rebound. Not long after this, it should have been 2-2 as a Dan Cotton corner was headed in at the near post, but the referee gave a foul, although what for is anyone's guess! The rest of the half saw us pushing for the equaliser while dealing with Kempston counterattacks, but there weren't too many clear-cut chances for either side. In fact, it was looking highly likely that we would be going into half-time a goal down, but in the 42nd minute we were given a penalty after a Kempston defender was judged to have handled the ball. Cotton stepped up to take the penalty and calmly converted to take us into half-time on level terms.

The second half was not quite as eventful as the first, but did at least start in the same end-to-end fashion at the first. However, it soon became apparent that our performance levels were dropping and this saw Kempston gradually push higher and higher and limit us mainly to counterattacks. This saw us commit a few risky fouls in places, but we weren't made to really pay for this until the 77th minute when, after tackling a Kempston player just outside the box, Charley Sanders received his second yellow and was sent off. With us down to ten men, Kempston tried to take immediate advantage from McLeod's free kick, but James Blake made an excellent fingertip save to tip it past the post.

Despite massive Kempston pressure, we brought on Tom Waumsley for the last five minutes (for his first appearance in almost a month) in an attempt to steal the three points on the counter, but the best effort we had was a Dan Cotton shot from just outside the box that went mere inches wide of the far post. Instead, it was Kempston who came closest to winning when the ball fell to an unmarked McLeod six yards out, only for him to somehow place his effort wide of the post (just one of several sitters he missed throughout the game).

So, on the whole, a point was a fair result and a decent response to our disappointing defeat on New Year's Day, especially after being down to ten men for the last 15 minutes. The team dug in well to hold on, but also did well to create a few chances and almost claim the victory. Good performance from Dalton Harris today, placing good pressure on the Kempston defence and making some intelligent runs in the final third; he is steadily improving with each game and will surely find the net soon.

MOTM: Fraser Sturgess (some excellent through balls and passes to aid our attacks, as well as a goal)

So, an enjoyable game and overall a good start to my 2019 groundhopping: lots of friendly people behind the scenes at Kempston and they provided some great pre and post-match hospitality (apparently chilli-covered jacket potatoes are a Bedfordshire specialty, as they were once again on offer here post-match like they were at Barton last week).

The journey back on the Supporters' Coach was easy and relaxed and, after walking back from the ground, I eventually got back home just after 7pm, only to see the disappointing yet unsurprising news on Twitter that Norwich had lost their FA Cup tie against Portsmouth in the last minute to make it six years since their last win in the competition.

With no Yaxley match next Saturday (thanks to Bedford's continued involvement in the FA Trophy), I am free for another groundhop next Saturday and, as long as the weather remains as it is currently, I'm hoping to visit either Bourne Town, Holbeach United or Godmanchester Rovers.

The Ground

Hillgrounds Leisure is a decent and well-kept ground that is part of a multi-sports facility, with several cages with artificial pitches next to the main ground, a swimming pool nearby and a few grass pitches elsewhere on site (and probably a lot more besides this that I did not see).

All the cover at the ground is one side, with the stand here containing a mixture of seating and standing. Closest to the turnstiles is the seating end of the stand, which contains around 100 seats. Beyond this is the standing area of the stand, which includes the tea bar. With three steps of terracing and space to stand in front of this, there is probably room for at least 300 people under cover here.

Other than this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with minimal room to expand due to the proximity of the cages on the dugout side of the ground and due to the minimal space between the hard standing and perimeter fence behind each goal. The only other notable feature is a gate halfway along the dugout side of the ground, which I imagine can act as some form of segregation if that ever proves necessary. The ground has an overall capacity of 2,000.

Photos