Notts County - Meadow Lane

Notts County FC

Meadow Lane

Nottingham

Nottinghamshire

NG2 3HJ

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 104

Date: Saturday 18th January 2020

Notts County 0-0 Dover Athletic

National League

Attendance: 5,157 (official)

Notts County - 5 Facts

1) Notts County were founded in 1862 and are one of the oldest football clubs in the world, as well as the oldest professional football club in the world. The club became founder members of the Football League in 1888.

2) For most of the club's history, they have plied their trade in the bottom two divisions of the Football League, with irregular spells in the top two tiers. The club's best ever finish came in the 1890/91 season when they finished 3rd in the top tier.

3) At the end of the 1991/92 season, the club were relegated from Division 1 into Division 2, missing out on a place in the opening season of the Premier League. Since then, the club have never competed in the top tier again. The club have not competed in the second tier since relegation to Division 2 at the end of the 1994/95 season. 

4) After that relegation, the club spent the next two and a half decades drifting between the third and fourth tiers. After falling short in the 2017/18 League 2 play-offs, the club had a disastrous 2018/19 season and finished second-from-bottom, suffering relegation out of the Football League for the first time ever.

5) The club reached the FA Cup final for the first time in the 1890/91 season, but lost out to Blackburn Rovers. Three seasons later, the club reached the final again, this time beating Bolton Wanderers to win their first and only FA Cup. The club have reached the Quarter Finals of the Football League Cup three times, most recently in the 1975/76 season. The club also won the Anglo-Italian Cup in the 1994/95 season, beating Italian side Ascoli in the final.

My Visit

After I came back home for Christmas just over a month ago, I started looking at groundhopping options to tide me over until I return to University. I was always planning for two groundhops outside of Yaxley's two scheduled away games at new grounds during that time: one would be on the train and the other would see me asking for a lift. This then changed when the visits to Halesowen and Wantage were both postponed, leaving me with an extra groundhop on the train (that ended up being Downham Town a few weeks back).

Originally, I was considering heading to Norwich's FA Cup match at Preston two weeks ago on the train, but I didn't think that would be worth it after a series of disappointing results. Instead, I decided to hold off on the groundhop on the train until yesterday (with the 11th originally being slated for the Halesowen visit which was postponed), allowing me to take in Yaxley's home match against St. Neots on the 4th instead.

To find a match on the 18th, I looked at Nearby Fixtures on the Futbology App and found a few which were potentially feasible on the train. However, issues with Greater Anglia meant my options soon became very restricted. This was one of the few that were available and, after doing some research on how much it would all cost, I decided to go for it. However, I opted to wait until after Christmas and just before the New Year to order my match and train tickets (the latter so as to avoid the New Year price hike on train tickets), paying £14 for the match ticket (and a few admin fees) and around £17 for the return ticket to Nottingham.

During my initial research, I noticed a lot of pubs within the proximity of the ground and, with train times working out reasonably well for it, I opted to have a pre-match meal in Nottingham to make more of a day of it (rather than just going to and from the match as I usually end up doing). I ended up opting for the Trent Bridge Inn for my pre-match meal, though I was prepared to adjust that plan in case of an unlikely postponement (another good reason to get an early train in).

Eventually, the day of the match rolled around and, after a wet and miserable week of Storm Brendan (which saw Yaxley's visit to Wantage postponed yet again), it was a cold but sunny day, so no need to worry about back-up plans. I was driven to the train station and dropped off at 11:10am, picking up my train tickets before heading to the platform to wait for the train. The journey from there to Nottingham took around an hour and I killed the time by playing on my 3DS and occasionally flicking through Twitter.

The train arrived in Nottingham at around 12:30pm and I set off from the station to find the Trent Bridge Inn. Initially, Google Maps led me into a housing estate to get to the bridge, but it neglected to make any mention of the fact that the footpath was completely closed partway down, meaning I wasted around five minutes rerouting myself and getting out of the estate. Still, I made it to the bridge itself before 1pm, taking a quick photo of Forest's ground before going across and into the Trent Bridge Inn (it looked quite nice from the outside, so I wish I had bothered to get a photo of it now).

With any luck, I'll be able to get here next season

Naturally, being just around lunchtime, it was rather busy inside, but I was able to find a free table in the back. From there, I used the Wetherspoons app to order a BBQ bacon beef burger, adding an egg on the side to put in the burger as well. This and my drink - a J20, as I'm not hugely fond of alcohol in all honesty - cost me £7.50 and arrived within about ten minutes. It was a great meal and really filled me up, but when I was finished it had only just gone 1:30pm, so I sat in the pub for another half an hour before making my way back across the bridge to the ground.

It was easy enough to find my way to the ground but, after looking at my ticket, I realised that I was at the completely wrong side and that I was going to have to walk the whole way round to get to the right turnstiles. This cost me a further ten minutes, though I was able to pick up a programme for £3 on the way (though I had nowhere to store it as I didn't have my bag with me, as I was expecting stringent security checks and strict rules on what was and wasn't allowed in).

As I walked around the outside of the ground, I took a few photos to keep myself occupied before eventually reaching the intended turnstiles. Once I did, it was simply a manner of getting my ticket scanned and being allowed in, without any of the checks I had been expecting to encounter (though that doesn't guarantee that this would have been the case if I did have a bag with me).

From there, I headed into the concourse beneath the stand and went to the toilet before going up to find my seat. At the top of the stairs out of the concourse, I took a few photos of the ground before climbing the steep steps to my seat. From there, I took a few more photos (all of these were on my phone, as I expected they wouldn't allow people to use cameras, as is often the case at higher levels) and sat down for a bit, before heading back down into the concourse to grab a bottle of water. After that, I returned to my seat and remained there throughout the match.

Going into this match, Notts County had the better of the table and the form book, so I was expecting them to be favourites in this fixture. However, with their manager having just won manager of the month for December, I was wary of the potential for the manager of the month curse influencing things.

 Only Notts County bothered to post a teamsheet on Twitter, so I had no clue who was playing for Dover until I checked to write my report

Here's my report on a dour football match which saw Dover earn the point they came for against a relatively toothless Notts County side:

Notts County started the match on the front foot and earned themselves a corner within the first minute, though they didn't make it count. They remained in control for the first ten or so minutes as Dover tried to weather the storm and get a hold of the ball. In the 14th minute, Wes Thomas could have given Notts the lead with a low shot from a cross, but it went narrowly wide for a goal kick.

As the away side started to gain a foothold in the match, the chances began to run dry for the home side and we quickly reached an impasse: Notts had most of the ball but were struggling to break through the resilient Dover backline, whereas Dover lacked a real outlet to counter with as Inih Effiong was isolated up-front. The home side had the half's best chance in the 41st minute when Thomas' low shot from the edge of the box was saved by the feet of Dover keeper Lee Worgan, before the attempted rebound was easily caught.

The home side also started the second half on the front foot and began to stretch the play, leading to another excellent chance for Thomas: a through ball split the Dover defence and set him through one-on-one, but the shot lacked conviction and was easily palmed clear. After another long spell of the two sides cancelling each other out, Dover had their best chance of the match in the 69th minute: after a free kick was headed clear, Shadrach Ogie attempted a volley but was narrowly off-target.

The rest of the second half was a scrappy affair as Dover attempted to run the clock down and Notts tried to fight through and push for a winner. Both sides had chances here and there, but there was little flow to proceedings and neither keeper had much to do. Thanks to a late head injury to Dover's Ricky Modeste, there were ten minutes of injury time and Notts almost secured the win at the death: from a free kick on the edge of the box, Enzio Boldewijn shot beneath the wall and towards goal, but his effort hit the post and was cleared.

So, a poor match which put a slight damper on an otherwise enjoyable afternoon out: neither keeper really had much to do, as Dover never really threatened to score besides set pieces and Notts County couldn't really break through often enough to create good chances. Still, it was a fine afternoon out at an extremely impressive ground for this level.

As would be expected with a crowd of over 5,000, it took a while to get out of the ground, but once I did it was a short walk back to the station, where I had a twenty-minute wait for the train back to Peterborough. This ended up leaving five minutes late, but it still got me back into Peterborough at around 6:40pm as I was expecting.

I won't be watching any more football matches before I return to University in eight days, so my next groundhop will be on the 28th when I visit another of the National League's Magpies: I'll hopefully be visiting Maidenhead United for their county cup match against Marlow.

The Ground

Meadow Lane is an impressive all-seater ground which wouldn't look out of place in the Championship. The ground has 20,211 seats, but its official capacity for football matches is currently 18,816. The Derek Pavis Stand - where I was seated - is the largest stand at the ground with 6,715 seats. Directly across from this is the Jimmy Sirrel Stand, which is exclusively for away fans and contains 5,775 seats.

The Kop is the larger of the two stands behind the goals, with 5,440 seats compared to the 2,281 seats of the Hayden Green Family Stand. The Kop is the tallest stand at the ground and contained the most vocal of the home supporters.

The record attendance at the ground - before it became an all-seater stadium - was 47,310 for an FA Cup match against York City in 1955.

Photos

Saffron Walden Town - Catons Lane

Saffron Walden Town FC

1 Catons Lane

Saffron Walden

Essex

CB10 2DU

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 103

Date: Saturday 11th January 2020

Saffron Walden Town 4-0 Woodford Town

Essex Senior League

Attendance: 257 (official)

Saffron Walden Town - History

Saffron Walden Town were founded in 1872 as Saffron Walden, making them the oldest senior football club in Essex. They joined the Haverhill & District League in 1899, winning it six times. During this era, the club also competed in other local leagues, including the Stansted & District League, the Cambridgeshire League and the Hertfordshire & Essex Border League: they won the Stansted & District League seven times and the Hertfordshire & Essex Border League once.

Next, the club moved to the Essex & Suffolk Border League and then the North Essex League, before joining the Spartan League in 1933, winning its Division 2 in the 1936/37 season. After World War 2, the club joined the Parthenon League in 1953, before joining Division 1A of the Hertfordshire County League for the 1955/56 season. 

The club spent the next fifteen years rotating between the Premier Division and Division 1, before becoming a founder member of the Essex Senior League in the 1971/72 season, having changed to its current name in 1967. The club won the league in the 1973/74 season and transferred to the Eastern Counties League, spending the next decade there. After winning the title in the 1982/83 season, the club finished 6th and moved up to Division 2 North of the Isthmian League.

The club's first two seasons at that level saw them finish in the top half, before finishing in the bottom half for the next few seasons. In the 1991/92 season, the club were placed in Division 2 upon restructuring and remained there for five seasons, before being demoted due to the ground not meeting grading requirements. This saw the club return to the Essex Senior League.

At the turn of the millennium, the club won the league and finished as runners-up in consecutive seasons, but were unable to return to the Isthmian League due to ongoing ground developments. After a couple more seasons in the Essex Senior League, the club tried to transfer to the Eastern Counties League but were prevented from doing so. This forced the club to drop out of the league system in the 2003/04 season, before joining Division 1 of the Eastern Counties League the following season.

After seven inconsistent seasons in Division 1, financial problems forced the club to resign from the league in the 2011/12 season. However, they were able to rejoin the league the following season and had three strong seasons in Division 1, finishing 3rd in the 2014/15 season to earn promotion to the Premier Division. The club had three mid-table finishes in the Premier Division before being transferred to the Essex Senior League last season, finishing 4th and looking to go one better this season to earn promotion to Step 4.

The club competed in three seasons of the FA Cup in the late 1870s and early 1880s, losing in the 1st Round each time. That aside, the club's best run in the competition saw them reach the 2nd Qualifying Round in the 1983/84, 1984/85 and 1987/88 seasons: the latter of these saw them beat Rainham Town before losing to Carshalton Athletic. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run saw them reach the 5th Round in the 1990/91 season: they beat Soham Town Rangers, Gorleston, Witham Town, Burgess Hill Town and Newquay before losing to Buckingham Town.

My Visit

This season, my groundhopping plans have ended up being reliant on certain outcomes in cup matches, and every time that has happened things have gone against me and my plans. That happened twice with my plans for yesterday: initially, I was going to head to Halesowen Town with Yaxley in the league, but they then progressed in the FA Trophy to put paid to that idea. After that, I was hoping to head to Boston United, but I was reliant on Darlington losing in the FA Trophy, which inevitably didn't happen.

After the Halesowen match was postponed, my plan for yesterday was always going to be to get a lift from my mum to a match somewhere else, with Boston United initially being first choice. However, even before that match ended up being postponed thanks to Darlington's progression in the Trophy, I had already scrapped the idea in favour of somewhere cheaper, due to other changes with Yaxley's fixture list (which I'll talk about more later on).

After that, I gave my mum an initial list of five matches to choose from, including Stotfold (due to their impending ground move), Northampton ON Chenecks, Birstall United, Rushden & Higham United and Sleaford Town. On Friday, she told me that we would be going to Rushden & Higham United, which I was fine with. However, it turned out that they were going to have a pitch inspection yesterday morning, so I let her know on Friday evening and began to prepare other plans.

Not long after 11am yesterday, the Rushden & Higham United match was announced as postponed, so I began looking for other options, initially focusing on anything which would be feasible from Rushden Lakes (as that was where my mum and Carl were planning to be while I was at the match). However, there were no reasonable options on that front, so I began to look at both my existing options and at options further afield. I ended up scrapping all but one of the existing options (ON Chenecks being the only survivor) and struggled to find many other options which seemed reasonable and interesting besides that.

After flicking through the Nearby Fixtures on my Futbology app, I spotted this fixture, which I had initially dismissed as being too far away for me to expect a lift to. Regardless, with no other matches grabbing my attention at all, I text my mum the two options and waited for her and Carl to get home and decide on which of the two we would go to.

In the end, no decision was made until we were just about to leave the house at 1:30pm: at that point, we decided to head here due to Carl being familiar with the majority of the route to Saffron Walden. As such, we made swift progress down the new A14, eventually arriving at the ground an hour after leaving. 

After taking a couple of photos outside the ground, I headed in through the turnstiles, paying £4 for student admission and £1 for a decent programme. I then spent the next few minutes under the nearest area of cover, looking over the ground as I wrapped up to stay warm. I then did my usual circuit of photos, listening out for the  occasional vague announcements about a potential delay to kick-off as I went. 

Once I completed the circuit, I was able to grab a photo of the team sheet (which had a large crowd of people in front of it as I was going around taking photos) before ordering a cheese burger from the nearby tea hut. By the time I received the burger, it had been confirmed that kick-off was going to be delayed by ten minutes, though there was still no explanation at that stage (it was later announced that a Saffron Walden supporter had needed to be taken to hospital, but was fortunately doing fine).

At this point, I went and took a seat in the seated stand on the far side of the ground, quickly realising that the views from within it weren't the best (more on that later). Despite that, I remained there for the duration of the match.

From the table and recent form of the two sides, only one outcome seemed likely here in Saffron Walden's pursuit of promotion to Step 4. I was simply hoping that the match would be reasonably competitive despite Saffron Walden's recent good form.

Here's my report on a match which stayed true to the formbook, with Saffron Walden cruising to a dominant victory against their mid-table opponents in front of a good crowd of 257:

After letting Woodford Town have an early spell of possession, Saffron Walden broke with pace and took the lead in the 6th minute: Tyger Smalls ran down the left wing, cut into the box and shot below Woodford keeper James Parkins to score. This set the tone for the match and saw Saffron Walden take control: they were content to let Woodford play out from the back, before winning back the ball and attacking on the counter.

Despite a flurry of chances, it took until the 24th minute for the home side to double their lead, aided by a defensive mix-up: from a corner, a Woodford defender missed a header, allowing Ross Adams to head the ball to the far post where Gavin Cockman was waiting to head in and score. Fifteen minutes later, the dominant home side made it 3-0, this time capitalising on a poor kick from Parkins: Cockman picked up the loose ball and placed his shot below Parkins to score.

After struggling to produce any real chances in the first half, Woodford made a decent start to the second half and had an excellent chance to pull one back in the 50th minute: Olayemi Ogunfunmilade capitalised on a poor clearance and rounded Saffron Walden keeper Nicholas Eyre, but the defenders were quick to provide cover and stopped the shot. Six minutes later, Cockman completed his hat-trick to make it 4-0 by running into the box and slotting a shot beneath Parkins.

On the hour mark, Cockman pulled up with some sort of injury and was substituted. Moments later, it could have been 5-0 as Steven Carvell audaciously volleyed goalwards from 35 yards, his effort clattering the crossbar. After this, the home side stopped attacking with their previous urgency, evidently content to see the match out at this stage. As such, almost nothing of note happened in the last 30 minutes, other than Woodford captain Tola Odedoyin being sin-binned with a couple of minutes left.

Overall, this match was one-sided from start to finish, meaning that it wasn't overly entertaining as a result: Saffron Walden played some good football at times, but they rarely had to get out of second gear to win this match. This is reflected in my report as there simply wasn't that much happening on the pitch despite the scoreline, especially in the last half-hour when the match dropped to the intensity of a pre-season friendly.

Despite this, this was a good groundhop to open 2020 with, as the ground is absolutely excellent in a lovely traditional town. The food on offer was decent too and there was a good atmosphere throughout, particularly from the travelling Woodford fans who never stopped singing despite the scoreline.

The late kick-off meant that the match didn't finish until just before 5pm, meaning we weren't able to begin the journey home until then. Regardless, we made quick progress back and arrived in Yaxley again an hour later, stopping to order fish and chips on the way home.

For my next groundhop, I'm hoping to be able to get to Yaxley's away match at Wantage Town this coming Tuesday, but I'm going to need a lift from someone in the club to make that possible. Whatever happens with that, I will then be heading on the train up to Nottingham to visit Notts County next Saturday, for my last groundhop before I head back to University for my final semester.

The Ground

Catons Lane, sometimes referred to as The Meadow, is an excellent Step 5 ground that is very well-maintained. There's cover on all four sides of the ground with an overall five areas of cover and three seated stands. On the near side is an odd 100-seater stand which lacks side panels to protect from the elements. The dugouts are situated directly in front of this stand. A smaller equivalent to this stand can be found behind the far goal, providing around 50 seats at pitch level. Next to this stand is a tree within the ground perimeter and it also appears that there used to be several more either side of the stand on the near side.

On the far side is the oldest and most characterful stand at the ground, which provides bench seating for around 200 people. It is painted in the club's red and black and is very aesthetically pleasing, but views from within it are very limited due to the combination of supporting pillars and the player's tunnel in the centre of the stand. It also doesn't help that, due to the ground having a distinct slope from one corner to the other, the stand is below pitch level; as is often the case, characterful doesn't translate into practicality all too well, which is a shame. Still, I really liked the stand despite these minor complaints.

There's another area of cover on that side, in the form of a small overhang in front of the tea hut, though for practical reasons that isn't typically used as cover during the match. Also, from this side of the ground, you can see the St Mary the Virgin Church in the distance, which is the largest non-cathedral church in Essex. The clubhouse is directly next to this and presumably provides the usual range of refreshment options. That aside, there's an area of covered flat standing behind the near goal, which provides cover for around 100 people. Behind this is the club shop, though I did not have a look inside.

Overall, the ground has a capacity of around 2,000 and, in terms of football furniture, it is probably well-equipped for anything up to Step 3. Whether everything behind the scenes is ready for that is another matter entirely (I saw in the programme that their changing rooms are an issue at the moment, so I presume that would be something to resolve if the club wants to move up the pyramid).

Photos