Saffron Walden Town FC
1 Catons Lane
Saffron Walden
Essex
CB10 2DU
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
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
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