Lowestoft Town FC
Crown Meadow
Love Road
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR32 2PA
Official Website
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Ground: 123
Date: Saturday 30th October 2021
Lowestoft Town 2-3 Yaxley
FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Attendance: 297 (official)
Lowestoft Town - History
Lowestoft Town were founded in 1887 as Lowestoft FC, formed as a merger of East Suffolk and the first Kirkley club. Three years later, the club changed to its current name. In 1897, the club became founder members of the Norfolk & Suffolk League while also remaining members of the North Suffolk League, winning six titles in seven seasons in both leagues. In 1900, the club reached the FA Amateur Cup final by beating Leytonstone and Marlow, but they lost to Bishop Auckland.
In 1935, the club merged with another Kirkley club and became founder members of the Eastern Counties League, finishing as joint-champions with Harwich & Parkeston in the league's first season. Two seasons later, the club won the league title outright before winning the league cup the following season before World War 2 brought football to a halt. After World War 2, the club remained in the Eastern Counties League but spent most seasons in mid-table for the first post-war decade.
After turning semi-professional in 1962, the club became the league's dominant force and finished in the top two for the next ten seasons, winning the title seven times in the process. The early 1970s saw a slight decline in the club's fortunes, but they still consistently finished in the top half and won the title again in the 1977/78 season.
After this, the club remained in the Eastern Counties League for the next thirty-one years, being placed in the Premier Division when the league gained a second division. The club's next league titles came in the 2005/06 and 2008/09 seasons, the latter of which saw the club gain promotion to Division 1 North of the Isthmian League. The club won the title in their first season at this level to secure back-to-back promotions to the Premier Division.
The club finished in the play-offs in each of their first three seasons at this level, losing consecutive play-off finals to Tonbridge Angels, AFC Hornchurch and Concord Rangers. They reached the play-off final again in the 2013/14 season, but this time they beat AFC Hornchurch to secure promotion to the Conference North. The club finished a respectable 16th in their first season at this level, but were relegated at the end of the 2015/16 season after finishing third-from-bottom.
Upon returning to the Isthmian League Premier Division, the club finished 11th in their first season before narrowly avoiding relegation in the 2017/18 season. After this, the club were transferred to the newly-formed Southern League Premier Division Central for the 2018/19 season, finishing 14th in their first season in this new league.
The club has reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup on six occasions, most recently in the 2009/10 season when they beat Great Yarmouth Town, Dereham Town, Boston United, Sutton Coldfield Town and Gloucester City before losing to Wrexham. The club's best FA Trophy run came in the 1971/72 season when they reached the 2nd Round, beating Ely City, Wisbech Town, Bury Town and Stourbridge before losing to Barnet in a replay.
As for the FA Vase, the club finished as runners-up in the 2007/08 season: on the way to Wembley, they beat Desborough Town, Rye United, Blackstones, Dunston Federation, Concord Rangers and Whitley Bay before losing 1-2 to Kirkham & Wesham in the final. The following season saw the club reach the semi-finals again, but this time Whitley Bay beat them on aggregate.
My Visit
With yesterday originally being a blank date in Yaxley's fixture list at the start of the season (due to the FA Trophy), I had been planning to fit in a neutral groundhop somewhere to account for the possibility that we wouldn't progress in the FA Trophy. As such, I had drawn up a shortlist at the start of the month which placed Gorleston as my first choice due in part to their impending ground move. However, I didn't go too in-depth on that planning as my aim was to prioritise Yaxley's match if we did progress.
After we beat Biggleswade 2-0 on the 9th to secure our progress to the 3rd Qualifying Round, I deleted the neutral shortlist I had drawn up and waited for the draw to come out the following Monday and determine where I would be on the 30th. Naturally, I was quite excited when the draw came out to see that we had been drawn away at Lowestoft Town, as their ground had been on my radar for a while and it was one that was easily doable on the train (albeit at a cost of close to £20).
However, when I was watching Yaxley at Histon last week, I was told by our chairman that we'd be putting a coach on for the Lowestoft match at £10 per person and that it would be leaving our ground at 10:30am. With that being confirmed, there was little else to do but wait for yesterday to come around, keeping an eye on the weather just in case.
On Thursday, I wrote up the club's history for this entry and started working on a shortlist of groundhopping options for the 13th of November in case we did not progress. Then, I did the rest of my preparation for yesterday on Friday so I wouldn't have to rush around yesterday morning before getting the coach.
Yesterday, I woke up at 8:30am and spent the morning watching Youtube videos and otherwise making sure I had everything I needed for the day ahead. Just after 10:10am, we left the house and I was dropped off at the ground just over five minutes later and got on the coach with plenty of time to spare before it was set to leave.
The coach eventually left at 10:40am and I spent the way to Lowestoft reading on my Kindle and eating my bag of FLIPZ Salted Caramel pretzels (not as good as the Strawberry Shortcake ones, but still far better than they have any right to be). Two-and-a-half hours later, we arrived at the ground and got off the coach and I headed into the boardroom with our other club officials. After receiving a warm welcome and a cup of tea on arrival, we were given shepherd's/cottage pie (I can't remember which, but I'm leaning towards it being the former) at 2pm.
At around 2:30pm, I headed out to do a quick circuit of photos before kick-off and, once that was done, I waited for kick-off with our other club officials in front of the terrace. When it became clear that we were shooting towards the other end, I moved up the pitch to stand up there, before moving across to the other side due to the sun shining directly in my eyes on the near side.
Honestly, I didn't expect much out of this match at all. My expectation was that Lowestoft would have a bit more nous about them in terms of game management and they'd use that to see us off fairly easily. However, seeing that they were struggling in the league as well did give me some hope that we could pull off an upset and get a result.
Lowestoft took the lead after 9 minutes, Louis McIntosh shooting beneath Aaron Butcher from a tight angle at his near post. From there, the home side dominated for the first half-hour and created chance after chance as Yaxley struggled to get out of their own half; all they could do for a while was send the ball upfield to get it clear, only for Lowestoft to quickly regain possession and go straight on the attack again.
Yaxley started to grow into the match in the final fifteen minutes of the half, finding space and time to play the ball on the ground and work out from the back. The first half-chance came in the 36th minute as Dan Cotton shot narrowly wide from 25 yards. Then, a minute later, Matt Sparrow was able to drive into the box after a Hameed Ishola pass, but his low shot was well-saved by Lowestoft keeper Warren Burwood's foot.
After that promising end to the first half, Yaxley equalised a minute into the second half: a quick ball from Cotton picked out Sparrow in acres of space on the right wing and the winger's cross reached Tom Waumsley in the centre of the box, the striker holding the ball for a moment before setting up Ishola to shoot and score from the edge of the box. Seven minutes later, Yaxley completed the turnaround and took a 1-2 lead: Ishola won the ball in midfield and passed to Kyle Nolan, the midfielder setting Sparrow through to drive at the defence and shoot low past Burwood to score.
The second half was finely poised after this as Lowestoft were forced to push for an equaliser and Yaxley tried to see the match out, but chances were few and far between for a while. However, the match came back to life in the 81st minute when Lowestoft were awarded a penalty from a corner and Waumsley was sent off for a scuffle in the box as the corner came in. Two minutes later, Ryan Hawkins stepped up to take the penalty and scored despite Butcher diving the right way.
At this point, it seemed like momentum would shift firmly in Lowestoft's favour for the final ten minutes, but Yaxley had other ideas. Straight from the kick-off, the ball was played to Sparrow and he charged forwards. He was taken down on the edge of the box and the referee was going to blow for a foul, but the ball fell to Liam Hook who shot low into the bottom corner to restore Yaxley's lead. With five minutes of normal time to go (as well as five minutes of stoppage time), it was a tense finale as Lowestoft pushed for an equaliser once more, but Yaxley were able to hold out to complete the upset.
To call this match eventful would be nothing short of an understatement. With how much of the first half went, I thought Lowestoft were going to run away with this one, but once we started to get the ball down on the ground and started to look much better. Making such a quick start to the second half was very important, and the red card made for a tense finale. In the end, though, it was a deserved win to make it three wins in our last four.
After
the match finished, we headed back into the boardroom and I had
another cup of tea before heading into the main clubhouse area with
the rest of the players, coaching staff and supporters as we
celebrated and waited for the coach. Eventually, the coach left at around 6pm to begin the long journey back home. While the players were drinking and celebrating, I sat reading on my Kindle and ate the lunch I'd packed as a small dinner.
At 8pm, we stopped at the services near Cambridge and I got off and got nine Chicken McNuggets from McDonalds before getting back on the coach again. All in all, we stopped at the services for half an hour before starting the final leg of the journey home. This meant we made it back to the Yaxley ground just after 9pm and I was picked up from there, getting back into the house ten minutes later. I then sorted out my photos before relaxing for the evening, eventually writing my match report earlier this morning.
I have a broad groundhopping plan for November, with a lot of variance depending on what happens next with Yaxley in the FA Trophy: next weekend, I'm down in Gravesend with friends from University for a few days and I'll be visiting Punjab United while I'm there; on the 13th, I'll be going to whatever tie Yaxley get in the FA Trophy 1st Round, whether home or away; on the 20th, I'll either head to Whittlesey Athletic in the FA Vase or Yaxley's away match at Bedworth United, depending on how the weather looks closer to the time; then, on the 27th, I'll go to Yaxley's next game in the FA Trophy (if we continue to progress), Yaxley's home league match against Ilkeston Town (if we lose in the Trophy and are drawn away at a new ground) or a new ground for a neutral match (if we're drawn at home or away at a ground I've already visited).
In any case, things will become much clearer on Monday when the next round draw comes out.
The Ground
Crown Meadow is a ground with a fair bit of character. There is cover on two sides of the ground, with two areas of cover on the near side. The only seated cover at the ground is in the main stand on the near side: this contains around 450 wooden seats and there are two floodlight pylons positioned in front of it. Next to this is an area of terracing which provides covered standing for around 200 people.
The only other area of cover at the ground is a small covered shelter behind the far goal. The rest of the ground is open hard standing and there is very little space for meaningful expansion on the current site. The pitch is noticeably sloped, with the near goal sitting at the bottom of the slope. Having seen use at Step 2 for a couple of seasons a few years ago, the ground is presumably still good enough for that level in its current form.
The ground currently has an official capacity of 3,000, but the record crowd was 5,000 for the FA Cup 1st Round match against Watford in 1967.
Photos
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