Warboys Town - Forge Way

Warboys Town FC
Forge Way
Warboys
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE28 2TN

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Ground: 130
Date: Saturday 22nd January 2022
Warboys Town 3-2 Wisbech Town Reserves
Peterborough & District League Division 1
Attendance: 50

Warboys Town - History

Warboys Town were founded in 1885 and initially played in local leagues before joining the Peterborough & District League in 1926. They won the Huntingdonshire Senior Cup for the first time in 1927 and won it three more times in 1929, 1932 and 1933. After finishing bottom of the league in 1947, the club dropped back down to the Huntingdonshire League.

Three years later, the club joined Division 2 of the United Counties League. They spent six seasons in this league, finishing as runners-up in the 1954/55 season before leaving the league and returning to the Peterborough & District League twelve months later. In 1988, they became founder members of the newly-formed Division 1 of the Eastern Counties League.

Initially, the club struggled in this new league, finishing bottom in the 1989/90 and 1990/91 seasons, but they gradually improved and finished 2nd in the 1995/96 season to earn promotion to the Premier Division. They spent five seasons at this level, recording a highest finish of 15th three times before finishing second-from-bottom in the 2000/01 season to be relegated back to Division 1.

Midway through the 2003/04 season, the club resigned from the league due to player shortages. The first team replaced the reserves in Division 2B of the Cambridgeshire County League. In 2005, they were transferred to the Peterborough & District League and this is where they have remained ever since, yo-yoing between Divisions 1 and 2.

The club have competed in the FA Cup nine times, but they only managed to win a match in one of these campaigns: in the 1999/2000 season, they beat Bury Town and Great Yarmouth Town before losing to Witney Town. As for the FA Vase, their best run saw them reach the 2nd Round in the 1994/95 season: they beat Hullbridge Sports, Downham Town and London Colney before losing to Stotfold.

My Visit

At the start of the season, I had noted yesterday down for Yaxley's visit to Halesowen Town. However, I was always conscious that this is the weekend just before my sister's birthday and that it was likely she would want to go out for a meal on Saturday evening. If that was to be the case, I'd have no choice but to stay local and miss out on Halesowen once more (having missed out two seasons ago due to their progress in the FA Trophy).

Even by the time last weekend came around, I wasn't sure what would be happening, so I was somewhat interested when Sean offered me a lift to Blackstones' visit to Nottingham-based Dunkirk. However, by Monday I decided to just ask my mum for a lift somewhere local (Wisbech St Mary, Burton Park Wanderers, Rushden & Higham United and Wellingborough Whitworth were the four options I gave her), in the expectation that we would be going out for a meal yesterday evening.

By Thursday morning, I still didn't know what would be happening and I started to become tempted by options further afield again, particularly when by sheer chance I noticed that Huntingdon Town were taking a coach to Great Yarmouth Town and it was free. In the end, though, it was confirmed that we would be going out for an evening meal and I had to look for local 2pm kick-offs to get a match in at all.

Initially, my mum's preferred option was Oakham United, but due to recent issues on the A1 around Stamford, she instead opted for Warboys yesterday morning. We left the house at around 12:45pm and I was dropped off at the ground 40 minutes later, heading into the clubhouse first to use the toilet before heading out to do my circuit of photos (or as much as one as the ground's layout allowed). I decided to spend the entirety of the match standing atop the stand's raised terracing for the best possible view of the entire pitch.

Looking at the league table and considering the struggles of Wisbech's first team, I was fully expecting Warboys to have too much for Wisbech's Reserves and continue their charge for promotion to the Premier Division (I heard a couple of their fans saying before kick-off that they were two wins from promotion and four from the title going into this match). I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of quality as I don't go down to this level of football too often, but I've always been entertained in the Peterborough & District League at least.

In a first half which saw Warboys have the lion's share of the chances, it was Wisbech's Reserves who took the lead in the 23rd minute when their 2 took an audacious shot from 30 yards that caught the Warboys keeper off his line. This came just after Warboys wasted two golden chances in quick succession at the other end when their 9 had a shot from the edge of the box saved and 11 then hit the rebound straight at the keeper. Seven minutes later, the Wisbech keeper was called into action once more to stop Warboys' 3 from tapping in from close range.

It took until the 54th minute for Warboys to equalise when their 10 scored from a close-range diving header. Nine minutes later, Wisbech reclaimed the lead with a quick counter: their 10 charged down the right wing, managed to keep the ball despite an attempted tackle and then crossed from the byline for 9 to tap in.

In the 79th minute, Warboys equalised once more when their 12 headed home from a corner. Then, less than a minute later, Warboys scored again and took the lead for the first time: their 14 hit a low cross from the left wing and 15 placed it in the bottom corner. After this, Warboys opted for game management to see the match out and secure another win in their quest for promotion.

As has been the norm in my few forays into the Peterborough & District League, this was an entertaining encounter between two sides eager to play on the front foot. It was a real topsy-turvy encounter that Wisbech Reserves perhaps deserved a point from, but Warboys never gave up and showed great character to equalise twice and then to score the winner so quickly after the second equaliser. On the strength of that performance, I'd fully expect to see them win promotion at the end of the season and it would be great to see a friendly club work their way back up after some more difficult years in recent times.

As our evening meal was planned for 5pm, I had to leave quickly after the full-time whistle so we could get back home as early as possible. This saw us get back at around 4:30pm and we had to quickly get ready to go out again. As a result, I had no time to write up my match report or sort out my photos until after we got back from the meal (which was at Wagamama and was very nice, if expensive), hence why my match report is notably lighter on detail than usual. When I did get back, I was pleasantly surprised to see someone I follow on Twitter called The Cold End post video highlights of the goals, which helped me refine and correct a few details in my report.

My next groundhop will be in two weeks when Yaxley visit Belper Town, but I'm unsure if I'll ask for a lift from someone or if I'll just go by train (the ground is only a five-minute walk from Belper station). After that will hopefully be Athletic Newham's FA Vase 5th Round tie against Brockenhurst on the 12th, but it depends on what if anything comes from rumours that they fielded an ineligible player in their 4th Round win over Littlehampton Town. I think I'll head into London anyway if they do get removed from the competition, but we'll see.

The Ground

Forge Way is a ground that has relatively recently (i.e. in my lifetime) seen use at Steps 5 and 6 in recent times and it shows, as it is an excellent ground for the 12th tier. The single stand is on the near side positioned behind the dugouts and it's an impressive structure. There are two elevated steps of wooden terracing in the centre of the stand with two steps of concrete terracing either side of it. The fact that the wooden terracing is elevated means that the dugouts do not obstruct views from the stand.

Unusually for this level, the ground also has floodlights, though as the 2pm kick-off may suggest they were not in use today. I'm unsure if this is a conscious decision by the club to save money or if it's because the floodlights no longer work.

As the ground is also shared with the local cricket club, there is no hard standing or permanent perimeter fencing on the far side. This also means that only half of the area behind each goal has permanent railing and hard standing in place, while the stand side of the ground is fully railed with hard standing.

In its current form, the ground is more than good enough for the club's current level and it probably wouldn't need too many upgrades to meet Step 6 ground grading criteria should the club pursue a return to that level of football. At the very least, seats would need to be added somewhere (I have heard that the current stand used to contain seats in the past) and the ground would need to be enclosed to some degree as well.

Warboys Town have played here for their entire history, achieving a record attendance of 500 for a Huntingdonshire Senior Cup semi-final against local rivals Ramsey Town.

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Blackstones - Blackstones Sports & Social Club

 Blackstones FC
Blackstones Sports & Social Club
Lincoln Road
Stamford
Lincolnshire
PE9 1UU

Official Website
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Ground: 129
Date: Saturday 15th January 2022
Blackstones 1-2 Radford
United Counties League Division 1
Attendance: 75 (official)

Blackstones - History

Blackstones were founded in 1891 as the works team of Blackstone & Co. The club initially played in local leagues before joining the Peterborough & District League after World War 1, winning the title in the 1918/19 season. Two seasons later, the club resigned from the league and returned to local leagues such as the Stamford & District League and the Bourne & District League.

Having won the Stamford & District League just before the outbreak of World War 2, the club returned to the Peterborough & District League after the war, but they struggled and resigned from the league after finishing bottom of Division 2 in the 1951/52 season. They returned tp the Peterborough & District League once more in 1959, winning the Division 2 title three seasons later to return to Division 1.

In 1969, the club changed their name to Mirrlees Blackstone after Blackstone & Co merged with Mirrlees National Limited. The 1975/76 season saw the renamed club win the Division 1 title to earn promotion to the Premier Division, where they remained for eight seasons before joining Division 1 of the United Counties League for the 1984/85 season. After four seasons at this level, they finished as runners-up to earn promotion to the Premier Division.

In 1998, the club adopted its current name after Mirrlees Blackstone closed their Stamford works. They spent the next fifteen years in the Premier Division, recording a highest finish of 4th in the 2007/08 season. Five years later, they finished second-from-bottom and were relegated to Division 1, where they have remained ever since, recording a highest finish of 5th in the 2018/19 season.

The club's best FA Cup run saw them reach the 2nd Qualifying Round in the 1992/93 season when they beat Great Yarmouth Town and Bishop's Stortford before losing in a replay to Heybridge Swifts. As for the FA Vase, the club reached the 4th Round in the 2007/08 season by beating Norwich United, Diss Town, Norton United and Coleshill Town before losing to Lowestoft Town.

My Visit

Originally, I had intended to go watch a match in the FA Vase yesterday, specifically Athletic Newham's match against Littlehampton Town. However, not long into the New Year I decided to scrap this plan due to a combination of two factors: the fact that FA Vase and Trophy matches go to penalties if they finish level in 90 minutes and the fact that the trains have been seriously unreliable since my aborted visit to Spalding United a month ago thanks to a cancelled train.

Having made that decision, I then spent much of the next two weeks trying to figure out where to go instead. I considered a wide range of options including but not limited to visiting Sherwood Colliery for a first trip into NCEL territory, heading to Goole via Doncaster or heading into Leicester and getting a bus to Leicester Nirvana/St. Andrews. In truth, though, I was feeling very uninspired by a lot of the options I had and even considered changing my mind and going into London for the Vase anyway, only for the train prices being higher than normal and putting paid to that idea.

On Friday morning, I had one last look on the Futbology App to see if inspiration would strike and it did when I saw that Holwell Sports were at home, with their ground being one I've been eager to visit for quite some time. After writing up their club history on Friday, I ordered train tickets to Melton Mowbray yesterday morning with no concerns about a postponement. However, upon checking the club's Facebook page (due to no updates being posted on their Twitter since Wednesday) I saw that there was a pitch inspection planned due to a frozen pitch.

Just from the photo they had posted, it was plain to see that the match there was not going to go ahead, so I had to reconsider my options. I could have gone for a refund and got different train tickets, but the £10 admin fee they charge for requesting a refund made that basically pointless. I considered getting additional tickets to allow me to head into Leicester as I had previously been considering, but I wasn't especially motivated by the idea.

In the end, I opted to head for Blackstones, as this would allow me to get the same trains I was going to get anyway, except getting off a couple of stops earlier. This did essentially mean I'd spent twice as much on train tickets as was actually necessary, but there wasn't much to be done about that. In any event, I got the 1:54pm train from Peterborough to Stamford, which ended up arriving at 2:10pm after leaving five minutes late.

From the station, it was just short of a half-hour walk to the ground through the very circuitous and hilly streets of Stamford. Upon arrival at the ground, I bumped into someone I see regularly at Yaxley home matches who was here to watch one of his sons playing for Blackstones. After a brief chat outside the ground, I headed through the turnstile and paid £5 for admission and £2 for the programme. We then chatted for the next ten or so minutes before I started on my circuit of photos with ten minutes to spare before kick-off.

Other than a brief period at the start of the second half when I walked across to the far side to do an attendance headcount, I spent the entire match stood in or just next to the covered standing area on the near side in the company of Sean and Tony, another two people I first ran into at Yaxley.

With this being the second week in a row where I'd be watching Radford, I had a better idea of what to expect from them this time. As with last week, I fully expected them to come out on top and continue their promotion charge, but I didn't expect them to do so convincingly, not least because they were away from home this time. I was also hoping to see Blackstones do well and get something out of this due to all the Yaxley connections in their squad (as well as their management team having previously been involved with Yaxley reserves, seven of the matchday sixteen had previously played for Yaxley, including promotion-winner Josh Pike).

Radford took the lead 7 minutes into this match when Conor Moore spotted Blackstones keeper Simon Dalton off his line and hit a powerful shot into the top corner despite Dalton getting a hand to it. Blackstones' best chance of the first half came in the 40th minute when Scott Waumsley scooped a shot over his head inside the box to force a fine save out of Yinka Adebowale after Radford failed to clear their lines.

Blackstones equalised two minutes into the second half when Callum Madigan tapped in after the Radford defence failed to clear a free kick. It should have been 2-1 to the home side in the 71st minute when the ball was squared to Jack Wilson inside the box, but Moore's challenge took the power out of the shot and it was a simple save for Adebowale in the end.

Six minutes later, Radford regained the lead after Dalton pushed a cross into the path of Ryan Smith for a tap-in. The Blackstones defence strongly appealed that Smith was in an offside position to slot in the rebound, but the goal was given. In the 88th minute, Blackstones almost equalised once more when Luke Clemenson found himself through on goal, but Adebowale made the save once more to secure the three points. The ending exchanges of this match were marred by a mass brawl involving players from both teams and spectators on the far side, after which a spectator was ejected from the ground.

Compared to their dominant victory over Bourne last week, Radford weren't overly impressive. The credit for that has to go to an impressive Blackstones performance, with the struggling side being somewhat unlucky to come away from this with nothing. They certainly put up much more of a fight than Bourne did and really made life difficult for Radford. I'd like to think they can stay up based on that performance, not least because they're a very friendly club off the pitch. They might need a striker to give them a bit more firepower, though.

Towards the end of the second half, Sean offered me a lift back home (as he and Tony would be heading in that direction as well anyway) and I decided to take him up on his offer rather than endure the long, cold walk back to the station in the dark. Before that, though, we headed into the clubhouse after the full-time whistle, eventually leaving about fifteen minutes into the Aston Villa-Manchester United match that was playing on the TV.

After stopping to drop another of the Blackstones player's father off in Peterborough, I was dropped off at around 6:15pm and had another chat with Sean (in which he said he'd be happy to give me lifts to any other Blackstones matches home or away) before heading into the house. I sorted out my photos and got my match report mostly written up before dinner.

Next weekend will be another groundhop for me, and once again I'm not sure of where I'll be going. Depending on what else is going on, I could ask for a lift from someone for Yaxley's visit to Halesowen Town, I could get a lift from Sean to Blackstones' visit to Dunkirk or I could get a lift to somewhere more local from my mum. I think I'll wait and see what Monday's FA Trophy and Vase draws offer before I decide what I want to do.

The Ground

Blackstones Sports & Social Club is a characterful Step 6 ground. As is the norm for this level, there is just the one seated stand and one area of covered standing, but neither of these are Arena stands. The main stand contains 100 seats in the form of bench seating and is distinctly painted in the club's colours. The area of covered standing next to this provides cover for around 50 people.

The rest of the ground is open hard standing, with the clubhouse and tea bar positioned behind the near goal. Building work has started behind the far goal for a small structure of some sorts, but it is too early to tell what that will be. The ground's perimeter is dotted with trees, which probably gives the ground a much more rural feel in spring or summer. In its current form, the ground is probably good enough for Step 5 and there is plenty of room for expansion as needed too.

Photos

Radford - Selhurst Street

Radford FC
Selhurst Street
Hyson Green
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG7 5EH

Official Website
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Ground: 128

Date: Saturday 8th January 2022

Radford 4-0 Bourne Town

United Counties League Division 1

Attendance: 64 (official)

 

Radford - History

 

Radford were founded in 1964 as Manlove & Alliots, a Sunday League side for Manlove, Alliot & Co. Ltd. Six years later, they changed their name to Radford Olympic and in 1977 they became the first amateur club in Britain to wear sponsorship on their shirts. In 1979, the club moved into Saturday football by joining the Central Alliance League, before moving to the East Midlands Regional League after one season.

After winning the Division 1 title in 1983, the club joined the newly-formed Central Midlands League and won its inaugural Senior Cup, before finishing as runners-up in the league the following season. In 1987, the club dropped Olympic from their name to become Radford FC (though they have maintained the Olympic rings on their badge).

The renamed club continued to play in the Central Midlands League for the next two decades, finishing 3rd in the Premier Division in the 2002/03 season to earn promotion to the Supreme Division. The 2008/09 season saw the club become founder members of the East Midlands Counties League and they remained there until being laterally transferred to Division 1 of the United Counties League when the EMCL was disbanded at the end of the 2020/21 season due to restructuring of the non-league pyramid.

The club's highest league finish came in the 2015/16 season when they finished as runners-up in the East Midlands Counties League behind St. Andrews. Initially, they were promoted to the Midland League Premier Division due to St. Andrews failing a ground grading inspection, but this decision was reversed when the Leicestershire club successfully appealed. 

The club have so far competed in the FA Cup seven times, but their only win in the competition came in the 2015/16 season when they beat Sleaford Town 3-2 in the Extra Preliminary Round before losing 1-2 to Spalding United in the Preliminary Round. However, they have had a few decent runs in the FA Vase, including last season when they reached the 3rd Round for the first time by beating Clipstone, Ollerton Town, Paget Rangers and Bewdley Town before losing to Westfields.

My Visit

For my first groundhop of 2022, I was unsure of what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. I initially considered getting a groundhop in on Bank Holiday Monday to get started while also allowing me to attend Yaxley's home match yesterday, but with few options available on that front I instead opted to miss that Yaxley match and get a groundhop in yesterday.

When I was first flicking through the Futbology app for options, I noticed that there were lots available in the Leicester area. Being able to get to Leicester station direct from Peterborough made that an appealing option, but unfortunately I noticed that Leicester City were also at home in the FA Cup: trying to navigate busy trains full of both Leicester and Watford fans wasn't the most appealing prospect, so I scrapped that idea.

Beyond the Leicester area, I also noticed that there were a good amount of options in and around the Nottingham area and looking on the National Rail Journey Planner during the week suggested that trains were generally running from Peterborough to Nottingham with few problems. On top of that, neither Forest nor Notts County were scheduled to be at home so it was an appealing prospect.

In the end, I had finalised my decision to head into Nottingham by Thursday, but I wasn't sure which of my four options I wanted to go. In the end, I opted for this as it was a short walk from the ground to the tram stop and vice-versa and because taking the tram would allow me to reroute to my 3G back-up at Basford United's ground at the last minute if required.

My train left Peterborough station yesterday at around 12:30pm, five minutes or so later than intended. It was supposed to take just over an hour to get to Nottingham, but we ended up stopping for fifteen or so minutes not long after leaving Peterborough station. Thankfully, even with this setback I arrived in Nottingham before 2pm, just as the sun was coming out (with it having been raining all the way to Nottingham) and I hopped on the tram heading towards Noel Street.

When I got off at Noel Street, I knew the ground was only five minutes away but it wasn't as easy to find as I thought it would be. Either way, I made it to the ground by around 2:20pm, paying £5 for admission, £1 for a programme and £1 for a raffle ticket before doing my circuit of photos. Once that was done, I stopped at the tea bar and paid £3.50 for a sausage cob and chips, taking a seat in the main stand behind the goal while eating that and doing my usual pre-match social media posts.

For the first twenty or so minutes of the match, I stood in one of the covered shelters on the dugout side of the ground and was speaking to a pleasant elderly man with a thick accent who had been involved at Basford United for several years as they rose up the pyramid, as well as being involved in other local football throughout the Nottinghamshire area for years. Once he started chatting with someone else, I moved across to the covered shelter on the near side for the rest of the first half, before moving out of the cover and closer to the exit in the second half.

On paper, this looked likely to be a fairly one-sided contest, with Radford firmly in the promotion chase and Bourne Town struggling towards the wrong end of the table (albeit probably not in danger of finishing in the bottom three with that nine-point gap). That impression was only reinforced when the teamsheets came out on Twitter and I saw that Bourne only had two substitutes named on the bench.

Radford started on the front foot and almost took the lead 4 minutes into this match, Ryan Smith slicing a shot wide of the far post after being picked out by a Kevin Hemagou cross. After a period of concerted Radford pressure, Smith went close again in the 24th minute when he was set through on goal by a loose backpass, but Bourne keeper John Swales did well to block the shot before a defender cleared it for a corner. Four minutes later, Bourne almost took the lead when Martyn Fox volleyed over the crossbar after a long throw was headed clear.

In the 33rd minute, Radford's pressure finally paid off: Jevin Seaton had a curled shot from the edge of the box saved, but Hemagou was there to tap in the rebound. It was 2-0 ten minutes later when Solace Uyi-Olaye hit an excellent right-footed volley into the bottom corner. On the stroke of half-time, Radford had a shot from a corner blocked on the line, but they strongly appealed that it had crossed the line: from where I was standing, it looked as if it had crossed the line, but no goal was given.

Bourne made a better start to the second half, but almost found themselves 3-0 down in the 51st minute: a quick passing move ended with Hemagou having another shot well-saved by Swales. Five minutes later, Thomas Klinkovics almost pulled one back for the away side when he slid the ball across goal aiming for the far corner, but David Boafo blocked the shot on the line and sent it out for a corner. Any hopes of a Bourne comeback were extinguished in the 65th minute when Joe McLaughlin fired an aerial side-footed volley into the net from close range to make it 3-0 to Radford.

This took much of the spark out of the contest, but it reignited again in the 79th minute when Uyi-Olaye was brought down in the box and a penalty was given. Handbags ensued and the striker wanted to break rank and take the penalty himself, but was ordered away by his manager. Instead, Joe Meakin stepped up and had his penalty saved. Moments later, Uyi-Olaye was brought down by Swales to earn his side another penalty, but this time he was allowed to take it and scored to make it 4-0. Substitute Will Bailey almost made it 5-0 in the 87th minute with a powerful shot from outside the box, but Swales denied him with a fingertip save.

This match more or less followed the form book and my expectations as Radford simply had too much for Bourne and fairly easily swept them aside. In fact, even when they noticeably dropped their intensity for much of the second half, they never looked in danger of letting their lead slip despite a few decent chances falling Bourne's way (most notably from set-piece situations). Regardless, it was a decent match to round off an enjoyable first groundhop of 2022 at a club with a small but vocal following (including a drummer behind the goal).

As soon as the final whistle blew, I made my way out of the ground to head to Hyson Green Market tram stop. I had plenty of time, but I wanted to make absolutely sure I'd get back to Nottingham station in time for my train, otherwise I'd have to wait an hour for the next one. Thankfully, this didn't happen and the train left at around 5:30pm, making steady progress until we once again stopped just outside Peterborough for around fifteen minutes.

This meant I wasn't back in Peterborough until 6:50pm, getting back in the house ten minutes later. I sorted out my photos while waiting for dinner, then wrote up my match report after dinner, breaking it up into two halves with a shower.

I'll be groundhopping again next weekend, but I won't be heading into London as planned, nor will I be going to any match in the FA Vase or Trophy due to the potential of extra time and penalties. As such, I'm very much undecided on where to go and will be flicking through the Futbology app again in the coming days to help me make a decision.

The Ground

Selhurst Street, currently known as the Oakfield Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a great ground for Step 6 with plenty of character. Despite space being limited on all sides due to the proximity of houses and a primary school, there is cover on three out of four sides of the ground across five different areas of cover.

Curiously, the only seated cover at the ground is behind the near goal in one corner. This contains around 150 seats and views from the seats are decent. Next to this and directly behind the goal is a small covered area directly in front of the clubhouse, which is where the club's most vocal fans congregate.

There are two covered shelters on the dugout side of the ground, one either side of the dugouts and one directly next to the tea bar. A larger version of these is located on the near side of the ground and also contains a step of terracing. Together, these probably provide standing cover for around 200 people. The rest of the ground is open hard standing, but it's probably good enough for Step 5 in its current form, maybe Step 4 at a stretch.

Photos