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.

Photos