Desborough Town - Waterworks Field

Desborough Town FC
Waterworks Field
Braybrooke Road
Desborough
Northamptonshire
NN14 2LJ

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 133
Date: Saturday 26th February 2022
Desborough Town 2-2 Rugby Town
United Counties League Premier Division South
Attendance: 114 (official)

Desborough Town - History

Desborough Town were founded in 1896 and have spent their entire history in the top division of the United Counties League (which was called the Northamptonshire League when they joined it in 1896). They won seven league titles (in 1901, 1902, 1907, 1921, 1924, 1925 and 1928) before the league changed name to the United Counties League in 1934.

Since the league changed its name, the club have only managed to win the league title two more times in 1949 and 1967. They have finished as runners-up twice since that last title win (in 1980 and 1999), but the 21st century has mostly seen the club finish in the bottom half (with a highest finish of 3rd in the 2007/08 season). When the United Counties League Premier Division was split into North and South Divisions at the start of this season, the club were placed in the South Division.

In the 1926/27 season, the club reached the FA Cup 1st Round for the only time, losing 0-3 to Doncaster Rovers in a replay after the first match was abandoned due to fog. Success in the competition has been more limited in recent times though, with their last run beyond the Preliminary Round coming in the 2010/11 season.

The club competed in the FA Trophy for five seasons in the 1970s, but only won one match in that time: in the 1970/71 season, they beat Loughborough United 1-0 in the 1st Qualifying Round before losing 1-5 to Bedworth United in the 2nd Qualifying Round. They have had more success in the FA Vase though, reaching the 4th Round three times and making it to the 5th Round in the 1979/80 season: that run saw them beat Newfoundpool WMC, Stapenhill, Ledbury Town, Rushden Town and Friar Lane Old Boys before losing to Stamford.

My Visit

I've been planning to visit Desborough Town ever since I saw this Tweet at the end of August saying that the old stand at their ground is going to be knocked down and replaced by a new stand at the end of the season. I wanted to visit the ground before that happened (as I fully expect they'll replace it with a boring 100-seater Arena stand), but it proved trickier than I thought to find an opportunity to do so.

Initially, I had intended to visit them last weekend for their game against Coventry Sphinx, but a few weeks ago I changed that plan and instead intended to go to Shepshed Dynamo for Yaxley's away game. I then decided that I would try to visit them on the 12th, but that plan changed after Storm Eunice turned last weekend into a blank one. That, combined with the cancellation of my plans to visit friends in Gravesend this weekend, made me change all my plans for the next few weeks.

After some deliberation, I settled on getting in a groundhop yesterday rather than going to Yaxley's home game so as to not go three weeks without groundhopping. With plans already cemented to head into London next weekend, I decided to ask for a lift to Desborough this weekend and received confirmation that would be okay on Thursday, allowing me to research their history for this blog entry on Friday.

When yesterday came around, we left the house just after 1:30pm and arrived at Desborough around an hour later, eventually finding somewhere to park so I could be dropped off (easier said than done due to Desborough's ground having a puny car park and a lot of the street parking already taken).

Once that was sorted, it was a short walk to the ground and, after taking a couple of photos outside, I went through the turnstile and paid £6 for admission before picking up a programme for £1. After getting that into my bag and fishing out my camera, I went about doing my usual circuit of photos, initially going up the near side and behind the far goal before coming back the way I came to do the near goal and the far side.

Once that was done, I took a seat in the main stand for the entirety of the match despite the supporting pillars limiting the view in places and despite the wooden seating being somewhat uncomfortable to sit on for a long time (as it was quite hard wood). I spent the last few minutes stood in the cover behind the near goal after having gone to the toilet, giving me the best-possible view of Desborough's stoppage time equaliser and allowing me to get out more quickly at the final whistle.

With Desborough being fourth-from-bottom and Rugby being fourth-from-top and on great form going into this match, I was fully expecting a comfortable win for the away side. However, I wasn't expecting too much as neither really had all that much to play for with the top two more or less decided already and with Desborough being ten points clear of the bottom two with games in hand (and hence not really in any danger of getting relegated).

Desborough had the first shot on target in the 12th minute when Barnes Gladman robbed a defender of the ball and shot straight at Rugby keeper Ashley Bodycote after shifting the ball to his other foot. Rugby then went close at the other end with a direct free kick from 25 yards that forced a fine low save from Desborough keeper Chris Jones. Other than these early exchanges, neither keeper had much to do in the first half despite both sides playing on the front foot from the start. This was mainly because most attacks ended up breaking down before anyone could get a shot away, either due to a poor final ball or due to no one finding space to open the defence up.

As the half progressed, Rugby started to press higher up the pitch and have more of the ball in Desborough's half, but chances were still hard to come by for a while. Eventually, though, they made their pressure count in the 41st minute when Max Johnson received the ball on the edge of the box and passed to Danico Johnson on the right wing after failing to find a shooting opportunity. Danico Johnson then hit a cross to the far post that Caine Elliott was just about able to poke into the net.

Both sides came out for the second half with much more purpose than was seen at any point in the first half. Desborough started with a flurry of attacks in pursuit of an equaliser, Jake Bettles almost catching Bodycote out with a curled shot from just outside the box in the 49th minute and then almost chipping him four minutes later. However, Bodycote did well to save both efforts and keep Desborough out. There was little the Rugby keeper could do about Desborough's equaliser in the 58th minute though, the tall Tom Mills being left unmarked to head home a Gladman cross at the near post.

After this equaliser, it was Rugby's turn to go on the attack and they were close to regaining the lead four minutes later when Adam Shaw beat Jones with a low shot from outside the box, only for a defender to get in a sliding block to keep the scores level. Elliott then should have had a second goal three minutes later after going on an excellent run from midfield, but he was off-balance when he finally got his shot away and it was an easy save for Jones.

In the 68th minute, Gladman rounded Bodycote and really should have given Desborough the lead, but he somehow lost his footing before shooting and could only watch as the ball dribbled out for a goal kick instead. Two minutes later, Liam Boath found a pocket of space in midfield and decided to try his luck with an audacious shot from 30 yards. Had Bodycote not been there with a fingertip save at full-stretch, it would have been a truly excellent goal to give Desborough the lead.

In the 73rd minute, Rugby reclaimed the lead after a flurry of chances that started with a corner. From the corner, someone had a free header saved on the line before someone else headed the rebound onto the crossbar. Desborough failed to clear their lines and Danico Johnson was able to play a cross in from the left wing. This fell to Elliott on the far side of the box and there was nothing Jones could do to stop his powerful low shot from going in. It could have been 1-3 three minutes later as Shaw hit a low shot across goal, Jones denying him with a fingertip save.

Not long after this, Jones was sin-binned for continuing to complain about the decision to award Rugby a corner instead of a throw-in in the build-up to their second goal, forcing Desborough to play with ten men and an outfield player in goal for ten minutes. A few minutes later, their manager was sent off for his complaints about the decision. Surprisingly, Rugby weren't able to capitalise on this and instead had to deal with a Desborough resurgence as the home side tried to equalise once more.

In the 93rd minute, it looked like Desborough had spurned their opportunity as Bettles found himself one-on-one with Bodycote but took too long to shoot, losing the ball to a Rugby defender. However, they went straight back on the attack and got the equaliser their performance deserved moments later: Bodycote parried a Boath shot directly onto the head of Tom Gudyer and he could only watch as the ball looped into the net.

Though it took a while for this match to really get going (neither side was helped by what was a very bobbly pitch), it ended up being a thoroughly entertaining end-to-end contest that easily could have gone either way with plenty more goals for both sides if not for the efforts of the two goalkeepers. In the end, a draw was probably a fair result, though Rugby will perhaps regret not making the most of Desborough having an outfield player in goal for ten minutes late on.

Overall, this was one of my most enjoyable groundhops so far this season, with a friendly welcome at the turnstiles, a great ground oozing with character and an entertaining 90 minutes of football to boot. Very much worth a visit here regardless of whether the main stand is there or not.

After the full-time whistle, I had to walk back down the road again to find where my mum and stepdad had been able to park, but once I was in the car again we made quick progress, getting back home by around 5:45pm. I had plenty of time to sort out my photos and finish my match report (the longest I've written for quite a while) while waiting for our dinner of pizza and various breads, as that ended up not being ready until almost 8pm.

I now have broad groundhopping plans in place for the rest of the season, starting with a trip into London next weekend for a visit to Hanwell Town. After that, I'm looking at maybe going to Gorleston on the 12th of March due to their imminent ground move, but that's a very long journey each way so it'll depend on if I can motivate myself to do it or not. If not, I have a few other appealing options such as Matlock Town, but we'll see what I'm in the mood for closer to the time.

The Ground

Waterworks Field (currently known as the R Inn Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a great Step 5 ground that is oozing with character everywhere. The old main stand on the near side is a wooden structure with bench seating for around 200 people and a slightly undulating roof. Even with supporting pillars limiting views of the pitch in places, this is an excellent structure that will be sorely missed. Beyond the stand is a small, single-step area of uncovered terracing.

Between the turnstiles and the main stand is another area of cover which provides additional seating in the form of a row of plastic chairs (much like the type you would see in a primary school), though it is primarily used as standing cover and extends around the corner of the ground. There is an additional area of covered standing behind the near goal. This structure is fairly thin due to space constraints and has a low roof (making it slightly difficult to see the whole pitch) and is painted in the club's blue.

Beyond this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with space constraints making it impossible to add cover behind the far goal. The water tower behind the far goal adds a nice backdrop to the ground, even if it is actually shorter than the retro floodlight pylons.

Photos

Stotfold - New Roker Park

Stotfold FC
New Roker Park
Arlesey Road
Stotfold
Bedfordshire
SG5 4HE

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 132
Date: Saturday 12th February 2022
Stotfold 1-0 Winslow United
Spartan South Midlands League Division 1
Attendance: 533 (official)

Stotfold - History

Stotfold were founded in 1946, though there are records of football being played in the town as early as 1904. In 1951, the club joined Division 2 of the South Midlands League and finished 2nd to earn an immediate promotion to Division 1. After two seasons in Division 1, they won the title and earned promotion to the Premier Division.

The club made a strong start to life in the Premier Division, finishing as runners-up in four of their first six seasons at this level. After two more runners-up finishes in the early 1960s, fortunes dipped with a series of bottom-half finishes going into the 1970s. Eventually, their fortunes improved once more and they finished as runners-up again in the 1977/78 season before finally winning their first league title in the 1980/81 season.

After another three seasons in the South Midlands League, the club were transferred to the United Counties League Premier Division and remained here for the next twenty-six years. They were almost relegated to Division 1 in the 2006/07 season when they finished third-from-bottom, but twelve months later they improved dramatically and went on to win the title.

The 2010/11 season saw the club transferred to the Premier Division of the Spartan South Midlands League and this signalled a decline in their fortunes on the pitch: other than a 9th-place finish in the 2011/12 finish, they finished every season in the bottom half before being relegated to Division 1 at the end of the 2018/19 season after finishing second-from-bottom (curiously, they finished bottom in the 2017/18 season but were not relegated).

In the FA Cup, the club's best run saw them reach the 3rd Qualifying Round in the 2007/08 season when they beat Leverstock Green, Potton United, Stansted and Chesham United before losing to Tonbridge Angels. As for the FA Vase, they have progressed as far as the 4th Round on several occasions, most recently in the 2009/10 season: that run saw them beat Broxbourne Borough V & E, Stewarts & Lloyds Corby and Badshot Lea before losing to Shildon.

My Visit

With Yaxley not having a game this weekend for whatever reason (we played in midweek instead), I had a free Saturday for a neutral groundhop. My original intent had been to head into London and watch Athletic Newham in the FA Vase, but not long after the 5th Round draw was made rumours started to emerge that they had fielded an ineligible player in the previous round.

This meant I had close to a month to consider my options and decide where I wanted to go instead. Initially, I considered heading into London anyway and instead visiting Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Trophy, but a combination of their ticket prices and the awkwardness of getting there on the Tube from King's Cross put paid to that idea. I then considered asking for a lift somewhere to save money ahead of another trip to Gravesend to meet friends at the end of the month, but that would have proved impractical with my mum going to see family in Norfolk today.

At this point, budget reasons meant that my only realistic option was to head somewhere as cheap as possible on the train, but as I've mentioned before I have far fewer options on that front now than I did while in Guildford for University. Initially, the cheapest I could find was Boston Town, which would have been around £13 on the train. However, I ended up noticing that Stotfold's ground was actually closer to a train station (Arlesey) than I had been led to believe, so that pushed that up to first choice (along with the fact that it would be a 1st vs 2nd match there).

On Thursday, I got the research for this blog entry out of the way and then waited for Saturday to come by looking at options for future groundhops this season. When yesterday came around, I got ready in the morning and got dropped off at the station at around 12:40pm. I had a little trouble collecting my train tickets due to the machines not working properly, but I had plenty of time to get it sorted and catch my train.

For the first time in a while, there were no delays or other issues with my train yesterday and so it was a quick 40-minute journey from Peterborough to Arlesey, giving me enough time to eat some lunch and do some reading before getting off the train. From the station, it was around a 25-minute walk to the ground and more or less a straight path the entire way there.

This meant I arrived at the ground at 2pm and, with an hour to spare before kick-off, I had plenty of time to do my circuit of photos after paying £6 for admission and £1.50 for a programme. Once my circuit was done, I bought a ham and cheese toastie and some chips from the tea bar for £3.20, sitting on one of the benches in front of the clubhouse while I ate (very thin bread on the toastie, but very nice all the same). There was a lot of other unusual food options on offer here compared to the usual football fare, including mini pizzas, scampi and chicken nuggets as well as the various toasties they had.

Throughout the match, I decided to stand on the far side near the home dugout, as I wanted to avoid having to look into the intense sunlight to see (as would have been the case if I stood at the far end of the ground) and I wanted to be able to make a quick exit at the end to make sure I didn't miss my train back to Peterborough. This did mean I was exposed to the very cold wind throughout the match, but there wasn't really much I could do about that.

The main reason that this match caught my attention was that it was a clash of the runaway top two in the Spartan South Midlands League Division 1 and one that had the potential to go a long way to deciding who would win the title and who would win the play-offs: a win for Winslow would put them two clear of Stotfold with two games in hand, while a win for Stotfold would put them four clear of Winslow and increase the pressure on their games in hand. However, I was fully aware of the possibility that the two teams would just cancel each other out, especially with the wind being a very distinct factor in proceedings.

Only Stotfold posted a teamsheet, nothing came through from Winslow's end so I have no idea who played for them

Stotfold had the better of a first half of few chances and really should have taken the lead in the 33rd minute when Luke Smith hit a side-footed shot over the bar from close range after being found unmarked from a cross. Very little else of note happened in the first half, the only other shots coming from tame free kicks that were easily saved by both keepers.

The second half wasn't much better than the first, but it was Winslow who started to find themselves on top as the half progressed. In the 73rd minute, they had their best chance to take the lead as a backheeled pass from their 7 set their 10 through on goal to have a powerful shot saved and held by Stotfold keeper Liam Gooch.

The only goal eventually came Stotfold's way two minutes into stoppage time when a clever pass from midfield gave new signing James Younger (he joined from Langford just 24 hours before this match). the space to hit a shot into the back of the net from the edge of the box.

This was probably one of the worst matches I've attended this season, partially because the wind seriously hindered both teams but also because the two defences gave away very few chances at either end. This is something that I notice happens almost every time I attend one of these "1st vs 2nd" matches due to the teams seemingly being more concerned with not losing than with trying to win. Honestly, a draw really would have been a fair result on the balance of play, but Stotfold's new signing made the difference late on and strengthened their position at the top of the table.

Underwhelming match aside, this was another enjoyable groundhop and it was good to see an impressive crowd of over 500 in attendance at a friendly club who are very clearly on the up again after a difficult few years before covid. The toastie was up there as some of the best football food I've had all season, and I wish more clubs would experiment with their matchday food offerings like this.

Due to a lot of stoppage time in the second half, the match only just finished before 5pm and so I had to make a quick exit at the final whistle to make sure I wouldn't miss my 5:25pm train back to Peterborough. Thankfully, I was able to walk quickly enough to get back to the station with five minutes to spare and it was then a simple 40-minute journey back to Peterborough again. In the end, I was back in the house at around 6:20pm and got my photos sorted and match report written up before having a ragu for a late dinner.

Next week's groundhop will be another Yaxley away day as we visit Shepshed Dynamo in the league, amidst rumours that they might fail the ground grading and be demoted to Step 5. That will be my last groundhop of February and I'll be aiming to do another three groundhops in March.

The Ground

New Roker Park (currently known as the JSJ Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a very new ground, having opened in February 2020 after the club left their original Roker Park ground. It's a pretty good new build as well, with a 150-seater stand on the near side and a similarly-sized covered terrace on the far side. Neither of these are the generic Arena stands that so many new builds go for. The clubhouse is positioned next to the main stand and has benches in front of it for additional uncovered seating. The toilets are positioned behind the main stand.

The rest of the ground is open hard standing, with plenty of space on all four sides for additional football furniture to be added as and when needed. That said, the ground is probably good enough for Step 4 even without any improvements being made.

The food options on offer at the ground are very good and diverse, but for those so inclined the Fox & Duck pub is only a couple minutes walk away from the ground.

Photos

Belper Town - Christchurch Meadow

Belper Town FC
Christchurch Meadow
Bridge Street
Belper
Derbyshire
DE56 1BA

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 131
Date: Saturday 5th February 2022
Belper Town 3-0 Yaxley
Northern Premier League Division 1 Midlands
Attendance: 418 (official)

Belper Town - History

The original incarnation of Belper Town were founded in 1883, playing in local leagues such as the Derbyshire Senior League, the Mid-Derbyshire League, the Derbyshire Alliance League and the Notts & Derbyshire League before folding midway through the 1911/12 season. After a forty-year absence, the club reformed in its current incarnation in 1951 and joined Division 1 of the Central Alliance League.

The new incarnation of the club won its first silverware in 1959, winning Division 1 North of the Central Alliance League and also winning the Derbyshire Senior Cup for the first time. In 1961, they joined the reformed Midland League and remained there until 1982, despite several seasons of struggle in the late 1960s (including bottom-place finishes in 1969 and 1970). In 1980, they won the Premier Division title twelve months after finishing bottom of the table once more.

In 1982, the Midland League merged with the Yorkshire League to form the Northern Counties East League and they were placed in the Premier Division. The 1984/85 season saw the club win the league title, but three seasons later they finished second-from-bottom. After several more bottom-half finishes, fortunes improved in the 1994/95 season with a 4th-place finish. Two seasons later, they finished as runners-up and were promoted to Division 1 of the Northern Premier League.

After ten seasons at this level, Division 1 split into North and South divisions and the club were placed in Division 1 South. After finishing 8th in their first season in this new league, they finished as runners-up in the 2008/09 having missed out on the title on goal difference. This meant the club competed in the play-offs and they beat Rushall Olympic in the semi-finals before losing to Stocksbridge Park Steels in the final.

The club next reached the play-offs when they finished 3rd in the 2012/13 season, but this time they lost to Stamford in the semi-finals. Twelve months later, they finished 4th and reached the play-offs once more, beating Leek Town in the semi-finals and Mickleover Sports in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division. Unfortunately, they did not last long at this new level and finished bottom in the 2014/15 season to immediately return to Division 1 level, which is where they have remained ever since.

The original incarnation of the club reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup in the 1887/88 season, losing 2-3 to The Wednesday (who would later become Sheffield Wednesday). In more modern times, the club have reached the 4th Qualifying Round on several occasions, most recently in the 2019/20 season when they beat Sporting Khalsa, Alvechurch, Witton Albion and Rushall Olympic before narrowly losing to Notts County.

Success in the FA Trophy has been more scarce, with the club's best run seeing them reach the 2nd Round in the 2000/01 season when they beat Blakenall before losing to Tamworth. As for the FA Vase, the club were losing semi-finalists in the 1994/95 season: they beat Washington, Willington, South Shields, Falmouth Town and Metropolitan Police before losing 2-4 over two legs to Oxford City (they won the first leg 1-0 at home, but lost 1-3 in the second leg).

My Visit

This was another Yaxley away match I'd had my eye on ever since the fixtures for the season first came out in July. My original plan had been to go there on the train, with the ground being a five-minute walk from the station. However, for budget reasons I instead decided to ask for a lift earlier this week. Before I got confirmation either way on that front, it was surprisingly announced that we would be putting on a coach for this match instead, so I just booked a seat on that and waited for the weekend to come.

In the build-up to the match, I did my research on the club's history on Thursday to get that written up for this entry and also reread the entry on the ground in Mike Bayly's book "British Football's Greatest Grounds" in preparation. Yesterday morning, I woke up earlier than I usually do at weekends after a poor night's sleep, but that had the benefit of giving me more than 2 hours to get myself ready.

We ended up leaving the house just before 11am and I was dropped off at Yaxley's ground a few minutes later to get on the coach, which ended up leaving at around 11:20am to start the long journey to Belper. I spent my time reading and eating the small lunch I'd made myself before we arrived at the ground at around 1:45pm.

From there, we headed into the bar before being led to the boardroom where we received a warm welcome from the Belper officials. Jaffa cakes, lemon drizzle and tea were on offer and we stayed inside for a while, chatting and watching the Kidderminster-West Ham FA Cup on the TV. With around 25 minutes to go before kick-off, I headed outside into the cold to do my circuit of photos, being careful to avoid my camera lens getting wet and ensuring I got good photos of the church near the ground and the East Mill building towering over it.

Once I finished my circuit of photos, I headed into the cover of the main stand with the other Yaxley club officials to watch the first half before heading back into the boardroom at half-time. This time, the food on offer was sandwiches and chips and I had a good portion of the latter to tide me over for the rest of the afternoon.

When we came back out for the second half, I saw that my seat had been taken, so after initially standing at the back of the stand I decided to move further along to find a seat elsewhere on the back row, eventually finding myself sat next to the person providing radio coverage of the match.

Honestly, I was more confident than I would normally be going into this away match, as I had noticed that Belper's form had dipped recently and that their top scorer had recently left to join play-off rivals Stamford. Because of that, I was hoping we could pick up where we left off with last weekend's win and get another decent result, though seeing that we would be starting without an out-and-out striker made me wonder where the goals would come from.

Belper were in control from the start, their direct approach with the ball and quick pressing without it giving Yaxley very little time to settle or get hold of the ball themselves. It took 18 minutes of pressure for Belper to carve out a clear-cut chance though, a cross to the far post forcing Connor Peters to make a series of goal-saving blocks before the ball was eventually cleared. Two minutes later, Belper opened the scoring from a corner, Danny South tapping in from close range after Yaxley keeper William Larkin saved a goalbound header on the line.

It was 2-0 seven minutes later when Derry Robson curled a shot into the top corner from 25 yards after dispossessing Matt Sparrow. The next ten minutes saw Yaxley have their first concerted spell of possession in the match and there was hope of a comeback after Dan Cotton came close to pulling one back. However, that hope was extinguished in the 38th minute when Karl Dimidh dispossessed Peters on the halfway line, ran towards the goal unchallenged and coolly finished below Larkin.

With conditions deteriorating due to the continuing heavy rain, the second half was largely a non-event with few chances for either side. Yaxley's best chances for a consolation goal came through Sparrow before he was substituted, but it was always Belper who looked more likely to score another: their best chance came around halfway into the second half when a low cross was flashed across the goalmouth and blocked on the line for a corner before a Belper player could tap in.

This was another disappointing result on the road for us, albeit once again against strong opposition. Our first half performance really let us down and it was already too late by the time we started to improve in the second half. Credit where it's due for Belper for constantly making life difficult for us by playing direct when they had the ball and by quickly pressing whenever we had it so we couldn't get the time on the ball that we wanted. Also worth noting just how difficult the constant rain made things for both teams as the pitch deteriorated: I imagine that the match wouldn't have gone ahead if the rain started earlier than it did, and I do not envy the work the groundsman is going to have to do to get it ready for the next match (especially as two teams play here).

At full-time, we headed back into the bar to wait for the players and coach to be ready, watching the rugby on the TV while we waited. Eventually, we left the ground at around 6:15pm to begin the long journey back, being wished a safe journey home by a club official as we left the bar to walk to the coach. Apart from a brief stop to allow the players to buy some snacks and alcohol, we made swift progress back home and arrived at our ground again at 8:30pm.

Ten minutes later, I was back in the house and had a shower before having a light late dinner while sorting out my photos. As for my match report, I didn't bother with that until this morning as I had a Discord call with friends in the evening instead.

I'll be groundhopping again next weekend, but I'm not sure where I'll be going after Athletic Newham's removal from the FA Vase for fielding an ineligible player in both the 3rd and 4th Rounds. Then, I'll be watching Yaxley on the road again in two weeks when we visit Shepshed Dynamo in the league.

The Ground

Christchurch Meadow (currently known as the Raygar Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is one of my favourite grounds I have visited this season and a good Step 4 ground. In terms of spectator facilities, the ground has three areas of cover. On the far side is a long seated stand containing 500 seats. Directly behind this is the clubhouse which contains the bar, changing rooms, boardroom and a tea bar.

The other two areas of cover are similarly-sized covered terraces. One is positioned on the near side and is connected to the club shop and a tea hut, while the other is positioned behind the near goal. A small area of uncovered terracing is being built immediately next to the terrace behind the goal and will apparently be open for the very next match here. Besides this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with the ground tightly hemmed in on all sides.

What truly makes this ground special is the various backdrops to it, providing wildly different but equally interesting views beyond the ground on each side. Behind the near goal is a view of the town stretching into the hills of the Derwent Valley as well as a view of a small church immediately next to the ground (perhaps it is this church that gave the ground its name?). Behind the far goal is another, more rural view of the Derwent Valley hills. Then, from the main stand you get a view of the East Mill building towering over the ground and providing a unique backdrop to watch football in.

The record attendance at the ground was 3,200 against Ilkeston Town in 1955. The ground is also currently shared by Step 6 side Belper United, though I believe they are in the process of trying to get their own ground built somewhere in the town.

Photos