Waterworks Field
Braybrooke Road
Desborough
Northamptonshire
NN14 2LJ
Official Website
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
No comments:
Post a Comment