Spalding United - Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field

Spalding United FC
Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field
Winfrey Avenue
Spalding
Lincolnshire
PE11 1DA

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Ground: 149
Date: Monday 29th August 2022
Spalding United 4-2 Yaxley
Northern Premier League Division 1 Midlands
Attendance: 231 (official)

Spalding United - History

Spalding United were founded in 1905 as a merger between Fulney Institute and Victoria and initially played in the Peterborough & District League. After finishing as champions in the 1930/31 season, the club moved up to the Northamptonshire League which later became the United Counties League.

In 1954, the club applied to join the Eastern Counties League and were rejected, but twelve months later they were accepted into the league after winning the United Counties League title for the first time. Six years later, they transferred to the Central Alliance League before joining the Midland League the following season. The club struggled in this league and returned to the United Counties League after finishing bottom in the 1967/68 season.

The club won the league title again in the 1974/75 season and finished in the top four for the next few seasons before rejoining the Midland League for the 1978/79 season. They struggled in their first three seasons at this level before finishing 4th in the 1981/82 season. This saw the club placed in the Premier Division of the newly-formed Northern Counties East League after the Midland League merged with the Yorkshire League.

After finishing 4th in their first season in this league, the club won the league title on the final day of the 1983/84 season. However, two seasons later the club finished 16th and rejoined the United Counties League, winning the league title in their second season to earn promotion to the Southern League's Midland Division. They spent three seasons at this level before being relegated back to the United Counties League after finishing bottom in the 1990/91 season.

After narrowly avoiding liquidation in the early 1990s, the club gradually improved and once again won the United Counties League Premier Division in the 1998/99 season. This time, they were promoted to the Southern League's Eastern Division but struggled once again, finishing bottom in the 2000/01 season but being reprieved due to other clubs resigning. However, this only delayed the inevitable and they were relegated two seasons later after finishing second-from-bottom.

This time, the club's return to the United Counties League was short-lived as they won the title to earn an immediate promotion. This time, the club were placed in the Northern Premier League's Division 1 and stayed there for two seasons before briefly returning to the Midland Division of the Southern League. After struggling for a few seasons, the club finished bottom of the Northern Premier League's Division 1 South at the end of the 2010/11 season to return to the United Counties League once again.

In their first season back in the Premier Division, they finished 13th, but two seasons later they won the league title in dominant fashion by winning all but four of their league matches. This saw the club return to Division 1 South of the Northern Premier League, which is where they have remained ever since (although the division has undergone a couple of name changes in recent years).

The club have twice made it to the 1st Round of the FA Cup: in the 1957/58 season, they beat Rushden Town, Wellingborough Town, Corby Town and Belper Town before losing to Durham City; in the 1964/65 season, they beat Boston United, Skegness Town, Grantham and Hinckley Athletic before losing to the original Newport County.

The club's best FA Trophy run saw them reach the 3rd Round in the 1999/2000 season by beating Shepshed Dynamo and Accrington Stanley before losing to Bishop Auckland in a replay. As for the FA Vase, the club have twice progressed as far as the Quarter Finals: in the 1989/90 season, they beat Knowle, Stamford, Harrisons, Lye Town, Bourne Town and Great Yarmouth Town before losing to Guiseley; in the 1997/98 season, they beat Mirrlees Blackstone, Bloxwich Town, Birstall United and Billingham Town before losing to Tiverton Town.

My Visit

After missing out on this fixture last year thanks to a last-minute train cancellation caused by omicron, I wasn't going to miss out on it this year, even if Yaxley's dismal start to the season wasn't filling me with any optimism whatsoever. The last week has been particularly tough in that regard, with a 9-1 defeat to Harborough Town last Tuesday (thank goodness I ended up unable to go to that one) and then a 3-0 defeat at home to Loughborough Dynamo on Saturday. Not enough to put me off from going to this and most other Yaxley games this season, of course, but still very tough to take.

Having walked to and from the home game on Saturday (three miles each way for me now), I had a lazy Sunday in preparation for this groundhop. I didn't even have to do my usual research for this blog entry, as I had fortunately kept what I wrote in preparation for last year's failed visit saved on my laptop (knowing full well that I would not be missing it this season). With that being the case, I instead decided to spend some time doing some research for potential groundhops in late September with a main focus on FA Vase fixtures after the 1st Qualifying Round was played on Saturday.

Either way, with a concrete plan in place for yesterday I didn't have to do much preparation even in the morning, so I was mostly able to relax until we left the house just after 1:30pm; after last year, I definitely wasn't going to risk taking the train again, especially not with all the recent issues with the railway network. It took just over 40 minutes to make it to the ground, meaning I arrived at around 2:15pm and, as usual for Yaxley away games, received complimentary admission.

I stood around for a few minutes and took a couple of photos of the ground (mainly the main stand) before following our chairman into the boardroom for pre-match hospitality, picking up a programme and teamsheet as well as having a couple of biscuits. After spending a while discussing things such as how to improve the club's social media presence, we left the boardroom at around 2:45pm and this gave me just enough time to do the rest of my circuit of photos before kick-off.

In the first half, I stood on the stand side of the ground before switching to the far side in the second half after popping back into the boardroom at half-time and enjoying some chips, a couple of sandwiches and some small sausage rolls. That first half was spent chatting to the father of one of the Yaxley players (well, two of them in the case of this game), observing how every Spalding set piece was targeted at Nathan Stainfield among many other things.

A miscommunication between defence and midfield gifted Spalding the lead in the 3rd minute, Stefan Broccoli claiming the ball and running unchallenged on goal for an easy finish. Yaxley heads didn't drop and they responded well, equalising in the 16th minute when Tom Waumsley headed in a free header at the near post. The rest of the first half was end-to-end as the two sides exchanged chances, Spalding threatening from set pieces and Yaxley getting chances on the counter. Even so, it remained 1-1 going into half-time.

Yaxley took the lead for just the second time in a game this season in the 60th minute: a Dan Cotton free kick was saved, but he reacted quickest to chase the ball (rather than assuming it had gone out of play as everyone else did) and get a cross in for Waumsley to head in. However, this lead barely lasted a minute as Spalding went straight on the attack and Elliot Sandy was there to tap a cross in at the near post.

It was 3-2 twelve minutes later as Nathan Stainfield was left unmarked to head in a cross from former Cuckoo Matt Sparrow. Despite some more Yaxley pressure in search of an equaliser, it was Spalding who scored next in the 87th minute to secure the points: a free kick was hit to the far post, volleyed back into a central position and then poked in unchallenged by Toby Hilliard.

At Saturday's home game, I jokingly predicted that Spalding would recall former Yaxley players Sam Spencer and Matt Sparrow from their dual registration at Deeping Rangers specifically for this fixture. No surprise really that that's exactly what happened, or that Sparrow would get an assist within minutes of coming on as a substitute. That aside, this was an improved Yaxley performance compared to Saturday, but we basically gifted Spalding their first two goals and then just fell away late on as they scored two more to continue the terrible start to the season. All I can really do is keep on supporting the team and hope we improve and get a win soon to get some confidence back into the team and then build from there.

After a brief chat with the chairman and other club officials at the final whistle, I left the ground and got picked up to start the journey home. I had enough time to write up my match report before we got home at around 5:45pm, and that gave me just enough time to get my photos sorted and to start uploading them to Facebook before dinner.

This Saturday, I'll tick off my 150th ground at last and I've chosen to head to Norwich United for it, primarily because that is the easiest option to do from Norwich this weekend when I will be visiting my nan for a slightly early celebration of both of our birthdays. I'm not yet sure on my groundhopping plans for the rest of the September, as I've got a few different ideas running through my head, but I will at least hopefully get to tick off Halesowen Town at last when Yaxley visit them on the 17th.

The Ground

Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field is a decent Step 4 ground dominated by an impressive main stand on the near side. This contains around 300 seats and provides an elevated view of the pitch. Next to this is a small Arena terrace, with another of these positioned behind the far goal next to the clubhouse to satisfy ground-grading.

As well as the clubhouse, a couple of food huts are positioned behind the far goal in the near corner. Meanwhile, the area behind the far goal and some of the far side is used as car parking, so watch out for stray balls if you choose to park your car there. The train station is a five-minute walk away from the ground, but the service is somewhat infrequent.

The rest of the ground is open hard standing, with plenty of space available for expansion. Trees surrounding the ground give it something of a rural feel despite its close proximity to the town centre. The ground's current official capacity is 2,700, but the record attendance was 6,972 for an FA Cup Qualifying Round match against Peterborough United in 1952. Step 5 side Pinchbeck United have groundshared here since earning promotion to Step 6 in 2017.

Photos

FC Hampton - Hampton Gardens School

FC Hampton
Hampton Gardens School
Hartland Avenue
Hampton Gardens
Peterborough
Cambridgeshire
PE7 8HR

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Ground: 148
Date: Saturday 20th August 2022
FC Hampton 2-2 Deeping United
Peterborough & District League Division 2
Attendance: 15

FC Hampton - History

FC Hampton were founded in 2020 and played in Division 2 of the Peterborough & District League in both of their first two seasons as a club. For the 2022/23 season, they have three teams in the league: the first team in Division 2, the reserves in Division 3 and an A team in Division 4.

My Visit

After Yaxley's annual early exit from the FA Cup, I had no match in place for this weekend. Normally, this would prompt me to look on Futbology and see where I could go on the train, but with yet more train strikes in place my options were seriously limited. Even more so as I didn't think it would be overly fair to ask for another lift somewhere after doing so for FC Parson Drove last week.

That combination of factors meant I was limited to very local games, ones I could either walk or get a bus too without too much hassle. All that really fit that bill was the Peterborough & District League, so I had a look at the fixtures on Full-Time and picked out a few that caught my eye, with Crowland Town emerging as my first-choice and this as a back-up.

I also had a look at options on the 27th after I was told that Yaxley would be hosting Corby on the 20th due to both being eliminated from the FA Cup early, but the available options weren't as appealing to me. On top of that, there is the possibility I'll be watching Yaxley play Corby in the league on my birthday anyway (it will be a revisit if I do, but I might as well), so I figured in that case I'd rather see us play two different teams than the same one twice in quick succession (we host Loughborough Dynamo next weekend).

Either way, I was planning to head to Crowland Town today and mentioned that on Twitter on Thursday evening, before asking for a recommendation of somewhere to drink after the game yesterday once I noticed that I would have just short of an hour after the game before my bus back. The Ye Olde Abbey was recommended to me, and after confirming that and researching the club's history yesterday I was excited to make the trip.

However, after starting to get ready this morning, I noticed at around 10am that I had been tagged in a Tweet to tell me that Peterborough North End had asked for the game to be postponed. While I was glad to have been notified well in advance - so as to save me a wasted trip and allow me to come up with other plans - I was obviously a little disappointed, not least because of that time spent planning things and writing up the club's history yesterday.

Rather than looking through the fixtures again for other options, I decided that I'd just go for the easy option at FC Hampton so as to allow myself to do more (including having lunch at a normal time, rather than trying to fit it in beforehand or have it on the bus as I would have had to do if I had gone to Crowland) before having to head to the game at around 1:30pm.

From home, it was an easy fifteen-minute walk to the ground and I arrived in time to see the last few minutes of FC Hampton Reserves 1-5 Warboys Town Reserves in Division 3, including seeing Warboys score their fifth late on. I took a few photos of the ground in the final minutes of that game, before sitting on one of the benches outside the cage to watch the first team's game: trying to find a seat where I could get a good enough view of events inside the cage was easier said than done, though.

Deeping United took the lead after 5 minutes when Daryn Whiteman scored from the penalty spot after their 18 was brought down in the box. They were then firmly on top for the next twenty minutes but were unable to extend their lead due to a mixture of wayward shooting and inspired goalkeeping: their best chance to double their lead came in the 21st minute when their 9 was one-on-one with the Hampton keeper but sliced his shot wide.

Hampton had their first real chance in the 26th minute when their 5 decided to have a go from distance and ended up not being too far off-target. Four minutes later, their 4 went close with a free header from a corner, but a Deeping United defender was there to head clear on the line. In the 37th minute, Hampton once again went close from a set piece as their 14 forced the Deeping United keeper into a full-stretch save to keep out his free-kick from just outside the box.

After a short half-time break of not even ten minutes, Hampton equalised within sixty seconds of the restart as their 14 capitalised on a lapse in concentration (the Deeping United defenders had stopped, expecting a foul to be given) to score from inside the box. It was almost 2-1 five minutes later as Hampton's 10 hit an audacious volley over the bar from just outside the box.

In the 56th minute, Deeping United made it 1-2 instead when Whiteman found himself one-on-one with the keeper and calmly rounded him for an easy finish. Straight from the kick-off, Hampton went on the attack and equalised once more when their 10 hit a powerful right-footed shot into the top corner from an awkward angle; an early contender for goal of the season, for sure.

With fifteen minutes to go, Hampton had two chances in quick succession to take the lead for the first time: their 14 was denied by the keeper's foot and the second shot was a powerful effort straight at the keeper that was palmed away and eventually cleared. Deeping United had one more chance of their own late on to secure the three points: their 11 was able to elude a tiring defence to go one-on-one with the keeper, but his attempt to sneak the ball in at the near post was pushed onto the post and out for a corner.

Other than that ten-minute spell at the start of the second half when three of the four goals were scored, this was a relatively low-energy contest that still felt somewhat like a pre-season friendly at times. Overall, it felt like the two teams cancelled each other out and a draw feels like a fair result, though Deeping United will rue wasting so many good chances early on.

Due to the reserves' game finishing late, the first team's game started around five minutes late, but due to a very short half-time (not even ten minutes, by my count) the second half still kicked off at just after 3pm and finished comfortably before 4pm even with almost six minutes of stoppage time. This meant I was back in the house by around 4:15pm, leaving me with enough time in the day to motivate me to finish my blog immediately rather than saving it for Sunday as I normally do for Saturday games.

My next groundhop will hopefully be on Bank Holiday Monday when Yaxley visit Spalding United, followed by either visiting Norwich United or Mulbarton Wanderers on the Saturday before my birthday (or something else close to Norwich if anything pops up in the FA Cup draw). I might also fit in another groundhop on Saturday the 10th of September, but I'm not 100% sure of that yet.

The Ground

Hampton Gardens School is a 3G cage in front of a school, with no facilities inside the cage for spectators. A few benches are positioned outside of the cage for spectators to sit on, but much of the view from these seats ends up being blocked by the coaching staff, substitutes and club linesmen of each side as they use that side rather than the far side.

FC Hampton's first team and reserves both play home games here, though the reserves also sometimes play home games at Hampton Hargate Playing Fields instead.

Photos

FC Parson Drove - Main Road

FC Parson Drove
Main Road
Parson Drove
Wisbech
Cambridgeshire
PE13 4LA

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Ground: 147
Date: Saturday 13th August 2022
FC Parson Drove 2-3 Haverhill Borough
Eastern Counties League Division 1 North
Attendance: 71 (official)

FC Parson Drove - History

The original Parson Drove club were founded in 1921 and joined the Peterborough & District League after World War 2, winning the Premier Division title for the first time in 1950. After a small step back in the 1950s with relegation back to Division 1, they made a quick return to Premier Division level and became a dominant force in the late 1960s and early 1970s: they won the Premier Division title in 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1973 and also won the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup in 1970 and 1973.

The 1979/80 season saw the club go on a famous run to the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, beating Chelmsford City (then of the Southern League), Felixstowe Town and King's Lynn (also then of the Southern League) before suffering a narrow defeat to Burton Albion. Had they beaten Burton Albion, they would have hosted Football League Bury in the 1st Round. Nine years later, the club folded due to a lack of interest and due to the poor state of the ground shortly after a late application to join the Eastern Counties League was rejected.

In 1992, the club was resurrected and spent the next decade working its way back up from the bottom division of the Peterborough & District League. They eventually secured a return to the Premier Division by winning the Division 1 title in the 2003/04 season, before folding once more midway through the 2013/14 season.

The club was revived once more in 2017 when Wisbech St Mary Saints moved to the Main Road ground and renamed themselves FC Parson Drove. They won the Division 2 title at the first attempt and repeated the feat at Division 1 level to make a swift return to Premier Division level. Then, based on their results over the two covid-19 curtailed seasons, they were promoted to Division 1 North of the Eastern Counties League for the 2021/22 season and finished 15th out of 16 teams.

In the 1976/77 season, the club went on their best FA Vase run by reaching the 3rd Round: they beat March Town United, Holt United and City of Norwich School OBU before losing in a replay to Peterborough Rovers.

My Visit

With Yaxley away at Sutton Coldfield Town (who I visited at the very end of last season) and train strikes still ongoing, I was going to have to stay local to get a groundhop in this weekend. My original plan had been to do something in the Peterborough & District League Premier Division to continue working towards watching a match in all 50 Step 7 leagues, but there weren't many options that truly interested me after Ramsey Town's home fixture was reversed due to cricket taking precedence.

Upon going onto Futbology to look for other nearby options, I saw that FC Parson Drove - my nearest unvisited ground in England's top ten tiers - were at home against Haverhill Borough. So I asked my mum for a lift there last Sunday and she was happy with it as long as she and my stepdad could find something to do while I was at the game. A cursory look on Google Maps didn't reveal much in the vicinity, so I prepared a couple of back-ups just in case.

On Tuesday, I saw that Haverhill Borough's midweek league game had been postponed due to a lack of players on their part and this understandably made me worried that yesterday's game could end up being postponed for the same reason. However, I kept an eye on their Twitter and noticed that they were signing new players throughout the week, so by Friday I was confident enough to do my usual pre-match research to get this blog entry started.

Yesterday was a fairly standard morning for me in the build-up to the game: getting a bag packed, playing Pokemon, watching videos and having lunch. After all of that, we left the house just before 2pm and it was a quick half-hour journey to Parson Drove for me to be dropped off at the ground. I paid a very reasonable £4 for admission before heading into the ground to do my circuit of photos.

Once that was done, I headed under the cover on the dugout side of the ground and stayed here for the entire game, other than to head into the clubhouse at half-time to buy a Strongbow Dark Fruits for £3 (I personally much prefer Kopparberg and Old Mout, but Strongbow will do when those aren't available). The combination of the breeze and being in the shade meant that it was a surprisingly comfortable afternoon despite how hot it was; I was much more comfortable than I was at home in the morning, at least.

Haverhill Borough started on the front foot and came close to opening the scoring in the 3rd minute when a Billy Bush header from close range was saved by Parson Drove keeper Max Flintoft. Parson Drove went close five minutes later when an Evander Jose through ball set Kyial West through one-on-one, with the striker unsuccessful in his attempt to get his shot over Borough keeper Sam Kendle.

Borough were then awarded a penalty in the 10th minute after the referee spotted a handball in the box. Jack Turner took the penalty, but Flintoft did well to get low enough to make the save and push the ball out for a corner. However, Borough took the lead from the corner after it was deflected in at the near post, though as there were so many players in the vicinity I have no idea who got the final touch (I see that the goal has been awarded to Ollie Santry on Full-Time).

It was 0-2 ten minutes later when Santry headed in from a deep free kick. A drinks break came not long after this, and this gave Parson Drove the opportunity to wake up and regroup. Having been anonymous for much of the first twenty minutes, they played notably better for the rest of the half and came close to pulling one back in the 35th minute through a Scott Waumsley free kick: it was a good attempt from the edge of the box, but it ended up going narrowly over the bar.

Parson Drove continued to improve in the second half, but they found themselves 0-3 down on the hour mark when Bush shot low beneath Flintoft to cap off a good attacking move. However, the home side brought it back to a two-goal deficit three minutes later: from a corner, West had a shot cleared off the line and the ball fell to Jose to finish on the rebound after picking his spot. It was almost 2-3 a couple of minutes later as a deep free kick was flicked on by a defender before being headed inches over the bar by West.

It only took a further ten minutes for Parson Drove to find their second and set up an interesting final fifteen minutes: after some good work on the right wing to hold onto the ball and turn past the full back, West crossed for Connor Pilbeam to head in at the far post. Much of the final fifteen minutes saw the home side pressing for an equaliser, while Borough had to make do with soaking up the pressure and getting occasional chances on the counter. Waumsley should have equalised in the 87th minute with a great shot from the edge of the box, but it clattered into the crossbar.

Moments later, the home side had a penalty of their own after a push in the box: West stepped up to take the penalty, but it was easily saved by Kendle and then West somehow hit the rebound wide. The game was very stretched in the final few minutes, with chances for both sides. In the end, it was Borough who went closest to a final goal in stoppage time when substitute Liam Tate turned past a defender a couple of times on the edge of the box before shooting narrowly over the bar.

Considering the effects of the heat and that this was the first competitive game of the season for both teams, this was a surprisingly entertaining encounter. Parson Drove started poorly but were much improved in the second half, enough so that a draw would have probably been a fair result. By contrast, Haverhill Borough started strong but faded in the second half to let Parson Drove back into it, no doubt due to the heat and due to their players having never played together before. Best of luck to both teams for the rest of the season: hopefully they both fare better than their second-from-bottom finishes last season.

A combination of a late kick-off (the first half didn't kick off until 3:05pm) and drinks breaks in each half meant the game didn't finish until 5pm. Even so, we were back home half an hour later and that drive back was just about enough time for me to finish writing my match report. Once we got home, I started sorting out my photos and got them uploaded to Facebook just before we had a barbecue for dinner.

It will be another groundhop for me next week as I'll be heading to Crowland Town to tick the Peterborough & District League Premier Division off of my list of Step 7 leagues to see a match in for the first time. After that, I'll fit in one or two more this month with Yaxley away days at Harborough Town and Spalding United. I'll definitely be at Spalding United after missing that due to a cancelled train last season, but I'm unsure if I'll be able to make Harborough Town due to it being midweek. If I get to both, Spalding United will end up being my 150th ground.

The Ground

Main Road is a fairly typical Step 6 ground. The main seating at the ground is in the form of two 50-seater Arena stands on the far side, though there is a memorial bench next to the dugouts that provides some uncovered seating as well as some benches in front of the clubhouse. The only other cover at the ground is a small area of covered standing next to the dugouts and this provides cover for around 50 people.

The clubhouse is positioned behind the near goal and seems to primarily provide drinks. There are also a couple of children's play areas near the ground, one in two parts on the dugout side (a skate ramp at the far end and swings etc. at the near end) and another next to the clubhouse behind the near goal.

The ground has hard standing on all four sides and has plenty of room for expansion. It is also set in a pleasant rural location with trees bordering the ground on two sides and separating it from neighbouring fields.

Photos