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