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