Wellingborough Town - The Dog & Duck Stadium

Wellingborough Town FC
The Dog & Duck Stadium
London Road
Wellingborough
Northamptonshire
NN8 2DP

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 113
Date: Saturday 7th August 2021
Wellingborough Town 1-3 Newmarket Town
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Attendance: 99 (official)

Wellingborough Town - History

The current incarnation of Wellingborough Town were founded in 2004, two years after the original club folded. The original club were founded in 1867 and played as high as Division 1 of the Southern League before folding at the end of the 2001/02 season. The current incarnation spent its first season in the Northamptonshire Senior Youth League and they immediately earned promotion to Division 1 of the United Counties League for the 2005/06 season.

The 2005/06 season saw the club lose just one game all season to finish as runners-up and earn promotion to the Premier Division, where the club remained until this season's restructure split the United Counties League Premier Division into North and South Divisions. The club's first season in the Premier Division saw them finish 3rd, which remains their highest finish at this level to date.

Since then, the club have had inconsistent finishes at this level, finishing fourth-from-bottom two seasons after that 3rd-place finish, before then finishing 5th two seasons after that (the 2010/11 season). The last two completed seasons saw the club finish 14th in the Premier Division and they were 12th when the 2019/20 season was curtailed. As part of the restructuring of the non-league pyramid, the club were transferred to the newly-created United Counties League Premier Division South for the 2021/22 season.

The current club's best FA Cup run came in the 2010/11 season when they reached the 1st Qualifying Round, beating Kirkley & Pakefield and Haverhill Rovers before losing to Felixstowe & Walton United. The old club twice reached the 1st Round, losing at that stage to Bristol Rovers in the 1928/29 season and to Aldershot in the 1965/66 season. The current club have never played in the FA Trophy, but the original club progressed as far as the 1st Round in the 1971/72 season: they beat Skegness Town, Spalding United and Bourne Town before losing to Dartford. As for the FA Vase, the club reached the 4th Round last season, beating Haverhill Rovers, Woodbridge Town and Norwich United before losing to Anstey Nomads.

My Visit

After getting very little groundhopping done since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic last year, I was eager to get back into things at the start of this new season, with things getting closer and closer to normality by the day. And what better way to get started than with a match on FA Cup weekend?

As soon as the draws for the Extra Preliminary and Preliminary Rounds were released roughly a month ago, I went looking for two things: firstly, who Yaxley would be playing (home against either Mildenhall Town or Wroxham in the Preliminary Round); secondly, some of the more local ties to start drawing up a shortlist with. Given that I'd be asking for a lift for wherever I went on EP Round weekend, I decided to limit my choices to grounds within 50 miles, while also only looking for ties involving teams from different leagues (this ruled out several options that would have otherwise made the shortlist).

Eventually, I ended up with a shortlist of four options: this, Arlesey Town, Bugbrooke St. Michaels and GNG Oadby Town. I gave this list of choices to my mum a couple weeks ago to let her choose where I'd end up (given she'd most likely be driving on the day). Not long after I passed this list over, there was a change to it as I noticed that Baldock Town (who groundshare at Arlesey Town) had moved their home tie to the Sunday, allowing for a potential weekend double-header.

After a quick check of trains for that Baldock Town match - to make sure that it would be feasible on public transport so as to not ask for lifts two days running - I added that match to the list and removed Arlesey from the shortlist for Saturday. After that, the choice I expected was made and it was confirmed we would be going to Wellingborough Town for the Saturday. However, with there being a fair amount of rain during the week before the match, I was constantly eyeing social media for any potential news of a postponement (not that Wellingborough were much help in that regard, given they don't have an active club website or Twitter and only sporadically update Facebook).

When the morning of the match came, I did one last set of social media checks as I started to get ready and saw that Newmarket were making their way on a coach. This signalled that everything was going ahead as planned and we left at 1:45pm (giving me more than enough time to get lunch in before we left). Despite getting stuck behind some slow drivers in places along the way, we reached Wellingborough around 2:30pm and I was dropped off in the Starbucks car park directly across from the two Wellingborough grounds (Whitworth's ground is right next door to Town's).

After putting my raincoat on (just in case we got any of the forecasted rain throughout the afternoon), I crossed the road into the club park and took a photo of the club's pay hut before paying £7 for admission and a steep £2.50 for a 20-page programme. Upon entering the ground, I put the programme in my bag before beginning my usual circuit of photos, beginning on the dugouts side of the ground and looping around to behind the near goal last. Once that was done, I took a seat towards the right inside the main stand as I awaited kick-off, paying £2 for some raffle tickets when someone came around offering them (I didn't win, of course, but maybe someday I will).

Though the new season had only just begun, I did take a quick look at the league tables to see how the first league match or two had gone for both clubs, to try and gain some idea of what sort of expectations to have for this tie: Newmarket had won their first two matches and only conceded one goal in the process, while Wellingborough had suffered a 5-3 defeat against Potton United. Based on that, my pre-match prediction was that Newmarket would pick up a 1-3 win in a competitive encounter.

I didn't see any teamsheets around the ground, and Newmarket only posted their own on Twitter

Wellingborough took the lead in the first 60 seconds of this cup tie, their number 9 capitalising on a defensive error to get a shot away from the edge of the box. Newmarket keeper Danny Gay did get a hand to the shot, but could only watch as it looped over his head and settled in the bottom corner. It took a while for the shell-shocked Newmarket to respond and they had to defend from a spell of Wellingborough pressure before getting their first chance in the 12th minute: Lewis Whitehead took a pot shot from 25 yards which deflected narrowly wide for a corner.

Two minutes later, Wellingborough's number 9 had a good chance to double his side's lead with a left-foot shot from just inside the box, but he couldn't keep it down and it went over for a goal kick. In these early stages, the match was some real 100mph stuff as both teams punted the ball upfield to quickly go on the attack, though clear-cut chances were few and far between.

Wellingborough were narrowly on top in these early stages, but they almost gifted Newmarket an equaliser on the half-hour: James Hall robbed the Wellingborough keeper of the ball on the edge of the box, cut inside and crossed for another Newmarket player to shoot, but the shot was blocked on the line and cleared away. Though Wellingborough got a lucky escape there, Newmarket did manage to nab an equaliser just at the end of normal time when Jack Whiting crossed from the right wing to an unmarked Sam Gomarsall to place a shot past the keeper.

In contrast to their sloppy start to the first half, Newmarket started the second half very strongly and completed the turnaround in the 49th minute: Lewis Whitehead played in an excellent cross from the right wing and Hall was on the end of it with a powerful header. Having taken the lead, Newmarket now started to take control of proceedings by playing with more pace and purpose and leaving little space for Wellingborough to work with. This meant that there was less action to take note of for much of the second half, as the ball spent most of its time in the midfield third.

In the 81st minute, Newmarket's victory was secured when Hall scored his second of the afternoon: Gay launched the ball upfield and Hall managed to beat the offside trap and place a powerful shot beyond the Wellingborough keeper into the bottom corner. Four minutes later, Wellingborough had their best chance of the second half to get themselves back into it when, after a sustained spell of possession on the edge of the Newmarket box, the number 7 put a shot from the edge of the box over the bar.

Overall, this was a good match to get myself back into the groundhopping groove with, being competitive throughout and having plenty of key moments to take note of. Mind you, after the last 18ish months I think I'd have been happy with anything besides a drab 0-0; the important thing for me is I'm back travelling to new places to watch football, and oh how I've missed it.

After the full-time whistle blew, I made a quick stop in the clubhouse to use the toilet before getting picked up again in the Starbucks car park. We arrived back at the house around 45 minutes later and I got straight to work on sorting out my photos and writing out my match report before dinner. After dinner, I made a start on this blog entry by researching the history of Wellingborough Town FC, as I wanted to speed things up this morning so I could finish and get this uploaded before departing for the Baldock Town match.

Once this entry is finished and uploaded, I'll be ordering my train tickets to make my way to Arlesey for this afternoon's match. With a long walk between the station and ground (just over half an hour), I'm hoping theres's not too much rain in that part of the country today.

The Ground

The Dog & Duck Stadium is a good Step 5 ground, dominated by the large main stand on the side bordering the next-door ground of Wellingborough Whitworth. This contains seating for around 200 people, with a step or two of standing terracing at the back on each side (two steps to the right of the central press box, one step to the left). The stand is painted in the club's yellow and blue colours and features the club's initials on the back, giving it plenty of character. Despite supporting pillars, views from most seats in the stand are good, helped by the sides being open to the elements besides the necessary supports (only downside of that being that the rain can come into the stand at the right angle, as we found today).

Other than this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with minimal space for meaningful expansion. However, I understand that there used to be other areas of cover at the ground when AFC Rushden & Diamonds groundshared here, but they took those with them when they moved in with Rushden & Higham United.

The clubhouse can be found behind the near goal and a tea bar is positioned immediately in front of it. A club shop can be found next to the main stand as well. Besides this, the ground is well-positioned relative to local amenities, with a Starbucks, McDonald's and Domino's Pizza just across the road and a Premier Inn very close by too. A Tesco superstore is also within a five-or-so minute walk of the ground.

Photos

2021/22 Update

Today, my 2021/22 season of groundhopping gets underway and with it will come the proper return of this blog. After covid halted the 2019/20 season, I was completely disengaged from groundhopping for a while, such that even when football briefly came back for the 2020/21 season I didn't feel comfortable travelling and only ticked off two new and very local grounds.

However, the outlook now is a lot brighter and I feel much more confident in travelling around and getting back groundhopping again. So, after two seasons disrupted by the pandemic, what are my groundhopping targets for this season (besides not losing a third season because of the pandemic)?

Given that I currently either have to rely on trains or request lifts to get anywhere, my scope for how many new grounds I can tick is more limited this season than it was during my three years of University. Furthermore, having missed the vast majority of Yaxley's matches at Step 4 so far, I want to go to more of our home matches this season rather than hopping every weekend. With that in mind, I'm aiming to tick 18 new grounds this season to hit 130 overall, with 6 or 7 of those likely to be Yaxley away games due to our shift to a new league. I'm sure I can probably manage a little bit more than that amount, but that seems a realistic target to set and one I'll be happy with.

To get that started, I'm doing two FA Cup matches this weekend, one today (Wellingborough Town vs Newmarket Town) and one tomorrow (Baldock Town vs Wembley, at Arlesey Town). Beyond that, I've got rough plans through to mid-September:

Next Saturday, I aim to tick either Whittlesey Athletic or Stilton United. Then, on Bank Holiday Monday at the end of the month, I hope to pay a visit to Hitchin Town at last. On the 11th of September, I hope to get a lift to one of four FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round matches on a quick shortlist I drew up. And on the 18th my plan is to use the train to go somewhere a fair bit further afield than the norm as a late birthday celebration, with a current shortlist of Harwich & Parkeston, Hastings United and North Ferriby (pending the latter two's potential FA Cup progression, as that is 2nd Qualifying Round weekend).

The only thing that might cause a shift in that early schedule is if Yaxley get through their FA Cup Preliminary Round tie in two weeks and are then drawn away at a new ground in the 1st Qualifying Round on the 4th of September. Beyond that, I haven't thought about much besides the fact that my first away league match at a new ground with Yaxley this season will come on the 23rd of October when we visit Histon.

While I've been drawing up all these plans, I've also been working on some new pages for my blog. These consist of tables covering every level of English football from the 92 all the way to Step 6 of non-league, allowing my readers and myself to keep track of how I'm progressing on completing leagues and also providing another way to find my blog entries than just scrolling through the full list on the "My Grounds" page. These pages will go live early next week, after I've written up and posted both of this weekend's blog entries.

I am also working on a Step 7+ page to go with the rest of these, but there's still a lot of research I need to do into ground names and worthwhile grounds in leagues sitting below Step 7 structures. I'm also still waiting on a couple of leagues to release their constitutions so I can see if those have any worthwhile grounds to add to the list ("worthwhile" meaning has some form of cover to work with). Once that page is live, I'll gladly welcome any suggestions of notable grounds I've missed as there's so much at that level that I'm bound to have missed a few gems.

Other than all of this, the only other change I'm going to be making to the blog is adding attendance figures to my entries going forward. As the vast majority of these will end up being guesswork on my part (i.e. unless clubs I visit post or announce official figures), I will always welcome corrections from the clubs I visit if I do get the attendance wrong. I may try and go back and retroactively add attendances to my old blog entries as well, but that will be dependent on me being able to find those numbers somewhere.

 

With all that being said, it's good to be back and I hope everyone enjoys reading my blog this season and beyond.

Peterborough Rangers - Queens Park

Peterborough Rangers FC
Queens Park
Daimler Avenue
Yaxley
Peterborough
PE7 3AU

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 112
Date: Saturday 5th June 2021
Farcet United 1-4 Ramsey Town
Peterborough Junior Cup Semi-Final
Attendance: 55

Peterborough Rangers - History

Peterborough Rangers were founded in 2021 and competed in Division 5 of the Peterborough & District League for the 2021/22 season, winning the title after winning all but one of their league matches. This saw the club promoted to Division 3 for the 2022/23 season after league restructuring. They also won the Hunts FA Lower Junior Cup with a 3-1 win over Brampton Reserves.

My Visit

In recent weeks, I had become aware that local football had returned and would be running into mid-June before the start of the new season in late July/early August. Farcet had been playing games in the village for a few weeks now, but until recently the weather had been poor and I hadn't really felt like going to watch any football as a result. However, it had been consistently sunny for the last week or so and, having seen this fixture on Full-Time, I decided the time was right to get to my first football match of any kind since November.

On Friday, after a week of mid-20s temperatures, it had dropped to just below 20 celsius and rained a little bit, but there were no real worries about the game possibly being postponed. Instead, I was somewhat relieved to see the temperature fall as I knew this match would be on a pitch lacking any sort of cover. Yesterday morning, the sun was back out and temperatures were back narrowly above 20 celsius, but not too hot as to be an offputting prospect.

After having lunch, I left the house at around 1:25pm so as to give myself time to stop at the Co-op first and pick up a few snacks, some for the match itself and some for the next couple of days. After that was done, I arrived at the Queens Park site with ten minutes to spare before kick-off, taking a couple of photos before walking to the furthest pitch where the match was set to take place.

With it having been absolutely ages since my last football match, and a couple months longer since I last updated this blog, I felt somewhat out of practice regarding my usual matchday routine, so I spent parts of the first half updating social media and the Futbology app as usual. The only part of the routine I immediately slipped back into normal habits with was my writing of notes for the match report, though I know I can do more on that front once I get properly back into the swing of things early next season.

Naturally, being out of practice meant I didn't do any of my usual pre-match research beyond confirming that this match was taking place at all. That being said, I have since had a look while writing this entry to see that Ramsey were top of Division 2 when the season was curtailed with nine wins and one defeat, while Farcet were in 6th with five wins and four defeats from nine games.

Here's my match report from a convincing victory for Ramsey to send themselves through to the final in two weeks:

Ramsey took the lead two minutes into this tie, a long throw from the right wing headed in by Pete Waters at the near post. That lead was doubled on the half-hour when Charlie Hawkins curled a ball beyond the Farcet defence to Myles Roberts, who beat the keeper to it then smashed the ball into the empty net. On the stroke of half-time, Ramsey should have gone three up when a Farcet defender passed across the edge of the box to Roberts, only for the keeper to recover and stop both him and a second attacker from poking the ball into the net.

The second half started with a concerted spell of Ramsey pressure which saw numerous good chances spurned. However, they finally got their third on 54 minutes when Hawkins got a shot away inside the box and beat the keeper. Two minutes later, Ramsey had a penalty after a defensive scramble to clear in the Farcet box; Hawkins stepped up and placed his effort into the bottom left corner.

Just after the hour mark, Farcet pulled one back after 7 did well to get a cross in from the right wing, the ball being knocked on to 9 to turn and volley into the net from the centre of the box. Despite still having a three-goal advantage at this stage, Ramsey seemed to waver after this goal and that gave Farcet a chance to pepper the Ramsey goal with shots, but to no avail as they were let down by wayward shooting.

This was an enjoyable match for me after so long of only watching football on the TV, with both sides going for it and (mostly) just getting on with it without much of the gamesmanship seen in higher level football. Ultimately, though Farcet tried their hardest to get themselves back into the game, it never felt to me like they would as they struggled to break through the Ramsey backline and were largely wasteful in front of goal when opportunities did present themselves.

Even with a substantial amount of stoppage time at the end of the second half, the match finished by around 3:45pm, so I was able to get back in the house by 4pm and unwind for the rest of the afternoon.

Now that I've been to a football match again, I'm starting to think about future groundhopping prospects after investing very little time into that for ages. While I am still keeping a wary eye on changes in the pandemic situation, I have drawn up a list of grounds I want to visit in the next season or two, including all the new ones in Yaxley's division for next season (regardless of how likely I think it is that I'll be able to get to them) and a few local options at Step 7 and below; while I do prefer watching football in grounds with cover, I am no longer vehemently against watching football on basic pitches like this. It's still not my preference or first choice, but when opportunities for it arise I don't intend to flatly refuse anymore.

This list is by no means exhaustive - in fact, I'll be looking to add more to it as soon as possible - but I think it makes for a good starting point. Also, as you can see, I do intend to visit Ramsey in two weeks for the cup final, as I have heard that their ground does have some cover (or, at the very least, that it had cover in the past). I can't guarantee that I'll be able to make it, but I'll certainly give it a try to get one last ground in for the 2020/21 season. And then it'll hopefully onto an exciting new restart to my groundhopping for the 2021/22 season after so much disruption in the last 12+ months.

The Ground

Queens Park is a multi-pitch facility, with multiple youth pitches closest to the changing room structure and two adult pitches at the far end of the site.

Peterborough Rangers play their home games here, but Farcet United and FC Hampton were both playing here for some of their home games in this late season cup competition (hence why I originally tagged this entry with FC Hampton). The facility has also been used by other local sides in the past, including Riverside FC.

Photos

Farcet United - Middletons Road Recreation Ground

 

Farcet United FC

Middletons Road Recreation Ground

Middletons Road

Yaxley

Peterborough

PE7 3LR

 

Official Website

Twitter

 

Ground: 111

Date: Saturday 5th September 2020

Farcet United 4-5 Peterborough Polonia

Peterborough & District League Division 2

Attendance: 13

 

Farcet United - History

Other than the fact that they were re-established in 1992 (having evidently existed in some previous incarnation before then), there was very little historical information about Farcet United that I could find online. In recent years, at least, the club has spent its time in Divisions 2 and 3 of the Peterborough & District League, winning the Division 2 Intermediate Shield in the 2016/17 season. Though the 2019/20 season was null-and-voided because of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, the club were elevated to Division 2 for the 2020/21 season having been 3rd in Division 3 when football was halted.

My Visit

With non-league football finally returning after almost six months away at the end of August, it was only a matter of time until I'd be back groundhopping again. However, now that I've graduated from University and am back home permanently, my options are much more limited than they were last season (I'll be happy with at least 10 new ticks this season). This is exacerbated by the fact that I cannot drive yet and hence can't get around on my own, meaning that I have to ask for a lift for anywhere I do want to go. Granted, I'm still not fully comfortable travelling around too much yet, but I don't want to be unable to drive for too much longer so am well into the job hunt to start getting money in to be able to afford driving lessons and then work from there.

In the meantime, I was assessing local options as Yaxley continued to intensify our pre-season preparations ahead of our competitive start next Saturday. After attending Tuesday night's pre-season friendly, though, I felt more in the mood for competitive football yesterday without having to travel far at all. Thankfully, there are several options within the village in the form of FC Hampton, Cardea (playing on the grass pitch next to Yaxley's ground) and Farcet United (who play at the village rec).

I wasn't aware of FC Hampton playing in the village until after I got back from the match yesterday, so I was only aware of both Cardea and Farcet being at home. Ultimately, I opted for Farcet due to Yaxley being at home on the main pitch at the same time as Cardea's home game on the adjacent grass pitch there. With reports that Chelmsford were planning to bring 200 fans up for the friendly against Yaxley, I figured it would be rather busy in the area even if only a few people were watching Cardea and instead opted to head to the rec to watch Farcet.

For a 2pm kick-off, I left the house at 1:30pm and arrived ten minutes later to find that the match was being played on the pitch adjacent to the park, rather than the pitch adjacent to the primary school. I took my standing position next to the pitch and flicked through social media while waiting for kick-off after taking a few photos of the pitch.

I didn't do much research on the teams prior to the match and there's no point posting league tables for a while yet, but I did know that Farcet had been elevated from Division 3 this season, while Peterborough Polonia had requested demotion from the Premier Division to Division 2 a few weeks ago for reasons unknown. Also, this was my first foray into the 13th tier (I'd previously gone as low as the 12th when I visited Wymondham Town, but never lower before this), so I had no idea what to expect in terms of quality, even more so for the first match of the season when teams would likely still be shaking off some of that pre-season rust.

Here's my report on an entertaining match which Farcet can feel unlucky to have gotten nothing out of despite having a three-goal deficit for much of the match:

This first competitive match of the season saw Farcet start on the front foot and earn themselves a penalty in the 4th minute, but the number 5's spot kick was tame and easily saved by the Polonia keeper before being cleared by a defender. From that clearance, Polonia broke quickly and took the lead, a shot from their number 11 taking a deflection off a Farcet defender to wrong-foot the keeper. Farcet had a chance to equalise 4 minutes later when former Yaxley left back Josh Pike picked the ball up on the left of the box, rounded the keeper and got a shot away, only for the keeper to reflexively and impressively block the effort with a stretched leg. In the 13th minute, it was Polonia's turn to break forward when their number 2 had space to run down the right wing and slice a shot narrowly wide.

Two minutes later, though, Polonia doubled their lead when their number 9 received the ball unmarked in the box. His first shot was well blocked by a Farcet defender, but the ball came back to him for an easy finish past the keeper. Seven minutes later, Polonia were awarded a free kick from 25 yards out and their number 6 made it 0-3 by curling it low around the wall and into the bottom left corner, just narrowly beyond the keeper's reach. Despite Polonia having a resounding lead at this point, the difference between the teams didn't seem as wide as the scoreline suggested as the match was very much an end-to-end affair. If anything, Farcet were having more of the ball and creating more chances on the whole, but with little luck when it mattered. By contrast, Polonia were only infrequently breaking forwards, but they made it count almost every time. This difference became clear when Farcet somehow failed to pull a goal back in the 27th minute: they had multiple attacking players in and around Polonia's box, but they seemed reluctant to shoot and kept passing it around on the edge of the box. When someone eventually got a shot away, it was blocked and eventually cleared after an initial defensive mix-up that was not pounced on. At the other end, Polonia's fourth goal came on the half-hour mark when their number 7 shot low from distance and beat the keeper at his far post (just like the earlier free-kick).

Farcet still hadn't given up, though, and pulled one back in style in the 36th minute: number 10 instinctively flicked the ball over his head as it came to him from behind, rushed past the defender into the box and effortlessly chipped over the rushing keeper's head. It was then 2-4 four minutes later as a Farcet free kick was headed away as far as their number 6 in centre midfielder. He played a pass to the 10 on the right wing, before he crossed low into the box for Pike to tap in. There was still one more goal to come in an action-packed first half, though, as Polonia restored their three-goal cushion in the 43rd minute: someone on the left wing floated a deep cross into the box and over the Farcet keeper's head as he attempted to catch it, with Polonia's number 7 standing behind him to head into the empty net.
2-5 at half-time.

After an end-to-end second half, the second half saw a drop in intensity and fewer chances for both sides. The big difference was that Farcet came out much stronger and started to take control of the match, while Polonia struggled to find any cohesion in their attacks. Farcet had their first chance of the half in the 50th minute as their number 10 dribbled into the box from the left and shot low across goal to force a save and earn his side a corner. Four minutes later, Farcet's number 9 should have reduced his side's deficit when the Polonia keeper failed to catch a cross, but his header on the empty goal was weak and gave the keeper time to correct himself and make the save. Then, after 20 minutes of probing without success, Pike scored his second of the afternoon to make it 3-5 in the 76th minute: Polonia's 9 had a chance blocked by the keeper and the ball was quickly kicked upfield, with Pike breaking beyond the defensive line and poking past the keeper to score from the edge of the box.

Eleven minutes later, Farcet had a goal disallowed for offside: their number 10 volleyed after a cross-field ball from Pike and it was heading goalward, only to bounce into the net off the number 6 from an offside position. Undeterred, Farcet pulled another one back in the third minute of stoppage time, bundling in from a set piece after the keeper pushed an aerial ball into the path of an unmarked Farcet player. Then, with one last roll of the dice, Farcet went on the attack from a 95th minute throw-in, their number 10 punting a hopeful ball into the box that Pike got on the end of and narrowly poked over the bar. That was the last kick of the game and enough for Polonia to hold on for a 4-5 victory.

So an excellent return to competitive football and an excellent match for this blog to come back for. Though Farcet lost this crazy match, they could have very easily gotten all three points out of it on a different day and against a goalkeeper not putting in the performance of a lifetime.

There were a couple of extended stoppages in the second half as tempers flared at times, leading to just over 5 minutes added on at the end. This meant the match didn't finish until around 3:50pm, but when it's only just over ten minutes back to the house that doesn't overly matter much.

Regarding future groundhopping plans, it's still a little up in the air. Besides Cardea and FC Hampton in the village (do second pitches on the same ground complex count as new grounds, or would it be cheating to count that for Cardea?), I've drawn up a shortlist of other relatively local options I'd be comfortable visiting at the moment, but much depends on the Yaxley fixtures and what is happening with away games this season, i.e. if away travel is still happening or not (I assume not, but I've yet to receive any confirmation one way or the other). Regardless, I'm eyeing a visit to Whittlesey on the 10th of October in the FA Vase, but hoping I can get something else in before that. 

The Ground

Middletons Road Recreation Ground is a typical village rec set up, comprised of a couple of pitches with no football furniture besides the changing rooms. This match was played on the upper pitch next to the park, rather than the lower, sloped pitch across from the primary school.

Photos