Nuneaton Griff - The Pingles Stadium

Nuneaton Griff FC
The Pingles Stadium
Avenue Road
Nuneaton
Warwickshire
CV11 4LX

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 139
Date: Saturday 30th April 2022
Nuneaton Griff 1-1 Wednesfield
Midland League Division 1
Attendance: 78 (official)

Nuneaton Griff - History

Nuneaton Griff were founded in 1972 as Nuneaton Amateurs after a dispute saw many members of the local Co-op Sports FC move to the Nuneaton Griff and Coton Miners Welfare Ground. They initially played in the Coventry & North Warwickshire League before moving up to the Coventry & Alliance Suburban League in 1974. Twelve months later, the club adopted its current name.

The club soon moved up to the Coventry Alliance League and became a dominant force in the league in the 1990s. In 1998, this dominance prompted the club to apply for membership of the Midland Combination League and they were controversially placed in the Premier Division for the 1999/2000 season. However, this quickly proved justified as they won back-to-back Premier Division titles in their first two seasons at this level.

The club remained in the Premier Division until the end of the 2013/14 season, at which point the league merged with the Midland Alliance League to form the Midland League. They were placed in Division 1 and have remained there ever since, recording a highest finish of 3rd in the 2015/16 season but otherwise finishing in the bottom half every season (though that will change this season). They even finished bottom in the 2018/19 season but were spared from relegation.

In the FA Cup, the club's best run came in the 2012/13 season when they reached the 2nd Qualifying Round by beating Earlswood Town, Sporting Khalsa and Dudley Town before losing to Hednesford Town. As for the FA Vase, their best run came in the 2015/16 season when they reached the 5th Round: they beat Shawbury United, Coton Green, Anstey Nomads, Highgate United, Pinxton and AFC Wulfrunians before losing to Salisbury.

My Visit

With Yaxley's season having come to an end last weekend, I found myself in the position of having complete free reign to choose where to go in the final few weeks of the 2021/22 season. The first thing for me to do then was to assess all my options and figure out how many more groundhops I wanted to do before the end of the season based on that.

This process saw me go through all sorts of different options and I found myself changing my mind again and again as I thought of different ways to balance budget with interesting matches in the ever-shrinking pool of matches in May. For this weekend specifically, my options were constrained by the fact I would have to get a bus to the train station to go anywhere due to my mum and stepdad being in Bristol for the weekend.

My initial first choice was Oakham United's ground for their "away game" against Stamford Lions, but I put that on hold after hearing about the Rutland Cup due to take place in July. My next first choice was a two-legged bus journey to Crowland Town for their Reserves' match against FC Peterborough. That would be just a pitch rather than a ground, but it was cheap enough that it would allow for more interesting options over the following two weeks.

I kept flip-flopping between those and other options as I struggled to decide whether to go for two or three more groundhops, but in the end it was the events of last weekend (i.e. me forgetting to get complimentary admission last weekend) that influenced my final decision. With that and my plan to visit Linby Colliery Welfare in mind, I would need to get cash out again (as Linby charge for admission) and that opened up options above Step 7, with this quickly emerging as the prime candidate. I had planned to only visit Griff after visiting Nuneaton Borough, but the timing worked out too well to pass it up here.

With that being decided, I ordered my train tickets on Monday to take advantage of cheaper advance prices; I wouldn't normally do this, but at this point in the year the weather is generally good enough that I'm not worried about postponements. I then got cash out on Tuesday without any issues, wrote up the club history on Thursday and then made sure I was fully prepared on Friday by double-checking the bus timetables and packing everything I would need (including making sure to take my spare phone charger so I could plug the USB into the power pack and actually use that to charge my phone).

Yesterday morning, I left the house at 11:30am to get the bus just after 12pm. By the time I got into Peterborough and reached the station, I had realised it was a fair bit warmer than I'd expected and so I popped into the shop on the station to buy a cold drink and a pack of rolos (a terrible mistake, as they were very sticky) before collecting my tickets and heading onto the platform. The train left just before 1pm and I had plenty of time to have lunch before the train arrived in Nuneaton ten minutes late at around 2:25pm.

The walk from the station to the ground was probably one of the most pleasant I have done since graduating from University, as it mostly took me through the picturesque Riversley Park which features war memorials and the Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery. If I'd had more time before the match, I would have taken a few photos and spent a bit more time in the park, but I had to keep moving and make it to the ground.

Two trains passed on that small stretch of line directly above the ground in each half (one going each way)

By the time I arrived and took a photo from outside the ground, I had twenty minutes to spare before kick-off. I paid £5 for admission and then £1 for a programme before starting on my usual circuit of photos, failing to notice in my haste that I also could have gotten a free teamsheet along with the programme. After completing my circuit of photos - having stopped along the way to pass some balls back to the players training - there was about five minutes until kick-off and I opted to sit in the main stand for the entire match.

Only Nuneaton Griff posted a teamsheet online, but teamsheets were available at the game and I have since learned the Wednesfield line-up courtesy of Griffon on the Non-League Matters forum

It was Wednesfield who started this match on the front foot, going close in the 12th minute with a free header that required quick reactions from Nuneaton Griff keeper Joe Salisbury to keep out of the net. Two minutes later, Jimmy Yates went close when he beat the offside trap and tried to chip the ball over Salisbury as he rushed out. The two collided, but despite Wednesfield appeals no foul was given.

In the 21st minute, Yates spurned a golden chance for Wednesfield by skying over the bar after Jack Dew put it on a plate for him inside the box. This first twenty minutes did a good job of summing up most of the match, particularly the first half: the quality of play was not great overall, with both teams being very wasteful with possession and even more wasteful in front of goal. On the stroke of half-time, Wednesfield took a deserved lead when Craig Tuckley went on a run from deep and hit a powerful left-footed shot beyond Salisbury.

Wednesfield made a strong start to the second half as they looked to extend their lead, Tuckley placing a shot narrowly wide in the 52nd minute. Both teams continued to spurn chances throughout the second half, with Griff growing into the game more and more as this progressed. By the time we reached the final ten minutes, the home side were on top, but they were still struggling to find quality in front of goal with their best chance coming from a Ben Stokes shot straight at Wednesfield keeper Dominic Smith.

However, that moment of quality came out of nowhere in the 88th minute: a corner was headed away into midfield, but it fell to Ross Proudlock 25 yards out to hit a first-time volley into the crossbar and in. It could have been 2-1 moments later as a hopeful punt upfield almost flew into the net, but Smith was aware of the danger and caught it on the line.

This was probably one of the lower-quality Step 6 matches I've been to this season, not helped by a bobbly pitch or by the fact that both sides were realistically on the beach with little to play for in this final game of the season. A draw was ultimately a fair result, but Wednesfield will really rue the plethora of chances they missed throughout. A decent season for both sides though, particularly for Nuneaton Griff as they secured their first top-half finish in six years and showed some impressive improvement from finishing rock-bottom in the 2018/19 season.

After the full-time whistle, I made my way straight back to the station and arrived with roughly half an hour to wait. While this gave me plenty of time to start charging my phone with my power pack and get my match report written up, this was also where the problems began. At 5:30pm, it was announced that my train would be delayed by around twenty minutes. Initially, I didn't mind this as it would cut down my time waiting for the bus home, and I was still in this mindset when the train eventually arrived at 6:05pm.

However, it transpired that the delays were because of a fault on my train and so it gradually got more and more delayed as it progressed. In the end, it arrived into Peterborough forty minutes late, giving me just short of ten minutes to get out of the station and across the road to catch the bus. This meant I missed the bus by mere seconds and gave me little option but to fork out £8 for a taxi rather than waiting an hour for the next bus, an annoying needless expense.

When all was said and done, I was back in the house at 8:15pm and went straight for a shower after ordering myself a KFC for dinner. This meant I got around to sorting my photos much later than I normally would and made for a rushed evening before hopping on the usual Discord call with my friends from University. I then got around to writing the rest of my blog today later than normal because I met up with my dad at Costa for the first time in a while this morning.

As I already mentioned earlier in this entry, I should be heading to Linby Colliery Welfare next week. I've got my train tickets to Nottingham booked already, and the plan is to then get a tram to Hucknall. If necessary, that leaves me plenty of flexibility to head elsewhere, but I doubt that's a concern at this point in the year. I'll then hopefully get in one more groundhop on the 14th, but that's not set in stone yet.

The Ground

The Pingles Stadium is an athletics ground first and foremost, but it's got enough character to make it an interesting footballing venue. The main stand provides good elevated views of the pitch (offsetting the distance from the pitch in the process) and contains 250 seats. There is also a small area of cover attached directly to the front of the stand, presumably to provide cover to disabled supporters. The clubhouse is next to the main stand and is a fairly compact brick-built structure.

Other than some benches and various bits of athletic miscellanea serving as improvised uncovered seating, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, curving along with the running track and generally being a fair distance from the pitch. There is a small area on the far side which lacks hard standing as they were not allowed to dig into that part of the banking. Behind the far goal is what looks like a screen of some sort, though this was not in operation on my visit. Behind the near goal is a pleasant-looking wooden building with an electronic scoreboard attached to it.

The ground has an official capacity of 4,000, with a record attendance of 870 for the FA Vase game against Salisbury in the 2015/16 season.

Photos

Sutton Coldfield Town - Coles Lane

Sutton Coldfield Town FC
Coles Lane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B72 1NL

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 138
Date: Saturday 23rd April 2022
Sutton Coldfield Town 3-0 Yaxley
Northern Premier League Division 1 Midlands
Attendance: 214 (official)

Sutton Coldfield Town - History

Sutton Coldfield Town were founded in 1879 as Sutton Coldfield FC and initially played in local leagues such as the Central Birmingham League, the Aston & District League, the Small Heath League, the Suburban League and the Birmingham Alliance League. In 1920, the club moved into their current ground and at some point around this time they changed name to Sutton Town.

During the 1930s, the club stepped up to the Birmingham Combination League and remained here until the outbreak of World War 2. After the war ended, they joined the Walsall Senior League for a few years before returning to the Birmingham Combination League in 1950. Success on the pitch was limited though and the club moved on to the Birmingham & District League in 1954, joining its Southern Division.

In 1955, their ground was devastated by a fire and this began a period of financial troubles for the club. In 1964, the club changed to their current name and, after finishing bottom of what was now the West Midlands (Regional League) for the third season running, they dropped down to the Worcestershire Combination League in 1965. This league became the Midland Combination League in 1968 and they quickly became one of the strongest clubs in the league. This culminated in back-to-back league titles in 1978 and 1979 as they secured a return to the West Midlands (Regional League).

After winning the league at the first attempt, they spent two more seasons there before stepping up to the Southern League's Midland Division in 1982. They won promotion at the first attempt with a runners-up finish, but the Premier Division proved a step too far and they were immediately relegated back to the Midland Division. They remained in this league (which changed name a few times over the years) until the end of the 2009/10 season, at which point they were transferred to Division 1 South of the Northern Premier League.

The 2014/15 season saw the club finish 4th and earn promotion through the play-offs by beating Newcastle Town in the semi-final and Leek Town in the final. After this, they spent three seasons in the Northern Premier League's Premier Division before finishing bottom in the 2017/18 season to be relegated back to Step 4. This time, they were placed in Division 1 Central of the Southern League and finished the 2018/19 season in 5th, losing to Bromsgrove Sporting in the play-off semi-final. They were then transferred back to the Northern Premier League for the 2019/20 season, where they have remained ever since.

The club have twice reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup: in the 1980/81 season, they beat Telford United, Oldbury United, Witton Albion and Hitchin Town before losing to Doncaster Rovers; in the 1992/93 season, they beat West Bromwich Town, Stewarts & Lloyds Corby, Eastwood Hanley, Rushall Olympic and Leyton before losing to Bolton Wanderers. They competed in the FA Amateur Cup for one season (the 1970/71 season), but they lost their only match in the competition to Skelmersdale United. As for the FA Trophy, they reached the 3rd Round in the 2004/05 season by beating Stourport Swifts and Blyth Spartans before losing to Morecambe.

My Visit

After missing out on Yaxley's visit to Daventry Town last weekend, and having not gone to anywhere near as many of our away games as I'd intended this season, I wanted to make sure I got to our final one of the season away at Sutton Coldfield Town. Thankfully, on Monday it was confirmed that we would definitely be putting a coach on for this game and I immediately reserved myself a seat on it.

The build-up to the game was a quiet week as usual as I continued to assess more potential groundhopping options for the final few weeks of the season. I did have a little trouble getting cash out for the coach thanks to the Tesco cashpoints being out of service again, but I was able to resolve that on Friday by walking to a different set of cash points.

That aside, I researched the club's history for the blog on Friday and made sure I was ready for a relatively early departure the next morning. We ended up leaving the house just before 11am and I was dropped off at the Yaxley ground not long after to get on the coach. By this point, I had realised that I'd forgotten to ask to be put on our complimentary admissions list and that I would hence have to pay to get in this time (a mistake that might force me to change my plans somewhat).

In the end, we arrived at Sutton Coldfield not long after 1:30pm despite a brief stop at some services near Coventry on the way up. After I paid for admission, I headed into the ground with everyone else and into the boardroom where tea and biscuits were on offer. At around 2:40pm, I headed out to do my circuit of photos and then some of us took a seat in the main stand for the first half. After some half-time hospitality, we stood behind the goal Yaxley were shooting at for the second half in the hope of seeing some goalmouth action.

A defeat on the final day for Yaxley was sealed by the concession of two goals in a minute early on. In the sixth minute, a ball over the top found Leo Brown in acres of space and he coolly chipped over Aaron Butcher to give Sutton Coldfield the lead. A minute later, it was 2-0 as Connor Peters' attempted clearance set Brown through one-on-one and he shot low beyond Butcher to score. To make matters worse, Peters injured himself during the attempted clearance to force Yaxley into an early defensive substitution and tactical reshuffle.

Sutton Coldfield remained on top throughout the first half, the balls over the top proving a constant threat. By contrast, Yaxley's best chance of the half came on the 36th minute when Toby Salmon glanced a header wide from a corner. But apart from that, chances were hard to come by for the Cuckoos.

Yaxley made a brighter start to the second half, Matt Sparrow testing Sutton Coldfield keeper Kieran Hart early on and Florian Tsaguim coming inches away from opening his account with a header. However, any hope of a comeback was extinguished on the hour mark after a loose pass on the edge of the Sutton Coldfield box set them up for a quick counter which culminated in an easy finish for Nathan Caine. Sutton Coldfield dropped the intensity after that, but they had little to worry about as Yaxley's forays forward proved consistently unsuccessful.

A disappointing note to end our season on, with three consecutive 3-0 defeats in the end. Conceding two goals so quickly so early on completely killed the game, but we did nowhere near enough to try and get back into it after that. Overall, this was a tough season for us as we adapted to the move to a stronger league (the NPL Midlands division is considerably stronger than the Southern League D1 Central, based on what I've seen of both) and managed to comfortably stay up despite having such a terrible start to the season. Already, thoughts are turning to next season and what needs to be done to repeat that feat.

After the full-time whistle, we headed back into the boardroom and, contrary to the approach of most clubs I've visited on the road with Yaxley this year, the main hot food was saved until after the game (most this season have opted for half-time). There was pie, sausages, chips and a fair bit more besides for some great post-match food while we discussed the match and what lies ahead next season.

It was closing in on 6pm by the time we started the journey back on the coach and, with the season now over, the players were drinking and sharing them around with everyone. One asked me to double-check his goal numbers to see if he can reach 100 for the club next season, and others thanked us for our support this season. I also managed to get my report written up on the way to save some time when I got back. Despite the poor result, it was an enjoyable coach journey back and were back at Yaxley by 8pm. I got a taxi back home and went straight into sorting out my photos before settling for a relaxing evening.

After that slight miscalculation of having to pay for admission for this game, I'm still not entirely sure what my plans for the final few weeks of the season are. I'm still very split between doing two and three games and what those should be. I've still got a few days to think about it, though.

The Ground

Coles Lane is a characterful Step 4 ground with an interesting mix of old and new. The main stand is an impressive structure, providing great elevated views of the pitch and a mixture of bench and plastic seating for around 200-300 people. It also curiously looks thinner than you would expect for its height when you look at it from the side.

On the other side of the pitch, in the corner directly next to the clubhouse is a modern 100-seater metal stand (thankfully not an Arena stand, but a similar sort of structure). Behind the near goal is a very small stand which seems to be primarily intended for disabled supporters to use. There is also a small area of covered standing behind the far goal.

The rest of the ground is open hard standing with blue-white fencing panels enclosing the ground. Space for expansion is limited as the ground is penned in by housing, but it is more than good enough for Step 4 due to the club's recent time at Step 3. Step 6 side Paget Rangers also groundshare here.

Photos

Godmanchester Rovers - Bearscroft Lane

Godmanchester Rovers FC
Bearscroft Lane
Godmanchester
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE29 2LQ

Official Website
Twitter

Ground: 137
Date: Saturday 16th April 2022
Godmanchester Rovers 1-3 Lutterworth Town
United Counties League Premier Division South
Attendance: 102 (official)

Godmanchester Rovers - History

Godmanchester Rovers were founded in 1911 and spent much of their early history in the Huntingdonshire League before eventually moving up to the Cambridgeshire League and winning promotion to its top division in 1992. Despite being relegated to the Senior Division eight years later, they applied for promotion to the Eastern Counties League in 2002 and were successful due to their new ground.

Though they finished bottom of Division 1 in the 2004/05 season, they were not relegated and were able to gradually improve their fortunes on-the-pitch. This culminated in the club winning the Division 1 title in the 2011/12 season to earn promotion to the Premier Division. They quickly became one of the strongest teams in the league, finishing as runners-up in both the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons and then finishing 3rd in the 2018/19 season. The 2021/22 season saw the club transferred to the newly-formed Premier Division South of the United Counties League.

The club have twice progressed as far as the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, most recently in the 2018/19 season when they beat Newport Pagnell Town and Thetford Town before losing to Hitchin Town. Their best FA Vase run also came in the 2018/19 season as they reached the 4th Round by beating West Essex, Great Yarmouth Town, Holbeach United and Sporting Khalsa before being removed from the competition for fielding an ineligible player against Sporting Khalsa.

My Visit

Originally, I had planned to be at Daventry Town yesterday to watch Yaxley in our second-to-last away game of the season, but late last week it came to mind that the people I would usually ask for a lift to Yaxley away games were away. While it ended up turning out that they were back by the weekend (and indeed went to that game yesterday), I wasn't sure if that would be the case and I didn't want to ask them for a lift while they were enjoying themselves on holiday.

With that being the case, I had to come up with a new plan. I immediately ruled out trying to go anywhere on the train as I wasn't sure what impact a Bank Holiday weekend would have on train services (that turned out to be an astute call, by the sounds of it). Instead, I would be asking my mum for a lift and went onto the Futbology app and the Full-Time pages of a few local Step 7 leagues to see what options there were, with this and Thrapston Town emerging as the two main choices.

In the end, my mum chose this and I did my usual research on Good Friday to prepare this blog entry while also continuing to think ahead to the final few weeks of my groundhopping season. Yesterday, we left the house just before 2pm and reached the ground half an hour later. I paid £6 for admission and headed straight into the ground to do my usual circuit of photos before taking a seat in one of the two Arena stands for the duration of the match.

My expectations for this match weren't exactly high, with neither team having anything to play for in terms of promotion or relegation. On top of that, I'd heard a few things from other posters on the Non-League Matters forum about Lutterworth Town not being the most pleasant team to watch this season.

Godmanchester made the better start to this game and deservedly took the lead in the 12th minute when Danny Baulk got a shot away inside the box after the Lutterworth defence failed to clear. It was almost 2-0 six minutes later when CJ Lewis found himself through on goal and tried to round Lutterworth keeper Warren Butlin for an easy finish, only to lose the ball to the keeper. However, Butlin failed to get hold of the ball and it ended up falling to Baulk, but his shot went high and wide.

Lutterworth gradually grew into the game after a slow start and eventually equalised in the 22nd minute through Rahman Sunmonu Abdul: an aerial ball found him on the edge of the box and he poked it past the surrounding defenders with his first touch before smashing a powerful half-volley into the net. They completed the turnaround twelve minutes later when Justin Peace beat the offside trap to poke in a ball over the top. It was almost 1-3 two minutes later with a Louis Samuels diving header, but Godmanchester keeper Jamie Greygoose kept it out with a fingertip save.

Godmanchester made a strong start to the second half as well, but Lutterworth gradually regained control and did what they could to take any sting out of the contest. There were a few half-chances for both sides, but little for either keeper to do until Lutterworth scored their third in the 84th minute, Peace rising highest to power a header into the net from a free kick.

Overall, this ended up being a better game than I was expecting, with plenty of endeavour from both sides despite nothing riding on the result. Lutterworth were difficult to watch in the second half with their use of every trick in the gamesmanship book, but by no means was the result undeserved as they very much took control after a poor opening fifteen minutes.

In the end, it was almost 5pm when the full-time whistle blew and I headed out into the car park to get picked up for the journey home. This meant we made it back home by around 5:30pm and this allowed me to make an early start on my photos and match report. We ended up having our dinner at around 7:30pm, giving me plenty of time to get everything done and uploaded to social media first and then relax for the evening.

Next Saturday, I will hopefully be going to Yaxley's final away game of the season at Sutton Coldfield Town. After that, I'm debating whether to do two or three more groundhops before bringing my season to an end. Doing two more means I could go somewhere further afield on the 7th, but doing three more means an extra weekend of football before having nothing to do on Saturdays for two and a half months.

The Ground

Bearscroft Lane is a decent Step 5 ground with cover on two sides. All the seating is on the near side of the ground, with two 50-seater Arena stands and a metal scaffold stand containing a single row of seating. A similar scaffold structure is also positioned behind the near goal, but this one is used exclusively as covered standing.

The clubhouse is positioned below pitch level and there are some benches positioned in front of it to provide uncovered seating. That aside, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with the far goal seemingly being closed off to spectators currently. The ground has an official capacity of 1,050, with a record crowd of 252 for the FA Vase 4th Round tie against Sporting Khalsa in 2019.

Photos