NFU Sports Ground

Saturday 26th February 2022

Ashby Ivanhoe FC 4-0 AFC Bridgnorth

Admission: £5

Competition: Midland Football League Division One

Attendance: 110

My third Saturday in a row with a chance to get a new ground in, and something slightly more local this week as I travelled to the tip of the East Midlands to the lovely market town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, the home of one of my favourite fictional characters – Adrian Mole. England had finally traded in the grey and stormy weather that had tainted the country for the past couple of weeks and blessed us with a beautiful blue sky for a change, although the presence of the sun was slightly deceiving on what was a chilly afternoon. There was plenty of parking at the ground although our car did need a bit of a push to get off the car park as it was a bit muddy.

Ashby Ivanhoe were founded in 1948 and initially competed in various East Midlands leagues across Burton and Leicestershire. They enjoyed plenty of success throughout the first part of their history, winning leagues and cups in their domestic leagues. They got their promotion to Step 6 in 2013-14 after finishing third in the Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division, being moved up to the East Midlands Counties League where they remained until a sidewards switch to the Midland Football League in 2019. The record attendance at the NFU Sports Ground is a really impressive 693 when they played host to Ilkeston in the FA Cup first qualifying round.

The NFU Sports Ground is another pleasant, but basic, non-league ground which is in theme from the past few posts. It has a couple of basic stands and another great clubhouse, another running theme of my groundhops this season, there has been some real belters.

The first stand is behind the goal and in front of the clubhouse, and it is a small wooden feature with a few rows of plastic seats. It has wooden benches on either side and is a nice original home for spectators. Also, there is some covered hard standing along the pitch on this side up to the corner flag.

The only other stand at the ground is a more modern one and is on the left hand side of the pitch from the clubhouse, the same side as the dugouts. It has a good number of seats, although I’m not sure how much protection from the elements you’d get in it unless the wind was blowing behind you! There is hard standing available on these two sides but there is no access to the other two.

The clubhouse was comfortable and had both Sky Sports and the Six Nations on, with a good selection of beers and drinks. Hot food was available just outside the clubhouse with the usual burgers and hot dogs on sale.

Potentially one of the best programmes I’ve bought so far at Step 6, setting me back £2 but definitely worth the purchase. It had plenty of information, words from the manager and chairman and even a word search to keep you entertained at half time.

In the non-league world, AFC Bridgnorth are one of the teams that I follow and if they are playing at a new ground I will always bookmark it to see if I can to the match. I’m a semi-regular at Crown Meadow when fixtures allow and always check their scores on a Saturday. Unfortunately, they are in the midst of a pretty depressing season battling for survival in the Midland Football League Division One. They do show some glimpses of fight and belief in games but they are always just a mistake away from their heads going down and shipping another three / four goals. Hopefully they can muster up some results in the next few months and retain their Step 6 status.

On the other hand, the Knights are having a much more positive season and find themselves sitting in 5th position with a couple of games in hand on the teams above them. They come in to today’s fixture off the back of four victories on the spin and looked to be clear favourites for the tie.

A similar story to most of my Meadowmen games this season, a hard-fought start to the game with a couple of promising spells of play despite a lack of any real clear cut chances. The hosts did create a few chances and broke the deadlock late in the first half, a smart finish from their striker as he raced through one-on-one with the keeper.

The afternoon got worse for Bridgnorth in the second half, as Ashby Ivanhoe’s quality started to show superior and they found themselves four to the good after 76 minutes. Not the easiest pitch to play on but the home side looked a tidy outfit and I wish them well in their remaining fixtures this season.

Selhurst Street

Saturday 19th February 2022

Radford FC 2-5 Harrowby United

Admission: £5

Competition: United Counties League Division One

Attendance: 69

The aftermath of Storm Eunice and Storm Francis had not left me very hopeful of a new ground this weekend, and especially not one played on a grass pitch. Luckily, I found myself in Nottingham for the weekend and there was one game left standing (apart from Notts County at Step 1 which I didn’t fancy at £20) and that was Radford FC. I couldn’t believe my luck and donned my best waterproof coat before heading out in the rain to get that tick I so desired. I parked at the Asda over the road for the game as the ground is off a busy road with a tram track and was a bit of a nightmare.

Radford FC were founded in 1964 as Manlove & Alliots FC, which was an old engineering firm in Radford. The firm transferred to Scotland in 1970 and the club was re-named as Radford Olympic, hence the rings on the club crest. They moved to Selhurst Street in the 1981-82 season and have plied their trade in various Midlands leagues throughout their history. They first qualified for the FA Cup in 2009-10 but were knocked out in the Extra Preliminary Round.

Selhurst Street is a basic but smart stadium with quite a few structures and yet again another pleasant clubhouse. I would be far stretched to recall a more vocal following for a Step 6 side, as the stand in the picture above held the majority of the 69-strong crowd with various rattles, drums and walls which were rattled / banged in unison to get behind their team during the game. This stand also held the clubhouse which we’ll come back to.

Next to this was the seated section of the ground which was a good size and had around 100 seats at a guess. In between these two was the players tunnel which I’m sure the players were glad to get back down at full time.

Then on the far side of the ground, there are two similar stands which offered hard standing and deep shelter, accompanied by the tea bar which had a range of hot food and drinks available on the day.

There are no stands behind the other goal which is just hard standing, and then on the other side of the pitch there is another basic structure which is similar to the others. All in all, a lot going on for a Step 6 ground and plenty of space to spread out but stay dry for the crowd.

The clubhouse was a nice retreat for a half-time beer with a decent range of drinks, cobs available and Sky Sports Soccer Saturday on the television to keep up with the games of the day.

I’d give the food a 5/10, as the quality wasn’t great but it was very fairly-priced and quickly available. The chips I had were good but the burger not so much.

I’m always glad to see a programme available and Radford didn’t let me down, offering one for £1, and it was a good effort for a programme that has been pulled together by a volunteer rather than a professional printing company which can be the case at some non-league clubs. It had the histories of the two clubs, team sheets and the fixtures and league tables.

This was my first ever United Counties League game, although I have visited the home of Harrowby United for an FA Vase tie with AFC Bridgnorth. Unfortunately, I didn’t type that up for this blog so will need to pay it another visit at some point. The hosts, Radford, found themselves in 4th position at the start of the day with automatic promotion a distant dream but the reality of a play-off push a real possibility. Harrowby were down in 8th, although 17 points behind Radford, and they would need a really strong finish to the season to find themselves in the top 5 and securing a play off spot. I was bewildered when looking at the league table to see that a team called Aylestone Park were sitting a place below Radford despite having a goal difference of +75, scoring 114 goals but still being 15 points behind first place. How has that happened!?

Potentially aided by the mud-bath of a pitch, the game was a real thriller for a neutral like me. Seven goals is nothing to complain about although that was not the feeling amongst the home crowd when they found themselves 4-1 down within the first half an hour. The pitch didn’t do the defence any favours and there were a number of really sloppy mistakes leading to the visitors goals as Harrowby calmly wound down the clock until half time, unsurprisingly very content with their performance.

Radford came out fighting and with a real steely determination about them as they had plenty of chances which to the disbelief of the crowd, didn’t lead to them reducing their deficit. Game, set and match in the 74th minute when Harrowby made it 5-1. Radford’s effort levels never dropped and they continued with the pressure, finally getting their second consolation goal in the 84th minute with a smart finish.

Not to be for the hosts, but full credit to the supporters who stayed behind their team for the full game even when it wasn’t going there way and stayed to clap their side off the pitch with words of encouragement ringing out.

A great afternoon of entertaining non-league football and a friendly, welcoming club to go with it which is worth a visit if you are in the area. Hopefully Radford can bounce back in their next game and rejuvenate their promotion push.

Langland Stadium

Saturday 12th February 2022

Malvern Town 2-0 Westbury United

Admission: £7

Competition: Hellenic League Premier Division

Attendance: 233

Finally a free Saturday and the chance to get to a new non-league ground in daylight rather than floodlit. Malvern has been on my radar for a few years now and I have actually planned to visit here on numerous occasions but it has just never worked out. It worked out really well being a Saturday, as I was able to get over a few hours early and go for a hike over the hills in the morning before racing down to the game. Very windy but no rain luckily and a double definitely worth doing if you like the great outdoors like me.

Malvern Town were founded in 1946, under the name Barnards Green Football Club, playing in the Worcester League until 1955 when they moved up to the Worcestershire Combination which later became the Midland Combination. They switched across to the West Midlands (Regional) League in 1979, where they stayed until spending a few seasons at Step 4 and 5 between 2003 and 2009, competing in the Division One South of the Southern League at their highest point. They switched to the Hellenic League in 2019 and were promoted to the Premier Division based on the two Covid-annulled seasons.

Langland Stadium is a very tidy little set up, although it only has the one stand and the other three sides of the stadium are hard standing. It has a fantastic clubhouse and a 4G pitch. The reason I’d been so desperate to get over here was the picturesque setting behind the main stand and on that aspect it really didn’t let me down.

The stand is an original feature, with the front of it being some hard standing under the cover, you have to walk up some steps to get to the seats which are a mix of hard orange seats and old car seats. You get an elevated view of the pitch although the view can be restricted in some places.

The clubhouse was a real gem, with plenty of TV’s showing the Six Nations, at least 6 dartboards and a pool table. They had a good selection of drinks and even had custom made tables. I don’t usually tend to have a pint at non-league games, but it felt rude not to at such a great little bar.

Due to the fact that I’d just hiked 13km and climbed 600m leading up to the game, my first stop when I got into the stadium was the food bar. This is just the same building as the clubhouse and offered a decent range of food, I opted for a cheeseburger and chips. It wasn’t 10/10 but filled me up and did the job.

I was pleased to find a printed programme available, which cost £2, and had all the standard information you tend to find in. I was glad I picked it up and was a decent read.

The game had potential to be a good one, with both teams on the same amount of points and sitting in the top six of the league. Westbury did have four games in hand on Malvern. The game was not a classic by any means and the home side powered to a 2-0 lead and made it look extremely comfortable for the rest of the afternoon. The visitors never really looked like scoring or causing any problems and in the end it was an easy victory for the Hillsiders.

Glad to finally get this one off my list, and a great little ground with a solid following from the fans, plenty of Malvern hats and scarves on show really gave the impression of a community who buy into their local team. If you do visit, make sure to make the most of the clubhouse and the view.