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.