Treble Paston

LUTTERWORTH TOWN 4-0 SHEPSHED DYNAMO RESERVES
Saturday 7th April 2012
Leicestershire Senior League Division 1
Coventry Road Recreation Ground

With the season coming to a close, and despite Oadby Town having a top of the table clash with Borrowash Victoria I thought it bout time I paid a visit to Lutterworth Towns' home for this season, the Coventry Road Recreation Ground. You might be wondering why I am in a rush to visit what in effect is a public park? Well Town were only going to play at this venue this season, and from what I have been told will be returning to their original home on Dunley Way next season. This also following a recent visit to Sileby Saints means I will have seen football at all the venues in the lower division of the Leicestershire Senior League. That means that come next season I will still have at least one venue to pay a visit to. The only definite is Aylestone Park FC's Linwood Playing Fields ground on Saffron Lane in Leicester. I have heard that Ashby Ivanhoe are moving to a new ground ready for the start of next season, and then it is a case of waiting to see who gets promoted from the two feeder leagues: the North Leicestershire League and the Leicester & District League.

Market Street

Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish within the Harborough District of Leicestershire. It has a population around the 8,500 mark. It lies some 15 miles south of Leicester, 7 miles north of Rugby and 13 miles west of Market Harborough. The town does have excellent access to the road network with it being adjacent to junction 20 of the M1. The A5, M6 and A14 are also only a few miles away as well. The nearest railway station to Lutterworth is Rugby. 

The name Lutterworth possibly comes from the Old Norse  "Lutter's Vordig", meaning Luthers Farm. The town is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In 1214 the town was granted its Market Charter by King John, and it still holds a market today.

The town is also associated with Frank Whittle who invented the jet engine. He developed some of the worlds first jet engines at the British Thomson-Houston works in Lutterworth and Rugby during the late 1930's and 1940's. The engine for the UK's first jet aeroplane, the Gloster E.28/39 was produced in Lutterworth. A statue of the plane stands in the middle of a roundabout just south of the town centre as a memorial.

Sir Frank Whittle

The Whittle Memorial, Lutterworth

The football club have been in existence for over 100 years and have been members of the Leicestershire Senior League since 1955. Only two clubs, Sileby Town and Earl Shilton Albion have members for longer and they both joined the LSL in 1953. Town have had very few honours in the LSL having won the division 2 title once in 1981 and ten years later became league champions for the one and only time. Last season they finished bottom of the division one table. This season they have again struggled, and at the time of writing with three games remaining sit in 14th place in the league table. Only Asfordby Amateurs are below them. Town's last game was two weeks ago when they recorded a 2-1 home victory against the afore mentioned Amateurs. Opponents Shepshed Dynamo Reserves also find themselves at the wrong end of the table and are currently just one point and one place above their hosts this afternoon, though they have played two games less.

Martin Paston scoring the opening goal

The Coventry Road Recreation Ground is a basic affair as Town rope off the pitch and set up portable dugouts. After today's game they have two home games left before their affore mentioned apparent move back to Dunley Way.

To be fair to both teams my expectations for this game were low, but in the end it was an enjoyable game of football that I witnessed. Two goals in each half gave the hosts a comfortable victory, but despite having no substitutes Shepshed made a game of it, especially in the second half. 

The game was only six minutes old when following a mistake from the visiting keeper Martin Paston slid the ball home for opening goal. Twenty minutes later and it became 2-0. A mistake in the Shepshed defence saw Paston unmarked some twenty yards out from goal and he chipped the ball over the keeper. With no further goals the half ended 2-0. Following the restart Shepshed took the game to Lutterworth and had the majority of the possession and territory. With around 3/4 of the game gone and Town had a three goal cushion. Danny Toone took advantage of a weak punch from the keeper and his shot on the turn found the far corner of the goal. The fourth and final goal of the afternoon came with around fifteen minutes remaining and was a well worked effort. Town hit Shepshed on the counter attack, and after a superb cross field diagonal ball, Paston was found unmarked in the penalty area and finished with a first time effort to complete his hat-trick.

Admission: none

Programme: none 

Attendance: 10

A slideshow of some photos taken of the game can be viewed below:

Saints v Swifts

SILEBY SAINTS 3-0 LUTTERWORTH TOWN

Saturday 3rd March 2012

Leicestershire Senior League Division 1

Platts Lane Sports Ground, Cossington

The choice of game for the Rambler today is a local one and more specifically a visit to one of the three remaining grounds left to re-complete the Leicestershire Senior League. The other two (Linwood Playing Fields and Coventry Road Recreation Ground) are new venues of Aylestone Park and Lutterworth Town respectively. 

It had been arranged to meet up with my Dad for this game - with this being the first time since January 14th. As we both live in different parts of Leicester it was agreed to meet up at the Gate Hangs Well pub on the north side of Syston - a mere five minute drive to the nearby village of Cossington. We arrived at the sports ground with around ten minutes to the kick off and it is a tidy affair. It is home not only to football but rugby and cricket as well. The football pitch is on the left hand side and it has wooden fencing around three sides of the pitch, with the other being roped off. Along the near side are some permanent dugouts and finally there is a modern looking changing room block in the left hand corner of the ground which served hot and cold drinks, filled soft cobs and snacks.

I don't know when Sileby were formed but were competing in division one of the North Leicestershire League (NLL) in 1997. The next four seasons were spent in division 1 before the Saints suffered relegation to division 2. Promotion back to division 1 came in the 2003/04 season when they were crowned division 2 champions, recording forty eight points from their twenty league games. The following season they achieved back-to-back promotions as they won the division 1 title, losing only one league game in the process. Their first season in the premier division saw them finish in the runners-up position, and just one year laters were crowned NLL champions. Last season they won the NLL again and with it achieved promotion to the Leicestershire Senior League (LSL). The LSL has been to their liking as they are on course for another promotion, with them sitting in second place behind Caterpillar (who have a 100% record) and ten points ahead of third placed Melton Mowbray. Opponents Lutterworth Town meanwhile sit at the wrong end of the table with only Asfordby Amateurs below them.

The game, especially during the first half did not go according to the script for the home side as the visitors belied their lowly position and made a game of it. In fact it was hard to tell which side was which on the basis of play and the first half ended goalless. The second half saw Sileby run out comfortable winners, helped by two goal keeping errors. The first came a minute into the second half when a free kick from Jake Rimington should have been saved easily but found its way into the net. The second goal of the afternoon came a few minutes after the hour mark when a good cross from the right was turned in at the far post by Lee Dawson. The Lutterworth team did not let their heads drop but their play in the final third of the pitch let them down all to often. The killer third goal for the Saints came with eight minutes remaining when a tame cross from the right was missed by the keeper and the clearance by a defender struck Dawson in the midriff. This resulted in the ball ending the back of the net for a somewhat comical goal. Lutterworth's best two chances came in the final five minutes - the first was a well struck shot that clattered the woodwork and the second was a tame effort in which the home keeper saved.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 10

A slideshow of photos taken during the game can be viewed below: