The Devonian

BIDEFORD 1–2 WIMBORNE TOWN

Saturday 9^th April 2011

Southern League Division 1 South & West

The Sports Ground

A slideshow of photos of the ground and game is below:

An offer of a trip down to North Devon was too good an offer to turn down. There are a couple of reasons for accepting the offer: 1) I have not been to Bideford before and 2) I am going on holiday to the village of Hartland (which is 15 miles west of Bideford) in mid-June and this would give me the chance to do a reccy on the road between the M5 motorway and Bideford itself.

Bideford is a small port town on the west bank of the River Torridge in North West Devon. It is the principle town of the Torridge local government district. The river is spanned by the 13^th century Long Bridge. This was originally made of wood but was replaced by a stone one in the 15^th century and consists of 24 arches, all of which are different in size. Author Charles Kingsley lived in the town and based his novel Westwood Ho! in this part of north Devon. In the 16^th century Bideford was one of Britain’s largest ports while today the town is a thriving shopping centre with numerous antique shops along the narrow streets from the quay and river. The quay itself is still bustling with fishing and cargo vessels and pleasure boats.

Sources:

http://www.devonguide.com/Bideford/

Bideford Town Council

A history on the club below is taken from their official website:

"Founded in 1946, the club played three seasons in the Exeter & East Devon League before joining the Western League in 1949. Bideford had a request to be elected to the Second Division denied, and had to play in the Third Division instead. This was the only season the Western League ran a Third Division, and Bideford won it without losing a game. Two seasons later they also won Division Two, and so took their place in Division One.

Bideford won the Western League three times before joining the Southern League in 1972. The club spent three seasons at that level before the expense involved and increased travelling took its toll, and they had to drop down back to the Western League. During their Southern League days, the club set an all-time FA Cup record, when in 1974-75 they played thirteen FA Cup games in a single season - they faced numerous replays in qualifying rounds including needing five games to beat Falmouth Town and four more to beat Trowbridge Town in the next round. With the subsequent abandonment of second and further replays, this record is likely to stand for a very long time. Two more Western League titles followed in the early 1980s.

Several players from the club have progressed to Football League status, the most recent of them being Tony Dennis and Shaun Taylor. Two former internationals have played for the club at the end of their career, Welshman Leighton Phillips, and Dermot Curtis from the Republic of Ireland.

Bideford have won the Toolstation Western Premier League 9 times over the years, as well as lifting silverware in the Devon St Lukes Bowl, Devon Professional Cup, and Western League Cup.

In FA competitions, Bideford AFC’s record is quite impressive, reaching the First Round Proper of the FA Cup on four occasions, and reaching the Semi-Final of the FA Vase in 2003/04. Last seasons FA Vase campaign saw Bideford reach the quarter-final stages, where they were knocked out by an impressive Lowestoft. 

Bideford AFC gained promotion from the Toolstation Western Premier League at the end of a fantastic 2009/10 season, in which they did the double winning the League and the Westinsure Devon St Lukes Bowl where they beat Exeter City 2-1 in the Final. Bideford AFC were promoted to the Zamaretto Southern League in May 2010, the first time they have played in the Southern League in 35 years.

Manager Sean Joyce is an ex-professional footballer, who spent his career playing for Doncaster Rovers, Exeter City and Torquay Utd. He has managed Bideford since 1998, bringing much success to the Club during his time here."

The journey down to Bideford was made in glorious sunshine which firstly involved a stop at Nuneaton train station to pick up Pete who had travelled down from Liverpool, then after joining the M6 between Coventry and Bedworth we then made our way to the Pit Stop Cafe on the A38 south of Bromsgrove for the now customary breakfast. A footnote is that this will be the second Saturday in succession that I will have visited this excellent little cafe. Overall without stopping (according to Google maps) it takes around 4 hours to make the 225 miles between my house and Bideford. Taking into account the stops to change drivers we arrived in the town at around 1.15pm. This gave us a chance to have a walk round to quay side and have an ice cream at a local farmers market. We made our way to the ground which is just a short walk from the quay at around 2pm and parked inside the ground and were then charged £7 for admission and £1.50 for a 32 page programme.

You enter the ground in a corner and had a very open feel about it with the changing rooms, catering hut and stand immediately ahead of you. The clubhouse is just inside the entrance on the right with a stand consisting of seating and standing accommodation on the far side of the ground.

This was a close, hard fought encounter that could have gone either way. It was the visitors who started the brightest and it came as no surprise when they opened the scoring on nine minutes. Following a break down the left Scott Joyce pounced on a loose ball and smashed the ball into the net. Bideford then came into game more as the half wore on and looked more likely the score next. In fact they would have done but for Wimborne keeper Jakub Malara who made three saves in the space of about five seconds! The second half was a lot more open with both sides pushing forward before Wimborne doubled their tally. It came on 55 minutes from Jamie Davidson who picked the ball up on the left and then proceeded to beat Bideford defenders at will before slotting the ball past the keeper. Five minutes later and Bideford were back into the game when a looping header from Matt Andrews caught Malara flat footed to make it 1-2. For the final half hour Bideford had more possession with Wimborne looking to hit them on the counter attack. In the final stages Malara made another couple of saves and the Wimborne defence held out and secure the three points.

The journey home was via Stafford to allow Pete to get back to Liverpool and allowing for this we were back in Leicester by 9.15pm.

Admission: £7

Programme: £1.50

Badge: £3

Match rating: 2 ½ out of 5

Attendance:  ???

Double 'C'

Saturday 6th November 2010

I think at the end of it, this was plan D for the four of us (myself, Gary + Pete and Alan from Liverpool) with youth teams at Eastleigh and Cirencester going by the wayside due to the games not being played on the respective clubs’ main stadium. Before anyone comments about Cardiff City’s Under-18’s they actually play on a stadium over the road from the main Cardiff City Stadium used by the football club (City) and rugby team (Blues).

The day started with Gary picking up yours truly at 6.30am for firstly the short drive to Nuneaton railway station to pick up the afore mentioned Pete and Alan. We then made our way across the M6 and M42 to Bromsgrove for what is now becoming the customary breakfast at the Pit Stop Cafe on the A38. We arrived in Cardiff in good time and despite a detour around the city going past the Sophia Gardens cricket ground and Millennium Stadium, we arrived at the Cardiff International Stadium around an hour before kick-off. This gave us time to have a wander over the road to McDonalds for a coffee and have a look in the club shop shared by both City and the Blues. A retail park is also adjacent to both stadiums which includes Asda amongst other large outlets. The Cardiff International Stadium is in a nutshell a multisport stadium which is home to the Cardiff City FC youth teams, Cardiff Grange Harlequins FC and Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club. All the facilities are on one side with a large seated stand housing the changing rooms, offices etc.

Game 1

Cardiff City Under-18’s 2-1 Coventry City Under-18’s
FA Premier Academy League Group B

Cardiff International Sports Stadium

This was to be my first youth team game for a number of years and first not involving a side representing Oadby Town. No admission was charged or programme / team sheet issued. The game was fairly entertaining which despite the result I thought the visitors from Coventry were the better side on the whole. Cardiff took the lead inside the first ten minutes from a penalty kick with Coventry deservedly equalising before the end of the half. The second period saw the home side score the only goal, though despite creating a number of chances Coventry could not find a deserved equaliser.

Admission / team sheet: none

Attendance: around the 50 mark

The only annoyance was that the referee kicked off the game late which did not give us enough time to make our first choice second game in the Welsh Valleys. A decision was made to head across the River Severn to Wiltshire for a 3pm kick-off in the Southern League at Chippenham. The journey primarily across the M4 took around an hour and we arrived with around twenty minutes to kick-off.

Game 2

Chippenham Town 2-2 Windsor & Eton

Southern League Premier Division

Hardenhuish Park

Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire located a few miles south of the M4 motorway (which runs across the country from west London to south west Wales) between Bath (13 miles to the west) and Swindon (20 miles east). The ground is located to the west of the town centre on the A420 Bristol Road and is a compact affair.

The club were formed in 1873 and joined the Western League (WL) in 1904. Just two seasons were spent in the WL finishing in 9th and 8th position respectively before they resigned and joined the more local Wiltshire League. Two league titles quickly followed in 1908 and 1909. In 1930 they re-joined the WL and won their first league championship in 1952. In 1964 they made a return to the Wiltshire League for four seasons before making the step up again, this time to the Hellenic League. Five seasons were spent in the Hellenic League and they recorded three 5th place finishes before returning again to the WL in 1973. The Western League title was won for a second time in 1981 and they spent another twenty years in the WL before a runners-up spot secured promoted to the western division of the Southern League. Chippenham found their new surroundings to their liking and another runners-up finish allowed them to take their place in the premier division. The club have been ever present in the premier division ever since, recording a 3rd place finish last season.

A narrow drive leads you up to the entrance with programmes being sold before you enter the ground. You enter the ground in one corner with the catering hut immediately in front of you on the left, followed by the main stand and club shop. There is further cover on the opposite stand and another covered stand behind the near goal. Finally behind the far goal are two or three steps of uncovered terracing. To be honest there is very little room at the ground and it did have a cramped feel about it. The club shop is a little gold mine with plenty of old programmes, badges and Chippenham Town merchandise for sale.

The game started with the home side doing all the running and they won a penalty after around 15 minutes but the resulting kick was put horribly wide. A few minutes later and the home side had the ball in the W & E net only for the referee to disallow the goal. The visitors gradually got into the game and started to create chances of their own with David Pearce looking particularly dangerous. Six minutes from the end of the half W & E took the lead when Michael Chennels made up a couple of yards on a Chippenham defender, rounded keeper Chris Snoddy and rolled the ball into an empty net. Ten minutes into the second half and the home got a deserved equaliser when a free kick was put back into the box first time and this allowed Marvin Brown to bring the ball down and slot the ball underneath Delroy Preddie. Almost immediately W & E re-took the lead when Chennels got his second when he turned in a cross at the far post. Both sides continued to push forward with the visitors looking for a killer third goal and Chippenham for another equaliser. Adam Bernard should have given the visitors a two goal cushion but headed over from a few yards out when it seemed easier to score. This proved costly as with just twelve minutes left Alan Griffin smashed the ball home from a narrow angle to make the game all square for a second time. Bernard missed his second sitter of the game when he put the ball over from a few yards out, and like the first miss it seemed a lot easier to score than what he actually did. This was his final fling as he was substituted shortly after!!! The game saw no further drama and it ended in a 2-2 draw which in my neutral unbiased opinion was a fair result.

Admission: £8

Programme: £2

Team sheet: free

Badge: £3

Hot Dog: £1.50 – a complete rip off.

Attendance: 369 (official)

Match rating: 3 ½ / 5

Battling Banbury

HEDNESFORD TOWN 0-0 BANBURY UNITED

Southern League Premier Division

Saturday 17th April 2010

Keys Park

My choice of game today was influenced by having a prior arrangement in Tamworth to collect a stack of old football books that had kindly been offered to me, on top of which I also arranged to meet a friend at Tamworth station around 12.15pm. I had a shortlist of three games with the others being Dosthill Colts and Shenstone Pathfinder. Said friend chose Hednesford and we made our way across Staffordshire towards Hednesford and also find somewhere to eat and drink. The Toby Carvery @ Norton Canes was our chosen establishment though both of us had soft drinks with myself due to driving. Arrival at the ground was around 2.15 and we were charged £1 for parking. Keys Park has a capacity of 3,500 and was opened in 1995. A main stand straddles the half way line and houses the club offices, changing rooms and bar. On the far side is a covered terrace that runs along the whole length of the pitch, while behind the near goal is a stretch of covered seating and behind the far goal is a covered terrace. A couple of steps of uncovered standing is located either side of the main stand.

Time-line history:

1880.....formed through amalgamation of West Hill and Hill Top

1890.....joined the Birmingham League

1892.....left the Birmingham League

1908.....left the Walsall & District League

         joined the Birmingham Combination

1909/10..Birmingham Combination champions

1915-19..football suspended due to First World War

1919.....re-joined Birmingham League

1935/36..Birmingham Senior Cup winners

1937/38..resigned during the season.

1938.....re-formed as Hednesford F.C.

1939-45..football suspended due to Second World War

         re-joined the Birmingham Combination

1952/53..Birmingham Combination runners-up

1953.....re-joined Birmingham League

1962.....Birmingham League changed name to West Midlands (Regional) League

1969/70..Staffordshire County Senior Cup winners

1972.....changed name to Hednesford Town

1973/74..Staffordshire County Senior Cup winners

1977/78..West Midlands (Regional) League champions

1983/84..West Midlands (Regional) League runners-up

         promoted to the Southern League

1991/92..Southern League Midland Division runners-up

         promoted to the Premier Division

         Welsh Cup runners-up

1992.93..Staffordshire County Senior Cup runners-up

1993/94..Birmingham Senior Cup runners-up

1994/95..Southern League champions

         promoted to the Conference

1996/97..reached 4th round of FA Cup

2001.....relegated back to the Southern League

2003/04..FA Trophy winners

2005.....promoted to the Conference North via play-offs 

2006.....relegated to the Northern Premier League

2009.....transferred to the Southern League 

Hednesford went into the game with their sights firmly set on the play-offs while Banbury sit in mid-table and will either finish in 12 or 13th place. At the start of place the hosts occupied the last play-off spot and are in a three-way battle with Cambridge City and Halesowen Town with  final day shoot out looking likely as Hednesford travel to Cambridge.  

The match itself was an entertaining one with chances being created by both sides and in particular Hednesford's Darryl Hoffitt looking dangerous and it was he who had the first chance but he dragged his shot wide on seven minutes. Four minutes later and it was the visitors turn to threaten but a looping shot hit the bar. Chances continued to be created by both sides with the majority being off target. The second half pretty much continued in the same vein with chance after chances being wasted, the majority of which by home side, while as the half wore on Banbury seemed to settle for for a point and play on the counter attack. One of the best chances for Hednesford came on 48 minutes when after a long ball Hoffit laid the ball back only for it to be blasted over. The moment of controversy in the game came on 76 minutes when Hednesford were awarded a penalty after subsitute keeper Mark Scott brought down Tyrone Barnett. Scott was sent off and midfielder Declan Benjamin went in goal and subsequently saved Adam McGurk's penalty before the ball was scrambled clear. The controversy was the fact that from my point of view Barnett pulled back a Banbury defender before being fouled and (in my opinion) a free kick should have been awarded to the visitors. Hednesford continued to push forward looking for the winner and with just eight minutes remaining Elliott Durrell had an effort ruled out for offside.

Overall a disappointing result for Hednesford especially as they now have three away games (Rugby, Farnborough and Cambridge) to finish their league campaign and hopefully secure a play-off place. If only they could have found their shooting boots. For Banbury it was a case of how you were, which despite being not really having anything to play for made things difficult for the hosts and battled right to the end. For me as a neutral I never look forward to seeing a 0-0 but this was one the better ones I have seen and at times I was a very enjoyable game to watch.

Attendance: 508

Admission: £8

Programme: £2

Badge: £3.50

Coffee: 80p

Google maps driving time / distance: 1 hour 14 minutes and 44.2 miles

websites:

Southern League: http://www.southern-football-league.co.uk/

Hednesford Town: http://www.hednesfordfc.co.uk/

Banbury United: http://www.banburyunited.co.uk/

Identity crisis

NUNEATON TOWN 4-0 BEDFORD TOWN

Tuesday 9th March 2010

Southern League Premier Division

Liberty Way

A week off from work has allowed me time to take in a rare midweek fixture now days, and with not wanting to travel too far a home game for Nuneaton Town fitted the bill perfectly. Nuneaton is a half hour drive down the A47 from Leicester, while the ground itself is on the eastern side of the town, adjacent to the ring road on the edge of Attleborough Fields Industrial Estate.

The current Nuneaton Town Football Club were formed in 2008 after their predecessors Nuneaton Borough went into liquidation after were forced to drop two divisions from the Conference North to the Southern League Midland Division. Borough themselves were formed in 1937 after (I believe) an earlier incarnation of Nuneaton Town suffered financial problems themselves and were wound up. The earliest record I have seen for the original Town club is for the 1899/1900 season when they competed in the Leicestershire Senior League and finished in 4th place in the nine team division. They did though fail to complete their last two away games at Burton Swifts Reserves and Gresley Rovers. The next records I have are that in 1906 they left the Coventry & North Warwickshire League and joined the Birmingham & District Junior League and were crowned champions at the 1st attempt. In 1908 the league changed name to the Birmingham Combination and Town remained there until football was suspended following the outbreak of the First World War. The last season before the war saw Town take the title winning twenty of their thirty league games. When football resumed after the war Town joined the Birmingham & District League (which later became the West Midlands (Regional) League and spent five years in the competition. In 1924 the club made the switch to the Southern League but only two seasons were spent in the league before returning to the Birmingham Combination. Two more championships were achieved before they rejoined the Birmingham & District League in 1933. The club were to last just four more seasons before being wound up and a new club Nuneaton Borough was formed in 1937. The clubs inaugural campaign was in the Central Amateur League where a 4th place finish was recorded in their one and only season before switching to the Birmingham Combination. Borough played in the Combination until 1952 before joining the more prestigious Birmingham & District League. Six seasons were spent in the Birmingham League before the club made the move the Southern League. Twenty years were spent in the Southern League before becoming founder members of the Alliance Premier League (now Conference) in 1979. Borough spent their time between the Conference and Southern League before becoming into financial problems themselves, just like their ancestors some seventy one years ago.

Liberty Way has only been home to football in Nuneaton for a few seasons as their previous home was Manor Park on the other side of town. After the sale of Manor Park the club agreed to ground share / become joint tenants with Nuneaton RFC at Liberty Way, but had to bring it up to the standard required for semi-professional football. Two sets of covered terracing are behind both goals, while the only seating is on the far side of the ground along with changing rooms, sports bar and club shop. A few steps of uncovered terracing run along the near side of the ground.

This evening sees Nuneaton looking for a second successive promotion against relegation threatened Bedford Town. At the moment the Southern League championship looks like it is Farnborough’s to lose with the four play-off spots at present occupied by Brackley Town, Bashley, Leamington and Nuneaton. Bedford sit one place above the relegation zone though have a four point cushion over Hemel Hempstead but have played two games less.

The match itself was hit and miss, as at times it was very good and equally at times it was very poor. Chances were created by both sides with the majority (and possession) coming from the home side, but were given a few scares by Bedford. The opening goal came just a minute before the half time interval when Kyle Storer hit an unstoppable from the right hand corner of the penalty area. Just a minute later and it was 2-0 when Stuart Pierpoint scrambled the ball home from a few yards out. Six minutes after the restart and it was all over as a contest as Gareth Dean headed in from a corner. It wasn’t until ten minutes from the end that the fourth and final goal was added through Lee Moore.

The club itself I felt were and are suffering from an identity crisis as the only references to Nuneaton Town are on official signage etc. There is no reference to the team from the supporters as Town only Borough. This seems to me that they think they are the same club and if that is the case why not pay off all the creditors owed money from Nuneaton Borough and revert the name back.

Admission: £9

Programme: £2 – over priced

Badge: £2.50

Attendance: 659

Match rating: 3*

websites:
Nuneaton Town http://www.nuneatontownfc.com/
Bedford Town http://www.bedfordeagles.net/
Southern League http://www.southern-football-league.co.uk/

CIREN

CIRENCESTER TOWN 0-0 THATCHAM TOWN

Southern League Division 1 South and West

Saturday 12th December 2009

Corinium Stadium

The day had been planned for sometime to visit a good friend in Cheltenham, who happens to be a season ticket holder down @ Whaddon Road. This Saturday was chosen because of Cheltenham being away at Chesterfield and withi it I found three non-league games that took my fancy, all of which were in different leagues and also all were within thirty minutes drive of said friends house.

The drive down was pretty much uneventful until reaching the last island on the Stratford by-pass when I went into the back of a silver Audi - not much damage done just annoying. Drama over and I arrived at around 11am and we discussed which of the three games we would choose. The options were:

Cirencester Town v Thatcham Town (Southern League)

Cheltenham Saracens v Wootton Bassett Town (Hellenic League)

Kings Stanley v Axa (Gloucestershire County League)

In the end we decided on the first option and made our way down to Cirencester which would give us enough time to look round the town centre and have some lunch in one of the pubs. Cirencester is a pleasant small town on the southern edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire and we managed to kill a couple of hours which included having lunch in The Crown. The Corinium Stadium is on the edge of Cirencester and has a rural feel about it but I don't know when they moved into the ground but it appeared to be fairly new. Having paying the £8 admission money (which in my opinion is steep for the 8th level of football in England) and £1.50 for a programme we made our way into the bar / clubhouse. The club did have badges on sale for £3, one of course was purchased for my metal collection along with a pint. of San Miguel for £2.75. There is two lots of seating in the ground, both of which straddle the half way lines on opposite sides of the pitch. The one on the clubhouse side appeared to be for club officials only, while behine the far goal there is a small covered area in the form of a lean to which is connected to the boundary wall. 

The game itself was pretty uneventful with the first 15-20 minutes being the most entertaining. Ciren came close within a couple of minutes while Thatcham tried to play on the counter attack, but in the end the defences dominated and the game became a midfield battle. Both teams gave it a go but could not break each other down and ended up cancelling each other out. The game was delayed for around fifteen minutes midway through the second half when the referee was replaced - not the best on a cold afternoon. When the game did resume it carried on in much the same fashion, though the home side did have a goal ruled out towards the end. It was a relief to hear the final whistle and get the heat on in the car to warm up. 

Overall a forgettable game that will not live long in the memory. Nice ground though.

Attendance: 137 (source Non-League paper)