WORCESTER CITY (St George's Lane)

CONFERENCE NORTH, WORCESTER CITY 0-1 CHESTER FC, ATTENDANCE: 4,072

Today saw the final ever league game at Worcester City's iconic St George's Lane. The ground has been Worcester's home for the past 108 years but today saw it's last hurrah as it prepared to be bulldozed for housing, a fate that has befallen too many a classic ground.

I had previously visited here in 2005 for Worcester's live TV game with Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, which they narrowly lost 1-0, and I just had to come back one more time.

Next season Worcester City will be exiled in Kidderminster as they attempt to try and build a ground back in the city. The chairman's programme notes were upbeat about survival eventually returning to Worcester, but some of the supporters in the ground were rather more sceptical.

There are plans in place to build a new ground on Nunnery Way, close to the M5 but, at this moment in time, those plans appear no further forward. The City Supporters Trust have therefore submitted their own plans to the council for a new ground next to a Leisure Centre in Perdiswell.

Whatever the outcome, for the time being it just hoped that the club can survive in exile at Aggborough. The club are hoping initiatives such as £100 season tickets will help them to do so.

Going back to today's programme, I must commend the club for for a superb 108 page issue. I'm not a Worcester fan but reading the tales from old players and life long fans about classic games at the ground, such as dumping Liverpool out of the FA Cup 2-1 in 1959, made an old cynic like me feel desperately sad. Most of the snippets of information in this blog come from the programme and I can certainly recommend it's purchase (click here).

I suppose the romantic in me would like to say the ground, which was packed to the rafters, went out with a bang as the homesters responded by beating the champions Chester, however it wasn't to be.

A George Horan header after just 8 minutes sealed the win for Chester, and in the process gave them a Conference North record 107 points. Worcester responded well and dominated possession, their cause helped by Chester's Matty McGinn recieving a straight red card just before half time, but they could not find a way past John Danby in the Chester goal. The closest they came to an equaliser was a shot from Ethan Moore which hit the post and then fell into the grateful arms of Danby.

Today though was all about bidding farewell to St George's Lane, sadly, in this modern age, we won't see the likes of it again. There was a Dylan Thomas poem quoted in the programme and I will end on those words "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light"

The final walk to the ground



These famous gates will be held in storage by George Goode's son and

returned to the club when the new ground is built

 

A packed Brookside terrace

Blue skies over the Main Stand

 

The emotion of the occasion proves too much for one supporter

LEISTON (Victory Road)

ISTHMIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, LEISTON 0-2 WHITEHAWK, ATTENDANCE: 365

After spending most of the morning 'recovering' from last nights chicken vindaloo, it was a lovely sunny drive down the coast to Leiston in Suffolk.

Leiston is a small town just down the coast from the Sizewall Nuclear plant and, with the sun shining, it was tempting to go and have a dip in the sea off Sizewall beach. In the end I thought better of it and went to the local pub for a Sunday roast dinner instead.

Leiston have come a long way in a short space of time having won back to back promotions, winning the Eastern Counties League in 2011 and the Isthmian League Division One North in 2012.

I will be honest and say Victory Road is a pretty unremarkable ground, it is not what I had pictured in my mind, put it that way! The Main Stand along the pitch and 'terrace' behind the goal are of the pre-fab variety, so no further comment is necessary.



The Main seated stand





However there was a covered terrace alongside the pitch, next to the clubhouse, which looked liked it had been there a while. The clubhouse did have a real ale on the go, Box Steam Brewery 'Piston Broke' but I sadly had to give it miss in lieu of a nice cup of tea.

The game was not the greatest, though in mitigation I will say it was a hot sunny day, with a cool sea breeze,and the pitch was hard and bumpy. Whitehawk struggled to break down a stubborn Leiston side and grabbed three vital points with two second half goals.



Sam Gargan scores from the penalty spot

A penalty, given for handball, was converted by Sam Gargan after 71 minutes before another Gargan effort after 78 minutes clinched the victory. This sent the Whitehawk Ultras behind the goal into a state of delirium!

This result effectively seals the title and promotion for The Hawks as the only team who can mathematically catch them are Lowestoft Town whose fans, incidently, were out in numbers this afternoon.

For that to happen then Whitehawk would have to lose their last game, Lowestoft win their last three and swing around a goal difference of 12. Highly unlikely I think.



The Whitehawk 'Ultras'

If i'm honest both games I've seen this weekend have, in the main, been pretty poor and have not been a great advert for the Isthmian Premier League.

Whitehawk  will probably face tougher challenges in the Conference South and, based on what I seen today, I predict they could struggle with the step up next season. Last season's champions (Billericay) and play-off winners (Hornchurch) have already been relegated back to the Isthmian League. Best of luck anyway, but we shall have to see how the Hawks fare...

STOP PRESS: Whitehawk were confirmed as Champions in midweek after Lowestoft could only manage a draw against Wealdstone. However the name Whitehawk will not be appearing on the fixture list next season as the club have changed their name to Brighton City FC.

BURY TOWN (Ram Meadow)

ISTHMIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, BURY TOWN 2-2 MARGATE, ATTENDANCE: 425

When the chance to 'tick' off two, from the perspective of where I live, awkward Isthmian Premier League grounds appeared on the fixture list, it was East along the A14 I pointed the car.

Accompanied by a fellow hopper, our East Anglian double began with a trip to the market town of Bury St Edmonds.

The local team Bury Town were taking on Margate, with both sides chasing a play off spot.

It was a baking hot day and the pitch was bone hard, and though Bury had the better of the opening 45 minutes, there were very few chances created.

All the goals came in the second period and John Sands was credited with putting Bury ahead (49) but I was sure the last touch came from a Margate player.

Nonetheless Margate turned things around to lead 2-1. Dean Pooley headed home an equaliser (64) and then it was Pooley again (79) who gave the visitors the lead.

Adam Tann headed home an equaliser (84) but the result did neither team any favours in their respective bids for the play-offs.

Bury Town's Ram Meadow is in the town centre, at the end of a massive shoppers car park. The ground had cover on four sides of the ground and the main stand was a quirky old seated stand.

There are plans in place for Bury Town to eventually relocate http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-18355336 so I would urge a visit to Ram Meadow sooner rather than later.

Taking football aside, the highlight of the afternoon was a mini beer festival (of mainly local ales) at the ground. This was a complete surprise, honestly, and some of the ales on sale were very tasty. The accompanying "Hog Roast" with apple sauce and crackling was also absolutely delicious. This set us up nicely before the main event of the evening which was a visit to the legendary Fat Cat Brewery Tap in Norwich....