BARNSTAPLE TOWN (Mill Road)

SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE SOUTH, BARNSTAPLE TOWN 3-2 SLIMBRIDGE AFC, ATTENDANCE: 206

After spending the previous evening in Almondsbury, today I found myself heading further south in my continuing quest to complete all the grounds of all four divisions of the Southern League. Final destination this afternoon was North Devon or Mill Road, the home of Barnstaple Town, to be move precise. 

This would move me into single figures regards grounds now needed but this could be moot by the end of this season as Barnstaple are currently rooted to the foot of the table, with just one win all season, and staring relegation back to the Western League full in the face.

Before the excitement of the game, I had time to walk over the long bridge and explore the historic town. Barnstaple was once a hub of commercial trading with a bustling port which exported worldwide its wares of wool and pottery, whilst importing spices, wine and tobacco. The port is gone but the Queen Anne building, which was built on the Quay, and completed in 1713, still stands.

There is the famous Victorian Pannier Market which still trades today. There is also the site of Barnstaple Castle which was built around the 11th or 12th century and which stood until falling into disrepair around 1274 before becoming a ruin by 1326. It finally collapsed in 1601. It is now a tree covered motte. From here it was a 10 minute walk, crossing the River Yeo, to Barnstaple Town's rather splendid Mill Road ground.

The Football club have played here since it was established in 1904 as Pilton Yeo Vale. They were founder members of the North Devon League in the same year, when they went on to be the leagues inaugural champions in 1905. That year they changed their name to Barnstaple Town.

The club have spent most of their history in either the North Devon League, the Exeter and District League or the Western League. Barnstaple have won the Western League twice but in 2016 they finished runners-up to gain promotion to the Southern League (at step 4) for the first time in their history. 

The team are nicknamed Barum, which is a contraction of the Latin form of the name Barnstaple, ad Barnastapolitum. As touched upon earlier, it has been a season of struggle for Barum with just a solitary victory before this afternoon.

A new manager, Craig Laird, was appointed in mid-January, who has made a plethora of new signings, as the club attempt to pull off a minor miracle by retaining their place in the Southern League. Before kick off, Barum were 11 points adrift of safety with 10 games to play. This afternoon's visitors from Gloucestershire, Slimbridge AFC, are also in the lower reaches of the table but appear safe from any immediate trouble. 

It was vital that wins started to come quickly for Barnstaple and today they got just that.

After the rain of the previous 24 hours had left the pitch heavy and muddy in parts, credit must go to both teams who did very well to produce an excellent game to watch. There were opportunities for both sides in the opening exchanges but it was Slimbridge who looked the more threatening as the half wore on. It came as no surprise when Will Hawes headed home on 25 minutes to give The Swans the lead.

Within two minutes the homesters were level. was fouled in the area and Owen Howe stepped up to score from the penalty spot (pictured left). This certainly lifted Barum and it was fair that both teams went in level at the break.

The half-time team talk in the Barnstaple dressing room must have been inspiring as they came out for the second half and really took the game to Slimbridge. After 47 minutes a cross into the box was headed home by Brodie Montague to give Barum the lead. It got better eight minutes later when Howe scored his second, collecting the ball on the edge of the area before turning and unleashing a shot into the top corner. A superb strike.

There were further opportunities for Barnstaple to extend their lead but were not taken and when Nathan Dennis scored for Slimbridge in the 88th minute to make it 3-2  you felt Barum could rue those missed opportunities.

The board then went up showing 6 minutes of stoppage time and you could certainly sense the anxiety in the crowd. Slimbridge repeatedly launched the ball into the mix in search of an equaliser but Barnstaple managed to hold on to secure an important, and necessary, three points. Could this be the start of a great escape? Time will tell...

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My beloved Everton played a mid-season friendly against Barnstaple Town in February 1991. The Toffees won 2-0 thanks to goals from Mike Newell and Marcus Ebdon. I never made it to Mill Road that night but, after nearly 31 years I finally have done now!

LEBEQ UNITED (Oaklands Park)

WESTERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE, LEBEQ UNITED 2-2 ODD DOWN (BATH), ATTENDANCE: 25 (OFFICIAL)

Tonight I headed down the M5 for some Friday night football under the floodlights. The unusually monikered Lebeq United (named after Lebeqs Tavern in Bristol) are competing in the Western League after gaining promotion in 2019 but, because of the Covid pandemic and subsequent voiding of all leagues, have never actually completed a full season thus far.

The club was founded in 2008 when it was decided that Lebeq, who were an established Sunday league club, needed the move into Saturday football. The club joined the Bristol and Suburban League where their rise was rapid.

Four promotions in the space of six years took them to the top division before they joined the Gloucester County League in 2016. They won that league in 2019 (even with a six point deduction) and were promoted to step 6 of the pyramid system. An amazing achievement in just over a decade.

The club play their home games at Oaklands Park, which is the headquarters of the Gloucestershire FA in Almondsbury. Roman Glass St George of the Hellenic League also play their homes games here as well, so by default I completed the Premier Division of that league tonight. Bonus!

This game had everything. Great goals, terrible misses, red cards. It was the final few minutes of the game that were most interesting to say the least!

The visitors from Bath were leading 2-1 up with a couple of minutes to go then it all kicked off on touchline. I haven't a clue what sparked it off but it took about 5 minutes to calm things down (I thought I was in line for an abandonment it took that long). After producing 3 red cards for Lebeq's Zack Young and Chris Dacosta and Odd Down's Ashley Robinson, the referee restarted the game and with seconds remaining the 9 man Lebeq levelled thanks to a cool finish from Sacha Young.

Omar Simpson (14) and Raphael Waugh (61) had put Odd Down two up before Jennison Williams (72) halved the deficit with a stunning free kick. Then the fireworks came! On balance of overall play a draw seemed a fair result.

NEWPORT PAGNELL TOWN (Willen Road)

FA VASE 4th ROUND, NEWPORT PAGNELL TOWN 3-1 FAKENHAM TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 616

I left the north, I travelled south, as the FA Vase reached the 4th round stage. Perusing the fixtures this was the tie that stood out like a sore thumb. Ground needed. Check. Teams from different leagues. Check. Huge anticipation from both clubs and supporters. Check. In the end it was a no-brainer to go online, buy a ticket and head to Willen Road.

Traffic was kind and I arrived in Buckinghamshire in good time,  so there was time a pre-match stroll into town and to take a walk over the cast iron Tickford Bridge, which has stood over the River Ouzell since 1810 (pictured below). Of course the name Newport Pagnell was famously put on the map in 1960 when Newport Pagnell Services became the first fully open motorway service station in the UK.

 Tickford Bridge  

The Football Club was founded in 1963 as Newport Pagnell Wanderers and set up home at Willen Road in 1972, when they changed their name to Town. The club has spent most of it's history playing in either the United Counties League (UCL) or the Spartan South Midlands League. This season they are competing in the UCL Premier South, where they are currently in the top three.

Newport Pagnell Town were looking for another deep run in the Vase, to hopefully surpass their best performance of reaching the quarter finals back in 2016 (where they lost to eventual winners South Shields) whilst opponents Fakenham Town, of the Eastern Counties League, were looking to reach the 5th round for the first time in their history, having fell at this 4th round stage last season.

This tie certainly caught the imagination of both sets of supporters with a 600+ plus crowd in attendance, including a coach load from Norfolk. The clubhouse was doing a roaring trade and I just had to partake in a pint of ale from a brewery (Phipps) from 18 miles up the road. Very nice!

The game got off to a lightning fast start with Newport finding themselves 2-0 up after just seven minutes. After four minutes, a corner was flicked on to the far post where Jordan Wright, was able to get ahead of his marker to sidefoot into the roof of the net. Then, after seven minutes, a ball into the box was headed on into the path of Danny Webb and his looping header went over Fakenham 'keeper Tom Coombe and into the goal.

The Ghosts eventually composed themselves and worked their way back into the game, creating a few chances but none which truly tested Swans 'keeper Martin Conway, but Newport had chances on the counter attack including one effort which clipped the crossbar.

Fakenham came out for the second half and looked determined to get themselves back into the tie. After 56 minutes they finally got their reward when Josh Hazell scrambled the ball over the line. Game on! Well that was the thought but in truth the game petered out and an equaliser didn’t seem likely.

There were a couple of minutes remaining when Ghosts midfielder Lewis Sturnam was sent-off after receiving his second yellow card. This sealed Fakenham's fate and with the last action of the game Mo Ahmed rounded Tom Coombe to score a third for The Swans and to cue the start of the celebrations.

A very good day in Newport Pagnell. And I never lost my bag...

The half-time cakes were delicious 😋