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 😋 

Eastern Counties League "Groundhopper Day"

The first Eastern Counties League "Groundhopper Day" of the season took place this weekend, the staggered kick off times allowing local football supporters the chance to see four games in 24 hours.

It also proved attractive to some not so local people, such as myself! 

The extravaganza began on the Friday night when Long Melford lost 3-0 at home to Saffron Walden Town. Due to work commitments I was unable to attend, so I came to the party for the three Saturday games....

12pm Eastern Counties League Division One, Blackhouse Lane,
Cornard United 0-4 Wivenhoe Town
Attendance: 108

The first match of the day took me to the village of Great Cornard, on the outskirts of Sudbury, for the midday kick off between strugglers Cornard United (currently 2nd bottom) and Wivenhoe Town (currently the league leaders). I was a little concerned as the sat-nav took me down the very narrow Blackhouse Lane but suddenly a football ground appeared before my eyes! It was a hive of activity with many junior games taking place on the outside pitches. The actual ground is in the corner of the complex, hidden behind the trees.

Given the respective league positions of both teams, the game turned out exactly how one would have predicted. Wivenhoe were two goals up inside ten minutes thanks to Ray Turner and Adam Hampson. In all honesty Cornard offered little and could count themselves fortunate that it was still only 0-2 at the interval. Wivenhoe added two more goals in the second period, Turner completing his hat-trick. 

3pm Eastern Counties League Premier Division, The New Croft,
Haverhill Rovers 1-1 Swaffham Town
Attendance: 152

I first visited Haverhill Rovers back in 2010 when they were in the last days at their previous home Hamlet Croft. The New Croft was opened that same year and is a genuine community sports ground with numerous teams (including Division One side Haverhill Borough) sharing the facilities.

The game was a tale of two penalties, one for each side, in the second half, converted by Perry Moody for Haverhill and for Alex Vincent Swaffham. Overall the game was a cagey affair with neither team looking like scoring until the very kind intervention (for us hoping to avoid the dreaded 0-0 anyway) of the referee. A draw was a fair result in the end.

6pm Eastern Counties League Division One, The Unwin Ground,
Ely City 1-0 Haverhill Borough
Attendance: 157

The final game of the day involved a trek through many picturesque villages in eastern England as my car weaved along roads that flitted between Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire to the city of Ely.

As the Cathedral disappeared into my rear view mirror, I did wonder, once again, where the sat-nav was taking me. The Unwin Ground, named after former club president Doug Unwin who passed away in 1990, is about 1.5 miles from the city centre. It has been home to Ely City since 1986.

Ely were always in control of this game but couldn't convert their chances. Fortunately, for them, an Alex Knowles effort did find the net after 65 minutes.

That brought to an end a top day of 'groundhopping' spent in some top company. I hope the clubs felt the effort worthwhile, I appreciated their efforts and I will certainly look forward to the next "Groundhopper Day" in March 2016.

SOUTH SUFFOLK HOP

Another early start! Another long day!
Today I headed to Suffolk for a cheeky treble, which meant a 6am start. The things you do in the name of this wonderful (mental?) hobby of ours!

12pm NOTTCUTTS PARK
EASTERN COUNTIES LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
WOODBRIDGE TOWN 2-2 STOWMARKET TOWN
ATTENDANCE: 134

The Eastern Counties Suffolk Hop finally got underway at Nottcutts Park, the home of Woodbridge Town. It was due to start 17 hours earlier but the Friday evening game at Felixstowe was called off just before kick due to fog, much to the amusement of some and the disappointment of many.


We arrived in Woodbridge with plenty of time to pay a visit to The GBG listed Cherry Tree for some pre-match lubrication, where we met up with a few like-minded hoppers.

This was an entertaining game with Stowmarket somehow finding themselves 2-0 down after dominating the early proceedings.  Aaron Greenwood (15) and a superb free kick from Alex Greggor (17) gave Woodbridge the advantage before Stowmarket eventually clawed their way back to take a point.

Goals from Ben License (37) and Sean Rea (64) levelled things up, which was the least they deserved. The Woodbridge goalkeeper Luke Kingham-Jones was by far and away the man of the match , making some stunning saves to keep his team in the game.

3pm 'BLOOMFIELDS'
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE NORTH
NEEDHAM MARKET 3-0 CRAY WANDERERS
ATTENDANCE: 279

The hop now headed onto Ipswich Wanderers for the next game but, having visited Humber Doucy Lane previously, I diverted to Needham Market for their Isthmian League clash with Cray Wanderers.

As with the previous game, there was time to have a few pre-match slurps in the GBG listed Rampant Horse, which was a few minutes from Needham Markets's ground, Bloomfields. The ground was named in honour of club stalwart Derrick Bloomfield.

Needham have had a storming start to the season winning nine out of ten games and today they were too strong for Cray Wanderers, who were relegated to this league back in April. I think this season may also be a long and hard one for Cray.

Captained by former Colchester United stalwart Kem Izzet, Needham scored three without reply thanks to a hat-trick from Sam Newson (14, 39 and 90). They do look worth a punt for promotion.

6pm BRANTHAM LEISURE CENTRE
EASTERN COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
BRANTHAM ATHLETIC 2-2 FC CLACTON
ATTENDANCE: 150

The final game of the day saw us head to the Brantham Leisure Centre where Brantham Athletic were taking on FC Clacton.

The ground is shared with the local cricket team but is a tidy ground for this level. At this point I must also highlight the food on sale in the clubhouse which was fantastic. The baked potato looked great but being a creature of habit I opted for a breakfast bap, well it had gone 5.30pm!

After a bright start by the home side, Clacton scored against the run of play and from that point on never looked like relinquishing the points as they raced into a three goal lead and missed numerous other chances.

A 'royal' goal from Billy Wales (9) gave Clacton the lead before a brace from Aaron Condon (60 & 71) made the three points safe.


Brantham's consolation goal was probably the best of the day as a long range effort came back off the crossbar and went in off the diving Aaron Reid's head (76).

The game was very 'tasty' to say the least with some, err, robust challenges being made by both sides. The referee just about managed to keep a lid on it.

An enjoyable end to a great day's hopping. Roll on next March when we all head to Swaffham, Thetford, Mildenhall and Newmarket.

This is the leagues take on the weekend proceedings;
http://thurlownunnleague.co.uk/foggy-start-to-south-suffolk-hop/