✔870. The Dripping Pan

Lewes 2-1 Potters Bar Town
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 25th March 2023

Lewes is the county town of East Sussex. The civil parish and market town is the centre of the Lewes local government district and the seat of East Sussex County Council. The town is situated approximately seven miles north-east of Brighton, on the Greenwich or Prime Meridian, in a gap in the South Downs, which cuts through by the River Ouse. 

The place-name 'Lewes' first appears in an Anglo-Saxon charter circa 961 AD and in the Domesday Book of 1086. The traditional derivation of Læwe, first posited by the Tudor antiquarian Laurence Nowell, derives it from an Old English language word meaning 'hill' or 'barrow', presumably referring to School Hill, on which the historic centre of Lewes stands.

In 1264 it was the site of the Battle of Lewes and its landmarks include its castle and priory, Bull House (the former home of political -activist Thomas Paine), Southover Grange and a 16th-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House.

Lewes F.C. was established in a meeting at the Royal Oak pub(one of several I supped in)on the 23rd September 1885, becoming founder members of the East Sussex League the following year. Their league career got off to an awful start and after finishing bottom of the Senior Division again in 1900–01, without winning a game, they left the league. They later joined the Mid-Sussex League Senior Division in 1905, twice finishing as runners-up before winning the league in 1910–11. The club played in the reformed East Sussex League and won the Mid-Sussex League title again in 1913-14. After World War I they spent the 1919–20 season in the Brighton, Hove & District League, before becoming founder members of the Sussex County League.


Sussex County League 1920 - 1965: Champions 1964-65

Athenian League 1965 - 1977: Division 2 champions 1967–68 Division 1 champions 1969–70

Isthmian League 1977 - 2004: Division Two champions 2001–02, Division One South champions 2003–04

Conference South 2004 - 2011: champions 2007-08 (one season in Conference 2008-09)

Isthmian League Premier Division 2011 - present

The Dripping Pan

Mountfield Rd, 

Lewes 

BN7 2XA

Capacity 3,000 (600 seats)

 

The Rooks have played at the Dripping Pan every year since 1885, apart from a couple of seasons immediately prior to the First World War when the club played at the adjoining Convent Field. It had previously been used by Lewes Priory Cricket Club, though the ground itself had been used by the local community for recreation, as far back as records exist, with the earliest known cricket match taking place in August 1730 between 2nd Duke of Richmond's XI v Sir William Gage's XI.

You enter the ground from behind the goal via the top of the covered Philcox Terrace, which opened in April 2003. To the side of the terrace is a unique feature of four beach huts, which sit on top of the bank, doubling as cool executive boxes. At the other side of the terrace is the clubhouse with the changing room block in the corner.

The main Rookery Stand, opened in July 2007, replacing the old wooden South stand. The well-designed stand runs pitch length and has a standing area at the top, with the back wall displaying a gallery of football scarves from all over the world. 

The Ham Lane End is an uncovered terrace and opposite the main stand is a grass bank, where spectators are permitted on the flat walkway along the top, offering fine views of the action and the South Downs. 

Lewes 2(Champion 30 Taylor 45+3)

Potters Bar Town 1(Evans 86)

Isthmian Premier Division matchday 37

7th v 13th

3pm ko

Att.897

Spondoolicks:

Admission £13

Coffee £1.50

Pin badge purchased from Dave the badge seller, along with another six from clubs of other grounds I've visited -  7 for £18. Spot on! Cheers!

 

First half goals from Tom Champion and Joe Taylor set the Rooks on their way to another win in their bid for the play-offs.

Champion flicked home a near post header from a corner on the half hour, then just before the break Taylor made space in the box to turn and slot the ball into the bottom corner.

Potters Bar halved the deficit when Makise Evans* received a neat through ball and fired home with five minutes left, but they failed to test the home defence and Mundle-Smith missed a great chance to seal it late on. 

*At 16 years 217 days - the Stevenage loanee became the youngest ever goalscorer for Potters Bar Town. 

#Heedhopper

350 miles door-to-door

Trains - Newcastle - London King's Cross/London Bridge-Brighton/Brighton - Lewes


The visit to Lewes was part of a long weekend break for the breadknife and I. We stopped off in London on Thursday, before taking the train to Brighton on Friday morning. We visited numerous pubs over the weekend, including ten bars in Lewes. The frequent train journey from Brighton to Lewes takes just over fifteen minutes, so we jumped the 1130 and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through this historic town. Before the match we had lunch in the Snowdrop Inn, then bevvies in The Dorset, Gardner's Arms and the John Harvey.

As always, wherever I go, I usually bump into someone I know, even after a canny hike like this, so it was good to chat to Danny Last in the clubhouse at half time.

After the match we arranged to meet in the Brewers Arms, then continued the pub crawl, calling at the Black Horse, Rights of Man, Elephant and Castle, Royal Oak and finishing off at the Landsdown Arms.

We caught the 1925 back to Brighton, where we enjoyed a pleasant evening and overall, a very enjoyable weekend in East Sussex. 

✔869. Bracken Moor

Stocksbridge Park Steels 2-2 Dunston
Northern Premier League -  East
Tuesday 21st March 2023

Stocksbridge is a town and civil parish in the City of Sheffield, east of the Peak District. It is located in the steep-sided valley of the Little Don River, below the Underbank Reservoir. The bottom of the valley is almost completely occupied by steel works, dating back to 1842 when Samuel Fox acquired the old cotton mill, which he converted as a wire mill. He built much of the infrastructure of Stocksbridge, primarily to house his new workforce and to supply their needs.

From 1860 steel manufacture in Stocksbridge had always been by melting iron and steel firstly in crucibles, then from 1862 Bessemer converters were used. Siemens Open Hearth Furnaces were operated for the majority of the 20th century, as well as Electric arc furnaces. (population: over 13,000)


Stocksbridge Park Steels F.C. was formed in 1986 following the merger of Stocksbridge Works, the works team of the local British Steel Corporation plant and Oxley Park Sports. The new club was admitted to the Northern Counties East League Division Two, with the works club having previously played in Division Three of the NCEL. 

Jamie Vardy famously began his career with the club, as well as Eire international Scott Hogan and my old gig-pal Chris Waddle made an appearance for The Steels at the end of his career. 

 

Northern Counties East League 1986-1996: 

Division One champions 1991-92, Premier Division Champions 1993-94 and Runners-Up 1995-96

Northern Premier League 1996 - present

Played in the Premier Division between 2009-10 - 2013-14.

Bracken Moor Sports Club

2 Bracken Moor Lane, 

Stocksbridge, 

Sheffield 

S36 2AN


Capacity 3,500 (450 seats)

Current NPL East Division grounds visited 20/20


The ground was originally a cricket pitch until after the Second World War, when it was purchased by the steelworks and converted into a football ground. 

Stone-built changing rooms were erected in the mid-1960s, as well as a seated stand and terracing. The main stand has a distinctive angled awning which extends from the fascia with seats supplied from Hillsborough Stadium. The terracing runs into the corner in front of the building, with a covered enclosure behind the goal. The neighbouring cricket pitch is divided by a fence on the far side, which was required in order to gain entry to the Northern Premier League.

Floodlights were installed in 1990 and the main stand is now named in honour of Jamie Vardy.

Stocksbridge Park Steels 2(Wood 87 90+4)

Dunston 2(Thear 45+1,60)

NPL - East Division matchday 32v31

5th v 6th

1945.ko

Att.103

Weather: lashed down


Spondoolicks:

Admission £8

Pin badge £4

Stancil 'Blonde' pints £3.70 each, coffee £1 sausage roll £3


For the watching neutral this was a cracking match, but as someone who has a keen interest in Dunston it was a right sickener! Both teams scored twice and each missed a penalty, with the visitors blowing a two goal lead.

Liam Thear scored a belter in first half added on time, then on the hour made it 0-2 with a superb 35 yard chip after spotting the 'keeper off his line. Those goals deserved to be match winners, but Charlie Woods scrambled in a header late on, then deep into injury time he rifled home the equaliser.

Both goalkeepers saved penalty kicks, with Townsend out foxing Dale Pearson when the match was still goalless, then Dan Staples had preserved the two goal lead on the hour mark.

Both clubs are still in the play-off hunt but Dunston will be disappointed in letting two extra points slip away.

#Heedhopper

124 miles stadium-to-stadium


I travelled on the coach with the committee, players and staff, leaving the UTS Stadium at 4pm.

When the season started Stocksbridge was the only ground I hadn't done in the NPL East. The original postponed fixture was due to be played on the 18th December(which I couldn't make) and since then it has been moved four times, to eventually fall nicely on my holiday week.

We arrived in Stocksbridge at half-six, so plenty of time for a couple of pints in the clubhouse. The return journey was a late one - back home at 1.15am, but it was worth it to finally tick off this ground and complete the league. 

NWCL Groundhop 2023

 This year's North West Counties League Groundhop took place in the county of Staffordshire, with all the matches across Saturday and Sunday played within the First Division South.

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands, which borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south.

The cathedral city is Lichfield and the largest settlement in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent, which is the home of the pottery industry and obviously known as “The Potteries”. Formerly a primarily industrial urban area, it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres.


Saturday 4th March 2023

The Groundhop got underway at Ellsmere Rangers on Friday night, but I travelled with Katie & Lee on Saturday morning, heading off at 6.20 to catch the bus before getting picked up close to the motorway. The first leg of our journey was a 180 mile drive to Rocester, arriving in Staffordshire in good time for the first of our six games.

 

Rocester 0-4 Sandbach United

1100 ko 

Rocester Football Club was formed in 1876 and played in various local leagues including the Stafford Amateur League and Uttoxeter and District League, until they became founder members of the Staffordshire Senior League in 1984.

Staffordshire Senior League 1984-1987: Champions 1985-86

West Midlands (Regional) League 1987-1994: Division 1 champions 1987-88

Midlands Alliance 1994-1999: Champions 1998-00

Southern League Western Division 1999-2003

Midlands Alliance 2003-04 champions, winning promotion to Northern Premier League Division One but The Romans were relegated after one season.

Midlands Alliance/Midland League 2005-2021

Joined the North West Counties League Division 1 South in 2021


862.Hillsfield

Mill Street, Rocester, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

ST14 5JX

The club moved to the Hillsfield ground in 1987, on the site of a former Roman fort which gave rise to the club's nickname of The Romans. The ground is situated adjacent to an imposing mill built in the 1780s by Richard Arkwright, inventor of the spinning frame. It was originally named Riversfield but renamed after Don Hill, a former club chairman. The turnstile entrance is in the corner, with the clubhouse, changing rooms and a covered seated stand on one side. On the opposite side is a covered stand, with open space behind each goal. 

Rocester 0

Sandbach United 4(Tatters 22 Fitzpatrick 44 Alley 48 Barton 84)

20th v 4th

Att.356 

Admission £6


The away side went ahead midway through the first half when a good right wing cross from Chapman was headed home by Stan Tatters. Sandbach extended their advantage with a goal either side of the break, with Liam Fitzpatrick and Keiran Alley both striking from the edge of the box. 

Rocester made a decent fist of it at 0-3 but couldn't muster a goal back, with the visitors wrapping it up through Brian Barton late on.


Foley Meir 0-1 Maine Road

1400.ko

The second match was a 15 mile drive west to Foley Meir FC on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent. The club was founded as Foley in 1947 by ex-servicemen, originally playing in the Longton League Division Two.

Midland League 1996-2005: Division 2 champions 1996-97

Staffordshire County Senior League; 2005-2022 

The club was admitted into the North West Counties League Division One South at the start of this season


863.McIntosh Arena

Whitcombe Road, Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

ST3 6AU

The club played at The Open Holes in Fenton, before moving to the current ground in 1982.

The ground seems to be a work in progress, with the main stand, clubhouse and changing room block down one side. There's banking standing behind the entrance goal and the dugouts. 

Foley Meir 0

Maine Road 1(Keyworth 67)

19th v11th

Att.303 (ground record)

Admission £5


Maine Road were reduced to ten men after just 13 minutes when their "keeper squared up to the Foley centre-forward and was shown a red card for dissent. The man disadvantage didn't make any difference, as they clinched the win with a Joseph Keyworth header in the 67th minute. The home team will be disappointed not to have properly tested the stand-in goalkeeper, who easily maintained a clean sheet. 


 

Abbey Hulton United 0-0 Cheadle Heath Nomads

1645.ko


The next match was just a short 6 mile drive north to Abbey Hulton United. The club was established in 1947,  joining the Longton League, before moving on to the Burslem & Tunstall League, finishing Division Two runners-up in 1973–74 and Division One champions and the League Cup winners in 1978–79. Abbey Hulton then joined the Fenton & District League, winning the Division One title, League Cup and the Charity Cup in 1982–83.

North Staffs Alliance League 1985-1987

Staffordshire County League 1987-1998: Division One champions 1997–98

Midland League 1998-2005: League champions 2003–04. 

Staffordshire County Senior League 2005-2017: Premier Division champions 2016-17

NWCL 2017-present


864.Drayton Beaumont Park

Birches Head Road, Birches Head, Stoke On Trent, Staffordshire

ST2 8DD

The club played on a site owned by the council for 15 years then moved to Bucknall Park in 1962. United secured a 99-year lease on land at Birches Head Road in 1985, where they built a clubhouse and established their current ground, which has two seperate diminutive stands on one side, which the other ends open. The clubhouse, refreshment bar and changing rooms are behind the goal at the entrance. 

Abbey Hulton United 0

Cheadle Heath Nomads o

10th v 13th

Att.367

Admission £5


The Hi-Viz derby saw Nomads make a good start and should have taken an early lead but for some fine saves by the home goalie. Both teams showed plenty of effort but lacked a cutting edge.

Eccleshall 2-1 Barnton

1945.ko

The final game of the day was a 17 mile drive south to Eccleshall FC. The staff at Eccleshall Secondary School formed the club in 1971, originally named Eccleshall Old Boys. They joined the Mid-Staffordshire League, winning the Division Three Cup in 1974, gaining promotion to Division Two. In 1974–75 the club won the Division Two Cup and adopted its current name.


Staffordshire County League 1979-1984:Premier Division champions 1983-84

Staffordshire Senior League 1984-1994: champions 1989-90

Midland League:1994-2003: champions 2001-02,2002-03

NWCL 2003-present


865.Pershall Park

Chester Road, Eccleshall, Staffordshire

ST21 6NE

The club initially played at Eccleshall Secondary School, before buying a four-acre site at Pershall in 1981, which opened two years later. 

In the same year a small stand was erected, becoming known as 'the Shed. There's also a covered stand behind the goal in the corner with more covered seats in front of the clubhouse.

Eccleshall 2(Pickup 82 Stanton 90+2)

Barnton 1(T.Turkington 71)

14th v 15th

Att.313

Admission £6


This looked to be heading towards another goalless draw before breaking into life in the final twenty minutes.

A fabulous 30 yard effort from Tom Turkington gave Barnton the lead in the 71st minute, then a corner kick eventually fell to Ryan Pickup to knock in the leveller some ten minutes later. 

Moments after the equaliser a mass brawl broke loose which resulted in each team receiving a red card, with goalscorer Turkington and Luke Lewis dismissed. With time running out Eccleshall grabbed the winning goal, when a ball in from the right met Ethan Stanton who fired home from close range. 

Sunday 5th March 2023


We stayed overnight at the M6 Travelodge just outside Stafford, where we departed at 9:30am for today's double. We had breakfast at The Picture House and I nipped into The Butcher"s Bell for a pint before the first game of the day at Brocton, just outside the town centre.

 

Brocton 1v0 Stockport Georgians

1145.ko

Brockton FC was formed in 1937 by Arthur Mayer, landlord of the Chetwynd Arms pub, who asked the local lads to form a football team. They won the Rugeley & District League in 1946-47 and again the following season, then moved on to the Cannock Chase League. The club were champions of the new league in 1954–55, before going on to win the title again a further six times. The Badgers stepped up to the Staffordshire County League (South) Division One, winning promotion to the Premier Division in 1984, where they finished as runners-up in 1985–86.

Staffordshire Senior League/Midland League 1991-2003

Midlands Combination 2003-2014 :champions 2013-14

Midlands League (new) 2014-2021

NWCL - 2021-present


866.Silkmore Lane Sports Ground

Silkmore Lane, Stafford, Staffordshire

ST17 4JH

The club originally played at the Chetwynd Arms Ground in Brocton, before moving to Rowley Park Stadium in Stafford. They relocated once again in 2002 to the Cannock Sports Stadium because it had floodlights, but left in 2004 after the Council failed to confirm their tenancy. They groundshared at Heath Hayes for two years before settling at the Old Police Sports Ground, obtaining a 30-year lease on Silkmore Lane. 

The ground has two stands, sitting on each side of the halfway line, one with 100-seats and the other a covered terrace. The clubhouse and changing rooms are in the top corner, next to the adjacent second pitch behind the dugouts. 

Brocton 1(Smith 61)

Stockport Georgians 0

3rd v 7th

Att.457 (club record)

Admission £6

A tight match was decided on the hour mark when a free kick from the edge of the box was fired into the bottom corner by Reggie Smith. The away side were reduced to ten men after a second yellow for Sam Corbishley fifteen minutes from time.

Stafford Town 2-1 Abbey Hey

1430.ko


The final match of the weekend at Stafford Town was just five minutes up the road from Silkmore Lane. This allowed time to call for a pint at The Spittal Brook, so I just walked in between the grounds. The club was founded in 1976 as Stafford FC, joining the Midland Combination Division Two for the 1977–78 season, which they won at the second attempt. They changed their name to Stafford Town in 1981 and were briefly called Stafford MSHD at the start of the 1990s.


Midlands Combination 1981-82

Staffordshire Senior League 1984-1993 

West Midlands League 1993-2000/2004-2012: Champions Division One 1993–94 Premier Division 1999–2000

Midland Alliance 2000-2004

Midland Combination/Midland League 2012-2018

NWCL 2021 - present


867.Evans Park

Off Fairway, Stafford, Staffordshire

ST16 3TL

The stadium is named after chairman Gordon Evans and was turned into a 3G facility in the summer of 2016, with a joint partnership with the Stafford Borough Council. There's a 550 seated stand on the entrance side with team dugouts opposite, both of which were added in Autumn 2022.

Stafford Town 2(Simcox 27,55)

Abbey Hey 1(Kirkland 90+2)

18th v 9th

Att.489

Admission £6


A Josh Simcox brace gave Town a much needed win. He fired them into the lead midway through the first half, then capitalised on a 'keeper's mistake to chip home his second on 55 minutes.

Abbey Hey grabbed a late consolation when a deep free kick from Dillon Kirkman ended up sailing straight into the net. 



#Heedhopper 

Current NWCL grounds visited 35/60

Not the greatest feast of football I've ever seen but nevertheless, an enjoyable weekend catching up with like minded folk. Special thanks to Chris and the Groundhop UK team for organising another successful event.

Lee's navigation and Katie's skilful driving got me back home at 8.20pm, so also many thanks to those two for putting up with me all weekend.