Steve B the Groundhopper

7.15pm 31 January 2025 West Wales Premier League Rockspur 5 West End 1 (att 72) Rockspur are in a title race with fellow Swansea side St Joseph’s, and gained an important three points thanks to a comfortable win against West End. Their winning margin would probably have been more if wasn't for a straight red card, for a bad challenge, with just over half-an-hour played. By then Rockspur already had a 3-0 lead. The sending off levelled things up, but only to an extent. Rockspur attacked less but had little difficulty keeping the visitors at bay despite their numerical disadvantage. In the second half their superiority was underlined by two more goals. West End at least got some consolation, late on, with the game's final goal. Rockspur have applied for promotion to the third tier of Welsh football, although I assume promotion would mean a move away from their current home ground, a 3G pitch at Penyrheol Leisure Centre in Gorseinon. Unusually for such grounds, spectators have to ...

7.30pm 27 January 2025 Staffordshire County Senior League, Premier Division Newcastle Town reserves 3 Leek Town development 1 (att 62) Below the professional ranks I rarely bother with reserve games, unless they use venues that don't routinely host first team football and are within easy reach for a midweek visit. Newcastle Town's Roe Lane ground meets both those criteria. Their first team play elsewhere, no other senior side uses the facility, and getting to the floodlit 3G pitch is straightforward even in rush hour. And, although this game featured two non-first teams, it was a fixture in a 'step seven' league.  The 3G is a recent addition at Roe Lane and is a typical set up. Spectators are accommodated along the length of the near side, while dugouts are positioned opposite. An adjacent building provides changing rooms as well as a place from where hot drinks were available. The only thing missing was some cover for spectators, which on a wet and windy night would ha...

2pm 25 January 2025 St Piran League, Tracy Banfield Cup, 2nd Round Pendeen Rovers 1 Perranwell 4 (att 45) A weekend in the West Country was a chance to visit my final remaining ground in the top division of the western half of Cornwall's recently-expanded St Piran League. Pendeen is a village beyond Penzance and close to Land's End. I think only St Just have a ground that's further west on the English mainland. Pendeen Rovers' home, Borlase Park, is a decent venue that's worth a long journey. The sloping pitch is railed off and, on the far side in front of what looks like redundant former changing rooms, there's a small covered standing area flanked by dugouts. These days the players change in a more modern building, which also includes a bar, towards a corner of the pitch. The ground also provides plenty of pitchside car parking. The Tracy Banfield Cup is for teams in the St Piran League's parallel east and west top divisions. I expected a tight game betwee...

2pm 18 January 2025 West Cheshire League, Division Three Great Sutton 8 Capenhurst Villa reserves 3 (att 22) Like my game earlier in the day at Hough End in Manchester, this was a return to a previously-visited venue to see a game on a different pitch. I was last at Netherpool Road in Ellesmere Port in 2009, before I began this blog. Back then Grange Athletic played on an enclosed pitch to the north of the facility's small car park. Current tenants Great Sutton play instead on one of a pair of pitches a short stroll east of the car park and changing rooms. Both are enclosed by a single railed barrier that shows signs of wear and tear. Based on the league table I had low expectations for this game, but it turned out to be excellent entertainment for the neutral. Great Sutton supporters will have enjoyed it too. The home side opened the scoring in the first minute, and added a second just two minutes later. Capenhurst, bottom of the league, eventually recovered and two rapid goals of...

10.15am 18 January 2025 Manchester Saturday Morning League, Division Two Championship Withington Hope CF 1 AFC Stockport Hatters 6 (att 12) I needed to stay fairly close to home which meant options for a new ground in the morning were limited. But with three games scheduled at Manchester's Hough End, albeit one hosted by a reserve side, I was confident of at least a new pitch. Two previous visits had yielded a match one of the pair of recently-added 3Gs  and, back in 2019, a game on a grass pitch  that's now mostly covered by an extension to the car park. Both artificial pitches were busy with children's football, so all three adult games were on grass. I chose the Manchester Saturday Morning League fixture over South Manchester and Cheshire Christian League games because it kicked off 15 minutes earlier. The home side began the game well, and the visitors' early opening goal was against the run of play. That set the tone for a first half where the biggest difference be...

2.15pm 11 January 2025 Mid Lancashire League, Division One Astley 3 Cube 4 (att 30) I'd set myself the challenge of finding a game on a new ground close enough to home to allow me time to get back for Manchester City's FA Cup tie with Salford City at 5.45pm. With the cold weather ruling out any game on grass, and even local 3G pitches falling foul of the frost, I thought I'd have to limit my day's football to a revisit to the Etihad Stadium. But, to my surprise, this game survived. Astley play on a 3G at the West Way Sports Hub, just outside Chorley. Any snow and ice that had been on the pitch had been cleared, and on a very cold afternoon the surface was perfectly playable. The 2.15 kick off, 15 minutes later than advertised, was a little frustrating given my need to be back early, but at least I'd found a game that was on. Bolton-based Cube's players ambled onto the pitch just before kick off, looking like they'd have much preferred an afternoon off. Only ...

3pm 4 January 2025 West Cheshire League, Pyke Cup, First Round Runcorn Sports 2 South Liverpool reserves 1 aet (att 38) I was hoping for a longer journey but apocalyptic weather forecasts meant it seemed a safer bet to stay fairly local and to seek a game on an artificial pitch. Runcorn Sports was my only remaining first team ground to recomplete the top division of the West Cheshire League, and it also completed a trio of visits to see the host club on different grounds. It's almost three years since I saw them on a pitch at Helsby , also against South Liverpool's reserves. They won comfortably that afternoon but, based on the league table, a repeat looked unlikely. Sports are having a tough season. They're bottom of the league and recently disbanded their reserve team. The Pyke Cup, for sides in the West Cheshire League's top flight, was perhaps a welcome distraction. It's a distraction that will continue at least into the second round. A hard-fought and tight 90 ...

3pm 1 January 2025 Isthmian League, Premier Division Cray Wanderers 1 Dulwich Hamlet 0 (att 827) I had hoped to begin the year with a visit to Cambridge City's new stadium, but wet weather and a grass pitch made we wary of the potential for a late postponement. Instead I made a longer journey to the south of London, but with greater certainty of the match being on. That was thanks to the artificial pitch at Cray Wanderers' new ground, which opened at the start the season. Cambridge City played, but plenty of other games on grass were either postponed or abandoned. The rain at Cray's Flamingo Park was relentless, only easing as the game neared its conclusion. Given the tricky conditions it was a decent encounter. The home side won it with a well-taken goal seven minutes from the end. They'd come closest to scoring earlier, hitting the post, and looked just the better of evenly-matched teams. I saw Cray Wanderers at their previous Oxford Road ground in Sidcup in 1987. For...