3pm 25 August 2025
Midland Football League, Division Three
Arden Forest Sporting 2 Diamond Academy 0 (att 12)
Shortly before the start of the season the club which had been called Solihull Sporting morphed into Arden Forest Sporting, and with a name change came a change of home ground.
It's more a change of pitch really. The artificial pitch at Tudor Grange Academy Kingshurst, where I saw Sporting in 2024, no longer meets league requirements due to a lack of dugouts, so has been swapped for a nearby grass pitch.
They played a couple of home games elsewhere while the new pitch was being prepared. I'd expected this fixture to be staged there as well, but when I contacted the club to check the venue they confirmed they were back at Kingshurst.
Like many grass pitches, the recent lack of rain has left the surface hard, uneven and dusty. It was a challenge for the players, and no doubt a frustrating one with the unused 3G just yards away.
Still, at least the subs and coaches had dugouts to sit in, on the far side of a pitch that also has a handful of crush barriers to keep spectators off the playing area. The near side was roped off.
Both sides have had poor starts to the season, picking up just a single point between them after four games each. The lack of confidence showed in what was a scrappy encounter.
Sporting, who had lost all their previous fixtures, scored a goal in each half and deserved their win. Diamond Academy's young players were unlucky not to get a goal for their efforts, on a very warm afternoon.
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