Immingham Town v Athersley Recreation

7.45pm 20 October 2026

Northern Counties East League, Division One
Immingham Town 2 Athersley Recreation 2 (att 136)

This was a big night for football in Immingham. It was the first floodlit game to be played in the town since the original Immingham Town FC went out of business in the mid 1990s.

The end of the club coincided with the demise of their Woodlands ground as a football venue. It was a ground I'd not managed to visit, but sometimes in groundhopping patience pays off, and 30 years on it's in use once again.

The new incarnation of Immingham Town have been playing senior football, in the Lincolnshire League, for around a decade, firstly at Immingham Sports Complex and then at Blossom Way.

It's taken time to return their spiritual home to use, and they only moved in this season, coinciding with promotion to 'step six' of the National League System. That has meant, amongst other things I'm sure, ensuring the ground is enclosed, floodlit and provides facilities for spectators.

On a very wet night, a good crowd showed that local interest is there, even though the club has had a tough start to the season. They went into this fixture bottom of the table, but a decent performance earned them a deserved point.

They got it the hard way, twice coming from behind. Athersley scored early, and Immingham's first equaliser was against the run of play. Parity didn't last long and the visitors were 2-1 up at half time.

Immingham's second equaliser, with about an hour played, was an excellent free kick into top corner of the goal. They were on top for what was left of the game, but couldn't find a winner.

A lot of work has gone into making a derelict former football ground into a venue suitable for the more stringent ground grading requirements of today.

There's a reasonably-sized covered area, which includes a few seats, where most of the crowd sheltered from the rain. The rest of the ground is open with hard standing. One end, and half the far side, where the dugouts and changing rooms are, are off limits to spectators.