Steve B the Groundhopper

12.30pm 1 February 2025 Swansea Senior League, Division Two Rosehill Community 6 Maltsters Sports 4 (att 45) This wasn't my intended destination when I left my Swansea hotel. In fact I arrived at my planned morning game, near Bridgend, to find it was off as the 3G pitch had been double booked! A hastily arranged plan B was a choice of lunchtime kick offs in the third tier of the Swansea Senior League. I picked this game purely because it was closest to a 3pm game and so allowed me to manage a double. Rosehill Community are based in the Townhill area of Swansea. Their home ground, The Ganges Field, features an undulating pitch which was roped off along one side. Being high up, it also offers some good views. Its fair to say this wasn't a game of the highest quality, especially defensively, but from a neutral perspective it was fantastic entertainment. Maltsters, one place off the bottom of the league, started well and before long had a 2-0 lead. Rosehill were soon back level, be...

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 ...