Worksop Town were
formed in 1861 and are the world's fourth oldest football club. This
week they face a tax bill of £30,000 which, if not paid, will mean
the club is wound up and cease to exist. Thus we decided to do our
tiny bit and visit Sandy Lane for The Tigers' match against Sutton
Coldfield Town. No sooner had we mentioned that we were off to this
game than Youtube groundhopping legend Smiv followed suit, to create
another of his top quality On The Road films. Sam is a big fan of
Smiv's. Another draw for us was that the club offered us a parking
space in the club car park, a first.
We were excited as we
approached the ground, looking forward to VIP treatment...but we
received a gruff “Not coming in” from the steward. “Keith Ilett
has sorted it” we said. “I don't care, you can't come in”
replied Colin The Bastard. “Can you go and ask him then” I said,
which is what I had been told to say if the steward refused entry.
“No I can't, and you're not coming in here.” Thanks a lot
Worksop, and special thanks to the rudest steward we've ever met,
Colin The Bastard.
So we parked on a
roadside in an industrial estate. After walking back past Colin The
Bastard (he didn't object this time) we paid in, and it was only £8
for me and £4 for Sam, Old Wilf in the turnstile box was flipping
freezing, no wonder as there was a ferocious gale howling down the
pitch towards him. In through the clicks and it's “Football!”,
first impressions of Sandy Lane were small but neat. Typical of
non-league you can walk right around the ground, so we did. To the
right of the way in is the smallest terrace I have ever seen, painted
black for some reason. Along the “far side” we walked behiond the
dug-outs, and it's a two-tier concrete walkway the whole length of
the pitch. Behind the other goal is a covered shelter, and on the
other side is a long stand with about six rows of seats. We briefly
took a seat in the top row to test the windchill factor, and
discovered that we were completely sheltered, and almost cosy. We had
found of view for the day. The ground is compact and suits the club's
level, but there are also several tatty bits, and a part of the stand
roof is not secured and flapped alarmingly in the wind.
Seats decided, our
thoughts turned to food. We found the snack bar at the side of the
clubhouse. Two ladies grafting away, looked like sisters, and the
service was brilliant, thank you Debbie and Alison. We both went for
comfort food today, which meant chips with gravy. Sam got his water
(with the seal snapped for some reason) and I asked for the
regulation Bovril. No, but we do Oxo. Obviously not a satisfactory
alternative, but I went for it just for the novelty value. Let me
tell you, Oxo is no substitute for Bovril, come on Worksop, give the
girls a little better budget to upgrade their meat-based hot beverage
selection!
The game kicked off
with an ironic song of “Tigers, Tigers, ra ra ra” from us two.
With the wind whsitling straight down the pitch the quality of play
was affected, but the players worked their cobs off. Worksop hit the
bar but that was pretty much all the excitement done.
The excitement at half
time was provided by the annopuncement that £23k had been raised
towards the £30k target, yes! We suddenly felt more confident about
the future of the club. We won the 50/50 as usual – we haven't “not
won” this season. What this actually means is that, when the tannoy
shouts the winning numbers, we always yell an enthusiastic
“YESSSSS!”. Locals look round jealously, then we say “Not
really”. It amuses us OK.
Second half was much
more entertaining, Sutton Coldfield scored early through a player we
misheard called “Utter Shit Player” on the tannoy - actual name
Usher-Shipway, sorry dude. Worksop made a real fight of it after
that, peppering the opponents' goal with lots of shots but no really
clear chances. Sutton had a man sent off for what looked like a wild
kick at a player on the ground, inviting more pressure. The best form
of attack for Sutton Coldfield was the long punt downfield, wind
assisted. We noted that one of the linesmen had forgotten his shirt
and wore just black under-armour.
It finished 0-1,
Worksop's manager Kyle Jordan played for the last fifteen minutes,
and looked frustrated, cheers for saying hello when we were walking
round the pitch. We really hope that Worksop Town live to fight
another day. Here's the link to their fundraising page:
A decent day out apart
from Colin The Bastard. Let's keep Worksop Town going!
And so to the scoring:
Atmosphere 2.5
Reasonable for the size of club, good repertoire, not bad.
Food & Drink 3.0
Cheap as....just £7 for chips and gravy twice, water and,
errrr....Oxo.
Stadium 3.0 Right size
for the level, very tatty in places, bit of the stand roof flapping
dangerously in the gale.
Value For Money 4.5 £23
for everything makes this a good place to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Bonus points for
singing at least three different songs, and 50/50 draw.
Man-bun bonus of 0.25
Final score 15.25 A
great mid table for Worksop Town!
Current table:
1 Rotherham United 19.0
2 Huddersfield Town
19.0
3 Chesterfield Town
18.5
4 Sheffield United 17.0
(above York on Atmosphere)
5
York City 17.0
6 Walsall 16.5
7
Stamford 16.0
8 Doncaster Rovers 15.5
9 Worksop Town 15.25
10 Boston United 15.0
11 Lincoln City 13.5
12 Newark Flowserve
13.25
13 Falkirk 13.0
14 Sleaford Town 12.5
15 Mansfield Town 12.0
Total goals so far = 43
Average goals = 2.87. Global average 2.75.
Miles this match = 55.
Miles this season = 1726.
