Date: 19th June 2021
Ground: Sheepy Road
Ground: Sheepy Road
Location: Atherstone, Warwickshire
My first new ground of 2021 was on Saturday 19th June at Sheepey Road in Atherstone, Warwickshire. The game was Atherstone Town vs. Earlswood Town in a friendly.
Sheepy Road is located in the north of the town in a predominantly residential area. The ground has allotments to the south, a power substation to the west, a restaurant to the east and trees to the north. The venue is half a mile north of Atherstone railway station
The entrance to the ground is in the north-east corner. There is a snack outlet by this entrance and to the left is a sports bar with a fairly small clubhouse. There is a 4 level concrete terrace for the length of the eastern side of Sheppy Road. There is a covered section by the halfway line and dugouts but the rest is uncovered. Towards the southern end there is a grass section behind the terracing. The terrace extends round the corner for the length of the southern side of the ground with the flat grass section also in place at this end.
The main stand takes up two-thirds of the western side. The stand has a few hundred seats in the middle spread across 5 rows. Either side of the seating are covered flat standing areas within the confines of the stand. The northern end is similar to the southern end with the same 4 level uncovered concrete terrace. Behind it is a flat grass area with a goal on it set-up for practice.
The game was a friendly between Midland League Division One side Atherstone Town and Midland League Division Two side Earlswood Town. The tie almost saw a goal on the one minute mark as Callum Carsley whipped a ball into the danger zone and Atherstone's Cowley smashed the ball off the underside of the bar. The same two linked up in the 19th minute with Carsley stealing in to capitalise on a defensive error when when the ball was played through to Cowley he blazed wide into a tree behind the goal. It was little surprise when the opener arrived five minute later. A Collins free-kick hit the post but in the second phase the ball dropped back into Ryan Quinn who steered into the bottom corner from 12 yards. Atherstone went 2-0 up int he 32nd minute when a cross by the right by Cotton found Cowley at the back post. The attacker nodded back across goal for Quinn to tap in on the line to grab his second of the half. Two minutes after this the Earlswood keeper denied Atherstone a third with an acrobatic save following a rasping 25-yard drive by Naughton. The respite lasted only three minutes though when another cross to the back post by Cotton found Carsley who saw his powerful header find the corner of the net. The second 45 minutes was similarly one-way traffic. Just after the hour mark Cowley dragged a shot just wide of the post from 10 yards and a couple of minutes later the fourth goal arrived courtesy of Toby Bartram drilling past the keeper from close range. Bartram notched a second one in the 72nd minute with a shot from the edge of the area into the bottom corner just as a covering tackle came in. The chances kept coming in the final minutes but there were no more goals as Atherstone rounded off a comfortable win over their lower-division opposition.
Result: Atherstone Town 5-0 Earlswood Town
Friendly
Attendance: N/A
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