Tuesday 21 December 2021

Ground #360 - Creasey Park

Date: 13th November 2021
Location: Dunstable, Bedfordshire
Ground: Creasey Park

My tenth new ground of 2021 was on Saturday 13th November at Creasy Park in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. The game was Dunstable vs. Hertford Town in the Southern League Division One Central.

Creasy Park is a sports complex located in the north-west edge of Dunstable. The ground has one of three full-size pitches with a number of additional pitches which reduce in size down to mini ones. These sit to the west and south of the stadium. There is also a BMX track to the far north of the sports park. The ground borders an industrial estate to the east and trees and footpath to the north. The venue is home to two clubs - Dunstable and Dunstable Town. Initially opening in 1958 it underwent a major redevelopment in 2011. 


The southern side of the ground has a large flat concrete expanse with a club building of significant size for this level of the football pyramid. This is the Community Football Centre runs most of the length of the field and features wider community items, a refreshments hatch with a very good selection, 'The Crossbar' clubhouse and toilets. 


The north has the sole all-seater structure - The Steve Spillane Stand which has 350 seats spread across 4 rows. This takes up the middle half of the north with uncovered standing either side. The eastern end has a small 4 row metal terrace behind the goal with the rest uncovered standing. It's uncovered standing for the whole of the western end. This starts off flat behind the goal with a grass bank leading up to a full-size 3G cage pitch.


This game looked a dead-cert for the hosts with them sitting in 4th up against visitors Hertford who were outside the drop zone on goal difference only having suffered eight losses from their opening 11 games. The form book looked completely wrong in the early going as Hertford had the better of it - Ben Weyman headed just wide of the post from close range in the 6th minute and in the 14th minute the visitors took the lead. A low cross from the left by Max Hudson found Vladut Sighiartau in the 6 yard box to tuck home. Hertford remained on the front-foot and Hudson went close in the 27th minute requiring a good save by the home keeper. The away side escaped a worry in the final minute of the half when Dunstable's Bernard Christie saw his shot saved only for a Hertford defender to give the ball straight to Ben Farrell who shot just over the bar. If Hertford's manager asked them to keep things tight at the start of the second period this fell on deaf ears as the hosts equalised barely a minute after the restart when Ben Farrell's corner was poked in by Alasan Ann. Dunstable then got their noses in front just after the hour with some good fortune - Devron Campbell's shot hit Bernard Christie and ended up in the bottom corner of the net. The away side didn't give up and in the 67th minute went so close when Hudson's whipped cross resulted in a mass collision in the box and the ball just stayed out of the goal. Hertford didn't take to curse their luck for long though as they grabbed an equaliser a minute after this - the ball was slipped through to Brandy Makuendi who slotted ball into bottom corner from just outside  the 6 yard box. With a quarter of an hour left the Hertfordshire side were inches away from retaking the lead when a cross from the left hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity as everyone just watched it come back off the far post. That was as close as either side came as they shared the points from an entertaining encounter.



Result: Dunstable 2-2 Hertford Town
Division: Southern League Division One Central
Attendance: 145

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