Ground #380 - Evans Park

Date: 5th March 2023
Ground: Evans Park
Location: Stafford, Staffordshire

My fifth new ground of 2023 was on Sunday 5th March at Evans Park in Stafford, Staffordshire. The game was Stafford Town vs. Abbey Hey in the North West Counties League Division One South.

Evans Park sits in a sports complex just to the south-east of the town centre. Its neighbours consist of Stafford Cricket & Hockey Club to the west, bowls greens to the south and a radio control car racetrack to the south-east. The complex also has additional football and rugby pitches. It borders the River Sow to the north and is just under a mile east of Stafford railway station. The venue became home to the club in 2010, their first permanent home since their inception in 1976. 

The ground was converted into a 3G location in 2016 and is a cage arena. Unlike many other cage arenas though spectators can view from all four sides of the pitch with a decent amount of space. All the facilities are on the southern side of the ground though new dugouts were installed on the northern side of the field in late 2022.

The southern side has the Keith Mottershead Stand which dominates the ground. The middle half of the stand has 550 seats split in the middle for access to and from the dressing rooms within. The western side of the stand has a food outlet, toilets and a clubhouse for players and officials only. The eastern part of the stand is just covered flat standing under the roof though there is clear expansion room for additional seating here were it ever needed.

Stafford Town entered the game in 18th spot some four points from safety. The visitors in comparison were well settled in mid-table with little to play for. Right from the off the hosts were going for it in front of a record crowd. In the 13th minute a ball on the right of the box was dragged across goal and wide by Josh Simcox and a few minutes later Jack Grimshaw shot wide from a similar position. In the 27th minute the ball was fed to Simcox on the right and this time he made no mistake, controlling the ball well before shooting from the edge of the box across goal and into the bottom corner. Stafford did have to ride their luck either side of half-time though - firstly a slip by a home defender left in Tremaine Eastmond. He shot past the keeper but Jack Keeling slid in and cleared the ball off the line. Shortly after this Cory Knight was in on goal for Abbey Hey but he delayed and delayed and eventually shot wide. The other side of the half-time interval Knight wasted another opportunity when one-on-one with the goalie but shot just wide. These missed opportunities came back to bite Abbey Hey in the 61st minute - their goalkeeper Josh Lawton was dispossessed by Josh Simcox on the edge of the box and the Stafford midfielder chipped the ball delicately into the empty net. The visitors were then limited to long-range efforts after this. They went close in the 78th minute when a 30-yard drive by Jordyn Fitton was tipped over for a corner. In injury time a Dillon Kirkman free-kick from around the halfway line managed to squeeze past everyone and into the net but it was too little, too late as Stafford recorded an important 2-1 win in their attempts to avoid the drop.

Result: Stafford Town 2-1 Abbey Hey

Division: North West Counties League Division One South

Attendance: 489

Ground #379 - Silkmore Lane

Date: 5th March 2023
Ground: Silkmore Lane
Location: Brocton, Staffordshire

My fourth new ground of 2023 was on Sunday 5th March at Silkmore Lane in Brocton, Staffordshire. The game was Brocton vs. Stockport Georgians in the North West Counties League Division One South.

Silkmore Lane is located in a residential area in the village of Brocton, on the southern edge of Stafford. The ground is bordered by housing to the north, south and west with a line of trees and a river to the east. The venue has two full-size pitches with the club utilising the western one for their games. The ground is 1.5 miles south-east of Stafford railway station and became home to the club around 2008 after it was converted from a Staffordshire Police complex. Prior to this Brocton had experienced a nomadic existence with a number of homes in the preceding years. 

The two stands are on the western side of the ground by the halfway line. On the southern side of the line is an all-seater structure with 100 seats spread across four rows. A few feet from this an identical stand minus the seats with the same capacity of 100 for covered standing. The remainder of the ground is uncovered standing.

The two ends have netting behind the goals providing cover for cars parked in this area. The north-east corner has cabins for dressing rooms, toilets and a clubhouse consisting of a little function room. There is also a little snack bar in this area as well. The eastern side backs onto the adjacent pitch with an unusual situation of dugouts built next to each other facing opposite directions.

The match saw two top-half sides with Brocton securely in the play-offs in 3rd spot and Stockport in 7th within touching distance of said play-offs. A quiet first half saw the closest chance falling the way of Stockport on the half-hour mark when Sam Oliver's dipping 25-yard free-kick went just over the bar. There was little for either keeper to do beyond that in the first period. Into the second half and Brocton's Regan Smith was causing the away defence problems. In the 52nd minute a long ball found him on the right side of the box only for him to spurn it by dragging the ball well wide. Six minutes later Smith dispossessed the visiting keeper on the edge of the box but by the time he'd gathered himself the keeper was back in the goal and able to get down and save his effort. in the 61st minute Smith was given his best opportunity and this time he took it. Christian Blanchette had been tripped on the edge of the box and Smith drilled his free-kick low past the keeper's left into the bottom corner. A few minutes after this Blanchette was in the action again with a low shot in the box well saved by the keeper. This spell in the third quarter of the game proved crucial for Brocton as they ran out 1-0 winners.

Result: Brocton 1-0 Stockport Georgians

Division: North West Counties League Division One South

Attendance: 457

Ground #332 - bet365 Stadium

Date: 1st October 2019
Ground: bet365 Stadium
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

My forty-seventh new ground of 2019 was on Tuesday 1st October at the bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The match was Stoke City vs. Huddersfield Town in the Football League Championship.

The bet365 Stadium is located in a business park in the south of the city, adjacent to the A50 road which runs to the north. The east of the ground borders a road with a hotel, restaurant and car dealership beyond. The southern edge runs up to more car dealership while the western side has a large car park with the West Coast Mainline line after this. The railway line leads up to the nearest station, Stoke-on-Trent station, two miles to the north. The venue was opened for the club as the Britannia Stadium in 1997, replacing their old home at the Victoria Ground where they had played from 1878.

The West Stand towers over the stadium as the only two-tier structure at the venue. The 7,357 seater stand has a larger lower deck of seating with hospitality boxes all along the back and this set-up is repeated at the back of the smaller upper seating deck. These upper tier boxes are split by a TV gantry which has a separate media section in front of it carved out of the main seating area. This stand also has the club reception leading out to a large car park. Attached to this stand in the south-west corner is the administrative part of the club with the shop and ticket office.

The South Stand was originally a stand-alone structure like the West Stand but in 2017 the open space between it and the East Stand was filled in meaning the South, East and North sides now form a continuous single-tier bowl. The North and South Stands have identical capacities of 6,006 with the southern end being the designated one for away supporters who spread out from the south-west corner. Including the south-east and north-east quadrants the East Stand can hold 10,720 supporters pushing the venue's total capacity just over the 30,000 mark.

This was a battle of the two basement sides in The Championship with Stoke and Huddersfield both winless after nine games apiece. The game was evidence of why the sides were at the bottom of the table and was a dismal spectacle. Huddersfield's best opportunity of the first half came after just five minutes when Karlan Grant crossed from the left and with all the time in the world to tee himself up Elias Kachunga fluffed his side and scuffed well wide from ten yards. Stoke for their part can point at a chance a couple of minutes before the interval when Cameron Carter-Vickers whipped cross in found Joe Allen in acres of space ten yards from the net. His free header however failed to get near the goal. The second half was a marginal improvement but still a very poor game. Stoke huffed and puffed against a Huddersfield side who were happy to sit back and play out a goalless affair. The home side's shooting though was absolutely dreadful and not a single one of their 18 efforts were on target. This ended up costing them anything from the game as in the 82nd minute Huddersfield set-off on a counter attack which really got going when Juninho Bacuna played an excellent ball to Adama Diakhaby down the right wing. Diakhaby squared the ball for Bacuna who had continued his run from his own half and the Brazilian smashed the ball home to score the only goal of the game. The home fans hoping for this to at least spur Stoke into action to try and salvage a result were disappointed as it in fact had the opposite effect. The home side limped through the final minutes of the game in a lackadaisical fashion and were rewarded with their eighth defeat in ten games, exactly what they deserved from their evening's performance.

Result: Stoke City 0-1 Huddersfield Town
Division: Football League Championship
Attendance: 20,372

Ground #169 - Vale Park

Date: 3rd April 2015
Ground: Vale Park
Location: Burslem, Staffordshire

My fourth new ground of 2015 was on Friday 3rd April at Vale Park in Burslem, Staffordshire. The match was Port Vale vs. Colchester United in Football League One.

Vale Park is located in the town of Burslem in the northern part of the wider city of Stoke-on-Trent. The ground sits is bordered by Burslem Park to the south and Sproson Park to the north though also backs onto a residential area on its eastern side. The venue is 1.5 miles from the nearest railway station at Longport and has been home to the club since 1950.

The tallest stand in the ground is the Lorne Street Stand which runs alongside the eastern side of Vale Park. This stand was opened in 1999 to replace the former uncovered concrete terrace which had stood there before. It was intended to seat 5,000 fans but still remains unfinished with seats only in place for half of the lower deck. However, the upper deck was completed giving the club the opportunity to provide balcony-style hospitality boxes. The Lorne Street Stand also includes the club reception and other facilities in use by community organisations.

The Railway Stand is on the opposite side of the pitch - this was formerly a mixture of seating and terracing until the latter was upgraded during the 1990s. Several supporting columns reside in the middle of the stand and the roof does not extend out to all the seats at the front of the stand. Next to this the north-west corner has a small two-tier structure with uncovered seating in the lower section and covered seating in the upper section. This area is hemmed on by the Railway Stand on one side and the Bycars Road End on the other. The Bycars Road End is a single tier stand with two supporting columns on each side - as with some of the other stands those at the very front are a little open to the elements. Behind the goal at the southern end of Vale Park is the Hamil Road End - this 4,500 capacity stand houses the away fans and also has some stanchions half-way up the stand. On the outside of this structure, the club shop is attached  The south-west exterior of this structure backs onto to the club shop and there is also a pub across the car park.

Port Vale come into the game off the back of some really poor results and raced out of the traps early on to threaten the Colchester goal. Vale looked particularly dangerous down the wings and the U's goal led a charmed life in the opening half-hour. After this the visitors came back into the game and only a smart save from Sam Johnson prevented George Moncur opening the scoring towards the end of the first half. The second period saw Colchester well on top and they took the lead in the 57th minute as Moncur was able to play a 1-2 with Chris Porter on the edge of the box before having the time to control the ball and drag it into the bottom corner. The away side had several chances before grabbing a second goal on 77 minutes. Some sloppy passing from Vale saw the ball fall to Jacob Murphy who played a quick 1-2 with Porter before beating a defender for pace and drilling his shot into the bottom corner of the net. The hosts did get one back with a few minutes to go as Louis Dodds slammed home a volley after a corner wasn't cleared properly but in the closing stages it was Colchester who looked the more likely to score again as they claimed a 2-1 win.

Result: Port Vale 1-2 Colchester United
Division: Football League One
Attendance: 4,471

Ground #131 - Pirelli Stadium

Date: 7th September 2013
Ground: Pirelli Stadium
Location: Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire

My twentieth new ground of 2013 was on Saturday 7th September at the Pirelli Stadium in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire. The match was Burton Albion vs. Oxford United in Football League Two.

The Pirelli Stadium is in the north-east part of the town and sits next to the a Pirelli factory. The ground was built on the site of the company's former sports and social club with the land donated to the club in exchange for the stadium naming rights. The venue sits 1.3 miles from Burton-on-Trent railway station and has been home to Burton Albion since 2005 when they left their former home of Eton Park.

The Main Stand runs alongside the pitch on the southern section of the venue. This contains the reception, ticket offices, club shop and player dressing rooms. The stand is an all-seater structure with a capacity of 2,034 with the hospitality areas located behind the main seating. A section of around 400 seats at the eastern end of the structure is given over to away fans.

The rest of the ground is taken up with covered terracing. Opposite the Main Stand is the Popular Side which includes a bar facing out towards the car park. The areas behind the two goals are also taken up with terracing - the home fans take up the West Terrace with the East Terrace holding away fans. The combined capacity of the terraced stands is just under 5,000 giving an overall stadium capacity of 6,912.

The game was fought out between two sides near the top of the League Two table though the football on display in the first half wasn't great. The ball seemed to spent most of the first 45 minutes in the air and there were not many meaningful attacks. The first real action came in the 36th minute when Burton's Ian Sharps clashed with Oxford's Dave Kitson in an off-the-ball incident. Sharps received a straight red card meaning Burton had to play the majority of the game with only 10 men. Just after this the home side managed their best move of the game as Damien McCrory saw his close-range effort saved by Ryan Clarke in the Oxford goal. The disadvantage of being a man down caught up with the hosts in the second period as Oxford controlled the game. In the 49th minute they took the lead - Alfie Potter rode several Burton challenges before striking the ball past Dean Lyness. It was a well taken goal by Potter though the home defence should really have stopped him getting into a scoring position. Tom Newey almost doubled the lead a couple of minutes later when his rasping long-range drive brought a great save from Lyness. From this point on Oxford always looked likely to bag a second goal though it took until the 85th minute for it to come. Ryan Williams beat the Burton defence down the wing and his cross into the box caused a mix-up between Lyness and Rory Delap allowing Danny Rose to nod in the second goal to wrap up the victory.

Result: Burton Albion 0-2 Oxford United
Division: Football League Two
Attendance: 3,416