An afternoon at the Impact Arena saw Alfreton Town FC play St Neots FC in the 4th qualifying Round of the FA Cup. The sunny afternoon brought out a total of 645 fans, over 100 from St Neots who were noisy through out.

 

This compact ground very close to Junction 28 of the M1 and tucked away in a housing estate has seating on two sides , standing behind one goal and mixed seating on one side. The pitch slopes down hill from the standing end and the grass cover is thick and lush. There was little wind and the sun shone intermittently through wispy cloud.

St Neots from the Southern League Premier  (Step 3) were trying to progress in the cup and match their previous best showing against an Alfreton team from the higher (Step 2) league, National League North.

Alfreton Town 4 St Neots Town 0

The Reds knowing the ground chose to kick down hill in the first half and soon took control of the game exerting pressure from both wings and were 4 nil up within 28 minutes and out of sight. No 7 Curtis Bateson playing down the left terrorised the St Neots defence and No 2 James Clifton overlapped continually down the right and his long throws were hard to deal with.

Within 5 minutes Batesons cross from a corner on the left swirled over everyone into the far corner of the net. On 18 minutes Peniket was brought down in the box and James Clifton placed it perfectly from the spot into the left hand corner. 4 minutes later Bateson was put through after some sloppy defensive clearances and he drilled it home and a few minutes later Clifton converted another penalty smashing it into the roof of the net in the middle of the goal. The penalty was awarded after Wilde had been bundled to the ground.

The game seemed to drift through to half time and St Neots made early substitutions in the second half and did press  but Ramsbottom in goal for Alfreton made some competent saves to deny any fight back.

 

Alfreton deserved to go through and their tactic of taking advantage of the slope and dominating early play may earn them a lucrative tie with a EPL club in the draw for the next round. Good Luck Alfreton.

Alfreton Town have two good refreshment kiosks at either corner of the ground and the chips were served quickly. They were hot and cost £1.50 but not a golden brown and did taste a bit flowery, their score is 63.

 

 

A beautiful day in Lincolnshire with a temperature of 24 degrees  greeted my visit to Boston United, whilst at the same time the West Coast of Britain was being battered by storm Callum.  As a club Boston United were only formed in 1933 when Boston Town folded. They now play in the sixth tier of English football (National League North) having once graced the Football League between 2002 and 2007. They have been involved in some great F.A. Cup giant killing in the past and reached the F.A. Trophy final in the 1984-85 season. They are very much a community club with a good following in this Lincolnshire outpost.

Their Northumberland opponents Blyth Spartans have a long history going back to their inception in 1899 and they still play at Croft Park where they started. They have for a long time been one of the most prominent Non-League teams of the North East. Like Boston they have been involve in F.A. cup giant killing but have never won a national trophy.

 

The Jakeman stadium is near to the town centre nestling amongst residential houses. It is overseen by the famous Boston Stump which is the tall tower of St Botolph’s Parish Church. The ground is magnificent, very tidy, covered on all sides, with seating down one side and some at one end. The program £3, ‘The Pilgrim’, is named after Boston’s nickname and is 48 pages of good, detail, interviews, statistics and photos not overpowered by advertising.

The wind swirled around the stadium. The beautiful striped grass was a little bare on the touchlines and the pitch sloped slightly downhill from the ‘stump’ end.

Boston United 4 Blyth Spartans 0

The game started slowly but within five minutes you could feel that Boston were gaining an advantage with some intelligent midfield play. A through ball to Gregg Smith enabled him to beat the offside trap and calmly stroke it passed the keeper for the first goal on 12 minutes.  Boston kept up the pressure and it wasn’t until the 40th minute that Blyth had their best chance as a header just went over the bar.

The second half continued much of the same with the Pilgrims unable to convert their superiority into goals. Then in the space of 15 minutes they scored three deserved goals. Firstly  on 64 minutes Walker scored through the goalkeepers legs after a neat through ball from Allott. The roles were reversed on 77 minutes when Walker’s pass along the goal line from the left was tapped in by Allott and just two minutes later Abbott struck a beautiful drive from 25 yards that went in off the cross bar.  The Pilgrims had beaten the Spartans 4-0.

The food facilities were good, manned by a very friendly and happy team. The prices were very reasonable, coffee £1.10 and chips £1.30. The chips were a good colour, size,  tasted of potatoes and were warm. They could have been a bit hotter hence a score of 73.