Loughborough Dynamo are located just outside the town just near junction 23 of the M1 which is being totally remodelled to prepare for the building of approximately 3500 new homes. They were at home to Bury Town F.C. in the second round qualifying of the F.A. Trophy on Saturday 17th October.
The ground is in a very pretty leafy suburb, within a whole sporting complex which from what I could see includes other football pitches, an outside basketball court,tennis courts and a bowls club. The skies remained grey and overcast with the drizzle of early morning long gone. The pitch looked beautiful with an immaculate playing surface and the Covid restrictions were well organised and I felt relaxed. A microlight flew over the ground to provide unscripted pre match entertainment.
Both sides were evenly matched, Bury play in the Isthmiam League North Division winning both of their League games and Loughborough in the Northern Premier League Division One South East only losing one of their 6 starts.
Loughborough Dynamo were formed in 1955 by pupils at the local grammar school who wanted to play football rather than rugby and took the Dynamo name from Moscow Dynamo who were playing a series of friendlies at that time. The club played in many local Leagues and broke through into the Northern Premier League in 2008 where they still play.
Bury Town, formaly Bury St Edmunds, by contrast, are one of the oldest teams in the country having been formed in 1870 with one of their players being in the first ever F.A. Cup final playing for the Wanderers and he also played for England against Scotland in the first International. They changed their name to the current one in 1885 and have had an up and down journey twice spending some time in the Southern League but relegation and finnancial difficulty saw them drop down the pyramid system. A climb back to the Southern League resulted in them being moved to the Isthmian League Premier Division in 2010 but five years later they were relegated to their current level.
Loughborough Dynamo 1 Bury Town 0
Loughborough took control of the match from the start and within 20 minutes the Bury goalkeeper Joe Rose had made three amazing saves but despite being in control the teams were still level at half time.
The same pattern ensued in the second half but continual forays down the right started to become predictable and the Bury defence were able to counter these without gaining any real attacking momentum. Considering the score remained 0-0 the game was absorbing and the time seemed to fly by with Curtis Burrows effort for Loughborough hitting the post with 5 minutes left.
After another right wing play on 89 minutes Dynamo gained a throw in near the Bury corner flag. For the first time Danny Gordon tried a long throw into the Bury penalty area and after some different efforts to score and defend, like a pinball machine richocheting around, and another Joe Rose save, Alex Steadman hit home the winner. Despair for Bury, jubilation for Loughborough and on the pattern of play a deserved win.
The chips were very hot, tasty, a good colour and cooked in a fryer. They were served in a comfortable club house with a view of another game on an adjoining pitch. A score of 80 was very good.
Payonthegate 