On a beautiful Autumnal Saturday I travelled to Bugbrooke to watch two grandsons win at football, 11-4 (under 7’s) and 13-1 (under 9’s). It was a lovely blue sky day with a few cotton wool clouds drifting across the many pitches that surround the main stadium. The pitches were buzzing with different aged teams playing and training. To credit the club the main clubhouse was open for toilet facilities and and refreshments which some parents were using.

After the game I headed north up the M1 to Basford just north of Nottingham to see Basford United play Hanley Town in the F.A. Trophy. I had been to this ground before to watch their under 18’s play in the F.A. Youth Cup but never seen the senior team.

I arrived at a large carpark that had plenty of space, the ease to park was reflected by the poor attendance of only 132, despite Nottingham Forest playing away on the next day. The ground has an all weather pitch and two small covered seated stands, one at an end and one on the same side as the clubhouse. The other side has some covered standing area and it is open at the remaining end. The weather had not changed from the morning and the 16 degrees felt pleasant.

Basford started life in 1900 as The Old Pear Tree Inn playing in local Notts football Leagues until they resigned in the 2005/06 season only to restart the following year. They changed course in 2010 joining the East Midland Counties League and in 2012 were promoted to the Northern Counties East league which they rose through only to be transferred to the Midland League in 2014. They immediately won that being promoted to the Northern Premier League Division One South and in 2018 were promoted as champions to the Premier Division. 2022 saw them transferred to the Southern League Premier Central Division and a year later back to the Northern Leagues’ Premier Division. So after a long period of Notts football they have changed leagues continually due to promotions and league re-organisations making great upward progress.

There was an original Hanley Town FC formed in 1882 but it lasted only until 1912. The current Hanley Town FC came into existence in the Mid Sixties as a Sunday League team and soon decided to try their luck playing Saturdays. They progressed in local leagues being promoted to the Staffordshire County League and by 1976 joined the Mid Cheshire league but by 1994 after some poor seasons they went down to Junior football. They were soon back and promotions and league mergers meant they were asked to join the North West Counties League Division One, a goal that they had coveted for some time. They won that Division in 2016 and after their good performances in the reduced covid seasons, in then the Midland league, they were placed in the re-organised Northern Premier League Division One West where they play today. Quite a journey in a short time.

Basford United 2 Hanley Town 2

Basford 4 Hanley 1 Penalties.

FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round, Saturday 5th October 2024, 15.00 pm kick off.

Mill Street Playing Field, Greenwich Avenue, Basford, Nottingham, NG6 0LD

9th in the Northern Premier League (Premier Division) v 20th in Northern Premier League (West Division).

Basford; Yellow and black vertical striped shirts with yellow shorts that have a black wavy bottom edge on their back: Hanley; all royal blue strip.

You would not have thought that Hanley were a league below Basford and in the relegation zone as the game unfolded. They took an early lead within 4 minute when a pin point cross from the right was headed into the centre of the goal by Tom Pope.

The home side responded with some fast forward running and were rewarded on 13 minutes when a concerted attack meant the ball dropped to Rev James who hit the ball with his outstep into the right hand corner of the net. Just 6 minutes later and another through ball was foiled by the Hanley keeper’s legs only to rebound to Basford who after some inter-passing, scored, when Tyrell Waite tapped in a Joe Uveges cut back.

Basford continued their forward advances but Hanley were never out of the game and drew level on 36 minutes when Pope netted from the penalty spot after being brough down when in on goal. No more goals were added before half time and as they left the field I thought Hanley had the better of the 45 minutes with more dangerous attacking.

A wind seemed to get up across the pitch to start the second half but despite this and Basford’s domination of play neither side was able to break the deadlock. So it went to the dreaded penalties and after good saves by Basford’s keeper and pinpoint accuracy from their penalty takers they went through 4.1.

Basford were through to the next round but Hanley must have been cheered by their performance which should bode well for a rise up their league.

Basford have a separate food cabin in one corner of the ground and the one girl coped well with the queue and the cooking of fresh food. Although I had more than chips I tried some on their own first which were freshly cooked, hot, crispy but had a background greasy taste. Overall a score of 62.