Needing a football fix after returning from a holiday I was able to go locally to watch Worksop Town v Telford.
With some pitches currently unplayable after such a long period without rain, and some junior football and rugby union leagues delaying their start, I was assured of a game on the all weather pitch.
After street parking, like most others, I strolled across Sandy Lane to notice some changes. A new set of turnstiles have been introduced which I think are for away supporters although even the officials were not sure. Then queuing up there was a problem, the WiFi signal was not reaching the card terminals. Luckily I had some cash, although it was a £50 note. People don’t like accepting these due to past forgeries, but the official was only too pleased to accept and move the building queue along. Why do cash machines issue £50 notes when it can be hard to use them.
Also new was that the stadium is now the KC Sofas stadium, taking over from long term sponsors Windsor Food Services. Windsor Foods had been a long term great supporter of the club but a takeover by a Nottingham firm, Hopwells, has seen ,it end.
The fantasy of sofas as seats in the covered stand soon disappeared when I sat down.
I have written about Worksop Towns history in the past with their recent rise up the leagues following a near extinction a few years ago.
Telford too have a chequered history with historians placing the original starting point in 1872 as Parish Church Institute. They took the name of the area, Wellington, 7 years later. Wellington retained its identity until placed within the New Town area of Telford in 1968. The name Telford United was adopted in 1969. They have played in local, Shropshire, Cheshire and West Midlands Leagues until progressing to the Southern League, North West in 1958 and promoted to the Southern Premier League in 1959.
They established themselves as a very competitive side, losing in the FA Trophy final in 1970 and winning it the following season. Their rise continued when in 1979 they were founder members of the Alliance Premier League.
During the next decade they were known for their giant killing exploits in the FA Cup and made three more FA Trophy appearances winning twice. Further cup exploits were achieved but in 2004 they folded with heavy debts. The fans rallied to form a new team playing in the Northern Premier League from where the club have been as high as the National League and back as low as the Southern League and now back in the National League North.
It was a cooler day 24/25 degrees which was welcome after the recent heat while we waited for the game to be delayed due to the backlog at the entrance.
Worksop Town 2 AFC Telford United 1
Saturday 15th August 2026. !5.00 pm kick off
National League North, 7th v 15th, Tigers v The Bucks
Worksop Town FC, Babbage Way, off Sandy Lane, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S80 1UJ.
Worksop, yellow shirts with black diaganol stripes, black shorts, goalkeeper in all purple.
Telford. Pink shirts, white shorts, goalkeeper in all green.
Both teams started with speed and passion but it was the tigers who went ahead when on 18 minutes some fast tricky play on the left meant a perfect ball was delivered to Kian Barrett’s head who glanced it over the telford keeper into the far left hand corner of the net. The whole team rushed to celebrate and took some time to restart. Worksop kept up the pace yet only had one other shot on goal before half time whereas Telford looked dangerous in the quarter of an hour before the break, orchestrated by the skilful Jamie Meddows.
Telford kept up the pressure at the restart and with it only 4 minutes old they equalised. Charlie Williams controlled a pass, shrugged of a defender and hit a 20 yard screamer into the top right hand corner of the goal.
The home team did manage to regain the momentum and advantage with a string of corners, but regained the lead when on 67 minutes Aleks Starcenko unleashed his own 20 yard bullet which grazed the post and the goalkeeper.
An injury to the influential Meddows interrupted Telfords style with neither team able to get clear chances. Worksop’s Ryan Viggers was sent off near the end for putting his arm across a defenders face after a foul. Despite 7 minutes of added time neither team were able to add to their score and the Tigers had won a tough battle. They certainly needed their claws out in this tough battle.
I have always been surprised that the chips at worksop were not great considering that they were sponsored by a food service company. Has there been a change because the chips were golden, tasty, not greasy and enjoyable, a score of 54.
payonthegate 