It’s cold in Staveley for the fans and Coalville.

With the freezing weather most local games were postponed. I drove very locally to Staveley Miners Welfare to see an intriguing United Counties Division One game between Staveley Miners Welfare, 7th and Coalville, 4th. The artificial playing surface meant this one was definitely on.

This is a very well run club with top class facilities for this level of football, and even arriving an hour early the main car park was full. Luckilly they have added a tarmacked overflow area. Cash only at the gate was a surprise with many clubs now going cashless. This had also caught a supporter out who followed me in who had no cash. He was obviously a fan, with his dog wearing a blue and white striped jacket. He was allowed in to pay at the bar where there was a minimum £5 purchase level for card purchases.

Even so early, the bar/clubhouse was packed with people drinking, eating, keeping warm and watching the early Premiership game on the TV’s with Villa 3.1 up on Forest.

It was certainly cold with the temperature hovering just above freezing as the wind made the wind chill even colder.

This stadium is spotless with plenty of covered seating and standing, even a fully contained area for the disabled and elderly. It was however the warm clubhouse that everyone wanted to be in.

When the game started the fans were still spilling out of the warmth and it was only then that you could see how many people had been huddling there. From one side of the ground where the seated stand is it was hard to focus, with the bright sun, on the cold clear day, slowly disappearing below the horizon.

Staveley Miners Welfare FC 2 Coalville Town FC 0

Saturday 3rd January 2026. United Counties League Division One. 15.00 pm kickoff.

Attendance 523. 7th v 4th, Trojans v Ravens

Staveley; Blue and white vertical striped shirts to the front with an all blue back. Blue shorts. Goalkeeper in all light green.
Coalville; Grey and white vertical stripes to the front of the shirt with white backs and black shorts. The goalkeeper in all light yellow.

Coalville looked very lively down both wings, and Staveley were competing hard and launching long throws into the away team’s penalty area. From one of these on 20 minutes the ball was thrown in from the right and headed down for Will Wraith to run on to and ram it into the net.

The sun finally dropped below the horizon and with a third of the game gone the floodlights were turned on. Staveley were on top but when Coalville’s Semachimbo burst into the penalty area 5 minutes before halftime, he was bundled over and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Ronnie Morley stepped up to take the penalty which hit the underside of the cross bar and rebounded out. Staveley were happy to go in for the break ahead.

The second half started with the Ravens applying more pressure, and were certainly on top. However a reckless tackle right in front of the two dugouts by Ryan Singh Sabota with 62 minutes gone initiated a few pushes and shoves, and when they calmed down the referee showed him a red card.

The game now changed and was really open with the away team trying to draw level, but with their one man disadvantage they were being stretched in midfield and at the back. With less than 10 minutes to go a fast through ball fell to Joel Ward, who steadied it and ran on to slide it under the goalkeeper, diving to his right.

Coalville did not look like coming back from that and the game made its way to a fine Staveley victory. The players and the fans were pleased to hear the final whistle. Staveley elated, Coalville dejected and the fans happy to get out of the cold.

On such a cold day, luckily the chips were hot, tasty, not greasy, golden, crispy on the outside but a bit squidgy on the inside. A good score of 72. I did think that the warm clubhouse on such a cold day did have some effect on this score.

2025, the year of the long throw.

It’s been coming for a while but in 2025 every lower league team seemed to have a long throw expert who could launch missiles into the heart of the defence. It seemed a throw back to twenty years ago when Rory De Lap terrorised Premier League teams.

What was also strange that in a year of a long hot summer with drought warnings and hose pipe bans, I came up against torrential rain. It started at Wimborne on New Years Day when arriving at the game with 30 minutes to kick off I was told that the game had just been called of because the all weather pitch was flooded. Into the spring and I was at Anstey Nomads, near Leicester, where the continuous down poor forced the game to be abandoned. Early Autumn and I visited Ottley where it just poured and poured from the time I got out of my car to the time I was sat back in it. It ruined the match and my view of the club, I’ll have to go back. Rain was not finished with me and a visit to FC Grace Dieu on 25th November was again greeted by rain, which I sheltered from in the car until just before kick off and then a match that actually benefited from it as each team battled to an exciting draw partly due to the pitch being unplayable on my mind but OK for the officials.

I managed to visit both the Harrogate teams, Harrogate Town and Harrogate Railway with the former having been a recent stella climber through the Non-League ranks. Keeping on the railway theme a trip to Lincoln Moorlands Railway revealed a club with great facilities from the past that is hanging on in there. On the flip side to this Barnard Castle FC have built a ground, at Tens Field, from nothing, and look to eventually go higher.

A couple of usual visits to Hallam FC, which I joined as a member which they encourage, to help give themselves the income to continue their journey as the oldest football ground in the world. I also joined Clapton FC after a visit to ‘The Old Spotted Dog’, London’s oldest ground and hope to be able to visit it again, this time for a match.

Having made several attempts to watch a game at Appleby Frodingham I finally beat the weather and made it. I also made a pilgrimage to Clarence Park to see St Albans City where I first saw my first match 70 years earlier. Unfortunately they were not good and eventually were relegated from the National League South. Talk has resurfaced about a move to the edge of Chiswell Green near an M25 junction. Great for away fans but the City base is in the City and I wonder if they did a transport to home games survey they would find that a large proportion travel by foot. I will follow this with interest and some trepidation.

I was lucky to get a ticket to the FA Cup Semi-final between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace but Villa didn’t turn up to play one of their bogey teams, the result was predictable. However Villa continue to surprise and ended 2025 in the top 3 of the Premiership, what a manager UNai Eery is.

Sad new in the summer with the demise of the Non-League Club Directory, I miss it but have been gifted subscriptions for ‘Nutmeg’ – The Scottish Football Quarterly and ‘Welsh Football’ – The National Football Magazine of Wales. How refreshing both of thee are in that they cover the complete breadth of their game, rather than a few traditional teams (but now not the most successful clubs) that an English Football Magazine would showcase.

A return to see two games, including the final, at the Berwick Charities Cup competition, was a highlight and I was also lucky to take in Berwick Rangers at the same time. A further trip to Scotland allowed me to see an early round of the Scottish FA Cup at Clachnacuddin (Inverness) and Partick Thistle on my return. Having seen some very attractive and skilful lower league matches in Scotland in the last few years I am not surprised to see, that despite a normal negative view of their national team, Scotland have qualified for the World Cup this year.

A foray into Wales found me on a sunny evening at Llangollen where I watched a competitive local derby in amongst a friendly, happy, family atmosphere with a great countryside backdrop, shame they lost. The hills as a backdrop were rivalled at Keswick and Ilkley.

In the Autumn a weekend feast of FA Cup games played in towns on the river Trent resulted in the underdogs St Albans and Gainsborough both being beaten by EFL teams. An FA Sunday Cup game on the Trent did not lift the gloom either in that it was another miserable weather game. But the best game of the year was on a very sunny day in Bradford where Bradford City won in added time against Fleetwood to gain automatic promotion to EFL league one. The tears and joy of the fans was infectious and will stay with me for many a day.

It was the River Erewash derby between Stapleford and Sandiacre that saw out the year and a 4.2 victory for the home side didn’t reflect how close the game was.

Here’s looking forward to a great 2026.

Local Erewash Derby was 90 minutes of excitement.

The Christmas period always used to bring up local derbies in the higher leagues, that seems to have fallen by the wayside, but is still very present in the Non-League scene. I decided to go to see Stapleford play Sandiacre in what is locally known as the Ereeash Clasico. These two teams are based only a few miles apart but the Erewash River, the Erewash Canal and a railway line are in between them. I was charged a pound more than usual but this included a program which I thought was a great idea.

I tried to visit Stapleford Town before but found that they were not playing their games at home because their ground was being upgraded, so luckily found that Sandiacre were at home, so I went there instead.

The redeveloped facilities at Hickings Lane Recreation Ground are first class. Entering the turnstiles you see an immaculate all weather pitch and to the right is a two storie club house at one end of the pitch. The ground floor is made up of changing rooms. with the upstairs being a well furbished bar/lounge and other social rooms. The Notts Forest v Man City game It was possible to view the match from two picture windows.

It was a grey day, just a slight drizzle in the air, and it felt cold at 6 degrees as the wind blew from end to end.

The new artificial pitch had a small covered seated stand on one side almost adjacent a small covered standing area. The ‘Club house’, changing rooms one end, and open on the other side and end Parking , main road around 2 ends other playing pitches.

Stapleford have only been running for 12 years but have come a long way and now with their new facilities have 34 teams of all ages, abilities and sexes.

Sandiacre Town were inaugural members of the Central Midlands League in 1983 but ground grading saw them drop back. They were back in the Central Midlands League in 1992 after they merged with Lace Web United. They joined the United Counties League Division One in 2023.

Stapleford Town 4 Sandiacre Town 2

Saturday 27th Decenber 2025

United Counties League Division One.

3rd v 11th. Saxons v The Saints

Stapleford; Red and black vertical stripes to the fronto of the shirts with all red backs and black shorts, the goalkeeper in all pink.

Sandiacre; All pale blue shirts with some black edging and pale blue shorts, goalkeeper in all pale yellow.

The floodlights were on from the start on such a grey day.

Sandiacre were at transformed team from the one I saw over a year ago and after a hectic 15 minutes they took the lead when a throw in from the right was not cleared and was eventually noded down for Jamie John McKenzie Williamson to hook the ball into the top left hand corner of the net despite the home team keeper getting his fingertips to the ball.

This woke up Stapleford who had been second best up to that point and they drew level 7 minutes later when after clever dribbling near the left of the goal away goal the ball was delivered along the ground for Max Taylor to tap home in the middle of the goal.

Sandiacre wouldn’t give in and on the half hour the Stapleford defence had to block 3 goal bound shots.

With 36 minutes on the clock, and against the run of play the ball was whisked out to the right and a pin point cross was headed on for Max Taylor again, standing all alone to make it 2.1.
An outstanding save by the Stapleford goalkeeper with just 5 minutes to half time enabled them to go in with a one goal lead.

The second half was only one minute old when a long throw that was not cleared bounced in the goal area and David Ayodeji Olatomide performed a spectacular overhead kick that found the net.

Although the game was not over physical, by the 70th minute, 6 Stapleford players were in the referees book.

Sandiacre tried hard to get back into the game but with only 5 minutes left it was made harder when Stapleford’s Alan Vosrkresenskis headed the ball down towards goal and the unfortunate Sandiacre goalkeeper, who had well, let the ball slip out of his hands and drift into the net.

41 corner from right headed down gk let ball slip out of hands for 4.1.

That should have been it, but with just a few minutes left Sandiacre scored again when Wayde Hines followed on the meet a parried ball from the home keeper. Sandiacre picked the ball up and rushed to restart the game . It was all over though and Stapleford maintained their slot in the play off places but both teams could be proud of serving up a pulsating game that was appreciated by the 235 spectators.

No chips here, probably a good thing after overeating at Christmas.

Hallam Rarely Disappoints.

I journeyed into Sheffield and avoided the Christmas shoppers and Sheffield United fans, at home to Birmingham, to meet my daughter to visit Hallam.

She completed the ’92’, seeing a match at all Football League grounds in 2022 and has been on a few European ones as well. But she had never been to the FIFA recognised oldest football ground, Hallam FC.

This is a ground visited by people from all over the world and even on this grey day you recognise the history as you approach it. You first see the cricket pitch adjacent to the Football and the reason for Hallam FC’s existence, like many of the other first football clubs.

As well as visiting for the football, and my daughters experience, I was collecting my membership of the ‘1860 Members Club’ which I had joined earlier in the season. The £12 for a years membership helps to maintain this historic ground and club. https://hallamfc.co.uk/product/club-membership-2025-26/

We bought our food from the outside kiosk and then took it inside to the warm and comfortable clubhouse. Unfortunately there was no programme to study or a team sheet to view.

Hallam we’re playing North Ferriby FC who were only formed in 2019 after a previous club, North Ferriby United were wound up .

North Ferriby FC have come a long way in a short time and the game was quite poignant in that they last played against each other just before ‘[Covid Lockdown’ scrubbed out all Football. Both teams were then in the Northern Counties East League Division One and both gained promotion to the NCE League, Premier Division and then to the Northern Premier League East, where they both play today.

The Grey skies over hung the pitch that was also shrouded with some mist despite a cold breeze that made the temperature of 7 degrees feel colder. The pitch has a big slope, within FA rules, which does not always drain well, and the teams warming up were already cutting up the turf.

Hallam FC 2 North Ferriby FC 2

Saturday 20th December 2025, 15.00 pm kick off.

Hallam FC, Sandygate Road, S10 5SE

The Countrymen v The Villagers

13th v 9th

Hallam; all royal kit with some white edging. The Goalkeeper in all orange.
North Ferriby FC; White shirts with green shorts. The goalkeeper in all gold.

Hallam kicked off down hill and immediately you knew that the game wasn’t going to be dull. Both teams played at a quick pace and the pitch looked heavy fro the start. A no holds barred tackle by two opposing players popped the ball after 9 minutes.

Only two minutes later Hallam we’re Infront when a throw in from the right was headed on into the centre of the goal where Brandon Bradbury, making his 200th appearance for the Countrymen, hooked the ball into the opponents net with an overhead kick.

The Hallam team stopped/hesitated when their Central Defender seemed to have recieved a finger in the eye. The referee allowed play to continue and Lewis Dennison curled the ball, from outside the goal area, into the top right hand corner of the goal hitting the underside of the cross bar on the way in. Hallam’s protests were waved away and it stayed 1.1 on 16 minute.

The game was end to end entertainment but was disrupted around 32 minutes after a collision and injury to Hugo Warhurst in Hallam’s goal.

With the first 45 minutes up of the first halt a Hallam corner from right was headed on and on again to far post where it was Brandon Bradley again, nodded it past the away keeper for the lead at half time.

Hallams goalkeeper could not resume in the second half and their number 9 South substituted for him.

Within one minute of the restart the referee booked Hallam’s 5th player, this time for simulation after a tc#ackle in the opposing box. This didn’t endear the home fans with no North Ferriby players having been booked.
The second half had slowly turned into a rear guard action by Hallam who in theory with the slope should have had a slight advantage. Hallam did go forward and the North Ferriby keeper made a great save with 10 minutes left. At the other end, South in goal, was dealing competently with the Villagers attacks until with just 6 minutes to go a visitors throw in from the right was flicked into the centre and bundled in by Joshua Martin Thacker.

The last few minutes were a nervy time with either team trying not to make a mistake. The 2.2 draw was fair on the day with both teams showing a lot of fight and skill in poor conditions. Both of these teams look unlikely to be drawn into a relegation battle as they look to consolidate themselves at this level.

Considering the weather, and it being the last weekend for shopping before Christmas, the crowd of 622 was excellent.

The other bonus of the game was that there were chips, and these turned out to be hot, golden, tasty, crispy with firm but fluffy centres. Having not eaten any lunch a large portion was called for. A great score of 74.

Thank You Hallam.

Christmas shopping takes centre stage.

It’s always a challenge driving through Nottingham, but on a shopping weekend before Christmas, a nightmare, both in and out.

My trip to South East Nottingham revealed a flat area by the river Trent where there were a group of football pitches that are used by all ages, reflecting this teams roots in youth football. A large car park greets you, with an overflow if needed, next to a large dressing room and club house block. This is a few yards from the entrance to the ground which reveals a flat pitch with good grass cover that had some wear in the goalmouths.

There was a concrete walkway all round the perimeter with a small covered seated stand on part of one side. The pitch was surrounded on three sides with trees, with the sun, low on the horizon, peaking through the building cloud after a day of bright blue skies. The floodlights were on from the start, and they needed to be.

West Bridgford FC 1 Stapleford Town 1

Saturday 13th December 2025.

United Counties League Division 1, 15.00 pm kick off.

19th v 3rd, The Colts v The Saxons Attendance: 83

West Bridgford; Red and black vertical stripes on fronts of the shirts, red backs. Black shorts. Goalkeeper in all grey.

Stapleford Town white shirts with Pastel green/blue shorts, goalkeeper in all pink.

Stapleford looked pumped for the start of the match and took an early lead with 6 minutes gone when David Ayodeji Olatomide received the ball in the ‘D’ and flashed it into the net. Only three minutes later they hit the crossbar and continued to keep the home team goalkeeper busy.

They were knocked off their stride when on 31 minutes they lost their left back with what looked like a nasty ankle injury. Their replacement, I thought was one of the players of the match, but as a team they seemed to lose momentum and the Colts came more into the game.. With 2 minutes to half time the West Bridgford keeper made another fine save, this time with his knee.

West Bridgford started the second half with more intent and it was no surprise that with 16 minutes gone of the second half they equalised through Elliot King who scored a goal that was a copy of Staplefords first half effort. This was after a mazy mid field dribble from a team mate.

The away team responded with pressure, but apart from a fine save by the home goalkeeper, at the base of his right hand post in the last minutes, didn’t come close enough to score.

West Bridgford would have been happy with their point but Stapleford would have been expecting to take three points from this encounter to try to bridge the gap between them and the two Retfords above them.

There were chips, which unusually were served in a bag, They were hot, tasty, golden, a bit dry, a good quantity to enable a score of 63.

There was no team sheet posted up or a program.

N.B. The next evening I returned to Nottingham centre to see an interview with Paul Merson. What a thoroughly engaging guy who reflected on his long career in football and the demons he has overcome. It was well worth the return to the city, but yet again I was lost driving out of it.

Spireites just can’t make it level.

I had planned to go to Armthorpe Welfare on Friday night to see a match but the rain beat me with the game being postponed.

Looking at what else was on at the weekend I was lucky to find a Saturday night FA Cup game between Chesterfield and Doncaster Rovers. Intriguing in that Doncaster are from one division above Chesterfield but this may have been rubbed out by Chesterfield’s home advantage. With only 30 miles between them it could almost be called a local derby. Rovers had brought a noisy crowd of just over 1700 and had taken over the North Stand. This was a good percentage of the overall attendance of 6176

I like coming to this stadium where this modern four covered stand layout gives a clear view from where ever you sit. I had chosen the West stand which I had never sat in before.

The roads and paths were still wet from the days rain but the dry night of 8 degrees felt pleasant as I walked up to the ground.

Doncaster Rovers and Chesterfield have a long history of games between each other maily in the lower divisions.

Chesterfield 1 Doncaster Rovers 2

Saturday 6th December 2025 kick off 19.30 pm

FA Cup 2nd round proper

EFL Division 2 v EFL Division 1

Spireites v Rovers

Chesterfield; Royal Blue shirts, white shorts, goalkeeper in all green with a pink stripe down the sides of the shirts and shorts.

Doncaster; Red shirts with white horizontal white stripes on the front and one stripe at the base of the back, goalkeeper in all bright lime green.

The teams were welcomed onto the pitch to the sound of Mr Blue Sky and they soon locked horns in a fast, furious and sometimes physical encounter.

Chesterfield playing long balls to the wings for attackers to run onto and Doncadter playing a more measured passing game.

Chesterfield managed some sustained pressure with two corners in a row on the half hour, and when the second was lobbed back into the penalty area the rebound came to Lee Bonis who buried it into the net.

The home sides jubilation didn’t last long when only three minutes later Doncaster were level. Owen Bailey, unopposed, headed into the centre of the net following a pin point cross from the right wing.

The two teams resumed their dual in the same way until half time.

Doncaster made a substitution to start the second half and upped their tempo.

It became much harder for the home side when on the hour John Fleck was given a straight red card for what looked like a studs up tackle. This infuriated the home fans who had not been happy with the referees inconsistency. Bonis must have had a heavy duty shirt on for it to still be on his back after much shirt pulling that had not been punished.

Chesterfield retreated and battled hard to hold back Doncaster pressure, which was ramped up by continual substitutions by the visitors using all their reserves to add fresh legs.

With extra time becoming Rovers scored in the 89th minute when Jack Senior found himself alone on the left and drilled his shot past Hemming’s right hand.

The fourth official held up 8 minutes and Chesterfield responded but despite even the keeper going up for corners they could not get an equaliser.

The Doncaster team ran to their fans as the whistle blew and many home fans clapped their team off but also remained to vent their ire at the three officials.

There are no chips at Chesterfield although the food offering and service is good. I chose a hot dog and wished I hadn’t. The roll was dry and crispy on the outside and the sausage, although thick and large was too spicy for me.

Grass roots football.

I was lucky enough to be able to go to see one of my grandson’s play at Sheffield United’s Accademy on Saturday afternoon. As I arrived the parking spaces in the facility and on the adjoining road were very full, with players leaving and arriving. He played on one of the outside 5G pitches and was victorious.

It’s really great to see these facilities, they couldn’t play on the indoor pitches as these were being used for a tournament, but as I watched the game I pondered on whether the game is not tapping into all of the talent out there.

Recently my son told me that he pays approximately £1500 a year for training and games for his two sons. On top of this there are travel and other costs.

In a week when the government unveiled support to try to lift some children out of poverty, how can some have a chance to have their talent realised.

Recent studies have shown that the height of UK five years olds is falling in comparison to their European peers, with poverty being a contributing factor to this, you hope the Government, succeeds.

FIFA have just spent enormous amounts on the World Cup draw and the top of the game seems awash with money. Hopefully someone might chanel some of this back into making the game truly inclusive for all and not miss the talent that is being excluded.

NB. FIFA announce the cheapest World Cup Final tickests £3119.

A Children’s Illustrared History of Football in Sheffield

A Children’s Illustrared History of Football ….. in Sheffield.
Published by Sheffield Home of Football.
Written by. Stephen T Wood, John Stocks and John R Wilson

This 40 page book charts the birth of football in Sheffield, which has the oldest club, the oldest ground, the first ever official football club match, and influential in writing and drafting the first rules which are the basis of today’s game.
Sheffield also saw the first ever football tournament and trophy, the Youldan Cup, the first use of floodlights and the first radio broadcast, to name just a few.
A great little illustrated book for children to understand where and how this global game started.
This is just part of the continumed good work that ‘Sheffield Home of Football’ continue to do to promote the city as a beacon at the start of the global game.
At only £7.50 it’s a great present for any new supporter to the game.

https//Sheffieldhomeoffootball.org

A table topping performance.

Due to other commitments I didn’t plan to see a football match this weekend, so I took the opportunity to take in a local game between Worsop Town and South Shields.

I wrote about Worksop Town back in 2020 when the reputed fourth oldest club in England were in jeopardy of going out of business.

5 years on and they survived, and have since gained two promotions and now play in the National League North.

Their opponents South Shields have gained one promotion in the same time but have established themselves at the higher level over the last two seasons. They have been up for sale for over a year as offers are being progressed.

I have written before about the history and ground at Worksop so I will not repeat myself.

It was a cold night at 3 degrees, and falling, as the teams walked out.

Worksop Town FC 0 South Shields FC 3

Tuesday 25th November 2025, National League North.

18th v 1st, Tigers v The Mariners

Worksop, shirts – yellow and black vertical stripes on the front and all yellow backs, black shorts, goalkeeper in all green.

South Shields, white shirts, claret shorts, goalkeeper in all light blue.

South Shields started with crispy through passing that Worksop countered with a good offside trap. Although South Shields looked stronger and more accurate with passing and slow organised play out from the back, Worksop grew into the game and had numerous chances. However they didn’t have the cutting edge to score.

With half time fast approaching another of the away sides long balls was met by Lemar Gordon who just beat the Worksop keeper and the ball looped towards and into the goal, from his header, despite a last minute lunge from a defender.

The goalkeeper needed attention for a few minutes after the clash but the goal stood.

The Tigers left the field rueing their missed chances.

The Mariners pressed forward immediately from the restart and the fast and tricky Gordon forced a corner on the left which he took himself after 50 minutes.The corner didn’t rise more than 6 feet off the ground but somehow found Will Jenkins in the middle of the goal, all alone, to flick it in, to double the score.

Five minutes, and it was all over when Will Jenkins, again, received the ball on the left side of the goal area, jinked one way and another, before scoring his second, after his shot took a wicked deflection off the back of a defender, wrong footing the goalkeeper.

The away team controlled the game from that moment to the end, with one play, mainly across the back line and the goalkeeper, being a 22 pass move.

Aaron Martin’s header for Worksop, did clip the outside of the right post, and they looked livelier when they made three substitutions but South Shields cruised to victory, a truely top of the league performance.

Worksop dropped to one off the relegation zone and have a hard task to stay up to consolidate their place in this higher league. whereas South Shields maintained their two point advantage at the top.

The chips were again disapointing, they were warm, slightly crispy, chewy, but tasteless, gaining a score of only 54. I did wonder wether I have reached peak chips.

N.B. How do fans from the North East do it, in the second half I stood next to some South Shields fans, one of whom only had a shirt on, it was zero degrees!

Torrential Rain doesn’t dampen 6 goal thriller.

Having driven south through a curtain of mist, spray and rain to Northampton, to see my grandson lose 4.1, I returned North on the M1 to Junction 23. Just a few miles along the Ashby Road is a left turning to Grace Dieu Manor.

The former Grace Dieu Manor Schools buildings were sold in 2022 to FCV International Football Accademy. The accademy was founded in 2007 as the first Prvate Football Accademy in the UK. Initially located at Nene Park in Northamptonshire, moving to Corby and then Stamford and now a permanent home at Grace Dieu.

They offer full time courses from the age of mid teens to students who wish to combine their academic progress with that of football. Academic courses are supplemented by the nearby Loughborough College and University.

The facilities are impressive for the students along with the artificial pitch that was receiving loving attention when I arrived, rollers, mechanical squeegees and other devices were being used to clear some of the deluge. There was plenty of parking.

The FCV Grace Dieu Football Club that I saw were only formed in 2023.

Having finished second and gained promotion from the Nottinghamshire Senior League Division One they romped away to win the Premier Division in the 2024/25 season and gained a further promotion to the United Counties League, Division One for this season.

Clipstone were known as Clipstone Welfare until 2013, a name they had chosen in 1955,4 having previously been Clipstone Combine. They have been a successful local Nottinghamshire side and reached the Nothern Counties East League only to drop back to the East Midlands Counties Premier Division and now play in the United Counties League after recent league reorganisations.

Th rain continued on a miserable day with the temperature rising to 6 degrees. This ground has hard block paved standing on one side and behind one goal where there is also some covered standing. There was no seating although I overheard a conversation that was saying some was being fitted before the end of March to comply with League grading. A cafe/food bar and toilets was located at the top of an open embankment which would be a good vantage point on a dry day.

FCV Grace Dieu 3 Clipstone 3

Saturday 22nd November 2025, kick off 15.00 pm. United Counties League, Division One

FCV Academy, Grace Dieu, Manor Park, Thringstone, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 5UG

5th v 18th

FCV Grace Dieu Orange shirts and shorts, goalkeeper in all purple.

Clipstone, Red shirts black shorts, goalkeeper in luminous green.

Grace Dieu were out of the blocks and immediately forced Clipstone back with quick wide plays, particularly from the right.

Clipstone weathered the storm but did not look comfortable. With 16 minutes gone the home side gained a penalty as a burst into the box was cynically stopped by pulling the player down. The penalty though, was saved, but the ball was put over the line from the rebound. The referee, who was on hand, immediately disallowed the goal for a foul on the keeper.

The marauding right back for Grace Dieu, Nathan Linden, was rewarded with a goal, on 31 minutes, when he was put through and he slammed the ball across the goalkeeper just inside the post. Clipstone were continually being undone by the home teams pace and were lucky not to go further behind. seven of the bank of 14 floodlights were turned on after 35 minutes, but they didn’t lift the gloom for the watching spectators or the away teams defence. As the teams left the field at half time you had to wonder why the home team were not further ahead.

By the time the second half started water was beginning to pool on the pitch and Clipstone seemed to have new vigour in attacking their opponents more quickly moving the ball forward at pace. FCV Grace Dieu should have gone further ahead within 5 minutes of the restart but their number nine had beaten the defenders and goalkeeper to present an open goal, he hesitated and allowed two defenders to rush back and block his shot.

Out of the blue with 63 minutes on the clock Lewis Weaver robbed the home player of the ball and unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top left hand corner of the net. With the ball now being slowed by the surface water, and Clipstone’s more organised showing, they went ahead, when some nice close passing from within their own half unleashed Lewis Weaver again to score on the run with his left foot.

FCV rallied and equalised with 76 minutes gone when Jack James Harry ran through the centre, steadied the ball and volleyed it along the ground, 2.2. But within a minute Clipstone were ahead again when from outside the goalkeeping area Jack Thatcher lifted his left foot and fired the ball into the roof of the net.

Clipstone were now running after everything trying to preserve their lead until the end. When it looked like they had made it, Spencer James -Weir Daley smashed the ball into the net after receiving a long ball and jinking from side to side, evading the away defence. Clipstone had been undone by the added 4 minutes, and the referee blew the final whistle moments later. FCV must have felt the better of the two teams having gained a point, while Clipstone must have felt they had lost two. In reality, Clipstone had retrieved a point when looking back, at half time, they were second best.

There were chips here, but I have to say they were the worst I have had at any football match. After trying one I smothered them with tomato sauce, but that didn’t help. They were cold, limp, soggy and tasteless scoring a miserable 20 for my chip league.