COLESHILL TOWN 1 V HEANOR TOWN 4
MIDLAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIER @ THE LAMB [TAMWORTH FC]
22 AUGUST 2015--3PM
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| TERRACING OF CHARACTER AT THE LAMB GROUND, TAMWORTH FC |
[There are a few additional pictures with ground, players, fans featured at the 'we all stand together' Facebook page]
Coleshill in their temporary home shocked Heanor with an early goal before The Lions, from Derbyshire, stormed back with a four goals two late strikes which widened the deficit slightly harshly on the 'home' side that takes them to three straight wins at the start of the 15/16 season.
So to the day and todays fixture is a little bit of a weird one because it cannot be an accurate look at Coleshill Town with their temporary ground share at Tamworth FC but for the blog it is a first chance to visit The Lamb Ground. Coleshill have had a small hiccup with the placement of their new 3g pitch at their Packmeadow ground so when this is in place hopefully I can pop along he see the club in its correct environment. However the chance of taking in todays ground was one that I had looked at during the week and amazingly again the blog found the opposition to be fellow county side Heanor Town.
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| TAMWORTH CASTLE IN FULL BLOOM |
Todays trip from base was by express bus to Derby which was a slight change to normal proceedings and following a small 20 minute standing train journey we decamped at Tamworth and after sampling dinner in a Lloyds No 1 set off for a quick tourist trip. The town, church, castle and park were awash with people on a lovely afternoon which clearly included a charity stall and fairground event in the park at the base of the castle. The walkway to Kettlebrook Rd allowed us to by pass the many mini roundabouts that guard the entrance to the ground and as we turned into a large rough grounded car park area we notice the old style 60's/70's floodlight poles and that a lot of the exterior to the ground is clad by corrugates iron/plastic.
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| MAIN STAND AT TAMWORTH FC |
The ground was described by a friend of the blog as very similar to Alfreton Town FC and I would have to agree with this with a splash of red paint everywhere. The ground has a lot of room around it but in places is a hotch potch of alleyways and nooks and crannies to explore. It was interesting to drop in for todays game because on so many occasions I have peered out of the train looking into the ground on the way to Birmingham promising a visit. The ground is a little bit bigger than Alfreton and certainly as a nice modern stand with no posts obstructing the view too.
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HTTV AND PUBLICITY OFFICER MOUNT THE STAIRS,
BUT DID THEY GET DOWN? |
A description is difficult because there is so much but here goes, entrance via a turnstile block furthest from the road is met by a very warm greeting from the Coleshill officials were we purchase programme, goalden goal tickets and pay our entrance fee of £6.50 which surprised us a little with a lot of step 5 clubs 'up north' charging £5. Behind the immediate goal is a large uncovered terrace area which leads to snack bar, I guess run by Tamworth for the game with the obligatory fayre on offer again at the Conference prices, bottle of pop, bottle of water and chocolate bar £4.
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| COLESHILL PHYSIO WITH A GREAT HAIR DISPLAY |
Walking on you come to the Tamworth club house which is a very dark bar and room which you have to adjust your eyes to quickly on entrance and exit. The terracing down the far side is all covered and is accessed by a small walk round to the rear of the changing rooms, above the terrace is a nice sized TV gantry which Heanor Town TV used for the videoing of todays game. In front of this terracing are the dug outs and today this is a fair description as anybody sitting in them has a lovely view of the grass. The top goal is a small but again covered terrace and offers a nice view down the slope. Following our way around we come to external to the stand hospitality areas and then the main stand which as previously described offers probably the best view of the game and today is the most populated part of the ground housing a good bulk of the crowd of 145. Lots of little intricacies and tucked away areas could be included and indeed for a Tamworth game some of these other areas would be in operation for a game I guess. On the completion of the walk it was good to catch up with 'Ostrich' of Kempster fame, Dave and it was good to have a quick catch up with the non league scene around this area.
So to the game and the visitors are without both keepers through injury and have made a signing from Ilkeston in a new number 1 Jamie Hannis and Nathan Benger starts in place of suspended Jamie Clarke. Coleshill included the experienced team captain Rob Edwards on the bench.
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| BENGER SCORES SO FAST FOR THE CAMERA MAN THAT THE BALL IS IN THE NETFOR 1-1 |
The home side started strong and indeed took the lead after 17 minutes when Heanor failed to clear a ball at the back post allowing Chris Hughes to turn the ball into the visitors goal. Heanor re gathered themselves and it was a cool finish from Nathan Benger that pulled the Lions level when he was put through and he slotted past home keeper Paul Hathaway into the bottom right hand corner. This seemed to give the visitors the impetus to go forward and Kieran Debrouwer forced Hathaway into an excellent save and then on 35 minutes Heanor had the lead when Jay Cooper slotted home again in a one on one with Hathaway in the home goal.
We reached half time with Coleshill 2-1 down but in the second half they started off with more determination and on 57 minutes they should have levelled. From the right Ricky Cutting supplied a low cross which found the unmarked Demtrius Smikle but he got under his shot and fired over the crossbar. With this Heanor's determination to succeed seemed to come to the forefront and as they became more dominant two late goals gave them a comfortable closing period of the game.
With ten minutes remaining substitute Cory Bowler fired home from 12 yards and then on the stroke of full time fellow substitute Chris Gilson stormed through and slotted past the out coming Hathaway to make it 4-1 to Heanor.
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| BENGER AND DEBROUWER DISCUSS WHO IS GOING FOR THE WATER BOTTLE ON THIS HOT DAY |
A quick dash at the final whistle to get back to the station to avoid the impending thunder and rain storms allowed us to catch an immediate return to Derby with a connection to the express bus back to base for just before 7pm.
An enjoyable hop out to a new ground in The Lamb but not one of course to give an assessment of how Coleshill do their thing at home. Hopefully they can get a nice run now to finish their 3g facility which I know from other clubs will be of a massive benefit to the club and its community, looking forward to taking a look at Packmeadow soon.
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| A CROWD SCENE FROM TODAYS ENCOUNTER |
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