Heather St John's 1-3 Sporting Khalsa (Midland Football League Premier Division) St John's Park
Hello folks, I'm back again and creeping towards the big 200 ever so slowly. At the moment, my efforts to get to a "biggy" to mark my two-hundredth seem likely to be limited to wherever the heck I can get to, so it's time to just embrace the fact that I can get to games at the moment and my short-term plan leads me towards following Sporting Khalsa's 2020/21 campaign after the depressing demise of my beloved Macclesfield Town. Since living in the Midlands, I've always had a soft spot for the Willenhall based club and when I first visited Noose Lane's Aspray Arena back in January 2016 I knew that it wouldn't be my only visit. Having made a second trip in November 2017, I'd say that so far I've been a lucky omen for the club after seeing 8-0 and 3-0 wins, as well as a couple of away day victories too, and after almost three years of not visiting the Aspray I made my triumphant return last Tuesday night to watch a brilliant 3-2 game against Racing Club Warwick, the club who I'd visited on my last outing.
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| It's an away day for me on this occasion, though |
Trying to fill the Silkmen shaped gap in my life, I made plans to utilise my weekend off work by heading off for Khalsa's latest away match as they would hope to keep a hold of their unbeaten start to the Midland Football League Premier campaign. My visits with Macc Town had been as luxurious as cup games at West Ham's London Stadium and the KC Stadium in Hull, with more localised fixtures being at the likes of Tranmere, Chester, Stockport and Burslem, and although my away days with Sporting are going to be on a much smaller-scale, I was still very much looking forward to going to new places that I'm yet to explore, with yesterday's trip to St John's Park in Heather, Leicestershire, kicking things off. Of the nineteen grounds in the division, this would be my tenth tick, and in what felt like a new chapter of my footballing life I was delighted to be being accompanied by Sophie for a rare outing to a ground.
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| First stop, PINT! |
Although kick-off wasn't until 3pm, we left our Stafford abode at noon with the intention of getting to Leicestershire with plenty of time spare to allow for a walk around Sence Valley Forest Park. The less said about our efforts the better really, but after a hellish drive down all of the back roads across the Midlands, we finally arrived at half one and were so desperate for the toilet that we had to forsake the woods walk due to the facilities being closed, meaning that instead we'd make it to the Queen's Head. On the plus side it meant that I was able to enjoy a couple of pre-match pints, but overall it was a disappointing start to the day out in Heather. Thankfully though there would be nothing that could ruin the big game for me and with time almost approaching 3pm we made our way over to St John's Park. The first impressions of the ground were good, as they often are with MFL grounds, and it was nice to see the place looking fresh and ready to welcome crowds back. It certainly wasn't the best ground I'd ever been to at any level, but with a bold blue lick of point on the doors, a modern and stylish clubhouse around the back and what I imagine is old Filbert Street seats populating the covered areas, the place was looking in good nick and had a proper "village team" vibe going on. After making our way through the gates, along the one-way system and into the bar, we grabbed a seat inside the spacious clubhouse. There were less than 100 people in attendance today, so there was plenty of space to sit and mentally prepare for a cold afternoon in the stands cheering on the Khalsa boys.
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| Can always guarantee a Union Jack or two at small Midlands grounds! |
Continuing our walk around the ground, we made our way back outside and over to the main stand, which is located about the half-way line on the far side of the entrance area. We plonked ourselves down as the game began, with Khalsa donning a grey outfit and Heather in a smart all-blue number, ready to see if the visitors could continue to strengthen their grip on top spot in the early stages. At the start of the day, HSJ were 12th in the table after one win and one defeat from two matches prior, whilst Khalsa had managed to already chalk off five matches before this one, winning four and drawing one. It has been an expectedly funny old start to the MFL campaign so far and even though we are less than a month into the season there are already some teams whay ahead of others in terms of games played. Coventry United, for example, were playing just there second league game at the weekend, compared to Khalsa who were on to their sixth. These two teams were top of the pile before the nullification of the 2019/20 season, so it'll be interesting to see whether they will be up there again. Both will have felt that they had a huge chance to win the division last season, but with COVID-19 taking hold of most league's in the world in some shape or another, everyone out there today will have just been grateful to be back playing in front of their adoring fans. Soppy stuff aside though, this was a big game for both sides and if Khalsa are to finally escape the division in which they have finished in the top five of for the past five years since their arrival in 2015, they need to be winning sticky away games like this and if the early signs were anything to go by, this match would be exactly that- a tough, sticky, game against a team who aren't here to make up the numbers!
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| Let the game begin |
Heather St John's, nicknamed The Saints, are a fairly new team to the Premier Divison of the MFL having won Division One just two seasons ago. In their debut to the top flight, they sat in a very respectable position of 5th before the season was halted and they were in fact only five points off 2nd place Khalsa in the prematurely concluded 2019/20 table. Today was their first league game at home and after a slim 1-2 defeat to Cov United, followed up by a 2-0 win over in Selston, it was hard to imagine them rolling over and letting their visitors take the points without a fight. My pre-match prediction was for a 1-3 win for Khalsa today, which I am pleased to say is the first time I've correctly guessed a score on a groundhop for a long long time. Khalsa started the game off slightly better in terms of chances, although it was an explosive end to end opening, as a tenth minute header evaded the flailing Saints keeper only to be denied the opening goal by the woodwork. At the other end, the hosts made some great attacking moves down either wing, with their left-back in particular looking like a class act. It looked as though it would be down to an individual piece of magic to break the deadlock after Gaz Singh was the latest to test Heather's shot stopper, which would be the cue for Gibraltar international and former Bristol Rovers winger to jump in the hot seat as he has done so many times already since arriving at Sporting Khalsa. Stood over the ball for a corner, the man who up until last year was his country's joint-top scorer with two goals in twelve caps, hit a sweet left-footed drive into the box which ended up deceiving everybody and landing in the goal of its own accord. Some will have called it a fluke, but those of us who know Gozza will know that he meant it as the number 8 scored his second direct corner goal of the season- his fifth overall. Heather 0-1 Khalsa.
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| So far so good for the guys in grey |
Believe it or not that wasn't the best corner I'd seen from the 27-year old, and I'm sure he'd agree with me that the set-piece specialist's in-swinger at Wembley for the Gas to set up an Ellis Harrison equaliser in the National League Playoff Final in 2015 will always top that list. The rest of the first-half would remain as cagey as you'd expect from two decent teams both fighting for goals, with the next one coming from practically the last kick of the half. Yahiya Todd, formally of Highgate United, was the man to grab an equaliser for the home side as his low and bobbling strike bounced in off the post to set up what would be a very interesting second-half here in Leicestershire. Heather 1-1 Khalsa.
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| Getting nippy now |
Being a British groundhopper I can't help but talk about the weather and as Soph retreated back to her car to warm up, I stood alone for the next hour in my shorts looking like a deranged loony. Usually at this time of the year I will consider the thought of jeans for a midweek evening match, but Saturday afternoons are categorised as Summer season until December in my eyes, so it was time to grab another beer, stick the hood up and stand in a sheltered part of the ground ready to enjoy an eventful end to proceedings. The lads came back out fired up and ready to do battle again, but not before the tannoy announcer shouted out the local scores from Premier League downwards- something that I thought was an excellent touch for this level!
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| Call me sad, but I also highly rate a club that plants conifers around the ground |
The second-half, much like the first, started off well and there was again an early rattling of the post, this time from the home side who were only just denied taking the lead for the first time. They would live to rue their luck as this would ultimately be a turning point in the match in a case of "what could have been" if the Saints had gone ahead, as the next massive chance would fall to the visitors and it was one that they did not miss. Khalsa had made a couple of personnel changes throughout the half and when they were awarded a penalty it would be one of them who took the chance to put Khalsa one step closer to three more points. Heather 1-2 Khalsa. And in a game that would see both sides continue to look for goals, the forth and final strike of the day would fall to the same sub striker again as the away side's goalkeeper of all players would bunch a big ball up to his forward. Some calamity at the back allowed the ball to fall kindly into his path, meaning that the result was all wrapped up and ready to take back to Willenhall. Heather 1-3 Khalsa.
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| The end of a busy second-half for this lino |
Next up for Heather St John's on Tuesday night is an away trip to Long Eaton United, whilst Khalsa are back at home for the arrival of Stourport Swifts and that is also the destination for my next match. I now sit just five new grounds away from 200 and with October plans to check out Nottinghamshire's Selston and Long Eaton grounds, as well as a ground in Leicester on the 10th, I should find myself very close to the big anniversary. The big question is, where will I be celebrating? Keep tuning in to find out!
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