Wednesfield 0-4 Chasetown (Pre-Season) Cottage Ground
A bit of a strange pre-season for me so far as I have been largely reintroducing myself to the teams that I follow (Macclesfield FC and Sporting Khalsa) rather than doing a load of proper groundhopping, however with a scorching Saturday afternoon on my hands I decided to put aside my allegiances for the day and check out somewhere brand new. I'm not sure if the heat dried up my brain juice or if I just felt lazy, but after leaving it too late to get across to Wales for a competitive game in the countryside and therefore my best options were local. Originally I'd intended to give Stone Old Alleynians a try at their new home, but with a COVID illness nullifying their opposition I looked south of Stafford and in the end my ride down the M6 would take me to within just a mile of Khalsa- yup, it's finally time for me to tick off the Cottage Ground in Wednesfield.
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| The first outing in my new wheels |
It seems odd to think that we are almost upon another new football season, especially after the last two being curtailed in the majority of the non-league, although for the likes of Wednesfield and Chasetown a lot has changed for the 2021/22 campaign with a huge restructure taking place across the lower reaches of the pyramid. In the South-West of the country we've sat back and listened to fans of the Western League moaning about Mousehole being introduced to their division. Meanwhile up North there are promotions for teams such as my hometown club, Bridlington Town, and here in the Midlands we have the usual geographical debates about teams being allocated to the Northern league divisions whilst others more northerly crossover to the Southern tiers. Growing up I was always amazed that teams like Gloucester City are in the same regionalised division as clubs like Blyth Spartans, but I now realise that as per the traditional folklore tales of the great North/South divide, The Midlands can be a really tricky place to divvy up. In terms of the teams I was watching this time out, we now have a West Midlands team who have left the West Midlands league to join the Midland League and a South Staffordshire side, who last season played in the Northern Premier League Division One South East, preparing for a new season in the Norther Premier League Division One Midlands. Are you with me? Nope, thought not. Get a compass, try to work it all out and then we'll move on to the matchday action.
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| All we need to know right now is that it's game on at the Cottage Ground |
By my reckoning, my 204th ground yesterday was also the 9th Midland League Division One ground I've been to and whilst many of the teams in this level groundshare with higher placed tenants, Wednesfield are the proud home team of the Cottage Ground and they have been since 1971. The only review I've seen online of the ground simply rates it as "Tatty" but I will do my best to guide readers through the pleasant afternoon I had. When I arrived at the ground ten minutes before kick-off I was met by a friendly old chap who approached me with a margarine tub lid. Great start. It turns out the lid had his QR Code stuck to it and was indeed a portable Test & Trace unit for me to scan. Despite the queue of cars building up behind me, the gent had a good chinwag with me and actually forgot to charge me an entry fee... thankfully I'm an honest guy and so I chucked him a fiver, parked up and headed straight over to the clubhouse at the corner of the ground to join the many fans and people of the community who were already there quenching their thirsts in what I was told was 25 degree heat.
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| Proper clubhouse, proper bar |
In all fairness the clubhouse is in great nick on the inside and is clearly a real community asset. The lady on the bar explained how they had already hosted a birthday party that morning and there would be a presentation in the evening. Darts and cards tomorrow too, apparently! Great to know that after the year and a half we've all had that places like this, both the club and facilities, are still standing firm and ready to get back to business. To show my support, I grabbed myself a pint of Coors and headed back out to sweltering pitch side in anticipation of the 3pm kick-off.
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| And I wasn't the only one |
It's now over five years since I visited the ground of today's visitors, but the most interesting thing about Chasetown's visit today was that they only brought half of their squad. Looking on their Twitter page, it seemed as though the Burntwood based club were also playing at the other side of Wolverhampton against AFC Wulfrunians and therefore it was hard to know what to expect from the team I was watching take on Wednesfield. Pre-season tends to be a bit "finger in the air" when it comes to predicting the score line, but I decided to guess at a 3-1 win for the visitors. Turns out on this occasion I'd guess the result and the right amount of goals, just not the exact score. Looking around the ground I saw plenty of character- and characters- with the sturdy main stand acting as the centrepiece, housing rows of long, bench style, seating. Red railing runs right the way around the pitch and behind the goals there is currently a jungle being grown. I took a quick snap of the overgrowth as I was going to reference it in this write-up as a job that probably hasn't been done since COVID, but as I did so the hosts goalie spotted me and made a joke about it having not been very well maintained. A nightmare for the keeper I suppose, especially when having to go and retrieve a wayward ball, so I suggested that with a squad of 20 players they could perhaps make it part of their pre-season training rather than relying on good old Mr or Mrs Groundsman. Wednesfield officials if you are reading this, get the lads on it as team building exercise...
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| They'll love it! |
On to the match itself then and Chasetown began as the brighter spark, taking the lead around the 15th minute. Their number 8 was urged to "drive, drive, drive!" from central midfield and that's exactly what he did, before feeding the ball to the left-footed right-winger who cut inside his marker and then slammed the ball home. Wednesfield 0-1 Chasetown. The Cottagers didn't offer too much on the offensive front themselves and their best half-chances came through free-kicks, with the highlight coming as their captain headed towards goal from a tight angle. The visitors continued to search for a second goal and they got it just on the stroke of half-time through their left-back who found himself with time on the edge of the box to place a shot into the top corner with the outside of his boot. Wednesfield 0-2 Chasetown. The side playing in what looks like PSG's 2014/15 home strip were in control as the referee blew for the break.
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| Time to regroup for the Cottagers |
There appeared to be a couple of changes at the start of the second-half and in particular it was noticeable that the Scholars had brought off their Dominic Calvert-Lewin impressionist up top. It didn't weaken the visitors though as they began the second 45 with a bang, earning an early penalty which was scored by their number 10. Wednesfield 0-3 Chasetown. With the result rather secure at this point, the remainder of the game would be all about surviving the heat, getting minutes under the belt and avoiding injuries. This was all going to plan until the hour-mark when the scorer of Chasetown's opener went down in a heap on the right-wing. The Ref halted play and shouted over to welcome a physio on. After an awkward pause, one played said "we aye got one" and this was followed up with someone else asking "what's he done?". A couple of lads looked at him before shouting out "rolled it" and with that, the medical assessment was complete and a substitute made. Guessing the Scholars physio went over to Wulfrunians!?
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| A good performance comes to an end for this lad |
After this stoppage Wednesfield played some of their best football of the second-half and went close through a guy who I think was called Junior. The winger had a decent strike on target which required a deflection and a save to stay out of the goal. In truth though both sides looked knackered in the final knockings and the main difference towards the end was that Chasetown looked about 5% fitter. This proved to be the case right at the death as a mistake in midfield left the Scholars with a counter attacking situation and they fully capitalised. Two of the visiting subs found themselves in a two-on-two situation, with one setting up the other to bury the fourth and final goal. Wednesfield 0-4 Chasetown.
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| Not the result the fans in the main stand would have hoped for |
Within seconds of the final whistle I was sat back in my car with the engine on and the air con blasting out. Knowing that Sporting Khalsa will faceoff against Chasetown in the league this season, there's a big chance that I'll get to see the Scholars full-strength team in action and I suspect it'll be a decent encounter. The team played some good football in the conditions and made sure the ball did more work than them. A good short passing game was clear to see with a patient build-up. I look forward to seeing how they get on this season and of course I also wish Wednesfield the best of luck for their campaign too. The Cottage Ground is well worth a visit and offers a proper experience of non-league football from start to finish... even if it is "tatty".
