Date: 25.09.2018

Ground: 44

Match: 11 (68)

Venue: The Sports Ground

Teams: Lye Town V Highgate United

Competition: Senior Urn 1st Round

Admission: £7

Final Score: 1-1 (3-5 Penalties)

Referee: Not Known

Attendance: 79 (Head Count)

Mileage to venue and return: 54.2 Miles

Programme: £1

Introduction

This was the first game I had attended in three weeks, my last ground hop being an enjoyable first visit to Walshes Meadow, home of Stourport Swifts.

Since my last visit on, 4th September, I had intended to make a trip to Lye Town before now, but for one reason or another this did not prove to be possible.

As I scrolled through the fixtures last weekend, looking for a mid-week game I saw that Lye Town were at home this evening. Now, Tuesday’s just lately are proving to be a great day to go and do a bit of ground hopping. The Channel 4 Television Programme, Bake Off is currently airing for a few weeks every Tuesday and as may soon to be Wife, Jodie enjoys a bit of Bake Off, then Tuesday’s work out very well for the both of us indeed.

Jodie collected me from my place of work in, Atcham, Nr and we made our way home to my football travels base camp in Brookhampton, South . After grabbing a bit of cash from home I was on the road for 6:40pm.

The drive to Lye is quite a straight forward route, after navigating the various lanes close to home I headed to . After Bridgnorth I passed through the quiet village of Enville, just over the Shropshire/Staffordshire Border. Whenever I drive through Enville it always brings back pleasant memories of a game I attended back in May of this year between, Enville Athletic and . One cannot fail to see the home ground of Enville Athletic as they play on the grounds of The Enville Hall estate in the Village.

After a bit of reminiscing I headed towards , before ending up at The Sports Ground, home of Lye Town FC.

Lye

Lye or, The Lye, is a suburban area of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, situated in The West Midlands. Lye was formerly a village within the Parish of, Oldswinford and historically situated in the County of Worcestershire.

The area was always well known for the manufacturing of – Nails, Anvils, Vices, Chain, Crucibles and Firebricks.

An area known as – Lye Waste, adjacent to the original village of Lye, was an area of uncultivated common land. It was however, settled upon by people who, by constructing houses, which included a fireplace within 24 hours and by using materials such as mud and clay, saw these new inhabitants acquiring freehold rights because of the passing of the enclosure acts from 1604 onwards. The area eventually became widely built upon.

The village of, Careless Green, now part of Lye but once a separate area to the South-East of Lye was historically noted for, Insurance Clubs. These were called Stewpony Societies and The Stewpony Allotments Society. These clubs were developed to try and improve the conditions for the labouring class.

The Lye and Wollescote Cemetery opened in 1879 and is home too, two chapels which are also Grade II listed buildings.

Lye was the birthplace of, Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (1893-1964). Sir Cedric was an English stage and film actor, who’s career spanned for a period of nearly fifty years. His most notable theatre work were performances in the productions of the plays of Shakespeare and Shaw.

Sir Cedric attended Bridgnorth Grammar School in Shropshire, he first trained to be a doctor (his father was a doctor) but failed to pass the exams. He soon turned to theatre and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Sir Cedric appeared in many films, some of which included:

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Ghost of Frankenstein

Les Miserables

He also has a motion pictures star and a TV star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Lye Town FC

The following is a brief history of Lye Town FC, I have extracted the words from the matchday programme I obtained during my visit to the club.

Lye Town are one of the longest established clubs in the West Midlands region, having been founded in 1930.

From the end of the Second World War until 2013/2014 they were members of the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division.

From 1976-1981, Lye Town were runners-up in four out of five seasons, twice on goal average. The League Cup was won in 1975/76 beating Dudley Town in the final. Lye Town have also been finalists on 5 other occasions. In 1997/98 season, Lye Town won the championship as well as being league cup finalists. However, they were refused promotion to the Alliance, due to not meeting ground regulations. Runner-up Stourport Swifts were promoted in their place.

2011 saw a change in Chairmanship and first team management.

2010/11 season saw Lye Town first team win the Birmingham County FA Midweek Floodlit Cup and their youth team win The Midland Floodlit Youth League Central Division. In 2011/12 this was followed up by the first team winning the Smedley Crooke Memorial Challenge Cup.

2012/13 saw the first team finish runners up in the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division missing out on promotion by only one point, and winning for the 2nd time in 3 seasons the Birmingham County FA Midweek Floodlit Cup.

2013/14 season saw further progress with the first team achieving a league and cup double, winning the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division and the Worcestershire FA Senior Urn.

Following promotion to step 5 the 2014/15 season saw a new challenge in the newly formed Premier Division. This challenge was met, finishing 6th in this new league and finishing 8th in the following season and improving to 4th in 2016/17. The 2017/18 season was disappointing finishing 16th.

The first team Manager is Andy Wytton with Kevin Ashley as his assistant, Grant Joshua as coach.

The Sports Ground

I had heard a lot of good reports from fellow Ground Hoppers with regards to this venue. I have to say that I totally agree with them and I can honestly say that this ground is a must see for any ground hopping enthusiast.

I arrived at the ground at around 7:20pm, there didn’t appear to be any spaces left on the club car park. This wasn’t a problem as there is plenty of on street parking close by.

After parking my car, I made a short walk back to the ground, taking some pictures of the boards outside the ground itself. I walked through some big blue gates and made my way to the pay box which is where I obtained my matchday programme. The pay box is just outside the large, supporters club/function room, this is where the toilet facilities can be found for the ground too.

As I got into the ground I enjoyed a short conversation with a committee member from Lye Town who incidentally was selling some raffle tickets, I paid a £1 for a strip of tickets.

The next thing I noticed was a unique looking covered terraced area behind the goal closest to the entrance. The roof is what I would describe as barrel roofed, and I cannot say that I have seen anything quite like this before. It really is a beautiful thing to look at, what I also liked about this area was that there were a few wooden benches for people to sit on if they so desired.

Moving on around the ground and turning left by the corner flag you will find the ground’s snack bar which was selling all the usual fair. Also, on this side of the ground and running down to the next corner of the pitch is a covered stand with the centre area having seats available. The dugouts are in front of this area, and opposite the cricket pitch which is on the same site as the football ground. The goal opposite the one with the barrel roofed stand has a raised grass bank area. I took the opportunity to take some pictures from the bank before the game started.

The following pictures are what I took of the ground before the game started.

Team Line Up’s and Match Statistics

Lye Town Highgate United

1. Reece Francis 1. Catlow

2. Joe Colley 2. Edwards

3. Lewis Probert 3. Wilcock

4. Jack Pearlman 4. Currithers

5. Leigh Pardoe 5. Oji

6. Joe Lawley 6. Bryan

7. Lewis Worsey 7. Revan

8. Jason Wood. 8. Curry

9. Jack Till 9. Addaggio

10. Ben Billingham 10. Manning

11. Adam Skeldon 11. Batchelor

12. Josh McMenzie 12. L.Brown

14. Drenz Bala 14. Seabourne

15. Reece Shilvock 15. Deards

16. Arron Bishop

17. Lewis Clarke

Goal Log: Goal Log:

Colley, 54 Curry, 25 Pen

Goal Attempts: 16 Goal Attempts: 11

Corners: 9 Corners: 2

Offsides: 1 Offsides: 2

Yellow Card: 2 Yellow Card: 3

Red Card: 0 Red Card: 0

Penalties Penalties

1. Colley (Goal) 1. Curry (Goal)

2. Skeldon (Miss) 2. Seabourne (Goal)

3. Lawley (Goal) 3. Wilcock (Goal)

4. Bala (Goal) 4. Revan (Goal)

5. Addaggio (Goal) Match Report

This proved to be a very entertaining cup tie – Highgate bossed the first half and deservedly went into the interval leading 1-0. Lye Town came out of the blocks very strongly in the second period and deserved to take the game too penalty kicks.

The first five minutes of the game saw the visitors getting into good areas on both flanks, providing some dangerous crosses into the Town Penalty area, which were well defended.

The first shot of any note came on 9 minutes, a long-range effort from Highgate which the Lye goalkeeper fumbled with the ball going behind the goal for a corner kick.

The resulting corner was delivered to the near post and glanced over the bar by Highgate’s, Bryan.

Three minutes later a great run from the halfway line by Highgate’s, Revan resulted in his shot hitting the side netting.

Lye Town produced their first chance of note on 15 minutes, a cross was floated in from the left wing which found, Lawley free at the far post, his side foot volley was pushed round the post by Highgate Custodian, Catlow. But somewhat bizarrely the referee awarded a goal kick to the visitors.

Highgate took the lead on 25 minutes from the penalty spot, a Highgate player was pulled back in the area, the referee getting the decision right in my opinion and correctly awarded the spot kick. Curry stepped up, kept a cool headed and despatched the ball away confidently low to Francis’s left.

The home side almost got back on level terms in the 33rd minute of the game, a cross was delivered from the right flank and found, Lye Number 11 Skeldon in the danger area. Skeldon’s powerful header unluckily for him came back off the underside of the bar and was cleared away, a great effort at goal.

In the 39th minute, Highgate’s, Addaggio tried his luck from distance, the shot was well held by Francis.

The score remained at 0-1 as the referee blew his whistle for half time.

Lye Town started the second half in great fashion, following a good passing move in the 49th minute, Worsey saw his shot at goal well turned around the post by Catlow.

Four minutes later, the impressive Lawley for the hosts, shot at goal from a direct free-kick. Catlow produced another fine save, with the ball bouncing awkwardly the Highgate goalkeeper turned the ball around the post.

Town grabbed a deserved equaliser on 54 minutes – the ball was delivered from the left flank all the way to the far post. Edwards produced a fierce volley with the ball being arrowed into the opposite corner of the goal.

On 59 minutes, Highgate’s impressive number 10, Manning produced some great individual play and created a chance for Currithers who’s effort at goal was straight at Francis.

This proved to be start of a great passage of play which saw chances for both teams during the following 8 minutes. The best moment of this entertaining segment of the game came in the 61st minute. Lawley for the hosts, curled a magnificent effort from distance to the top left corner of the Highgate Goal, somehow Catlow managed to the tip the ball over the bar with his left hand. The score remained at 1-1, chances after this period of play were quite scarce up until the last 10 minutes of the game. Five minutes from time, Skeldon provided a powerful drive at goal from 20 yards out which whistled narrowly over the bar.

The game reached full-time at 1-1 and went straight to penalties to determine a winner.

The decisive spot kick was the second penalty for Lye – Skeldon stepped up and saw his shot excellently saved by Catlow, turning the ball around the post. I didn’t think there was too much wrong with Skeldon’s effort, sometimes you just have to applaud the goalkeeper in these circumstances.

Highgate eventually won the shootout 5-3, the winning penalty converted by, Addaggio.

Summary

An enjoyable first visit to The Sports Ground was matched by an equally enjoyable match. Both sides deserve a lot of credit for their performances. The following are some pictures I took during the game.