A new ground for me today in my 12th game of the season. This was another FA Cup tie. This was between 2 Rymans League Div 1 North sides. Bowers & Pitsea were promoted last season from the Essex Senior League and narrowly lost in the semi final of the FA Vase to eventual winners Morpeth. I had enjoyed watching them and their never say die spirit last season, so it was an easy choice to pick this game.
Waltham Abbey is I am told the burial place of King Harold, you recall him of the arrow in the eye fame. The ground itself is next to a cemetery. and between allotments.
Arriving at the ground, there is plenty of parking, all for free. On one side of the car park is the football ground and on the other is the club house. From the outside, the club house is not the most inviting of buildings, but inside it is a decent sized bar which can be used to hold functions. The TVs were showing live football - from the lunch time English & Scottish league games.
I ordered a pint of IPA and at £2.80 one could not complain at the price. It got even better when I was given a free scratch card and won a second pint of beer. Even better was the printed team sheets on every table in the bar. A nice gesture and the sort of thing that makes non league football my preference these days.
Leaving the bar and walking across the car park to the ground, it seemed that the turnstiles were still closed at 5 minutes to three! See the first picture above. Getting closer to the ground, I found the white minibus was parked in front of two signs. One on the gate said not to park in front of the gate and the other was directing spectators where to go. Great parking!
Round the corner was another set of turnstiles that were open. Admission was £8 and a programme £2.
Once inside the ground I was confronted by a rather tidy little ground. Down one touchline was a lengthy seated stand, and alongside that a covered terrace. Behind the far goal was open standing and a gate into the allotments!
The far side of the ground housed the dug outs and again open standing. Finally, the goal to the left of the turnstiles housed 2 covered terracing, behind these were the toilets.
The signage for the toilets appeared to suggest they were open air toilets, i.e. pee on the grass.
The ground was very tidy and the pitch itself was flat. That is a great credit to the club, because the area around the ground is on a large slope. The open touchline is far higher than the seated stand side.
The game itself was a lively hard fought affair. Waltham Abbey scored an early goal on 7 minutes to lead. That lasted about 2 minutes before Bowers equalised. On 27 minutes Waltham Abbey scored again and this time the lead lasted a whole 7 minutes.
Half time and the score remained 2-2. The second half was as entertaining as the first half, but unfortunately there were no goals in the second half.
There seemed to be confusion over the replay date. The tanoy announced it was on Wednesday night, but the Bowers fans said it was on the Tuesday night. Could be interesting this week! The reality is the game is on Tuesday and with a bit of luck I may be there.
Simple thing please simple minds and I was amused to see the sign at regular intervals saying that players and match officials were not allowed on the pitch.
So, to sum up, a very friendly little club. Its a shame they only got a gate of 97 for an FA Cup tie. The friendliness of the club to me was summed up by the sign below which was over the turnstiles.
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