Match Information
-
Kirton Brickworks 0-5 Bestwood Colliery
-
When: Saturday 31st December 2022
-
Kick-off: 3pm
-
Where: 3G pitch, Mansfield Town FC Training Ground, The Radford & Hymas Academy, Woburn Lane, Pleasley, Mansfield, Notts NG19 7RT.
-
Competition: Euro Soccer Nottinghamshire Senior League Division One
-
Attendance: 37
There were slim potential groundhop pickings on New Year’s Eve as most Non-League competitions decided in advance not to play that day.
Then with very wet weather persisting in the preceding week, I nervously noticed the remaining fixtures were being rapidly postponed.
All of a sudden, I was alerted to a really helpful tweet by Kirton Brickworks FC stating: “Change of venue as our pitch won’t be fit.” In effect, they had hired out the 3G artificial playing arena at Mansfield Town’s training ground.
This place had been attracting my groundhopping radar for quite a while. So I set off on a 300 mile round trip in the knowledge my chosen game would definitely be going ahead on the synthetic turf despite ongoing rain.
Incidentally, I had previously been to Kirton’s regular home ground near Newark back in 2018. It is one of my favourite quirky locations as the football pitch is actually inside the grounds of the busy brickworks factory which gives the club their name.
Therefore several huge delivery lorries and piles of bricks adjoined the touchlines so this made for some highly unusual and evocative matchday photos.
Ground Description
Opened in December 2018 to regenerate the redundant 10 acre site of Woburn Lane Playing Fields in Pleasley, The Radford & Hymas Academy is an impressive £2.5 million complex.
It is named in honour of the two benefactors – Mansfield Town FC chairman John Radford and club academy director Steve Hymas – who provided the bulk of funds to make the entire project possible.
There was also a Football Foundation grant of £500,000 from the Premier League and FA Facilities Fund. Architecture and sports/leisure firm LK2 worked closely alongside contractor Taylor Pearson Construction to deliver everything.
As well as the synthetic 3G, there are three full-sized grass pitches and a mini-pitch.
Players can use four dressing rooms, showers and associated physio rooms containing sports treatment and rehabilitation provision.
The imposing main building includes a function suite, a kitchen, office space and two classrooms forming an education hub.
Apart from the obvious benefits to Mansfield Town, their young academy footballers and the club’s ladies’ teams, these amenities are rented out to the local community too. I should add there is amble car parking space on site.
Programme Details
No programmes were issued but I was able to print off a teamsheet containing squad lists from the comprehensive FA Full-Time website. This was good enough for me as my matchday souvenir.
The Match
It was played on the floodlit 3G surface which was installed to meet FIFA standards. Kirton originally wanted to kick-off earlier than 3pm, but the pitch was being utilised for a full training session by Mansfield Town’s first team at lunchtime.
I subsequently enjoyed an entertaining game between two mid-table sides at what is the eighth tier of our Non-League football pyramid.
Kirton created plenty of decent chances although Bestwood Colliery looked stronger throughout to rack up a five goal winning margin.
Their scorers were Courtney Samuels (6 minutes), Jake Fisher (35 mins), Macauley Tinsley (41 mins), Kasey Fisher (86 mins) and Carey Knight (88 mins).
Kirton Brickworks messaged me when I eventually arrived home later in the evening to say: “Glad you got down to see us. Sorry we couldn’t put on a better show. We have a lot of young lads that probably aren’t horrible enough for man’s football.”
The People
It was good to sit under shelter in the 75-seater main stand and chat with several other groundhoppers that had travelled hundreds of miles to be present.
Also, a word of praise for match referee Brett Hovey who kept the action flowing throughout. Kirton Brickworks tweeted afterwards: “A fantastic ref. Always like seeing Brett assigned to us.”
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Mansfield Town FC and @TonyIncenzo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 12th January 2023
