Match Information
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Longwell Green Sports 5-3 Bishops Lydeard
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When: Saturday 25th March 2023
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Kick-off: 3pm
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Where: Shellards Road, Longwell Green, Bristol BS30 9DU
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Competition: Western Football League Division One
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Attendance: 230
A big day for me personally as I lined up my 2,500th football ground visited. An odyssey which has taken 50 years.
I was featured on the BBC Sport website regarding this milestone alongside a 15 minute interview on TalkTV hosted by Mark Saggers.
It was also Non-League Day where floating fans are encouraged to support local clubs with no Premier League or Championship action scheduled due to the international break.
An excellent initiative which has been run on a voluntary basis by James Doe for the past 13 years thereby injecting millions of pounds into Non-League’s cash-strapped economy. But following all the rain during preceding days, I had to pick a game that would definitely go ahead.
I originally considered going to Bourton Rovers FC in the Cotswolds area. Bourton admirably began working on their grass pitch at 6.30am on matchday and were confident of playing. Nevertheless, I became extremely wary of weather forecasts for rain at lunchtime.
So I made a last minute change of plan and set off for Longwell Green Sports FC where a 3G synthetic surface guaranteed my football fix.
Overall a 300 mile round trip for me around the M25 and down the M4. Longwell Green itself is a suburb housing 6,700 residents just beyond the eastern edge of Bristol – five miles from the city centre.
Retrospectively, I most certainly did make the right choice in the end since Bourton Rovers suffered a late postponement half an hour before the scheduled kick-off which made it impossible for anyone to get to another match in time.
Ground Description
Situated behind the multi-purpose Longwell Green Community Centre off Shellards Road.
On arrival, the car park looked pretty full although a helpful gateman told me: “There should be spaces appearing now as people are just leaving a party in the community building.”
Regarding football facilities, an extensive £800,000 upgrade took place two years ago. I was impressed by the thoughtful use of spectator space inside the 3G cage incorporating decent terracing, a seated stand and covered standing accommodation too.
The entire project received substantial grants from the Premier League and the Government via the Football Foundation plus a Football Stadia Improvement Fund grant.
Programme Details
An online edition containing 20 pages.
Plenty of good reading material including a focus on the thriving Longwell Green Sports junior section and an interesting Non-League Day article from respected scribe Jon Couch of the Non-League Paper.
Incidentally, to keep my football ground memorabilia collection up to date I always get these online programmes converted to hard copies by printer Mark Kettlety for a reasonable fee.
The Match
Longwell Green sat mid-table whilst it was an important encounter for visitors Bishops Lydeard down in the relegation zone. Because nearby professional outfits Bristol City and Bristol Rovers were not in action, the crowd swelled to 230.
Indeed, many people showed up quite late after other neighbouring Non-League fixtures were called off amidst wet conditions. Rewardingly, it turned out to be one of the best matches I have seen all season.
Longwell Green raced into a 3-0 half-time lead courtesy of strikes by Rob Belcher 2 (28 and 41 minutes) and a Jordan Hayman sliced own goal (37 mins). Enthusiastic supporters responded in producing spirited cries of: “Come on ’Well!”
I have to say Bishops Lydeard seemed dead and buried at this point. However they incredibly battled back notching three rapid-fire goals in eight second half minutes through Adam Willis (47 mins), Joshua Wadham (56 mins) and Tai Bewes (57 mins).
Longwell Green quickly regained control though when Belcher completed his hat-trick (60 mins) and then celebrated in style performing an audacious double somersault on the 3G pitch.
Fortunately, this totally unexpected moment was captured for posterity on video. Matthew Brown added a fifth for the homesters on 81 minutes.
The People
Longwell Green Sports chairman John Gibbs gave me a very friendly welcome and spoke proudly about his club’s fantastic community reach.
Supplementing their senior sides, they have more than 50 junior teams catering for 850 boys and girls aged from two up to 18 years old.
John said the 3G pitch had been in continuous use for youth training sessions starting at 8.30am that morning.
In addition, there is more leisurely walking football staged for older male and female participants at Shellards Road on weekdays.
*Credit for photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*
