Pre-season Friendly
Manor Fields, Bletchley
Admission : Free
Programme: None
Attendance: 50 (rough headcount)
Armed with a Southern Railway DaySave ticket, a one day rover ticket allowing unlimited travel on Southern's trains for £20, I headed towards Milton Keynes Central still undecided whether to visit Newport Pagnell Town or Milton Keynes Robins as I entered the vicinity. What swayed it in the end was feeling hungry for some lunch, and noticing a Wetherspoons en route to Manor Fields and with time to spare, I opted for this game and alighted the train at Bletchley.
Manor Fields is about a 40 minute walk from Bletchley train station, and the football ground is part of a large sporting complex which also includes a rugby pitch and a cricket field, as well as the Milton Keynes Irish Centre, a social hub of facilities and events for the Irish community. Spectators enter the football ground in one corner, with a small metal hut to pay admission at normally, although today the gates were open for free entry. In terms of facilities, they are certainly above average for Step 6 football, and according to a couple of signs, this is an all-seater stadium, with the warning that persistent offenders could face ejection and possible arrest - presumably this is intended somewhat tongue in cheek. A stand stretches from the entrance for almost the entire length, containing three rows of seating, with a refreshments window built into a brick wall to the entrance side of the stand. A hard path stretches from the entrance behind the goal and around to a small brick based stand, which straddles the half way line and contains three rows of slightly elevated seating. The remaining area to the far corner flag and behind the remaining end is overgrown and probably not intended to be accessed. Today at least, the ground was very scruffy, with lots of work tools, material and other rubbish inside the large stand, and several broken seats inside the smaller stand. Depending on your persuasion, this could be construed as "character", but in any case, the ground is a pleasant one to watch football at, and more than adequate for both resident clubs (Unite MK, of the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two, also play their home games here). Unsurprisingly, no programmes were produced for this fixture.
It has been a turbulent few years for Milton Keynes Robins who, up until earlier this year, were Buckingham Town. After vacating their home ground, Ford Meadow, in Buckingham in 2011, the club has been struggling to survive in their new home in Bletchley ever since, and they even announced that they were to fold last summer. Although that decision was happily reversed, the club subsequently changed their name, in recognition of there being very little prospect of the club ever being able to return to Buckingham, and to better appeal to local potential supporters and sponsors in Milton Keynes. After 20 years playing in the United Counties League, the club finished 14th in the Step 6 Spartan South Midlands League Division One last season. Recent history has not been too kind on Aylesbury United either, also having to groundshare away from their home town, in their case since 2006, and they currently play their home fixtures at Chesham United. They finished last season in 15th position in the 20 team Southern League Division One Central, at Step 4, with very similar placings in each of the previous five seasons.
On an overcast and not particularly warm afternoon, and for what was both sides' opening game of pre-season, the opening half hour was lively but with few goalscoring chances for either team. On 35 minutes, it was Aylesbury who took the lead though. Following a corner, the ball was laid off to Lewis Osborne at the edge of the area, and he drove the ball first time into the net via a slight deflection. The visitors then had a number of good chances in quick succession, culminating in a deflected shot forcing a good save by the keeper low to his left. Unfortunately, that save came at a considerable cost, as he had to leave the field in considerable pain, seemingly having suffered a dislocation.
After a Milton Keynes sub had run the line during the first half, there was to be no linesman in the Milton Keynes attacking half after the break, with the one "official" linesman manning the other half. Aylesbury doubled their lead on 49 minutes, Ken Feyi poking the ball home after some ping pong following a corner. And they scored their third on 59 minutes, following a quick break down the right. The ball was crossed in from the right by triallist Dominic Fraser, just evading the keeper's grasp above him, and Greg Williams headed the ball home. Aylesbury were well in command during the second half, but the Robins did pull a goal back on 71 minutes, rather fortunately, when an attempted first time clearance by defender Harry Jones was miscued, sending the ball looping over his own keeper and into the net. With little further attacking action, the game ended 1-3.
Both clubs will no doubt be content with the afternoon's work, having got their first game of pre-season under their belts with a good work out. Aylesbury will have appreciated a fairly lively game against opposition who battled well, while Milton Keynes will be happy to have competed well against a team a Southern League club.
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