United Counties League Division One
Dickens Road, Grantham
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 70
Taking advantage once again of the LNER rail sale, which helped secure London to Grantham tickets for £5 each way, I made my way back up to Lincolnshire for the second time in a fortnight today. A trip over to somewhere of a geographical outpost in Skegness was tempting, but in the end I decided to stay within walking distance of Grantham station, seduced by the promise of a printed programme, and having heard good reports of the ground being upgraded recently.
Dickens Road is about a two mile, 40 minute walk north eastwards from Grantham train station, close to the outer extremity of Grantham urban area. Located at the end of a short residential lane, spectators enter the ground by handing over the admission fee at a window inside a wooden square arch, leading into one corner of the ground. The clubhouse building is located just inside the entrance stretching towards the half way line, and has quite a cosy bar area and has clearly benefitted from being refurbished over lockdown. Plans are also afoot to build an extension to the building shortly. There is a covered area attached to the clubhouse providing some cover above some tables and chairs, with a memorial metal bench placed in one corner. Further uncovered picnic tables have been placed closer to the pitch, and to one side. Team line-ups are written up on a whiteboard posted on the clubhouse wall, and a tea bar is also located towards one end of the building. Dug-outs used to be located along this length, but they have recently been relocated to the opposite side, in front of "Stan's Stand", which has also been recently refurbished and now has four rows of individual plastic seats in the middle section, and with a good incline between rows, they offer a good view of the action, although supporting pillars do get slightly in the way. Either side of the seating there are flat standing areas. There is just hard standing around the rest of the ground, although I understand a new stand will be installed along the clubhouse length shortly. The pitchside railing has also been recently repainted and smartened up, and dotted around the ground is an abundance of club signage and banners posted around the ground, giving the place a real sense of identity, indeed, it is great to see how much hard work has been put into improving the ground, as is there being no sign - yet at least - of any metallic identikit furniture. Some rare Lincolnshire hills around the ground make for a pleasant backdrop.
Harrowby have had a reasonable start to their season, coming into this game in eighth place, following six wins and a draw from their opening 11 league games. They have lost their last two league games, however they progressed in the FA Vase in their most recent game, winning 0-2 at Ingles. Borrowash Victoria, transferred from the disbanded East Midlands Counties League for this season, have had a difficult start to their season, winning just one and drawing one of their eleven league games so far, although that win came on Tuesday, beating Kirby Mustoe 1-0 at home, bringing to an end a run of nine straight defeats since a 2-2 draw on the opening day of the season.
On a miserable afternoon weatherwise, with persistent rain falling throughout and feeling chilly, this game certainly had an electric start, with the home side all but wrapping up the three points inside the first quarter of an hour. They took the lead on four minutes through Jack McGovern's low drilled shot from the edge of the area, and a couple of minutes later, they doubled their lead when a cross from the right was deflected into his own goal by a Borrowash defender. On 14 minutes, Harrowby scored their third when Danny Durkin received the ball alone in the penalty area and he fired into the top left corner of the net. It was a horror start for the visitors, with the potential for the scoreline to become very ugly, but although Harrowby saw a free kick tipped smartly over the bar, the hosts only added one further goal by half time, which was probably enough to put the result beyond any doubt, when Makhale Mahlatsi struck the ball home.
Unsurprisingly, the second half dropped in intensity as Harrowby were in cruise control, although they still forced a couple of smart saves and hit the woodwork once before adding their fifth goal on 73 minutes, when McGovern tucked the ball home after an initial shot was blocked. And McGovern sealed his hat-trick with virtually the last kick of the game, tapping the ball home at the far post after a low cross shot from an angle could only be parried into his path by the keeper.
So a thoroughly convincing win for Harrowby, which sees them rise to sixth in the table, whilst on the evidence of today, it looks like being a very long season indeed for Borrowash if they are to avoid the bottom three places and with it possible relegation out of the NLS.
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