National League North
St James' Park, Brackley
Admission: £13.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 848
To kick off my Easter weekend, although there were plenty of games taking place today, the only relatively easily accessible games for me at grounds I had not previously visited were an Under 23 game at Fulham's training ground at Motspur Park, or this game. In the end, I decided to visit this Step 2 ground, as my visits to new grounds in the National League System have been less frequent than I would have liked this season, and the time of the season is fast approaching when I will be visiting predominantly basic venues.
To get to Brackley by public transport, it is necessary to get to Banbury by train, which proved a thoroughly unpleasant experience for me today, with my train (and most others) from Marylebone rammed full, thanks to lines between Didcot and Oxford, and Euston to Milton Keynes, being closed today. On arrival at Banbury, a five minute walk is required to the bus station, from where hourly buses ply the route to Brackley, taking just over half an hour. St James Park is about a five minute walk from the town centre, at the end of a residential lane. Tickets can be bought from the ticket office housed in a brightly decorated portakabin outside of the ground, although there is a £2 surcharge for this compared to buying online and having the ticket downloaded onto a smartphone. Once inside, it is a ground that has clearly been steadily built up as the needs have arisen during the club's rise from county league football since 2004, and as a result has plenty of character about the place, as well as boasting some excellent facilities. Along one length there is an all-seater stand, and then the main clubhouse building, opened in 2021 after a fire destroyed the previous building. Bright, modern and spacious inside, it was extremely busy inside ahead of kick off, no doubt encouraged by all draft beers and ciders being sold for the reduced price of £3.50 ahead of kick off. Overhand from this building covers a small amount of extra seating but predominantly a standing area, with hot and cold food and drink available from an external front window. A further small building is located towards the corner, where a small club shop is housed. Behind the end closest to the entrance, there are a couple of small stands to stand in, while behind the opposite end, there is a stand immediately behind the goal covering some terrace steps, with uncovered terrible located either side. Along the remaining length, there are modern all-seater stands located close to corner.
Brackley have almost always finished in the top seven of the National League North since their promotion in 2012, with their highest ever finish last season, in second place, only to lose in the play-off semi finals. So it was something of a surprise that Brackley dispensed with the services of manager Kevin Wilkin in September after seven years of considerable success, and the most successful period in the club's history, with the club sixth in the table and having just won the reverse fixture of today’s game 0-1. He would not be out of work for long though, being appointed as manager of today's visitors AFC Telford United, to add an interesting dimension to today’s game. Wilkin was replaced by Roger Johnson, someone who I, along with many Charlton fans, consider as a thoroughly unlikeable character. Generally, he has done ok at Brackley, and they came into this game in fourth place, following 17 wins and 13 draws from their 41 league games. Fourth place, and a home play-off quarter final berth is probably as good as they can hope for though, with a nine point gap to third placed Chester, with just five games left to play. They were in really poor form though, losing their last two games, and winless in their last seven, picking up just three points during that spell. On paper, today looked a great opportunity to get back to winning ways. Wilkin couldn't sufficiently turn around a desperate situation at Telford since his appointment in October, when Telford had picked up just six points from their opening 12 league games, and their relegation was confirmed on Tuesday, ironically by Brackley's loss to Farsley Celtic. Notwithstanding that, Telford confirmed during the week that Wilkin would continue as their manager into next season. Telford came into this game bottom of the table by seven points, and 18 points adrift of safety, having won five and drawn thirteen of their 41 league games. When the two clubs met in September, Brackley won 0-1.
On a fairly warm and mostly sunny afternoon, this was not a game that will live long in the memory in all honesty, with Telford having the better of the early stages in a sign of things to come. It was hard to comprehend how Brackley were still up in fourth place in the table, more easy to understand their poor recent form, as they looked completely toothless. However, a rare threatening attack by Brackley ended with the award of a penalty on 38 minutes, when Sam Smart, only introduced as an injury enforced substitute on 19 minutes, was tripped in the area. Martin Woods converted into the right side of the net, with the keeper seeming to get a faint touch on the ball's way through. Just two minutes later, Telford were awarded a penalty of their own, when Kai Williams was tripped in the area, but he couldn't convert the spot kick, striking down the middle and too softly, enabling keeper Danny Lewis to make a comfortable save.
Telford could consider themselves unlucky to be behind at the break. The second half continued in a similar pattern, and they were awarded a second penalty on 59 minutes, when Brendon Daniels bundled over in the area, and this time Byron Moore took the responsibility, with a much better outcome, during emphatically into the roof of the net. And on 68 minutes, Telford took the lead with a lovely free kick fired over the wall and into the top left corner by Montel Gibson. Surprisingly for a club in fourth but perhaps not so much so considering their poor run of form probably leading to lack of confidence within the team, Brackley did not really respond and barely carried a threat for the remainder of the game, as their fans became increasingly disgruntled, chanting in support of their former manager and against their current one. Indeed, it does seem an increasingly baffling decision that Brackley dispensed with Wilkin's services, and appoint a rookie manager with very suspect personal qualities, and it is looking like they will pay the ultimate price, with even a play-off berth, which had looked the least of their ambitions a couple of months ago, looking likely to slip from their grasp.
Indeed, it was no surprise to hear the following day that Johnson had been relieved of his duties, apparently by mutual consent. Club captain Gareth Jean will take over until the end of the season, and it will be interesting to see if that arrests the slide that Brackley find themselves on.
Teams:
Brackley Town: Lewis, Carline, Calder, Murombedzi, Cullinane-Liburd, Preston, Matwasa, Woods (c) (Yussuf 87) Robinson (Rooney 68), Armson (Smart 19), Stead. Subs not used: Walker, Bates.
AFC Telford United: Young, Allen, Livingstone, Nolan, Cameron, Moore, Evans, Ekpolo, Daniels, Gibson, Williams (Salmon 82). Subs not used: Bood, Piggott, Rowe, Thompson.
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