Spartan South Midlands League Division One
Crawley Road. Cranfield
Admission: £5.00
Programme: Online only
Attendance: 70 (estimate)
For today's action, I was sufficiently tempted to head up to Bedfordshire, to visit a ground new to the National League System, and its rural location appeared to be a much more pleasant place to visit during the shoulder months rather than in the depths of winter.
To get to Cranfield, I caught a train to Bedford, and then a bus for the half hour journey westwards to the leafy village of Cranfield, with the ground about a ten minute walk from the closest bus stop. The entrance to the ground is nicely decorated with a fixture board and other club and sponsors' signs, with admission fees taken by a small standalone kiosk, and a QR code is displayed on the window to scan to view a flipbook programme. A tidy stand straddles the half way line on the far side, with two rows of individual seats inside, and room to stand behind and either side of the seats. Hard standing stretches beyond to both corner flags, tightly lined with tall trees. Hard standing is also available along one end, in front of a very decent clubhouse, which is bright and roomy inside, has a decent range of drinks on offer, and shows live televised football - today's lunchtime fare being Wolves against Liverpool. There is some overhang to the front, and several picnic tables are scattered on a tarmac area close to the pitch. Refreshments offerings are slightly unusual here, with a Chinese takeaway located within the clubhouse building, and a kebab van parked next to the clubhouse. The other two sides just have grass to stand on, currently.
Cranfield United were members of the South Midlands League, and then the Spartan South Midlands League, for many years until 2013, when they resigned from the league and dropped to the Bedfordshire County League, where they remained until this season, having finished as runners up in the Bedfordshire County League Premier Division to earn promotion. And they have made a reasonable start to this season, winning two and drawing three of their opening eight league games. Buckingham FC were only former this year, following a merger between Buckingham Athletic and Buckingham Athletic, with the new club assuming the home ground and League statue of the former.. They have had a similar start to their season as Cranfield have had, winning two and drawing three of their seven league games. A quirk of the fixture scheduling meant that this was already the return fixture between the clubs, having already faced each other in early August, with Buckingham winning 2-1.
On an afternoon which started warm and sunny but became progressively cloudier and cooler, this was a game that Cranfield always seemed to be in control of. They took the lead on 24 minutes following a throw in down the line, a Cranfield played managed to wriggle free of some covering Buckingham players before driving towards goal before firing inside the near post. Cranfield looked the likelier to score again in the remainder of the half, creating some decent chances, nobut at half time, Buckingham were still well in the game, trailing by just a single goal.
The second half continued in a similar vein, and they doubled their lead on 50 minutes with what was something of a gift for them. A Buckingham defender passed the ball back to his keeper, but not really hard enough and under pressure, the keeper miskicked the ball, allowing a Cranfield player to take possession and although his shot was blocked, the ball was eventually bundled home. The home side very comfortably held on to their lead, with Buckingham rarely threatening, and it wasn't until added on time that they had a couple of good chances.
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