Written by Emma
Ground #23
Forest Town Arena – AFC Mansfield
Tuesday 28th September 2021 – NCEL Prem (Step 5)
AFC Mansfield 2-2 Bottesford Town
Attendance: 62
Entry: £6
AFC Mansfield are a relatively new club having been founded in 2012 by three former directors of league two side, Mansfield Town, after disputes with the club’s management. The club were put into step 7 and have been very successful, getting up as high as step 4 before getting relegated for failing ground grading. They currently find themselves in step 5 and will need to improve the ground if they want to get any higher once again.
62 hardy souls braved the monsoon like conditions at today’s game, which, saw ‘The Bulls’ come up against my hometown Bottesford Town. The game started evenly with the hosts getting the better of the early chances. Bottesford though won a freekick up the other end of the pitch and hit the bar with their first real chance. With the rain pouring down there were some fantastic tackles going in from both sides which we love to see, but from then on in the first half the hosts began to take control.
Bottesford were really struggling in this first half now, unable to string passes together and were forced to resort to long aimless balls forward. AFC were really on top now and after blazing multiple chances well wide, finally took a deserved lead ten minutes before half-time. Then right on the stroke of the half-time whistle, we saw a great turn on the edge of the box and a perfect through ball to the forward who made it 2-0.
As the second half began the conditions hadn’t changed as the rain continued to lash down. Bottesford though, looked a completely different side and the game was much more even. With ten minutes to go Bottesford won a corner and a bullet header got them back into the match. This completely changed the dynamic of the match as the hosts then camped out on the edge of their area with Bottesford coming forward with multiple attacks. Just as we started to think that 2-1 would have been a fair reflection of the game, Bottesford came forward again and snatched a point with the last kick of the game.
We love football!
Now to rate our day at AFC Mansfield’s Forest Town Arena:
Location: 5/10
The Forest Town Arena is located, as you’d imagine, in Forest Town which is a small suburb of Mansfield. The ground is roughly a 40-minute walk North East of the centre. The car park is a great size at the ground and with plenty of spaces you would not struggle to find a spot on a Tuesday evening, although the entrance is hidden within a housing estate away from the main road which makes entry tricky to find even when you can see the ground over the fence!
The ground is just 3 a 3-minute drive from The Lido, Home of step 6 side Clipstone FC
Kit: 6/10
The kit was a base colour of red with a fade down the front with red shorts, the kit has horizontal dark lines across the front with the bull of the teams logo faded into the background. Although from the distance you watch the game from, the fade of the shirt gave the kit a sort of dirty look you can tell a lot of effort has gone into the design and the team wore it proudly.
Facilities: 7/10
The clubhouse at the Forest Town Arena had a large bar, plenty of seating and even a balcony from which you can watch the game from. The decoration was some what dated and in need of a spruce up, just check out that carpet! But the locals gave it the buzz you expect for a team like this one and there were plenty of TV’s dotted about showing Sky Sports. We also love when a clubhouse has a pool table and a darts board so extra points for that!
There was plenty of choice to drink and my eyes especially lit up when we walked in and saw the logo I know and love so well – but we will get into that later.
Look: 2/10
As we walked into the Forest Town Arena, we couldn’t help but have flashbacks to Grantham! Although not as bad at AFC Mansfield there is a cycle track around the pitch and with high fences around the side you don’t get a good view of the action unless you are in the back of the stand or up on the balcony of the clubhouse.
The ground has hard standing down one side and behind one goal, although the majority of this comes with a limited or restricted view due to the high fences or subs benches which sit between the supporters and the pitch. There is a small-covered stand with seats to the left but as this is low down the view from this is also restricted. In the middle are a few rows of red seats which are open to the elements so on a night like tonight were pretty much unusable! Many of the fans in attendance huddled under a small area of cover on the balcony of the clubhouse. This is the highest point in the ground so the best view can be found here, but this is also the furthest from the action you could be!
The ground was obviously not designed with football in mind which is a shame. We both agreed that just moving the subs benches to the far side of the pitch would make a huge difference to the sightlines available to supporters.
Food and Drink: 5.5/10
The food at AFC Mansfield was served from a small building behind the goal which also includes the changing rooms for the players and officials. We had to brave the awful conditions to run round to the small hatch and when we arrived saw they had plenty of choice and after a day of not a lot to eat before the game me and Max both opted for a cheeseburger and chips. We sprinted back to the sanctuary of the bar to enjoy our food as the half time whistle sounded. A generous serving of chips paired with a cheeseburger is what we love at the football, and although this one filled a hole, it certainly wasn’t one of the best. The chips, as mentioned earlier were a good size and were nice and crispy, but the burger wasn’t the biggest and didn’t seem the have much flavour. No onions on offer today either which always gains a few extra marks!
But the question on everyone’s mind and that I am sure is the only reason most of you read this blog is that………THEY ONLY WENT AND HAD DARK FRUITS! Yes, ladies and gents, walking into the clubhouse over to the bar I saw that purple colour and knew that everything would be ok once I had a dark fruit in my hand! Bonus half point added!
TOTAL SCORE 25.5/50
The miserable weather was brightened up by a fantastic second-half performance from Bottesford who will be buzzing to take the point back with them to sunny Scunny.
The Forest Town Arena is certainly not one of our favourites, but I’m sure if we returned on a nicer day, we would have an more enjoyable time. At the end of the day anywhere that does dark fruits deserves a revisit in my book.
If you’d like to see where this puts The Forest Town Area on our leader board click here: NON LEAGUE
And if you would like to see our league leader board click here: THE 92
Emma’s Ground Guide 