Written By Emma
Ground #12
Birkdale Park – Bottesford Town FC
Saturday 26th December 2020 – NCEL Prem (Step 5)
Bottesford Town FC 2-5 Maltby Main FC
Attendance: 113
Entry: £5
Bottesford Town are my hometown team and therefore we had to visit them sooner or later. As a club they have spent most of their existence in the Lincolnshire League, recently having success gaining two promotions up to their current Step 5 division. This season the squad are mainly youngsters and the aim will be to stay up this year.
Maltby began the game on top putting together some decent passing moves. After a mistake from the Bottesford keeper and a well-directed headed goal the hosts found themselves 2-0 down within the first 20 minutes. Ten minutes later and another headed goal, this time from a corner, made it 3-0. The hosts were really struggling to compete in the air with the taller Maltby forwards looking dangerous with every attack and when they did manage to gain possession they weren’t able to put more than two passes together. As the 4th went in just before half time we were wondering if it would be double figures.
With the second half barely 30 seconds old, the team from Yorkshire got their 5th. From then on though they took their foot off the gas and Bottesford’s Christmas hangovers must have started to wear off as they began to put together some decent attacks. As the substitutions started to be made, I was impressed to see an investment in a digital subs board. You don’t see that very often at this level!
Bottesford’s improved performance paid off as they got a goal back on the hour mark, the bloke on the PA got very excited as “the comeback is on”! The hosts continued to look the better side finishing the game off with a last-minute 2nd to make the score line look a bit more respectable.
After dominating in the first half Maltby deserved the win, they looked very well organised and put together some good periods of play especially in the first half (we have visited their ground earlier this season and if you’d like to read what we thought click here). They are currently near the top of the league and will be looking up rather than down this season.
Now to rate Birkdale Park, or with its new sponsorship name “The Barrett Steel Stadium”:
As you’ll see below, due to Covid restrictions in place at the time, some areas of the ground were out of bounds and therefore we couldn’t give Bottesford a fair score. We returned on the 2nd July 2021 for a pre season friendly against Retford FC. The result was very different to our first visit with the home side coming away with a 5-1 win! Any amendments from this second visit will be in bold.
Location: 5/10
The ground itself is quite a difficult one to find as it is hidden within a housing estate and you probably wouldn’t know it was there unless you searched. Whether the ground is actually in Bottesford itself or nearby Yaddlethorpe is up for debate! The nearest pub used to be The Dolphin – my old stomping ground, many nights have I stumbled home after a night in there – it is now a Miller & Carter Steakhouse, not terrible but not somewhere I would go for night of getting legless or a pre-match pint.
Kit: 6/10
Bottesford’s kit is a classic combo of blue shorts and a yellow top. The kits they were wearing have seen better days with the sponsors fading but despite this, as mentioned in our Basford review, we are fans of a yellow kit. We were both really big fans of the Blue tracksuits the Bottesford subs were wearing during the half time warm ups.
Facilities: 7/10
Usually in the facilities section we rate the look of the clubhouse or bar. Sadly, due to the current covid restrictions these were closed for todays game. Just outside the ground there is a large social club building which would usually be selling alcohol. As I am from the area, we will be making a return once things are back to normality and we will change the score as and when.
The clubhouse at Birkdale park is the first thing you pass on the way into the ground. The strange thing about it is that it’s not actually within the ground itself so at half time you have to leave the ground to go and get a pint! The building itself though is a good size and has TVs showing sky sports. There is also a large outdoor patio area with benches.
Look: 6/10
As mentioned above, Bottesford are a small side punching above their weight in this league. The ground is still quite basic but, since Max visited last year, they have made many improvements including the addition of the now infamous “Taco Bell End”. As well as this they have also built a new food kiosk and adjacent to this a covered standing area sporting the blue and yellow home colours. They have also installed brand new floodlights and the ground is starting to look like a proper little stadium.
It really is great to see a club like this continue to improve their ground at every opportunity and we look forward to seeing the club continue to grow on and off the pitch in the future. As my home town club we will be following them closely and will hopefully get to a few of their games over the coming seasons.
In 2024 the ground had a complete makeover. A brand new state of the art 4G pitch was installed and 2 new seated stands were added either side of the original covered stand. The only downside to this is the fact that your view from the seats can be restricted by the pillars on the stand next to you
The roof of the old stand was also painted in club colours which makes looks a lot nicer and gives the ground a much fresher modern look
Food and Drink: 8/10
Due to the current restrictions there was a very scaled back food and drink service, with only cold snacks available. Due to this we only had a can of cider each and didn’t bother with food (admittedly we did have one too many pigs in blankets the day before), as mentioned earlier we will be back, and we will be having a burger hopefully very soon. Fingers crossed a dark fruit for me is available in the social club the next time we visit.
When we returned we were glad to hear that the tea bar was once again fully operational and got ourselves a cheeseburger at £3 each. The burger was fantastic with fried onions and great melted cheese. Probably the best we have had so far on the ground guide!
A great thing about Bottesford as a club is their inclusivity and as part of this they run numerous disability teams. Aswell as this they also get some of these players to help out in the tea bar on first team match days. It’s a great initiative and the 2 guys that served us were brilliant and as you’ll see below the burger was picture perfect!
TOTAL SCORE 32/50
Overall, you can’t beat a Boxing Day game and 7 goals for £5 is why we love non-league. It was especially nice for me as growing up in Bottesford I had never actually been to watch them play and despite the result we both had an enjoyable afternoon. The 1pm kick off is something Max appreciated, as it meant I wasn’t moaning to him throughout the second half about how cold my feet were!
If you want to see where this score puts Birkdale Park on our Leaderboard check out our LEAGUE TABLE
Every game at the moment feels like a bonus as we feel another pause in football is looming. As this will be our final ground review of the year, we have our fingers crossed 2021 will be full of more away days and less lockdowns. We hope you have all enjoyed reading our blogs throughout our first year and hopefully we can continue to grow and entertain you all.
Emma’s Ground Guide 