Written by Max
Ground #47
Tuesday 5th December 2022
United Counties League Division 1 (Step 6)
Harrowby United 3-3 Clifton All Whites
Attendance: 65
Entry: £5
Harrowby United were formed in 1949 and began life in the Grantham and District league. In 2009 they changed their name to Grantham Rangers although this team folded at the end of the season. In 2012 the club was reformed under their original name and won promotion to the UCL 1st division and went up again to the premier division in 2013/14. They remained at step 5 for a few seasons until relegation into their current division in the 2016/17 season.
This season the club, nicknamed ‘The Arrows’, are struggling towards the bottom of the division and today saw them come up against mid table Clifton All Whites. Before the game the club chairman Mick came and sat with us thanking us for our support and giving us all the gossip on the clubs rivalry with town neighbours Grantham Town! This was a brilliant touch and one of our favourite things about visiting non league clubs! You don’t get that in the premier league! It was great to meet you Mick and we hope you enjoy the blog!
The game started with the visitors on the front foot and just 8 minutes into the game they were in front after a good move. After around half an hour Clifton had a second after a well worked free kick. This was no more than they deserved but this was more down to some extremely poor play from Harrowby who were struggling to string more than 2 passes together!
As the half wore on the hosts began to create a few chances of their own but a couple of late free kicks were again of poor quality and caused no threat whatsoever on the Clifton goal and they went into the half time break 2-0 behind.
The second half began in very much the same fashion and The All Whites seemed to put the game to bed netting a third. This was becoming far too easy for Clifton as just a couple of minutes later their forward was allowed to walk through the Harrowby defence but a good stop from the keeper saved the hosts blushes.
On the hour mark the hosts finally put a decent move together and a good counter attack saw the ball tapped home. 3-1 and the comeback is on we joked…..
This goal seemed to spark Harrowby to life and all of a sudden they looked like a completely different team! Suddenly they could pass the ball and every attack was looking dangerous. A free kick was beautifully whipped in and headed home for 3-2 and the home fans began to get behind their team.
It was all Harrowby now and a couple of good saves from the Clifton stopper kept them ahead. One of these saves forced a corner and from this the hosts levelled the game at 3-3 with around 10 minutes to go!
At this point there was only one team going to win this game and you would have never believed it would be the hosts at the hour mark! It was looking inevitable but they just couldn’t get that 4th goal. As the game drew to a close tempers flared from frustrated Clifton players who must have been as shocked as us at the complete turnaround!
Now to rate our evening at Dickens Road:
Location: 5/10
Dickens Road is located around a 35 minute walk to the North East of Grantham. The ground has a good sized car park but can be confusing to find as a first time visitor as to get to the ground you need to follow an unusual 1 way system. We ended up doing 2 laps of the 1 way loop before getting the right turn off!
There don’t seem to be any pubs close to the ground but it is on the edge of a large residential area so will be easily walkable for any locals after some non league action!
Kit: 6/10
The Arrows play in an all blue adidas kit. We both quite liked the colour aswell as the trademark adidas stripes down the side of the shirt, although it was pretty plain and the sponsor was quite small and therefore couldn’t be made out from the sidelines.
Facilities: 7/10
The bar at Harrowby is right near the grounds entrance, and on a cold December night we rushed straight in to try and get warm! The bar was decorated nicely with Christmas decorations and had screens showing the World Cup game between Portugal and Switzerland.
The decor inside was a little dated but the room was more than big enough for the crowd at today’s game with plenty of seats and tables available. The food is served from a hatch on the outside of the building.
Look: 6/10
The ground at Harrowby is dominated by the main stand which is on the far side to the clubhouse. ‘Stan’s Stand’ contains the grounds only seats and a good view can be had as the 4 rows are very well elevated above the pitch.
Rather strangely the seats have been bolted on top of what obviously used to be benches for people to sit on and you can tell the stand wasn’t really designed for the seats to be there. There is extremely little leg room between the rows and the rake of the stand is very steep making it quite a challenge to make your way to a seat in the middle of the stand!
The rest of the ground is made up of flat hard standing and the pitch is surrounded by a new looking white plastic railing. Behind one of the goals it looks like the club have tried to add some banners and signs to enhance the look of the ground but it looks as if these have seen better days. Overall though a nice set up for the level and possibly a small covered terrace away from being a top ground.
Food and Drink: 4.5/10
After a beer before the game we decided to wait until half time to get our food. This may have been a mistake as we were faced with the only 2 remaining pasties in the warmer! 1 steak and 1 chicken. Both were nice and hot but lacking in any real chunks of meat, but at just £1.80 each we can’t really complain!
To warm up Emma went for a hot chocolate which she said was very nice and I decided to risk it and try my first ever bovril!! Even now I can’t work out if I loved it or hated it, I’ll have to try it again before giving a proper verdict!
The bar itself had a fantastic selection of beers on offer, and as you can see on the photo below they had the all important dark fruits! Bonus half point to The Arrows!
TOTAL SCORE: 29.5/50
In the end a very cold night in Harrowby, but we were well and truly warmed up by the second half display from the hosts! At half time we were really worried for them as Clifton had walked into a deserved lead. A great comeback from the Arrows though and a very warm welcome from the club means this is a club we were certainly be returning to I’m sure.
If you’d like to see where this score places Harrowby in our Leaderboard of Non League grounds click here: NON LEAGUE
And to see our League Table of Football League grounds click here: THE 92
Emma’s Ground Guide 