Written by Max
Ground #9
Melton Town FC – Melton Sports Village
24th October 2020 – United Counties League Div.1 (Step 6)
Melton Town 2-1 Long Buckby AFC
Attendance: 161
Entry: £5
We had planned, this weekend, to make the trip over to Eastwood to watch their game with high flying Ollerton, but when we saw this fixture between the top 2 sides in the United Counties League we decided to make the journey across to Leicestershire instead. Another bonus of this trip was that en route from Newark we passed, and therefore thought it rude not to, pop into the Tap and Run which is one of two pubs owned by Nottinghamshire and England cricketers Stuart Broad and Harry Gurney.
After a quick pit stop we continued on our journey and made it to Melton Mowbray. Today’s game, as referenced above included the two early pace setters in this step 6 division, and with four promotion spots available from this league this season both will be very confident to go on and clinch promotion.
The game started at a fast pace and the visitors who shooting up hill, but with the wind assisting them got off to a flyer with a neat finish to take the lead in the first 5 minutes. It took the home side a while to settle, but once they did they took control and looked dangerous going forward and winning multiple corners. Unfortunately for them the final ball was poor and they struggled to get any meaningful shots on target. The best chance of the half came with seconds to go before the half time whistle as they hit the post from a free kick. At the break though it was The visitors who held on to their lead.
As the second half began the conditions worsened and the game became scrapy with chances few and far between. That was until about 15 minutes to go when a Melton break away resulted in the ball being scrambled in from a low cross. Then just two minutes later the turnaround was completed as a penalty was awarded and dispatched to the delight of the bumper home crowd. The visitors had nothing in reply and Melton managed to hold on and reduced the gap at the top of the league to just a point.
Now our ratings of the ground itself:
Location: 6/10
The ground is located on the very edge of the Town of Melton Mowbray and just a 20 minute walk from the train station.
Kit: 5/10
The home teams kit was a simple but nice enough design. The shirt, shorts and socks were all red with a white detail on the kit. A decent enough kit but nothing to write home about.
Facilities: 3/10
Melton themselves are a very new team having been founded in 2014. You can see this in parts of the ground as nothing really concrete is in place. The bar and ‘clubhouse’ area along with the changing rooms for the players are all housed in large shipping container like buildings. Obviously at this level everything is done to the best of the clubs ability with the funds available and as Melton are a team on the rise we are interested to see how the facilities develop over the next few seasons.
Look: 4/10
The Melton Sports Village is a very impressive facility that includes multiple Rugby and hockey pitches as well as the Football ground. Unfortunately it seems to us as though the football team were an after thought as the ground is at the far end of the complex away from everything else. The Rugby team for example have a brilliant clubhouse and bar with live sport being shown on TV which is a huge upgrade on the offering within the football ground. The ground itself though contains 2 covered areas. One with seating and a really nicely built wooden stand where the more noisy home supporters gathered. There is hard standing around 3 sides of the pitch and a decent view to be had from anywhere. As mentioned above the clubhouse, toilets and changing rooms are all behind one goal in big shipping containers.
Food and Drink: 6.5/10
We were disappointed to find that at the home of the ‘Pork Pie Army’ and in a town world renowned for its Pork Pies, there were none to be found. Luckily though we were excited by the offering of a lamb samosa so had that along side some cheesy chips. The chips were slightly over done and not the biggest portion in the world, but the samosa was fantastic and we would recommend anyone to try them if they are here for a game. We have been told about Sporting Khalsa doing fabulous samosas but they will have a lot to live up to when we visit them with Newark next month. We didn’t have a drink this time but we saw that cans of dark fruit were available so of course the bonus half point will be given!
TOTAL SCORE: 24.5/50
Overall then, a decent day out and a very competitive game of football, although as I write this on Sunday afternoon our clothes are still drying on the radiators! A huge win for Melton in their battle for promotion and we wish them all the best after they had it snatched away from them last season with the null and void decision. We look forward to seeing them develop in the following years on and off the pitch and I’m sure we will be back at some point in the near future. To check out where they place in our leader board click here: League Table
Emma’s Ground Guide 