Written by Max
Ground #15
Debdale Park – Sherwood Colliery FC
Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Post Season Invitational Cup Final
Sherwood Colliery (Step 6 EMCL) 2-0 Selston (Step 5 MFL Prem)
Attendance: 324
Entry: £3
Sherwood Colliery are a relatively new club in the Mansfield Woodhouse area of Nottinghamshire having been founded in 2008. The club are owned by Chairman Gareth Bull who bought the club after winning over 40 million pounds in the Lottery. We aren’t jealous of this at all! Since that time he has been slowly investing in all areas of the club and has created a lovely little ground in beautiful surroundings. Commendably Gareth has made improvements slowly and hopes to grow the club properly from the ground up meaning if for whatever reason he were to leave, the club would still be self sustainable.
This match was to be their final one at step 6 having been promoted into the Premier Division of the NCEL at step 5 as part of the restructure taking effect from next season. We will watch with interest to see how they get on at their highest ever level.
Today’s match was the final of an Invitational Tournament sponsored by one of Sherwood’s backers Staton Mortgages. The tournament included 4 local sides and began with a group stage with the top 2 sides progressing to todays final. We had seen todays visitors Selston earlier in the tournament as they romped to a 4-0 win away at Ollerton Town.
It was great to see a fantastic crowd building as early as an hour before kick off as many hoppers and local fans made the most of the warm weather and outdoor bar at the ground. The crowd of 324 was actually the second biggest we had been part of this season due to covid regulations capping a lot of crowds at 300. (The sell out crowd of 450 at AFC Rushden & Diamonds being the only larger)
The first half had provided few chances as both sides began cautiously as you would expect for a final. The one big chance came the home sides way as they hit the post around the half hour mark. The half time whistle blew as the game was still goalless.
As we joined the back of the massive queue for food at half time we began to regret our decision not to eat before kick off! We would feel even worse about this decision as the match kicked off with us still 5 from the front of the queue and a roar went up as Sherwood took the lead! We were told it was a decent header but I can’t tell you any more than that!
When we finally got our burgers and made out way back to the sidelines we saw a much improved second half from the hosts. A few good saves from the Selston keeper kept them in the game for long periods and the visitors struggled to get any meaningful chances. Their night was summed up when they finally won a free kick around 20 yards from goal, but messed it up completely trying to be clever and not even managing a shot in the end!
Frustrations began to get the better of them from then onwards as a choice word or two from one of the substitutes caused the referee to send him to the dressing room without him even stepping onto the pitch!
They were then made to feel even worse as a decent finish from the Sherwood forward doubled their lead putting them out of sight.
The second half definitely made up for the cagey first, with the tournament hosts ending the competition with the trophy. All in all a very successful tournament for all 4 teams and hoppers alike, bringing competitive action for all in the local area. So well done to Sherwood for hosting, and Congratulations on the win!
Now to rate our visit to Debdale Park:
Location: 8/10
Debdale Park is brilliantly located right next door to Mansfield Woodhouse Train and bus stations. Just a 40 minute hop over to Mansfield for us and a ground we will look to visit again next season for sure. The only downside being the lack of pubs nearby!
Kit: 8/10
Sherwood’s kit was a very smart blue and black stripes with a really nice white detail across the chest.. A very nice kit.
Facilities: 8/10
The clubhouse was a really large building with 2 rooms showing sky sports on big screens. There were also a lot of benches outside which many of the large crowd in attendance were making the most of on this gorgeous June evening. The strange thing about the clubhouse was the fact it is actually outside of the ground itself meaning you have to leave the ground too get food and drink! It’s obvious that the clubhouse was created as a pavilion for the cricket club next door rather than the football club and as you’ll have read above, we missed a good portion of the second half due to queuing for food and being a long way from the pitch.
Look: 8/10
First of all we have to talk about the surroundings. The ground is located right on the edge of part of Sherwood Forest (hence the clubs name) and therefore some fantastic photos can be taken with the trees behind the stands. The ground itself contains 3 modestly sized stands, 2 containing wooden benches for seats. The stands and rest of the ground all looked very clean and well looked after with the stands looking unique which is good to see compared to a lot of grounds which just use ready built stands. I must also mention the pitch which was in perfect condition for tonights match.
The only way we think this ground could be improved is a bigger stand with seating, but as the club hopefully continue to rise up the leagues we look forward to seeing how the ground develops.
Food and Drink: 6.5/10
As already mentioned, we had chosen a terrible time to queue for food and therefore had to wait a while in the line to get our burgers. Would they be worth it? Well, sort of. The burger was your typical football burger with some lovely fried onions and cheese. It was nice, although a lot of bread compared to meat and at £4.00 each we felt it was a bit steep in comparison to some other grounds we have visited. Carling dark fruits was available from the bar which we enjoyed pre match. Half a bonus point of course must be given for that!
TOTAL SCORE 38.5/50
So Overall a great end to a very strange season! We really enjoyed our visit to Debdale Park and will definitely be returning to see how they get on at their new higher level next season. The ground was a stunner and we would recommend anyone who gets the chance to pay them a visit. Emma says it’s her favourite we have visited so far on this blog and I’d have to say it’s certainly up there!
It was also great to meet up with Jake who’s blog Topliss at the Turnstiles is one we both enjoy reading…you can check it out here: https://toplissattheturnstiles.com
Onto next season though and hopefully we will get to a lot more grounds and maybe even get a full season in! We hope to bring you football league grounds following my team Crewe Alexandra, alongside more a lot more local non league action like we have managed to get to this year. We hope you have all enjoyed this blog and the others from this disjointed season, and can’t wait for the 2021/22 season to begin next month!
If you want to see where this places Sherwood on our Leaderboard, as well as seeing the other grounds we have visited so far, Click here: LEAGUE TABLE
Emma’s Ground Guide 