Written by Max
Ground #46
Saturday 5th November 2022
Northern Premier League, Division 1 West (Step 4)
Witton Albion 1-2 Leek Town
Attendance: 460
Entry: £10
Witton Albion were formed in 1887 by fans and players of the Town’s other club, Northwich Victoria, who weren’t happy at the Vic’s choice to turn professional. This created a huge rivalry between the 2 clubs with the majority of people in the Town being either a ‘Wittoner’ or ‘Vics’. My Grandad, who we went to today’s game with told us stories of a Witton supporting friend who refused to eat lettuce as it was green (the colour of the Northwich Victoria kit). The clubs haven’t played each other in a league fixture since 1994, but the newly formed 1874 Northwich (who were formed after another fall out between fans and the board at Northwich Victoria!!!) have made it up into the same league and the clubs will play each other, as used to be tradition, on Boxing Day this year.
As you can tell the history of football in the Town of Northwich is a complicated and complex rollercoaster ride, and I’d love to find out more about the rivalry between what are now 3 clubs! In an almost amusing twist after many years of fighting and rivalry including the building in 2005, and then demolition in 2012, of Northwich’s Victoria Stadium ground which shared a car park with Wincham Park, the two clubs now share the ground!
In recent years Witton have been the most successful of the lot although they currently find themselves in step 4 of non league after being relegated from the Northern Premier League last season. They have had a slow start to the season and Today saw them come up against promotion seeking Leek Town who are managed by former Crewe Alexandra assistant manager of over 23 years and absolute local legend Neil Baker.
The first half started with the hosts on top. 10 minutes in and they had the ball in the back of the net after a long range shot is parried to the feet of the onrushing striker who tapped the ball home. Unfortunately the celebrations were cut short as the assistant had flagged for offside! Witton continued to pile forward and after 20 minutes an attack saw the forward go down in the penalty area, but the shouts for a penalty were waved away by the ref.
Just a couple of minutes later the dominance from the hosts would pay off after the winger had forwards queuing up on the edge of the box. A good ball was met with a powerful strike into the bottom corner giving the hosts a deserved lead.
The rain began to lash down heavily and we were forced to move to the back of the stand to take cover from the awful conditions! Meanwhile Leek took the ball up to the other end but their first real chance of the game was kept out by a brilliant save.
Just before the break it looked as if Leek were back on level terms but after some initial confusion the goal was disallowed for handball (I think!). The visitors weren’t happy but Witton went into half time with a deserved 1 goal advantage.
Into the second half we went and Leek were quick out of the blocks getting an equaliser just a couple of minutes into the half. I’ll be honest, they were too quick for us as we were still enjoying the warmth of the main stand bar as the goal went in so I couldn’t tell you if it was a good goal or not! oops!
The second half was like a complete mirror image of the first, with Leek this time completely dominating the ball and creating all the chances. There was nearly an embarrassing moment as a Witton defender booted the ball towards his own goal but it went just wide! Would have been a great finish as well! The visitors were really on top, and on 67 minutes a bullet header from a corner saw them take the lead.
Towards the end the game was becoming end to end with Witton trying to get back into the game. Leek could have had a third but the ball was shanked wide when it looked harder to miss than score! A late chance for Witton saw the ball headed over the top and Leek and their travelling fans went home with 3 points in the bag which move them up the 2nd in the table!
Now to rate our day at Wincham Park, or to give it’s most recent sponsorship name, ‘The U LOCK IT Stadium’:
Location: 5/10
Wincham Park is located, funnily enough, near the village of Wincham on the outskirts of the Town of Northwich. The ground is on the edge of an Industrial estate around a 30 minute walk from the Town centre and train station.
The ground has a large, but very bumpy, car park with plenty of space even with today’s larger than usual crowd in attendance. Sadly there are no pubs in close proximity to the ground.
Kit: 8/10
Witton play in a red and white striped top, with black shorts and black and red socks. We both really liked the design of the kit with the stripes starting light and fading into a darker, more solid red colour towards the bottom of the shirt. The back being mostly solid red made the numbers easy to see. The only downside, as with most striped kits, was the fact the sponsor was difficult to make out.
The less said about the Leek away kit the better I think, although Emma said that perhaps they were attempting to imitate the colour of a leek!?
Facilities: 8/10
The bar at Wincham Park is located within the main stand and is actually quite confusing to find at first. Once in the ground you walk along the front of the main stand, past the tunnel and directors box and then finally there is a small gap in the seats and a doorway through to the bar area. The bar itself is a big room with plenty of large round tables. Screens showing the Rugby League world cup were on the walls and there was a large dancefloor and stage in the middle of the room. I tried to get my Dad and Grandad throwing some shapes but instead straight to the bar they went.
Back outside and within the ground itself we were spoilt for choice when it came to food kiosks. As you come into the ground there is a small hut selling cans (more on that later!). On the far side is a Northwich Victoria branded snack bar, and next to the main stand was ‘Queenie’s’ which sold hot food and drinks.
The ground is also home to the self proclaimed ‘Probably the best non league museum in the world’. Stupidly, after being told by a few people beforehand to make sure we visited the museum, we decided to look in it after the game finished, and by then it was closed! I guess we will have to return to the ground, possibly for a (I’ll say it quietly) Northwich Victoria game in the future and this time we will make sure we go inside BEFORE the game!
Look: 8/10
The main stand at Wincham Park contains 5 rows of seating and stretches the full length of the pitch. It contains all the grounds seating which is an impressive 600. The stand is also home to the bar, boardroom and changing rooms. We sat in this stand for the whole match and had a decent view from the bottom, and once it had started raining, top of the stand!
The other 3 sides of the ground all have very similar covered terracing with large green roofs meaning plenty of cover is available wherever you choose to watch the game from. The ground has played host to football as high as The Conference and you can tell the ground is more than good enough to host football above the clubs current step 4 level.
Food and Drink: 6.5/10
As I mentioned above, Queenie’s was our food vendor of choice at todays game. We queued up at half time, bellies rumbling and spotted burgers on the menu. Sadly when we got to the front it was pies only though, and just meat and potato pies left. So a pie for my Dad and a pie and chips to share for us it was! The pie was really good with the filling really peppery and full of flavour and the chips were up there with some of the best we have had at a football ground. Sadly though we have had to mark them down due to the lack of variety, although as we mentioned above there were other food vendors around the ground so perhaps more variety was available elsewhere.
In the bar the drink choice looked to be good, but as we got to the bar almost all of the taps had empty glasses over them and were not in use. Disappointing again so it was San Miguel all round! As Emma was just about giving up all hope of a dark fruits at todays game, we decided to do a lap of the ground at half time. That was when we stumbled across the bar selling cans near the turnstile, and THERE THEY WERE, dark fruit cans at £3 each! Bonus half point and a happy Emma!
TOTAL SCORE: 35.5/50
We both enjoyed our trip too rainy Northwich to a ground and club I have read lots about. This was our first of hopefully many trips to a ground in the North West and it was great to get my Dad and Grandad to yet another non league game with my Grandad visiting the ground for the first time in around 30 years!
The match itself was an interesting one with 2 disallowed goals and one half being dominated by each team. On the balance of play a draw would have probably been a fair result, but Leek will have enjoyed the bonfire night celebrations after the game slightly more than their hosts as their promotion challenge continues. Witton will be disappointed to go away with nothing, but should take confidence from the fact they put in a good performance against a side near the top and will hope that similar performances in the future will see them rise up the table.
If you would like to see where this places Witton in our Non League Leaderboard click here: NON LEAGUE
If you’d like to see the Football League grounds we have visited click here: The 92
Emma’s Ground Guide 