Saturday 26th September 2020
Midlnand Football League Division One
at Maple Grove
Stapenhill FC (1) 2
Callum Riddell 35
Ben Gough 48
GNP Sports (1) 2
James Taylor 19
Harry Reilly 59
Attendance: 88
Point & hope photo gallery: Click HERE
Stapenhill:
Paul Hollis, Ryan Pearce, Ben Gough, Zaki Evans, Matt Roome (C), Harry Lansdowne, Connor Richins, William Mansfield, Callum Riddell, Scott Staniland, Jack Humphreys
Subs - Samuel Birks, Dan Brooks, Lewis Campbell, Benn Minshull, Charlie Rumin
GNP Sports:
Taylor Davis, Dale Wigmore, Nathan Parker, Brennan King (C), Reid Kearns, Luke Swinnerton, James Taylor, Harry Reilly, Djibril Diedhiou, Ryan Murphy, Owen Wassall,
Subs - Troy Anderson, Nathan Cadby, Charlie Cook, Jensen Newey, Toby Scott
Subs - Troy Anderson, Nathan Cadby, Charlie Cook, Jensen Newey, Toby Scott
And so it came to pass, that on 26th September 2020, I finally completed my long-standing quest to visit Maple Grove, when I finally made my inaugural pilgrimage to watch the Swans of Stapenhill, a Midlands League Division One club, based on the southern fringes of the Staffordshire town of Burton-upon-Trent right and slap bang on the boundary line for the Derbyshire border.
Stapenhill FC were originally founded in 1947 and joined the Leicestershire Senior League Division Two a decade later. They Subsequently won promotion at the first attempt and then topped that achievement by claiming the Division One title for the next two seasons.
Besides spending a year back in the second division during the 1971-72 campaign, the Swans remained in the top flight of the Leicestershire League (renamed as the Premier Division) until the end of the 1988-89 season when, after winning the championship (an honour that they had also achieved two years previously), they were on the move to the Midland Combination Premier Division, where they spent the next five seasons, until they became one of the founding members of the Midland Alliance.
But having resigned from the Alliance halfway through the 2001-02 campaign, Stapenhill re-joined the Leicestershire League Division One again the following season and won promotion to the Premier Division at the first time of asking, when they finished as runners up.
After four years back at that level the Swans picked up their fifth Premier Division title and in 2008 were once again on the move back to the Midland Alliance, but disaster struck and the club were forced to close down after a serious fire damaged their ground.
After reforming in 2009, Stapenhill once again took their place in the Leicestershire Senior League, before moving to the East Midlands Counties League in 2013 and then the Midland League Division One for the start of the 2018-19 season, as part of the FA's restructuring of the non-league game.
Of course, everybody knows how and why last season ground to a premature halt, but the Swans have seemingly become past-masters at surviving all kinds of adversity by now and they were quick to set up a fundraising scheme to help them to survive any financial hardship and impact caused by the enforced lock-down as the Covid pandemic took hold.
GNP Sports FC began life as Longford FC (a district of Coventry) in 1983 and underwent a name change two years later when they adopted the title of GNP Sports by way of a tribute to Guru Nanak Prakash Gurdwara.
Fast forward to the 2017-18 season... and having spent time in both the Midland Football Combination and the Coventry Alliance League, GNP Sports joined the Midland League Division Three and successfully achieved back to back promotions (and League Cup honours) as they made a rapid ascent to Division One, which is of course the level that they were playing at this afternoon in the guise of visitors to Stapenhill.
There was only ever likely to be one winner at Maple Grove this afternoon... and that was the blustery and chill wind that was sinking it's teeth in deep to remind everyone that Summer is well and truly over and when all is said and done, football is a Winter sport.
Credit where it is due to all concerned, for their efforts to overcome the elements and provide those who had put on an extra layer and ventured outdoors with a competitive and entertaining game, that could have gone either way right up until the moment that the match referee: Matt Broadhurst sounded the final whistle and everybody present made haste to get out of the cold ASAP
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| Taylor Davis' penalty save |
Both sides had chances during the opening exchanges, while the two managers shouted out instructions imploring their respective sides to 'keep it on the deck' in an effort to counter the stiff breeze that was putting up a fearsome and selfish battle to gain control of the ball all for itself.
Nine minutes in, the home side were awarded a penalty, which Connor Richins struck straight down the middle, but was thwarted by Taylor Davis who got down smartly to push the ball away, just out of the reach of Callum Riddell, who couldn't quite get a decisive touch on the rebound.
Davis went on to be the Swans' nemesis for much of the afternoon, with a string of impressive saves.
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| "...a peach of a dipping shot" |
Stapenhill were quickly on the attack, looking to restore parity, but Davis was still putting up a stubborn resistance, until the thirty-fifth minute, when Riddell clipped a peach of a dipping shot from outside the area that nestled just under the bar and into the top right hand corner of the goal.
'Twas a quality finish, regardless of a few mutterings about it being "Wind assisted and fluky" from a group of travelling supporters.
Having gone in on level terms at the break, the Swans took the lead three minutes after the restart, when Riddell's final touch let him down in front of the visitors goal, but they failed to clear their lines and when the ball made it's way through to Ben Gough who was arriving at ramming speed from the left flank and he belted an unstoppable shot past Davis.
Stapenhill looked to build on their lead, but their visitors were definitely not just here to make the numbers up and just before the hour mark, it was all square again, when Ryan Murphy surged forward after Djibril Diedhiou released him through the right channel with a precision pass, but even though his stinging effort was blocked, Harry Reilly was on hand to nudge the loose ball past Paul Hollis.
Davis continued to prevent Stapenhill from racking up a feast of goals, with a display that surely must've put him in contention for the 'man of the match' honours, denying Riddell, Kaki Evans and Sam Birks in quick succession, while the Coventry based visitors picked up the ante again towards the end and went close through James Taylor's header from Luke Swinnerton's right wing corner delivery, Harry Reilly's shot that took a deflection and flew wide of the upright and Murphy who crashed a long range shot against the right hand post.
Diedhiou and Reilly both went close in stoppage time as the visitors almost nicked the points while Birks speculative long range effort almost caught Davis out... it was worth a go with the ball moving about the way it did in that bloody wind.
FT: Stapenhill 2 v GNP Sports 2
Personally, I thought that the draw was a fair result all told, Stapenhill had perhaps shaded the possession stats, but that alone doesn't win games and both teams had enjoyed spells when they were in the ascendancy.
Stapenhill is a great club to visit, full to the brim with friendly and good natured souls (including the away supporters) it was smashing to have finally made their acquaintance and to break my previously experienced streak of travel mishaps and defeat the curse of postponements and fixture alterations.
Oh yeah... I nearly forgot to say, if you enjoy combining your football days out with a culinary experience, a fish and chip van visits Maple Grove at half-time... you don't get that at your food franchise fascist Premier League stadiums.
