Today I am partially rectifying my avoidance of the West Midlands League this season. This has been a major oversight on my part, particularly regarding the Premier Division as the title race is featuring 4 teams when for a long time it looked like that Lye Town would be the likely winners. They are in first place but have been stumbling a bit recently and had a morale sapping 2-3 away defeat at Bewdley in mid-week. The other teams in the mix are Pegasus Juniors, Wolverhampton Casuals and one of the teams I am going to see today, Shawbury United.
So I am heading on the train to the small town of Oakengates, which is part of Telford in Shropshire where Wellington Amateurs have their ground. It's not a town I have ever visited before, although I have been to Shropshire several times in the past.
I make my way to Birmingham from Worcester and then board the Shrewsbury train. Within 50 minutes I have arrived at Oakengates and the weather is still cloudy and cold! Typical British holiday weather.
I must admit I am not very impressed by this town's small shopping centre. There appears to be no cafes that are open, indeed there are not that many shops, definitely some charity shops and a rather grotty Co-op food store. Even visiting the public toilets is disheartening as I find the remains of burnt pieces of paper on the floor of the cubicle I go into. Looks like a local pyromaniac has been trying to torch the place!
There is good news for any real ale loving ground-hoppers who come this way as I note a pub, called 'The Fighting Cocks' that sells beer from the local Ironbridge Brewery. Indeed there seems to be several pubs all within a short staggering distance of each other.
So after having a snack at the local branch of Greggs, I make the short walk to the Wickes Stadium home of the 'Amateurs'. Founded in 1950, they were called by this name so as to avoid any confusion with Wellington Town who later morphed in to 'Telford United' and then the re-formed AFC Telford, who of course are going great guns at the top of the Skrill North this season. Wellington Amateurs have made steady progress since their formation and have featured in this division for the last few years.
Shawbury their Shropshire rivals have been challenging at the top of the West Mid Premier for several seasons. They ground share at Wem Town, which is about 5 miles away from the village of Shawbury.
The entrance fee is only £3 + £1 for the programme.
So the teams troop out with Wellington in red & black and the visitors decked out in black & white striped shirts.
The match is not of the best quality to be honest. Plenty of endeavour but played at a quite frenetic pace at times, probably a typical local derby.
Shawbury who are attacking away from the southern end of the ground, where I'm standing, go close after 10 minutes when their No.10 shoots across the goal from the right side of the penalty area.
There seems to be a crowd of about 30-40 today. I was expecting a larger crowd but AFC Telford are at home today which can't help I suppose and I later find out that they had an attendance of 2,048 at their game, which is certainly impressive.
The game seems to be heading for a goal less first-half but Shawbury have been bossing the last 15 minutes and it's no surprise to me when they score a good goal in injury time. Again it's from an attack down the right and the Shawbury forward buries the ball in to the opposite corner of the net.
The Wickes Stadium home of the 'Amateurs' has a small club house on the entrance side of the ground, which features a small seated stand in the front.There are toilets on the one side of this with what looks like a porta- cabin building on the other which probably houses the club's offices.
There is another small covered area on the other side of the pitch and the team dug-out's are located on this side too.
I had a chat with one of the locals in the first-half who is watching the game while walking his dog. It turns out that he went to the College at Worcester (now the University) in his youth and has fond memories of playing for the football teams there.
When the teams come out after the interval I am wondering if the home team will be able to get back in to the game. The weather has improved though and we are now basking in sunshine although it's still not that warm.
In response to my thoughts, Wellington press hard and start to give Shawbury's defence a few problems but without looking that threatening. They are lacking a bit of quality up front against their higher placed rivals.
During this half I start chatting to a guy who is a Shawbury supporter. He tells me that his team are looking to have their own ground in Shawbury in the future and also informs me that Wellington have been told that their present ground is not up to the required standard and will have to move elsewhere. This surprises me as although the standard of the pitch could be better I thought the ground itself was not too bad.
As the game progresses Shawbury become more and more of an attacking threat and on several occasions go close to doubling their advantage. With about 20 minutes to go they indeed do score again, their No.6 volleying in from the edge of the area, as shown below.
A deserved score for the title-challengers for the all the pressure they have been putting on the home defence.
With the score still at 0-2 I make my way out of the ground with a few minutes to go as I'm a bit worried about missing my train which is only an hourly service back to Birmingham. I go on a different route this time and in the spring sunshine, Oakengates with wooded hills surrounding it looks a much better sight to me.
So it's been good to go to a new ground today and it will interesting to see if the Amateurs do have to move to another ground. It seems to be a nice friendly club and they do have talent coming through the youth ranks (as stated in the programme) as their Under-16 team won the County Cup the previous Sunday.
Shawbury United are still in with a shout with the league title this season and I'm sure it won't be decided till right at the end.
PS. The Wellington club secretary, Graeme Mc.Dermott has kindly informed me that the club's ground and facilities have been passed fit for Level 6 football for next season, thanks to work carried out over the last 12 months.
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