I am off to a new ground for me today, namely the Illey Lane home of the new phoenix club called Bartley Green Illey, who have arisen out of the ashes of the now defunct Bartley Green FC. Six months ago, local residents Jamie and Chantell Marler took on the building of this new club by signing a five year lease of this ground with the landlords. They are looking to make it a community club and aim to develop a youth set up in the future and they already also have a Sunday team up and running too.
I work out my route on the 'Traveline West Midlands' website and decide to take the train from Worcester to Shrub Hill station and then catch the No.22 bus from the nearby stop in Colmore Row.
Bartley's opponents today are the current leaders of the West Midlands League, Div 2, Darlaston Town (1874) FC. Darlaston too are a new club this season, replacing the old Darlaston Town. It's good to see that there are people who do not want to see their clubs go out of existence altogether.
The weather is very promising when I leave home, nice and sunny although a little chilly. I'm glad that I am not going to the New Street station today as I know it's going to extremely busy due to the Christmas shopping frenzy.
When I get to Birmingham and go to catch my bus, of course it's about 10 minutes late. This bus takes me as far as Kitwell and then I have go on foot the rest of the way to the village of Illey. I have to make my way over the M5 very close to the Frankley Services M5 stop and then up the twisty route of Illey Lane, which is in the countryside and consequently has no footpath alongside for most of the way. Not the most pleasant experience and I find myself thinking that I must be crazy doing this.
This walk is taking longer than I thought and I know I will miss the 2 pm kick-off, although I am heartened by the sight of floodlights in the near distance. At about 2:04 pm, I hear a cheer and guess that a goal has been scored already. A few minutes later I see the a sign on the roadside showing the turning for the ground.
As I trudge up the track to the ground, I hear another cheer for presumably another goal after 10 minutes. Damn, this is just like my trip last week!
So I turn to the right in front of the farm and can see the pitch above me. I walk through a small car park, then up some steps which are alongside a building which houses the changing rooms and a small clubhouse. I see the match that's underway with Bartley in their yellow and black strip with Darlaston in blue and white stripes.
I soon find out that the score is 2-0 in favour of Darlaston, which I strongly suspected to be the case, ( I later find out that both goals have been scored by the No.9 and player-manager, Mark Swann. Although Bartley are behind, they are certainly fighting back strongly, with their centre-forward, Brian Badza, proving to be a real handful for the Darlaston defence. His battle with the Darlaston defender, Ravi Sohal, is looking to be a key contest in this match.
After 29 minutes, Brian Badza scores a goal for Bartley after he fires in a loose ball in the visitors penalty area (as shown below).
It's not great playing conditions for the teams, with the pitch proving to be quite sticky due to the muddy surface.
Half-time arrives with no further score and Darlaston will be relieved to be still in the lead.
This ground certainly has a country feel, with the nearby farms and plenty of trees around the ground. Even the Bartley club badge has an owl! It has a ramshackle look to it. On my right, by the side of the pitch are some shoddy looking portacabin buildings which don't look as if they are being used. Beyond them is situated the main stand which has 3 rows of seats. On my left are the team dug-outs and also a small stand with just room for a single row of seating.
The teams start for the second half and the conditions are not making it easy for either of them.
It's Bartley who score the next goal after 59 minutes. A scuffed clearance by the Darlaston keeper goes straight to the dangerous Badza. He goes round the keeper and then evades a tackle to put the ball in the net. A bad mistake by the league leaders but they rectify this 10 minutes later. Some slick passing down the left and then a great through pass to their veteran striker, John Reeves, enables him to beat the advancing Bartley keeper.
It proves to be the last goal of the contest and is a worthy match winning effort!
This win keeps Darlaston on top of the table, ahead of Oakengates their nearest rivals but Bartley must be heartened by the way they took them so close.
Near the end of today's game, I spoke to Darlaston's affable Chairman, Neil Chambers. He told me that although his team have their old ground available to go back to if they so wish, it was extremely unlikely to happen as it had now got into a derelict condition. So they will have to share with their new landlords, Red Star Alma, for the foreseeable future but it's a start and they have certainly made very good progress this season. He also tells me that he wrote a book telling about the history of the club. Sounds interesting.
Bartley Green Illey are also making progress to establish themselves again and I will be taking note of this in the future.
Match attendance: about 25
Entrance fee: free
Match programme: none available
Entertainment value: 6.5 /10
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