Northampton Sileby Rangers 0 – 1 Northampton Town: Only the second biggest sporting event in Northampton

The season had only started yesterday, but I had already outdone UEFA’s “week of football” with my own week. Rather than travelling around Europe to watch players I’d never heard of, I was able to do that in the Home Counties instead. After travelling to a new football league stadium on Saturday, Sunday saw the visit of a non-league ground as I travelled up to Northampton. I had seen the Cobblers play at Sixfields a number of times before, but this time I was to see them away from home, at Sileby Rangers – a club I had never heard of before this fixture.

Northampton Town had been playing this fixture for a number of years in pre-season as the traditional curtain-raiser, which usually attracted a big crowd and an even bigger scoreline (they won 9-0 last season). This had stood out to me when I was planning my friendlies, especially as I had never experienced a ground at step 5 of the non-league pyramid.

However, when I planned this game, I missed out the other big sporting event in Northamptonshire that day – the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. My route to Northampton would take me up the M1 up until the junction that tens of thousands of racing fans would also be using. After hearing on the Saturday morning from a friend of mine that he had spent over two hours just to get into the circuit for qualifying, I decided on a contingency plan. In the end, it worked a treat, as it took just over 50 minutes to get to the small village of Moulton.

Whilst parking was plentiful and free at the ground, it was initially confusing to find – as it turns out, Fernie Fields is split into two sections, and whilst the main part is used for football, you first have to drive past a community hall where there was a separate car park which was being used that day for a flower show! From there, I headed round to the clubhouse, which was surprisingly quiet given the size of crowd that were to attend the game.

After spending some time in there, I headed into the ground itself before the crowds started to grow (rain was forecast, and there was only covered seating for 150!). Entry was a very reasonable £6 for an adult ticket (considering this game was the big money-spinner for the club this season), although the programme seemed a bit light on content for £2. There was a small tea bar at the south end of the ground next to a small hot food stand, selling hot dogs and burgers which seemed to be selling very well.

Fernie Fields is a very basic ground, but easily adequate for that level (the 9^th division of football in England). The west side of the ground had the previously mentioned small stand holding about 150 people over 4 rows (with wheelchair bays – brilliant to see disabled access catered for at this level) with small covered standing either side of it. The other three sides were little more than a path, which were able to accommodate one row of standing against the pitch perimeter fence. The rear of these sides were smart though, with hedges rather than metal sheeting, making the ground look like a small but quaint part of the English countryside.

Northampton named a pretty strong squad for the match (with the pre-season tradition of naming two different sides either side of half time), with four trialists joining in during the first half as well. These included former Stevenage striker Sam Hoskins and Reading youngster Gozie Ugwu (a bright prospect, who was unexpectedly released in 2014 and went on to be top scorer for two separate clubs in the 14/15 season). In addition, the squad included another Reading youth player in Lawson D’Ath and part of Stevenage’s most successful side in Joel Byrom. Adam Smith, the Leicester goalkeeper who was released after the controversy in Thailand, was also involved as one of Northampton’s new signings. On the other hand, I knew absolutely nothing about Sileby’s side, other than that their number 4 is the tallest footballer I have ever seen.

The game itself was pretty average – from the opening exchanges it was clear that this was not going to be another 9-0 demolition job. Whilst Ugwu and Hoskins linked up quite effectively up front (not completely unexpected, as they were both at Yeovil towards the end of last season, although I’m not sure if they ever played together), the Sileby goalkeeper was having a stormer and made a series of saves that a Premier League goalkeeper would be proud of. There was even a moment that wouldn’t look out of place in a FIFA game, when the ball hit the woodwork and came out for rebounds about 5 times in as many seconds!

However, on 26 minutes he could do nothing as Hoskins slotted home, but this was to be the only goal of the game. Northampton continued to press, but in the end the one goal was the difference. The second half was punctuated by the rain showers that had earlier proven decisive in the nearby Formula 1 race, resulting in fans rushing to the tea bar for cover whilst I sat smugly in a covered seat. The drive home was a pain (taking nearly 2 hours to get from Northampton to Luton on the M1 due to post-race traffic) and the match wasn’t as enjoyable as the previous day’s offerings, but it was still early in the season and it was just good to be able to get to games!