Spennymoor Town Reserves v Richmond Town

Venue: IMS Arena, aka Beechfield Park (formerly Coxhoe Athletic), Commercial Road East, Coxhoe, Co. Durham DH6 4LD.

Kickoff: 14:30 Saturday 30th August 2014.
Weather: sunny, dry, warmish but breezy, 18℃.

LOCATION REPORT

SatNav: DH6 4LD (follow signs for The Limes, a new Barratt housing development)
Club Staff on hand: several, including canteen guy, gate staff (north + south), raffle-ticket seller etc.
Parking: on-site carpark and side access road (c. 30+ spaces), plus on-street along Commercial Road.

Public transport: #X1 (Durham-Middlesbrough), #56 (Durham-Bishop Auckland), #57 (Durham-Kelloe) or #58 (Durham-Hartlepool) buses. Stop 100m away on Coronation Terrace/B6291.

Refreshments: The Canteen, with pies @ £1.30 and hotdogs @ £1.50, and a coffee for 70p which was pretty damn good.
Toilets: M+F+D, behind main stand
Stands/Terraces: Roofed main stand, Jon Purves Stand, seats approx 60. Additional roofed terraces on south and north sides (north side boasts luxury leather seating, see photo!).
Floodlights: none

MATCH REPORT

Approx crowd: 70 (of whom 20 sat in Jon Purves Stand). Several kids including babies in pushchairs. 1 dog, Bob the collie, who cheekily ran onto the pitch at halftime to his owner's acute embarrassment.

Full-time [h/t] score (colours):
5 [1] Spennymoor Town Reserves (black/white stripes)
0 [0] Richmond Town (blue)

Bookings: 2 (Richmond)
Sent Off: 0

Official Match Report: Wearside Football League

NORVENMUNKI's COMMENTS

I should've taken sunscreen, or at least worn a hat, as I reposed throughout the first half on the pitchside picnic bench getting slowly toasted.

I shifted to the main Jon Purves Stand in the second half to enjoy the shade and some banter with the regulars. 

Spennymoor Town Reserves used to be called Coxhoe Athletic. Or rather, Spennymoor Town previously had a Reserves side competing in the Durham Alliance (Step 8), whom I watched a few times on my last step of the Quest, but wanted to scale-up the level of opposition. From this year, they've linked up with Coxhoe Athletic, who have a proud heritage going back to 1950s but were struggling to engage a new generation of players, and thus Coxhoe morphed into Spennymoor.

This location used to be surrounded by brownfield land (as was evidenced by the Google photos) but now it's amidst a huge housing development. The neighbouring houses can watch for free from bedroom windows. I did note a remarkable pile of logs in the corner of the site, and I wondered what they will be used for?

The officials were all competent and anonymous, getting all the big calls right (including one linesman who looked about 15!), and there was no backchat from the players so evidently those with an allegiance to either side were sufficiently content with their decisions.

On the pitch, it was Spennymoor (with their #5 centre-half who looked 8 foot tall!) who dominated the play throughout. They scored midway through the first half, thanks to a nicely weighted through ball from midfield releasing the striker, who calmly rounded the keeper and slotted home.

The swirling wind didn't help set pieces or long crosses, but there was no shortage of ambitious creativity and both sides tried to break quickly and use their wide men.

At the back, both defences had the measure of the opposition and it never looked like a high scoring game. That was until the last quarter of the game, when Spennymoor turned up the heat. Two classy goals from open play were followed by inch-perfect freekick. Even a late penalty miss was soon followed by a fifth goal with the last kick of the game.

GBA rating: yes.

More info: The Accidental Groundhopper, 100 Grounds Club, Football Grounds In Focus