And so to the TRICO Stadium, aka The Valley, on Bromsgrove Road, Redditch in Worcestershire for a Southern Premier Central clash between Redditch United and Needham Market.
The Reds are one of the
longest-established football clubs in the Midlands, starting out as Redditch
Town in the Birmingham Combination League in 1891 and being crowned first ever
winners of the Worcestershire Senior Cup in 1894. The club prospered as
Redditch in the 1930s and again 20 years later when they were Birmingham
Combination champions in 1952 and 1955.
In 1971, United was added to
the name and the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first
time ever, with a record crowd of 4,500 rammed into the Valley Stadium to
see the Reds draw 1-1 with Division Four side Peterborough United, before
losing 6-0 in the replay.
The following season The
Reds joined the Southern League and were promoted to the Premier Division
at the end of the 1975-76 campaign, having scored more than 100 goals in the
process.
They were a founder member of
the Alliance Premier League at the start of 1979/80 but struggled and
finished bottom in their only top flight season, before plying their trade in
the Southern League for more than 20 years, enjoying another run to the first
round of the FA Cup in 1989 before losing 3-1 to Conference side Merthyr Tydfil
in front of a sell-out crowd. United then made headlines at the end of the
1997-98 season, playing nine games in nine days due to a backlog of fixtures
brought about by the poor weather.
At the end of the 2003/04
season, the Reds clinched an historic double promotion under the guidance of
manager Rod Brown. Having secured the Southern League Western Division, the
club then won two play-off matches to secure a place in the newly formed
Conference North where they stayed for seven seasons.
Although records show the
existence of a Needham Market Football Club during the late 1890s, the modern
club was officially established in 1919. They joined the Ipswich & District
League and subsequently won Division Two A in 1932–33 and after World
War II captured the Division Two title in 1946–47 before going on to win
Division One in 1952–53.
Following relegation in 1984,
in 1986–87 the Marketmen were Division One runners-up, earning promotion back
to the Senior Division. In
1996 the club were Senior Division champions, and were promoted to Division One
of the Jewson (then Ridgeon and now Thurlow Nunn) Eastern Counties League.
They were Division One runners-up in 2004/05 and were promoted to the Premier
Division. In 2006–07 the club won the East Anglian Cup, before going on to
finish as runners-up in the Premier Division and winning the League Challenge
Cup and the Suffolk Premier Cup in 2007–08, as well as reaching the
semi-finals of the FA Vase, losing 4–2 on aggregate to Kirkham & Wesham
(now AFC Fylde).
The 2009–10 season saw
Needham Market win the Premier Division title and the League Cup double,
earning promotion to Division One North of the Isthmian League. In their first
season in Division One, Needham finished as runners-up, qualifying for the
promotion play-offs, but losing 3–1 at home to Brentwood Town. The following
season the club finished third, again reaching the play-offs, but lost 1–0 to Enfield
Town. They qualified for the play-offs for a third time after finishing fifth
in 2014, this time losing 1–0 to Witham Town. Finally the Marketmen went
on to win the division in 2015, earning promotion to the Premier Division.
In 2017 they won the Suffolk Premier Cup for a second time.
Needham Market were
transferred to the Premier Central division of the Southern League at the end
of the 2017/18 season as part of the restructuring of the non-League pyramid.
After a bright start, the visitors from Bloomfields, named after former player
and club stalwart of 70 years Derrick Bloomfield, finished 11th last term - the
Marketmen sit 15th this time.
Roadworks on Chester Road
cause chaos and the dreary weather is matched by the traffic - but that allows
me to identify car registrations, and today it's spot the profession: R3V
MU (complete with dog collar !), WE11DER and BA 57EAM. Then I hit the M6
and smart motorway, a fleet of lorries and an army of workers, with signs
promising 28 more months of misery... all before smart motorways are
scrapped due to safety concerns.
To the M5 and StorageBase,
'Jolly good storage rooms', and then more speed restrictions due to Oldbury
Viaduct works and technology testing. Off at junction 4 to the A38, bypassing
Lickey End and working my way through congestion at The Forest in Bromsgrove.
Then the A448 and Catshill,
Finstall, Webheath, Headless Cross, Foxlydiate and Pitcher Oak Wood, the West
Midlands cloaked in clouds of grey, before hitting the Bromsgrove Road. Beyond
the Cricket & Hockey Club and I park up at Vicarage Crescent, refusing to
pay the £2 car park charge introduced this month, and then it's a quick walk via
Windmill Nursery and Terry's Playing Fields to the appropriately named The
Valley, nestling in a dip and surrounded by woodland and housing.
£11 in and the stadium is
dominated by the Comline Stand, the all blue (?) seater grandstand,
spectators downstairs, boardroom, bar and function room upstairs. The
supporters shop and Reds Café are open alongside, but the Tuck Shop and toilets
are closed; two Portakabins are situated on the other side.
To my right is the Sallie
Swan Stand, covered steep terracing with a tarmacked area to the front. Next is
the Baylis & Harding Stand, 2 rows housing 50 black seats and more covered
terracing, and where, despite a dismal crowd of 126 (compared to 1075 down the
road at Bromsgrove), there is plenty of vocal support... and protest at the
club's current predicament. In front of the stand are 12 (yes 12 !!) sets of
goalposts and behind is the Kingfisher Shopping Centre (check the club badge
!!). Up top is a flat standing area.
Redditch are in red and black
stripes, Needham in navy with yellow trim, on the 3G pitch, whilst the linesman
on the opposite is dreadlocked and goes by the name of Justice Jacobs.
The Reds make a bright start,
but it's not long before the Marketmen take charge. On ten minutes an incisive
move down the left sees Callum Page play in Adam Mills and his precise shot
hits the inside of the post and bounces out. Mills, with a header, and Page,
with a 20 yard shot, both go close in the next attacks. Then in four mad
minutes Needham plunder three goals....
On 27 a great run down the
left, a fine low cross from Mills, Page dummies and Craig Parker tucks the ball
into the bottom left corner. Two minutes later Parker's shot is well saved by
Reds' keeper Kieran Boucher but William Hunt slots home the rebound. Then on 31
a low cutback from Joe Marsden on the right and Page scores in the same corner.
Marsden hits the post just
before half time, with Redditch's only response a long range effort from Josh
Endall straight at Finlay Shorten; 3-0 to the Marketmen at the break.
Half time sees United
introduce substitute Hostidio Santos (but not number 12 Ben Stokes, who may
have other priorities....) but, in truth, the second period is anything but
hostile, more docile verging on drab.
Akeal Rehman at least
makes Shorten work for his first ever clean sheet, and a flurry of
substitutions brings the exotically named Jordao Da Encarnacao Tackey Diogo
onto the field for Market, who rarely move into second gear, believing
(correctly) the job is done.
The Marketmen's best moment
is Hunt's dink over a defender and then a volley wide, before in the final
minute Marsden hits the post again; the referee has seen enough and,
with mist shrouding The Valley, plays no stoppage time to conclude a
straightforward 3-0 Marketmen victory.
