Under 21 League serves up another cracker

Saturday 8 February 2025, Sutton United (Birmingham) U21s 3 Stafford Rangers Under 21s 3 - MFL U21, North Division, Coleshill Road Stadium

My third time this season watching games in the Midland U21 League, all have been good with this one probably the best of the lot. Sutton went ahead within a few minutes of the start and were 2 up within 10 minutes and looked far sharper than Stafford Rangers but suddenly the visitors seemed to get their game together and were back on level terms within 24 minutes, only for Sutton to take the lead again before half an hour had been played.

The second half was quite even and the only surprise was taht there was just one more goal scored, the visitors getting an equaliser after 75 minutes.

Many of us here are not keen on new grounds and some are made even worse with a G4 pitch, but if you are going to have to build a new stadium, you can't get much better than Sutton, well looked after pitch, hard standing on all 4 sides, even some astro turf terracing steps behind one goal. Plus a cafe/ bar doing good business with plenty of parents watching two younger teams playing on the smaller pitches. Obviously a well run club, who are very proud of their new home.

Then it was just a short drive to Coventry to see Ipswich play in the FA Cup

Coventry City 1 Ipswich Town 4

FA Cup Round 4

CBS Stadium

Town’s second string never looked in any danger of being defeated by a Coventry side which until Wednesday’s loss to Leeds had won five in a row, perhaps illustrating the difference between the divisions.

Jack Clarke was perhaps the biggest of plenty of positives for Town, the summer signing netting twice and assisting one and giving the Coventry defence a tough time all afternoon.

Worth the drive

 A midland double - another dip into the Midland Under 21 League then onto Gornal Athletic - to tick a ground on bucket list

12 noon
Walsall Wood Under 21s 4 Stafford Rangers Under 21s 0
MFL Under 21 Division, North
Oak Park

Arrived to an almost deserted ground, had good chat with a couple related to one of the Stafford players, main talking point for the Walsall Wood locals was the survival of the 1st team - third in the Division, but the manager followed by the players have walked out last week. Not being paid the issue - not sure where the money has gone, as it certainly has not been spent on the ground and the pitch. When I see the work Ipswich Wanderers have had to do to play at the same level in the East, do wonder if there are a different set of rules in other regions! Saying that, loved the ground, old wooden stand and the pit wheel in the field behind the ground.

The off field issues certainly did not seem to concern the Under 21 team as they were one nil up in the first minute and 3 nil up by half time. they added a further goal in the second half, for an easy win against a team who were second in the division at the start of the day. Will try and dip into this division again, a good way of seeing grounds you may not visit and the standard of football is OK.

It was then off to 

Gornal Athletic 1 Birstall United Community 1

Midland League, Divsions One

Garden Walk

This ground is a 'must visit' - I have been lucky enough to have been on a few of the hops to Romania and Serbia and we would be going overboard on how great this ground is if we hade visited something similar in Eastern Europe.

It is not just the ground that is great, obvious from listening to the fans, that this is real community club, and with most of them stood close together on the steep terrace, you get to hear some great conversations and banter. What ever they get - new ground wise, they will miss the Garden Walk but the new ground will bring benefits to the club, what they must try hard not to lose, is that close knit community spirit that obviously exists at this club - that may be a harder task to retain.

Just enjoy the photos - then plan your visit, they may be gone soon!