Tuesday 7th August 2012 ko 6.20pm

Midland Combination Division Two

ALCESTER TOWN 5 (Gifford 17 52 86 Blackwood 67 Styler 69)

BARNT GREEN SPARTAK 0

Att 45 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Programme £1

Tea 50p

Sometimes my choice of a game is really straightforward. Alcester, near Stratford-upon-Avon is only 30 miles from work, and an early non-floodlit kick off meant I’d get to Stratford Road in perfect time.

The town, on the Warwickshire side of the border with Worcestershire was an important settlement based around a Benedictine monastry. The town lost influence after the dissolution of the monastries in 1536 and nowadays is a pretty market town, the Tudor buildings still very much in evidence. Sadly the ground is set out of the town easily found on the way in from Stratford, in contrast with their old home at Conway Fields. That was little more than a public park though so to progress a move was virtually inevitable, especially with the club winning last season’s Stratford Alliance.

The ground is certainly interesting, set in agricultural land. In a former life it was clearly a driving range, and the cover is of great benefit to spectators. The rooms behind have been converted to changing rooms and a tea bar, and you can imagine that the next stage will be a rail for the pitch, currently the sole development for the new league is the rather natty dugouts!

For all of that, what really attracted the hoppers to this game was the programme. Its not compulsory to issue in this division, but Alcester clearly think that a programme is something they ought to do, and something to hopefully generate some much needed funds. I noted that even for a crowd massively augmented by the hoppers, they still had a large number of copies left over at the end, hopefully they’ll adjust their production run accordingly. I have long noted that what some travellers regard as an adequate programme run, can be ruinously expensive for a club.

I was also pleased to see Barnt Green Spartak back in the Midland Combination. Very much the baby of their chairman Avtar Singh, they’ve added colour to the league, not least by their bright orange shirts! I remember Mr Singh being very kind when I visited a few years ago during their stint at Alvechurch (they’re now at Pilkington XXX for this season though) so I was sad to see them exit a couple of years ago citing lack of players.

The vistors may new have players but on this occasion they were found sadly wanting, as Alcester found them easy to tear apart. Jamie Gifford helped himself to his second hat-trick in two games, and Barnt Green were barely able to muster an attack. Hopefully they’ll learn from this mauling, as the Midland Combination is a better league for their presence, and Mr Singh a force for good in the local game. How many chairman have sponsored the game when they were the visitors? Mr Singh did when I saw Barnt Green play at Nuneaton Griff a few years ago. Such people deserve the rub of the (Barnt) green.