Saturday 22nd August 2026 kpo 15:00

Northern Premier League, Premier Division

LEEK TOWN 4 (Weir 56 Panter 64 Griffiths 69 Bickerton 90)

BAMBER BRIDGE 1 (Ferguson 32p)

Att 442

Entry £14

Programme £3

This season I’m making a few changes. One is that I’m adopting a “Tidying up” policy- there are so many grounds I’ve yet to visit that make little sense, given the 2700-plus grounds I’ve seen a game on. One of these was Leek Town’s Harrison Park; I visited the now demolished Ball Haye Green, and Leek CSOB but not the biggest ground in town, why?

The answer is down to the groundhopper’s zone of opportunity. There are some places that seem too close for a Saturday game and too far midweek and Leek is a classic case of that. I’m based in Oxford, and finish work at 5:30pm so Leek is a tough call midweek, and as if to prove my point, I got stuck in traffic and took over 3 hours to reach the ground. I was glad of the Fanbase App to buy my ticket in advance to avoid the queues, and was fortunate that I could park easily nearby.

It all worked beautifully, I even had time to call in at the office to collect a teamsheet, thanks to chairman Jon Eeles for his dexterous use of he printer! I even had enough time to consider where I was! The town lies 10 miles north of Stoke-on-Trent, in the Churnet Valley (do take time to ride the Churnet Valley Steam Railway) and is at that point where the Black Country accent is half way to becoming Liverpudlian.

The ground is just about everything a groundhopper loves, set in its industrial hinterland, in the middle of town. There’s a large main stand, cover on all four sides, and enough quirks to make you grin. And after all this is a ground that has staged National League Premier football, and could easily do so again.

But look at it all more deeply, the club have really thought things through. The stand isn’t accessible by wheelchair, so a covered disabled enclosure opposite has just been opened. Then there’s the superb programme, and the mural on the far side. There’s so much to like about a club that does the little things well.

The game was interesting too. Both teams had sons of players with storied Everton pedigrees, Leek have David Weir’s son Lucas and Bamber Bridge have Duncan Ferguson’s son Cameron playing up front. Ferguson Senior was there, between jobs, to watch his child, trying to keep a lowe profile which is not easy when you’re Duncan Ferguson! Both famous sons scored but the hosts brushed off a slow start to their season, to win and win well.

The only question was why did I wait so long?