Pre-Season Friendlies 2025

[Rhodes]

1 hour ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 28 June

Potters Bar Town 3 AFC Welwyn 0 

A groundhopper from another Forum was in attendance at this affair:

Pre-Season Friendly
AFC Welwyn 3-0 Potters Bar Town
Admission: £5, Drink: £4.50 for a cider
And we're back underway for 2025/26! Quite an early start for me, just the second match I've ever watched in the month of June, with the other coming in 2021 off the back of lockdown restrictions finally coming to an end.
Typical fare for a first pre-season friendly, started at a decent intensity but died down as it went on due to a combination of the heat, player rotation and fatigue setting in. This was billed as a "trialist match" on Welwyn's social media and not even mentioned on Potters Bar's, and it's safe to say Welwyn have the stronger set of trialists in based on this as they were the better side throughout. First goal came around twenty minutes in, then a penalty doubled the lead on 55 minutes before the third came in the 87th minute. Certainly did the job for both sides to get preparation started for the new season.
Potters Bar spent most if not all of last season playing home games elsewhere due to the laying of a 3G pitch at their Parkfield ground, so this was the first match they've played at their actual home in a while. I don't know what if anything has changed beyond the new surface (apart from a new burger bar, which was sadly not open today), but it's a smart little set-up they've got here.
The oldest of the stands is obvious and is of a decent size (and is mercifully in the shade, much needed today), while a few other Arena stands have been added here and there as the club have climbed the pyramid to their current level. Work is ongoing to build a new turnstile block behind the near goal as well. The bar serves a decent range of alocholic drinks and has a vending machine for a limited range of food options, but with the burger bar closed that's all there was for food (leaving me with little option than to go to the McDonalds by the station for the lunch, not having know the burger bar wouldn't be open when I left).
All in all, a decent set up that should serve Potters Bar well for years to come, as well as AFC Welwyn for however long they end up groundsharing here.
Thanks to the wind, it didn't feel as oppressively hot today as I was expecting it to and that made for fairly easy travelling to and from this game. The journey from Peterborough on the train involves going to Stevenage and then changing there, with it being a pretty tight connection to hit on the way back. But, apart from a 15-minute delay of the first train of the day (which was offset by skipping all the other stops between Peterborough and Stevenage), no issues with trains at all today. Fingers crossed for that being a pattern that continues as the season progresses.

[Rhodes]

1 hour ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 5 July

Leicester St Andrews v Desborough Town (Wreake Valley Academy, Leicester 3g, kick off 3.00pm)

This one will be worth attending won't it:

[Rhodes]

59 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 28 June

Potters Bar Town 3 AFC Welwyn 0 

Another groundhopper, seemingly a Potters Bar Town follower, from another Forum was in attendance at this one, he has a point about 'meaningless' friendlies doesn't he:

Another at AFC Welwyn v Potters Bar. Which could be billed as a bunch of trialists v a bunch of trialists. Excellently summed up by Atavistic.
Clear to say that their trialists were better than ours. With our full 1st team squad training earlier in the day, none took any part in the game. Hard to see any of those on show being up to Step 3 level, although maybe its harsh to base that on just 1 game where the heat played a huge part.
We gave the game no publicity, as that would acknowledge that our 1st game back, after a season away, would be an away game, albeit against our tenants.
I'm not a fan of friendlies & this just reinforced that concept. A load of strangers getting to know each other & expected to perform like they've gelled. Still, nice to catch up with a few people.
The burger bar referred to above was only lifted in a few days ago & yet to be plumbed in & gas connected. Similarly the cafe has not yet been stocked properly. Hopefully both will be up and running soon. Aside from the 3G the ground on the whole has been smartened up, the church end stand replaced with a larger at cost & 3 steps built along the whole of the far side. The replacement stand behind the goal, still gives an awful view watching the game through the net.
I'm told capacity has increased to 3k. We can dream that 1 day it will be needed.

[Rhodes]

2 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Tuesday 1 July

Harpenden Town v Wembley (kick off 7.45pm)

Let's get ready to rumble:

[Rhodes]

6 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Tuesday 1 July

Irchester United v Newport Pagnell Town (kick off 7.45pm)

How do we see this affair going this evening:

[Rhodes]

On 01/07/2025 at 13:42, Rhodes said:

Tuesday 1 July

Codicote v AFC Welwyn (Stockwood Park Academy, Luton 3g, kick off 7.15pm) 

A groundhopper from another Forum was at the Stockwood Park Academy:

Pre-season Friendly
Codicote v AFC Welwyn 2-8 (ht 2-3)
Venue: Stockwood Park Academy 3g, Rotheram Avenue, Luton (ko 19.00hrs)
Entry: Free, no prog: h/c 36
Two seasons ago Codicote ran tonight's visitors close in their Spartan South Midlands League Division Two clashes but AFC Welwyn have been promoted twice since then and that certainly showed tonight.
Codicote opened and closed the scoring in the first half and also hit the bar twice. But Welwyn still created more chances and scored three in reply. They ran rampant after the break with four goals in the first eleven minutes. Somehow they only added one more to their tally despite creating multiple further chances. It could have been more but, for me, it was ample compensation for starting this season with a goalless draw.
A standard floodlit 3g cage in the grounds of a new (or maybe rebuilt) Academy. No specific spectator area but plenty of room along the touchlines. Large car park, toilet in reception and that's it for facilities. Still, a nice enough location in the warm summer's evening sunshine, except for the drone of the nearby yet hidden M1.

 

Edited Thursday at 14:35 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 01/07/2025 at 13:42, Rhodes said:

Saturday 5 July

Huntingdon Town v Kettering Town (kick off 3.00pm)

This is going to be an interesting affair on Saturday isn't it:

[Rhodes]

On 01/07/2025 at 13:42, Rhodes said:

Friday 4 July

Old Bradwell United v Winslow United (Watling Academy, Milton Keynes 3g, kick off 7.00pm)

I have it on good authority that this was a thriller last night ending in a 4-3 win for Winslow United: