TT No.117: Ian Hill - Tues 13 November 2007: United Counties Premier Div. St Neots Town 3-1 Potton United Att: 128; Admn: £5; Programme: 40 pages, £1.00; FGIF Match Rating: 2*

Rowley Park, home of St Neots Town FC, is currently on the edge of a building site as a new estate is being constructed around the ground. This is  good news for the club. The developers are in the process of building a new ground for the Saints as part of the land deal. The new ground is very close to Rowley Park but I could not see it as it was a very dark night in St Neots! So if you want to visit the current ground I would definitely imagine that this is the last season it will be used.    Photographs of the new ground are on display in the clubhouse so that the progress can be monitored. The clubhouse, grandstand and covered terrace behind a goal look like they are nearly completed.   Rowley Park is on the outskirts of St Neots but is well located for the rail user. Adjacent to the railway line it can be easily seen from trains on the Kings Cross line as you enter St Neots station. The ground is about a 10 minute walk away. All the facilities are located on one side of the ground. A large tidy clubhouse dominates with the changing rooms located inside. In front is a steel constructed grandstand with blue tip up seats.  Gossip around the ground suggested that the stand is on its way to Brackley Town when the Saints move out.  Each side of the stand is a small amount of covered hard standing that runs the length of the pitch. A mobile burger van/trailer serves food if you require it.    The Saints programme is usually one of the best in the UCL. This season it has an artists impression of what the new ground will look like on the front cover. Inside the A5 sized programme is a mixture of glossy page adverts and black & white club news.    The game itself was a drab affair and there was nothing much to warm the crowd up on a cold November evening. The first half was 0-0 with the highlight being Potton hitting the cross bar.   Potton opened the scoring in the second half on 65 minutes but St Neots hit back with three goals of their own to win the game.   Rowley Park is nothing special but it is a tidy well looked after ground. It will be strange to look out of the train window and see it disappear, so this is one to visit as soon as you can.

contributed on 16/11/07