TT No.226: Andrew Gallon - Sat 5th April 2008; Daventry United v Rothwell Corinthians;           United Counties League Div 1; Res: 0-2; Att: 25; Admn: £3; Programme: £1 (44pp); FGIF Match Rating: ***

The business end of the season is not the time to get jittery. Daventry United manager Darran Foster had labelled this a must-win game as the Motormen continued their battle with Peterborough Northern Star for the second promotion place in the United Counties League First Division. Daventry Town, unbeaten all season, are romping away with the title, though embittered United fans will tell you their neighbours, lucky enough to have a wealthy benefactor, are simply buying success. United, relegated from the top flight last season, emphatically don't like playing second fiddle to their local rivals but this shock defeat against mid-table opposition didn't do them any favours. The Motormen remain a point behind Northern Star with a game (at Daventry Town) in hand, and the next two Saturdays feature home-and-away showdowns with the Peterborough club. Could it be any more exciting?   Despite the gripping state of the promotion race, this wasn't, in all honesty, much of a game. The bizarre weather provoked more comment than the humdrum football. Glorious sunshine in the first half gave way to driving hail in the second, with a bitter wind gusting throughout. More January than April. Another climate change clue.   Daventry, according to their terrace critics, spent most of the opening 45 minutes "ambling around" and "not looking interested". But they should have taken the lead on the half-hour. Lively striker Tommy Waldock latched on to a superb ball from midfield by Leigh Roberts but, having skated past keeper Tom Cross, took an unnecessary touch and Lee Deacon was able to get back and clear off the goalline. Five minutes before the break, Corinths stole ahead thanks to an apparent fluke. Jason Singh, on the left touchline near halfway, crossed deep to the back post and the ball crept in having found keeper Tom Willshire in no man's land beyond the six-yard box. Singh's shrug and smile indicated his goal owed everything to luck and nothing to design.   United, probably ticked off during the interval, then woke up and the contest improved in the second half. Willshire's superb one-handed save denied John Boss from 12 yards after a clever cut-back by Luke Bowers. Ian Waldock, looking yards offside but allowed to continue by the Saga lout officials, ran on to a long Rob Steele pass, lifted the ball over the advancing Cross but then saw Ben Johnson block his attempt to force it over the goalline. Daventry looked an even bigger gift horse in the mouth with 11 minutes left. Chris Dunn was ruled - rather harshly - to have handled a Tommy Waldock backheader in the box but Cross grabbed and gathered Ady Pestell's weak penalty.   Cross saved brilliantly with his legs after an Allan Haynes cross and Tommy Waldock flick gave the unmarked Roberts a 10-yard back-post volley and the impressive Wayne Richardson blasted over on the full as Daventry committed more and more men to attack. Then, the inevitable. Well into stoppage time, Corinths caught the hosts on the hop and Chris Torrance's cute pass sent Sam Johnson through for a cool finish in a one-on-one with Willshire. You could almost hear the cheers from the Peterborough direction.   Daventry United, formed as recently as 1968, progressed quickly via the Central Northants Combination and were United Counties League Premier Division champions in 1999-00 and 2001-02, so you'd expect their ground to be a cut above the average in Division One - and it is. The Royal Oak (named after a long-gone pub which stood in what used to be rolling fields) opened in 1972. Its hilltop location amid industrial units in the north-western part of town commands good views and attracts strong winds, even on benign days. The club began life as the works team of the adjacent Ford parts plant and changed their name from Ford Sports Daventry only last summer. Links with the motor manufacturer are now tenuous, at best.   The first port of call for most visitors will be the Ford Sports and Social Club. Don't waste your time popping into Daventry. It's deathly. Among the few places of interest is the museum, which has the Daventry Charity Cup on display. It's a magnificent trophy, dating from the days when all such cups were fine examples of the silversmith's craft. The sports and social club is a single-storey building of maroon brick with a flat roof and is positioned alongside a large, metalled car park. It was a bit gloomy inside because most of the curtains were shut but there are plenty of old team photos and mementoes of United's past successes. Sliding patio doors lead past a picnic area cum beer garden to the ground, which is at an angle to the club. Passing a pay hut, like almost every other surface painted blue, leaves spectators in the bottom-right corner of the Royal Oak. A 30-yard kit stand, set back from a broad concrete path, is to the left beyond a larger wooden hut which once sold souvenirs and programmes but now seems to be redundant. Typical of the breed, the kit stand is split down the middle - four rows of metal steps on one side and four rows of blue and white plastic tip-up seats on the other. All equally drafty.   Opposite is a tiny, 10-yard stand straddling the halfway line. This has a high front wall, is fashioned from blue metal sheeting and shelters a slab of wooden decking. The stand is almost as deep as it is wide. Either side are ramshackle dugouts, both destined to be replaced by bigger structures to meet the grading requirements of the Premier Division. At the far, left, end is an equally interesting stand. This solid affair, about 20 yards in length and smack behind the goal, has a deep, low cover over five rows of bench seats with communal backs running the length of each row. A clock, which is not working, is positioned in the centre of the rear wall. The stand is closed for repairs. A concrete path, thinner than on the near side, runs round the ground, which is surrounded on all but the far side by conifers. No doubt put in originally to act as windbreaks, these make the Royal Oak feel much more enclosed than otherwise it would. A strip of neatly mown grass leads beyond the hardstanding to a wooden perimeter fence almost obscured by the evergreens.   Beyond the far side is a huge storage shed (appropriately, of blue metal sheeting) used by one of the supermarket giants as a distribution depot. Behind the near side conifers are two more pitches, one floodlit. These are for training and pre-match warm-ups. The land then drops away to more industrial units, though the horizon is fringed by high ground. Netting suspended from metal poles painted blue at each end has been rendered largely superfluous by the fast-growing conifers. The players emerge down a concete track in the near-right corner, with the dressing rooms part of the sports and social club. Alongside is another wooden hut, used by the groundsman. The tools of his trade are laid out as if for a car boot sale. There are two floodlight masts level with the 18-yard lines on both sides. Each has six lamps mounted on curious square brackets.   United's award-winning programme, like their ground, is well above the general standard in this division. The colour photo on its glossy cover changes with each issue. To be picky, a few more articles at the expense of the avalanche of statistics would have been welcome. But, nonetheless, it's a highly professional effort and reflects well on the club. At least it's one area in which United have stolen a march on Daventry Town.

contributed on 07/04/08