You would expect a ground called The Coppice, off Tythe Barn Lane, to be in a rural spot - and so this one is. Highgate United, 2008-09 newcomers to the Midland Football Alliance, have played since 1964 at this relatively isolated location three miles from the well heeled southern Birmingham suburb of Shirley. An historical feature in the match programme refers to the place as a "Warwickshire cow field" before Gate's arrival. You get the picture.
If Highgate, formed by Coleshill orphans in 1948, wish to continue climbing the pyramid, they may have to rethink the layout of their spacious site. The dressing rooms, pay gate and unassuming clubhouse are about 100 yards from the main pitch, which is one among several of various sizes. The Midland Football Alliance, the odd tweak notwithstanding, clearly didn't have a problem with Gate meeting their grading requirements, but any higher league could raise objections. A solution could be to relocate to the pitch adjacent to the clubhouse, though this would necessitate moving the stand and floodlights. A tricky, but not insurmountable, hurdle.
So, this is an interesting little set-up with quirky features, though it lacks compactness and intimacy. If approaching Tythe Barn Lane from the direction of Whitlocks End railway station, you'll notice the neighbouring ground of Shirley Town, who play in the Second Division of the Midland Combination, from whose top flight Gate rose at the end of last season. Shirley's ground is basic - a small stand, railed-off pitch, no floodlights, and the clubhouse and dressing rooms behind one goal. Nine sides use their pitch, and such is the backlog of games after the recent wintry weather, it seems likely the first team will have to hire Gate's ground - as they have done before - to play one or two matches under lights.
Back to The Coppice. A gap between mature trees leads the visitor into an unmade car park, with the main buildings grouped ahead. There is more parking, and two pitches, to the left. The dressing rooms are on the immediate right. The low-ceilinged social club, on whose walls hang black and white photographs of previous Gate teams, is a splash of red internally. There is a bar and toilets, and tea and coffee are available from flasks. Once through the pay gate, the ground is half-left, accessed via an aggregate path which bends round past two other pitches. To your right, you will notice possibly the longest players' 'tunnel' in football. The teams leave the dressing rooms via a back door and walk to the ground across grass, with temporary-looking wire mesh fencing keeping them apart from spectators.
Both players and fans emerge in the near-left corner of the ground. A low stand, narrow enough to have an unpropped roof, runs the length of the left touchline. The first section is given over to two rows of fixed plastic seats - mostly red, some yellow - mounted on hardstanding. The second consists of loose material for standing spectators. The stand comprises corrugated metal sheeting - a vivid green on the outer wall, navy blue on the inner - bolted to a metal frame painted white. In the middle of its deep fascia is a sign carrying the club's name and logo. The stand, much of it built in 1996, is dedicated to Patrick and Philomena Meade; the former is listed in the programme as a director.
The remainder of this open ground consists of uncovered hardstanding. Sturdy dugouts, made from breeze block, are positioned on the halfway line opposite the stand. The pitch is surrounded by a barrier of red posts and white railings. There is plenty of spare land beyond the far touchline and behind each goal, with grass running up to bands of mature trees, which surround and enclose the site. There is quite a story to the floodlights - three large lamps affixed to three masts on each side. Thanks to the objections of NIMBY householders, it took Gate 25 years to win their planning battle, which perhaps explains why the masts seem so low. This delay in erecting lights hindered the club's ability to climb the pyramid. When you consider how far away the nearest house is - at least 200 yards and obscured by trees - it seems astonishing that permission was so long in being given. They were finally switched on in 1997. Over to the right are the grounds of Old Yardleians RUFC - also with floodlights - and Wychall Wanderers, a junior football club with whom the unfortunate former Coventry City player David Busst has some involvement. A couple of hundred yards beyond Tythe Barn Lane, across lumpy fields, is the 25-mile Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. A lovely, tree-lined watercourse, it runs down to the expanding nearby village of Dickens Heath, through which you will pass if approaching The Coppice from the M42.
In his programme notes, Gate manager Pete Frain ('Frainy'), the former West Bromwich Albion and Mansfield Town player, describes tonight's League Cup semi-final as the club's biggest game in 25 years. The hosts are in the lower reaches of the league table, while visitors Boldmere St Michaels, having a good season, are third behind Market Drayton Town and Barwell, and not out of title contention. The tie goes pretty much to form, leaving the second leg at Church Road in a fortnight something of formality. The Mikes are the more accomplished team, and boast a neat pass and move style. Gate are an altogether blunter instrument, but they do create chances, and only poor finishing prevents them from getting closer to their opponents on the scoresheet.
The outcome might have been different had Dave Timmins found the net, rather than shot narrowly over, when well placed in the second minute. But Boldmere responded well, and took control on a hard, bumpy pitch. Lee Osborne was off target with the goal at his mercy after a breakdown in communication between Gate keeper Perry Cox and his defenders. Jason Holmes, lively in the first half but strangely subdued thereafter, struck the outside of Cox's left-hand post with a 12-yard glancing header from a Ricky Baker cross. The deadlock was broken in the 15th minute. Baker, a languid but effective winger, fired in a teasing free-kick from the right flank, and central defender Adam Wood stole in unmarked at the back post to power a header past the helpless Cox. Scott Turner wasted a presentable chance to equalise just before half-time when his close-range header fell the wrong side of an upright. Head in hands time.
Three minutes after the break, Boldmere went two up. Baker, the man in charge of a 20-yard direct free-kick, got a powerful shot up and over the wall, and between the smallest of gaps between a diving Cox's right hand and the right-hand post. The ball pinged into the top corner of the net. A great goal, enthusiastically celebrated. Both teams seemed to realise this two-legged tie was now over, and the game suffered as a result. Gate's Neil Kitching, when unmarked at the back post, volleyed tamely wide, and team-mates Turner, forcing an instinctive, one-handed save from Adam Jenkins, and substitute Jake Brown, fractionally too high with a lob, could not find a way through.
The Coppice's peaceful country setting, just seven miles from the noise and grime of Birmingham city centre, is undoubtedly attractive. But its layout, for senior football at least, is awkward and unconventional, and the open nature of the site unappealing. Gate, however used they are to being held back by red tape, would not relish further ground grading problems should they set their sights on promotion to the Southern League. Sadly, they seem inevitable.