Pre-season three: Once upon a time in St Neots.

St Neots Town F.C. vs Farnborough FC

Welcome to The Building Site, home of St Neots Town F.C.

Tuesday saw me make a trip across to St Neots for yet another pre-season game.  I managed to find the Hunts Post Community Stadium without too much bother.  The ground is located in the middle of a half finished housing estate and walking to it at night feels like something out of 28 days later.  This fact aside the ground has brilliant public transport links nearby (unlike Sutton Parkway) with regular bus services to Cambridge and Oxford as well as being within walking distance of an East Coast Mainline station.

St Neots have been in their ground for around a year now and the facilities are very impressive.  Currently the ground seats 300 people in a stand down one side which is shared with a nice perspex walled covered area which could, in the right circumstances, be used to make some noise.  Terraces are located at the ends of the ground, which only requires a minor upgrade to reach Conference level.  Inside: the sports bar looks very impressive and is furnished with leather chairs and sofas.  Alcohol is allowed outside in plastic and glass in the build up but not while the actual game is taking place which does beg the question, what is the point of plastic?  Wouldn't it be nice if clubs could just be a bit consistent on the issue of alcohol in grounds?

The main seated stand.

The perspex stand, how long until one of the sides is smashed?

Yet again the football proved me wrong as the match was great fun to watch and far more entertaining than any of the World Cup games.  The match was looking a bit predictable when Farnborough went ahead in the first minute but the goal was ruled out and St Neots never looked back.  You wouldn't know on this evidence which team collected 93 points last season in the Zamretto Premier, scoring 100 goals in the process and which team missed out on promotion from the United Counties League, finishing second.

The Saints were first to every knock down and won every second ball while playing some really classy passing football.  When Farnborough did manage to win back possession St Neots closed down really quickly and pressed up well.  The newly promoted Conference South side looked a bit rattled by this and they couldn't get any tempo into their game.  With Farnborough struggling to create anything, St Neots took a well deserved lead.  Some woeful marking from a corner enabled the Saints player to get loose and knock his free header down for a front post tap-in.

Desperate defending: Farnborough struggle to clear their lines.

Farnborough tried to put pressure on after the break but team changes made it difficult to get any rhythm and the frustration started to tell.  A few tasty challenges started to fly in and in a competitive match the referee would have found it impossible to keep his cards in his pocket.  Farnborough did manage to win a few set pieces but even then they seemed incapable of delivering anything other than a deep cross which the keeper collected expertly all night.  I got the feeling that a driven near post ball could have provided an equalizer but it never materialized and the chances slipped away.

On this showing St Neots could be making some real headway in the United Counties League this year, as long as Kings Lynn don't boss it that is.  On the other hand I hope that was nowhere near a full team from Farnborough otherwise I think they are really going to struggle for goals in the Conference South.  Not that you can really tell anything from these pre-season games anyway.

Next time: Boston United take on the oldest club in the world.