Tuesday 20th March 2018 19.45
Midland League One
Coventry Copsewood 1 Littleton 4 HT: 0-3 Att: 20 Ent: £5 Prog £1 Coffee £1
Atkins 87 : Bunn 13, Hylton 20, 50, Carter 43
from Allard Way
This was the first of three new grounds in eight days, with all home teams beginning with the letters Co. New grounds are hard to come by these days; the commodity becoming scarcer each season, but occasionally you get these clusters. It’s a bit like prime number pairs becoming increasingly uncommon the higher you count; but you will keep encountering prime pairs along the way, nonetheless.
Coventry has a thriving non-league scene with four clubs playing in the Midland League at steps five and six. What’s pleasing is that their names all start with the word Coventry, so they can be summed up mathematically thus: Coventry(Alvis+Copsewood+Sphinx+United). An elegant equation, unlike that which describes the four Ashtons in the North West, with Curzon spoiling the symmetry. Ashton (Athletic+Town +United) + Curzon Ashton.
I was already split between watching Pinxton in the Central Midlands League and Coventry Copsewood. If you compare me to a subatomic particle, I was in a superposition of going to both, but when Pinxton was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, the wave function collapsed and I was definitely set to go to Coventry (but there’s no way you could tell how fast I was going).
Coventry Copsewood were founded in 1922 and have had some magnificent names in their history. They were first called Connor or The Connor, with respect to their employer Peel Connor. In 1926 the company merged with X-Man Magnito and the team were renamed Magnet. In 1934 they changed again to GEC (Cov) FC. This epithet lasted until the 70s, when they become GPT (Coventry) FC, then in 1999 Marconi (Coventry) FC. When Marconi sold off the land they became Coventry Copsewood.
The ground lies to the east of Coventry, but within the outer bypass road. Coventry’s inner ring road, by the way, has to be the scariest road in the UK. The junctions are every couple of hundred yards; entering and exiting the ring road is death defying, sometimes requiring crossing three lanes of traffic within a few yards.
The ground is next to the Rugby Club and is one of two pitches side by side. As such the near side is a perimeter bar. A newish looking clubhouse sits behind the goal with an oldish bit of terracing and cover. Down the other long side sits a stand, 82 seats I counted, in four rows.
The game tonight was between two teams lying between midway and bottom. Littleton were the visitors.
From the outset the match was played with an intensity I wasn’t expecting. There was no little skill, either. At step six, with neither side in danger of nearing top and bottom it was a great advert for this level of football. Littleton were particularly impressive in the first half, with Hylton scoring a great individual goal for Littleton’s second. They led 3-0 at the break, which was a little harsh on Copsewood who themselves were competent and competitive. Hylton scored again shortly after the restart, which put the tie to bed. A late consolation was the only other goal of a very entertaining game.
The Groundhog 