FA Vase | Manchopper's Ventures

Result: AFC Wulfrunians 3-0 Brocton (FA Vase 3rd Round)

Venue: Castlecroft Stadium (Saturday 3rd December 2022; 2pm)

Att: 196.

As the ‘Road to Wembley’ continues for those chasing their FA Vase dreams, I was following the same route – just with a few less nerves! Anyway, I had a couple of places to choose from for my 3rd Round trip, with both having been on my ‘to-do’ list for quite a while. The two grounds in question were the Castlecroft Stadium – home to AFC Wulfrunians -and the Mike Riding ground of Longridge Town. However, there’d been one that been on said list longer than the other and it was to there that I set my sights.

If you have already read either the title or the result above (and if not, how?!) then this reveal won’t come as that much of a surprise! Yes, I was off to the outskirts of the City of Wolverhampton and the area known as Castlecroft – and it is here that AFC Wulfrunians call home. Incidentally, they neighbour another Wulfrunians:- Old Wulfrunians. This club seem to play both rugby and football, with the former of the two sports going all guns when I arrived at the Castlecroft Stadium for the game. However, before I get to ahead of myself, let’s backtrack to the the beginning.

With a cancellation and some other issues heading into Manchester, I took the decision to instead head for Liverpool and change at South Parkway station to make my way down to Wolverhampton. Thankfully, this was a direct service, meaning that I didn’t have to change at Crewe for this round – something I’d suffered for the two successive weeks I visited Atherstone for their 2nd Round tie with Stone Old Alleynians. So, as you may be able to imagine, I didn’t exactly want to make this a regular thing!

Arriving in Wolverhampton…

…and then Compton

I eventually arrived into Wolverhampton at around 11am and after purchasing a plusbus ticket to enable me to get over to Castlecroft for just a couple of quid extra (honestly, always get this if you can, it’s always a bit cheaper than getting a regular bus ticket and gives more scope for travel, more often than not), I headed for the city’s bus station and caught the 9 service which whisked me out to the Compton area of the city, where I’d begin my pre-match tour…and, no, I’m not going to make any kind of ‘Straight Outta…’ puns!

The bus dropped me off right outside the second of my targets, The Oddfellows pub, whilst my first stood just across the other side of the road. This was a pretty historic pub by the name of the Swan and has apparently been in situ since the 17th century. It certainly looks cool inside too, albeit decked out in the golden colours of Wolverhampton Wanderers and the usual World Cup paraphernalia which crops up at this time of the footballing calendar…it’s just usually a tad warmer than it was on this occasion. Usually.

Swan

Heading to The Oddfellows

I opted for a Carlsberg (£3.30) to begin with as I still can’t quite stomach an ale just now (no idea why, but it just doesn’t seem too attractive!) and settled in for my first pint. I also had a chat with (I assume!) the owner(s) of the place, before this later became a discussion about whether or not Mike the Headless Chicken was real or not, with a couple who’d entered not believing the story of the fabled feathered bird. Things got even stranger when someone brought up an older story of some kind of…relations between a guy and a dolphin and that was my cue to leave! What a story to leave upon though! Does anyone remember it? Are you still scarred? I’d never heard of it, luckily!

Castlecroft is a suburb of the City of Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Sitting to the South West of the city, it lies on the border with South Staffordshire, with the border actually crossing the road which leads towards the Castlecroft Stadium – according to the sign placing, anyway! The Castlecroft name derives from Castlecroft House, a large house and hotel which was turned into flats around 2005.

Castlecroft

Castlecroft

Castlecroft is largely made up of two distinct estates, with these being separated by the site of a former railway line, which is now a walking route. To one side is a pre-war area of private housing, whilst post-war council housing is largely found in the opposite part. It houses a shopping ‘arcade’ near to the Firs Inn pub, which seemed to largely be dominated by a chippy, if I remember correctly.

Exiting the Swan, I headed back across the road and to the aformentioned Oddfellows, which was a nice enough place, but was more food-centric than the Swan, I felt. It was decent enough to have a quiet drink in, though, with a pint of Amstel (£4.60) doing the trick in there for me. Not much to say as it was certainly more ‘normal(!)’ than my introduction to Compton and I was soon continuing my routing around the corner and a little uphill where I’d come across stop number three – the interesting sight of the Westacres.

I hadn’t expected much in the way of anything special from the Westacres when briefly scouting out the locality, but as soon as I came within sight of the pub, I noticed it had decorated windows and a few faux battlements and the like adorning its walls. As a result, I was increasingly intrigued by the building and, even more so, what was to come within. I entered to find a large, widespread pub but one which did definitely look as though it had been a hotel or rather ‘well-off’ home at some point. It certainly appeared to have had a previous guise, before becoming the pub I saw before me.

Arriving at the Westacres

Briefly crossing the county boundary

Anyway, I opted for a Peroni (£5.30) here and sat in whilst a family in front of me encouraged their kids to get their letters to Santa sorted. As for me, I went to-and-thro’ in my head about whether or not to slightly rush this pint as to get to the ground early enough to secure a programme – having been warned by the Wulfrunians club photographer, Nigel, that they would likely run out. Having gone to both ends of the thought spectrum, I eventually decided to indeed get it down me pronto, as to enable me to grab the bus from the stop a short walk away. This proved a good call, as I would later discover in what seemed to be rather silly circumstances…but I’ll get back onto that a little later.

Grabbing the service which drops you off right at the foot of the lane that leads up to the ground(s) beyond the adjoining cricket ground and former hotel, I grabbed one of the Wulfs bibles (which was free today, although a collection for charity was in place and I popped £1.50 in anyway) for the time being, before heading back towards the main road, cutting across the small field and popping up to the top of the road where a pub by the name of the Firs Inn. The Firs is a large pub, split into two rooms and, me being me, of course I entered into the room with no-one in it. Still, I decided I’d stay in that part and enjoy my final pre-match tipple, another Carlsberg (£2.80), in peace.

Firs

Shortcut of dreams!

Before long, it was time to return to the Castlecroft Stadium, retracing my steps to reach the turnstile…well, it’s more of a gate and a small booth. Still, it does the job and after paying my dues to the ladies there, I entered into the ground where kick-off was imminent. However, my entrance didn’t go without drama, as two guys seemingly decided to not go in and I like to think it was due to their being no programmes left, because I can’t think of any other reason to turn away from an entrance at kick-off! It pays to be prepared…yes, even I prepare sometimes!

The Castlecroft Stadium is a mix of simplicity and modernised smartness. The latter is largely encompassed within the ground’s main feature – it’s large main stand. The Main Stand offers raised seating above pitch level and the dressing rooms and tunnel are located below it. At the very top of the stand is the clubhouse, which gives fine views across the pitch as well – especially welcome for some today, given the increasingly bracing wind. The remainder of the ground is open, hard standing, although the far side only really meets that description thanks to some sporadic, old advertising boards which have been laid down behind the dugouts. There’s also an old skeletal scoreboard here, which is no longer in use. That’s the ground in short and this is the story behind the ‘new’ Wulfs…

History Lesson:

AFC Wulfrunians was founded in 2005, being an offshoot of the Old Wulfrunians club which had existed from 1922. The club was founded as the Old Wulfrunians decided that they had a squad that wasn’t going to be overly challenged in the Birmingham & District AFA, which they’d long been members of, and so sought out promotion into the footballing pyramid. This came off the back of three successive double-winning campaigns, so was based on performance, rather than any perceived arrogance. I’ll delve more into Old Wulfrunians when I eventually return to these parts and visit the club’s arms which continue to carry the name.

As it was, the decision was made to undertake the step up into the West Midlands (Regional) League’s Division 2, although there was a bump in the road in these plans:- that being that the club’s Memorial Ground home didn’t meet the neccessary ground grading requirements for the league at the time. As a result, AFC Wulfrunians began a groundshare with Wolverhampton Casuals initially, with their first season at WMRL level being a huge success, the club winning the Division 2 title by 20 points and this was joined in the trophy cabinet by the WMRL League Cup that same season. The campaign also saw two very notable achievements racked up by the club, as they conceded a league record low seven league goals and picked up just two bookings all season long. Not a bad start!

Castlecroft Stadium

Being promoted to Division 1 for the 2006-’07 season, this higher level proved more of a challenge, however it wasn’t enough of one to stop the club challenging for, and eventually achieving, promotion at the end of that season – the club finishing up as First Division runners-up. This ensured that AFC Wulfrunians would take up a spot in the WMRL Premier Division for the next season, whilst league success was again followed up with a cup triumph, coming in the form of the club’s first Birmingham Vase. The club’s first season in the WMRL’s high table saw them finish 6th and add further silverware to their honours list, with the 2008 Birmingham FA Midweek Floodlit Cup being lifted on this occasion.

2009 saw Wulfs go one better and lift the West Midlands (Regional) League title – although they would be denied promotion due to ground grading issues. Further disappointment was suffered, this time on the field, by a second successive JW Hunt Cup final defeat – with this season’s victors being Bloxwich United and Wednesfield having bested the club the previous year. However, ahead of the 2009-’10 season, the club agreed to purchase the lease from the Rugby Football Union to play out of the Castlecroft Stadium, with this move seeing off any ground issues for the immediate future at least. Unfortunately for the club, though, they missed out on silverware in finishing 3rd in the league, having been top for a significant amount of the season, and losing out in the WMRL League Cup final at the hands of Bustleholme.

In the clubhouse

2011 saw Wulfs repeat the previous year’s league finish of 3rd, although the season did see them finally triumph in the JW Hunt Cup final, at the third attempt under the AFC guise, defeating Gornal Athletic to lift the cup for the first time. The WMRL League Cup was won again the following year, but Wulfs just missed out on a successful JW Hunt Cup defense in a final defeat to Black Country Rangers. 2013 would see the club win the WMRL Premier Division title for the second time and, with the aforementioned ground issues now sorted in their new home, there was no barrier to their progression into the Midland Football Alliance for the 2013-’14 season.

After a few seasons of consolidation, during which Wulfs recorded finishes of 6th, 7th and 13th – firstly in the Alliance and then in its successor, the Midland Football League for the next two years – that latter season did see the club reach the last 16 of the FA Vase, perhaps indicating why their league form dipped a tad, as sights were drifting to a possible Wembley date. However, this may have been disproved somewhat the following year, which saw a campaign come along that was more of a struggle. Eventually, the club only secured safety on the final day and finished up 17th in the table.

The main entry way to the ground

After then consolidating their place in the MFL after a bit of an up-and-down spell in results, the club have made themselves a fixture in the Premier Division’s mid-table over the two interrupted years, before recording a club high finish of 5th last season. The current season has seen the club follow on from this by embarking on this very FA Vase run and look set to challenge for a top three position this season, Wulfs currently placing 9th, two points off 3rd, in what is a tight group behind the top two clubs.

The game duly got going within a minute of my arrival (thanks for waiting, ref!) and I quickly spotted the self-proclaimed ‘weird club photographer’, Nigel. It was whilst talking to him in the early stages that the hosts took the lead as #9, Jumanne Megoe, tapped in around the quarter-hour mark, despite a fine initial stop from Brocton ‘keeper Henry Smith which denied #11 Jamie Meddows – with the stopper unfortunate the ball rebounded back into danger. 1-0!

Match Action

‘Hard’ Standing!

Brocton would go close soon after, as #6, Ben Haddaway, saw his effort well blocked by a home defender, before #8, Jake Thomas, saw his low drive well tipped wide by the Wulfs #1 and fellow Jake, Jake James. And this save proved vital when Wulfs doubled their lead not too long after, when some rather questionable defending allowed Meggoe the chance to double both his and his side’s tally and slot home – a chance he wouldn’t pass up on.

After a couple more good chances came and went for the Wulfs, the whistle blew for the break and I joined the growing masses at the food trailer where I opted for a portion of chips which were decent enough, though I did think the price was a tad on the high side for what it was. Still, I guess it’s a sign of the times. Anyway, it wasn’t as if it was a bank-breaker and it was a welcome warm intake!

Match Action

Match Action

After a visit up to the clubhouse at the top of the stand to see what was what up there (including getting lost a bit in the stairs!), it was time to venture back out into the darkening skies around Wolverhampton for the second half. The half began with Meggoe being denied a hat-trick courtesy of another fine stop from Smith, whilst Meddows drove wide shortly afterwards, as Wulfs began the second period on top – a position they wouldn’t really relinquish for the rest of the tie.

The home side continued their second-half dominance with a pair of chances coming the way of #15, Ryan Bright, but after he’d blazed his first effort clear of the crossbar, the second saw him denied by the visiting custodian once more – Smith continuing his fine display. Indeed, he followed up this stop by then keeping out #10 Aaron Bishop’s drive, after he’d been played in on goal. However, the score remained at 2-0 and thus Brocton remained in the game for the full 90.

Flag action

Up in the stand

Late on…

But the third would arrive for Wulfs as the game entered its stoppage time and, wouldn’t you know it, it largely came thanks to what appeared to be a huge misjudgement by Smith. On this occasion, a counter attack ended up with the ball at the feet of #16, Harry Farnsworth, and he, from around 25 yards, drilled a low shot in which didn’t look to be all that threatening…until the gloveman left it, seemingly content in the knowledge it was trickling wide. The only problem with that was the fact it wasn’t and the ball instead nestled into the bottom corner.

It was something of a commentary on Brocton’s second half performance, however they did almost grab a consolation with pretty much the last meaningful kick of the game, but after #10 Connor Haddaways’s initial free-kick had been well saved by home ‘keeper James – a save made all the better due to his large periods of inactivity throughout the second period – Jake Thomas fired the rebound wastefully over to sign off on a bad day at the office for the visitors. Full-time; 3-0.

Post-match, I headed out into Castlecroft itself and to a pub which looked quite interesting to me. This was called the Mermaid and it became ever more attractive as the rain began to threaten. The warmth was very welcome as I entered into the bar area, with it being a really traditional, old inn – the smell of mulled wine wafting through the building just adding to its warm feeling. The staff were friendly too and I was awiftly served with a pint of Atlantic Pale Ale (£4.85), although my initial seat choice wasn’t great as I, of course, chose one which was about to be taken by a reservation. Good to hear, though!

A festive windmill!

Mermaid

I was pointed to two options that were free and settled in to have a read through of the programme whilst slowly supping at one of Sharp’s finest, before it was time to head back out into the increasingly darkened skies of Castlecroft. The rain had begun and, mixed with the already cold conditions, this meant I decided to pop into the Canalside pub – one that I wasn’t sure whether to head for on this trip, or leave it for my eventual return upon visiting Old Wulfrunians. But the weather made up my mind for me and I entered in to catch the very end of the World Cup game whilst having a pint of Estrella (£4.90). A mix of restaurant and bar, the Canalside is a decent place and one in which I again found the staff to be a friendly bunch. That’s one abiding thought from this trip:- friendly locals.

A short walk was then undertaken back to the bus stop at the ground, from where the bus route begins and terminates. As such, I arrived at the stop and the bus was already sat there awaiting its departure time. As such, I didn’t have to wait out in the conditions and instead wait out the few minutes I had to wait on board. Soon enough, though, the bus got going and I was soon debussing just across the road from the stop I’d gotten the bus from after my stop in the Westacres earlier in the day. Just around the corner from the stop can be found the Chestnut Tree, a pub which is one of the Sizzling chain of pubs. It is what you’d expect from one of its ilk – although this one was packed out when I entered and remained so throughout my stay. Cost of living crisis doesn’t stop the flow of alcohol!

Canalside

Final call – the Chestnut Tree

I opted for a quick Dark Fruits (£4.85) what with there being no seating available and so was able to grab a slightly earlier bus back to Wolverhampton. This was caught from the same stop and within 15 minutes, I was getting off a short distance from the station once again. However, it was now that things began to go slightly awry, as some delays around Birmingham saw my train get caught up in the mess and so an extended enjoyment of Wolverhampton’s waiting room was in the offing. It’s what dreams are made of!

Eventually, the train did arrive and I was back in Manchester without any further issue. However, I did have a longer wait than I would have originally had and so popped into the Piccadilly Tap for a final drink and to catch the end of the Argentina game before my train homewards. Luckily, this all went far smoother than the first half of the return journey and I was back home in short order. All in all, not too bad, all things considered. And thus ends another trip, which saw a good day out. I enjoyed the area and its pubs and the ground was decent enough too. The game wasn’t the best from a neutral perspective, but it was watchable enough for the majority of the tie. The programme was a decent read too and the chips were okay, if a tad steep in price.

So there ends another bit of FA Vase silliness and probably my last game on grass for a couple of weeks, as the weather gets truly wintry. Indeed, the 3G lottery is going to be well used over the next two Saturday’s and with the added interest of the World Cup still going on too, I may actually opt for a day off; I know, it’s Blasphemy…