2022/23 Matchday Blog #43- Buxton 0-1 Hereford
Joe Marshall- @AllSportJoe
On a day of depleted fixture lists thanks to freezing temperatures, I planned what I hoped would be an unaffected visit to Silverlands, home of Buxton FC.
The Bucks, currently playing in the National League North, would be hosting Hereford FC, a team that I have been keen on watching for a long time, after their all-too-common story of financial woes leading to the trgaic collapse of a club, resulting in a phoenix adventure through non-league.
After a morning of refreshing Twitter, seeing another match fall by the wayside each time I did, I finally plucked up the courage to book my train ticket and head for the Peak District. Buxton’s Twitter feed tweeted with the confidence and certitude of a team preparing for a game that would undoubtedly be going ahead. With no pitch inspection planned, and not even any train chaos for once, I was on my way!
Buxton
I arrived in Buxton at around 1pm, giving me plenty of time to find my way around and stop off at a pub before heading to Silverlands. With all trips to the Peak District region, my journey was complimented with incredible views over the rolling hills, and they were especially stunning on this crisp January afternoon, as snow and ice remained sparkling on top of the peaks.
Buxton is a spa town of around 22,000 people and many people around the country will have consumed one of the town’s most successful exports, in the form of Buxton water. Located in the High Peak district, the town is high, so high in fact, that at 300 metres above sea level, Buxton is actually England’s highest market town.
Leaving the station, my gut instinct told me to follow a small crowd of people heading down a small hill towards what looked like the town centre, past the thermal baths. The afternoon was bright, if not chilly, and for a Saturday afternoon unusually quiet. From what I could see, Buxton had a fairly standard English high steet array of shops. However, I wasn’t interested in CEX or a vape shop, I was on the lookout for a pub.
Walking uphill, in the vague direction of Silverlands, I continued my quest, venturing past the Buxton Museum and Art Gallery and eventually finding refuge from the cold in a warm boozer called the Kings Head. The pub had a friendly vibe, full of wrapped up punters, no doubt grateful to be indoors, escaping the clutches of the the winter chill. I just had the one pint before summoning up the courage to head back outside, in search of Silverlands, and the home of the Bucks.
Watching my step carefully, I departed the King’s Head and made my way towards Silverlands. I also waved farewell to the second half of the Liverpool-Chelsea game, which I feared was going to send me to sleep if I carried on watching it. I really hoped that the game I was heading to would be a bit more entertaining than the lunchtime slop served up by Klopp and Potter.
Silverlands
Silverlands, or to be corporate; ‘Tarmac Silverlands’ is the home of Buxton Football Club, and they have resided here since 1884. The ground has undergone many changes over the years, not least the installation of a 4G pitch which no doubt enabled the game to go ahead on a day which most games across the country fell victim to the icy conditions.
Silverlands has the distinction of being the highest football ground in England, sitting at 310 metres above sea level, thanks to its location in the High Peak.
It has three stands of note, the main stand dominates the stadium, lying centrally on the side nearest to the turnstiles. This stand serves as the only seated area within the stadium, and its seats hold special value, as they were taken from Maine Road. Opposite this main stand is the Popular Side terrace, which is a covered standing area with a low roof that spans the length of the pitch. On this particular occasion, because of the segregated nature of the fixture, this was where the Hereford fans were housed.
Behind one goal is an excellent terrace. A proper old school standing area that goes back fairly deep and provides good acoustics for the vocal Bucks fans who resided here for 90 minutes. At the far side of the ground, there is a flat standing area, with nothing in the way of elevation or cover. I get the impression that Buxton would usually like to prefer to attack this end in the first half, allowing the second half to be an onslaught in front of the bulk of their fan base. However, on this particular visit, this was not the case, with Hereford being the ones attacking the main terrace in the second forty-five.
All of this gives Silverlands a total capacity of 4000, with 490 seated, and enough shelter for 2,500 people to receive cover.
Buxton are blessed with a really good setup, boasting a large clubhouse with noticably good service. I spent the day alternating between Carling and Staropramen, usually a no-brainer, but in a plastic cup, is there really much difference?
There is a small club shop selling shirts, scarves badges and the usual array non-league merchandise, as well as a flash sale of shorts, £1 a pair!
Admission for this National League North fixture was £15. Buxton may have the highest stadium in the league, but even at £15, they don’t have the highest prices. The likes of Kidderminster and Fylde charge prices that are north of this, which demonstrates just how far out of hand things have got in terms of the price of football in England.
A decent, 35 page programme was produced for the match, and it was mine for the price of £2.50. Although it featured a well researched piece on the visitors and had a couple of good match reports, it became rather advert heavy towards the end. Clubs have to make money though, so this is merely an observation, not a criticism.
The Teams
Buxton FC
Buxton, or ‘The Bucks are the reigning Northern Premier League champions, thus competing at National League North level for the first time in their history. They came to existence, like so many football clubs in the area in the late nineteenth century, as an extension of the local cricket club. Buxton Football Club were formed in in 1877, and initially began life playing in The Combination and the Manchester League in 1891 and 1899 respectively. As mentioned above, they moved into Silverlands in 1884, so therefore played home games in other locations before this. Their first residence was the cricket club itself, shortly followed by a stint at Cote Heath, before they made Silverlands their home in 1884.
Those early years were not exactly littered with success. They endured the early part of the next century finishing in a mid-table position or lower, before the league was disbanded in 1912. The 1920s were a more successful period for the Bucks, with a couple of second place finishes and two league cups in the reformed Manchester League. When they won the league in 1932, they entered the Cheshire League, another competition in which they took a while to achieve any success in.
Despite three appearances in the ‘proper’ rounds of the FA Cup, league silverware would not reach Silverlands again until 1973, when they finally won the Cheshire League after 40 years of trying. This triump and subsequent promotion meant that Buxton were now playing in the Northern Premier League. They remained consistent at this level, and when the NPL expanded to having two divisions in 1987, they were placed in the higher of the two, a league in which they would remain until 1997, when they suffered relegation down to the NPL Division One. Worse was to come, however, as the Bucks suffered back to back relegations, and found themselves in the NCEL from 1998 until 2006.
As a (very) wise man once said, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and for every back-to-back relegation, Buxton seemed to muster a back-to-back promotion. After winning the NCEL Premier Division in 2005-06, they continued their upward momentum by winning the NPL Division One. Not satisfied, they made the playoffs in their first season back at NPL Premier level, only to finally be halted by Gateshead in the final.
Since then, Buxton have had a stable existence in the Northern Premier League, but that changed last season, when they pipped South Shields to the NPL title to find themselves playing in the National League North for the very first time. It has been a season in which Buxton have taken time to adapt, and before this game, they found themselves very much in a relegation fight. They would certainly view a home fixture against another bottom half side, on a day where their rivals would not be playing, as a real chance to put some breathing space between themselves and the bottom three.
Hereford FC
The story of Hereford FC is one that begins like many football clubs up and down the pyramind; with tragedy. The Bulls are a phoenix club, appearing in 2014 from the ashes of Hereford United, a long established club with 90 years of history, including one of the most famous FA Cup moments in the history of the competition, a moment which for many, is the FA Cup moment.
42 years after the late Ronnie Radford scored against Newcastle in the greatest FA Cup upset of all time, Hereford United were no more. However, it did not take long for the comeback to begin.
Just a few days after United were wound up, the new team was formed, and began life on the pitch in the 2015/16 season, participating in the Midland Football League. Unlike many other phoenix clubs, they were able to make use of the old team’s ground, and played their home games at the historic Edgar Street. This was no doubt a massive factor in being able to get the phoenix club off the ground, as when you compare this to the Bury/Bury AFC debacle, the use of the stadium is one of the big stumbling blocks preventing their merger going ahead.
In their first three seasons, they achieved an impressive three promotions on the spin. 2015/16 saw The Bulls collect three lots of silverware, in the form of the league title as well as the Herefordshire County Cup and the league cup. They were unable to achieve a famous quadrouple, as they were defeated 4-1 in the FA Vase final at Wembley, despite the backing of 21,000 supporters.
The following season saw their second successive league triumph, winning the Southern League South and West and retaining the county cup. In 2017/18, they made it three promotions in a row, amassing over 100 points for the third consecutive season as they romped to the title in their first season in the Southern League Premier Division. They also put themselves back in the FA Cup spotlight, with a televised first round tie against Fleetwood Town of League One.
After a whirlwind few years in the early period of the phoenix club’s life, the last few years have been rather consistent, if not hugely successful. They have adapted well to life in the National League North, but have yet to really mount challenge for promotion to the fifth tier. Despite their relatively young status as a football club, Hereford FC have already ventured upon two visits to Wembley. In 2021, they added to their 2016 FA Vase final appearance, with an FA Trophy final, however it ended in their second Wembley defeat their, losing 3-1 to Hornchurch, in front of 6000 socially distanced supporters.
The Silverlands Experience
Visiting Silverlands is nice and easy for anyone on the train. It was roughly a 15 minute walk from station to ground and was easy enough to get to. Once inside the ground, supporters are well looked after with a nice selection of beers stocked in the large clubhouse, and the food was excellent. The pie and peas that I had tasted even better than they looked, and Buxton are the first non-league club that I have visited to serve pizza!
The Match
With three points meaning a lot to both teams in terms of survival chances, it wouldn’t have been hugely unsurprising if I witnessed a cagey, uneventful first half, however, Buxton looked eager to play on the front foot.
Shooting towards where I was stood, in the aptly named Marshall’s terrace, they carved out a number of early opportunities, with visiting goalkeeper Dino Visser demonstrating a safe pair of hands from some early shots on target. Before the game reached the quarter of an hour mark, a combination of Visser and the crossbar kept the scores level from Shaun Brisley’s looping header.
After the early spell of relative control, Buxton’s grip on the game loosened, not helped by the stop-start nature of the match, as several injuries created a frustrating game where neither side could get into their stride.
Despite the 4G playing surface, there was somewhat of a throwback feel to the match, with snow piled high around the edge of the pitch, and with the sun setting behind the terrace, Bucks ‘keeper Theo Richardson donned the lesser-spotted goalie’s cap for the first half.
Arguably the best chance of the first half fell to Buxton’s Harry Bunn, who fired over the bar whilst off balance after a brilliant run to the by-line by Sam Osborne.
The players embarked on a second half that was there for the taking for either team, but it was a case of who could take more control of the game. There were chances at either end within 10 minutes of the restart, but the most golden opportunity of them all would fall to Hereford when Dan Jarvis was tripped by Richardson and won a penalty for the Bulls.
It was converted cooly by Kane Thompson-Sommers, who sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, and Hereford had a precious lead.
Hereford now attacked with an added flow about their play, carving out another chance a few minutes later, Ryan Mclean showing patience before fizzing a shot just over the bar.
As the game drew towards its conclusion, Buxton picked up the tempo again as they searched for an equaliser, however Hereford continued to look dangerous on the counter attack. Buxton’s possession and territory was good, and exactly what manager Craig Elliott would have been looking for, but sadly they could not fashion any meaningful opportunities despite pressing forward so eagerly in the closing stages.
The match finished 1-0 to Hereford, a scoreline that was more than reflective of the performance of both teams. Those of a Buxton persuasion would perhaps argue that they too deserved something from it, but it was a simple case of one team taking their chances and the other not doing so. It was an attritional game on a bitterly cold day, and I would imagine that making it through 90 minutes without picking up a muscle injury would have counted as a success for many players out there.
As for my visit to Silverlands, I thoroughly enjoyed it! The ground is tidy, well looked after and offers plenty of different vantage points. The food and drink options were excellent and the clubhouse was large and pleasant. Managing to get to a game on this freezing Saturday was a challenge in itself, and I was extremely glad I got to see some football. That the ground was great, well that was a bonus!
Final score: Buxton 0-1 Hereford
Attendance: 680
Admission: £15
Programme: £2.50