Witham Town

Witham Town FC is a non-league football club from the Essex town of the same name, with the original club being formed in 1876 as Witham FC, playing matches next to the River Brain, close to Saul’s Bridge.

After a few seasons the club moved to The Park, which was shared with Witham Cricket Club, moving in 1894 to The Grove; a large private house with expansive grounds. In those days the club was nicknamed the ‘Red Herrings’ owing to their red kit.

The club was disbanded in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War One. The entire team headed to Waverley Barracks near Brentwood to enlist in the 5th Battalion of the Essex Regiment. The club reformed in 1918.

The new team started out in the Braintree and District League, where Town were crowned champions in 1920-21, when ‘Town’ was added to the clubs title, and 1924-25 before progressing to the Chelmsford & Mid Essex League, lifting the Division Three title in 1935-36.

Albert ‘Summer’ Bickmore was the scoring hero of those early years after the conflict. Crittal’s Athletic, representing Crittalls Windows Works became local rivals as football became popular in the town. This had led to Witham Town being re-formed in 1933 with the club playing matches at Rickstones Road Recreation Ground.

World War Two saw the club disbanded for a second time before re-entering competitive football in the Mid-Essex League moving to use Crittal’s ground at The Park. The Division Three title was lifted in 1947-48 before becoming Division Two champions twelve months later.

A switch was made to the South Essex League in 1952 after a disagreement with their former competition, becoming league champions in 1955–56 before joining the Essex & Suffolk Border League in 1958. Witham won that league in 1964-65 and 1970-71.

Witham Town became founder members of the Essex Senior League for the 1971-72, becoming the inaugural champions. In 1975 the club moved to a new ground at Spa Road as another league title followed in 1985-86, a year after finishing as runners-up.

A second place finish was achieved again in 1986-87, leading to promotion to the Isthmian League, with Town being placed in Division Two North. Future Southend United player and manager Steve Tilson began his playing career with Witham at this time.

Town became members of Division Two in 1991-92 following league re-organisation. The team was relegated to Division Three in 1999-00. This was renamed Division Two in 2002, before Witham finished as runners-up in 2005-06; winning promotion to Division One North.

Cody McDonald starred for the club between 2003 and 2008 in a career which would see him go on to play for Norwich City, Coventry City, Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon. The club was relegated to the Essex Senior League at the end of the 2008-09 campaign.

Former player Olly Murs brought some publicity to the club when he became a top pop star as he finished runner-up in TV’s X Factor in 2009. Town finished as league runners-up in 2009-10, before Garry Kimble took over as manager the following season as the team finished third.

Kimble led the side to promotion back to the Isthmian League in 2011-12 as the team won the Essex Senior League title, the League Cup, Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy and the Tolleshunt D’Arcy Cup. Billy Hunt led the scoring charts, with John Watson and Rob Whitnell also contributing heavily.

In 2012-13 Town reached the play-offs in Division One North, going out to Thamesmead Town in the semi-final. The following season ended in promotion via the play-offs after wins against Needham Market and then Harlow Town.

The club lasted just one season in the Premier Division, as Spa Road received extensive improvements. The team was relegated back to Division One North. Kimble left the club in February 2016 when he was replaced by Adam Flint.

Flint’s side finished in mid table for two consecutive seasons, before he was replaced by Mark Ashford in the summer of 2018, as Witham’s league was retitled as North Division.

Witham Town FC will play in the Isthmian League North Division in the 2018-19 season.

My visit

Witham Town 1 Coggeshall Town 3 (Tuesday 4^th September 2018) FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay (att: 379)

I was scheduled on an awful work course in the city which at least promised to finish in mid afternoon. I was counting the clock down as our condescending tutor rambled on. Another day, another dollar as the saying goes.

At 3.15 I was away and dashing down the escalator at Oxford Circus in the direction of Liverpool Street. My timing was impeccable; giving me just enough time to buy a single ticket to Chelmsford on the fast train towards Norwich.

I was meeting my fellow cricket and groundhopping pal Tony Foster, who was enjoying Day One of the County Championship game between Essex and Surrey at the County Ground. The train dropped me at just gone 4pm.

My research had said I should have been OK for free admission after tea, but I gave myself a little bit more time by revisiting the Excellent Railway pub for a rewarding pint of IPA while following the match via Ceefax on the pub TV.

Admission was free on arrival as I enjoyed the last ninety minutes or so of play while relaxing and having a good catch up chat with Tony. At the close of play we walked the ten minutes to his car before heading east.

We were in good time at The Village Glass Stadium, as the Spa Road ground had been renamed in a sponsorship deal. Tony parked up and we had a walk across the park to Asda so I could get my food for work the following day.

We grabbed a couple of programmes at £2 each just in case they were in high demand before entering the thriving clubhouse. I was impressed by the nice touch of asking if I wanted my bottle of Ghost Ship at room temperature or chilled from the cellar. Proper service!

The staff in the catering hatch, accessed at the other side of the clubhouse inside the ground, were also on top of their game, serving the hungry queues in quick time. My cheeseburger and tea did the job at the fair price of £4.10.

This was our first visit and we were both impressed with viewing and the amount of cover available on all four sides. The entrance side had a small seated stand and a long area of standing cover.

Both ends had similar low roofs over standing accommodation, whereas the far side by the rugby ground had a low cover in the centre, with standing flanking some seats. Open terracing stood either side of this.

The main railway between Ipswich and London was on a bank above the goal at the south end of the ground. The regular freight and passenger services made it an ideal venue for train spotting.

From the off it looked like we were in for a good cup tie, as both teams went straight on the attack. It became stretched at an early stage on a grassy but hard surface on the large pitch; especially in width.

I’d not read the form guide correctly and pronounced that I expected Witham to win through. How little I knew! It was nip and tuck with plenty of meaty challenges going in. However, Coggeshall began to look more dangerous going forward as they gained the upper hand in midfield.

Tom Monk impressed with his power, primarily on the right for the visitors. He was having a real battle with Witham’s Henry Fisher, giving him a tough time. Star of the show though was undoubtedly Nnamdi Nwachuku for the visiting Seed Growers.

He opened the scoring with an absolute beauty from twenty five yards leaving home keeper Luca Collins grasping thin air on sixteen minutes. It was at that point we realised that at least 100 fans had travelled down the road to support Coggeshall.

This created a good atmosphere inside the ground, with returning star Olly Murs in attendance. With total respect to Olly, I wouldn’t have had a clue if I’d bumped into him or not? Witham super fan James Beardwell was cheering his team on as ever.

Witham were denied an equaliser by a fine stop from James Bransgrove, as their centre forward L’Heureux Menga caused problems. Coggeshall took control of the game after the break and doubled their lead through Joshua Pollard just before the hour mark.

The hosts pushed forward trying to get into the game, but it was not to be their evening. Nwachuku really was a class act with his all round movement and hold up play. He added the third with fifteen minutes remaining.

Witham didn’t give up until full time. They were rewarded a little too late in the day, and probably later than their efforts deserved, when Danny Norton netted in the final minute of normal time.

We got a good getaway after an enjoyable evening and late afternoon. The only slight downer was the A12 being partially closed on our return, affording us a night time look at Ongar, North Weald and Epping. Very nice they looked too.

Tony dropped me off at Stanmore, allowing me to be home in Kingsbury for 11.15. A top day out, work aside, especially with my acca bet of Warrington Town, Scarborough Athletic, Leyton Orient and TSV 1860 Munich coming in to make the day cost neutral.