Witham Town

Witham Town FC

Ground: The Simarco Stadium, Spa Road

Capacity: 2,500

Club Founded: 1876

League: Isthmian League North Division - Step 4/8th Tier (current level)

Witham Town FC from the Essex town of the same name continue to provide a decent quality of non-league football for their supporters at their Spa Road home.

Witham Town - A Potted History

The club moved to The Park, which was shared with Witham Cricket Club, soon after being formed, before 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 I. 

The entire team headed to Waverley Barracks near Brentwood to enlist in the 5th Battalion of the Essex Regiment. The club reformed in 1918, starting out in the Braintree and District League, which they won twice.

Witham progressed 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 became local rivals as football became popular in the town, with Witham Town being re-formed in 1933, playing at Rickstones Road Recreation Ground.

World War II saw the club disbanded for a second time before re-entering competitive football in the Mid-Essex League, moving to Crittal’s ground at The Park. The side quickly went on to win two promotions before joining the South Essex League in 1952, where they became league champions four years later.

The Essex & Suffolk Border League was joined in 1958. Witham won the competition twice before becoming a founder member of the Essex Senior League for the 1971-72 season, becoming the inaugural champions. In 1975, the club moved to a new ground at Spa Road, winning another league title eleven years later.

Promotion to Division Two North of the Isthmian League was won in 1986-87. Future Southend United player and manager Steve Tilson began his playing career with Witham at this time. The side dropped a level in the enlarged competition before going up to Division One North in 2005-06.

Cody McDonald starred for the club between 2003 and 2008 at the start of a career that saw 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. Gary Kimble led the side to promotion to the Isthmian League in 2011-12 as Essex Senior League champions, also winning three cup competitions.

In 2012-13, Town reached the playoffs. 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. Kimble left the club in February 2016 when he was replaced by Adam Flint.

Kimble returned in June 2023 after several managers had spells in charge of the team, before he was replaced by Kevin Hunter a couple of seasons later, who in turn was succeeded by Ben Gibbs.

My visit

Witham Town 1 Coggeshall Town 3

FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay - Tuesday 4th September 2018

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I was scheduled for an awful work course in the city, which at least promised to finish in mid-afternoon. I was counting down the clock 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 off 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 by the time I arrived, allowing me to enjoy the last ninety minutes or so of play while relaxing and having a good catch-up chat with Tony. As the players called it a day, 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 walked 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. 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 a fair price of £4.10. This was our first visit, and we were both impressed with the 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 on 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 that 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 nighttime look at Ongar, North Weald and Epping, which were well-to-do.

Tony dropped me off at Stanmore, allowing me to be home in Kingsbury at 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.