Hartley Wintney

Hartley Wintney FC is a non-league football club from the village of the same name in north Hampshire who were formed in 1897. The club is nicknamed ‘The Row’ as Hartley Row was a hamlet engulfed by the larger village.

The club initially played their home games at Causeway Farm playing in the Basingstoke & District League. The club moved to a new home, The Memorial Ground on Green Lane as Row progressed to the Aldershot & District League where they were crowned as league champions for three consecutive seasons in the 1970’s.

Hartley Wintney became founder members of the Home Counties League in 1978. The competition was retitled as the Combined Counties League a year later as Row finished as runners-up in 1980-81.

The league was split geographically with Hartley Wintney being placed in the Western Division for the 1981-82 campaign. The league reverted to just one division in 1982-83, with Row being crowned as champions.

A new clubhouse was built along with an area of covered seating, new changing rooms and floodlights. The team had a period of decline and finished second from bottom in 1998-99 and then 1999-00.

When the Combined Counties League added a second division for the 2003-04 season Hartley Wintney were placed in the Premier Division. Row were relegated to Division One in 2004-05 where they remained for three seasons.

Promotion back to the top flight came under the management of Mike Scott in 2007-08, but their spell lasted just twelve months before they were demoted. Scott was succeeded by Pete Gray and John Condon.

Louis King was in charge as the team ended the 2010-11 season in seventh place. Neville Roach was appointed as manager in the summer of 2011, leading the club back to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.

However, celebrations were cut short when the entire coaching team departed for Thatcham Town. Former Millwall defender Dave Tuttle took over but lasted just a few months before being replaced by twenty four year old Ben Dillon.

His side miraculously escaped relegation before they reached the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round for the first time. The home tie saw Row go out at home to Daventry Town in front of over 1,000 spectators.

Dillon stepped down at the end of the 2014-15 season with joint bosses Dan Brownlie and Anthony Millerick stepping into his position. The 2015-16 campaign saw Row go out in the fifth round of the FA Vase in front of a sell out crowd to eventual finalists Hereford.

The side went on to claim the league title but were denied promotion because of ground grading issues. Row retained the Combined Counties League title and completed ground improvements to be promoted to the Southern League Division One East.

The momentum continued in 2017-18 despite having a couple of goal scorers tempted away to other clubs. Hartley Wintney finished in fourth place to qualify for the play-offs where they defeated AFC Dunstable and then Cambridge City thanks to a Nic Ciardini goal.

Row were placed in the Southern League Premier Division South after a reorganisation of non-league football for the 2018-19 campaign. Brownlie departed to Basingstoke Town, with Dan Turkington replacing him as joint manager to Anthony Millerick.

Hartley Wintney FC will play in the Southern League Premier Division South in the 2018-19 season.


My visit

Hartley Wintney 2 Hendon 3 (Saturday 13^th October 2018) Southern League Premier Division South (att: 313)

It was a beautiful bright and mild if slightly lunchtime when I woke after my night shift to news that England had defeated Sri Lanka in an ODI. The world was a good place as I enjoyed some lunch in chipper mood owing to the latest edition of healthy living.

Ahead of my intended schedule I took the tube to Waterloo realising that I’d probably overdressed, such were the temperatures that were into the twenties. I caught an earlier train to ensure that I’d make the bus connection at Fleet.

My transport was a minute or two late but took us on a ride through a lovely part of the world. Traffic lights by roadworks explained the late running, especially when we were stuck on a red for an incredible four minutes.

Not to worry, as I was soon at the Green Lane stop. Hartley Wintney looked a beautiful large village. I walked past a fete, a nice church and a school which appeared to provide some parking for the football.

If you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t imagined that you’d come across a Step 3 non-league football club down the tree lined lane. A friendly steward pointed me in the direction of the turnstiles, where admission was £10. I had my regular go on the 50/50 draw for a further quid.

There was no need to worry about a programme as Gerry Maguire, one of my car park colleagues back at SJP had sorted me out. I didn’t realise he was going to the game, but he’d gone on ahead to fit in a round of golf in Slough on route.

The Row had performed near miracles in previous few years winning three promotions. The Memorial Ground was struggling to keep pace. That said, I do think the FA ground grading regulations are too stringent. I liked the community feel of the venue.

The pitch had a large slope across it. The near side had the slightly raised clubhouse, with overhang to shelter spectators with a mixture of grass and concrete open standing. A small camera gantry straddled the half way line with the see-through dug outs aside.

There was no access behind the top goal. The other end had two small covers either side of the goal over a narrow strip of standing. Two modern kit seated stands were on the far side, with the one on half way the larger.

The teams were walking down from the changing rooms as I arrived. Jimmy Gray and Mark Boyce, the Dons management duo seemed in good form, but they rarely had seen to be grumpy since joining the club.

Hendon had taken an impressive following to the game of around 80 fans who were spread out. The club had signed striker Connor Calcutt ahead of the game from Farnborough. I’d been impressed on my previous look at him and thought it an excellent acquisition.

It was all Dons for the first ten minutes. Lee Chappell put in a series of good corners and long throws. A couple of half chances were created with Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick somehow missing the best one, while young keeper Adam Desbois seemed uncertain.

For some reason Hendon resorted to short corners. On twelve minutes it was to be their undoing. A poor delivery saw the hosts break away at pace, with just three men in sky blue in defensive positions.

Keeper Dan Boness made a stop, but the ball came back to Mike Campbell whose shot was adjudged to have crossed the line by the linesman despite an attempt to clear off the line. It had certainly come against the run of play.

Hendon made an identical error within a few minutes. A fellow fan summed it up perfectly when he said, “we’ve only three back and one of them can’t tackle.” Despite these setbacks the Dons were still in the ascendancy.

Marvin Morgan was causing havoc in the air and with his strength, which lead to Stephane Ngamvoulou breaking through and forcing the ball in at the near post past Desbois on twenty five minutes

Morgan came tantalisingly close to getting a touch on a ball when outdoing the last defender as the keeper came out to collect. Opportunites continued to come at both ends. Boness made a fine save to match one from Desbois from Gianni Crichlow before the equaliser.

I grabbed a cuppa for £1 at the break at the van which was doing a roaring trade, as was the clubhouse. There was time for a walk down the far side for some extra photos before the teams re-emerged for the second half.

The game was pretty even, with perhaps Hartley Wintney having slightly the better of things while Hendon looked constantly threatening on the break. On fifty six minutes the Dons defence stood off too far allowing a low cross into the area.

It would eventually fall to Jack Ball who made no mistake smashing home. Manager Gray immediately made a change withdrawing Crichlow for debutant Calcutt. The new man immediately impressed with his areal prowess.

It would be he and Morgan who played in Hippolyte-Patrick on sixty two minutes for the in form players to slot past Desbois to the delight of the Dons fans enjoying the sun shine behind the goal where I stood with Gerry along with Andy Boness.

It was a decent enough encounter. The strong wind that favoured the visitors in the first half had dropped and the lush pitch allowed the ball to hold up. If there was one fault of Hendon, it would be the match management from some of the younger players.

The team though had made great strides since being put together from scratch and one of those who’d impressed was to score what turned out to be the winner. We were urging Laste Dombaxe to pass when he let go of a poorly struck low shot from the edge of the box.

Somehow it evaded Desbois as it went up the slope into the corner of the net. Perhaps the stopper was slightly unsighted, but we felt he ought to have done better with the effort. Not that we complained of course. Once again, the Hendon team had displayed great character.

The Row pressed forward at regular intervals, while there was always a chance of a fourth goal on the break. Romario Jonas was winning everything in the air to ease the pressure. Sometimes the ball was given away a bit cheaply.

Boness looked commanding between the sticks and made a couple of excellent saves. Calcutt was treated to a few chants of, “what a waste of money” from some home fans as he fired off a speculative shot that missed by some distance.

However, he’d already proved his worth and looked every bit a player with a football brain. Top scorer Ricky German struggled throughout, missing a bit of zip, but his colleagues felt the benefit of his close attention.

The hosts had several corners, free kicks and throw ins but the Dons held firm and were greeted with loud cheers from the travelling faithful when referee Nasimir Nzenga, who’d had a decent game with his linesmen, blew for full time.

Gerry dropped another Hendon fan and London Underground colleague off at Farnborough station before depositing me at Hillingdon after a slight detour! There was time for a couple of hours nap before heading back to work in a good mood!