Damage in the Box!: MALVERN TOWN (Langland Stadium)

The journey to the 2012 FA Cup Final began this weekend for some of the 763 entrants and thanks to a wedding, I got the chance to get myself on the road to Wembley! The Langland Stadium was the destination of choice for some cup action. I was led to believe that due to the function room at the ground being booked on Saturday, the game was put back 24 hours to the Sunday.

Malvern Town begin the season in the West Midlands Regional League (step 6) have suffered two relegations in three seasons from Southern League Division One (2009) and Midland Alliance (2011). Today they were hosting Causeway United, who play in the Midland Alliance (step 5) and who completed the 'double' over Malvern last season.

The Langland Stadium has clearly seen better days and today looked like it was in the process of some much needed TLC as there was scaffolding on the main stand. The actual stand has a raised seated area and a small terrace in front. As someone who is not a great sun-seeker this provided some much needed shelter on a baking hot afternoon. The heat had also had an effect on the pitch as it was bone dry, yellow-ish and looking in desperate need of a drink of water!

The game itself was absolute dross. It finished goalless and both goalkeepers had very little work to do. It did threaten to spill over at one stage with some poor challenges but when it settled down both teams did try to play football but, as mentioned the finishing was very poor. The game will now head to a replay on Wednesday evening.