2007/01/06 - Kidsgrove Athletic 1 Buxton 2 - Northern Premier League Division 1

Today I'm going back 15 years to 2007 and my first and only visit to the Stan Brown Stadium in Staffordshire. Somewhat unusually, the Stadium at the time was named in honour of the incumbent Chairman, Stan Brown, who had generously funded the building of a couple of new stands and an increased seating capacity. However, it appears that the club's gratitude to Stan lasted only for so long and, once he left the club, the name of the stadium reverted to Hollinwood Road or, more recently, the Autonet Insurance Stadium if you prefer (I don't). 

Part of the joy of ground hopping is that it takes me to places that I'd probably never otherwise visit. That's certainly the case with Kidsgrove, located as it is, in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. On this occasion I would be watching Kidsgrove Athletic (unimaginatively nicknamed "The Grove") play Buxton (similarly unimaginatively "The Bucks"). The featured match finished 2-1 in Buxton's favour and the result proved to be a stepping stone on Buxton's journey to the title that season during which they secured 101 points from their 46 matches and gained promotion. Kidsgrove didn't do too badly either, finishing eighth in the 24-team Division.

These days Kidsgrove Athletic can still be found at the same level in the English Football pyramid albeit that there are now two Northern Premier League Division 1's due to the restructuring of Non-League football by the Football Association. Kidsgrove now find themselves in Division 1 West albeit that just a season ago they were in Division 1 South East. Buxton on the other hand have made some progress in the years since the featured match was played and can now be found one level higher in the Northern Premier League Premier Division (the 7th level of the English pyramid). If Buxton can continue to advance by one level every fifteen years then they'll make it to the Premier League in just 90 years from now!

CRB Match No. 1539