"Nice club in the village"

Another non league ground crossed off and it was Hartley Wintney against Harrow Borough FC in the Evo Stik Southern Premier. A 3-0 win for the home side resulted in a good day out as of course, when I visit a non league team, I support that team for that day.

Location

For me the place was easy to find, I come from Reading and the bus stop to get to the location is over a minute away from my house. Hop on the number 7 and get off at Green Lane, the football ground is less than a 10 minute walk from that stop. Overall, if you want to have a look around, the town is just outside that bus stop too and so is a few pubs, I stopped off in The Cricketers, but only for the one drink mind, £4.60 for an Amstel, my word.

Also, as is the norm for non league, please be sure to have cash on you, I didn't, but I was lucky enough to find a convenience store which had a Post Office where the lady behind the counter told me, it was the only place in the village, that allowed cash withdrawals, thankfully, it was only the second building I went in to find a cash point and with 90 minutes before kick off, it was well timed.

View

You will never not see the action, whether on foot or seat. A small ground with a low attendance, anyone who rates the view low, was probably staring at their phone all game, I however, didn't miss a kick, so it gets a 5.

Facilities

A very nice club house sits by the turnstiles and just outside that, is a food stall. I got a couple of overpriced beers in the club house and live football was being projected on the walls, it was lively enough as fans were in there for pre match drinks and the like, overall, it was good.

Food & Drink

Pretty good food and drink, but let down by the prices, I think the £3.50 burger was okay as that seems to be the standard, but the pints at just under £4.

Again, it is a small club, in a small village, so I imagine the income isn't pouring in so I can't fault it too much, but I would say that if you want to be a little tipsy, maybe have a few before travel.

That's for people who aren't driving by the way.

Atmosphere

I was hoping to rate this higher, but once again, just like Bracknell, it seemed like I was the one who made the most noise and this time, I went on my own, instead of work mates. A 3-0 score line yes, but the noise, absolutely not, but I guess it's to be expected. I was giving a bit of gip to the Harrow goalkeeper as he was giving the linesman some stick for giving a corner which led to the first goal, it totally wasn't a corner, but of course, you have to let the opposition know that the lino was right, if the Harrow goalie, or the Number 4 defender reads this, sorry lads, all part of the game, but will absolutely take the goal that shouldn't have been.

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