Sport
Shaftesbury bid for all-weather pitch Shaftesbury FC is planning to install an all-weather pitch in an ambitious cash for car parking deal with the Town Council. In return for the council agreeing to underwrite a loan, and give £100,000 of reserves, the club will convert its car park into 30 parking bays for permit holders. Separately, another 40 bays will be created next door on land leased from Tesco. “The combined 70 bays represents the single biggest step anyone has proposed to fix the parking problem that has dogged our town centre for decades,” said councillor Alex Chase. The club also hailed the project as the biggest deal it has ever done. “It is the way forward,” said club secretary Lewis Disson. Around 300 club members train and play every week in
FEVER PITCH: Shaftesbury FC plans to replace the grass at the club’s Cockrams ground
10 youth teams and five adult teams. “They all want to play on the pitch,” said Disson, but many have to travel as far as Blandford to train. The recent heavy rainfall has taken a heavy toll on pitches, with many fixtures postponed across Dorset, including Shafesbury’s game away to Tadley Calleva. The all-weather, 3G model would mean SFC can
consolidate training and games at its ground. It will also mean no cancelled matches and no need to paint lines, said Disson. “The great thing is that we can also rent it out to anybody who wants to use it. You can play any sport on it.” 3G pitches are top of the range artificial pitches, and the club’s business plan
estimates it will need £450,000. The nearest 3G pitch is at Blandford School. Dorchester Town FC play on an artificial pitch, as do Hamworthy United. The intention now is for the club to apply for a 30-year loan, underwritten by the council. The club pay £16,500 a year to the council, to go into the grants budget.
Matthews at double to clinch away-day joy for Rockies Bashley 2 Shaftesbury 3 Wessex League Premier October 27 Shaftesbury rode their luck to snatch a late winner in a five-goal thriller. The Rockies went into the game on the back of eight straight defeats, the last a 6-1 mauling at home to AFC Stoneham. It was also only their second game in four weeks, in which manager Danny Holmes was busy trying to bring in players. In a goalless first half, the hosts missed two hitters then hit the bar. Rockies’ keeper Paul Woods, who had just recovered from coronavirus, also made a wonderful save. However, Shaftesbury did have one good chance, with Cam
Butler’s shot being cleared off the line. The Bashley pressure continued after the inteval with Rhys McGrath clearing
off his line, his collision with a post later causing him to be subbed. Bashley again hit the bar before Joe Freak came on as
a sub to make his debut for Shaftesbury and quickly had a half-chance that went wide. Bashley went ahead on 68 minutes but things clicked into gear for the Rockies. First Ryan Mitchell, on as a sub for McGrath, headed in from a corner on 75 minutes, then Jordan Matthews was put through on goal by Connor Millar to make it 2-1 seven minutes later. “Totally against the run of play,”moaned the Bashley Twitter feed. The home side went straight down the other end to equalise but with just two minutes left of normal time, Matthews added his second to win the game. “Bashley failed to take any of their chances and paid the price,” said Twitter. 73
