Crows On The Road: Daventry Town
NEXT UP: “The Town” Of Daventry Town FC
Daventry Town FC v Royston Town FC
Evo-Stik League Southern: Central Division 1
Saturday 5th January 2013
Kick Off: 3pm
Communications Park
Brown Road
Daventry
NN11 4NS
Fresh from our convincing win last Saturday against Barton Rovers at Garden Walk, we take to the road again to visit sunny Northamptonshire and the town of Daventry.
How many people thought that the Watford gap was near to, well Watford? Come on peeps, be honest? Well its only 4 miles south of Daventry, so definitely a Northern outpost to us then.
Daventry is famous for being the hide out for the army of King Charles I after storming the Parliamentary garrison at Leicester and on its way to relieve the siege of Oxford. The Royalist army camped on Burrow Hill and Charles went hunting in the nearby forest.
More recently Daventry is accredited of being the birth place of radar. In fact Burrough Hill (formally Burrow Hill) only ceased being an operational Radar station in 1992.
Well the most famous former resident of this parish was Thomas Randolph, I remember being taught stuff about him at Meridian. Not much did I learn at that School, but Ol’ Tom was a famous dramatist in the early 1600’s.
On a musical note, Kevin Morgan the Tuba player comes from these parts, you know the tuba, the overgrown trumpet that you have to hold on your knees.
HISTORY
Formed in 1886 as a local town club playing in the Northampton Town League, the club moved to the Northants Combination league in 1987.
Under the emergence of influential manager Willie Barrett (Not of Barrett homes!) the club won successive championships to gain entry into The United Counties League in 1990.
The club started out at The Hollow Ground in the town centre, but after earning promotion at the first attempt, they were denied by those suits in charge of the league due to ground requirements. With this snub, the fortunes of the club varied with relegation more frequent than promotion.
After moving to a brand new ground, The Elderstubbs, their future was threatened in 2006 by a massive fire that destroyed the clubhouse and changing rooms.
They were saved due to a Sponsorship deal with Go Mobile, this enabled the club to survive and thrive.
2008 proved a fantastically successful season for the Town with the UCL Division 1 captured by a massive 20 point margin from “that lot up the A1(M) who cannot be named” Northern Star. They also defeated 3 Premier league teams on the way to the final of League Cup.
In 2010 the club gained promotion to the Southern League after snatching the title away from St Neots Town in the last two weeks of the season.
Their first foray into this league proved excellent with a 3rd place finish secured behind Hitchin Town FC and Arlesey Town FC. They would have won this had it not been for a 6 point deduction for being a bit naughty with player registration. In the play offs they lost out to Hitchin by a 2-0 scoreline.
Last season did not hit the heights of 2011 with a 16th place finish the sum of their achievements.
The Town were many bookies tip for promotion this season and are there or there abouts in the league.
Their Season So Far
Currently lying in 8th place with 11 wins, 3 draws and 6 defeats so far. The net has bulged 36 times from Daventry shots, whilst they have a miserly back line, only having been breached 21 times.
Last time out for “The Town” resulted in a 2-0 defeat against local rivals and our new grudge opponents Rugby Town. Last time out at home saw Daventry beat “poor old” Woodford United 3-0.
Ones To Watch
Leading the line for Daventry should be Scott Cross. Scotty as 9 league goals to his name so far. A tough opponent who is not scared to run and run, he is absolutely deadly around the penalty box. Former clubs include Northampton Town.
In midfield we will probably come up against Jamie Gould. An influential player this term from his 25 starts, with 6 goals and 6 man of the match awards. Make no illusions Crows, this lad is quality. Former Clubs include Brackley and Cambridge City,
After talking about how tight their defence is, I’ve got to mention Guy Sanders. Guy is the club captain after signing from Barwell last season. A real leader and an inspiration to this team. Tough but fair in the tackle and he’s not afraid to have a shot too. Previously with Reading, Bedworth, Moor Green, Solihull, Leamington and Barwell.
The Man In Charge
All I can tell you is…..drum roll please, the manager is Darran Foster. That is it!
I have used all my sources to tell you something about this chap, but I have turned up diddly squat. Sorry Darran, you are not well known enough……………YET!
Have We Met Before
Only once have our paths crossed and it was the early doors of this season at Garden Walk. 1st of September 2012 saw the Crows come from behind to win 2-1 courtesy of goals from Kaan Fehmi and Captain Ross Collins. Attendance that day was 170.
Jez Izod
