Coach

It's been a couple of weeks since I've had a good trip out so I had a look to see if there was a new ground to visit in relatively easy range amongst the relatively slim pickings of a Sunday fixture list.

Sheffield FC Ladies were hosting Stoke City in the Women's National League Northern Premier Division. Sheffield FC are, as previously mentioned, the world's oldest football club, but have only occupied their current Coach and Horses Ground (in Dronfield) since 2001. The women's team was established in 2003 and they have been a great success, rising through the pyramid to the second level of the women's game by 2015. However, they've been a casualty of the FA's restructuring of the women's game, which seems to favour the promotion of famous club brands associated with the men's game rather than less fashionable clubs which have been developing the game at the grassroots.

The first half saw Stoke City dominate, but they didn't convert any of their chances and as the game wore on Sheffield were being a lot more confident on the ball and gaining more of the territory and possession. When chances came their way, they took them. 2-0 it finished. You'll find a few more images from the match in my mini tweet report.

Earlier, I spent a couple of hours exploring Dronfield if for no other reason than it's been a while since I've been on foot in Derbyshire. It also has the added cachet of being one of the few places named after invertebrate wildlife (challenge: can you think of any others?), so I started by heading out to Frith Wood to top up on green . It was sunny but the morning hadn't warmed up much yet, so there were no sign of butterflies, but I did have good sightings of Nuthatch and Treecreeper as I circuited the woods.

Back in the town I indulged in a bit of drainspotting and bagged the odd ghost sign and plaque, but my favourite discovery was a palindromic number on the platform of the railway station (extra), which apparently marks the point at which the track gradient steepens from 1 in 201 to 1 in 102.