AFC Fylde

Ground: Mill Farm

Visits: 1

Date: 28th December 2019

Match: AFC Fylde - Stockport 1-2 (National League)

Attendance: 2 764

My last trip of 2019 was to be yet another visit to England. At 5pm on Friday afternoon my flight left Copenhagen airport and a few hours later I was at my hotel in central Manchester. My plan for this trip was to attend five matches and fist up was AFC Fylde v Stockport County in the National League. From Manchester Piccadilly there are, once an hour, direct trains to Kirkham & Wesham which is the station nearest to Mill Farm, the home of AFC Fylde. My visit to Mill Farm will mean I have now been to half of the grounds in the National League, the 5th tier in England. AFC Fylde adopted its current name in 2008 and the club was originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger between Kirkham Town and Wesham in 1988. AFC Fylde is the only club to have won both the FA Vase and the FA Trophy. In 2016/17 the club won the National League North earning promotion to the National League for the first time ever. Last season AFC Fylde lost the promotion play-off final to Salford buth this season they are struggling and are currently fighting to avoid relegation. Mill Farm was opened in 2016 and has a capacity of around 6,000. The pride of the ground is the West Stand with 2,000 seats, executive boxes and a sports bar. Knowing there is a nice sports bar at the ground I arrived at Kirkham & Wesham at noon and 15 minutes later I was outside the ground. Being quite early I managed to get a table in the bar and I could enjoy my lunch while watching Brighton v Bournemouth on TV.

The main reason for choosing to go to Mill Farm today was because I knew there would be a big away following from Stockport and most likely the best attendance of the season for AFC Fylde. My ticket was in the side terrace and I decided to stand close to the end where Stockport fans were standing. In total 1,288 away fans were present at Mill Farm today and with the total number of fans being 2,764 it was indeed the best attendance season. It started well for AFC Fylde today as they made it 1-0 in the 6th minute. Stockport had won 4 of their last 5 matches and are now genuine promotion contenders. In the second half Stockport scored twice to win this encounter 2-1. After both goals some of their fans invaded the pitch and I was of course pleased to have chosen to visit Mill Farm today. Around 7pm I was back at Manchester Piccadilly where I had a late dinner before returning to my hotel.