Archives » Welsh Football Grounds

Bastion Road, Prestatyn

Home of Prestatyn Town FC.

From Hawarden we took a wee trip along Wales’s north coast and stopped at Prestatyn to see friends.

Near the seafront on, erm, Bastion Road, I spotted the local team’s football ground. (I see from Google Maps the ground is actually named Bastion Gardens.)

Ground from northwest:-

Bastion Road, Prestatyn

From west:-

Prestatyn FC's Ground, Bastion Road

Prestatyn FC, Bastion Road

Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham

On the way back out of Wrexham I made sure to stop to photograph the Racecourse Stadium (formerly the Racecourse Ground,) home of Wrexham FC, which I’d spotted on the way in. I see from the link above it’s actually Wrexham AFC.) The club has recently been the subject of feverish speculation due to interest in it from some Hollywood actors.

Southwest corner:-

Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham, Southwest Corner.

Main Stand from west:-

Racecourse Stadium, Main Stand from West

Main Stand. Stitch of two photos:-

Racecourse Stadium, Main Stand

East Terrace:-

East Terrace, Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham

East Terrace, part of Main Stand, North Stand behind:-

Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham

Main Stand from east:-

Main Stand Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham

Part of North Stand, seen through gap between East Stand and Main Stand:-

Part of North Stand, Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham,

Art Deco, Wrexham Town Centre (i)

We made a trip from Hawarden to the nearby town of Wrexham as we’d never visited there before.

On the way in from the west we passed Glyndwr University (some Art Deco styling) and the Racecourse Ground but I didn’t stop to photograph those till we were on the way back.

In the town centre I found more Art Deco.

Wrexham’s Burton’s has that company’s classic Art Deco style.

Upper part:-

Burton's, Wrexham

Lower portion:-

Wrexham Burton's

Side view:-

Side View, Burton's, Wrexham

Wrexham Victoria Centre, 13 Hill Street, is minor deco; mainly in the pediment:-

Maybe Deco, Wrexham

McDonald’s occupies a strongly Art Deco building. Strong horizontals and verticals, flat roof, corner window.

Art Deco, McDonald's, Wrexham

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry

Home of The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club aka The New Saints or TNS, once known as Total Network Solutions.

Scene of the most recent historical achievement of Dumbarton FC, the mighty Sons of the Rock.

Since The New Saints play in the Welsh Premier League this also counts as a Welsh Football ground.

The ground is more or less in the middle of nowhere, across the main road which by-passes the town of Oswestry and up a narrow unlit road. And it doesn’t have much in the way of dedicated parking spaces.

Entrance Gates:-

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry

From southwest. The structure on this side is a TV camera platform.

Park Hall Stadium from Southwest.

Main Stand from southwest. The word stand isn’t really appropriate. The brick structure is more like a social club with a small balcony fronting onto the pitch. It doesn’t seem to have seats. The covered area to the left here does, though:-

Main Stand from Southwest, Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry

Main stand and north terracing/stand from southwest:-

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry

Stadium from main stand, showing TV platform:-

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry from Main Stand

Pitch and TV platform from northeast:-

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry, from northeast.

Pitch and East terracing from northeast:-

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry, Pitch and East terracing

North Terracing/Stand:-

Park Hall Stadium Main Stand

Camera platform from north:-

Camer Platform, Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry

Main stand and covered terracing from north terracing:-

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry

Teams Shake Hands, Irn Bru Cup Semi-final, Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry, Feb 2018:-

Teams Shake Hands, Irn Bru Cup Semi-final, Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry, Feb 2018

The New Saints 1-2 Dumbarton

Scottish Challenge Cup*, Semi-final, Park Hall Stadium, 17/2/18

I was at Oswestry!

This is a boast that may be overtaken in a month or so’s time. Or not as the case may be.

Whatever, I was there when the mighty Sons played their first national cup semi-final in 44 years and reached their first national final for 106 years. It’s historic stuff.

Mind you I couldn’t see us achieving that heady goal at any time during the first half. We started poorly and allowed them to play from the outset. They were neat and tidy, passed the ball well, hit the bar with their first attack and continued to look threatening without managing to test Scott Gallacher in goal. I don’t know what the first half possession stats were but we didn’t have much of it that’s for sure. We barely crossed the halfway line and when we did failed to muster any sort of threat on their goal.

I thought it was all over when they scored early on in the second half. Their winger got past stop-gap left back David Smith (a midfielder turned into a makeshift right-back last season) and put in a low cross which from where I was sitting Scottt Gallacher seemed to spill and it fell to the scorer.

The game changed after around the hour mark when Calum Gallagher and Iain Russell were replaced by Mark Stewart and Liam Burt and we started to play.

Still the equaliser was a surprise as we had looked toothless even when we got the ball in their area. It was beautifully worked though with Kyle Hutton winning the ball in midfield before strolling forward and feeding Danny Handling who made space for himself and fairly thumped it past the keeper.

In a hairy moment Scott Gallacher made a one-handed stop for a header after a corner just before the ref whistled for an infringement.

Then. Froxy.

He replaced scorer Danny Handling and slotted into right midfield. I’d watched him at the half-time kick-about and he didn’t look fit to me, but sometimes he doesn’t have to be fit.

It was a free kick given for a foul against Christian Nade (his legs have gone; I don’t know how he lasted the full 94 minutes) – the first he’d got all game despite their centre half being all over him at times. I thought it was too central but Froxy is Froxy, that left foot is something else. Bang. Top left corner. Cue delirium.

It felt like very late on but there were still about ten minutes to get through before the final whistle and I nearly had heart failure when Scott Gallacher had to juggle a shot that must have swerved in the air.

Considering that due to injuries we also had to play a centre half at right back and our midfield wasn’t at its strongest this was an amazing result.

We had only two shots on target in the whole game but they both hit the back of the net. That’s football.

Here’s a video of the scenes after the final whistle. Click on the picture to get to video:-

Sons' Victory Celebrations At Park Hall Stadium Oswestry

*Irn Bru Cup

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