Talk about Global Warming in pre-season…

It was a tale of two-halves but the football was consistent on Saturday, with Forest Green Rovers winning 2-0 at Melksham Town. The weather, on the other hand, was once again inconsistent despite it being mid-July.

We set off for our third game of 2024-25 in glorious sunshine and this continued along the A303 towards Wiltshire as we travelled to the Oakfield Stadium, home of Melksham Town.

Melksham play in Southern League Division One. Daddy had been here once before with Winchester City, but for Miss, this was another first.

There is ample parking and good signage on the approach to the ground.

Daddy cringed at paying £14 for entrance for a Sourhern League Division One ground for a pre-season friendly. Did the hosts hike up the prices because of who the visiting team were?

The stewards kindly opened up the gate to let Miss through in her pushchair and we grabbed a burger and some cheesy chips from the nice, but again expensive, burger van inside the ground. There was also an ice cream van and a small booth open that sold drinks and snacks (Miss had a fruit shoot and half of Daddy’s cheesy chips).

There are two stands seating and one small terrace behind the goal - easily one of the best grounds at this level of non-league football.

When it came to a bum change we were once again disappointed, a third ground without baby changing facilities, despite it being another newly-built ground which was disappointing. So we utilised the large disabled toilet floor once again as we did at Moneyfields the week before (the lock was easier to use this time though!)

We took our position near the half way line, stood by a floodlight, before two older gentlemen came and stood right in front of the pushchair - they obviously assumed my daughter doesn’t actually watch the football - how wrong they were.

Since the inception of this blog, it is fascinating how people assume because of Miss’ age, she doesn’t need to watch the game… such a shame.

Hopefully as time progresses we can change peoples’ mentality.

We moved position as a result and went behind the far goal so Miss could watch the game, and she witnessed two first-half goals for the National League side, who start their season in August away at Aldershot Town.

The glorious sunny conditions in the first-half were a distant memory when the second-half began and the storm clouds gathered…

We enjoyed the remainder of the goal and although Melksham rallied towards the end and created some good opportunities, Forest Green held on for a comfortable victory.

All in all, a good day out and a nice stadium, but let down by the cost, lack of baby changing facilities and ignorant spectators who felt like standing in our way 🤷‍♂️ Aaaaah well on to the next one next Saturday 👀⚽️

PS - It’s coming home 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿