MATCHDAY
PROGRAMME
AVRO vs SPORTING KHALSA
SATURDAY, 14TH MARCH, KICK OFF 3PM
Pitching In NPL Division One West
HISTORY
CONTACT US/ GENERAL INFORMATION
CLUB PERSONNEL (under development)
MEDIA (under development)
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon and welcome to The Vestacare Stadium for our Northern Premier League West fixture against Sporting Khalsa. As many of you may have seen during the week, we were finally awarded the 6-0 victory from our abandoned home fixture against Kidsgrove Athletic earlier in the season. As a result of this, the league table and our fixture schedule is now much clearer for the final run in of the season with the league table and fixtures now updated. Heading into this fixture against Sporting Khalsa this afternoon, we now sit just a single point away from Bury who occupy top spot so this is another crucial Northern Premier League West fixture as we look to continue to apply pressure on the league leaders. Also bolstered by this news this week was Kyle Hawley, as he was awarded 5 league goals thanks to his prolific performance. This now takes our number nine to 23 league goals for the season, a stat we hope he will continue to add to!
Our visitors, Sporting Khalsa, head to The Vestacare this afternoon sitting 18th in the league, just four points above the final relegation zone. However, as we have seen throughout the season, many sides quality and performances aren’t reflective of their current league standings which provides the main twists and turns for sides in the division this season. In the reverse fixture earlier in the season, it was a hard fought three points against Sporting Khalsa thanks to goals from Harry Salt and Kyle Hawley. The hosts were ahead early on but The Ro levelled late on in the first half thanks to a strike from Harry Salt. The ever reliable Kyle Hawley stepped up in the 87th minute to fire Avro ahead.
After our home fixture this afternoon, we have just three remaining home fixtures at The Vestacare against Bootle, Trafford and Darlaston Town. Your support throughout these fixtures is much welcomed as we continue to chase top spot in what is set to be a historic season for The Ro.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to the visiting players, officials, and fans of Sporting Khalsa. Drinks are available in the Lancaster Suite with a new and refreshed food menu available just next door in The Hangar.
NOTE: As always, please be respectful of the stadium rules and staff. They are there for your safety, this includes no smoking or vaping in the ground. Avro FC maintain a zero-tolerance approach to discriminatory or abusive language and remain fully committed to ensuring all supporters can enjoy matches at The Vestacare Stadium in a safe and respectful environment.
Jamie Ross (Head of Media)
From 1991 to 1997 it used to have a small number of youth sides and gained considerable success within the season 1995/96 by winning the Birmingham boys Under 16 league. Due to lack of resources, both financial and manpower, it reluctantly abandoned the youth policy.With a more solid foundation and re-organization of the executive committee in 2004, the club re-joined the West Midlands Regional League Division Two (semi-professional level seven league). In season 2004/05 the first team gained promotion into Division One of West Midlands Regional League (FA League Pyramid Structure level six). It also restarted a youth policy this season. 2005 became a year to remember, as the club became the first Asian semi-professional football club in the country to own its own ground. The decision to purchase the Abbey Park Stadium (formerly home to Bloxwich Town) was taken by the club as it needed a permanent base from which to build upon its successes and built a centre for footballing excellence. Walsall Football Club played a friendly to mark the official opening of the new ground. A ladies team was introduced in 2006 that played in the South Staffordshire League. In 2007 the club played in the FA Vase for its first time and lost in the First Qualifying Round and also introduced a Veterans Over 35s side in the Central Warwickshire Over 35s League.After five years at Abbey Park ground, Sporting Khalsa announced in May 2010 that they would be purchasing the five acre freehold grounds of Willenhall Town FC from the Receivers. After extensive work on the pitch and social facilities with the total outlay of over half million pounds the stadium was finished on the eve of the 2010/11 season. In its first season at their new Aspray Arena home the club gained promotion to the Premier Division of the West Midlands Regional League.2012/13 the club played in the FA Cup for its first time in its history and progressed to the First Qualifying round. Our Sunday team won the Warley Sunday Premier League and also progressed to the Fourth Round of the FA National Cup. The following season the first team finished sixth in the league and were runners up in J W Hunt Charity Cup at the Molineux Stadium.At the start of 2014/15 season we appointed our current manager Ian Rowe who promotion to Step 5 Midland Football League by winning the West Midlands Regional Premier League’s in its 125th Anniversary year, with a record points total, on top of this they were crowned winners of the Staffs FA Vase too.
2015/16 season was our first season for the club at Step 5 saw us finish a credible third in the league. On top of this the club cemented it’s place amongst the non-league fraternity with a memorable FA Cup run, missing out to another non-league giant FC United of Manchester for a place in the First Round Proper. The final game of the season saw us lift the JW Hunt Cup in its 90th year at Molineux. The season also saw the introduction of our Ladies and Girls teams with the Ladies first team playing the National Women’s League.
2016/17 season saw us reach the Quarter-Finals of the FA Vase losing narrowly to Coleshill Town and also finish third in the League. The next season we finished fifth in the league.
Season 2018/19 saw the opening of the 3G stadia pitch with a total investment of £1 million which also included a new 300 seater stand and new changing rooms. Again we finished a creditable third in the league and won the J W Hunt Cup for the second time this time the Final was against Highgate United and again was played at Molineux.
Both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 never were completed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 2019/20 season we were second in the league when the season were curtained in March 2020 and also reached the FA Vase Quarter-Final. 2020/21 season we were first in the league when the season was curtained in December 2020. Due to the re-structure of the National League at Steps 3-6 we gained promotion for the first time in our history to Pitching In Northern Premier League Midland Division (Step 4) on PPG over the two seasons, finishing top of the Midland League.
Season 2021/22 saw our men’s first team in the Pitching InNorthern Premier League Midland Division the highest league the club has played in and had an impressive first season by finishing eighth. In the FA Cup, Khalsa progressed to the Second Qualifying Round eventually losing to Conference North side Kidderminster Harriers. It was our debut in the FA Trophy, Khalsa lost in the Third Qualifying Round to Rushall Olympic who did the double over Khalsa by beating Khalsa in the Final of the Walsall Senior Cup played at Bescot Stadium, which saw goalkeeper Sam Arnold given his marching orders after six minutes.
2022/23 saw the club finished in its highest league position, qualifying for the Northern Premier League Midland Division play-offs having finished in 4th place having occupied a top 5 spot for most of the season. Promotion hopes were dashed by a narrow 2-1 defeat at Spalding United in the play-off semi final just 3 days after beating the Tulips by the same score at home to confirm their play-off spot. FA Cup and FA Trophy hopes were ended at the first attempt by Boldmere St Michaels in both competitions while leading scorer Miracle Okafor was named the Northern Premier League Young Player of the Season.
2023/24 saw a 4 game winning start to the league season ended on August Bank Holiday Monday with inconsistent form and injury issues eventually leading to a 12th place finish. In the FA Cup the preliminary round tie with local rivals Darlaston Town was the featured game on the BBC marking their live TV debut with a 2-2 leading to replay which Khalsa won on penalties. The following round saw a narrow 1-0 defeat at step 3 Kettering Town while in the FA Trophy there was a 3rd qualifying round defeat at Stafford Rangers after wins over Grimsby Borough and KidsgroveAthletic in the opening two rounds.
Last Season Sporting Khalsa reached the 3rd Round of the FA Trophy for 1st time in their history losing out to National League side Oxford City.
In the League we narrowly missed out on the playoffs finishing 6th.
25/26 Season sees us start a new challenge in the West Division after being laterally moved from the Midlands Division.
