Boro’ have a fairly even record against Kempston Rovers – an opponent during our time in the United Counties League. A 4-0 win at home is what gives our goal difference the edge over The Walnut Boys. Otherwise, it’s one win apiece and a couple of draws from our four meetings. Our time together came to a premature close after they were relegated from the Premier Division at the end of the 1982-3 season. By the time they returned, we’d gone…
In 2004, the club changed name (slightly) to AFC Kempston Rovers and enjoyed a pretty manic shift in fortunes until changing back in 2016; ending the 2007-8 campaign bottom of the table and conceding 149 goals. In the 2015-6 season, however, they scored 111 goals and lost just once on the way to the title. That summer saw them change their name back and join the Southern League for the next chapter in their story.
The Walnut Boys (yes, really) are another proper blast from the past. And we’re talking United Counties League here. Our time in that competition was, as you know, short. Boro’ have now spent the same amount of time in League Two as they did the UCL. For Kempston, however, the association was a much longer one. In fact, this is the first season in 1953 that the Bedfordshire side have had a change of scenery. We’ll come back to that later, though. Right now, we’re here to talk about our shared past – and it begins at Halloween 1981.
31 October 1981 – the first time Kempston Rovers and Stevenage Borough went into battle with each other. It came about, clearly, after Boro’ went up to the United Counties League Premier Division. The match finished 0-0. And that’s as much as we can say on that front. Goals did follow, however. The second meeting (and return leg at BHW) was another stalemate; Malcolm Ward getting us off the mark in front of goal in a 1-1 draw. It was perhaps fitting both games ended level – the 1981-2 campaign saw us finish in 12th. Kempston ended up 11th.
How to get to Kempston Rovers – Travel Information – Distance: 29 miles
By Road
Go north on the A1(M) and A1 to Sandy, before forking left off to join the A603; heading towards Bedford. After 7.1 miles (and by PC World), take the first exit at the roundabout onto the A5140 Rope Walk. At the following roundabout, take exit three for the A6. Then, bear left for the A5141.
Keep going past Bedford Hospital on the left and onto the B531 Kempston Road; turning right onto Hillgrounds Road next. The ground is on the right after the swimming pool.
Leave the station and turn right onto Ashburnham Road, before making your way right onto Ford End Road at the end. Go across the bridge and keep going down Ford End Road until you pass Raleigh Street on the left. At this point, a left turn takes you onto a footpath that’ll take you down to the river and across.
It eventually brings you out onto Bedford Road. Turn right and continue on until you get to Hillgrounds Road on the right.
We use cookies. Who doesn't? But we have to be boring and make sure you're fine and dandy with it. Cookie SettingsGo On Then
Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.
_ga_*
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded YouTube videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
6 months
YouTube sets this cookie to measure bandwidth, determining whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
Youtube sets this cookie to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
