Wealdstone visit Hartlepool on Saturday after the FA Cup defeat at Dover
Wednesday 11 November 2026 · By Alan Featherstone
Wealdstone visit 21st-placed Hartlepool United on Saturday, after going out of the FA Cup at Dover Athletic and with no new first-team fixture in midweek. On 7 November they lost 2–0 at the National League South club, for whom Jack Bates scored from outside the box on 14 and 42 minutes. Gary Waddock said that Dover were the better side and deserved to win, and he apologised to supporters who had travelled and to those at home, as reported in the previous pack. The club has been promoting a stream of Saturday’s match at Hartlepool, in a notice published on 9 November.
Wealdstone are 18th on 18 points from 16 matches, three above the relegation zone and level on points with Boston United, who sit 19th on goal difference. The BBC form line is DLLWLW. Hartlepool have 15 points and occupy the first of the four relegation places, two behind 20th-placed Tamworth. A trip to the north-east is therefore a meeting with a side they are trying to keep below them, as well as a first league outing since 31 October.
After Hartlepool, Wealdstone host Hornchurch on 21 November, visit Altrincham at 7.45pm on Tuesday 24 November, and host Woking at 7.45pm on Friday 4 December. Hornchurch are 15th on 21 points, Altrincham hold the last play-off place on 28, and Woking are 12th on 21, with a free Saturday this weekend because their home game with Forest Green Rovers is still postponed.
Hartlepool have extended Sam Lavelle’s loan from Grimsby Town by a further 28 days, a move confirmed on 9 November. That is the principal midweek news at the other end of Saturday’s fixture, and it may have a bearing on the contest without changing the table in advance.
No National League match has been played since 31 October. The bottom four, from 21st to 24th, are relegated, and the three-point margin Wealdstone currently hold over Hartlepool is the one they will want to protect, or widen, at the start of this league restart. First place is promoted automatically, and second to seventh contest the play-offs. The BBC table used throughout was last updated at 11:13 on 9 November, and those numbers have not changed since 31 October.
The BBC table, last updated at 11:13 on 9 November, still shows Wealdstone 18th on 18 points from 16 matches, with a record of 5 wins, 3 draws and 8 defeats. They have scored 23 and conceded 29, for a goal difference of minus 6. Those numbers have not changed since 31 October, because no National League fixture has been played in this window. The FA Cup, National League Cup and county cups do not count in the standings. Wealdstone occupy three points above the relegation zone.
Grosvenor Vale is Wealdstone’s compact National League home in Ruislip, a short hop from the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines. Capacity sits around 3,200 to just over 4,000 depending on how the club counts temporary terracing, with a few hundred seats. It is a pieced-together ground rather than a bowl: original corrugated Main Stand on the south side, a noisy covered terrace at one end, a mix of seating and cover at the other, and a Second World War anti-aircraft gun turret still standing in the north-east corner. Visiting supporters usually find it friendly, cheap by fifth-tier standards, and easy to read once you know which end is which.
The pitch runs roughly east–west. The west goal sits in front of the Bulla Stand, an elevated covered terrace built by supporters in 2013 and later extended. That is the Stones’ loud end. The east goal sits in front of Couch Corner and the six-row MODU seated stand added in 2017; the concrete gun turret is just beyond that corner. On the south touchline is the low Main Stand, six rows of white seats under a traditional roof. Opposite, on the north side, sit the Social Club overhang (the small 1966 Stand of about eighty seats), covered pockets such as Brian Collins Corner, and longer open or part-covered terracing often labelled Hawthorne or SHOTS on ticket pages.
Segregation is not automatic. When it is used, away fans are typically put on the Social Club / north side and around toward the Gun Turret / east end, or allocated a west-end mix of MODU seats and Hawthorne standing — always follow the club’s match-specific note. Away turnstiles are signposted from the Grosvenor Vale approach. Buy in advance if you can; on-the-day prices are a couple of pounds higher and some seated allocations sell only online. Expect adult standing in the high teens and seating around twenty pounds for a National League fixture, with concessions and under-19 rates well below that.
Ruislip station is about a five-minute walk; Ruislip Manor is only a little further. Ruislip Gardens on the Central line is useful if the Met is shut. By car, leave the A40 for Ruislip and drop down West End Road into Grosvenor Vale. On-site parking is limited (often around £5 when open) and the lane is narrow; street parking exists but do not block drives or mount pavements. The Vale Social Club outside the ground usually welcomes both sets of fans before kick-off; at half-time it is often home-only when the fixture is segregated. Food and drink stalls sit inside both sections. Bags larger than a small handbag may be refused. Views from the Bulla and Main Stand are generally good; some older covers still have supporting poles.
Bring layers: several terraces are open or only partly roofed. The club shop is worth a look if you collect badges. Grosvenor Vale will not wow you as architecture, but it is a proper non-league ground with a wartime curiosity in the corner, goals in front of the two proper ends, and enough cover that a wet Tuesday need not ruin the trip. Check Wealdstone’s site the day before for turnstile times, segregation and whether the field car park is open.