December's home match against Hallen was a landmark moment in the history of Shirehampton FC.
For three years, Shirehampton had been groundsharing with nearby Bristol Manor Farm while improvement works were carried out on their Penpole Lane home.
The works were able to take place thanks to funding from the Premier League and were vital for the club to meet ground grading criteria for playing in Western Football League Division One, the 10th tier or Step 6 of the England football pyramid.
And with the redevelopment completed, it was time for Shirehampton to come home.
"I cannot believe that we're now hosting Step 6 football in the village of Shirehampton under the floodlights, it's incredible," says club secretary Richard Carey, whose father held the same role and was a player for Shirehampton in the 1950s.
"The club has a special place in my heart. I've been involved in the club all my life. It's been part of our family. It means a lot to me and for all people, like our chairman Pete McCall, who have put in an awful lot of time and money.
"There's no place like home. We always wanted to retain our identity, belonging in the community in the centre of the village. Unfortunately my father passed away in December of last year and he never got to see Penpole Lane lit up with the lights and he never got to see a game at Step 6. I am sure he would have been very proud."
Through the Premier League Stadium Fund, Shirehampton FC has received £146,000 to rejuvenate Penpole Lane since 2019.
The club's pavilion and changing rooms have been refurbished and extended, there is new spectator accommodation while in 2023, new energy-efficient LED floodlights were installed. Shirehampton also received storm relief grants for ground repairs in 2022.
Committee member Matt McCall, who was club captain for nine years, was one of the people who helped drive the redevelopment project.
"Our facilities were borderline embarrassing at times," he says. "It's so nice they have been done out now. It's very different compared to when prospective signings would turn up to see this shoddy building and facilities that weren't fit for purpose.
"Every summer we would fit new tiles or put a bit of paint on the wall but we would just be papering over the cracks really. Without these improvements, at best we would be ground sharing. If not, we'd have probably moved back and not progressed, and progression is everything.
"The funding definitely had a direct effect on that because without it being available, I don't know what we would have been able to do. It looks and feels a football ground. That's probably the best thing I can say, it feels normal again."
Having a redeveloped home means Shirehampton no longer have to go through the cycle of building a competitive team, being in the hunt for promotion, only for players to move on when the club could not meet ground grading criteria.
And with the club having a base, it also gives them the opportunity to build relationships in their local community.
"The club would have died," Matt says. "Manor Farm were fantastic hosts but having the first team away from the club was slowly making a divide.
"Being back home has brought the club together again and it's definitely allowing us to lay roots. We've got the junior section back up and running and that is one of many things that we want to start doing.
"Seeing the work completed, I feel proud and happy. It's just nice to see other people enjoying it. You just want it to be good for everyone else, the wider community, people that come regularly, those that don't, it's for everyone."
Shirehampton FC is one of more than 1,000 clubs that have received Premier League Stadium Fund investment since 2000. Through the Fund, more than £207m has been invested into improving the stadiums and facilities of clubs in the EFL, National League System and Women's Football Pyramid. More than 5,900 grants have been provided.
"That the Premier League is involved what has happened at our club is brilliant," says manager Liam Greening, who has been with Shirehampton since the summer of 2021. "For them to be sharing funding out has enabled us to push on. I can't speak highly enough of their support.
"It enables us to dream and enables us to have ambitions because there's help there for us. That's what football is all about. Without the Premier League and what they do, we would still be a county league side. We were stuck where we were.
"Everything about the place is positive. Now it's about looking forward and thinking about how we can take ourselves to the next level."
And to mark today's Non-League Day, which encourages as many fans as possible to support their local non-league side on a weekend of international football, Shirehampton received a visit from the Premier League Trophy ahead of Friday's league fixture against Longwell Green.
"Events like Friday night make people more aware of the club," Richards adds. "We had a lot of interest from local schools about seeing the Trophy, it's fantastic to get Shirehampton more visible to the local community."
