Saturday 12th December 2009
Sussex County League Division 2
Culver Lane, Lancing
Admission with programme: £4.00
Attendance: 80 (guessed)
Match Rating: 4
The second, main game of the day for me took me to Culver Road just in time for kick off for this Sussex County League Division 2 match between Lancing and Westfield, bith firmly stuck in the middle of the table going into the game. Considering that the home team have for the most part been stuck firmly in Division 2 for the past twenty years and the general low standard of grounds in Division 2 (so that they couldn't be promoted, as in the case of today's opponents, Westfield), it may come as a big surprise how good, relatively speaking, Culver Road is. However, it is easily explained as it is the home of the Sussex County Football Association. The ground has a modern stand with covered seating, a tea bar and clubhouse inside, whilst the rest of the ground is extremely well maintained with hard standing throughout and the pitch fully railed off. In a peaceful setting despite being surrounded by housing and being fairly central in the town of Lancing, and with the South Downs in the background, Culver Road makes for a pleasant ueban setting for football. Programmes are included with admission and has a very attractive cover and resonable content which provided the basic information you need to know for the game.
The first half of this game was an even affair, with Westfield certainly showing more attacking intent and could count themselves unlucky not to score in the first half, although Lancing did occasionally threaten on the break. A goalless scoreline at half-time gave no indication of the drama that was to unfold in the second half. A couple of minutes into the second half, and Lancing took the lead, which they doubled on 56 minutes. Lancing now looked comfortable. Westfield pulled a goal back, and with them still looking threatening and the game mostly being played in Lancing's half, an equaliser wouldn't have come as a surprise. However Lancing restored their two goal lead on 76 minutes to seemingly put the game out of sight, with Darren Boswell completing his hat trick. But no, Westfield were back within one goal as the clock reached 90 minutes following a goalmouth scramble. Unfortunately in the build up to the goal, Ryan Loversidge of Lancing saw fit to spit at an opponents after taking exception to a strong challenge and who was quite rightly sent off, but not before most ot the players became embroiled in some handbags. 9 minutes into added time and Lancing scored their fourth to surely wrap the points up for Lancing...yet still there was time for Westfield to pull a goal back yet again with 56 second half minutes on the clock, but this time there really was no time for any more scoring. Quite how the referee found so much added on time is a mystery, but that certainly helped add to a second half full of drama and unpredictability.
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