Ryman League Division 1 North
Chadfields, Tilbury
Admission: £8.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 58
Match Rating: 3
In every respect, from setting foot in the town to the football match played out in front of me and with the weather throughout the day, there was little beautiful about today's outing - a day when I felt permanently felt the desire to rub my eyes, so harsh on the eyes what was in front of me.
I decided to head into Essex for today's game, although this time via a rather unconventional route - by travelling to Gravesend by train, and then catching the ferry across the River Thames to Tilbury. Quite bizarre is this ferry service, rarely have I seen a public service advertised so little, with almost no information about it on the internet and one really has to keep one's eyes peeled to find a narrow alleyway leading to the pier with a minimum of signage. The return fare was £3.00, and the 8 minute crossing certainly couldn't be described as scenic, with a backdrop of factories, chimnies and cargo ships. From Tilbury port, the town is about a 15 minute walk passing by the docks, although there is absolutely nothing worthy of recommendation to spend any time at all there, indeed it has a rather unpleasant and menacing feel to it. The Chadfields, home of Tilbury, is another ten minute walk north of the town. The ground is quite reasonable considering the area and the level, with a very spacious feel to it. Along one length of the pitch, there is a covered stand with seating on - although a fair amount of the seating is either broken or removed. Either side of the seated stand are adjoining covered terraces. On the opposite side is a fairly small stand which houses the board room and changing rooms on the ground floor, with seating above that would provide excellent elevated views of the action - but was not open today and hasn't been for some time apparently.Behind one of the goals is an unattractive black rectangular clubhouse which can only be accessed from outside of the ground although does house a small tea bar for those inside the stadium - and the large tea I purchased from here certainly rates as one of the finest I have encountered at a football ground for some time - all the more welcome on a chilly, dull November day. Behind the other goal is a small bank of terracing. Netting between either goal and the terraces ensure that views are not particularly good from these areas. The programme was a decent effort, attractive and with copious information and some interesting articles, including an article about a groundhopper's progress as he approaches his target of taking in 10,000 games by the time he reaches his 60th birthday next July.
This game was between two teams firmly entrenched in the bottom half of the table, the home side in 18th place out of the 22 teams, winning last time out away at Leyton to put an end to a six game losing streak. Cheshunt were three places and seven points better off than Tilbury, having played a game less.
The first half of this game was certainly not easy on the eye for the most part, as particularly Tilbury's only real gameplan seemed to be playing long balls, which rarely looked threatening. Cheshunt played marginally more football, although Tilbury really should have taken the lead midway through the half when the Cheshunt keeper Joe Wright saved twice in quick succession, although both times Michael Toner really should have scored. Despite the ugly brand of football, regular half chances made the game fairly interesting, and this continued into the second half as both sides has good chances to equalise. Tilbury will really be kicking themselves that they did not go on to win this game, as Chris Stowe hit the bar, another one on one was saved with the follow up shot blocked and on another occasion a Tilbury forward did all the hard work by making space for himself inside the penalty area only to fire wide. Despite a succession of corners in injury time at the end of the game for Tilbury - and Cheshunt forcing a smart low save themselves - the match ended goalless, which had always looked quite unlikely given regular goalscoring opportunities created by both sides, particularly Tilbury. A quick walk back to the ferry jetty to catch the 5.15 ferry back to Gravesend and I was left with a strange combination of feelings - despite experiencing an ugly town, watching kick and rush football and my first goalless game of the season in a ground showing its age, there was something rather enjoyable about this day out - maybe that it encaptured the down to earth feeling of this level of football, which is a breath of fresh air compared to the professional game.
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