Eversley & California 2 v 0 FC Deportivo Galicia

Saturday 31st March 2018
Combined Counties League Division One Cup Semi-Final
Fox Lane, Eversley
Admission including Programme: £6.00
Attendance: 80 (estimate)
Match Rating: 3

With heavy rain falling throughout yesterday (Good Friday) - which caused my chosen game at Snodland Town to be postponed just as I arrived at the ground at 2pm - the non-league programme was again decimated today with waterlogged pitches. With London bound trains from my home station subject to bus replacement for part of the journey, I initially decided to head to the Southampton area, but en route to the train station, my intended targets of Fawley, Totton & Eling and Worthing Town were all called off. But surprisingly (to club officials themselves as much as anyone), Eversley & California tweeted that their pitch was playable - "soggy but no standing water", and so I headed there, but with the proviso that the pitch was "playable..game is on for now", I had a visit to the 3G pitch at Bracknell Town as a back up, particularly as light rain was forecast to fall before kick-off. Committing to Eversley, I began to doubt my wisdom as rain started to fall as I walked to the ground. Happily that was fairly brief and replaced with some sunshine, and to my considerable relief, the pitch passed a final inspection by the match referee at 2pm and it was indeed game on.

Fox Lane is about a 3 mile, 1 hour walk from Sandhurst train station, a fairly pleasant walk along quiet back roads, and past the home of Surrey Elite League club Yateley United. The football ground is part of a large sporting complex of the Eversley Sports Association, which consists of nine football pitches (of varying sizes) and a cricket square in the middle, and with a path from the large car park leading along the edge of the complex, past a brick building containing a tea bar and changing rooms, then past a large indoor cricket centre building, to the entrance to the main football ground, which is accessed through a wooden building, to one side of the half way line. This is not a ground to get the juices flowing, but is perfectly adequate for Step 6 football, has a friendly and welcoming feel to it, and may have quite an attractive setting in the late summer months. Straddling the half way line on the opposite site to the entrance are two small modern metallic stands, one all-seater and the other covering steps to stand on, whilst around the rest of the ground there is just hard standing. The ground is enclosed by white sheeting adorned with the name of the club's sponsors, whilst two sides of the ground is closely lined with trees, and the surrounding countryside and quarry buildings can be viewed behind the other two. A 16 page programme is provided with admission, and is a rather basic black and white publication, but had decent enough content for this level.

This divisional cup semi-final was between two teams anchored in mid-table. Eversley & California were in eighth place in the league, following 16 wins and three draws from their 30 league games, while Deportivo Galicia, in their first season in senior football since promotion from the Middlesex County League, were in eleventh place, following nine wins and four draws from their 28 league games. In the league games between the two sides, Eversley & California won 3-2 on the opening game of the league season, whilst the return match finished 2-2 in early January.

On a very overcast afternoon, with light rain falling intermittently throughout the game, the pitch surprisingly looked good at kick-off, although as expected it soon cut up quite badly in places, which made playing good, passing football difficult, and undoubtedly the home adapted the better to the tricky conditions. The visiting keeper looked an accident waiting to happen, as he fumbled straightforward shots and flapped and missed high balls into the area, but the home side never actually managed to take advantage. But on 16 minutes, they did take the lead. A long throw in in to the box was flicked towards the far post by a defender's head, and Sam Hutchings struck the ball home from waist height past the keeper. They almost doubled their lead two minutes later, when a shot from the edge of the area struck the underside of the bar. The visitors barely threatened during the first half, but they did have a good chance on 42 minutes, following a quick break by two forwards, one managing to slip the ball to the other as they approached the penalty area, but the shot went just wide.

The second half continued with much the same pattern as Eversley looking comfortable despite only having the one goal lead, and on 63 minutes, they saw a powerful goalbound shot blocked by a defender's legs. But the reprieve lasted just two minutes, and again a long missile of a throw in into the penalty area set it up, this time Cameron Miller heading the ball over the keeper and into the far side of the net. To their credit, Deportivo kept on battling to find their way back into the match and came close on a couple of occasions, seeing shots flash just wide, but their best chance of all came on 90 minutes. A good chance sent their forward through towards goal, but he rushed and scuffed his shot wide. And in the end, it was Eversley & California who made it through to the final, where they will play Staines Lammas in early May.