Pre-Season Friendly
Honeycroft, West Drayton
Admission: £5.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 68
Match Rating: 2
For the last Saturday before competitive league football returns, I looked for a game where I could benefit from a reduced admission fee visiting a ground at Step 4 or above. In the end, it was a toss up between a visit to Hayes & Yeading, Marlow and Uxbridge. With Marlow not offering any information about their game on any information source, and the fact I had visited the site of Hayes & Yeading's new ground when The Warren stood there previously, I decided to head for the Honeycroft today.
Honeycroft is about a one mile, 20 minute walk northeastwards from West Drayton train station, and after walking mostly past some not particularly desirable housing and then industrial units, it came as a surprise to find quite an attractive, neat and well maintained ground, with plenty of greenery surrounding the ground. Visitors pass along a narrow lane before entering a large car park, at the end of which is a fairly large clubhouse building, and to the right, the entrance to the football ground, which is accessed via a wooden turnstile hut. Entering in one corner of the ground, there are a couple of steps of uncovered terracing along the length, with quite a long black building for the tea bar and toilets set behind a lawn area. Straddling the half way line is the main stand with half a dozen rows of seating, although supporting pillars along the front obstruct views. On the opposite side, there is a smaller all-seater stand, with something of an unintended wave look to the roof and seating. Behind both goals there are a couple of steps of covered terracing. The ground is enclosed by wooden panel fencing with the pitchside railings also wooden, and there are various nice touches such as colourful flower beds by the turnstile and some small palm trees behind the terrace closest to the entrance. No programmes nor team sheets were produced for this match.
After a 14 season stint in the second tier of the Southern League, finishing 15th in the 22 team Division One East last season, Uxbridge are returning to the Isthmian League this season, in the South Central Division. After being members of the Isthmian League since 1963, Hendon are moving over to the Southern League South Division for the coming season, and can now "look forward" to trips as far afield as Merthyr Tydfil and Tiverton - a 325 mile round trip. They finished in third place in the Isthmian League Premier Division last season, losing on penalties in the play-off final to second placed Dulwich Hamlet.
On a dry but much cooler afternoon than of late, and with a very strong gusty winds blowing, this was a reasonably entertaining game although goalscoring chances were at a premium throughout, particularly in the first half. On 11 minutes a long clearance by the Hendon keeper Zaki Oualah was carried along by the wind and bounced over his opposite number's head, and the Uxbridge keeper was relieved to look back and see the ball go just wide of the goal. On 38 minutes, an Uxbridge forward span clear of the defence but his eventual low shot was parried by the keeper.
The second half continued in much the same vein, still played at a decent tempo with both teams looking good apart from in the final third. As Uxbridge gradually sent on some trialists, Hendon slowly gained the ascendancy, starting to create some presentable chances. With about ten minutes to go, Uxbridge replaced their keeper with a triallist, and within a couple of minutes he was picking the ball out of his net. He was drawn out to the byline, but the Hendon forward retained possession before passing low into the centre of the area, and a triallist struck the ball low into the empty net. The visitors scored a second right at the end, when the ball was crossed in from the right wing and another triallist bundled the ball in at the far post, with the referee then immediately blowing the final whistle. The final scoreline was rather harsh on Uxbridge, although of course the result matters little, and they can be pleased with a decent performance against higher grade opposition - although perhaps the triallists did little to convince they are worth a more long term punt.
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