Sunday 16 September 2018

Saffron Walden Town 1 v 4 May & Baker

Saturday 15th September 2018
FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round
Catons Lane, Saffron Walden
Admission: £7.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 170
Match Rating: 3

 


With engineering works on Southern Railway making any trip westwards unpalatable today, I decided to visit a ground that I have long since wanted to visit, but was always put off by the ground being not the easiest to access via public transport. I also wanted to take in a FA Vase game today, and this would be an attractive looking game between two teams in decent form. It would also be interesting to watch the team I saw win 8-1 in the last round a fortnight ago against higher opposition today.




Catons Lane is almost a three mile, 45 minute walk from the nearest train station, Audley End, although it is a pleasant enough walk along a quiet country road, then finally through the quaint town centre of Saffron Walden. The football ground lies just to the north of the town, with spectators entering through a turnstile block behind one goal. It is an interesting ground, scruffy in places, recently enhanced in others, with lots of different furniture and vantage points, and not a modern metallic stand in sight. Behind the goal by the entrance there are various container type buildings, mostly seeming to house maintenance equipment but also the PA room, and the quality of announcements and playing of music was far better than one normally encounters at this level of football. There is also cover over flat standing area stretching from these buildings. Just around the corner is the clubhouse, in a white building, and which is quite dated but spacious inside, with a more modern extension for hospitality. Next to the clubhouse there is a small tea bar building, and the straddling the half way line there is quite an old fashioned stand with wooden bench seating inside, but all freshly painted in bright red and black club colours. On the opposite side, a few rows of seats are covered, and either side spectators can enjoy quite good views from the top of a short grass bank. Behind the remaining goal there is another (small) stand, with a couple of rows of seats along the front and more room to stand to the rear. A really pleasant feature of this ground is the attractive church perched quite close by behind one corner, but otherwise plenty of trees and a quiet location make this is very pleasant venue to watch football at. The 36 page programme was decent for £1, with plenty to read inside, an acceptable level of advertising, and printed on stiff glossy paper.





Since finally switching from the Eastern Counties League for this season, having expressed a desire to do so for some time, Saffron Walden have enjoyed a good start to their maiden Essex Senior League campaign, winning two and drawing the other two if their four league games so far. They reached the First Qualifying Round of this season's FA Vase, before losing in a replay to St Ives (two steps above them) in midweek, and today would be their first game in this season's FA Vase. May & Baker have not played since their 8-1 victory at home against Burnham Ramblers in the previous round, and are in seventh place in the Eastern Counties League South Division following three wins and a draw from their four league games, and have at least two games in hand on all teams above them. These two teams have already met this season in the Essex Senior Cup in late August, with Saffron Walden winning 4-3 at home.





On a warm, sunny afternoon, on paper this result was a shock, but the result was actually quite a fair reflection of the match, even if the scoreline did flatter the visitors, as Saffron Walden put in a surprisingly poor performance given their recent form and cup exploits, with their passing particularly woeful. After a quiet opening to the game, the visitors took the lead on 26 minutes, following a poor back header by a defender, allowing Reece Tranter through against the keeper, before slotting the ball home. The home side did create a few half chances approaching half time, but they went in behind at the break and would need to come out a lot more fired up after the break if they were not to exit this competition at the first hurdle.




Instead, they went further behind on 50 minutes. Following a corner, the ball was floated into the box and Craig Hall got a glancing header to guide the ball into the net. Arguably the game deciding moment came three minutes later when Saffron Walden were awarded a free kick just outside the area, much to everyone's disbelief, as the foul of pulling the player back seemed to clearly happen inside the area. That free kick came to nothing, and then the visitors came very close on a couple of occasions to scoring a third, forcing an excellent reflex save and then have the ball hacked away from close to the goalline, before they did on 67 minutes to all but wrap the tie up, Dan Gilchrist drilling the ball across the keeper and into the net with a very good finish. A rare moment of quality from the hosts on 74 minutes saw them almost claw a goal back, the ball was crossed from the right and Charlie Portway volleyed the ball powerfully against the underside of the bar, but the ball bounced the wrong side of the line. With ten minutes remaining, Saffron Walden did give themselves faint hope with a goal, the ball was floated over the defence and Portway beat the offside trap and struck the ball home. Three minutes later and the hosts had a great chance to really make the game interesting, again after the ball was floated diagonally over the defence but Lewis Francis acrobatically struck the ball over the bar with his foot when a header probably would have been more successful. But on 88 minutes, the visitors restored their three goal lead to seal their passage into the next round following yet another stray pass by the hosts being intercepted, Tom Harvey eventually dribbling in too easily from the right before firing past the keeper.





So a surprisingly comprehensive win for the visitors, who could not have wished for a much better start to senior football. Despite playing well below par, Saffron Walden still had their chances and the outcome could have been very different with a little more fortune and if the penalty decision went their way. But they just could not get going today and will be massively disappointed to exit a national competition, one they could have progressed far in, at the first hurdle. With May and Baker's potency, who knows how far they might progress in this competition with their attacking prowess, particularly should have they get kind draws.




Video highlights of this match can be found by clicking here.

No comments: