Whyteleafe 2 v 0 Hastings United

Tuesday 27th November 2018
Isthmian League South East Division
Church Road, Whyteleafe
Admission: £10.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 147
Match Rating: 3

Having this week off work, I had originally planned to make the long drive over to the Hampshire-Berkshire border to visit my penultimate ground in the Wessex League Premier Division, Tadley Calleva, which is quite challenging to reach by public transport - my favoured means of transport on Saturdays. However, heavy rain fell for most of the afternoon and although the pitch there passed a 4pm pitch inspection, the driving conditions were not good in the persistent heavy rain, there is only one small stand present at the ground to provide shelter from the rain, and I did not want to risk driving all that way only for a last minute postponement. And so I decided on a revisit to Whyteleafe with the safety of a plastic pitch now being installed there.

Church Road is only about a ten minute walk from Whyteleafe and Upper Warlingham train stations, although I decided to drive to the ground this evening in consideration of the weather, with plenty of parking available on the quiet road outside. Down a short slope from that road, there is a car park, to the left of which is the clubhouse, which is quite spacious and interestingly decorated inside. To the right of the car park are the entrance turnstiles, situated about a third of the way along one length. It is an interestingly quirky ground, offering some decent facilities, a fair amount of character, and not an identikit stand or the like in sight. Behind one of the goals there is quite a large stand offering a good, elevated and unobstructed view, with seating taking up about half of the interior, with standing available along the back and on terrace steps in the other half of the stand. To the side and along the top from the stand, there is a burger bar, with the changing rooms in the corner. Along the length where the entrance is situated, there are a several steps of uncovered terracing, and straddling the half way line is a small stand with seating inside, although with part of the roof removed to allow a floodlight pylon to stand, it offers very little protection from rain on nights like tonight. A further small home-made stand of scaffolding and corrugated iron covers the terracing further along the length. Behind the other goal, there is quite an intimate low but long stand covering flat standing area, whilst along the remaining length, there is mainly hard standing, apart from a small stand covering a flat standing area. Trees closely line the ground, and I recall this as being a nice green setting in daylight hours. There is also a really friendly and welcoming feel to the place, all of which makes Church Road a very pleasant place to visit. The 16 page programme printed on regular paper was slightly overpriced at £2.00, but was well presented and attractively designed, containing the important information and stats, although the fixtures/results page was two games out of date. Team sheets were also available free of charge.

Whyteleafe have made a solid start to their campaign, coming into this game in eighth place, following five wins and four draws from their 12 league games, three points adrift of the play-off berths. They were not in the best of recent form though, losing their last two home games 2-3, and in their last game drew 0-0 at home. Hastings have had a great start to their campaign, in second place in the table, although ten points adrift of leaders in the only automatic promotion berth available, Cray Wanderers. By contrast, they had won their last two home games, and drew at home to Faversham in their most recent fixture. The two teams have already met in the FA Trophy at the Pilot Field this season, with Whyteleafe triumphing 2-4 last month.

After heavy rain fell right up to kick-off, leaving walkways flooded in several places around the ground, the rain relented virtually as the game kicked off, and conditions stayed dry for the rest of the match. The opening exchanges were lively, and a pattern soon developed of Hastings looking to play a quick short passing game while Whyteleafe seemed to sit deep and then launch the ball forward on the counter. The visitors had the first clear chance on 12 minutes, when their forward cut inside before firing a low shot just wide of the far post. But what turned out to be the decisive moment in the match came as early as the 28th minute, when a long ball upfield seemed to be slightly misjudged by defender Tom Climpson, who then clumsily brought the Whyteleafe striker down to prevent him running clear on goal. A straight red card was shown to Climpson, and the punishment was doubled as Bradley Wilson drilled the ball low into the bottom left hand corner. That did not seem to deter the visitors initially though, as they continued to look threatening without having much end product, apart from on 37 minutes, when a cross from the right just evaded the head of an unmarked team mate. But Whyteleafe retained their slender lead at the break.

In the second half, Hastings seemed to be able to threaten less, although they did have a couple of decent chances, which just lacked the finishing touch. And on 77 minutes, the hosts doubled their lead thanks to a powerful close range far post header by Bryan Akongo following a corner. That did seem to deflate the visitors, as Whyteleafe really should have increased their tally - forcing a great one-on-one save on 79 minutes, and on 82 minutes, their forward was sent clear  and his eventual shot beat the keeper and hit the inside of the far post and rolled along the line, staying out of the goal. And in the end, Whyteleafe saw the game out quite comfortably. A disappointing result for Hastings, who looked lively going forward, but they did not manage to force the keeper to make a single save, and that proved decisive. It also did not help that they had two of their key midfielders, Jack Dixon and Sam Adams, missing through suspension, and had to field 16 year old James Pool - who put in an accomplished performance despite his tender years in a depleted team.