Caldicot Town 4 v 0 West End

Saturday 16th March 2019
Welsh League Division Two
Jubilee Way, Caldicot
Admission including Programme: £5.00
Attendance: 60 (estimate)

  

With some Tesco Clubcard National Express vouchers I had getting close to expiry, I decided to use them to pay my first visit of the season to Wales today, booking a day trip from London to Newport. In the days running up to matchday, the forecast was for rain throughout today in south-east Wales, which meant I kept a nervous eye on social media, and with a 3G joker card at Penybont (in Bridgend) in reserve to reroute to if need be. Fortunately, the rain did not arrive in Monmouthshire until well after kick-off, and so on arriving at Newport, I caught the train back to the last town in Wales before the Severn Estuary and the English border, to take in this game in the third tier of Welsh football.

Jubilee Way is about a 15 minute walk from Caldicot train station, although before the game, I diverted to enjoy a pleasant walk around Caldicot Castle and Country Park. Arriving back at Jubilee Way, visitors to the ground are welcomed by some attractive club signage posted on the clubhouse wall close to the passing road, including a fixtures board and the club crest. The clubhouse is accessed outside of the ground, and is spacious, comfortable and inviting, and was doing a roaring trade today with eyes glued to the big screens watching Wales complete the Six Nations Grand Slam with a comprehensive win over Ireland in Cardiff. To enter the ground, spectators pass to the side of the clubhouse, paying for admission and a programme at a small kiosk, with picnic tables available on patio areas before and after the entrance, up some steps. A long modern metallic all-seater stand has been installed in the last couple of years straddling the half way line along one length, while an older and more traditional stand is located on the other side, more towards one of the corner flags, although this is currently out of use pending some refurbishment and upgrading to ensure the ground does indeed meet the ground grading requirements for Tier Two of the Welsh footballing pyramid. There is just hard standing around the rest of the ground apart from behind one end, with see-through fencing separating the ground from playing fields behind one end and a footpath along a length, and the Second Severn Crossing is just about visible in the distance. The ground is a pleasant place to watch football, peaceful and with plenty of character remaining despite the ongoing modernisation of the facilities, and as is often the case in Welsh football, there was a very friendly and welcoming feel about the place. The programme was really excellent too, helpfully given a glossy, water resistant cover and consisting of a total of 52 pages with a 20 page insert relevant to today's game inside a more generic publication. There is more than enough to read about both clubs, the league and copious amounts of statistics, and it was very professionally presented and laid out.

The home side would certainly have been hot favourites to win today, coming into this game in third place in the table, following 14 wins and two draws from their 25 league games, whereas Swansea based outfit West End were second bottom in the 16 team division, following six wins and no draws from their 22 league games. They had also lost their last ten league games. Recent history between the two clubs certainly favours Caldicot too, as they have won the last eight encounters, which included a 2-5 win in the reverse league fixture last month, and a 0-6 win in the Welsh Cup, also played in Swansea back in October.

Conditions would prove to be extremely difficult this afternoon, with a very strong chilly wind making it difficult for players to judge the flight and run of the ball, and to control it. So perhaps it wasn't too surprising that the game was quite even for most of the first half, as both teams struggled to adapt, before a quick fire double in the final couple of minutes of the first half suddenly put the home side in command of the match. On 42 minutes, a ball down the wing drew the keeper out, and it was then crossed low for Giancarlo Gabbiadini to sweep the ball home just before a defender could challenge. And within a minute, they doubled their lead, this time a ball down the left resulted in a low cross for Garin Withers to tap the ball home.

From looking like they would go in level at the break, the visitors had a mountain to climb if they were to get anything from this game, and any hopes they might have had were dashed within a couple of minutes of the restart, as Caldicot started the second half very similarly to how they finished the first, with two quick-fire goals. Less than a minute after the restart, Withers floated the ball from the right wing and aided by the wind, the ball dropped over the keeper and into the net. And three minutes later, it was 4-0. The ball was lifted through the middle and as the keeper came out, Ben Smith just managed to poke the ball past the keeper and into the empty net. At that stage, one feared things could get rather ugly for the visitors, but somewhat surprisingly, Caldicot couldn't find any further goals despite forcing some good saves and hitting the woodwork.

So in the end, a comfortable victory for Caldicot, which sees them rise to second place in the table and they remain well on course on the pitch, as well as off it, to achieve promotion to the new Tier 2 FAW Championship next season, whilst West End appear to have a big battle on their hands to avoid relegation. With regards to my personal groundhopping, this was the fourth consecutive game I have watched in which there has been a four goal margin, and then seventh that I have seen at last four goals.

This proved to be a most enjoyable day out and club to visit, it was just a shame that the weather was rather unpleasant, with the buffeting wind during the game being joined by heavy rain as I walked back to Caldicot train station to embark on the long journey home.