Huntingdon Town 2 v 0 Blackstones

Saturday 14th March 2020
United Counties League Division One
Jubilee Park, Huntingdon
Admission: £2.50 (half price for season ticket holders of any other club)
Programme: Online only
Attendance: 85

 

Well these are strange times indeed, thanks to the Coronavirus outbreak which has struck fear and, in some quarters at least, panic into the population. And the fate of football matches from today for the foreseeable future has swayed considerably in quick time over the last few days. On Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, supported by scientific experts, encouraged the British people to pretty much carry on usual with their activities, including sporting fixtures. But after it was subsequently announced that several high profile players and Arsenal manager were suffering symptoms and needed to self isolate, the Premier League and EFL announced at Friday lunchtime an immediate suspension of their fixtures until the end of the month at least. With the FA leaving it up to individual leagues to decided whether to proceed with their fixtures, a rather confusing picture soon emerged. The Southern and Isthmian Leagues soon followed the lead of the Premier League and EFL, but rather surprisingly, the National League and Northern Premier League announced that their fixtures would be played. Some Step 5 and 6 leagues announced an immediate suspension of their fixtures, whilst others declared that their fixtures should go ahead, subject to constant review in these uncertain times. As this could well prove to be the last day I could watch football for weeks, if not months, I particularly wanted to visit a new ground today, but there were no new grounds for me to visit in the Southern Combination, Southern Counties East or Wessex Leagues, and although there was a new ground to visit in the Combined Counties League, at the Club des Sports for Kensington & Ealing Borough's home fixtures, I did not fancy a trip by train, and far less on the tube, in the current climate. So I decided to make the long journey by car to Cambridgeshire for this game in the United Counties League.

Jubilee Park is located approximately two and a half miles north east of Huntingdon town centre, out in the open countryside, with a large car park available at the entrance of the complex. Although there is a traditional style turnstile and payment booth, these are not currently in use, instead spectators pass by and pay the admission fee just inside the clubhouse. The main room for visitors is quite spacious inside, with rows of tables and chairs, and hot food and refreshment outlet, and bar, adjacent to each other. Full length windows are located along the pitch-facing side, with several wooden picnic tables scattered outside, behind one of the goals. The pitch is hedged in and surrounded by junior pitches and an archery range, and there are two metallic all-seater stands stretching from the corner flag, with quite a long stand covering a flat area straddling the half way line. Although dugouts are located in front of this stand, they were not in use today, instead dugouts on the opposite side were used. There is just hard standing available around the rest of the pitch. The 24 page programme, which was only available for download, was bright, colourful and informative about the various teams of the club, with interesting reading material and plenty of stats and facts. Under the circumstances, an electronic programme was probably preferable to handling a printed copy!

Huntingdon came into this game second bottom in the table, with three wins and seven draws from their 29 league games, with their last win coming back in early October, and have picked up just six points, from six draws, from their last 20 league games. Three of those points came in their last five league games though in a sign of improvement, and today would be the first home game for their new manager. Stamford based Blackstones were in sixth place, following 14 wins and four draws from their 28 league games, but although they beat bottom of the table Lutterworth Athletic 5-1 at home, they had lost their previous three league games, and the previous two before that. When the two teams met in the reverse fixture just before Christmas, Blackstones won 4-0.

On a dry, overcast afternoon, this game had an explosive start, with the home side taking the lead with barely a minute on the clock, Archie Sayer dribbling across the edge of the area before firing the ball into the top left corner. A dream start for Huntingdon and for Sayer on his debut for the club. Blackstones had a chance on 10 minutes when the keeper was caught in no man's land but an attempted floated lob went just over the bar. On 24 minutes, a Blackstones pass in midfield took a deflection into the path of a Huntingdon striker clear through on goal, but from a slight angle, the eventual shot was parried. But they did double their lead on 29 minutes, thanks to another fortunate deflection, this time in the area with the ball landing at the feet of Ash Ingham, and after the keeper strangely committed himself on the floor very early, Ingham passed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. They had another chance on 42 minutes when their player cut inside before sending a fizzing shot just over the far top corner.

The second half was rather uneventful, and apart from a half chance each for both sides, Blackstones never looked likely to get back into the game as Huntingdon saw the game out quite comfortably. Four minutes into added on time, Huntingdon were reduced to ten men, Caleb Steele, who had had a good game, was shown a second yellow card, but it did seem a case of mistaken identity, as a team mate had made a bad foul.

So, a very welcome win for Huntingdon, over five months since their last, and a great start for their new manager. It certainly was a strange, eerie atmosphere today, with all of the concerns and fears about the spread of COVID-19. Personally. I think it was the right decision of the league to carry on with their fixtures, which was in line with the government's advice, steered by scientific experts, to carry on with life as much as possible, before it really does become essential to lock down. Whilst there no doubt was a small risk at yesterday's game, that surely is extremely small compared to entering supermarkets, using public transport, or going down to the pub or any other leisure activity. That said, who really knows exactly what is the right approach, and I have no issues with games being called off where players or officials showed signs of having the virus. Rather than a blanket ban, carrying on with fixtures, but with no players or clubs pressured into playing should they have concerns, seems to be right approach to me. All of that said, I would imagine that all games will now be called off after this weekend, despite positive noises from my local Step 5 and 6 clubs regarding their midweek fixtures, as circumstances overtake the advice given, which is a shame as I had trips to Boston United and Salford City to look forward to over the next two weekends, and I fear that this may well have proved to be my final game of the season.

The electronic programme can be viewed by clicking here.