Southern Combination League Premier Division
The Oaks, Uckfield
Admission including Programme: £6.00
Attendance: 83
After two successive weeks of groundhopping in East Anglia, it was quite nice to return to the local scene this week, and for this evening's action, I decided to visit a ground that I had not been to in over six years, to take in my first Southern Combination League action of the season. With a warm and sunny evening in prospect, Uckfield's rural and tree surrounded ground was an attractive proposition.
There have been no substantial changes to The Oaks since my last visit on August Bank Holiday Monday in 2016, although there has been plenty of cosmetic improvements around the place, with club crests now placed on the car park entrance gates, and plenty of colourful club signage around the ground, most notably along the top of the clubhouse, and the turnstile block. As is the norm this season, just inside the ground a hand sanitiser gel dispenser and the QR code to be used for track and trace purposes was left on a table. Happily, a 12 page paper programme was produced for this fixture, printed in black and white and was a decent read, containing information on the club's history, a welcome message, a recent match report, plenty of league stats and facts, an introduction to the away club, and the predicted team line-ups.
AFC Uckfield have had a solid unbeaten start to their league campaign, winning one and drawing the other two of their league games so far. They bowed out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle though, losing 0-1 at home to Little Common Extra at the Preliminary Round stage. Langney Wanderers have picked up a point from their opening two games, but after winning their Extra Preliminary Round tie against Tower Hamlets, they suffered heartbreak in the next round on Saturday, taking their tie against Harrow Borough, of the Southern League Premier Division South to penalties, only to lose in the shoot-out.
On a very pleasant warm and sunny evening, the game started in a very lively fashion, and the visitors had a great chance with barely a minute on the clock, when Mohammad Ali Mekawir played a quick one-two, before lashing the ball just over the bar from a tight angle. But it was Uckfield who took the lead on four minutes, when following a good run down the left, the ball was crossed to the edge of the penalty area, and Morgan Vale volleyed the ball past the keeper with an excellent, controlled finish. Langney responded by keeping up their intensity, but Uckfield weathered the storm and the rest of the half settled down, with few threats to goal coming.
Into the second half and the visitors started strongly again, and within a couple of minutes, a fierce shot across goal was hacked away by a defender. Uckfield came close to extending their lead a couple of minutes later, following a slide rule pass forward through the Langney defence found Matt Black, and wide of the goal, he cut inside and saw his powerful deflected over the bar. The game then seemed to drift, until Langney got back on level terms on 66 minutes when the ball was played forward low finding the run of Mekawir, who found himself one-on-one with the keeper, and he showed good composure to calmly slot the ball past the keeper. Langney then created some decent chances, but the home side was awarded a penalty on 83 minutes, after a shot was parried by the keeper, and Uckfield's Alex Plummer ran into the box chasing the loose ball, only to be upended by a defender. Dan Perry converted low into the bottom left corner, sending the keeper the wrong way. The visitors were awarded a penalty of their own for a shove by sub Wayne Clarke as the ball was floated in. Mekawir drove the ball high down the middle, and keeper Jason Tibble stood his ground and pushed the ball over the bar. Langney battled hard to get another equaliser, but it never looked like it would come, and so Uckfield continue their excellent start to their season.
No comments:
Post a Comment