Hellenic League Division One East
French School Meadows, Penn
Admission: £5.00
Programme: Online Only
Attendance: 27
Unusually on a Saturday, I decided to drive to a game today instead of taking the train, particularly as my partner decided she would like to join me on my travels today. To help me choose where to head for, I consulted the Futbology app, which confirmed this as being the closest ground I had not yet visited, and as I had previously noted that there were some interesting features about the ground, and it would not be the easiest of places to reach by public transport, I decided to head to Buckinghamshire.
French School Meadows is located close to the centre of the pretty village of Tylers Green, which is about 3 miles north west of Beaconsfield, and the football ground is part of the Penn & Tyler Green Sports Club, whose facilities on the site also include a cricket field, tennis courts and a clubhouse - sadly closed at the moment due to Covid restrictions, and a couple of car parks. Entrance to the football ground is gained by paying admission at a a side window of a small brick building with a sloping roof, and which doubles up as a tea bar, located in one corner of the ground. Straddling the half way line on this side is a dark green converted container unit, with half of the interior having benches, the other half providing a covered standing area. A gazebo was erected close to the entrance along this length, behind a wooden fence, for the visiting team to use for their team talks. There is just hard standing along the rest of this length, and behind the goal closest to the entrance, whilst the other two sides were muddy and indeed, spectators are requested not to access these areas. A second football pitch is located adjacent and above the main pitch. Back to the main pitch, it is smart, well maintained and easy on the eye, with views of the countryside stretching far into the distance behind one of the goals. The most eye-catching feature of the ground is the retractable floodlights, three along each length. Only installed in September, their installation was the suitable compromise after planning permission was originally refused for installing floodlights here, and ensured that the club's senior side could return to playing its fixtures here, after having to groundshare at Beaconsfield Town and Amersham Town for a couple of seasons. They were not needed to be extended for use today however, thanks to the Hellenic League's sensible decision to bring forward all Saturday afternoon kick-offs to 2pm following Lockdown 2 for the immediate future, to help clubs save on the considerable expense of operating floodlights. A 24 page programme for today's match was available exclusively online, and it was an interesting read, including club histories and player profiles of both clubs, league table, and an update on the Hellenic League's latest response to the Covid pandemic.
Today marked the restart of fixtures in the Hellenic League after Lockdown 2, and Penn & Tylers Green would be defending an unbeaten league record, having won three and drawn the other of their four league games so far, but having played fewer games than all clubs above them, they were in sixth place in the table. Kidlington Reserves had won two and drawn three of their seven league games, and were in ninth place in the 15 club division.
On a bright and relatively mild afternoon for December, this turned to be a surprisingly one-sided game in favour of the visitors, given the previously unbeaten record for the home side. After having a couple of glorious chances to open the scoring, Kidlington finally did on 31 minutes, when a cross from the right took a deflection, and the striker just managed to poke the ball before the keeper could reach the ball. And they doubled their lead on 39 minutes, when the ball fell to a Kidlington player to the left of goal, and he struck the ball into the net, brushing the keeper on its way through. A rare chance by the home team came on 43 minutes, following a good diagonal box to the outer corner of the penalty area, and the ball was lobbed just over the bar.
Penn & Tylers Green would probably have been happy to have kept the deficit down to just two at the break, and they did start the second half positively, mounting a couple of decent attacks as they tried to get back in the game. But a quick one-two by the visitors took the game away from them, with a third goal coming for the visitors on 52 minutes, when the ball was tapped home after an initial shot was parried by the keeper. And two minutes later, the visitors scored their fourth from the penalty spot following a trip in the area, converted powerfully just to the left of centre, sending the keeper the wrong way. The home side did give themselves the faintest glimmer of hope of a comeback on 58 minutes, when a long throw in from Sam Green and as the ball bobbled around the penalty area, and Gary Lines drove the ball low past the keeper. That faint hope was soon extinguished though, as the visitors restored their four goal lead on the hour mark. A corner was whipped in, and the ball sailed just above the keeper's reach, and the ball home was nodded home from close range. Penn did have a good chance to pull another goal back on 63 minutes, when a shot from the edge of the area went just past the far post. But the game then settled down, with the visitors largely controlling proceedings, although credit to the home side for keep battling away, and on 86 minutes, they had another chance to reduce the deficit, when a curled shot on the run saw the ball go just over the bar. But their previously unbeaten run was to come to an abrupt end in emphatic style, although their forthcoming fixtures do look tough, against third placed Holyport next week, before a run of three away fixtures to kick off the New Year.
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