Southern Combination League Division Two Supplementary Shield
Recreation Ground, Charlwood
Admission & Programme: None
Attendance: 50 (estimate)
A quirk of fate meant that this would be my second visit to Charlwood in four days. Following my lunchtime game at Copthorne, my original intention was to then head down to Worthing Town, to visit my final venue in the Southern Combination League. However, I noticed yesterday that that game had been rearranged for Tuesday evening. With few clubs opting for the late afternoon option today, the available games in the Mid Sussex League did not really appeal, with the games being from the lower divisions and all but one of being fixtures for the host club's reserve team, and so I chose a very quick return to the Charlwood. At least I would get to see the full game today, having just missed kick-off on Tuesday - indeed, I arrived about an hour ahead of kick-off today, which was no hardship, sitting on one of the many wooden benches placed around the pleasant recreation ground, eating my lunch whilst the venue was being readied to host football, including the goals being wheeled and erected into position.
My description of the Charlwood Recreation Ground from Tuesday can be found by clicking here. With a win and a draw from their opening three games in this competition, Charlwood occupied a top two berth and were well placed to make the semi-final, but would need to win today to really be in the driving seat to extend their season. That would be tough against a TD Shipley outfit that were unbeaten in the curtailed league season, following six wins and two draws. In this Supplementary Shield competition, TD Shipley won 2-3 at Copthorne before losing 0-2 at home to St Francis Rangers.
On a pleasantly warm and sunny afternoon, the tone for this game was set in the very first minute when the visitors took the lead. A ball launched into the box caused some confusion amongst the home defence and keeper, and Ben Lewis poked the ball home. For the next half hour, the game was quite even, Charlwood occasionally threatened but it was the visitors who made the keeper work more, on 22 minutes a fierce shot from the edge of the area was parried upwards, whilst former Charlwood player Jamie Liddell forced a superb reflex save on 28 minutes. But on the half hour mark, TD Shipley doubled their lead, after the ball was threaded through the defence and towards the byline, it was then passed back to Lewis who took a few touches to create some space before firing the ball across the keeper and into the far corner. And virtually from the restart, the visitors had a great chance to score a third following a quick run down the left, but the eventual shot went just wide of the far post. A minute before half time, the visitors had another good chance, Liddell's clipped shot looping just over the right corner, but still they held a two goal advantage at the break.
Charlwood started the second half brightly, but it was TD Shipley who scored the crucial next goal, on 50 minutes. Lewis ran onto a quick throw in near the half way line, and kept on running before eventually slotting the ball past the keeper. That really did feel decisive, although credit to Charlwood for continuing to battle away, and two minutes later, after a shot was deflected, a follow up shot from an angle was blazed just over the bar. TD Shipley were then awarded a penalty on 63 minutes, but that decision was reversed as the linesman had raised his flag for offside, but they did put the result beyond all doubt on 67 minutes when they scored their fourth with a fine effort from Liddell from the outer corner of the penalty area, curling the ball around the keeper and into the net. The visitors had several chances to further increase the winning margin, but they had more than done enough to put themselves in a great position to earn a top two finish and qualify for the semi-finals, whilst for Charlwood, next Saturday's final group game away at St Francis Rangers will be their last of the season.
This was a really enjoyable day, spent at pleasant rural venues enjoying the glorious sunshine and indeed, this was my first afternoon since the restart watching football without being freezing cold. The day nearly had an unfortunate end though as, driving home along the busy A22 through the Ashdown Forest, I first only narrowly avoided a fox, swiftly followed by deer - after one had run across the road, another was also shaping up to do so in the grass bank but fortunately paused long enough for me to pass. Perhaps it was a sign that I ought to revert to trains next Saturday...
Coverage of this game from Bunch of Amateurs / Charlwood Uncovered can be viewed by clicking here
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