Mid Sussex League Division Two South
Recreation Ground, Fletching
Admission: None
Programme: None
Attendance: N/A
For this Easter Monday, I continued my tour of some of the more humble football venues deep down the football pyramid with a trip to rural East Sussex for a double of Mid Sussex League games, starting with this one in the fourth tier of the Mid Sussex League - step 10 in non league football. With watching football on public recreation grounds something of a grey area under the current Covid restrictions, I recalled on a walk from Fletching to Newick last summer that there is a public football running right alongside the touchline at the Fletching Recreation Ground, and so I chose this as a relatively safe option.
The Fletching Recreation Ground is located just to the south-east of the tiny village of Fletching, which has just over 1,000 inhabitants and is located about three miles west of Uckfield. Facilities are shared with the cricket club, with the football pitch based on the far side of the cricket outfield away from the clubhouse building, with a hedge lining the length opposite the cricket square, and the village's church spire and some farm buildings make for a pleasingly rural backdrop, as does the long ranging countryside view behind one of the goals, looking out towards the neighbouring village of Newick, with cows in the field closest. All in all, a very rural, peaceful and pleasant village location. The pitch has a slight slope from end to end.
The Mid Sussex League decided to resume and play out the full season for most of their divisions (except the top two), and Fletching have work to do to pull themselves away from the foot of the table, coming into this game in ninth place in the ten team division, following three wins and a draw from their opening ten league games, but on Saturday they gained an important 4-3 win at home to bottom of the table AFC Varndeanians III. Burgess Hill Rhinos were up in fourth place in the table, following six wins and three draws from their eleven league games, and on Saturday secured a 1-3 win away to Willingdon Athletic II.
On a bitterly cold morning, mostly overcast with occasional sleet showers, the visitors dominated from the start, probably helped by kicking down the slope during the first half, and they took the lead on 20 minutes when a long range shot was blocked by the keeper but the ball spilled out for a team mate who was first to race onto the loose ball to tap home. And they doubled their lead on 32 minutes when their player kept running with the ball from deep, keeping a defender tracking back at bay, before powerfully striking the ball, and which the keeper could only palm into the inside of the side netting. In one of their rare attacks, Fletching did pull a goal back on 40 minutes, when a free kick from deep was headed home, but any hopes of a come back were almost immediately extinguished when the visitors restored their two goal lead virtually straight from the restart when a low shot from outside of the area and at a slight angle was struck across the keeper and inside the far post.
Into the second half and Fletching, whilst having their moments and battling gamely, never looked like to get back into the game, and the visitors scored their fourth on 59 minutes, after the ball was cutely slipped past a defender down the left before the ball was crossed into the box, just evading a couple of defenders but was headed home from close range into the roof of the net. The visitors added their fifth on 69 minutes following a corner and some bobbling headers in the box ended with the ball being headed home from close range, and five minutes later they added a sixth after the ball was intercepted, and the Rhinos player took a few steps forward before lashing the ball low inside the far post. Only an excellent reflex parried save from the keeper following a shot on the turn denied the visitors their seventh on 81 minutes, but it mattered little as they completed their second win from two following the restart to remain in fourth and just a point adrift of second placed Ditchling. Their six goals today were shared out equally between Dan Cummins, Mark Hurst and Alex Strange . As for Fletching, with no teams immediately above them winning, they are still well placed to rise higher in the table
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