Mid Sussex League Division Three North
Fords Green, Nutley
Admission: None
Programme: None
Attendance: N/A
Following my morning game at Fletching, I was rather grateful for a slightly early kick-off there, and a half time interval of just a few minutes, which allowed me sufficient time to make my way on the five mile journey north eastwards for this fixture in the division below.
Fords Green is a venue I have driven past many times over the years, located immediately adjacent to the A22, and at the southern boundary of the village of Nutley. The green is triangular in shape and is shared with cricket, with one length of the football pitch closely lined a low metal railings separating the ground from a passing dirt lane, with the cricket square and wider field behind the other length. A brick pavilion is located behind one of the goals, next to a children's playground, whilst behind the other, a row of tall trees separates the ground from the A22. The football pitch was taped off, and some club banners attached to the railings, and a pop-up banner with the club's crest are nice touches, adding some identity to the venue.
Nutley are going well this season, and came into this game in second place in the table, following seven wins and three draws from their 12 league games, and they restarted their season on Saturday with a 3-1 home win against leaders Pound Hill to draw level on points, but have played a game more. Forest Row II were in fifth place, following five wins and two draws from their 11 league games, and on Saturday, they restarted their season with a 3-3 draw away at Rotherfield II. These two teams have already met in the league season at Fords Green, with that game ending in a 1-1 draw in the last game before Christmas and the third Covid lockdown. Indeed, today's fixture should have been played at Forest Row, but was switched to Nutley.
On a very chilly afternoon, mostly cloudy with the odd sunny spell, but also the odd snow shower, Nutley started the game really positively and duly took the lead on 5 minutes when the ball was crossed in from the right and was turned in from close range at the far post. And they doubled their lead on 12 minutes after the ball was played forward and the Nutley player touched it past a defender before striking it past the keeper. However, Forest Row pulled a goal back four minutes later when the ball was dinked in, skimmed off a Nutley defender's head and was then struck low into the bottom right corner. The game became more even after that and despite plenty of huff and puff from both sides, there were not many further goalscoring chances created apart from a decent effort from Forest Row on 39 minutes, when a Forest Row player went on a surging run down the left, just managing to keep a defender tracking back at bay, and his eventual shot was blocked by the keeper's legs.
So at half time the game was very much in the balance, and the next goal would be crucial. And on 65 minutes, it would be Nutley who scored it after the ball was played in from the left, a defender could only get a faint slice on the ball and the ball rolled into the path of a Nutley player who ran on and fired the ball home via quite a firm palm from the keeper. And on 71 minutes, Nutley virtually ensured that they would collect all three points from this game when a lovely shot from the outer corner of the area squirmed through the keeper's hands and into the net. The rest of the game was played out without much incident, and the three goal margin and four goals scored was sufficient to lift Nutley to the top of the table by virtue of having scored one goal more than Pound Hill.
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