Wednesday 19th May 2021, Kick-off 19.30
Southern Combination League Division One Supplementary Shield, Final
High Wood Hill Sports Park, Broadbridge Heath
Admission: £5.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 150 (estimate)
I have very much enjoyed my enforced tour of recreation grounds for my groundhopping pleasures since the end of the most recent lockdown. However, with spectators now allowed inside enclosed grounds since Monday, I was looking forward to visiting a ground with spectator facilities once more, and I started by heading over to the outskirts of Horsham for this Supplementary Shield final.
This Supplementary Shield final was played at the home of Broadbridge Heath, a ground which opened in August 2019, and which I visited a few months later. So unsurprisingly, the inside of the ground remains unchanged, although the area outside has been tidied up a little, with a standalone fixture board sitting outside the clubhouse on the route from the car park to the ground, and indeed this path is more substantial and direct now. As usual in these Covid times, NHS Track and Trace details were required, either via the QR code or on paper, and somewhat disappointingly for a league cup final, no programme or team sheets were produced. But at least line-ups were written up on a whiteboard. The bar was open this evening, following Covid precautions, with plenty of wooden picnic tables available pitchside.
Dubbed by some as the A272 derby, with 15 miles of that road separating the two towns, Midhurst would probably have been considered favourites for this game. When the regular season was curtailed they were in fourth position, following seven wins and a draw from their 12 league games, whilst Billingshurst had won three and drawn four of their 11 league games. In this supplementary competition, both Billingshurst and Midhurst qualified from the same five club group, Midhurst topping the group with a 100% record after beating Billingshurst 3-1 away, whilst Billingshurst won their other three games in the group, against Arundel, Oakwood and Roffey. In the semi-finals, Billingshurst won 0-4 at Seaford Town while Midhurst won on penalties at Worthing United.
On a gloriously sunny evening, the first half was a rather scrappy and tetchy affair, which saw Billingshurst's Lewis Hamilton sent to the sin bin, and a member of their coaching staff sent from the technical area, and later on a member of the Midhurst. Both teams had their chances to score, but it wasn't surprising that the scoreline remained goalless at the break.
Four minutes into the second half, and the referee required some medical treatment to his leg, which did not do the trick as he had to limp gingerly off and was replaced in the middle by the fourth official. And on the hour mark, the deadlock was broken by Billingshurst. Their keeper sent a ball long and high upfield, and was headed forwards from the centre circle into the path of Archie Goddard to run onto, and he managed to glance the ball with his head over a defender before running towards goal from a slight angle, and his shot at goal took a sizeable deflection from an incoming sliding tackle to loop the ball over the keeper and into the net. However, they were reduced to ten men on 80 minutes when Ricardo Fernandes, older brother of Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, was shown a second yellow card, both for simulation. One might have thought that might prove costly for Billingshurst, but perhaps surprisingly Midhurst equalised barely a minute later, when the ball was dinked in from the left by Harry Giles, and sub Robbie Tambling headed the ball past the keeper. Billinghurst came closest to snatching a winner in the remaining minutes, when a deflected shot almost caught the keeper out and a free kick was tipped onto the bar, but in the end, the game finished level on 90 minutes, and as has been the case with most cup competitions this season , this game would be decided on penalties.
With Midhurst stepping up first, both teams scored their first three penalties, but after Midhurst scored their fourth, Billingshurst saw their blazed over the bar. Midhurst scored their fifth to send their players into wild celebrations as they raced to some of their supporters behind the goal. The various medals and the Shield were presented on the pitch a few minutes later, amid plenty of spraying of some fizzy beverage.
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