Friday 13th August 2021, Kick-off 19.30
Southern Combination League Premier Division
The Beaconsfield, Hailsham
Admission including Programme: £6.00
Attendance: 90 (approximate)
After there not being any local games to take in earlier in the week, I decided to take in some Friday night football today, for my second visit to The Beaconsfield in just over a week. With Bexhill's usual ground always unavailable throughout August due to cricket, these days the league still insists on the club playing out their home fixtures, and this year, Bexhill have agreed to play their August home fixtures at the home ground of Hailsham Town.
Bexhill have been knocking on the door of promotion from Division One over the last few seasons, and were duly awarded promotion by the FA this year. After quite a lot of squad movement over the summer, losing several players to cross town rivals Little Common, most notably the exciting winger Jack MacLean, but making some excellent signings with Premier Division experience, including the previously prolific Jack Shonk, Bexhill opened their campaign with a 2-3 away win at Alfold, before losing 0-2 at Newhaven, and then bowing out of the FA Cup in the Extra Preliminary Round, losing 0-1 to Peacehaven & Telscombe at the Pilot Field. Lingfield have made a perfect start to their season, winning 0-1 at Loxwood on the opening day, then 2-1 at "home" to Peacehaven & Telscombe, before beating Egham Town 2-1 in the FA Cup, also at the club's August home of Church Road, Whyteleafe - like Bexhill, Lingfield's usual home ground is unavailable throughout August due to sharing with cricket.
On a sunny evening, the opening half hour was an even affair, but gradually Lingfield gained the upper hand, and after seeing a curling shot from outside the penalty area force a finger tip save at full stretch by the Bexhill keeper on 24 minutes, Lingfield took the lead on 36 minutes when the ball was drilled low just inside the left hand post. Bexhill then saw a couple of shots go just the wrong side of the woodwork, but on 43 minutes, Lingfield doubled their lead with a super goal, the ball was clipped over the defence and the Lingfield ran clear and through on goal , and showed excellent composure in rolling the ball past the keeper and into the net.
The game was still very much in the balance at the interval, but it was looking like game over just two minutes after the break when Lingfield scored their third after the ball was given away in a dangerous area, and the ball was struck across keeper and inside the far post. And they came close to scoring a fourth on 57 minutes when a fiercely struck free kick was parried upwards by the keeper and as the ball dropped, a goal bound shot was blocked, as was another shot later in the move. Soon afterwards, the lights on the floodlight pylon closest to the clubhouse went out, but the lights on the other five pylons continued to shine brightly. The game continued for a good ten minutes before, in the 75th minute, the referee consulted with the linesman covering the affected half and decided to abandon the game, to the general disbelief of most present and certainly the Lingfield players and officials. No doubt it was certainly dark in the affected corner, but not dangerously so, and although the linesman claimed to have been struggling to view play from the other touchline, surely a common sense solution would have been to switch touchlines, if it were really that much of a problem.
For now, Lingfield must wait to see if their excellent performance on the night will be rewarded with ethe three points, with no question realistically they would have closed out the victory in the final quarter of an hour, but it does seem much more likely that the game will have to be replayed at some stage.
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