Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division
Windsor Playing Field, Princes Risborough
Admission: £7.00
Programme: Full version online, 4 page condensed printed version free
Attendance: 172
Despite late temptation to head west today, for a very long day trip to Dorset (Sherborne Town) or even Devon (Axminster Town), the wet forecast in that part of the world made me stick to my original plan of ticking off another ground in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division as I near its completion, for an appealing top of the table clash.
The Windsor Playing Field is virtually adjacent and clearly visible from Princes Risborough train station, but an indirect route means it is about a ten minute walk, through the long station car park, over a hump back bridge and then along a country lane and immediately beyond a cricket field and behind some tennis courts. Admission is paid at a large hut outside the ground, serving car drivers accessing a fairly sizeable car park on site, as well as pedestrians. The length closest to the entrance makes for a good place to watch the action from, raised above pitch level, with the middle two thirds covered by a stand attached to the clubhouse building. Five cushioned armchairs are available for an unusually comfortable place to watch the action from, along with 2 rows of backless plastic seats, as well as sections to stand in. A tea bar hatch is located along the rear wall, and there are plenty of colourful club signs to give the area plenty of character and identity. Behind one end there is mainly hard standing, but with a small red and black coloured wooden stand just to the side of the goal, with a bench inside. Along the other length, there is no hard standing, but there is another similarly coloured wooden stand, with wooden bench seating along the rear. The remaining end is not really intended to be accessed, being the edge of the adjacent cricket field. The ground has a nice setting, tranquil and rural, and is mostly surrounded by trees, but there is certainly work to do to make it compliant to host Step 4 football should they finish in a promotion spot this season. The club is currently fund raising to find £10,000 to unlock a grant for the construction of a new family stand, as without the necessary ground improvements, the club could be faced with relegation instead of promotion. With regards to the programme, the club offers the best of both worlds in my opinion. A very decent 32 page version is available for downloading online, but also provides a condensed four page version free with entry. Containing the manager's welcome message, league stats and predicted team line ups, it contained the essential information and satisfies the desire to have a physical record of the game - everyone's a winner.
Risborough Rangers made the news this season with an astonishing unbeaten run of 52 league games, stretching from April 2019 and including the two aborted seasons, spent in the Hellenic League Division One East and this, the club’s first ever season at Step 5 level, after being promoted and transferred to the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, until they were somewhat surprisingly beaten 1-0 away at mid table Ardley United in mid January. They have returned to winning ways since then, winning both games, and unsurprisingly are top of the division, following 19 wins and three draws from 23 league games. They are only a point clear of second placed New Salamis, who have played two games more, and five points clear of third placed Leighton Town, who have played five games more. Today's match looked like being a tough challenge for the home side though, with Hadley, always well and loudly supported by their fans (and today was no exception), having a decent season, up in fourth place following 16 wins and three draws from their 24 league games. They trail third placed Leighton Town by four points, but have played four games less. They disappointingly lost at third bottom Tring Athletic in their last game last Saturday, but before that had won five and drawn the other of their six previous games. When the two clubs met in the reverse fixture in early October, Risborough Rangers won 0-5.
On a dry but very chilly afternoon thanks to a stiff breeze, it was the hosts who started on the front foot, and their best chance of the whole game came on 7 minutes, when a poor clearance by the Hadley keeper was headed straight back towards him by Marcus Wyllie for Sean Coles to run onto, but his lob over the advancing keeper saw the ball go just wide of the right hand post. On 20 minutes, another attempt to lob the keeper, this time by Kieron Schmidt, again saw the ball go wide, and on 24 minutes, a mishit clearance by a Hadley defender was intercepted by Wyllie, and he strode forward before shooting fairly tamely at the keeper. Hadley had a good chance on 28 minutes when Solomon Ofori drove down the right and eventually into the penalty area before firing a low shot which went beyond the far post. Both sides then forced the keepers into a save within a minute just after the half hour mark, and came close on other occasions later on in the half, but neither side could break the deadlock.
The second half saw less chances being created, but became increasingly feisty and tetchy, and on 52 minutes, Risborough were reduced to ten men when Sean Coles was shown a straight red card for a two footed tackle, despite more than a suspicion that he got the ball before the man. Perhaps unsurprisingly, with a man advantage and needing the win in the hope of chasing down a top two finish, Hadley looked the more likely to score as the second half wore on, and Risborough certainly seemed to be content with holding onto a point as the game approched its conclusion, although they did still mount a couple of dangerous attacks. But in the end, the points were shared, which was a fair reflection on the game, perhaps not so much so that it finished goalless. The point saw Risborough slip to second in the table, with New Salamis winning 6-1 today, whilst Hadley remained in fourth.
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