Combined Counties League Division One
The Hithercroft, Wallingford
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 40 (rough headcount)
I decided to make another return visit to Oxfordshire today, to tick off my final ground in the Combined Counties League. It has been quite a long time coming this season, since Wallingford's transfer from the Hellenic League last summer, with a previous attempt on August Bank Holiday aborted en route due to a Covid related postponement, and a three mile walk from the nearest station unappealing during winter's dark afternoons. But with plenty of sun forecast today, today was the day to pay a visit to The Hithercroft.
Although buses from Didcot and Reading do serve Wallingford, instead I fancied the countryside walk from the nearest train station at Cholsey, with the two and a half mile, 45 minute route taking me alongside a heritage railway line, through a churchyard, and across flat countryside, leading to the Wallingford Sports Park, on the western fringe of Wallingford. It's a busy hub of sporting facilities, with hockey and rugby pitches, as well as tennis and pétanque courts, among the facilities on offer, with a spacious and homely clubhouse, with a couple of bars and a function room, situated in the middle of the complex. The football ground is located to the right of the pavilion building and is accessed in one corner, and although a wooden pay hut is in place, it was not in use today. All of the spectator facilities are located down the length closest to the entrance. A traditional brick stand is located along one half, split into three sections. The right section has three steps, with two rows of seating alongside a standing area, a hospitality room in the middle section, whilst on the left hand side, a tea bar offering a decent range of hot and cold refreshments operates from a wooden hut. Straddling the half way line there is a modern metallic all-seater stand, whilst towards the far corner, a brick building houses the changing rooms and toilets. There is hard standing with a shallow grass bank behind one end, whilst the other two sides of the ground are accessible but not really maintained for spectator access. The familiar sight in these parts of a red kite circling above the ground made for a pleasant occasional distraction. Wallingford do produce printed programmes, 16 pages that are smartly presented in colour and on glossy paper, containing manager's notes, introduction of both home and away clubs, Wallingford's league results including line ups and the current league table.
Both clubs playing today were laterally transferred from the Hellenic League Division One East last summer, and as we approach the business end of the season, Wallingford certainly seem to have more to play for, in sixth place in the table following 14 wins and ten draws from their 26 league games, and have lost just two league games all season. They were just one point off the play-off positions with three games in hand on fifth placed Sandhurst Town, and two points behind fourth placed Eversley & California. AFC Aldermaston, managed by former Tottenham, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace player David Tuttle, are comfortable in mid table, coming into this game in 14th place, following ten wins and two draws from their 27 league games, and were 21 points adrift of the play-offs and nine points clear of the relegation zone. When the two clubs met in the reverse fixture back in early November, Wallingford won 2-5.
On a mostly sunny afternoon that was very chilly in the shade with a strong breeze blowing behind Wallingford in the first half, the hosts took the lead with just four minutes on the clock when a corner was played short quickly, Brad Walton crossed and Euan Aitchison diverted the ball with a flicked header inside the far post. Aldermaston probably came closest to scoring in the entire game on 17 minutes when a long range shot, probably caught in the wind, was pushed up the home keeper, and the loose ball a few yards out couldn't quite be bundled home before it was cleared. Wallingford then had a couple of good chances to double their lead, but they finally did on 27 minutes when a diagonal ball skimmed off the top of a defender's head into the path of top scorer Ricardo Benjamin, and he waited for the ball to sit nicely before unleashing a lovely powerful shot across the keeper and in off the far post. The hosts had further chances to increase their lead, most notably on 34 minutes when a curling shot from just outside the area by Ty Hamilton sailed over the keeper and hit the top of the crossbar.
Into the second half and the game was very scrappy, not helped by difficult conditions, but despite the visitors conceding countless fouls in dangerous positions, they were not punished for them. Wallingford always looked the likelier to score again, and the closest they came was on 72 minutes, when Turibo dos Santos saw his free kick skim the top of the bar. Aldermaston had a decent chance to reduce the arrears on 83 minutes when a looping header sent the ball towards the top left corner, but the keeper pulled off an excellent save at full-stretch. But in truth, it was a fairly comfortable win for Wallingford, which elevated them up to fifth place and final play-off berth, with Sandhurst losing today.
After retracing my steps back to Cholsey station, the journey home was a bit of a nightmare, with train connections not working well due to much reduced services from Redhill today, and then a fatality on the line in the Eastbourne area resulted in my train terminating at Lewes, having to get another train to Newhaven, catching a public bus to Eastbourne, but packed with rowdy football fans, the bus driver pulled over en route and threatened to wait for police to arrive, and then waiting for about an hour at Eastbourne station, with replacement buses unable to be sourced and taxis booked by Southern Railway not turning up, before station staff very kindly gave me a lift home, finally getting home at about half past midnight. Ah well, such are the adventures of groundhopping, and it did not detract too much from what was an enjoyable day out.
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