Bexhill Town 1 v 4 Crowhurst

Friday 29th April 2022, Kick-off 19.30

Hastings FA Intermediate Cup Final
The Pilot Field, Hastings
Admission including Programme: £4.00
Attendance: 150 (estimate)

This evening I paid my second visit to the Pilot Field in three days for a cup final between local clubs in the East Sussex League, this time in the Hastings FA Intermediate Cup.

Crowhurst, hailing from a small isolated village with less than 1,000 inhabitants just to the north of Hastings, have had one of the best seasons in their history, finishing as runners up in the East Sussex League Premier Division, following 14 wins and three draws from their 18 league games, four points adrift of champions Battle Town. Crowhurst Football Club would be looking to make a clean sweep of the Hastings FA Cups this season, after their reserve team lifted the Lower Divisions Cup earlier in the month, and they also won their league division. Bexhill Town finished in fifth place in the same division, following eight wins and five draws. In the league encounters between the two sides, Crowhurst won their home game 2-0 back in October, whilst the reverse fixture played in late March ended in a 1-1 draw. To reach this evening’s final, Bexhill Town won 1-0 at home against Robertsbridge United before beating Rock-a-Nore on penalties after a 4-4 draw, while Crowhurst won 6-2 at home to Punnetts Town, before winning 1-2 at Hawkhurst United in the semi-finals.

On an overcast and rather chilly evening, the first half was quite an efpven affair for the most part, with both sides playing some good football, and if anything Bexhill were looking the likelier to score, but on 33 minutes, it was Crowhurst who opened the scoring, when a scuffed shot by Dominic Clarke bobbled in off the left hand post.

Crowhurst looked a lot stronger after the break, and the doubled their lead on 62 minutes after an initial shot was well parried by the keeper, but the ball was retrieved out wide, chipped into the box and headed into the top right corner. And on 74 minutes, it looked like Crowhurst had done enough to lift the cup when they scored their third when a cross from the left was superbly taken down by the striker, and he swivelled before lashing the ball into the top right corner. The game seemed to be rather meandering towards its conclusion, with Crowhurst having further chances to extend their lead, but in the 89th minute, they scored what was probably a deserved consolation goal, when the ball was worked across the penalty area to a player free to the right of goal, and he slotted the ball home. But in the second minute of added on time, Crowhurst restored their three goal cushion when a good run through the middle by Wes Tate ended with the ball being laid off to a team mate, and he chipped the ball back into the middle for Tate to nod home. 

So it was Crowhurst who lifted the trophy on the pitch shortly after the final whistle to round off what has been a sparklingly successful season for Crowhurst. They deserved it on the night, although the rather emphatic scoreline was harsh on Bexhill, who did play well.

Battle Town 5 v 4 SC Pass + Move Arrows

Tuesday 26th April 2022, Kick-off 19.30
East Sussex League Cup Final

The Pilot Field, Hastings

Admission including Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 250 (estimate)

For this week's midweek entertainment, I decided to head for the Pilot Field, home of Isthmian League outfit Hastings United, to take in a local intermediate cup final, in which I had a particular interest, as I lived in the town of one of the participants, Battle, for several years. 

Battle Town would be aiming for the league and cup double this evening, having won the East Sussex League Premier Division with a final record of 16 wins and a draw from their 18 league games. They have also reached the semi-finals of the National Christian Cup - in their quarter final tie away to Emmanuel Baptists in Cardiff, they came back from a four goal deficit after 20 minutes to eventually win 4-6. There was little doubt that SC Pass + Move Arrows would be the underdogs this evening, as they play a division below in Division One, and finished their league campaign in fifth place in the nine club division, following nine wins and two draws from their 16 league games, although their league campaign did not end particularly strongly, picking up just a point from their last three games. To reach this evening's final, Battle won 7-1 against Punnetts Town, 3-0 against Hawkhurst United and 3-2 against Bexhill AAC in the semi-final, all at home, whilst Pass + Move beat Robertsbridge United 3-0 at home, Rock-a-Nore 4-3 at home after extra time, and then JC Tackleway 2-3 away in the semi-final.

On a dry but slightly chilly evening, this was a fabulously entertaining cup final to watch, certainly enhanced by excellent support off the pitch for both clubs. SC Pass and Move were excitedly cheered on by members of their youth teams, spending their time either singing and chanting, or running around the ground in a snake formation and carrying arrow signs, and was surprisingly not too annoying or distracting. Battle also had good and vociferous from a more mature support. Although Battle started on the front foot, had a goal ruled out for offside on 10 minutes, and had a header from a corner quite comfortably cleared off the line on the half hour mark, it was the underdogs who took the lead in first half added on time, when a free kick was dinked into the box, the ball was headed down and then stabbed home.

And within 3 minutes of the restart, Pass + Move doubled their lead when the ball was played into Frazer Discala, whose shot on goal seemed to take a deflection on its way past the keeper. Battle pulled a goal back on 56 minutes, when a corner was met with a glancing header to send the ball into the net. That certainly woke Battle up, and they levelled the scores on 68 minutes when a lovely cross from the left was met with a good header to send the ball into the net. Yet within 2 minutes, Pass + Move went back into the lead when a corner was cleared at the near post back out to the corner taker, who whipped the ball back in and Joshua Paige rose highest to head the ball into the roof of the net. Although Battle had some half chances to level the scores once more, it looked like the game was up going into second half added on time, but when Battle won a corner, their keeper Shaun Utting came up, the free kick was played in and Utting stooped to divert the ball with his head past the keeper to send the game into extra time, with a 3-3 scoreline.

In the first half of extra time, the game started to go away from the underdogs, when Battle took the lead for the first time on 96 minutes, when an initial shot was blocked but squirmed wide for the Battle forward to strike the ball home just before the keeper could get there, and Battle opened up a two goal lead on 101 minutes, when a free kick was dinked into the box, and was stabbed home. Pass + Move still were not beaten though, and they pulled a goal back two minutes later, when the ball was floated across the box, the keeper couldn't grab it above his head, and although the first effort on goal was blocked, a follow up header sent the ball into the net.

Although both sides had further chances to score, there were no more goals in the second period of extra time, meaning that Battle did indeed complete the league and cup double. But Pass + Move can be proud to have really pushed Battle all the way, and certainly gave their large and loud following plenty to shout about.

Charlton Athletic 2 v 0 Shrewsbury Town

Saturday 23rd April 2022, Kick-off 15.00

EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton

Admission: Season Ticket

Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 11,287 (667 away)

And so, after my rather sad tour of the abandoned Hare & Hounds Ground in Leyton this morning, I then made my way back south across the river to take my place in The Valley for the last time this season. And in all honesty, it has been a long time coming, after a season with such high hopes and expectation turned into one of the most disastrous and soul destroying that I can ever remember as a Charlton fan - certainly from an on the pitch perspective. And I was able to celebrate with a free pint of Amstel today, finally remembering to bring my voucher, which were given to all season ticket holders for one free drink at a game of their choice.

The Addicks came into this game in 13th place, after winning 0-2 away at Cambridge on Tuesday, in rather fortunate circumstances it has to be said, but a win is a win, and quite an important win in terms of Charlton aiming for twelfth place and a top half finish, with Cambridge still currently occupying that position, and the Addicks just a point behind. Charlton's overall record is 16 wins and eight draws from 44 league games. Today's opposition would have seemed to have been ideal to claim a win in the the final game of the season, with Shrewsbury lower in the table but safe from relegation, and so with not much left to play for. They were in 17th place, following 12 wins and 14 draws from 44 league games. And they were not in great form, picking up just two points from their previous four league games. In the reverse fixture back in late November, Shrewsbury won 1-0, thanks to a late, late goal in the third minute of added on time at the end of the game.

An official report of the game can be read by clicking here.

Short video highlights can be viewed by clicking here.

Visit to Hare & Hounds Ground, Leyton

Saturday 23rd April 2022

Ahead of my afternoon game at The Valley, I had planned and hoped to take in a Middlesex County League Premier Division game between Sporting Hackney against Indian Gymkhana Club at the Feel Good Too Sports Centre in Leyton. But although the league’s fixture website always indicated an 11.30 kick off, just as I was leaving home, I noticed a tweet stating that the game would be kicking off at 12.30, although as it was a new, anonymous account who posted that, and neither participating club are exactly prolific with their presence on Twitter, I headed there on the off chance, but sure enough, the only action happening on the pitch shortly before 11.30 was some children’s football. A 12.30 kick off would mean I would either have to leave at half time, or miss the first quarter of an hour or so at The Valley. And so instead I walked a mile away to the Lea Bridge area of Leyton to visit the abandoned Hare and Hounds Ground, the former home of Leyton FC until the club sadly folded due to financial issues in 2011. 

Since that time, the ground has perhaps surprisingly not been redeveloped, but instead has been left to decay, and has been mostly used as a car park and a dumping ground by a neighbouring restaurant.

Unfortunately, I never made it to the Hare & Hounds to watch a game. Today, much of the ground is actually still intact, surprisingly, with the turnstile blocks (complete with turnstiles), tea bar and the old fashioned main stand still in reasonable condition, currently partly obscured by a marquee. Perhaps the stand in the best condition is the all-seater stand behind one end, although it has had plenty of junk thrown in there. The various stands along one length are in a very poor state, with the roofing and back walls falling down in places, seats broken and a lot of junk thrown inside, although the dugouts are still in place.

It all just seems such a terrible waste of a historic and rather quirky football ground. It is always still sad to see grounds redeveloped into “yet another” block of flats or bland shopping centre, but to see the ground just left to rot after more than ten years just seems so senseless. But all the time it is not redeveloped, there remains a faint glimmer of hope that it could be restored as a footballing venue, with a campaign group fighting hard to get football back at the Hare & Hounds. Their campaign page can be viewed by clicking here, and a YouTube video of  some memories of the ground can be viewed by clicking here