Western League Division One
Woodwater Lane, Gillingham
Admission: Free
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 84
Despite plenty of scope for doubles in the south-east today, none would include a visit to a new ground for me within the NLS, and so I opted for quality over quantity and to head further afield for a single game, with the deal being sealed for me by the offer of free admission at this game in northern Dorset, train connections running very conveniently in both directions, and as my partner would be joining me, a nice rural destination to visit.
Woodwater Lane is about a 15 minute walk north eastwards from Gillingham trains station, passing by the club’s former home ground at Hardings Lane along the way, which is in a rather sad state these days. It was used by Gillingham Town's reserve team up until around Christmas, when the reserve team was folded, and it seems that the ground has not been used since, with the pitch now overgrown, the roof of the stand has been removed, although the pitch side railings, goals, dugouts and floodlights are all still in place. To reach the club’s new ground, visitors continue down a gravel track, after passing a welcome sign, with a further club sign posted at the entrance of a fairly spacious car park. Entrance to the ground is via an open gate in the perimeter mesh fencing along one of the lengths, with admission usually paid for at a side window of a white wooden roofed, which also houses the tea bar, offering a decent range of hot and cold refreshments. Just beyond this hut is quite a large toilet block, and towards the corner, a portakabin houses a bar area, offering a good range of draft beers and ciders, and a large flat screen showing a live game on Sky. To the left of the ground entrance, and straddling the half way line, is a white building housing the changing rooms, and further along is a modern metallic all-seater stand. Immediately behind one goal is another metallic stand, this one with steps to stand on, whilst along the reminding length and end, there is just hard standing. In all honesty, there is not a lot of charm or character about the ground as it stands, inevitably with the mostly white, rectangular shaped buildings and identikit stands, but clearly a lot of hard work has been put in by the club to build a perfectly functional ground from scratch to satisfy the ground graders, and it is very quiet, peaceful, well maintained, and with nice countryside views all around. Free entry to today’s game was offered as part of an open day held by the club, appealing to their local community to help out with volunteer roles, with printed sheets explaining the roles required, and all entrants were personally greeted and welcomed by the chairman. It was made quite clear, in the printed programme and on the printed information sheet, that the club’s very existence is under real threat should their call for help go unheeded, with the club having been founded way back in 1879, but happily it seems that some volunteers did come forward today. Let's hope it proves enough, to keep a club going that was founded way back in 1879.
In their first season back in the Western League, following four seasons in Dorset Premier League after their voluntarily demotion after vacating Hardings Lane and preparing Woodwater Lane to host NLS football, Gillingham Town have had a steady season. With two games left to play, they were in 14th place, following 11 wins and 10 draws from their 38 league games. Oldland Abbotonians were in tenth place, following 16 wins and four draws from their 37 league games. Both clubs had rather decisive results on Good Friday, with Gillingham losing 0-5 at home to champions elect Sherborne Town, whereas Oldland Abbotonians won 4-0 at home to Longwell Green Sports. In the reverse fixture played in late February, Old Abbotonians won 4-1
On an afternoon which started sunny and warm but which became overcast with a chilly wind blowing as the game wore on, the ball certainly seemed to spend a lot more time in the air than on the ground, as it was lumped forward at every opportunity, although perhaps the quality of play was not helped by a hard pitch and the strong breeze. It was something of a game of two halves, with the visitors playing the more football and doing more of the attacking in the first half, and they duly took the lead on 25 minutes when a corner was met with a bullet header by Jacob Reader, sending the ball into the top right corner. Somewhat against the run of play, Gillingham equalised on 38 minutes when a shot was spilled by the keeper, and Andrew Holmes tapped home the loose ball.
The second half saw Gillingham gain the ascendancy, and although both sides created decent chances to win the game as it reached its conclusion, it was Gillingham who scored the winner in the 88th minute when the ball was lofted forward into the box and James Boyland lobbed the ball over the keeper - with the aid of a deflection - and dropped into the net. In the fifth minute of added on time, the visitors had Reader sent off for a second yellow card, and shortly after the final whistle blew to confirm what was a successful day for the home club - hopefully off the pitch as well as on it.
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