Essex Olympian League Premier Division
Ilford Wanderers RFC Sports Ground, Barkingside
Admission: None
Programme: None
Attendance: 75 (rough headcount)
For the last Saturday of the league season, I chose the only option available in the south-east (at a reasonable standard and not being just a playing field, at least) in east London.No shows are always a big risk at this very late stage in the season ,particularly when the game has nothing really riding on it, but there seemed to be sufficient reason to believe it would go ahead, and so I joined the predictably large number of groundhoppers descending on this fixture, to visit a ground that not many would have previously visited.
The closest underground station to Ilford Wanderers RFC Sports Ground is Hainault, where I went back to after the game, taking less than ten minutes, but beforehand I alighted a stop before, at Fairlop, to take a brief diversion into the pleasant but busy Fairlop Waters en route. The ground is located at the end of a busy straight lane from the passing road, past some garages, 5-a-side football cages and some cricket fields. Just inside the entrance to the rugby club, a paved path leads past the rugby pitch, which is floodlit but has no other furniture, to the old fashioned white pavilion building containing the clubhouse bar, a tea bar hatch, a rather dated function room, and changing rooms. There is a grassy, fenced in area to the front with several wooden picnic tables available, looking out towards the rugby pitch to the right of the football pitch, which has smart white plastic pitchside railing around all four sides, permanent see-through dugouts marked with Sungate's logo, but there is no other furniture nor hard standing present. The pitch looked good and was in excellent condition, and some trees around the ground add a rural and colourful backdrop to the venue. One of those grounds that is really pleasant in the spring and autumn but would probably be rather bleak in the depths of winter. Unsurprisingly, no programmes were produced for this fixture.
There was not too much riding on this game, although slightly more so for the home side. Sungate were in seventh place in the table, following 13 wins and four draws from their 27 league games, but a win today would see them rise to fifth place. After I watched Canning Town’s survival hopes extinguished last Saturday when they eventually lost at Catholic United after taking a two goal lead early in the second half, they are certain of a second bottom place finish, following five wins and five draws from their 27 league games. The reverse fixture of today’s game only took place on Tuesday, ending in a 1-1 draw, Canning Town equalising with virtually the last kick of the game from the penalty spot. The two clubs also met in the Senior League Cup Final earlier in the month, with Canning Town winning 3-2. Sungate have also earned silverware this season, lifting the Essex Saturday Premier Cup in April.
On a partly sunny but most cloudy and slightly chilly afternoon, the visitors started well, and saw a free kick parried by the keeper on ten minutes, but Sungate gradually grew into the game and created some decent chances to open the scoring. On 14 minutes, a shot on the run from a fairly tight angle brushed the keeper's fingertips and then the crossbar, on 34 minutes, a shot from outside the area was tipped wide, while on 38 minutes a lovely dinked ball forward sent their striker through on goal but after taking the ball around the keeper into a tight angle for a shot on goal, he crossed to a team mate in a better position, whose goalbound shot was blocked by a defender's legs. And the last action of the half saw a free kick into the box headed over the bar.
The second half was a different matter, with Canning Town starting on the front foot and doing most of the attacking. On 47 minutes, following a corner, an initial shot was blocked before a follow up shot was held by the keeper. After a couple more half chances, but with the game having more and more of an end of season goalless draw inevitability about it, the visitors broke the deadlock on 81 minutes when Sungate lost possession in midfield, allowing the Canning Town player to go on a slalom run towards goal before firing past the keeper. They pretty much sealed the three points two minutes from time when a lovely touch by a Canning Town player beat a defender before sprinting down the right wing towards and then along the byline, before passing the ball across the six yard box for a tap in at the far post. And some gloss was added to the final result for the visitors when they scored a third in the final minute when their striker closed down a defender and gained possession of the ball before running through and striking it past the keeper.
And so Sungate missed out on the chance of achieving a top five finish following a very disappointing display which had a real "on the beach" feel to it and so ended their season in seventh spot, whereas for Canning Town, at least they managed to finish their disappointing league season on a high.
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