National Christian Cup Final
Vauxhall Road, Hemel Hempstead
Admission including Programme: £10.00
Attendance: 100 (rough headcount)
I had long since looked forward to this fixture for various reasons, but having had a long day watching the second day of the first Test Match at Lord’s between England and New Zealand yesterday, I was very tempted to have a lazy day at home today, particularly as I had already visited Vauxhall Road just three years ago. But there was much appealing for me about this game - a rare opportunity to watch a competitive game in south-east England in June, Battle is a town that I lived in for several years and is still local to me, and the National Christian Cup was also rather intriguing to me, and so I wanted to take in its showpiece event this year.
I imagine that both participating clubs were probably as underwhelmed as I was about the venue chosen for this year's final, as the National Cup Final is often played at EFL stadia, with The Valley, Ewood Park and Bolton’s Macron Stadium all being used in recent years. But in many ways, Vauxhall Road made for a sensible host venue, not too big but still boasting facilities far in excess of what the participating clubs would usually encounter. For my previous visit to Vauxhall Road in 2019, I caught the train to and walked from Hemel Hempstead train station, but this time I got off a stop early at Apsley station, for a slightly shorter walk, still about 2 miles, partly uphill and taking about 40 minutes, and avoiding having to negotiate large roundabouts and walking along a very busy road. The ground is located at the end of a short straight lane, where a brightly decorated large brick turnstile block is located behind one length of the football pitch. Towards the corner there is a decent sized patio area with picnic tables provided, and a snack bar hatch and burger van situated in front of the clubhouse. Around the corner there is a large toilet block decorated in club colours, a wooden hut for pigeon racing club, and a small club shop. To the other side of the entrance, a small stand which had just had its roof removed on my last visit now has a very smart roof, with the small capacity officially reserved for home and away officials, and disabled persons. Behind the goal closest to the entrance there is a very smart all-seater stand, with bright red seats inside and sponsors graphics on the rear wall. Behind the other goal there is a similar sized stand but covering a small terrace with decent elevation. Towards one of the corners there is a double decker of portakabins, whilst towards the other corner flag is a newly installed bank of plastic grass covered steps to stand on, with a similar bank stretching the other side of the corner flag, up to a fairly small all-seater stand which straddles the half way line. The corner between the plastic grassed steps is now decorated with an imposing bright and colourful backboard, incorporating a flat screen used as a scoreboard, I believe. Since my previous visit, a 3G plastic pitch has been laid here. A 12 page colour programme was produced for this fixture and was free with admission, and provided good information about today's final, the participating clubs, the history of the competition, and the Christians in Football organisation.
Battle Town have been one of the powerhouses in the National Christian Cup in recent years, having won the competition in 2017 and 2019. And this season had already been one of their most successful ever, having secured a league and cup double in the East Sussex League. Their run to todays final has not been without excitement. After winning on penalties away at St Mary’s (West Croydon) after a 3-3 draw, they they travelled to Cardiff to face Emmanuel Baptist, finding themselves four goals down mid way through the first half before coming back to win 4-6. The semi-final was a rather more comfortable affair, winning 4-1 against AFC Hope, from Coventry. St Johns Bowling Eagles, based in Bradford, play in the Premier Division of the Yorkshire Christian League, and have won ten and drawn four of their 16 league games, and seem to have finished in third place but with two games unplayed. To reach today’s final, Bowling Eagles won 0-6 away at Gatley (Manchester), 3-0 at home to Newcastle based outfit NSFC, before travelling to Newcastle to beat North Shields 1-2, and then winning 3-1 at home against Liverpool side Aintree.
On a partly sunny afternoon, a prayer was read over the loud speaker took place ahead of kick off, with the players gathering around the centre circle. The game was rather strange in that Battle had more of the possession, and created the majority of the goal scoring chances, but the closest they came to opening the scoring came on 28 minutes when a ball over the top sent the Battle forward clear and running through on goal, lobbing the ball over the keeper, only to see the ball hit the top of the bar and go over. But on 42 minutes, it was Bowling Eagles who took the lead, thanks to a slice of good fortune when a pass took a big deflection to divert the ball into the path of the Eagles forward to run towards the penalty area and although the Battle keeper came racing out to the outer edge of the penalty area, he couldn’t get there in time, and the Eagles player struck the ball low from a quite a tight angle, sending it in off the far post.
And although Battle could probably have considered themselves unlucky to be behind at the break, Bowling Eagles started the second half strongly, seeing a shot hit the post within a couple of minutes of the restart, before doubling their lead on 48 minutes, when a cross from the left deflected off a head, and the ball was headed home at the far post. And on 56 minutes, the Eagles opened a commanding lead with their third goal when their forward accelerated down the left before lashing the ball across the keeper and into the net. For the remainder of the match, Battle did plenty of attacking but there really was a feeling it was just not going to be their day and they never really looked like converting their chances, and so Bowling Eagles saw the game out with a convincing if rather flattering scoreline. Shortly after the final whistle, former professional footballer Dennis Bailey presented the Cup to the men from Yorkshire.
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