Stanway Pegasus 3 v 1 Newbury Forest

Saturday 21st January 2023, Kick-off 15.00
Eastern Counties League First Division South
Stanway School, Stanway
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 103

Being in the grip of a prolonged spell of freezing weather conditions, with temperatures plunging well below zero every night, immediately following a very wet spell, options were severely limited today, with the vast majority of non league games on grass being postponed with frozen pitches as early as yesterday afternoon, or subject to relatively late pitch inspections. A substantial number failed those late pitch inspections just an hour or two before kick-off - including one of my shortlisted options at Northampton ON Chenecks. I certainly didn't want to take any chances with my intended game being off today, as I had not visited a new ground, for various reasons, since 3rd December, and fortunately I had already decided to play it safe and head for this game with its 3G pitch, with the added attraction of it recompleting my visits to all grounds in the Eastern Counties League First Division South.

 

I had planned to arrive in Colchester a few hours ahead of kick-off, to make a day of it, but those plans were thwarted by major disruption on the trains getting out of Sussex due to multiple points failures on the Brighton Main Line, delaying my journey by a couple of hours, but at least I did still arrive at the ground about half an hour before kick-off. To get to the ground, after arriving at Colchester station and armed with a Plusbus ticket, I then caught a bus for about a half hour journey westwards, to be dropped off virtually outside of the ground. 

There were some raised eyebrows last summer when Stanway Pegasus were granted promotion from the Essex & Suffolk Border League, as the ground then was basically just a 3G cage with no seating or any other spectator facilities, but a lot of work has been put in since then to enhance the facilities sufficiently to enable the ground to host Step 6 football. A small club welcome board is placed by the roadside entrance, and a short walk through the car park, to one side of school buildings, with toilets in a portakabin to the other, leads to the entrance in one corner of the cage, with plenty of signage around giving the ground identity. A wooden hut is located just outside the entrance serving a basic range of drinks and snacks, while a kiosk is located immediately inside the cage, where admission is paid and programmes can be obtained. Only one length and one end is accessible for spectators, with the length having only spacious standing room, while the end had a small 50 seat stand installed earlier in the season, of the identikit metallic variety but is decorated in club colours of yellow and black. A portakabin is located behind the cage in one corner, with signage suggesting that it is a clubhouse with a refreshments hatch, but it is not operational yet. The club has certainly made the most of what it has to work with, and is above expectations for what one would expect from a 3G cage in school grounds.

Stanway Pegasus were promoted into Step 6 for the first time in their history this season, and have adapted very well under Rosi Webb who is, as far as I am aware, the only female manager in senior football. They came into this game in second place, following 14 wins and five draws from 25 league games, and were in good form too, winning their last three games and were unbeaten in their last five overall. Newbury Forest came into this game down in 15th place in the 19 club division, following six wins and two draws from their 20 league games played. Rustiness could well have been a factor for them though, as they have not played a competitive game since 3rd December. When the two clubs met in the reverse fixture back in early September, Stanway came away from east London with a 1-3 win.

Stanway Pegasus were promoted into Step 6 for the first time in their history this season, and have adapted very well under Rosi Webb who is, as far as I am aware, the only female manager in senior football. They came into this game in second place, following 14 wins and five draws from 25 league games, and were in good form too, winning their last three games and were unbeaten in their last five overall. Newbury Forest came into this game down in 15th place in the 19 club division, following six wins and two draws from their 20 league games played. Rustiness could well have been a factor for them though, as they have not played a competitive game since 3rd December. When the two clubs met in the reverse fixture back in early September, Stanway came away from east London with a 1-3 win.

On a very chilly but gloriously sunny afternoon, the game started off quite evenly, but the home side opened the scoring on 11 minutes in rather bizarre circumstances. The Newbury keeper passed the ball a defender, who then passed the ball into his own empty goal, with the keeper standing out of position. And Stanway came close to doubling their lead in the 18th minute, when a looping shot from the edge of the area was parried over the bar, and from the resulting corner, a goalbound header was cleared on the line. Newbury then created a couple of good chances themselves, before Stanway scored their second on 28 minutes when a goalbound header was blocked on the line, with plenty of protests that the ball had gone over the line, but the loose ball was hooked home anyway. On 34 minutes a dribble towards the edge box with a shot being unleashed from just outside the area, with the ball hitting the bar. But in the 44th minute, Newbury Forest pulled a goal back, when an aerial ball was played diagonally towards the back post, was then crossed low, and then tucked home from close range by Danny Edmead, to set up an intriguing second half.

As it turned out though, Stanway mostly dominated the second half. On 51 minutes, a lovely curling shot from the edge of the area came back off the far post, before the game settled down with few chances created, until Stanway virtually sealed the three points on 71 minutes, with a lovely curling shot around the keeper and inside the far post. Stanway had a great chance to add some gloss to the scoreline when their forward sprinted clear from the half way line to bear down towards goal, but the eventual shot was well parried by the keeper. But Stanway secured a deserved, and in the end, comfortable win, which saw them rise to the top of the table by a point, with previous leaders Frenford having their game postponed today, but Stanway have played four games more. 

My fun and games on the train were not over for the day though, as a broken rail on the final leg of my journey meant waiting about an hour and a half at the train station, before completing my journey home by taxi. So a heavily disrupted day out, but to look on the bright side, at least that meant that I had virtually all of my travelling expenses refunded.