Mid Sussex League Premier Division
Park Lane, Reigate
Admission: Free
Programme: Free
Attendance: 25 (rough head count)
I had originally planned to travel a relatively long distance for a game today, however with my partner deciding to join me today, I chose a ground that would be less strenous to get to, and whose location offered the possibility of nice day out aside from the football. There were a few appealing features about this game. I would be visiting a club and a ground with plenty of history (founded in 1870, Reigate Priory is one of the oldest football clubs still playing at their original ground), the visiting club would be one of my local ones and are having a great season, and the home club currently produces printed programmes, rare indeed at Step 7 in this part of the world.
Park Lane is about a 15 minute walk from Reigate station, slightly more walking via the very pleasant town centre. The football pitch is on part of a large field which is also shared with the cricket and croquet clubs, and is accessed down a short lane from the passing road. The football and cricket clubs have their own separate pavilions, with the cricket pavilion being brighter, more modern and more ornate building, although the football pavilion certainly has its charm and character, a more old fashioned cottage like building, with a spacious bar area inside, but with a television screen showing live football. It has to be said that it is not the most inviting of places to enter though, with no signage of there being a bar inside, windows difficult to see through from the outside, and windowless doors. There was certainly a very friendly welcome inside though, and a very decent printed programme could be obtained there. The football pavilion is located next to the entrance of the grounds, and ironically, one has to walk across the cricket field and then past the cricket pavilion, which is located next to the football pitch. Facilities are as basic as they come here, being just roped off down both lengths, behind one length is some car parking as well as the cricket pavilion, while behind the other there are tennis courts and a bowling green. One end is lined by a hedgerow, while behind the other is the cricket field, lined by a brick wall, with the North Downs visible in the background. Whilst the ground and setting was pleasant enough, a visit in late summer would probably be the ideal time to enjoy the ground and its surroundings at its best.
Since being promoted as champions from the second tier of the Mid Sussex League last season, Reigate Priory have settled in quite comfortably into life at Step 7, coming into this game in seventh place in the table, following seven wins and seven draws from their 17 league games, with a seven point gap and two points in hand over the eighth placed team, and they have games in hand on most clubs above them. They were in good form, scoring 11 goals in winning their last two league games, and were unbeaten in their last four. Today's game would be a very tough match though. After a couple of mid table finishes, Hollington really are taking the Premier Division by storm this season, aided by a squad packed with players with plenty of experience at higher levels. They have dropped just two points all season, winning 16 and drawing the other of their 17 league games so far, and led the table by three points, and with three games in hand. They have not applied for promotion to Step 6, with their home ground unlikely to be able to be sufficiently upgraded to comply with requirements in the National League System.
On a grey and rather chilly afternoon, what was always going to be a difficult afternoon for Reigate became even more so with barely a minute on the clock, when Hollington took the lead. Bradley Pritchard accelerated down the right wing and kept on running before driving a low shot past the keeper from a slight angle and into the net. And a minute after Reigate had a reasonable chance of equalising, when a weak header from a central position when into the hands of the keeper, Hollington doubled their lead following a lovely cross whipped in from the left, which a defender connected with at full stretch, but in doing so poked the ball past his own keeper and into the net. Although Hollington always looked the more threatening of the two teams, Reigate played a possession based game which kept them in the game, and they did manage to mount some attacked and create some half chances to get on the scoresheet, but they remained two goals behind at the break.
Any realistic doubt about the outcome of this game was erased in the 57th minute when Hollington scored their third following a long throw in, which was headed on, and then headed home by Dan Rogers inside the right hand post. Reigate were given the chance to score a consolation goal in the 83rd minute when they were awarded a penalty for a trip towards the right hand edge of the penalty area, but the shot was saved low to the keeper's right, who was most certainly not on his line by the time the kick was taken. And so the all conquering Hollington United team continued their march to the title, but the scoreline probably does not do justice to Reigate who, whilst always second best throughout the game, certainly did enough to at least get on the scoresheet. Interestingly, this was the sixth consecutive away win I have seen on my travels.
After the game, we decided to head for the Pilgrim Brewery taproom, located behind one end of the Reigate Priory grounds, a small but pleasantly quirky place to enjoy a very decent pint of Progress, indeed so nice that we sampled plenty more after moving on to the Red Cross Inn, another nice pub but with the added bonus of having big screens showing live football - the not so good element being that the game in question was a rather dour encounter between Southampton against Leicester, before heading home at the end of what was a very enjoyable day out.
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