Penn & Tylers Green 1 v 5 Kidlington Reserves

Saturday 12th December 2020, Kick-off 14.00
Hellenic League Division One East

French School Meadows, Penn

Admission: £5.00

Programme: Online Only

Attendance: 27

Unusually on a Saturday, I decided to drive to a game today instead of taking the train, particularly as my partner decided she would like to join me on my travels today. To help me choose where to head for, I consulted the Futbology app, which confirmed this as being the closest ground I had not yet visited, and as I had previously noted that there were some interesting features about the ground, and it would not be the easiest of places to reach by public transport, I decided to head to Buckinghamshire.

French School Meadows is located close to the centre of the pretty village of Tylers Green, which is about 3 miles north west of Beaconsfield, and the football ground is part of the Penn & Tyler Green Sports Club, whose facilities on the site also include a cricket field, tennis courts and a clubhouse - sadly closed at the moment due to Covid restrictions, and a couple of car parks. Entrance to the football ground is gained by paying admission at a a side window of a small brick building with a sloping roof, and which doubles up as a tea bar, located in one corner of the ground. Straddling the half way line on this side is a  dark green converted container unit, with half of the interior having benches, the other half providing a covered standing area. A gazebo was erected close to the entrance along this length, behind a wooden fence, for the visiting team to use for their team talks. There is just hard standing along the rest of this length, and behind the goal closest to the entrance, whilst the other two sides were muddy and indeed, spectators are requested not to access these areas. A second football pitch is located adjacent and above the main pitch. Back to the main pitch, it is smart, well maintained and easy on the eye, with views of the countryside stretching far into the distance behind one of the goals. The most eye-catching feature of the ground is the retractable floodlights, three along each length. Only installed in September, their installation was the suitable compromise after planning permission was originally refused for installing floodlights here, and ensured that the club's senior side could return to playing its fixtures here, after having to groundshare at Beaconsfield Town and Amersham Town for a couple of seasons. They were not needed to be extended for use today however, thanks to the Hellenic League's sensible decision to bring forward all Saturday afternoon kick-offs to 2pm following Lockdown 2 for the immediate future, to help clubs save on the considerable expense of operating floodlights. A 24 page programme for today's match was available exclusively online, and it was an interesting read, including club histories and player profiles of both clubs, league table, and an update on the Hellenic League's latest response to the Covid pandemic.

Today marked the restart of fixtures in the Hellenic League after Lockdown 2, and Penn & Tylers Green would be defending an unbeaten league record, having won three and drawn the other of their four league games so far, but having played fewer games than all clubs above them, they were in sixth place in the table. Kidlington Reserves had won two and drawn three of their seven league games, and were in ninth place in the 15 club division.

On a bright and relatively mild afternoon for December, this turned to be a surprisingly one-sided game in favour of the visitors, given the previously unbeaten record for the home side. After having a couple of glorious chances to open the scoring, Kidlington finally did on 31 minutes, when a cross from the right took a deflection, and the striker just managed to poke the ball before the keeper could reach the ball. And they doubled their lead on 39 minutes, when the ball fell to a Kidlington player to the left of goal, and he struck the ball into the net, brushing the keeper on its way through. A rare chance by the home team came on 43 minutes, following a good diagonal box to the outer corner of the penalty area, and the ball was lobbed just over the bar.

Penn & Tylers Green would probably have been happy to have  kept the deficit down to just two at the break, and they did start the second half positively, mounting a couple of decent attacks as they tried to get back in the game. But a quick one-two by the visitors took the game away from them, with a third goal coming for the visitors on 52 minutes, when the ball was tapped home after an initial shot was parried by the keeper. And two minutes later, the visitors scored their fourth from the penalty spot following a trip in the area, converted powerfully just to the left of centre, sending the keeper the wrong way. The home side did give themselves the faintest glimmer of hope of a comeback on 58 minutes, when a long throw in from Sam Green and as the ball bobbled around the penalty area, and Gary Lines drove the ball low past the keeper. That faint hope was soon extinguished though, as the visitors restored their four goal lead on the hour mark. A corner  was whipped in, and the ball sailed just above the keeper's reach, and the ball home was nodded home from close range. Penn did have a good chance to pull another goal back on 63 minutes, when a shot from the edge of the area went just past the far post. But the game then settled down, with the visitors largely controlling proceedings, although credit to the home side for keep battling away, and on 86 minutes, they had another chance to reduce the deficit, when a curled shot on the run saw the ball go just over the bar. But their previously unbeaten run was to come to an abrupt end in emphatic style, although their forthcoming fixtures do look tough, against third placed Holyport next week, before a run of three away fixtures to kick off the New Year.

Eastbourne Borough Under 18 1 v 0 K Sports Under 18

Friday 11th December 2020, Kick-off 19.45
FA Youth Cup 1st Round
Priory Lane, Eastbourne

Admission: £3.00

Programme: None

Attendance: 202

Having taken the day off work today, still wanting to take in as many games as possible in this stop-start season, I was sufficiently tempted to pay my first visit of the season to Priory Lane for this Friday night fixture in the FA Youth Cup.

As might be expected of an "Elite" venue, plenty of Covid preparations had been put in place for visitors, starting with a sign just before the turnstiles encouraging visitors to play their part with social distancing. Once inside, a gel dispenser and the NHS QR code were available, with an abundance of signage around the ground, and seating in the stand clearly marked as to what was available for use or not. An added complication of this fixture, under the current circumstances, was that the visitors from Aylesford, in Kent, are based in a Tier 3 area, meaning that no away fans were permitted this evening, and all visitors were asked to confirm who they were supporting on entry to the ground. Unfortunately, no programmes nor team sheets were available this evening.

To reach this stage of the competition, Eastbourne Borough had negotiated three rounds, beating Knaphill 2-1 at home, Kingstonian 4-2 at home and finally Carshalton Athletic 1-3 away. K Sports have had to fight their way right from the opening Preliminary Round, when they beat beat Glebe 5-3 at home, before triumphing against Meridian 3-1 at home, Erith Town 0-1 away, and most recently Uxbridge 2-0 at home. The victors this evening could look forward to a very attractive looking trip to MK Dons in the next round, to be played next Wednesday.

On a cool evening with quite thick mist rolling in during the second half, for the first time in 42 games this season, I witnessed the first taking of the knee by players at kick-off, which was greeted by some booing from a handful of people. As for the game itself, it turned out to be a very even game, with Eastbourne scoring what turned out to be the winning goal in the 42nd minute, when a free kick was whipped in from the right by Ben Overton, and with the ball just above the keeper's reach, and Jacob Minty headed home.

K Sports battled well to try and get something back from the game, but it was the hosts who came closest to scoring again - on 52 minutes, a shot from the edge of the area was parried behind for a corner, from which a driven shot from well outside the area was rifled just over the bar. And on 73 minutes, a defender threw himself in the way of a fierce goalbound shot.

Bexhill United 5 v 3 AFC Varndeanians

Wednesday 9th December 2020

Southern Combination League Division One

The Polegrove, Bexhill-on-Sea

Admission: £5.00

Programme: £1.00

Attendance: 176

This evening, I decided to pay my second visit to The Polegrove in a week, the decision made a whole lot easier as it was the only game being played within Sussex this evening. It promised to be a cracking, top of the table clash, with both clubs putting their hitherto unbeaten league records on the line, each having played nine games so far. 

A paper programme continues to be issued by Bexhill, and this evening's 20 page edition included a feature on Bill Harrison, the extremely popular former club chairman who passed away just before Lockdown 2, with various tributes and photos included. Otherwise, the programme continues to provide some interesting reading material, and a good preview of the match.

This match would be between the second and third placed teams, with Bexhill having won eight of their nine league games, drawing the other, whilst AFC Varndeanians had won seven and drawn two of their nine league games.

On a slightly milder evening than last night, this would turn out to be a cracking game between two very decent sides. AFC Varndeanians made a strong start, forcing a couple of early corners, but it was Bexhill who took the lead on 14 minutes, when Jack McLean floated the ball in from the left and the ball drifted over the keeper and into the net. On the half hour mark, a Bexhill shot took a slight deflection becoming coming back off the post, but they did double their lead on 27 minutes when the ball was lofted to the back post and Sammy Bunn, in loads of space, took a couple of touches before shooting the ball across the keeper and into the net.  Both sides had chances before half time, but at the break, Bexhill were holding a two goal advantage, a lead they deserved following a lively performance full of attacking intent.

Three minutes after the break, and Bexhill saw a free kick driven against the bar, but on 55 minutes, the visitors pulled a goal back, Tom Boyle guiding the ball in off the post. But within two minutes, Bexhill were awarded a penalty after another great run from deep by McLean, who laid the ball off to a team mate, who was brought down by the keeper. Jamie Bunn stepped up to slot the ball into the bottom right corner, to restore Bexhill's two goal advantage. But the visitors got a goal back on 72 minutes, when a long throw-in fell to the feet of Boyle, who fired the ball home, and all of a sudden the game was all square at 3-3 four minutes later, half-time sub Curtis Gayler shot took a big deflection to loop up and over the keeper and into the net. The momentum seemed to be with AFC Varndeanians by now, and clearly the next goal would be crucial. But it was Bexhill who got it, on 80 minutes, when Evan Archibald ran onto a loose ball to the left of goal, and poked the ball across the keeper and inside the far post from a fairly tight angle. Varndeanians had another great chance to equalise on  83 minutes, after advantage was played and Boyle ran clear of the defence, but eventually struck his shot just wide of the post. But right on 90 minutes, Bexhill secured the three points with their fifth goal of the game, a lovely aerial diagonal ball forward found McLean just outside the area, and he drove the ball across the keeper and inside the far post.

This really was a terrific game of football, very much befitting the label of being a top of the table clash, and all the signs are that both clubs will be red hot favourites to claim two of the four promotion berths available this season.