Stonewall 1 v 0 NW London

Saturday 8th January 2022, Kick-off 14.00
Middlesex County League Premier Division
London Marathon Community Track, Stratford
Admission: Free
Programme: None
Attendance: 11

With rain forecast throughout today, this was certainly a day to have back-ups planned, and so I scratched my original long distance options that I had pencilled in, at Wallingford Town or Risborough Rangers, fearing an abandonment even if the games did go ahead. Instead, I decided to play safe with a trip to east London, with the aim of visiting an intriguing ground located in the shadow of the London Stadium, but with the back up of a revisit to nearby Frenford, whose ground has been completely transformed since my last visit in 2018. Despite having a grass pitch, I never really thought that my first choice game was in any danger, and so it proved on my arrival.

The London Marathon Community Track is about a 15 minute walk from Stratford station, around or through the Westfield Shopping Centre, into the southern edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, past the Aquatics Centre and over a bridge, before reaching the London Stadium, home of West Ham United, and then walking down a flight of stairs next to the West Ham club shop, to the entrance of this facility. Entering the ground in one corner, all of the facilities are along this length, with changing rooms, a club room and toilets housed in a blue building below the club shop. Some overhang from this building provides cover, and continues along to cover a stand holding 300 seats, split into six rows, and a disabled area is also available at the front. A running track around the pitch inevitably makes viewing quite distant, although the elevation in the stand helps, and even more by walking up to the walkway around the London Stadium, which offers a great view looking down from one corner. But the standout appeal of this ground is most definitely the spectacular views, looking towards the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf from the stand side, whilst from the opposite side, the very close proximity of the London Stadium makes for an imposing and spectacular backdrop, and The Orbit is also a colourful and unusual feature. A spacious West Ham branded coffee shop is located just outside the entrance gate to the ground, underneath the West Ham club shop. Stonewall did produce an online programme once this season, but not for this game.

Stonewall are quite an unusual club in that they are the highest ranked openly LGBT+ club in the English pyramid, although it should be noted that the club is not exclusively open to LGBT+ players. Formed in 1991, no doubt the club is a force for good in the long battle to break down homophobia which still exists particularly in the men’s game, with the unbelievable situation that not a single player in the professional game at least has felt comfortable enough to come out as gay, and I imagine that one could count on one’s hand those who have down to step 6 in the non-league game - Thetford Town’s player-manager Matt Morton is the only male player I am aware of. So it is excellent that LGBT players have a club in Stonewall where they can feel comfortable in their surroundings to play football. Stonewall are having a steady season in mid table, coming into this game in eighth place in the 14 club division, having won four and drawn three of their 12 league games so far. Formed in 2015, playing their home games at Hadley’s Brickfield Lane, and with “ambitions to reach the professional leagues within 10 years”according to their website, NW London were two places and six points better off than Stonewall, having won seven and drawn three of their ten league games so far.

On a very gloomy afternoon, with frequent rain showers passing through, this was an entertaining game to watch, and that there were not more goals was mostly due to some very good defending, goal saving blocks, and some excellent saves from the keepers. NW London probably had more of the chances throughout the game, but it was looking like a goalless stalemate would be the inevitable outcome, until Stonewall scored the winner in the 87th minute, when the ball was struck powerfully from just outside the penalty area, heading for the top right corner, and although the keeper seemed to get good hands on the ball at full stretch to palm it away, it dropped into the goal. The visitors couldn't really threaten an equaliser in the remaining minutes, and the celebrations amongst the Stonewall players at the final whistle reflected how hard fought the win was for them.

Sheerwater 3 v 2 Beckenham Town

Bank Holiday Monday 3rd January 2022, Kick-off 14.00
Combined Counties League Premier Division South
Eastwood Leisure Centre, Sheerwater
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 148

For my final action of what has been a busy festive period before I return to work tomorrow, I had options of choosing a double or even treble of games today. Unfortunately, none of those options would have included a new ground for me, so in the end I settled for just the one game today, which would enable to complete my visits to all grounds in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South.

The last year has been exciting for Sheerwater, having moved into their new home ground after having to vacate their inadequate Sheerwater Recreation Ground in 2018, followed by a couple of seasons groundsharing at Woking's Kingfield Stadium. Their new ground is situated barely a stone's throw eastwards from their old ground, and is part of a brand new leisure complex, which only opened in October, a couple of months after the football ground. A club fixture board is located at the road entrance of the complex, and football spectators have to enter through the leisure centre, past the reception, along a corridor, up a flight of steps leading to the Sheerwater FC's "club room", which features a bar, a very bright and spacious area, with a view overlooking most of the pitch, apart from the closest touchline, which is obscured by the stand. Spectators then have to leave the club room down another flight of stairs, before approaching the turnstile block in one corner of the ground. With a plastic pitch installed, it is no surprise that the ground is caged in with tall see-through fencing, with the walkways quite right around three sides between the pitchside railing and the cage fencing. The only cover is located along the length closest to the entrance, but is more than adequate, stretching along the entire length, and has a single row of 100 seats along the back of the middle third, with flat standing on either side. The leisure centre and the windows of the club room provide the backdrop behind the stand, with a row of trees visible behind the cage on the other side, where the dugouts are located. It is a very decent place to call home for Sheerwater, amd whilst it is hardly one to get the pulse racing in terms of character or aesthetic beauty, hopefully Sheerwater may be able to add some nice touches to make the ground feel more homely in due course.  No doubt the new ground represents a massive upgrade in every respect compared with their previous home. Sheerwater produce a good quality 36 page printed programme, in colour and packed full of stats and articles to read, providing an excellent preview of the match.

This promised to be a decent game between two clubs in the top half of the division. Sheerwater came into this game in ninth place, following eight wins and four draws from their 21 league games. They lost their last two completed games, both at home, but their last game was rather controversial, when they were 7-0 up at home to Banstead Athletic, when the visitors, who had only started with 10 players, allegedly engineered a situation where they were left with only six players on the pitch, giving the referee no alternative but to abandon the game. It is still rather strange to see Beckenham Town not in the Kent / Southern Counties East League, having been there since 1982, but they have adapted quite well to their new footprint predominantly across Surrey following their lateral movement in the summer. They came into this game in fifth place, following eleven wins and two draws from their 14 league games so far, but with between two and five games in hand on all teams above them, and only eight points adrift of top spot, they are right in the mix to win challenge to win the division. But they hadn’t played in the league since 27th November due to a combination of Covid and waterlogged pitches, but have won four and the drawn the other of their last five league games, conceding just one goal. In the reverse fixture of today's game in early September, Beckenham won 1-0.

On an overcast and relatively mild afternoon, this match certainly had a fast start, with the home side racing into a two goal lead inside the first four minutes. With barely a minute on the clock, Scott Costello drilled the ball low from the edge of the area inside the left hand post, and then on four minutes, Sean Swift doubled the home side’s lead. Beckenham then came back into the game, and on 7 minutes, an overhead kick sent the ball just wide of the far post, and on 9 minutes, a cross from the right was headed into the keeper's hands from fairly close range. But on 22 minutes, the hosts opened up a three goal lead when, following some good footwork, the ball was dinked from the left byline across goal, for Antonios Kozakis to volley home at the far post. They had a great chance to make it four on 31 minutes, when a poor back pass was intercepted, but in taking the ball round the keeper, the Sheerwater player went very wide and his long range shot on goal went into the side netting.

3-0 was how the scoreline remained at half time, but in the second half, it was pretty much one way traffic in favour of Beckenham. They pulled a goal back on 54 minutes with a powerful header from a corner, and after seeing a couple of low shots parried past the far post, they pulled another goal back on 65 minutes, when a diagonal ball forward was headed past the keeper. It was looking likely that Beckenham would complete a remarkable comeback, but Sheerwater started to threaten again, most notably when a low shot from the edge of the area hit the post before bouncing clear, and when Beckenham one of their players sent to the sin bin, they seemed to lose their momentum somewhat and in the end came just short in getting anything from the game.

Charlton Athletic 0 v 1 Wycombe Wanderers

Saturday 1st January 2022, Kick-off 15.00

EFL League One

The Valley, Charlton

Admission: Season Ticket

Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 18.895 (873 away)

My first game of 2022 was my first visit to The Valley in three weeks. It should have been my second visit in four days, but the home fixture against Gillingham on 29th December was postponed due to Covid issues within the Charlton squad, as was the Boxing Day fixture at AFC Wimbledon.

Since beating Cambridge United 2-0 at home in their last hone fixture, the Addicks lost 0-1 at Plymouth Argyle in what was apparently a disappointing performance, with a few players ruled out due to Covid, bringing to an end a three game winning streak. Charlton came into this game in twelfth place, following eight wins and five draws from their 23 league games so far. Today would be a tough game, but a game that Charlton really needed to win if a play-off berth were to remain a realistic goal, as Wycombe occupied the final play-off position in sixth place, having claimed 13 points more than Charlton, following 12 wins and six draws from their 22 league games in their first season back in League One, following one season, the club’s first ever season, in the Championship. They lost 1-0 at Ipswich in midweek, and drew 2-2 at home to AFC Wimbledon.

Once again, I took advantage of an offer provided by the club to its season ticket holders, to invite my partner to the game and relocate from my usual seat in the Upper West Stand, to one by the half way line in the Alan Curbishley (East) Stand.

A match report can be viewed by clicking here

Video highlights can be viewed by clicking here