Pre-Season Friendly
Brislington Stadium, Brislington
Admission: Free
Programme: None
Attendance: 60 (rough headcount)
With today being my last opportunity to travel outside of my local area on public transport, with rail strikes taking place over the next two Saturdays, and Charlton being at home the Saturday afterwards, I decided to have a "proper" day out today, booking a National Express coach from London to Bristol, from where I had a reasonable choice of games to go to. I chose a visit to Brislington, whose ground I had heard was quite interesting and quirky, the game would have an interesting dimension in that the visitors would be coming over the Severn Bridge. With heavy rain following last night and this morning, and with other games in the area being called off, I was nervous about this game going ahead, and had Keynsham Town's plastic pitch - about a further 15 minute bus ride away - in reserve if need be. However, on arriving at the ground a couple of hours ahead of kick-off, it was clear that there was nothing to be concerned about, despite a heavy downpour between then and kick-off.
Having arrived at Bristol coach station, I then caught a bus for the half hour bus ride south eastwards to Brislington, getting off about a five minute walk away from the ground, along a straight lane passing by the junior football club's pitches to the left and the cricket ground to the right. The entrance to the football club's grounds is marked with plenty of welcoming signage, and ample car parking is available around the outside of the ground. The turnstiles are located behind one end of the ground, although these were not in use today due to the free entry for today's game, and so people just passed through the adjacent open gate. The clubhouse is located adjacent to the gate and behind one corner of the ground, and is quite spacious inside and with a decent range of drinks on offer. Alomg the length closest to the clubhouse, a small stand covers a flat standing area, and beyond the half way line there is a larger all-seater stand providing decent elevated views, albeit that some pillars along the front obstruct views. There is just hard standing along the rest of the length, but impressively, there is cover along most of the other three sides are covered, mostly with corrugated iron sheeting supported by scaffold poles. Both ends are covered, with the cover stretching from one end around the corner and along about three quarters of the remaining length. There is also a row of seating along much of this length. It is a ground that has plenty of character, presumably could easily host games a few steps higher, and it is most welcome that there is no bland sterile furniture that is all too prevalent around other grounds these days.
Brislington had a fantastic season last season, runaway champions of the Western League Division One, picking up 110 points from 42 games, and finishing twelve points clear of the second placed club. But they will stay in Division One for thé coming season, having been ineligible for promotion this year, following their voluntary relegation from the Premier Division last summer. Risca ply their trade in the third tier of Welsh football, in the Ardan League South East Division, but came very close to being promoted back to the second tier Cymru South at the first time of asking following relegation the previous season. They finished last season in second place, two points adrift of the champions, and they went on to lose the promotion play-off game 0-2 against Baglan Dragons.
On a mostly overcast afternoon, occasionally sunny and at other times brief but heavy showers passed through. This was an entertaining game to watch, Brislington always seemed to have more possession, but Risca certainly carried a threat. But on 27 minutes, the home side took the lead following a quick break down the left and eventually the ball was crossed in, just missing a player in the centre of goal but his team mate was lurking beyond the far post to sweep the ball home. And they scored there second as the game entered first half added on time, when an excellent shot brushed off the keeper on its way to coming back off the woodwork, but the ball bounced back fortunately for cc to head the ball home.
A hitherto well contested game player in good spirits took a brief turn for the worse on 50 minutes when a couple of players started pushing each other in the chest following a challenge, but then progressed into becoming more aggressive, at which point most players from both sides joined in for a mass brawl. Both players who started it were shown straight red cards, but after the referee spoke at length to both managers, it was agreed that the players sent off could be substituted, allowing both sides to retain a full complement of players. Happily, tensions soon settled back down, and in the 63rd minute, Brislington scored their third when a ball down the right found the run of a team mate, who ran on to strike the ball powerfully past the keeper. But this time, Risca responded immediately, literally straight from the kick-off as, seeing the Brislington keeper some way off his line, the ball was struck directly from the centre spot over the stranded keeper and into the net. And that certainly perked the visitors up, as they had a decent spell, but couldn't score again, and instead it was Brislington who added a fourth in the 75th minute, when the ball was slipped through for a team mate to strike the ball first time across the keeper and into the net.
