Southern Counties East League Premier Division
Culverden Stadium, Tunbridge Wells
Admission: Free (usually £7.00)
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 206
Match Rating: 3
I decided to make my first visit to Culverden Stadium for over three years this evening, motivated by the club’s offer of free entry for all as an early Christmas present to thank the club’s supporters, who continue to support their team in good numbers, albeit steadily declining, since their remarkable FA Vase Final appearance back in 2013.
The Culverden Stadium remains a very pleasant venue to watch football at, with some cosmetic enhancements around and new portakabins positioned above the uncovered terrace behind the goal, although these appeared to be out of use this evening. The 32 page programme printed in full colour had a good variety of articles and stats. It was probably a little overpriced at £2.00, certainly at a step 5 club, although it would be churlish to criticise on an evening of free entry.
Tunbridge Wells are having another difficult season in the league so far, coming into this game down in 18th place in the 20 team division, following four wins and two draws from their 18 league games. They are, however, 8 and 12 points ahead of the bottom two clubs. Beckenham, having won nine and lost the remainder of their 15 league games, were in 9th place, just five points adrift of the leading two teams. The two clubs met in FA Cup back in early August, with Tunbridge Wells winning 1-0 at home.
On a relatively mild, and dry evening, this was a competitive game that Tunbridge Wells slightly edged during the first half, but it was the visitors who took the lead with pretty much their first sight of goal on 24 minutes, when an unmarked Adam Wadmore headed home a corner. Within a couple of minutes, the hosts came close to equalising when a low shot went just wide of the far post, but they were level on 34 minutes with a well worked goal. A corner was played short, passed low into the area, and a clever reverse pass set Ian Parsons towards the byline, and he tapped the ball home.
The second half was a quieter affair, and what turned out to be the winning goal was scored on 67 minutes by the visitors. After the hosts made a bit of a hash of an attacking move, the ball was lumped forward for Harry Ottway to run onto, and he outpaced the defence to break clear before showing good composure to guide the ball low past the keeper. Tunbridge Wells never really looked likely to equalise for a second time, with the final ball just not good enough as they were consigned to another defeat.
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