Wessex League Division One
Anstey Park Enclosure, Alton
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 84
Match Rating: 3
After two consecutive stressful Saturdays, when rain continued to fall throughout the morning causing many games to be postponed and even the games I did go to I was not completely confident that they would go ahead until I arrived at the ground, I decided on a more relaxing day today. With light rain forecast to fall on already saturated ground, I chose to visit a ground with a 3G pitch.
The Anstey Park Enclosure is about a ten minute walk from Alton station, not far on the opposite side of the road from the site of their previous home ground, the Bass Sports Ground, which they were obliged to vacate in December 2015 by the owners Molson Coors brewery. As part of the deal, Molson Coors helped fund the redevelopment of their new Anstey Park ground, which had previously been home to the original Alton Town Football Club. And very good facilities it now offers too, and is a neat and well maintained venue. Plenty of attractive club signage attracts visitors to the ground, and spectators enter through a turnstile block, which is attached to the changing rooms building, along one length. Immediately to the left of the entrance is the brick clubhouse, with a covered refreshment window in one corner. To the right of the entrance is an all-seater stand, which unfortunately does have a floodlight pylon to the front. On the opposite side, four steps of terracing is the one remnant from the ground prior to redevelopment, and a stand covers the middle third of the length. Hard standing is available behind both goals, and the ground is enclosed by green mesh see-through fencing. The 20 page programme covered the essentials well enough, was neatly presented with a card cover, and whilst £1.50 was probably a little expensive in itself, purchasers could claim a free tea or coffee, which was much appreciated on a cold winter’s day.
Alton came into this game in eighth place, having won 11 and drawn three of their 23 league games, whilst East Cowes are having their best season in a while. After finishing second bottom last season, and rock bottom in each of the previous three seasons, they came into this game in 15th place in the 18 team division, having won four and drawn six of their 19 league games so far. When the two teams met back in August on the Isle of Wight, the game finished 2-2.
On a cold, dreary afternoon with occasional spots of drizzle, Alton took the lead on 13 minutes, Danny Knee striking the ball firmly from just outside the area and inside the keeper’s near post. The first was generally a fairly even affair, although the home side always looked more like a goal in them, and a couple of minutes before the break, a shot which beat the keeper was awkwardly cleared by a defender close to the line.
The visitors looked slightly the better team after the break, and it was no real surprise when they equalised on 67 minutes. After the defence failed to deal with a couple of balls dinked into the right side of the penalty area, captain Dexter Malin burst through and fired a low shot across the keeper and into the net. That seemed to wake Alton up, as they forced several desperate blocks and clearances. East Cowes really should have taken the lead on 86 minutes though, when a wonderful cross from the left wing found a couple of his teammates unmarked and in a great position to head home, but they distracted each other and the ball bounced harmlessly wide. That was to prove costly for the visitors, as after the visiting keeper had pulled off some good saves, Alton went back in front on 89 minutes. After a frantic little passage of play in the penalty area, Matt Graham took possession of the ball to the right of the goal, and drove a powerful shot through the keeper and into the net. Even though the referee surprisingly played more than five minutes added on time, East Cowes never looked like grabbing another equaliser, and as Alton claimed a win they just about deserved.
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