Hailsham Town 1 v 2 St Francis Rangers

Tuesday 13th March 2018
Southern Combination League Division One
The Beaconsfield, Hailsham
Admission: £5.00
Programme: 50p
Attendance: 47
Match Rating: 3

 

This evening, I had intended to take in the very attractive looking Southern Combination League Division Two cup final between the division’s top two teams, Little Common and Langney Wanderers, who had scored almost 200 goals between them this season. However, despite a dry and sunny day today, the pitch at Eastbourne Town’s home ground The Saffrons surprisingly failed a pitch inspection following persistent rain on Monday. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the pitch at Hailsham Town – notoriously prone to waterlogging – did survive an early afternoon pitch inspection, and so I decided to head for there for my second visit of 2018.

Hailsham have been in good form recently, winning their last four games and scoring 18 goals in the process, and came into this game in ninth place, following 12 wins and two draws from their 25 league games. St Francis Rangers 13th place, having won seven and drawn four of their 23 league games, nine points clear of a possible relegation berth in the bottom two, but they had lost their last 3 games in all competitions. When the two teams met in October, Hailsham claimed a 1-2 away win.

On a slightly chilly evening, a pitch that was squelchy and muddy underfoot and cut up readily was never likely to be conducive to good football being played, and so it proved as the bounce and run of the ball was inconsistent and players struggled to keep their footing as they ran along the surface. The first half was competitive but both side struggled to mount attacks on the surface, and it was no surprise that the scoreline was goalless at the break.

However, two minutes after the break and the deadlock was broken by the visitors. A long range shot from outside the area saw the keeper scrambling above his head but the ball bounced back off the crossbar, landing at the feet of Oluwaseun Olabiyi, who took a couple of touches before firing the ball home. Hailsham then did force some smart saves from the keeper, but St Francis doubled their lead on 63 minutes. After the keeper parried the ball wide of his goal, the ball was dinked in from the byline into a more central position, for Olabiyi to bundle the ball in from close range. Hailsham struggled to mount threatening attacks, and unfortunately it was not until the 90th minute that they pulled a goal back. A defender failed to cut out a long ball low through the middle, allowing Danny Leach to run into the ball and take it forward, before slotting it calmly past the keeper. There was not enough time to seriously push for an equaliser and so it was the visitors who headed back to Haywards Heath with the three points.

Whilst this was not the best of games as a spectacle, both teams deserved great credit for battling hard on a very tricky pitch.