Wessex League Division One
Long Lane, Ringwood
Admission : £5.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 31
Having decided to drive to a game today, mainly as I had my girlfriend for company, the destination was a choice between Suffolk and Hampshire, two of my favourite areas in the south-east to hop. In the morning, I decided to head west, to visit a ground that is certainly not the easiest to visit from afar on public transport. Helpfully, the club tweeted early on that the game was on, reassuring on a day at risk of postponements due to heavy rain that fell right up to last night.
Long Lane is situated about a mile and a half south of Ringwood town centre, past Ringwood Brewery, and nestled amongst farmland to give the place a very rural feel. An ample car park is located just inside the entrance from the narrow passing lane, and located next to the clubhouse a little way back from one corner of the pitch is the entrance to the ground itself, which is nicely decorated with club signage, with a wooden hut to pay admission at and get a programme from. A short path from the entrance passes between a very small 3G pitch next to the clubhouse and a warm up area on the other side, behind a stand which straddles the half way line on one side of the pitch and offers three rows of bench seating. Around the rest of the ground there is just hard standing, apart from behind one of the goals, which is out of bounds. Hedgerows around three sides of the ground provide a natural enclosure, with several football pitches around an allotment site partially hidden behind one goal. Special mention must be made of the pitch, however. Considering the snowfall that fell up to last Saturday causing many games then to be postponed, followed by heavy rain falling for much of the last week, and games were played here last Saturday and on Tuesday, the pitch was in astonishingly good condition today - flat, firm and no muddy or bare patches to be seen, with diligent work carrying on ahead of kick-off and at half time with the pitch being forked before the game and at half time to keep it in good condition. Presumably the pitch is aided by favourable soil conditions, but even so, a step 6 club is clearly fortunate to have such a dedicated and knowledgeable groundsman. The 12 page programme was perfectly adequate to give a good preview of the match, with an informative welcome message and the nescessary stats and facts up to date, and it was well presented too was some colour printing.
A glance at the league table hinted that this would be a game between two evenly matched teams, fighting it out for mid table respectability. Ringwood came into this game in 12th place, following eight wins and four draws from their 25 league games, their position boosted by a terrific run at the start of 2019, winning their first five league games, before a 0-3 home defeat to Downton in midweek. Fawley were two places and two points better off, having won nine and drawn three of their 25 league games, but they came into this match in not the best form, having lost their last three games. When the two clubs met on the opposite side of the New Forest in early December, Fawley won 3-1.
On an overcast afternoon with a chilly breeze blowing, Ringwood made a great start and opened the scoring on 6 minutes with a lovely goal, curled beautifully into the top right corner of the net from just outside the penalty area. And the early goal set the tone for a first half that Ringwood had the upper hand in for the most part, as the visitors seemed somewhat off the pace and gave away possession too readily. But with no more goals scored in the first half, it was all to play for in the second half.
Whatever the Fawley manager said to his troops at half time seemed to do the trick, as his team were much more at it after the break, and a minute after a low cross from the left was diverted onto the post, they were awarded a penalty on 50 minutes for a trip. Ben Rankin sent the keeper the wrong way with a low shot into the left side of the goal. They then had some good chances to take the lead, but the game was to swing back in Ringwood's favour on 64 minutes, when a free kick was curled into the area from deep, and the ball was headed into the net via the palm of the keeper. Ringwood made sure of the points on 75 minutes with another lovely goal. The ball was lifted perfectly diagonally from wide for their forward to run onto through the middle, and he lobbed the ball over the keeper, who was in no man's land, and into the net. It was a win that Ringwood deserved overall, which saw them leapfrog Fawley in the league table. The few spots of rain that greeted the final whistle turned into heavy rain as I crossed back over the Sussex border making for unpleasant driving conditions, but rather then than during the game and this was yet another enjoyable day out in the this part of the world - for that reason, it is quite sad that I only have four grounds left to discover in the Wessex League's two divisions.
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