Pre-season Friendly
Westfield Lane, Wrecclesham
Admission : £8.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 660
I am not usually keen on visiting new grounds too soon after opening, preferring to wait for them to "bed in" somewhat, once all the finishing touches have been completed. However this game did catch my eye, partly through a lack of attractive alternatives this early in pre-season, but mostly because it promised to be a big occasion for the home club, hosting the first ever game at their new ground against their local former Football League club.
After 12 long years having to play their home fixtures at Farnborough FC, Godalming Town, Ash United and Camberley Town, Badshot Lea finally have a ground to call home, taking over the site of Farnham Rugby Club's former home ground in Wrecclesham. It is not a completely ideal location for them, based over four miles from Badshot Lea village and the opposite side of Farnham. But that will matter little for the club who, five years after planning permission was granted and after two years of building works, can now enjoy the benefits of owning their own ground, to develop as they see fit and maximise income streams from their own facilities. After passing by a cricket field, visitors are greeted with a welcome sign on arrival, before passing through one of two entrances within a wooden hut. The ground is smart and has a pleasant location, very quiet and with tall trees closely lining one length and further back behind the other, beyond a small car park. There is a small stand with four rows of seating straddling the half way line, with a grass bank behind hard standing either side. The hard standing stretches around behind one goal and along the other length, with plenty of grassy area between the hard standing and the perimeter fence. Behind the goal closest to the entrance is the clubhouse, which is comfortable and stylish inside and with an adjoining hospitality room. A refreshments window is located outside, alongside which is a whiteboard for team line-ups - understandably not in use today. To cater for the anticipated large number of visitors today, two gazebos were erected in front of the clubhouse, one to sell draught lager from, the other for burgers. There is also a small narrow stand with steps inside towards the opposite corner flag from the entrance. In these days of printed programmes becoming an endangered species, it was great that the club issued a decent, colour 24 page programme for this fixture, produced by JMA Programmes. Content is always difficult in pre-season, but it marked the occasion of the ground opening well enough.
Badshot Lea finished ninth in the Combined Counties League Premier Division last season. As for Aldershot Town, after a couple of good seasons finishing in the play-off positions in the National League Premier, they should have been relegated last season, finishing in 21st position in the 24 club division, but they were handed a reprieve in mid June after Gateshead's enforced demotion.
On a warm, muggy and partly cloudy afternoon, the game followed a fairly predictable pattern during the first half, with Aldershot dominating and doing nearly all of the attacking with very little urgency or cutting edge, and the hosts even managed to have the odd sight of goal in rare forays forward. It looked like they would complete the first half without conceding a goal, until they did on 41 minutes, James Rowe crossing from the right and new signing from Ebbsfleet Dean Rance connected with a glancing header to guide the ball beyond the keeper and inside the far post.
Aldershot swapped teams at the break, to a more experimental side containing more triallists and youth players, yet the second half team put on a better display, showing more urgency, perhaps in their greater need to impress. The visitors scored their second n the hour mark, following some quick short passing just outside the box culminating in a triallist curling the ball home. They made it three in 71 minutes, when another triallist headed the ball home from a corner, and a fourth should have followed, either on 65 minutes when the ball came back off the far post with the keeper stranded, or on 70 minutes, when an unmarked diving header saw the ball go just wide. Badshot Lea had a great chance for a consolation goal on 83 minutes but a low shot was struck rather tamely beyond the far post, whilst on 87 minutes, an Aldershot player guided the ball over the keeper and towards goal, but was headed clear by a defender.
And so the game ended in a 0-3 win to the visitors, but clearly the result did not matter today, as Badshot Lea celebrated starting life in their new home with a bumper attendance swelling the coffers nicely, while this was a good run out for Aldershot, getting minutes into legs and allowing the coaching team to take a look at plenty of fringe and triallist players. Although the game itself was not the most entertaining, as to be expected so early in pre-season, this was an enjoyable day out in the warm weather and relaxed atmosphere and it was a pleasure to witness all the hard work of Badshot Lea Football Club over many nomadic years rewarded with a memorable occasion.
No comments:
Post a Comment