Hollington United OFF Old Town Athletic

Hollington United OFF Old Town Athletic
Old Town Athletic unable to raise a team
Saturday 14th April 2012
East Sussex League Premier Division
Gibbons Memorial Field

Today I chose to head to the outskirts of Hastings to see the all conquering Hollington United in their penultimate game of the season, at a rare ground in the East Sussex League which has some facilities.

The Gibbons Memorial Field is about a twenty minute bus ride away from Hastings rail station, and as one enters the ground behind one of the goals, there is a clubhouse clearly built to repel vandalism and intrusion first and foremost, with no windows and with reinforced metal doors and a patio between the clubhouse and the pitch. The pitch is fully railed off all around, with a gate. No hard standing is available anywhere apart from the patio area. There is quite an enclosed feel to the ground, with trees lining one touchline and one of the goals, a bank and then housing behind the other touchline, with the clubhouse and a bowling green behind the other goal.

Going into this game, Hollington United had the quite remarkable record of winning all eighteen of their league games so far, with just two games left of the season, both at home, with their last game coming against Punnetts Town, the whipping boys of the division, winning just one and drawing one of their 19 games, with a goal difference of minus 81. Old Town Athletic were in sixth place in the eleven team league, losing 2-6 at home to Wadhurst United last time out and were unable to raise a team in their previous away fixture.

Unfortunately that was to prove the case again today, as they were not able to raise a team to travel to Hollington. However, a game of sorts took place, with a friendly game between Hollington United's first and second teams. By the time I arrived midway through the first half, the score was 1-1, which it remained until the interval. Mild embarrassment for the all conquering Hollington United first team appeared to be on the cards, as the second team took a 2-1 lead, and then 4-2. It is true that the second string of Hollington are no mugs, as they lay in second place in Division One of the East Sussex League, but eventually the extra quality of the first team prevailed, as they went on to win 6-4 in the end. Obviously it was a very light-hearted affiar, summed up at the final whistle when the "referee" shouted out "right, that's that, let's go and get pissed", but it was actually a reasonably entertaining spectacle, and certainly better than nothing, which it could have been.

St Leonards Social 2 v 1 Wadhurst United

Saturday 14th January 2012
East Sussex League Premier Division
Tilekiln 2, Hastings
Admission and Programme  N/A
Attendance: 7
Match Rating: 3

Today I had decided it was time to watch some real grass-roots football again, and so I headed down to the south coast of East Sussex, for a game in the intermediate East Sussex League Premier Division involving the champions of the last three seasons, St Leonards Social.

The Tilekiln Playing Fields is located three miles to the north west of Hastings town centre, with regular buses running from the train station to the nearby Tesco Extra supermarket, a five minute walk away. The council owned Tilekiln is home to several clubs in the East Sussex League and consists of three football pitches. As one enters the complex from the car park, there is a functional and unattractive building - seemingly built primarily to resist vandalism - housing the changing rooms, with two of the pitches side by side, although separated by a cricket square, stretching away from the changing rooms, with a third pitch set at right angles to and below the second pitch furthest away from the changing rooms. St Leonards Social's home pitch is the middle one, Tilekiln 2. There are no spectator facilities and the pitches are open with no perimeter railing or rope - unsurprisingly it is a rather uninteresting, characterless and bleak venue for football. On the positive side, having the three pitches in close proximity meant that one has a choice of games should one get boring - the few people on the complex appeared to do just that, wandering between the games - and the slightly staggered kick-off times today meant that I was able to watch a little of the action in one of the other games during half time in the game I was focusing on.

Having won the East Sussex League for the last three seasons, although St Leonards Social are currently second in the table this season, there is little prospect of making it four in a row this season, as they are twelve points behind Hollington United - who have won all eleven of their games this season - and have played a game more. Former Sussex County League club Wadhurst United are currently battling against relegation, down in ninth in the eleven team league, although they are comfortably ahead of the bottom two teams.When the two teams met back in November in the league in Wadhurst, the match ended in a 0-0 draw.

On a chilly, overcast afternoon, it was not long before the home side opened the scoring, when a fast break allowed a one on one with the keeper, and the forward dinked the ball over the keeper, leaving a tap in from a few yards out for Terry Smith. St Leonards looked the stronger and more assured side as Wadhurst struggled to get a foothold in the game, and it appeared inevitable that St Leonards would increase their lead, although on the half hour Wadhurst had a great chance, when good trickery and patience created space and an opening, but the eventual low shot was cleared off the line. Right on half time Wadhurst did equalise, when a free kick from about 20 yards out was drilled low and hard by Matt Smith, taking a deflection which wrong footed the keeper.

Wadhurst could consider themselves quite fortunate to go into the interval on level terms, although the second half was much more even from the start, and Wadhurst had a period of about twenty minutes midway through the second half when they were bar far the better side and it looked inevitable that they would take the lead. However, they could not capitalise on their superiority, and it appeared that they would have to settle for a point. It ended up worse than that though, as just three minutes from time, St Leonards went back into the lead when a low cross was tapped in from close range by 44 year old Keith Miles, formerly of Hastings United and Eastbourne Borough, amongst many other clubs. Wadhurst never really threated to grab another equaliser and so it was St Leonards who claimed all three points.

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Photos of Tilekiln 3 (Rock-a-Nore 5 v 1 Old Town Athletic, East Sussex League Premier Division

Photo of Tilekiln 1 - Peche Hill Select II 3 v 7 Battle Rangers, East Sussex League Division 3

Wadhurst United 4 v 2 Ticehurst

Saturday 22nd October 2011
East Sussex League Cup Round 2
Washwell Lane, Wadhurst
Admission and Programme: N/A
Attendance: 65 (head count)
Match Rating: 4

I had originally intended to go to Chatham Town's game against Heybridge Swifts today, which would have completed the "set" of Kent senior football grounds for me. However, a delayed train meant I missed my connection and would not have arrived at Chatham train station until well after the 3pm kick off. Therefore I decided to divert to a game that I had considered as a possibility anyway, an attractive looking cup game, albeit at intermediate level, which would be a derby game between neighbouring villages.

Today would be a revisit to a ground I visited last season, a very pleasant rural village location, and a description of the ground can be found here.

All of the ingredients were there for an intriguing game today. The match would be between two clubs separated by just three and a half miles, with many links between the two clubs. There would also be a chance of a giantkilling today, with Wadhurst United in the Premier Division of the East Sussex League but have made quite a poor start to the season, with one win and four defeats from their opening five games, against Ticehurst, of the First Division, who have made a strong start to their season, winning four and losing the other of their opening five games. In the latest annual memorial match between the two clubs in August, Ticehurst won 4-1 at Washwell Lane.

On a bright, sunny but somewhat chilly autumnal afternoon, the match started off as would have been expected - at a high tempo. However, with just seven minutes on the clock, Ticehurst's task suddenly became a lot harder when they unbelievably had their top striker, Liam Bull, who has scored twelve goals in just 6 games this season after scoring 23 in 24 games last season, sent off for a second yellow card. Both yellow cards seemed very harsh - the first for not retreating from a free-kick but he barely had time to do so before the referee waved his yellow card, and the second picked up whilst he was battling his way towards goal with a defender. This did not seem to impact too much on Ticehurst's play, as the game remained even, and on 17 minutes, they hit the post with a header in a crowded penalty area. Wadhurst were then awarded an indirect free-kick was awarded deep inside the penalty area after the keeper was penalised for picking up a long range back pass, but the shot was blocked. With around half an hour on the clock, Ticehurst's task seemingly became mission impossible, when they had a second player sent off, their captain Calvin Bull, brother of Liam, again for a second yellow card, again very soft, and indeed the referee had a really poor game throughout, dishing out countless yellow cards that rarely seemed necessary in a competitive but not overly physical game, and he seemed to be completely out of touch with the level and spirit of the game. On 41 minutes, Wadhurst broke the deadlock when good approach play resulted in a shot being parried by the keeper, only for the ball to be tucked away by James Mitchell from close range. On the stroke of half time, Wadhurst were awarded a penalty thanks to a rather agricultural shove on the striker heading away from goal, and the penalty was slotted into the left corner by Nick Holland with the keeper diving the other way. No sooner had the game restarted and the half time whistle was blown.

One feared for Ticehurst, as several of their players completely lost their composure at the end of the first half in response to the shocking performance of the referee, and they conceded a third goal on 48 minutes, with a corner met by a simple downward header into the net by Lee Bates. Surely game over now, and Wadhurst now took their foot off the gas, playing a pedestrian passing game with Ticehurst looking completely beaten. However, out of the blue, the Wadhurst keeper carried the ball out of his area under pressure, and a free kick was awarded wide of the penalty area. The free kick was dinked in perfectly and met with a header that gently went into the net via the inside of the post on 55 minutes by Martin Richardson, for what was surely only a consolation for Ticehurst. Almost unbelievably, Ticehurst were very much back in the game five minutes later when they scored again, with a powerful drive by Richardson for his second of the game after an initial shot was blocked. By now, Ticehurst really had their tails up and an equaliser very much looked on the cards, even playing with nine men. However, with ten minutes remaining, Wadhurst finally put the game to bed when a peach of a curling cross from wide was headed perfectly into the top corner by Bates for his second of the game. Wadhurst went on to have plenty of chances to further extend their lead, most notably when they had a goal questionably ruled out for offside and had a shot blocked close to the line with the keeper beaten, but any heavier defeat would have been harsh on Ticehurst.

So it was Wadhurst who progressed to the next round, job done for them, but enormous credit to Ticehurst for making a real game of it despite being reduced to nine men in the first half - it was just a shame that an incredibly poor performance from the referee impacted so heavily on the game.

Wadhurst United 6 v 1 Hospital Social

Saturday 25th September 2010
East Sussex League Premier Division
Washwell Lane, Wadhurst
Admission and Programme: None
Attendance: 28 (head count)
Match Rating: 4

After only returning home from holiday in the early hours, what I felt like most was a football match in a peaceful and rural location, and a visit to Wadhurst in the East Sussex countryside fitted the bill perfectly. The last time I had watched Wadhurst was when they played in the Sussex County League for three seasons between 2003 and 2006. After two successful opening seasons in Division 3, the club then struggled to avoid relegation in terms of league placing, but resigned from the league anyway, and suffered a three division drop into the East Sussex League Division 2. After two seasons of consolidation, they have earned back to promotions as champions to reach the Premier League once more.

During their brief stay in the Sussex League, Wadhurst played at Sparrows Green Recreation Ground, however since their resignation they now play back at their spiritual home of Washwell Lane right in the centre of the village, about a half hour walk from Wadhurst train station, which includes a steep hill for about half the distance. Washwell Lane is a very pleasant, typically central village location for a football ground, completely peaceful and with sweeping views of the Sussex Downs in the distance behind one goal, a church and oast house behind the other, trees closely lining one length of the pitch with an old-fashioned (but recently given a paint facelift) building housing the changing rooms and covered standing on the other side. The pitch also has quite a major slope from one goal to the other.

Wadhurst have started the season well, winning three and drawing the other of their opening four games in all competitions so far. Hospital Social, a new club this season in the East Sussex League based in Eastbourne, opened their season with a 5-2 win, drawing their next game, but then losing their latest two games, including a 0-6 home defeat against Rock-A-Nore.

On an afternoon alternating frequently between bright sunshine and dark clouds, the game started evenly, with Wadhurst taking the lead, although within a couple of minutes Hospital Social equalised. Wadhurst went back in front and shortly before half time, extended their lead to 3-1 with a penalty. The game was seemingly as good as won within a minute of the restart when Wadhurst went 4-1 ahead, and indeed, Hospital Sports completely capitulated in the second half. Having already been reduced to ten men in the first half when an injured player could not be replaced due to no substitutes being named, Hospital Sports were reduced to eight men with an hour on the clock when another player had to go off injured as well as having a player sent off for a deserved second yellow card. With half an hour left to play and the visitors having completely thrown in the towel, Wadhurst could easily have notched up double figures had they had the appetite, however the game being too easy seemed to completely dampen Wadhurst's appetite and they only notched a further two goals despite wave after wave of attack against a completely dispirited defence.

Ticehurst 4 v 2 Hastings Rangers

Monday 19th April 2010
East Sussex League Division 2
Bell Field, Ticehurst
Admission and Programme: N/A
Attendance: 15
Match Rating: 4

Tonight I took advantage again of the early evening kick-offs for local league football  and headed to Ticehurst. In truth, there wasn't much to tempt me to this game - from the third tier of the East Sussex league, and both teams stuck firmly in mid-table, however on a very pleasant, sunny evening, a scenic village setting such as this makes a football game there attractive no matter what the predicted fare would be on the field.

The Bell Field, which is situated close to the centre of the small village of Ticehurst, is quite a typical ground in the East Sussex League. There are no facilities here, apart from a fairly modern wooden building containing the changing rooms. The ground is lined with trees along three sides of the ground, and behind the trees along one length of the pitch is attractive farmland. Behind the other length, where the spectators congregates, is the village. On a warm, sunny evening, it made for a very pleasant and peaceful venue to watch football.

Ticehurst roared into a three goal lead in the first half, indeed it could have been more as they hardly gave Hastings Rangers a sniff. However, they pulled a goal back a few minutes before half time with a wonderful goal that would have graced any game, a curling shot from outside of the box right into the top corner, giving the goalkeeper no chance. That gave Hastings hope of getting something back from the game, and they almost were right back in the game right from the kick off, with an audacious shot straight from the kick-off, when the ball was touched from the kick off, and the Hastings shot hit a shot which the Ticehurst keeper only just scrambled away from the top corner.

Hastings were much improved in the second half, and finally managed to pull back another goal. However, any chances of a share of the spoils was removed about five minutes from time with a good breakaway goal by Casey Ham, which completed his hat-trick.

Robertsbridge United 2 v 1 Mountfield United

Wednesday 14th April 2010

East Sussex League Division 1

The Clappers, Robertsbridge

Admission and Programme: N/A

Attendance: 40

Match Rating: 3

Another evening taking advantage of an early evening, 6.30 kick-off took me to 1066 country for this very local derby in the East Sussex League, with the visitors, Mountfield United, based just a couple of miles from the village of Robertsbridge, located between Tunbridge Wells and Hastings.

The Clappers Recreation Ground is located about a 15 minute walk from the train station, via a walk through the very pleasant high street of Robertsbridge, which contains several very alluring, old-fashioned pubs. The football pitch is part of a small complex which includes a cricket pitch and a children's play area, both of which you walk past from the road to get to the football pitch. As is normal for the East Sussex League, there are no facilities at this playing field, and only changing rooms distant from the pitch. The setting is very pleasant, with trees closely bordering one length of the pitch, whilst behind the other length is a scenic countryside view of a cricket pavilion in the foreground and rolling hills in the background. One point of note was the excellent state of the pitch, which was almost completely flat with grass cut to a perfect length for football – such features are not always to be found of playing surfaces at this level! No programmes are produced, as is standard in this league – only Polegate I have heard produce programmes from the East Sussex League.

This evening’s game looked appealing, not just because it was a very local derby, but it also pitched together two teams in good form and with a top two finish firmly within their sights. Mountfield were sitting in second place but could not catch champions elect, Wadhurst United, whilst Robertsbridge were sitting in fifth place in the 11 team league, but with several games in hand against all the other teams in the division. Indeed, they are the only club with a mathematical chance of overhauling Wadhurst, but for that would need to win all of their remaining games and hope that Wadhurst gain no more than a point from their remaining three games. A second place would be much more within their sights and possibly promotion to the Premier League.

On a bright, sunny evening which became ever colder as the game wore on, this was very much a game of two halves. Robertsbridge dominated the first half, took the lead with just five minutes on the clock, which they double with a very well-taken penalty on the half hour. They took this two goal lead into half-time, which they thoroughly merited by being quicker into challenges and displaying plenty of incisive attacking play, whereas Mountfield looked strangely lethargic. However, Mountfield were certainly the better side in the second half, and halved the deficit with 50 minutes on the clock with a good finish chipped over the onrushing keeper from the corner of the penalty box. Although not as bright as in the first half, Robertsbridge still had good chances but the game ended with a 2-1 home victory, which was probably a fair reflection of the game.

This was a most enjoyable game of football, attended by a very decent number of supporters for this level, and it was played in a refreshingly competitive but fair spirit. In short, it was everything that is good about amateur village football.