Ringwood Town 3 v 1 Fawley

Saturday 9th February 2019
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.

Histon 1 v 3 Northwich Victoria

Saturday 2nd February 2019
FA Vase 5th Round
Bridge Road, Impington
Admission : £8.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 643

When the FA Vase draw was made, this was the standout fixture for me to attend, as it was to be played at one of the few relatively easily reachable grounds left in the competition that I had not previously visited. Freezing temperatures and snow on the ground in the days leading up to matchday saw a swathe of games across southern England called off on Friday evening, with many more to follow on Saturday morning. But after a group of volunteers helped to clear Histon's pitch of snow, it passed a 7.30am pitch inspection, and the swift announcement of this allowed me plenty of time to make my way up to Cambridgeshire in confidence that the game would go ahead.

After arriving at Cambridge train station, I then caught a bus for about a half hour journey northwards to the Histon & Impington stop on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, from which the stadium is a five minute walk. The stadium has quite an impressive entrance, with the turnstiles at the foot of the one of the stands, with a seemingly rarely if ever used ticket office to one side and the back wall of the other, main stand to the other. Once through the turnstiles, visitors pass under the stand and by tables offering programmes and club shop items, and also an array of doughnuts, before reaching pitchside along one length. There are two all-seater stands very close to each other, one being the main stand, which offers an elevated area of seating, and is virtually all that is left from the days prior to the club's rise to what was the Conference. The rest of the ground was built up to accommodate their status in the top tier of non-league football - indeed, it passed the criteria to host Football League action - and also as a result of the Cambridgeshire Football Association setting up their headquarters there, based inside and behind a second all-seater stand situated immediately adjacent to the main stand. They fit very well together, being of similar designs, and a tea bar is located on the ground floor. As for the rest of the ground, in some ways, it is a case of "look away now" for those who do not like the modern metallic "Arena" stands - there can be few other grounds where they have been installed so extensively as here. However, they actually do not look bad at all here, looking neat and tidy as they provide seating along the entire opposite length, and steps to stand on behind both goals between both corner flags. Similar to the £8.00 admission fee to Step 5 football, the 24 page programme was somewhat overpriced for what it was, printed in black and white although it did have quite an attractive cover in colour, and it covered the basics well enough.

This was a match between two clubs who have fallen on hard times since they were both members of what was the Conference Premier, Histon for four seasons before relegation in 2011, and Northwich Victoria played at that level for three decades, apart from one season, before relegation in 2009 and ensuing financial meltdown, during which they vacated their original home stadium as well as their subsequent one, and have been groundsharing since 2012. Moving to the present, Histon came into this game in second place in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, following 15 wins and two draws from 19 league games, three points adrift of leaders Godmanchester Rovers but with four games in hand. Northwich Victoria were in sixth place in the North West Counties League Premier Division, following 14 wins and two draws from their 25 league games. Being 22 points adrift of the leaders in the only automatic promotion spot available, promotion looks extremely unlikely. To reach this stage, Histon had beaten Colney Heath 2-0 at home in a replay, Woodbridge Town 5-4 at home. Leverstock Green 5-1 at home, and finally Lye Town 2-1 at home. Northwich Victoria had beaten Maltby Main 2-0 at home, Cammel Laird 5-0 at home, Prestwich Hayes 1-0 at home, Silsden 3-0 at home, and finally Newcastle Benfield 2-3 away.

On an afternoon that was sunny at kick off but turned very cold as the second half wore on, the first half did not lack for effort but did somewhat for quality, probably mostly due to the pitch being tricky and slippery, as players on both sides struggled to control the ball and play it effectively.  Histon had more possession, whilst Northwich had more sights at goal without really threatening, and it was no surprise that the scoreline remained goalless at half time.

Not surprisingly, things slowly started to pick up in the second half, and it was Histon who broke the deadlock on 64 minutes. James Chivers lumped the ball down the right wing from the half way line for Dan Brown to chase, and he superbly floated the ball first time over the keeper, who was in no-mans land, and into the empty net. That really seemed to wake up the visitors up, who rolled their sleeves up and started to apply a lot of pressure in the attacking third, and it was no surprise when they equalised on 71 minutes. The ball was crossed in from the right, and Darryl Mason rose to head the ball home from close range, just beating the keeper to the ball. The game then settled back down after that, and with relatively little further incident, normal time finished level and extra time was required to try and find a winner today, to avoid a replay in Cheshire next Saturday.

In extra time, the visitors seemed to find an extra gear, and after having a goalbound shot cleared by a defender, they went into the lead on 94 minutes. John Brownhill ran onto a ball forward into the right side of the area and crossed the ball, which just evaded the keeper and rolled into the path of Mason who struck the ball into the roof of the net from a couple of yards out. Things were now starting to go wrong for Histon, and on 102 minutes, Matt Green was shown a straight red card for a late, high tackle. They then started the second half of extra time down to nine men, when they had a player off injured, but he did rejoin the action within a couple of minutes. The hosts had a great chance to equalise on 115 minutes, when Brown crossed the ball from the right but Max York volleyed the ball wide at the far post - it was a difficult chance, coming at him awkwardly and at pace. They had one final chance a minute from the end when a corner was headed over, but shortly after, the visitors made absolutely sure of their progression to the last eight. Jordan Darr intercepted a pass between Histon players, raced clear before coolly slotting the ball under the keeper and into the net, to confirm their progression to the next round.

And so Northwich Victoria will be in the hat for the quarter-final draw, and the dream of a day out at Wembley become a little more real. They had very good support on the day from a loud and colourful contingent, which at times was matched by good vocal support from the home fans, helping to create a decent atmosphere. As for Histon, it was not to be their day, but they arguably have bigger fish to fry anyway as they can now concentrate on winning the Eastern Counties League Premier Division to return to Step 4 football - they are in a great position to do just that.

Video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here

Port Vale 0 v 1 Carlisle United

Saturday 26th January 2019
Football League Two
Vale Park, Stoke-on-Trent
Admission : £20.00 (£2.00 advance purchase discount)
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 3,881 (492 away)

After receiving an e-mail from Virgin Trains offering 40% off return tickets across its network, I decided to take advantage and tick off another of the 92 today. I had already made an unsuccessful attempt to visit Vale Park in 2016,  but after booking my train tickets, their game was moved late on to the Friday to avoid a clash with Stoke City also playing at home, and I visited Leek Town instead. I was concerned I would experience a similar fate today, when I realised that Stoke City were also scheduled to play at home today, and the long range forecast predicted sub-zero conditions in the days leading up to this fixture. But those fears proved unfounded and I was indeed able to tick off my 89th Football League ground.

Arriving at Stoke-on-Trent train station, I then made good use of my Plusbus add-on ticket, taking a bus to Hanley, and a further bus to Burslem, thereby taking in three of the towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent. Vale Park is about a five minute walk eastwards from Burslem town centre, and is a curious mix of old and new - it makes for a refreshing change from modern identikit stadia. I chose to sit in the top tier of the Railway Paddock stand, located along one length of the pitch, requiring quite a climb up path through a steep grass bank, to enter the stand from the rear at the top, with a couple of refreshment windows by the entrances, where strangely the programmes were purchased from. It is an old-fashioned stand, but legroom and the views are good, apart from some supporting pillars along the front. The lower section of this stand has seating installed on a former terrace. There are single tiered all-seater stands behind both goals, one end is allocated to away fans, and filling one corner is a control tower, the other by a seated area perched in an elevated position. Along the other length is what is the newest stand in the ground, quite a tall and imposing stand, with executive boxes along the top half, while in the bottom half, seating stretches from one corner flag to the half way line, offering unobstructed views, but the the remainder of the length is still unfinished since the stand's construction in 1998, so bare concrete steps remain. It is a shame, as it detracts from what otherwise would be a very smart and quite visually impressive stand. A statue is located outside this stand, and  the stadium's main entrance, but unfortunately most people would not naturally encounter this area, as it is located at the end of a narrow lane that one would only naturally go down to access that stand. The club shop and ticket office is housed in a standalone building, brightly decorated, by the main road passing by and in the corner between the away end and the Railway Paddock stand. The 68 page programme was very decent, with plenty to read and more than enough stats and facts presented.

It is fair to say that these are not good times for Port Vale. After being relegated from League One, they finished just one point above the relegation trap door out of the Football League last season, and came into this game in 18th place, following eight wins and eight draws from their 28 league games, and before winning at Crawley last Saturday, they picked up four points (from four draws) from their previous six games, amid growing supporter unrest at the way the club is being run. Indeed, protests were planned before and after the match against owner Norman Smurthwaite, but were postponed after he was struck by a car on Friday evening, requiring a hospital stay. After three seasons finishing in the top ten of League Two, Carlisle are having a good season, coming into this game in fourth place, following 15 wins and three draws from their 29 league games, and are three points off an automatic promotion spot. They came into this game in terrific form, winning eight of their previous nine league games.  When the two clubs met in Cumbria back in August, Carlisle won 2-1.

On a dank afternoon, with heavy drizzle arriving late in the first half, this was a game of few chances, and one that Port Vale started off quite well, having plenty of possession, but they carried precious little threat going forward. Carlisle were certainly not looking like a team in such great form, but on 32 minutes Hallam Hope tried to win his side a penalty, but was quite rightly shown a yellow card instead for simulation when he took a tumble over the keeper's dive towards his feet. But what felt like a game changing moment came on 41 minutes, when their lone striker Ricky Miller lunged in feet first to challenge for the ball, and although contact was quite minimal - certainly not to the extent that recipient Danny Grainger made out - and he did seem to make some contact with the ball, it was reckless and the referee eventually showed Miller a straight red card. That was a shame for Port Vale, who were looking solid and were proving more than a match for their opponents, but would now have the prospect of playing more than a half of football with ten men.

Into the second half and much the same pattern of play continued, with Port Vale continuing to enjoy plenty of possession, but they were still carrying precious little attacking threat. But under the circumstances, a point would be a good result for them, and it was looking increasingly likely they would get it, as Carlisle were also looking blunt in attack. Perhaps a pitch that was getting increasingly tricky and slippy in the rain had a part to play in a match that seemed to be meandering towards a goalless draw. But on 79 minutes, Carlisle did score what turned out to be the winning goal. Hope passed the ball low into a central position, taking deflections off two Port Vale defenders, for Connor Simpson, who had only come on as a sub six minutes earlier, to poke the ball into the net first time from inside the six yard box. That was really harsh on the home side, and although they did pile on the pressure in the closing minutes, they couldn't find a way through to salvage a point.

The game probably summed up how things go for clubs in the form these two clubs are in - Port Vale playing quite well but were beaten by misfortune and a rush of blood, while this was the kind of result that will Carlisle give great heart in their quest for promotion - even though they did not play well, the profited from some good fortune and ground out the result.

Brief video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here.