Saturday 14th December 2019
Southern Combination League Premier Division
High Wood Hill Sports Centre, Broadbridge Heath
Admission : £6.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 70 (estimate)
After my work's Christmas party last night, I decided to stay fairly local today, and a very rare opportunity these days to tick off a new ground in Sussex fitted the bill perfectly, thereby recompleting my visits of all senior grounds in the Southern Combination League.
The High Wood Hill Sports Centre is easy to reach by car, situated adjacent to the A24 north/south trunk road and with plenty of car parking spaces available, although for those travelling by train, the nearest station is over 2 miles away in Horsham, with buses plying the route. Broadbridge Heath only moved into this ground at the start of this season following several frustrating delays in getting it ready, but it is little more than a stone's throw from their previous ground, which is still open and indeed with a game being played there today, and so I took the opportunity to have a look around for the first time since my only visit there for a game in 2006. Whilst the three rows of seating along one length still exists, cover only remains for about half of its length, with the remaining section now uncovered, as its roof has been removed, as has the previous bar area and the attached leisure centre facilities. The new ground is accessed via a path between the new leisure centre and indoor bowls club, with a small metallic turnstile block situated next to the clubhouse, which is situated on the half way line and is bright, comfortable and spacious inside, with a bar and a refreshments hatch along the same wall. A whiteboard with team line-ups written on it is placed by the clubhouse's front doors. On the opposite side, there is a metallic stand with four rows of seating inside, and behind one goal there is a metallic stand covering a few steps to stand on. Hard standing is available around the rest of the ground, and neat wooden fencing provides the perimeter fencing and the ground is all very easy on the eye, and although its location at the intersection of two busy roads results in constant traffic noise, a green hill in the background gives a rural aspect. This ground certainly represent a massive upgrade in facilities for the club compared to their previous one, which was blighted by a running track, and in latter years was restricted to being a one-sided ground, from which views were not great. One thing that has not changed about the club though is their programme. Renowned locally for producing a decent programme, today's issue was no exception to that, 32 pages with a hardened cover, and containing more than enough stats and reading material to preview the game and provide background to the club.
This match would be between two clubs not in the greatest of form, particularly Broadbridge Heath, whose point last Saturday away at bottom side Loxwood ended a run of six straight league defeats, or eight including cup competitions. They came into this game in 15th place in the 20 team division, following five wins and three draws from their 18 league games, and have played more games than all clubs below them. Langney Wanderers had lost their last two league games but came into this game in eighth place, following seven wins and five draws from their 17 league games.
On a bright and sunny afternoon, this turned out to be a game of two halves, for the most part an even counter but with the visitors creating the better chances in the first half, whilst it was the home side who would bang louder on the door in the second half. On 12 minutes, the referee awarded Langney Wanderers a penalty for a trip in the box, having not seen the linesman raising his flag for offside, and indeed after the referee then consulted with the linesman, the penalty decision was reversed. The visitors then had all of the clear chances to open the scoring, but saw their shots well saved by the keeper, go just high or wide of the woodwork, and on 39 minutes saw a shot come back off the outside of a post.
It was the hosts' turn to have the majority of the chances after the break, but were denied by some pretty indifferent finishing for the most part, and although the visitors also created a couple of decent chances themselves, a goalless draw was looking increasingly inevitable. But just as the game approached the 90 minute mark, a perfectly played ball low through the middle and through the defence found the run of Cameron Watts, who ran through on goal for a one on one with the keeper. The way the second half was going, it felt inevitable that the eventual shot would be fluffed, more so when the keeper got a firm hand to it, but the ball rolled into the net, and with only stoppage time remaining, that was to prove the winning goal, to seal Broadbridge Heath's first win since mid October.
The following photos were taken today of the club’s previous ground, with Broadbridge Heath playing their last home game there in April this year.
