Weather fails to deny Uckers

Loxwood 1 AFC Uckfield 3, SCFL Premier Division, Saturday 15^th December 2018

Perfect football weather. That’s undoubtedly how my late Dad would have described the hammering rain that began to fall from unrelenting grey skies across much of Sussex at around 10am on Saturday morning.

When I was a young boy, no matter how heavy the rain was or how much of the pitch was covered by mud or puddles, my Dad would always insist that it was “perfect football weather.” He used to say it so often that I actually started to believe him when he said it. I relished playing football in the rain. Absolutely loved it.

The cold never used to bother me that much either. There was no under armour, t-shirts or vests worn under my shirt when I was a nipper. If I ran around enough then I’d keep warm, that was the old man’s point of view. It worked too. Throughout my football ‘career’ (I use that term very loosely) I never used to wear anything under my shirt – at least not until I started playing veterans football and became a wuss.

Times have changed, of course. These days, children now view heavy rain as perfect X-Box weather rather than perfect football weather. 

So as my eldest son continued to stare forlornly out of the window, watching the rain rattling against the window panes, whilst continually questioning whether he really had to accompany me to a game that afternoon (he did) my response that this was perfect football weather was met by an expression which managed all at once to convey a mixture of disdain, bewilderment and contempt. 

Earlier in the week, I’d decided that the latest venue on my groundhopper jaunt would be Loxwood’s The Nest. With my Saturday morning coaching commitments having now ended until the New Year, this affords me the perfect opportunity to tick off some of the further away SCFL Premier Division grounds that I’d struggle to reach on a typical Saturday afternoon. I’m well on course to have visited every ground in that division by the end of this season, and the next few weeks should give me the chance to get the further afield venues out of the way.

The fact that an occasional colleague at 5Ways Soccer School, Nathan Bowen, has recently taken up a coaching role with the Loxwood first team only served to further pique my interest in making The Nest my next destination.

During the just over hour drive to Loxwood, my eldest must have asked at least 15 times whether the game had been called off yet. Each time I confidently responded that it would be fine and that there was no danger of the game being postponed; although my confidence was diminishing with each passing minute as the rain got harder and harder.

However, by the time we arrived in Loxwood, parked and bought a coffee and hot chocolate in the club house to warm ourselves up, the game was still very much on. In fact, we were advised that the pitch was looking pretty good. And in fairness it was. Before kick-off.

 After paying £6 to get in (nothing for the boy), and £1 for a program (glossy but with more ads than actual content) we swiftly took our seats in the small but smart covered area by the half-way line (there is a further small covered terraced area behind the near goal which also attracted a few spectators).

I’d previously seen Loxwood’s opponents for the afternoon, AFC Uckfield, on the first weekend of the season when they hosted Horsham YMCA. Although they lost that afternoon, I can remember being impressed by their organisation and resilience. I hadn’t yet seen strggling Loxwood, but was aware that they came into the game on a run of good form, with their new management team having had an immediate positive impact on results. With Uckfield also high on confidence, with their ongoing exploits in the FA Vase really capturing the imagination of Sussex football fans, I was hopeful that an exciting 90 minutes lay ahead.

From the off it was Uckfield who adapted better to the tricky conditions, immediately pressuring their opponents into making mistakes. The visitors dominant opening was rewarded with two goals in the opening ten minutes, with striker Matt Maclean netting both. In fairness to Loxwood, they continually tried to pass the ball and play good football, and did have moments when they troubled their opponents. But Uckfield’s high pressing game made it difficult for the hosts to get out of their half at times, and a third goal for the Uckers always appeared more likely than a goal for The Magpies.

That third goal for the visitors duly arrived six minutes before half-time, when a sudden burst of pace from Gianfranco Mici took him away from a couple of home defenders before he confidently finished low into the far corner from just inside the area.

By half-time, the still lashing rain and deteriorating pitch conditions were starting to leave the chances of the game reaching its conclusion in the balance. The Loxwood subs who were warming up on the pitch during the interval seemed adamant that an abandonment was imminent, much to the chagrin of one their watching suspended teammates, for whom an abandonment would have meant another week spent on the sidelines!

Indeed, when the players retook to the field following the interval, the referee and his assistants gave the pitch a thorough examination before eventually passing it fit enough for the game to continue (much to my son’s annoyance). Huge credit to Loxwood here, who given the scoreline could have been forgiven for kicking up a fuss, applying pressure to the ref and trying to get the game called off. This didn’t seem to happen, though, with both teams seemingly happy to get the game played to a conclusion.

And it was Loxwood who started the second half the better side. Playing a bit more direct, the hosts dominated the opening exchanges of the half, and were rewarded on hour-mark when the visitors failed to clear a corner, and Shabazz Omofe fired home with the aid of a slight deflection (see video below).

This goal served to provide the visitors with the wake-up call they needed, however, and from that moment they re-established control. Had it not been for a couple of fine saves from Loxwood keeper Liam Matthews (see video below for one of them), and some shoddy finishing – the impressive Bailo Camara and Maclean the main culprits – then their margin of victory could have been more commanding.

As it was, had Loxwood not spurned their own golden opportunity to score as the clock ticked towards the 90^th minute (a defender heading an effort against the bar when he really should have scored) then we could have been in for a barnstorming finale.

As it was, Uckfield took the sting out of the game from that moment on, and with the pitch becoming increasingly unplayable it was something of a relief when the referee blew for full-time.

On the drive home, I asked the eldest whether he’d enjoyed the game. He replied that it was “quite good even though it was really cold and rainy.”

“So you’re glad you came then?” I responded. “Much better than staying home to play FIFA, hey?”

You can probably guess what kind of look he gave me.