Littlehampton Town 2 Storrington FC 2, SCFL Division One, Saturday 26th
January 2019
Following two weeks of being unable to make my mind up
regarding my Saturday match choice, things were back to normal this week.
By Wednesday evening – with the assistance of my friend Mark,
with whom I had previously attended the Worthing and East Preston matches this
season – we had decided that the Littlehampton Sports Field would be the venue
for my latest for my latest jaunt. The SCFL Division One between Littlehampton
Town and Storrington being the match we had plumped for.
In a rather bizarre development, Albion – who are said to
have more than 50 players signed onto their development program – were somehow
unable to field just 11 players for a match in nearby Eastbourne. If only the club
who this week were ranked one of the 30 richest clubs in the world by the Deloitte
Football Money League had access to the same resources as a Non-League side,
hey?
In fairness, this isn’t a rant at Brighton so much as it is
at the Sussex FA. Albion’s under 18s team had won a Youth FA Cup match against Manchester
United just a couple of days earlier, and Brighton would probably initially have
looked to field many of those players in the Eastbourne Town match. It’s understandable
that they would contact the Sussex FA to look to try and get the match put
back. However, when Seaford Town approached the Sussex FA with a similar
request earlier this season, in the same competition, they were duly removed
from it. Professional team Brighton, however, weren’t kicked out of the Cup (even
though they clearly did have enough players to play; almost certainly unlike
Seaford) hence the reason for my ire. It’s almost as if the Sussex FA don’t
want the biggest supported club in Sussex, whose home ground is the venue for
the Cup’s final, out of the competition. But I’m sure that couldn’t be the case.
Could it?
Anyway, I digress. Back to the Littlehampton trip. Both myself
and Mark are coaches at the 5Ways Soccer School in Brighton on Saturday
mornings. So, following a quick dash to our respective homes to shower and
change, I picked my friend and his partner’s eldest son, Finn, up from their
Worthing abode at just after 14:20. We arrived at the Littlehampton Sports
Field – at which a side outside proudly proclaims is the town’s proud home of football,
cricket and, rather more oddly croquet – around 14:45.
Littlehampton Town has a really good set-up, with a
fantastic upper-floor clubhouse/bar which affords onlookers a birds-eye view of
the match (should they not wish to traverse down to the pitch – which we of
course did). There are three covered stands along one side of the pitch – two terraced
one seated – so there were plenty of areas where we could shelter to avoid the
swirling rain that was to join us later in the afternoon. Admission was £6 (free
for Finn) and a further £1 for a retro-looking program, which I have to say I
really liked. There was also plenty of space for the younger member of our
party to go and play with a friend he made during the afternoon.
The pitch also looked pretty decent from where I was
standing. While I’m sure it was more bobbly and cut up when actually playing on
it than how it looked from the sideline, it was still a fine example of how
hard groundstaff at NonLeague clubs work to get their pitches looking good in
the middle of the notoriously changeable British winter.
The first-half of the match was fairly even. Littlehampton saw more of the ball, but were restricted to mainly long-range efforts that
were on the whole comfortable for visiting keeper Gary Elliott to deal with.
Elliott would undoubtedly become his team’s star performer as the match went
on, but we’ll come to that in a bit.
For all Littlehampton’s territorial advantage in the opening
45 minutes, it was the visiting Swans who came closest to breaking the
deadlock. Their right winger broke free of The Golds’ defence, which did look
vulnerable when Storrington attacked, only to blaze over from close range. There
were suggestions that he may have been clipped by a chasing defender, but
neither the ref or his assistant (nor me or Mark it has to be said) saw anything
untoward. Much to the attackers’ chagrin.
If the first-half was even, then the second-half was about
as one-sided as I’ve seen this season. I simply lost count of the amount of chances
– good chances – that Littlehampton created but failed to capitalise on. This
was in part due to brilliant goalkeeping from Elliott and some finishing that
ranged from the unlucky to the comical.
The Golds had already missed a couple of gilt-edged opportunities
when, completely against the run of play, Storrington took the lead ten minutes
into the second half. Littlehampton goalkeeper Craig Stoner experienced a rush
of blood to the head to get caught in no-man’s land, and The Swan’s striker,
Jordan Suter - who worked hard throughout the 90 minutes without seeing too much
of the ball - took full advantage, accurately curling home from a difficult
angle.
This setback prompted a relentless spell of Littlehampton
pressure. More chances came and went before James Thurgar, who became more
influential for the home side as the game wore on, skipped down the left wing and
squared into the box. Skipper Liam Humphreys eventually managed to bundle the
ball home following a goalmouth scramble. 1-1 with half-an-hour left to play.
Then came a couple of minutes which summed this game up in a
nutshell. (all of which can be observed in the videos below). Elliott produced
a good save from a free-kick, only for a following-up Littlehampton player to
somehow miss from a matter of yards. Seconds later a Storrington defender was
deemed to have committed a foul in the area and a penalty was awarded. The
Swans Twitter feed described this decision as dubious. Take a look at the video
and make your own mind up.
It’s probably needless to say, that the spot-kick was saved
(despite Elliott having been injured and requiring treatment in the build-up to
the penalty), as was the chance from the ensuing rebound.
Despite their profligacy in front of goal, The Golds did
score a second with just under 15 minutes remaining. Albeit in highly
fortuitous circumstances. Thurgar again did well on the left, but his cross was
misplaced and overhit. However, the ball sailed over the unfortunate goalkeeper’s
head and into the top corner of the net. Finn later described the effort as
having gone ‘top-bins’. Well, not quite, but they all count. The goal prompted
one of the worst goal celebrations that I’ve ever seen – and something my eyes are still trying to recover from. I won’t try and describe it as words alone can't do
it justice (or injustice). Thankfully Thurgar’s teammates bundled him before his
odd gyrating could go on too long.
Even with their noses in front, The Golds continued to carve out chance after chance –
two from within the six-yard box. All were missed.
The hosts had been so wasteful in the second half, that it
probably didn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone when they were eventually punished.
With the game just entering a lengthy period of stoppage time, a clumsy push in
the box led to Storrington being awarded a definite penalty – despite futile
claims from some of the home players that the offence was committed outside of the box.
Aaron Hooker-Meehan duly smashed home the penalty to earn the visitors a point
that they’re sure to be delighted with.
For Mark and I, it’s the second consecutive 2-2 draw we’ve
seen (and the third draw this season). All in all, though, another decent afternoon at
the footy.
Having already decided on next week’s destination, I’m
counting down the days for a trip to Arundel. Let’s just hope Arundel and their
opponents that day Pagham can get enough players together to field a side.
After all, if it can happen to Brighton…
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