Skip to main content

A thriller to get started (surely, it’s all downhill from now)


AFC Uckfield 3 Horsham YMCA 4 – SCFL Premier Division, 4th August 2018

Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come.

Bright sunshine, a welcoming crowd and a seven-goal thriller. What’s not to like about this groundhopping lark?

I arrived at The Oaks for the match between AFC Uckfield and Horsham YMCA ten minutes before kick-off, having been dropped off by my Mum (it’s just like being a teenager again). It turns out that, despite having never been to the ground before, I must have driven past it on numerous occasions and never even realised it was there. Tucked off the Eastbourne Road, next to a holiday home park on one side and an Indian restaurant on the other, it really is a case of blink and you’ll miss it.

It also turns out that it’s located about a five-minute drive from my mum’s house (hence the lift); making the fact that I’ve never visited before even more shameful.

The thinking behind AFC Uckfield's ground's name - The Oaks, is not particularly hard to fathom
The ground itself is surrounded by trees (hence the ground’s name – The Oaks – I guess) with two covered seating areas running up one touchline. The clubhouse is sizable, but located outside the ground itself, so worth going for your pre-match drink before paying your £6 entrance fee (cheaper for children and adults of the older variety). Otherwise you risk entering only to exit again – as I did. Well, I am only a novice when it comes to these groundhopping shenanigans.


The game itself, as the 4-3 scoreline suggests, was highly entertaining. A mixture of good play, shambolic defending, questionable penalty decisions (looked a dive from where I was standing) and a slice of luck all contributing to produce a thriller.

It’s fair to say the game featured one of the best worst passes that I’ve ever seen. An Uckfield player completely shanked his pass, and even apologised to a teammate for the mishit, only for unintended recipient Bailo Camara to run onto it, keep the ball in play, then squeeze his shot past the keeper. What an assist. Non-league football at its finest.

Horsham, in my opinion were worthy winners. One of the Division’s title favourites, they play some good football, and have a number of good players going forward. They hit the woodwork (metalwork) three times and missed an open goal. They clearly had a plan to exploit the Uckfield right back who they managed to get in behind time and time again, and their first two goals came from crosses from that flank.

Uckfield, for their part were very robust and never gave in. There will be very few teams that take points away from them this season without a fight. Having said that, having scored three goals and fought back into the game twice after falling behind on two separate occasions in the second-half, they will be disappointed not to have got at least a point.

So, all in all, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, with only one minor gripe. Maybe invest in some more balls, as the amount of time lost to retrieving balls as they were fired into the trees, over stands, and even onto the clubhouse roof, was quite substantial.

That said, it was a very hot day, and the players all needed regular drink breaks, so maybe it was a tactic.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Groundhopping away from home

Bootle FC 3 Charnock Richard 1, NWCFL Premier Division, 21 st August 2018 When, a few months ago, the parents of the Withdean Youth team that I had coached for the past eight years clubbed together to buy me a tour of Anfield, my wife viewed this as a great opportunity to take a few days away with the kids during the summer holidays. What she hadn’t banked on back then was my new hobby of Non-League groundhopping. Therefore, with the tour booked, and our dates away confirmed, I started looking into possible matches that we could attend. You can probably imagine the better half’s excitement when I informed her of my plans. Surprisingly, however, she didn’t turn down my offer for her to tag along me and the kids. Following some half-hearted research (never been a strength if I’m honest), I noticed that North-West Counties Football League side Bootle FC were  scheduled to be at home on the Tuesday evening that we were due to be in Liverpool. The name Bootle struck a chord with

Goalie gaffe settles Rocks derby

Tunbridge Wells 1 Rusthall 2, Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, Saturday 23 rd February 2019 Following a rare foray to a match outside of Sussex last weekend, this Saturday brought another trip to a game outside of my home county. However, as with last weekend’s trip to Lingfield , I didn’t stray too far past the Sussex border. The truth is that I’ve had my eye on a visit to Tunbridge Wells FC’s Culverden Stadium all season. It’s a club with which I can a claim a very loose connection. Not only is my wife from the town, but my father-in-law was for many years the club’s secretary, among other things. I myself was, for a brief period in the 2007/08 season, the club's temporary program editor – despite never having seen the team play either home or away. Welcome, ladies and gents, to the often weird and wacky world of non-league football! This was a situation, though, that I’d vowed to put right this season. And what better time to pay my inaug

Rusthall provides welcome midweek action

Rusthall FC 0 Canterbury City 3, Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, Wednesday 27 th March 2019 This season, I have become accustomed to being by the side of a football pitch at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. However, this past weekend, for only the third time in 2018/19, I was absent from the terraces. Instead, I was chaperoning my 8-year-old son to his end of season football do at the local Hollywood Bowl. You can probably imagine my deep joy at this turn of events! Anyway, having missed a rare Saturday at the football, I was determined to make up for it by heading to a midweek game. Unfortunately, as I’ve come to discover over the course of my inaugural groundhopping season, most midweek non-league fixtures – especially in and around Sussex – seem to be played on a Tuesday evening. The night I have to ferry my son to football training. Yes, I know I’ve already taken him to his end-of-season do and, yes there are no more matches scheduled, but th