Broadbridge Heath 6
Langney Wanderers 0, SCFL Premier Division, Saturday 8th December
2018
A couple of weeks ago, a Broadbridge Heath game was one of
the match choices I gave on a Twitter poll to decide where I should go and watch
a game that Saturday.
While on that occasion Twitter decreed that I go and watch
Bexhill vs Steyning, three different people actually contacted me directly during
the duration of that poll to suggest I head to Broadbridge Heath as they are due
to move into a new ground in the very near future.
However, not wanting to go
against the wishes of the majority (insert your own satirical voting
joke here) I ultimately decided that I would indeed go to Bexhill that week, as the majority had requested, but would go to Broadbridge Heath at the next possible opportunity.
That next possible opportunity came this weekend, as The
Bear’s took on Langney Wanderers (a team I was yet to see so far this season)
in a SCFL Premier Division clash.
On a wet and windy afternoon, I arrived at the Broadbridge
Leisure Centre with just under 20 minutes to go until kick off, and parked in
the adjacent Tesco car park. This was quite a handy turn of events as wifey had
asked me to pick up some milk on my way home. It's always useful being able to kill two
birds with one stone (metaphorically, of course. I can categorically confirm
that no birds were killed or harmed during this visit. I really don’t want any militant
vegans moaning at me… again).
Having paid my £6 to get in and £1 for a decent little
program (from reading which I noticed Heath have a player named Alfie Jones –
which, coincidently, just so happens to be the main character of a children’s book series that I write; hey it’s nearly Christmas, if I can’t plug myself
now, when can I?), I could instantly see that The Bear’s are currently in
something of a state of flux.
The old leisure centre is in the process of being demolished, with a newer nearby facility having recently opened. However, in
circumstances that will be all too familiar to any Spurs fans reading this,
through no fault of Broadbridge Heath FC, their own new ground’s facilities are
as yet unready to move into (despite having been promised by the developers
that they would ready by the end of October).
The upshot of this is that the refreshments
and changing rooms are a lengthy walk away, which is great if you’re trying to getting
your step count up, but not so great for the players and officials who have to trudge
a fair distance before they reach the pitch. Oh well, gives them a bonus warm
up/warm down, I suppose.
Also not ideal is the fact that the current pitch is surrounded by an athletics track, which means that on wet days like today, the
fans who shelter under the main stand which runs along the width of one side of
the pitch, are quite a distance from the action. Should have brought my glasses
with me for this one!
The constant drone and banging of the construction site
located immediately behind the stand was also quite annoying, but I’m sure all
of these little grievances will be fully forgotten once the new ground is finally ready to
move into.
From the little I saw of the new facilities whilst trekking to the
leisure centre for a half-time cup of coffee, once eventually completed The
Bears will have a ground to rival the best at this level in Sussex. I’ll definitely
be back to check out the new ground before the end of the season (providing it's ready, of course).
The match itself was
over as a contest at half-time. Although for much of the first-half there was no suggestion that this would be the case.
After a fairly even opening 20 minutes, as players from both
teams struggled to get to grips with the heavy pitch and swirling winds, The
Bears began to take control and had a couple of sighters at goal. They deservedly took the
lead just after the 25-minute mark when the impressive Lee Carney, who I felt
was the game’s stand out player, beat the offside trap and finished well past
Dan Hutchins in the Langney goal.
They then doubled the lead around ten minutes later, when Ryan
Brackpool rose above Tariq Straker at the near post and squeezed his header
into the next.
While The Bears were on top and fully deserving of a two-goal lead, Wanderers did pose an intermittent threat, with Max Hollobone and Evan
Archibald looking the best hope of the visitor’s finding a route back into the
game.
Having seen Broadbridge Heath throw away a two-goal lead earlier in the
season away at Saltdean, I was only too aware that if the Wanderers could nick
a goal, then it was very much game on.
Then, with half-time approaching it all went wrong for
Langney.
First Ryan Alexander was shown a straight red for a slightly late
tackle on Richard Wetton. Without going all Arsene Wenger, I didn’t have a
clear view of the incident (as previously mentioned, I was a fair distance away
from the pitch and without my glasses) but along with the majority of the spectators I felt the
challenge merited nothing more than a yellow card – although it has to be said
I’ve also seen reds given for far less.
The wet pitch, the reaction of Wetton
(who was undoubtedly hurt but did seem to recover pretty quickly once the red
was shown) and the fact that the referee had only just spoken at length to
Alexander, who seemed to be extremely aggrieved about something that had
happened in the build up to the second goal, all undoubtedly went against him.
To make matters worse, moments later, Langney right-back
Corey Haywood-Roye looked to be caught late after trying to recover his own heavy
touch. The ref waved play on, and with Haywood Roye lying prone on the ground
and in some obvious discomfort, the hosts took full advantage. A long-range
curler came back off the bar, and despite the Wanderer’s defence having two
chances to get the ball away, Wetton – to the annoyance of the visiting players
and fans – poked in the third.
The referee promptly blew for half-time with Haywood-Roye
still on the ground, and it was obvious that the Langney player wouldn’t be returning for the
second half. Hope he’s okay, by the way. With the visitors having already used
their only sub, this meant the Wanderers would be down to nine-men for the second-half.
As I said above, game Over.
To their credit, the Wanderers didn’t wilt in the second
half, and while Broadbridge certainly created a plethora of chances, Langney never
let their heads drop and did look to go forward when possible. It certainly
wasn’t a case of just putting everyone behind the ball and defending for their lives.
The Bears didn’t add a fourth until 20 minutes into
the second half when Tom Howard-Bold got himself onto the scoresheet. Two
minutes later, Wetton grabbed his second with the goal of the game, a fine solo
effort, and when George Cousins added a sixth a few minutes later, I honestly
thought a double figure tonking could be on the cards.
Once again, though, Langney didn’t lie down and thanks to a
combination of some dogged defending and lacklustre finishing, no further goals
were added.
With just a couple of minutes remaining, Langney’s obvious
sense of injustice was enhanced when one of their players seemed to be pulled
back by a defender while racing through on goal, only for the ref to once again
wave play on. Athletics track or not, it was clear to hear what the Langney
manager thought about this decision even from where I was standing.
Soon afterwards the ref blew for half-time, and I made my
merry way to Tesco to buy some milk (being super careful to avoid any awkward
confrontations with our feathered friends along the way).
Comments
Post a Comment