Seaford Town 3 Midhurst and Easebourne 3, SCFL Division one, Saturday 2nd
February 2019
Over the last few days, I, like a large proportion of the
British population I suspect, have become something of a weather watcher.
As the week wore on, and it became increasingly clear that
snow was likely to meddle with the weekend's local nonleague football schedule, I began trying to
pinpoint areas in Sussex where games were likely to go ahead. Just in case my
first-choice game of Arundel vs Pagham were to fall foul of the conditions.
Which ultimately it did.
Now, 20 years ago or so, if I'd wanted to keep track of what
the weather was supposedly going to be like, I’d probably turn the TV on to see
what the highly trained meteorological experts giving the forecasts were
saying. You know, Ulrika Johnson, Denise Van Outen… people like that.
But times have changed. These days I no longer bother
listening to the ‘experts’. Instead I do what most other sane British people
do. I turn to social media.
Who needs experts when you can be sure that the very second
a snowflake falls somewhere – anywhere – in the UK, it will be reported
immediately on the likes of Facebook or Twitter.
Admittedly, this can be slightly confusing. The amount of
people I know who live in the same town, yet were giving wildly contrasting
overviews of quite how severe the snowfall where they live was, was frankly
baffling. Some people were making it sound like their particular patch of
Sussex was experiencing snowfall that would not look out of place in Siberia.
Meanwhile others who lived mere minutes away were bemoaning the fact that no
snowfall had yet reached their neck of the woods.
I turned to my phone’s two weather apps for some extra
clarity. These were no good either. Both gave completely contradicting accounts
of what was going on. Bloody experts!
By midday on Friday, the snow in my own particular corner of
Sussex – the seemingly balmy Newhaven – had all but disappeared. With no more
snow forecast – my social media contacts, at least – my thoughts turned to
attending a match close to home. Having already been to Newhaven and Saltdean
this season, and with Peacehaven due to be away in Eastbourne, out-of-form Seaford Town’s
match against relegation-threatened Midhurst became my contingency plan.
With my own Saturday coaching commitments in Brighton having
fallen victim to a combination of snow and ice, I spent much of Saturday
morning following local clubs on Twitter to see what games would beat the
weather. As updates consistently rolled in throughout the morning, the majority
sad to report that their game had failed a pitch inspection, at just before 11am I
had the news I was expecting. The game at Arundel was off. The game in Seaford
was on.
I would staying close to home this Saturday.
The Crouch is a ground I’ve been to on a handful of
occasions before. Although only as a player – it was briefly used as a cup final venue
by the Lewes Sunday League when the team I played for reached a couple of
finals, while I also played a number of youth games on the pitch. (We won the
finals by the way; it's always important to mention such things). I honestly can’t
remember ever having been there purely as a spectator, though.
Deciding to cede the car to my wife for the afternoon (on
the proviso that she at least dropped me outside the ground) I arrived at The
Crouch just after 14:30. Admission was £5 with a program included as part of
the price. The Crouch is a typical basic county ground, with one main covered
seated stand. The playing surface, it has to be said, looked to be in decent
nick. While it was undoubtedly bobbly, considering the amount of games that were called
off elsewhere in the county (and beyond) this game going ahead was never really in doubt.
My first port of call
upon arriving at the ground was to the bar for a pint – no driving means I can
have a rare but much enjoyed alcoholic beverage. The appealing price of £3.30
serves as yet another reminder as to why more people should get along to
support a nonleague side on a Saturday afternoon. While flicking through the
program in the warmth of the clubhouse, a quick glance at the league table
reveals that combined Seaford and Midhurst have shipped more that 100 goals
between them this season, thus raising my hopes that the game could be a bit of
a goalfest. A hope that proves to be well-founded.
The hosts were utterly dominant in the opening 35 minutes,
and will be wondering how they hadn’t put the game to bed during this period.
Although they did score twice through Jack Webber, they also missed a number of
good chances to have had the match won. Webber
could easily have had a hat-trick by the time he eventually netted his second in
the 35th minute, while Amesh Sisimayi, Sam Pout and Jamie Buckett also missed
notably decent chances.
At this point it wasn’t hard to see why Midhurst’s
defence had leaked so many goals this season.
On a rare foray forward during this period, The Stags did hit
the post following a goal-mouth scramble, but aside from that, Seaford looked comfortable and in total control.
This all changed when, with half-time fast approaching, Gary
Norgate pulled one back after finding himself unmarked at a corner.
Then, almost unbelievably, the visitors levelled before the
break. More questionable marking in the Seaford backline led to an unmarked
Jake Slater smashing an unstoppable volley past the helpless Jack Webb in the Seaford
goal.
The second-half was a much more even affair. Seaford’s form
has tailed off badly since the New Year – they haven’t won since 29th
December – and they looked increasingly shaky in the second half following
their late capitulation in the last five minutes of the first. Midhurst’s
defence certainly tightened up and Town found it increasingly difficult to create
the same clear openings that they had found so easy to come by in the opening 45 minutes.
The visitors also showed a bit more attacking intent then
they had done previously. While you couldn’t say they carved out more chances than
the hosts, they certainly looked more threatening then they had previously.
As the game wore on, the match became increasingly scrappy. While
the cold weather and bobbly surface I’m sure didn’t help proceedings, much of
this scrappiness can be attributed to the ref, who it’s fair to say didn’t have
a great game. It’s not that he sided with one team or another. He was equally
bad for both; letting some hefty looking challenges go unpunished while giving
fouls for seemingly nothing. At times it appeared a case of whichever team shouted
the loudest got the decision. A display which left both sets of players, and
both benches, becoming increasingly irate.
There were two main contentious moments in the second half.
One was the ref somehow failing to spot a clear penalty in Seaford’s favour
when Ben Dartnall was pretty much rugby tackled in the area. Even the Midhurst bench, and
the assistant referee on the side of the pitch where I was standing couldn’t
believe that a spot kick hadn't been awarded. The other moment was a Midhurst
player being sent off after receiving two yellow cards. While both offences may
have warranted the desired outcome, there were other similar, or worse, misdemeanours
that went totally unpunished. It’s the inconsistency that’s so frustrating!
With just under 15 minutes left, the visitors looked to have completed their
comeback. A sloppy attempt from Seaford to pass out from the back led to The
Stags’ Liam Dreckman being sent clear on goal. He made no mistake with his finish.
Three shots on target for Midhurst, three goals. It was exactly the sort of
ruthless finishing that Seaford had so sorely lacked in the first half.
The Stags taking the lead looked to have knocked the stuffing
out of the home side. More defensive lapses almost led to Midhurst getting though on
a couple of further occasions, while going forward only Dartnall seemed to
possess the calmness on the ball to pose the visiting defence any real problems. Everything was a bit rushed.
However, with the match deep in injury time, a corner from
the right was eventually bundled home by Alex Saunders, causing jubilant scenes
on the home bench, with manager Scott Osborne channelling his inner Jurgen
Klopp with a merry jig onto the pitch.
So the match finished with six goals, a red card, a whole host
of missed chances and a point apiece. It certainly wasn’t a game that fans of
defensive solidarity or strong refereeing would have enjoyed, but it was
certainly a match that this particular bitterly cold neutral observer found more
than entertaining.
Comments
Post a Comment