Horsham YMCA 2 Langney Wanderers 1, SCFL Premier Division, Saturday 27th April 2019
And so, after 48 games watched and 173 goals seen, my inaugural season as a groundhopper ends as it started. With a single goal victory for Horsham YMCA.
On a baking hot afternoon back in August, I witnessed YMCAbeat a plucky Uckfield side 4-3 in a real opening day thriller. It’s hard to believe that nearly nine months have passed since that goal-filled afternoon and, even as I type this, I’m already wondering how I’ll be filling my Saturday afternoons for the next few months. No doubt my wife will have it all planned out. Can’t wait!
In a way, having visited 46 different grounds in a row, it’s a shame that my last two visits of the season were to grounds I had already visited during the past nine months.
However, while my reasons for revisiting Eastbourne United’s The Oval on Easter Monday were explained in my previous blog post, my real reasons for returning to Horsham YMCA’s Gorings Mead will only become clear over the next few months. My lips are sealed for the time being. I do love a bit of intrigue and suspense!
My previous visit to Gorings Mead took place back in September, when the SCFL Premier league side were narrowly beaten by Tooting and Mitcham United in an FA Cup First Round Qualifying match. Take a look at that post for a description of the ground and amenities – unsurprisingly it hasn’t changed that much in the interim.
Entrance to the afternoon’s match was £7. Although on the face of it, this is more expensive than admission fees for most other teams in the division (which tend to be either £5 or £6), a matchday program (which I always buy anyway) is free with the entrance fee, so it actually works out the same as most visits.
YMCA’s visitors for their final league match of the season were Langney Wanderers. With the visitors having secured their place in the league for next season some weeks ago, and YMCA needing three points to guarantee a runner’s-up spot behind Chichester, I was expecting to see a fairly comfortable home win.
Therefore, upon scanning the team-sheets prior to kick-off, and noticing that Wanderers once again only had one substitute named, my thoughts instantly flashed back to that visit. Now, I’m not sure if Langney struggle with numbers on a regular basis, or whether their players have some kind of adverse reaction to the thought of travelling to the Horsham area (or whether they just don’t like me watching them!), but if low turn-outs are a regular occurrence, it makes the fairly recently formed club’s achievement of staying in the SCFL Prem for a another season an even more impressive feat.
The first-half, played in a swirling gusty wind that both teams struggled to get to grips with, was instantly forgettable. At one point, even one of the assistant referees turned to me to say how it was far from the best game he’d ever seen, which is hardly a ringing endorsement.
What quality there was on show mostly came from the hosts, who dominated the half in terms of possession without really threatening on too many occasions.
It was YMCA who took the lead midway through the first-half. While you couldn’t have exactly said it was a goal that was coming, it equally came as no surprise that it was the hosts who scored it.
Following a sustained period of possession, the ball eventually arrived to Alex Barbary just inside the area. While his first effort was well saved by Dan Hutchins in the visiting goal, the rebound fell kindly back to the feet of Barbary who made no mistake at the second attempt.
For the rest of the half, YMCA looked comfortable. While they didn’t exactly create opportunity after opportunity, the visitors never really looked like scoring, although in wingers Gary Ingram and Tyler Capon they did have two players that looked like they could at least cause problems for the YMCA full-backs.
The second-half was infinitely more entertaining. Langney pushed their full-backs higher up and looked to get at their hosts a little bit more. While YMCA still looked the better side, and had a measure of control of the match, Wanderers were looking more of an attacking threat, and forced a succession of corners which they failed to take advantage of.
Just over ten minutes into the second-half, though, the hosts looked to have put the game to bed. While Hutchins may have been unlucky for the opening goal, he was at fault here, with his error culminating in Tony Nwachuku having the simple task of tapping the ball into a gaping net from just inside the six-yard box.
I wasn’t the only one who seemed to think the game was over at this point. YMCA’s players clearly did, too. The hosts seemed to take their foot off the gas, and Langney stepped up their game, with Ingram becoming increasingly influential as the game went on.
With 11 minutes left, it was Ingram who reduced the arrears, taking full advantage of hesitancy in the Horsham defence to coolly finish past the hitherto untested Aaron Jeal.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, YMCA were holding on. Langney the team were asking all the questions.
With time running out, the visitors thought they’d equalised, only to be denied by the referee assistant’s flag. From where I was standing there was no way to tell whether it was the correct decision, but the fact that very few, if any, YMCA defenders were appealing for off-side, suggests it must have been extremely close.
Cries from YMCA players of ‘get the ball in the corner’ could clearly be heard as the match drew towards its conclusion. They knew the visitors were going to scrap right until the ref blew the final whistle. Quite literally, in fact. With the match deep into injury time, a scuffle broke out which could have easily resulted in a sending off for both teams. The ref, clearly realising that such action would have been needless in the final minute of the final game of the season, wisely decided to show a yellow card apiece instead. The full-time whistle sounded soon after.
The result means that Horsham YMCA finish runners-up of the SCFL Premier. I’m not sure whether this brings with it promotion to the Bostik South-East league, or whether they have to wait on other factors (answers on a post card… or to this blog… much appreciated) but it’s a fine achievement in what has been a very competitive league. That said, no one can accuse Langney of not trying their hardest to upset the YM celebrations. It was competitive to the very end.
So, my groundhopping season draws to a close. It would be fair to say I’ve loved every minute of it – yes even the boring games in the cold, wet and wind. So much so, that I’ll be doing much the same next season, albeit maybe aiming to get a little further afield with my visits every now and then.
Meanwhile good luck to all the teams still vying for honours via cup finals and play-offs.
Wait… did someone say play-offs? Maybe my groundhopping season isn’t quite over after all. I’m sure the wife will be delighted!
How about the Sussex Derby on Monday at Lancing Kick off 7.30?
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