Pagham 0 East Preston 4, SCFL Premier Division, Saturday 20th April 2019
It’s done!
Yesterday’s visit to Pagham marked a trip to the only remaining SCFL Premier division ground that I’d yet to visit this season. Set complete.
Much like my visit to Chichester earlier in the campaign, my visit to Pagham’s Nyetimber Lane ground is one that I’d been putting off. Again, it’s nothing personal. However, my usual Saturday morning coaching commitments mean that reaching the small village, which is located on the coast between Bognor Regis and Chichester, in time for kick-off is a remote possibility. Especially when you factor in the traffic delights of the A27!
But with 5Ways Soccer School taking a break for the Easter holidays, I was afforded a rare totally free Saturday. And Pagham were due to be at home against East Preston. This was my perfect opportunity to complete the set.
Or was it.
There was one slightly nervy moment when, a couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me if I would be able to pick his wife and step-son up from Heathrow on the 20th – to which of course I agreed, because, you know, that’s the kind of man I am.
A brief moment of panic then flooded through my veins. ‘But that’s the day I’m supposed to be going to Pagham’ I sighed inwardly, fearing my last opportunity to complete the set of SCFL Premier grounds was about to disappear.
Fear not, though, as not for the first time this season the Groundhopping Gods were smiling down upon me. They weren’t due to land until 18:45 meaning that I’d have enough time to do both. It also meant that I’d have some company for this monumental (in my mind at least) visit, as my friend (and his young son) also wanted to be present when his nearest and dearest touched back down in the UK, and the only way he could accomplish that was to accompany me to the Pagham game first.
He’s a Brighton and Hove Albion season ticket holder so I think the thought of going to a game where he wouldn’t see his own team lose was actually quite appealing to him.
We left Newhaven at around 13:30 and arrived outside Nyetimber Lane at around 14:45. This confirmed my suspicions that making it there on time on a ‘normal Saturday’, when I don’t usually get to leave home much before 13:50, would be touch and go to say the least.
Entrance to Nyetimber Lane was £6, while a fairly informative, well put together program was purchased for a further £1. It’s a decent little ground, with covered seated stands on both sides of the pitch, a fairly large clubhouse and a good selection of hot food and drinks. Affordable too. Burger and chips for £3.50. Yes please!
By a weird quirk of fate, the only previous time I had seen either Pagham or East Preston play this season was in the reverse fixture on a freezing cold day back in December. The weather couldn’t have been more different this time around. It was a glorious sunny day – the hottest of the year so far – and for the first time since August I was wearing shorts to a game of football. What a treat for the locals. Those freezing winter afternoons wrapped up against the elements suddenly seemed a distant memory.
With both teams left with little to play for this season, save for pride, I was unsure of what kind of game to expect. Neither team went into the fixture on form - well, bad form maybe. The visitors were on a run of seven games without a win – although had picked up a couple of draws in that time – while the hosts form has completely fallen off a cliff in recent weeks. They came into the match on the back of six straight defeats and having shed one half of their joint management team just a few days earlier.
From the comments my friend and I heard around the ground, it’s clear that something’s not quite right at Pagham at the moment and most of their supporters seem to be eagerly awaiting the end of the season. Looking around the pitch as the players lined up, Pagham certainly appeared to be a very young side, and I didn’t recognise many of them from the game earlier in the season. That said, I later found out that East Preston’s team only had an average age of just over 20, so they weren’t exactly brimming with experience, either.
My friend and I had barely settled into our seats before the visitors took the lead. The impressive Cian Tilley, who caused the home defence problems throughout the afternoon, sent the ball through to Jake Heryet who just managed to reach the ball ahead of Pagham goalkeeper Jack Parkinson and lift it into the net.
The early goal seemed to rattle the hosts, and for the next ten minutes East Preston looked like scoring every time they went forward. Their skipper, Jack Barnes, particularly caught the eye, constantly looking to get on the ball and play, and causing continued problems with his set piece deliveries.
Having largely survived the opening 15-minutes by only conceding one goal, the Lions started to grow into the game, with Alfie Davidson and Harry Prisk looking their most threatening players. Prisk was denied an equaliser by a good save from George Bentley, while right back Mitchell Kane was unfortunate to see his effort bounce off the top of the crossbar.
However, just as the hosts seemed to be getting a foothold in the game, the visitors grabbed a second. Barnes was unsurprisingly the orchestrator, switching play to Lucas Pattenden whose low cross was tapped in by Tilley.
Pagham continued to work hard to try and get back into the game, though. Bentley again had to be alert to keep out a well struck free-kick, while Davidson and Prisk continued to probe for openings and keep the East Preston defence on their toes.
As half-time approached, the visitors had a couple of chances from corners to further extend their lead, but a mixture of good and desperate defending kept the game alive going into the interval.
For the first ten minutes or so of the second half, Pagham had arguably their best spell of the game, and had East Preston pegged back at times. However, while they got into some good areas during this period, there was no real end product. Too many players were looking for a pass when they really should have taken a shot on. There seemed to be a collective lack of confidence or composure in the last third of the pitch.
Midway through the second-half, East Preston put the game
out of the Lion’s reach. Following yet another foul in a dangerous area (there
were a lot during the afternoon), Barnes stepped up and sent a low curling
effort around the wall and into the bottom corner (see video).
This they did in injury time, as an unmarked Pattenden headed home a Barnes corner.
The final whistle came as something of a relief to the beleaguered hosts, and indeed their supporters.
I’m not sure what’s happening there at the moment, but hopefully it’s something that can be sorted out over the summer months. An equally youthful East Preston side, though, have to be given full credit for a very assured performance from the first minute till the last, and they will be delighted to have halted their own winless run that had stretched back to February.
The set may be complete, but I’m still not taking a break from groundhopping. I’ll be at Eastbourne United on Monday to see their derby against Eastbourne Town.
Hopefully the weather holds and the legs can be on display again!
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