New surroundings are well worth the wait

Broadbridge Heath 1 Eastbourne United 3, Southern Combination Football League Premier Division, Saturday 28^th September 2019

‘Good things come to those who wait,’ is one of those sayings that I’ve long doubted the validity of.

Don’t get me wrong, there is probably a small grain of truth in the phrase somewhere. I suppose if you wait long enough, then something good will happen eventually. But exactly how long do you have to wait? And what constitutes the ‘good’ thing in question?

‘Patience is a virtue,’ is another saying that causes a brief flash of irritation to work its way through my system. I mean, in some circumstances, yes it undoubtedly is. Without a doubt. But in all situations? I don’t think so.

However, both phrases can almost certainly be accurately be applied to Broadbridge Heath’s wait for their new stadium.

Initially, the SCFL Premier side had hoped to move into their new ground at some stage last season. Yet, after a number of let-downs and false dawns, the previous campaign ended with the Bears still playing in their increasingly decrepit old ground (click here to read about my past visit to that stadium).

At one point, there were even concerns that the Countryside Stadium would not be ready for the start of this season. An outcome that would have left Heath homeless and facing possible demotion from the SCFL Prem. Hardly the ideal way for the club to celebrate its centenary year!

Fortunately, though, back in May, the club finally received the long-awaited confirmation that the stadium would be up and running in time for the 2019/20 season. Good things come to those who wait. Patience is a virtue.

It had always been my intention to pay a visit to the new ground in the early weeks of the season and a few weeks ago I earmarked the visit of Eastbourne United this weekend as the ideal time to do so. Events that have taken place in recent weeks (especially at the East Sussex-based club) only served to increase my excitement ahead of this visit.

In my pre-season predictions, I predicted that Heath would be looking to replicate their sixth-placed finish last time out, and forecast another top eight showing this campaign. Their solid start to the season (they started the day unbeaten at home in the league – although had suffered a reverse there against Loxwood in the Peter Bentley Cup) certainly suggests that they will be in the higher echelons of the table come the end of the season.

Visiting Eastbourne United, who I actually predicted to be dark horses for the title, have had an erratic (understatement alert) start to the season – both on and off the pitch. On it, they had won three games out of eight, recording big wins against East Preston and Little Common (4-0 and 4-1), whilst suffering crushing defeats against Saltdean and Lingfield (5-1 and 6-0). Off it, ambitious chairman Billy Wood has departed for home-town club Hastings United, while manager Aaron Hopkinson also left the club to focus on his playing career (he’s now playing for Kingstonian). New manager Matt Crabb had had a solid start to his new role, though, winning his first two games 4-0 and 5-0.

My excitement ahead of the game obviously rubbed off on my eldest son who actually decided to accompany me to a match for the first time this season.

We arrived at the ground at just after 14:40. The new stadium may be located a mere stone’s throw from Broadbridge Heath’s previous home, but in terms of standards they’re miles apart.

Paying £6 to enter the ground (£1 for the boy), and £1 for a really-well produced, informative programme, both my son and I were instantly impressed by what we saw. Although the set up is similar to that found at county football-standard grounds up and down the country – there’s a covered seated main stand on one side of the pitch and a covered terraced area behind one goal – the playing surface looked immaculate and the sizable clubhouse – which also encompasses the changing rooms – was one of the most impressive that I’ve seen on my travels. At any level.

What’s more, there’s no longer an athletics track running between the pitch and the stand either, which in my opinion improves any ground ten-fold.

My initial excitement about choosing to attend this game looked highly misplaced come half-time. The opening 45-minutes will not live long in the memory. It was dull. Really dull!

 

While the Bears spent much of the half in possession, probing for openings, they produced very little in the way of clear goalscoring opportunities. Right back Rob Godfrey came closest to giving the hosts the lead, only to see his shot hacked off the line.

At the other end, United’s only real chance fell to Nathan Crabb whose shot following a swift counter attack was well saved by Alfie Hadfield in the Heath goal.

At half-time my son could barely hide the disappointment from his voice.

“You said this would be a good game,” he whined.

“Don’t worry,” I replied, calling on every ounce of false confidence I could muster. “The second-half will be far better. It’ll finish 4-4, I reckon.”

From the expression on his face it was clear to see that he didn’t agree with my frankly absurd-sounding declaration.

That said, while I may have got the final score wrong, the second-half was definitely infinitely more entertaining than the opening 45-minutes had been. In fact, the opening ten seconds of the half were infinitely more entertaining that opening 45-minutes had been.

Straight from kick-off, Paul Rogers took a shot at goal that looked to be dipping just under the cross bar before Hadfield’s fingertips turned the ball over the bar.

Two minutes later, though, United were in front. Nathan Crabb’s cross-come-shot (the Eastbourne United Twitter feed generously described it as a shot; I have my doubts) wrong-footed Hadfield and struck a post, before bouncing kindly for Sam Schaff who headed the opener from barely a yard out.

 Before five minutes of the half had been played, the Bears were level. A clumsy challenge from Dale penn in the area led to Heath being awarded a penalty that was confidently dispatched by George Cousins (see video).

Two goals in the opening five minutes. Maybe my 4-4 wasn’t such a ridiculous prediction after all.

When United took the lead just over minutes later, I really began to wonder. Dale Penn atoned for his earlier error by playing a sumptuous through ball to Nathan Crabb, who gathered the ball in his stride before finishing clinically into the bottom corner.

The hosts continued to see more of the ball than the visitors, but were still struggling to create any decent chances. As they pushed forward for an equaliser, they were again caught out at the back as Kane Penn raced onto a long pass and lofted a bouncing ball over the advancing goalkeeper.

Alas, that was to prove to be the end of the scoring. The Bears pushed and probed for a route back into the game but despite getting into some promising positions, especially down the right-hand side, the end product was lacking.

With ten minutes to go, United keeper Jordan Hawkins acrobatically kept out a really well struck free-kick from Tom Howard-Bold which had looked destined to be heading for the top corner, but the hosts just couldn’t make their superior possession pay.

United navigated the last ten minutes fairly comfortably and even had a couple of chances on the break to add further gloss to the scoreline.

While this will undoubtedly be seen as a disappointing result for the Bears, I’m sure they’ll have matches when they play far worse than this during the season yet end up with three points. Meanwhile, Eastbourne United look like a team starting to grow in confidence and add a bit of resiliency to the good football they attempt to play.

Most importantly of all, though, it was good to see Broadbridge Heath finally playing at a ground at which I’m sure they’ll thrive in the years to come.

After all, good things come to those who wait. Apparently. 
Enjoyed this blog post? Then you may be interested in reading my kindle book which recounts my 2018/19 groundhopping journey (take a look, it’s only 99p).