Youthful reborn St Francis come up just short

St Francis Rangers 1 Angmering Village 2, Southern Combination Football League Division 2, Saturday 14^th September 2019

Despite the FA Vase being arguably my favourite cup competition, this weekend saw the second qualifying round of matches take place and, as with the with the first qualifying round, I was absent from the terraces of any team taking part.

While a prior invitation saw me miss the opening round acouple of weeks ago, this latest absence was simply down to logistics. My son needed to be picked up from a day out at a specific time, so I couldn’t risk any match I was at running into extra time – and possibly even penalties.
It’s a risk I took around this time last year. One that almost spectacularly backfired when Steyning vs Punjab United finished only after an epic penalty shoot-out; leaving wifey to make other plans for our son’s collection. Funnily enough she wasn’t too keen on a repeat performance this time out!

True, I could have gone to a game closer to home to negate this problem, but having already revisited a couple of grounds this season, I wanted to go to a ground I hadn’t been to yet (this is supposed to be a groundhopping blog, after all).

Initially, it had been my intention to head off to an Isthmian League match instead, but for a variety of (not particularly interesting) reasons, this soon became impractical.

Running short on options (and indeed time) at around 13:45 on Saturday afternoon, I finally decided on a trip to Haywards Heath, to pay a visit St Francis Rangers’ Colwell Ground. Bizarrely, their opponents for the afternoon were Angmering Village – the same team who had been the visitors when I missed the opening FA Vase qualifying round a fortnight ago.

The Colwell Ground was a ground that I’d planned to visit last season. However, late last year, disaster struck the side once dubbed (quite harshly) ‘the worst team in Britain’, when the clubs’ hard-working volunteers felt they had no option but to withdraw from Division One of the SCFL.
I was actually at one of that incarnation of the club’s last games – a 9-0 tonking at Hailsham; I can categorically state that my presence and the St Francis’s demise were purely coincidental.

Thankfully, a decision was taken during the summer to reform the first team and re-enter the SCFL in Division Two. It was decided to place emphasis on blooding young players, a commitment that could clearly be seen in the appointment of former Whitehawk Under 18s manager, and long-term youth football coach, Del Tobias as manager.

St Francis Rangers’ home is tucked around the back of Haywards Heath’s Princess Royal hospital. It’s far from the easiest ground in Sussex to find (it just somehow feels wrong to be driving through the hospital grounds) and I would imagine its location has left many a visiting supporter (and maybe even an occasional player and manager) worrying that they have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

Fortunately, having previously coached a youth team who played on a pitch immediately outside the ground on numerous occasions, I knew where I was going (for once).

Admission to the ground was £3, which included a decent-little black and white paper programme and a hot drink! This was definitely the best value that I’ve come across on my travels (well, aside from my visit to Montpelier Villa, which was free – albeit only because the programme seller didn’t have enough change).

That said, you do run the risk of potentially damaging your car tyres whilst getting down to the car park. A task which involves a short drive down a somewhat bumpy unmade road. Luckily, I had checked the air in them earlier in the week.
The Colwell Ground is a typical, lower county-style ground, with a couple of covered stands down one side of the pitch, and a small but very welcoming club-house. It's setting, however, is stunning with the Victorian hospital overlooking one side of the ground and rolling countryside the other.

Prior to kick-off I was met with something of a surprise as I noticed one of my former Saturday morning 5Ways Soccer School coaching colleagues, Svetozar Popov – known simply as ‘Z’ (or more accurately ‘Zee’) warming up for St Francis. Unfortunately, he was on the bench and only played a short cameo towards the end of the match, so I didn’t get much chance to see him in action. I also noticed from the squad listed in the programme that one of my old charges from mini-soccer a few years ago, Dylan Little, is part of the Rangers squad (although wasn’t playing in this match), while the team’s goalkeeper, Rudy Stilgoe, used to attend my youth futsal sessions.
It’s certainly nice to see a few of the boys I’ve had an (admittedly small) hand in developing starting to seep through into the world of County football.

On a gloriously sunny afternoon, the hosts got off to the perfect start, taking the lead in just the second minute. Skilful winger Sam Wright was given too much time and space on the left flank, and he cut inside the flimsy challenge of Ben Kydd before curling a great effort into the bottom corner from just outside the area.

The lead didn’t last for long. With St Francis Rangers’ defence struggling to deal with the greater physicality and maturity of a number of Angmering players, it always seemed likely that the visitors would get chances throughout the afternoon.
Angmering’s striker (and player manager) Johnny Hendricks (who had been his side’s stand-out player in goal when I’d seen them a couple of weeks ago; got to love non-league football!) was a constant thorn in the home defence’s side and it was no real surprise when he equalised after 20 minutes. Josh Casey did really well to win a flick-on in the area, and the ball arrived at the feet of the unmarked Hendricks who smashed home from close-range.

In truth, neither team could claim to be the dominant force in an overall bitty game; the flow of which was not helped by a ref who was too whistle happy at times, whilst at others letting some, shall we label them ‘agricultural’ challenges go unpunished. To both sides’ evident frustration.

Both teams had brief spells when they were on top, but neither side could exert any sustained periods of pressure. That said, it was certainly the visitors who created the more clear-cut chances over 90-minutes.

Hendricks flicked a header against the post late in the first-half, then hit the bar in the second before Casey also struck the frame of the goal.

By the time the latter two chances had hit the woodwork, Village were already 2-1 up. The second-half was less than five minutes old when a cross from the left was headed into the net by that man Hendrick (left unmarked again), for his second of the afternoon.

St Francis were never out of the match, though. Wright in particular was causing plenty of problems for the visiting defence, but was too often unable to find the killer final pass/cross.

The home sides' best chances for an equaliser came when Wright shot straight at Angmering ‘keeper Brendon Shereni on the 70-minute mark, before skipper Ellis Common lashed a decent chance high and wide from close range, shooting with his right foot when his left would almost certainly have been a better option.

The truth, though, was that neither goalkeeper was overly tested throughout the match.

With the game almost over, St Francis substitute Josh Akturk was probably lucky to avoid a red card for a wild, out-of-control challenge. Undoubtedly, it was a challenge born of frustration, with Akturk having been subjected to a number of niggly fouls in the minutes leading up to the incident; but I’ve certainly seen red cards brandished for less meaty tackles.

Ultimately, Angmering hung-on for a hard-earned three points (no matter what the visiting defender who met the final whistle with a frankly baffling cry of “easy win lads” may have felt), but it’s fair to say that St Francis Rangers certainly appear to have a much brighter future ahead of them than they did this time last year.

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).