Left Salisbury in bright sunshine heading down the A36 to the fourth of the five current Wessex Premier League grounds I hadn't visited before. By the time I reached Lymington's ground (a couple of wrong turns later) it started to cloud over. Parked close to the touchline which allowed the gateman at this entrance to wander over at his own time and collect my admission fee - judging by the number of people who came in later, it would have been worth his while staying a bit longer!
Reading the Hellenic League website before the game, the Shrivenham manager described this fixture as the biggest in the club's history. Sadly it didn't live up to this billing. In a dour first half, Shrivenham made a couple of chances but neither team were passing well in the final third of the pitch and shots were few and far between. Lymington came out at half-time a changed side and made more of the play - helped by a couple of substitutions that added some more pace to the frontline. However there were still few shooting opportunities and the game didn't come to life at all. Perhaps the sign behind the goalmouth stating 'no playing in the goalmouth' was taken too literally!
At the end of the 90 mins I was happy to be heading off in the car and before I left I had a listen to the Radio Solent roundup of the other FA Vase games in the area. As I started to drive out I realised that the players were still on the pitch and the referee was in discussions with both managers. I reversed the car up and waited to see what was happening - it turned out that extra time was due to be played and the referee had pulled up with a muscle problem so a substitute had to be found to run the line. Sat in the car listening to an uninspired England game, watching a similar game in extra time. Despite the vocal Shrivenham support, it was Lymington who came closest to scoring with 2 shots that sailed wide and a shot from 6 yards that was cleared off the line when it looked easier to score.
No penalties, the game will be replayed at Shrivenham on Tuesday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment