Andy had been to the ground before but wasn't entirely sure which road to follow so after a couple of attempts we finally spotted the floodlights. As we drove up to the car park, the driver of the car in front snagged the last programme. At the suggestion of the gatekeeper, I wandered down to the pedestrian entrance and my luck was in - they had 1 programme left!
After indulging in a couple of choccy bars between us and taking some photos of the ground, we found a spot just in front of the tea bar and waited for the teams to come out. Downton were playing in yellow shirts and blue shorts which seemed appropriate given that Matt Holmes was playing for them this evening - his father Nick had worn the same colour kit as a slightly larger venue back in 1976! Declan McGregor, another former Salisbury player, was also in the Downton line up.
The first game had finished 1.1 on Saturday and Paul had been discouraged by the play so much that he decided that having a curry at home was a better option. Andy and I had assumed that he would be at the ground so we could surprise him - instead we had to rely on some text message updates to let him know where we were.
The first few minutes saw some of the best chances of the game. Calne wasted no time in attacking the Downton goal from the kick off and a cross to the far post led to a late header going just wide. Downton had a good opportunity to score with a rising shot after 5 minutes but the Calne keeper got up quickly to tip the ball over the bar. This created the first of four corners in a row for the visitors which culminated in a lob over the keeper coming back down off the crossbar.
In the 9th minute Calne took the lead. The ball was played to the edge of the area and although there were plenty of yellow shirts back defending, they hadn't picked up on the Calne player who received the ball. He ran into the open space in the penalty area in front of him and hit a shot to the right past the dive of the keeper. An easy opportunity thanks to the lack of defensive cover, something the keeper was quickly on his feet to remind his team mates of!
In the 15th minute Calne came close to adding a second goal. A free kick was played to the left hand side of the box and the right back picked up the ball. He ran into the box but was tackled and Downton managed to clear the ball out. A Calne player then switched the ball across to the right flank and one of his team mates picked up the pass and drove forward with the ball. He spotted an unmarked player in the box and played a pacy high throughball which was headed across the goalmouth but ended up just wide of the left post.
Downton were quick to react and created their best chance of the night a couple of minutes later. The ball was played into the penalty area and McGregor clipped a shot past the keeper that came back off the post. He didn't connect properly with the ball and if he had done it probably would have been the equaliser.
The game settled down after that and chances were limited. Calne showed a bit of Brazilian magic just before halftime. A long ball was played through on the left wing and instead of collecting the pass the Calne player opened up the book of Pele, let the ball go past him and dummied the defender into going the wrong way before running around him and picking up the ball. He ran into the box and put a cross in along the 6 yard line to a team mate to shoot. The Downton keeper had kept himself well positioned in the centre of the box and managed to get down to save the low shot. A superb move that really did deserve a goal at the end of it.
We wandered round back to the car at halftime to pick up our jackets as it was starting to get a bit cold now that the sun had gone down. To save us a bit of time at the end we watched the second half from the opposite end of the ground. Downton had the upperhand in terms of possession and chances but were unable to make that count in the final third. When they did get into good positions, the final ball was often not good enough to get past the defense.
There was almost some controversy in the 70th minute. Downton had won a corner and one of their defenders had stretched his legs and gone up to try and get a header in. As the ball was cleared out to the halfway line, the defender stayed down on the ground and it appeared that he had cramp as the keeper was quickly in to try and help him by supporting his leg in the air. With all the players in the way, this turn of events wasn't obvious to Matt Holmes who took the ball forward and fired in a long shot at what he thought was an unguarded part of the goal. The shot flew just past the post and wide - if it had gone in it would have counted as the referee had not blown his whistle to stop play and allow the physio on.
Downton continued on the offensive thoughout the rest of the game and even went to a 4-2-4 formation to try and stretch the game in the last 10 minutes. Despite the vocal support to our left and the number of good chances they created, they weren't able to beat the assistant referee's flag on some occasions or the Calne keeper on others so the £750 prize for the winners went to the home team.
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