Having driven home from Reading during Saturday morning, I decided to pick a local game at a new ground which narrowed it down to a choice of Stockbridge or Wellow. As Stockbridge had a midweek game coming up that I could make, decided to drive down to Wellow.
After a quick detour, I realised that the football club must be behind some tennis courts (no floodlights to assist directions!) and so it turned out. After sitting in the car for a while listening to the radio, I wandered over to the clubhouse and picked up a copy of "Village Voice", the club programme for a pound (there was no admission charge). It appeared that some of the Clanfield players had been delayed so kick off was put back to 3.20 but as it was a gorgeous sunny day no-one seemed to bothered.
By 3.20, the local pub had emptied and there were about 40 people leaning against the metal fence around the ground. There were no officials other than the referee so a representative from each club (who appeared to be the manager) ran the line - using the premise that they would be at the end their team was defending.
The game kicked off and while there was plenty of endeavour, the skill levels couldn't quite match as players huffed and puffed down the line. Wellow took the lead on 10 minutes when a header came off the crossbar and was tapped in from close range. Two minutes later they almost doubled their lead as a powerful header was deflected wide by the Clanfield keeper, who couldn't have seen it until very late.
On 25 minutes Clanfield equalised from a breakaway down the left hand side, their striker took it from the right and jinked around 2 players before lobbing the keeper - perhaps my initial misgivings regarding skill were a little misdirected!
Wellow were getting a lot of service from their right flank and on 30 minutes took the lead again with a close range shot past the keeper. Clanfield almost equalised on 35 minutes direct from a corner. The ball was then cleared to one of their players who shot over from 3 yards when it looked easier to score.
After that let off, Wellow took a 3.1 lead on 42 minutes with another close range shot that was swept past the keeper from close range. The talk around me turned to horse racing and I started to suspect that the delayed kick off may have been encouraged to allow the locals to watch the Grand National! However a minute later Clanfield pulled another goal back with a long distance shot that screamed past the keepers left hand.
I didn't want the half to end as Clanfield continued to attack and put a shot just over the crossbar. There were some words exchanged as a Clanfield player kept his knee in on a Wellow player after they went for a tackle and the dropball that the referee gave lead to further arguments between the teams.
At halftime I wandered back to the car to get an update on the latest scores from Radio Solent - a bit more difficult given that most teams had kicked off for the second half and I had to rely on goal updates during commentary and some texts from Stu and Chris.
Both teams continued to look for more goals in the second half and it was no surprise that Clanfield equalised just after half time in unusual circumstances. The ball hit the stanchion on the inside of the net and bounced out. The referee intially allowed play to carry on and was surrounded by Clanfield players while Wellow took a shot at the other end. He was eventually persuaded to discuss the decision with the Wellow linesman, who (correctly) advised that it had been a goal, a sporting gesture that was appreciated by the Clanfield captain but incensed some of the Wellow team, including their goalkeeper who was booked a couple of minutes later for continuing to argue with the referee.
Wellow lost their shape and their heads for a few minutes and there was another scuffle with two players - both deserving a red card for raising their arms and attempting a headbutt but the referee decided just to speak to the Wellow player and give him a yellow card. However some of the team were encouraging their teammates just to get on with the game and on 60 minutes they took the lead again with a shot that hit the post and bounced in.
Both teams continued to play some good counterattacking football after that but unsurprisingly the heat started to play its part and there were no more goals. An entertaining afternoon in the sun.
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