Entry:
£3
Tea
(x2): £2
Programme:
£1
Train
ticket (x2): £11-40
Coach
ticket (Sheffield-London): £27-20
Total:
£44-60
This
weekend was a big one for football, with the FA Cup 3rd Round draw
taking place on the Sunday and the World Cup draw on the Friday. I’d been glued
to my computer at work to see England’s group stage opponents – Italy, Uruguay
and Costa Rica – drawn out. The hot humidity of Brazil seems a longer way from
an English winter gradually getting colder!
Like
last week, I decided to do a ground which was off my radar, and definitely not
on my list. When visiting a relative in Bromley, I took the opportunity to find
a local match and went for Glebe FC, who play their home games at Holmesdale’s
Oakley Road ground. This was about a 35-minute walk from Bromley South, and on
various bus routes, so was a fairly accessible one. The ground was located at
the bottom of a rocky lane, next to some allotments and a cricket pitch. £3
entry, but unfortunately the programmes had not yet arrived, so I made my way
round to the main stand opposite the entrance (it wasn’t really a turnstile to
be honest).
The
stand was probably the most distinctive one I had come across this year. It
appeared to be constructed from scaffolding poles which had been bolted together,
with corrugated iron on the roof and back, and planks of wood with plastic
seats screwed into place. Despite its somewhat rickety appearance, it was a
fairly robust structure which had obviously received a lot of attention from some
committed member of the club. It did me fine as I sipped on my tea, so well
done to whoever built it!
Like
the East Midlands game last week, I was somewhat dubious as to how good today
might be. The Kent Invicta League had only become part of Step 5/6 in 2011/12,
and in fact this was Glebe’s first season in the division. There was a pretty
paltry crowd for this one, maybe due to a combination of the cold weather, a
local Bromley FC match at Hayes Lane, and various other games in the London area.
I guess it must be a challenge for smaller clubs in the capital when there are
so many big league and non-league clubs vying for supremacy.
From
the off, I was struck not by the game itself, but by the industrial language
used by both sides. Every mistake, tackle or miscued pass was greeted with a
volley of swearwords – not directed at anyone in particular, but more as a
general curse towards an unforgiving football universe.
The
away side (in navy blue) looked stronger, fitter and more organised. Their
number 7 hit a shot to the keeper’s left which was saved before number 9 headed
wide from a cross. Glebe (in red shirts and black socks) did threaten briefly,
with their number 11 striker being caught just offside in the early stages, and
a looping header from number 8 well saved by the home keeper. Fleet’s number 10
was then at the centre of a couple of attacks, hitting over after a well-worked
move from midfield, followed by a stooping header which went just wide. Fleet
then had a ‘Frank Lampard 2010’ moment as a dipping shot from outside the box
rattled the crossbar and bounced on the line – I’m not sure if it crossed the
line, but the incident certainly fuelled the vituperations of the away side!
The
second half was dominated by Fleet Leisure, who showed greater fitness, quality
and running for the ball. Glebe simply couldn’t cope with their superiority in
midfield. Fleet’s number 7 forced another save from the keeper – moments later,
number 5 headed in from a free-kick on around 49 minutes to make it 1 nil. They
could have buried the game from there, with number 9 firing over when
one-on-one, and number 12 hitting wide when clean through on the home keeper.
There was a brief threat from Glebe, whose number 11 dribbled into the box
before screwing a rare shot wide. The game took a slightly unpleasant turn when
Fleet Leisure’s number 4 was handed a straight red for an unnecessary stamp on
an opposition player. Despite the protestations of the away side and the
provocation he’d received, I think he deserved it. The game was closed out with
outraged cries to the referee, until Fleet realised that their 10 men had still
easily taken the three points today.
On the final whistle, I was glad to get walking and warm up again. I hope I’m able to go to one of these Kent games again, as it had been good entertainment, and somewhere a bit different to usual. My only suggestion is that these games come with a health warning to those sensitive to the more ‘industrial’ words and phrases in the English language!
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