Isthmian One South East Division, Saturday 26th April
I decided to make a first trip to a ground I nearly went to a few years ago, but never got round to doing it, well today was the day I visited The Saffrons in Eastbourne for a final regular season game in the Isthmian One South East division, and it saw play off bound Merstham make the fifty mile trip & over the boarder from Surrey to East Sussex to take on Eastbourne Town.
And with the weather set fare it was sure to be an enjoyable day, and after a visit to a local pub for some food and drink, and the arrival of two coach loads of Merstham supporters in fancy dress to boot, it was time to make my way to the ground, once I'd been told where it was after walking the wrong way, this is what two beers does to me!!! Thankfully two locals showed me the way to go, and I soon arrived at the wonderful old turnstile, which was open, so a nice way to enter the ground.
It's a nice setting too, the ground is in between the cricket club and the bowls club, and with the lovely looking town hall with its clock tower looming over the grounds, it certainly was a wonderful back drop to the ground, and on such a gorgeous day weather wise too, that certainly helped as well, especially after my soaking last weekend in Cornwall!!!
Now there was nothing riding on this game, hosts Eastbourne Town were just below mid table in 13th spot but were on a three match winning run as they were finishing the season strongly, visitors Merstham were already guaranteed a play off spot as they had cemented fifth spot in their last outing, so this was a warm up ahead of their big play off semi final at Sittingbourne on Tuesday, & they were on a five match unbeaten run, so both sides were in good form, so I was expecting a decent game of football hopefully.
The first half saw the visitors create the bulk of the chances, hosts keeper Chris Winterton had to make two decent saves, tipping two curling efforts destined for the bottom corner wide of his post, and right on half time visiting full back Jude Molloy headed an effort against the post after sneaking round the back and getting on the end of a lovely ball into the box, Eastbourne rarely threatened in the opening forty five minutes but they did go into the half time break level.
Despite nothing riding on this game it didn't mean both sets of players wanted to win, and as they went down the tunnel at half time there was disagreements amongst the players who had to be separated, I think over a coming together just before the break which the visitors didn't like, it showed just how much this meant to them still but there was more drama to come during the half time break.
As I walked round to go for a comfort break, the PA announcer said that the referee was injured and could not continue and therefore one of his assistants would take the middle, but then asked if anyone in the ground was a qualified assistant and could take the flag in place of the now referee, if not then the game could not continue, but after several minutes someone came forward, and as he headed over to the far side to take up his new position, he was warmly applauded by the crowd who along with me were relieved the game would go on.
Merstham decided to make four changes at the start of the second half to freshen things up and give others forty five minutes ahead of their big game on Tuesday, and they started the half how they ended the first initially and the hosts were grateful for their keeper once again as Winterton had to thwart another decent chance from the visitors, but as the half went on Eastbourne began to threaten much more than they did in the first half.
Sadly their end product wasn't there, meaning they could not take advantage of the openings they did create, would we get a goal though, I was certainly hoping so although it had been a decent battle between the two sides despite no goals to show, but, in the 82nd minute and with the hosts probably edging the game in the second half, Merstham struck the winning goal as it turned out, and it was one of those half time subs that grabbed it.
A ball into the box was eventually headed back into the danger zone and fell nicely for Bradley Wilson who fired home from close range to see them celebrate in front of those Merstham fans behind that goal all in fancy dress, and send them into that play off semi final in good spirits, and thus stopping the hosts ending the season with four straight wins too.
A decent battle as said, played in lovely conditions in front of 255 at The Saffrons, certainly a nice setting pretty much in the centre of the town, a very enjoyable trip and visit, I certainly recommend visiting here if you can.
Full time Eastbourne Town 0 Merstham 1
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