Saturday 18 March - SSML Results/Reports

[Rhodes]

On 20/03/2023 at 10:42, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division One
Burton Park Wanderers 2 Holmer Green 2

A groundhopper from another Forum was present, also see Holmer Green's match report:

https://www.holmergreenfc.co.uk/match/1082/20230318-burton-park-wanderers#report

Spartan South Midlands League Division 1
Burton Park Wanderers 2 Holmer Green 2
Admission: £5, Programme: £1 (just a shell of adverts with a small insert for today's match), Food: Sausage Roll (£2), Attendance: 40 h/c
This match took a little while to get going, but when it did Burton Park Wanderers found themselves on the front foot and had the first clear-cut chance after 15 minutes: a corner was headed against the crossbar before falling back into the box, with 8 trying and failing to poke in the rebound. Five minutes later, the home side went close again as 7 beat the offside trap (BPW made a lot of opportunities from this approach all match) and tried to square to 9 for a tap-in, but a defender intercepted and poked it out for a corner instead. BPW's 9 had another chance on the breakaway moments later, but took too long to shoot and had his shot blocked. The ball then fell to 8 in the box, but his shot was also blocked and went out for a corner.
At this point, BPW were dominant and it seemed like a matter of when and not if they would take the lead, but Holmer Green had other ideas: in the 25th minute, they countered quickly and 3 hit a powerful shot into the net from just inside the box. This saw BPW frustrations start to boil over as they started arguing amongst themselves and berating each other for every mistake, while Holmer Green started to pick up on the fact that the home side were lazy at tracking back after conceding possession. Not as though they were able to take advantage of that, as despite having a better spell Holmer Green didn't produce much to threaten the BPW keeper before half-time.
BPW started the second half with a real sense of purpose and went close early on when a corner fell to 4 on the edge of the box, his goalbound shot volleyed out for a corner by a Holmer Green defender. A few minutes later, BPW went close again when a ball over the top set 9 one-on-one with the Holmer Green keeper, but the keeper made the save to protect his side's lead. After this, the torrential rain started and the match started to peter out as both teams struggled with the worsening conditions. BPW kept pushing for an equaliser, but only truly went close in the 66th minute when 2 decided to try his luck from 30 yards and the keeper was forced into an excellent full-stretch save to deny him. Other than that, both ends saw the few chances that were created denied by defensive blocks and the occasional save.
In the 77th minute, the match was brought back to life by Holmer Green scoring their second after the BPW keeper came out of his box to meet a loose ball and misjudged it, setting Holmer Green's 15 through with an open goal ahead of him. A BPW defender reacted quickly to get a tackle in, but all that did was push the ball to Holmer Green's 15 to shoot into the empty net instead.
BPW reacted quickly and took just three minutes to pull one back, a simple pass into space on the left wing setting 16 through for an easy low finish at the near post. This made for a thoroughly engaging final ten minutes as BPW threw everything forwards in search of an equaliser. Holmer Green defended resolutely throughout and looked to have done enough to secure three points as we entered stoppage time. But then they gave away a free kick just outside the box, and BPW's 2 smashed it into the crossbar and in to earn his side a point at the death.
This was a great game played in seriously testing conditions at times, with a pitch that was already bobbly at the start before the rain started falling and then became very slick and slippery the longer it poured. I imagine some referees would have abandoned the game, given a couple of patches in front of the stands that were becoming noticeably waterlogged, but in this case everyone just played around those problem areas and everything was fine.
A draw was probably a fair result, as Holmer Green were very much doing a smash and grab job by scoring from two of the very few chances they made throughout the game, while Burton Park Wanderers were seriously wasteful and far from harmonious but never gave up and kept pushing. And what a goal to earn the draw as well! That said, Holmer Green will be gutted to have dropped two points so late on, as a win would have given them some comfortable breathing space from the relegation places in what is a very close bottom half of the SSML D1 table.
Frankly, I'm not a fan of Latimer Park at all. It's clearly been cobbled together very hastily as Kettering Town have climbed the leagues, having no doubt been a more basic facility when it was just Burton Park Wanderers calling it home. Now, it seems that Kettering are keen to hide any mention of BPW playing here, with just one sign at the entrance and with BPW having a separate Clubhouse that's hidden away in one corner of the ground. Other than that, the toilets were utterly disgusting, the stand on the near side (which I presume to be the original stand) was filthy and had multiple leaks in the roof and I'm never a fan of those weird temporary stands with the tarp roof. Ultimately, it's just a weird mishmash which doesn't really work for me and which is presumably one of the more basic offerings at Step 2 as a result.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

3 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division One
Winslow United 2 London Tigers 1

Highlight of the action, courtesy of Sports Shots: