Base of the Pyramid
  • Home
    • About
  • Blog
  • Hops, Stats & More
    • Ground Hops
    • Match Details
    • All Time Hop Stats
    • Teams
    • Guest Blogs
  • SRWFL
    • SRWFL Archive
    • SRWFL Match Blogs
    • SRWFL Team Directory
    • SRWFL SoReg Review

Uphill Battle

9/2/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureThe excellent Crawley Green programme
​Crawley Green come out on top of a hard fought SSML Premier League clash in a game where four of the five goals were scored kicking up the slope at Sharpenhoe Road.

Wednesday night's visit to Bedfordshire was very much a last minute deal. My original Tuesday night game plan was scuppered by a motorway closure then Wednesday's targeted game at Littleton was called off quite late on. However, a quick Twitter check revealed that Crawley Green's home game with Hoddesdon Town was confirmed as on. Crawley Green play their home games at Barton Rovers' Sharpenhoe Road stadium which I last visited for A rovers v Bedworth early season game in 2014 (http://www.botp.co.uk/blog/greenbacks-return-to-winning-ways).
From memory, it didn't look like many changes had been made to the stadium in the intervening years. The stadium boasts covered standing all along one side, a decent sized seating stand on the other side, a pretty large car park, and a comfortable clubhouse. The pitch itself has quite a pronounced slope from the Luton Road end down towards the Sharpenhoe Road end, which is where the car park and turnstiles are situated.

On this particular evening the pitch, at first glance, looked to be in pretty good condition but it soon became clear that there was plenty of underlying dampness which caused it to cut up quite badly in places. As the game wore on this must have made conditions quite tricky for the players in some areas.

Before getting onto the game, a small mention for the Crawley Green programme which is especially good for this level of the game. It came as part of the £5 admission fee and includes plenty of articles and statistics. A great effort all round.

As the teams entered the arena I wondered if Hoddesdon were deliberately playing mind games with their kit choice. Although there would be no clash between their normal white shirts and black shorts and Crawley Green's maroon outfit, they chose to wear their change kit of all blue. Coincidentally, or not as the case may be, this kit is rather similar to the Green's landlords Barton Rovers, so the whole ground is kitted out in their shade of blue making it look and feel like a Hoddeson home game. However, as The Lilywhites lost the reverse fixture, on their own turf, by 6-2 earlier in the season this may not have been the case.

It was about this point that I noticed home coach Bobby Males doing press-ups in the technical area. Something that he continued to do for a fair amount of the first half. quite impressive press-ups they were too. All the way down and back again with what looked like minimal effort, unlike my own efforts in boot-camp this lunch time.

The game kicked off with the hosts kicking up the slope in the first half and they immediately got into their stride. However, despite having the greater share of possession for the first twenty minutes and creating a couple of half-chances, it was Hoddesdon who almost took the lead when Joss Lillis went on a mazy run before clipping the far post with his shot.
The game remained goal-less but it was still, just about, Crawley Green who were edging it. Once again, however, it was the away side who almost broke the deadlock. From a right-wing corner that looked like it had been miss-hit, the ball reached the visiting centre-half on the edge of the box. He fired the ball home only for the assistant to flag for an infringement. This turned out to be a Lilywhites player in an offside position who the assistant judged was interfering with the goalkeeper's ability to react to the shot. I have to say, it looked like a very harsh decision to me and one which the visiting players disputed for some time afterwards.

To rub salt into the wounds, five minutes later Crawley Green took the lead. A move down the left and then a crossfield pass which found Joe Bradbury unmarked at the far post. He stroked the ball home amidst very vociferous claims of offside from the Hoddesdon defence. From my vantage point I couldn't say if the player was on or off but the Lilywhites players certainly seemed to be aggrieved. 1-0

The game was now really coming to a boil and Hoddesdon tried to hit back immediately. Lillis once again was at the heart of the move, playing a lovely give and go to open up the Crawley Green defence. However, stretching and being pushed slightly wide his shot clipped the near post this time and went for a goal kick.

Then with half-time almost upon us, Hoddesdon were hit by a classic sucker punch. An incisive through ball split their defence allowing Charlie Clayton to time his run perfectly, collect the ball, round the keeper and slide into an empty net for 2-0.

That took us to half-time and, although the home side had been slightly the better side Hoddesdon can feel a little hard done by to go into the break two goals down.
Half-time Crawley Green 2 Hoddesdon Town 0

PictureThe slope is no obstacle


There must be something about going up the slope at Sharpenhoe Road because when the second half kicked off it was Hoddesdon, playing against the incline, who started the better of the two teams. Once again, Joss Lillis was the man looking the most dangerous with the ball and it was the left-winger who created a goal for The Lillywhites just before the hour mark. Picking the ball up in his own half he jinked past a number of Crawley Green players, took the ball into the box and then cut back for Jordan Watson to fire the ball into the home net. A very good goal. 2-1.

The game was pretty open, with both sides pushing players up at every opportunity despite the worsening conditions in midfield especially. It continued to be a very entertaining game for the neutral. The conditions, however, were causing some 'interesting' challenges at times and one such incident led to the inevitable 'handbags' in front of the dug outs. The referee, with some rather enthusiastic whistle-blowing calmed things down, issued a yellow to a player on each side and we could continue with the game.

Four minutes after the incident Crawley Green looked to have made the game safe. A route one ball was deftly flicked on and, the man on the spot, Charlie Clayton was on his way again. This time, as the keeper advanced, he clipped the ball past him and into the far corner of the bet. A very accomplished finish to make it 3-1. This was Clayton's fifth goal in two games against The Lillywhites this season. 

I thought that was game over to be honest, I really couldn't see Hoddesdon getting back into it. They weren't completely dead and buried though. With injury time already ticking onto 4 minutes Tom Cowell grabbed a very late consolation goal. 3-2. 
Surely not enough time to equalise? They certainly gave it a go. Throwing caution to the wind, they won the ball back from the kick off and swarmed forward resulting in another shot at goal which was only narrowly wide.
That was the end of proceedings though. Full-time Crawley Green 3 Hoddeson Town 2.
A very entertaining evening of football and a deserved three points for the home


Crawley Green - @crawleygreenfc
Hoddesdon Town - @hoddesdontownfc

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly