The desire to find one more game before the season closes it’s doors. Non League Finals Day is guaranteed, but with Barnet’s season ending last Tuesday night and most play offs now completed, I suddenly remembered I hadn’t seen anything from the Southern Combination Division One.
A scroll through Epsom & Ewell’s Twitter account showed it was outstanding and set for Saturday 6th May so job done and a penultimate weekend of football was secured.
The last visit to Fetcham Grove, the home of Leatherhead FC, was a few years ago to watch a painful 0-0 draw which was a usual point for Worthing FC at the time but not the best watch of a game. Both the Salt and their opponents, Wick FC, have spent a few years away from Step 5, promotion the prize for the winners this afternoon.
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Meeting up with fellow PNLP host Gaz and a seeing a decent size crowd forming the rain certainly didn’t deter it seemed, conditions were certainly slick and greasy on top for the full 90 minutes.
The hosts had won both league games during the course of the season by an aggregate of 8-1 but one off play off games are a complete lottery at any level, this one being no different.
Epsom seemed to come to terms with the conditions better than their visitors and despite the wet surface were happy to get the ball down and play across the surface, Wick playing a mixture of short and longer balls looking to counter and exploit any Epsom mistakes.
Chances weren’t matching possession for the home side; however the lead was theirs after half an hour. There seemed little danger when Jaevon Dyer received the ball out wide on the left hand side, but the winger skipped inside a couple of challenges and beat Keelan Belcher to hand the Salt the lead.
Wick certainly weren’t getting any joy out of the Epsom centre halves, a lack of penetration down the sides didn’t help their cause, the best promptings coming from Sam Conolly in midfield, his effort pushed away by Epsom keeper Tom Theobald the best they could manage before half time.
The rain didn’t relent in the second half either, although the game escaped any torrential downpours throughout. Despite Epsom getting plenty of joy down their left hand side, Wick had the better earlier chances, good chances to be level but it took a penalty to bring the scores to parity again on 66 minutes.
A combination of Theobald and a defender brought down Aaron Tester, no question on the penalty award, Conolly stepping up to slot the ball home and renewed hope for the visitors.
Back came Epsom and Gavin Quintyne struck the post from a free kick four minutes later, the ball rebounding out and to safety. With the game starting to stretch itself, the home side took the lead with eight minutes to play.
Dyer again cut in from the left hand side and a carbon copy finish inside Belcher’s near post put Epsom in sight of the promotion place. The game however finished in a moment or two of high drama before the final whistle.
With Wick losing the ball in midfield, Dyer was sent away in stoppage time down the left wing, the visitors Marshall Ball launching into what can’t be described as a tackle, two footed flyer to send Dyer to the ground, the referee immediately issuing a red card as players piled in from both sides, Epsom’s Nick Wilson also shown a red card after the melee for his part in the brawl, neither side getting another chance and the Salt returning to Step 5.
A good sized crowd of 384 were treated to a good game in spite of the conditions, the latter moments of stoppage time not in keeping with the rest of the game, very few bad tackles given the weather could have dictated the game when you expect a little more.
Epsom look to be heading back to the Combined Counties Premier Division and not remaining in the Southern Combination, a new home for them at Cobham FC next year also. Dyer certainly looks to be one to keep an eye on, a product of the Kinetic Academy where I’ve seen a few good players come out from.
Another year for Wick at Step 6 in Sussex, whilst defensively they coped pretty well against some quick footed players, Conolly as mentioned prompted a lot across the park, but the lack of a cutting edge gave the home side a smooth afternoon.
