Sunday was a bonus day for football, not often you get the chance of an extra game at the weekend but with the Southern Combination hosting their GroundHop weekend for the first time, one of the sides local to me were a home team.
It’s fair to say that Wick have started much slower than their previous campaign, having reached the play-off final at the end of last season the expectation of a stellar year to follow up isn’t quite on course yet although there are plenty of games left to make a mark.
Their opponents Oakwood were also looking to kickstart their season and under the gaze of an army of groundhoppers, no better time to kick into action and start climbing the table.
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Despite plenty of rain circling the Sussex area, no pitch inspection was scheduled and there was an abundance of the wet stuff coming down as kick off approached.
That gave way to some sun and the game was underway. Early signs showed the ball would either skid off the surface in places or hold up in areas where the pitch was retaining the water.
The first goal arrived after 11 minutes, and it was the visitors who went in front, Darrell Agyemang latching onto a long goal kick and firing past Keelan Belcher.
Wick responded well, still trying to play some passing football despite the conditions, the pitch at times allowing them to do so. Wickers thought they were level on 22 minutes, Josh Irish chipping Wood keeper Andrew Greaves but the crossbar denying the striker an equaliser.
Just after the half hour mark the home side were level, Dave Crouch slotting under Greaves to restore parity. Wick then went in front a mere two minutes later, Sam Hack firing home to turn the game on it’s head as the rain came down once again.
That goal seemed to give Wick the impetus to go forward in search of more goals but despite some good chances they had to settle for a 2-1 half time lead.
With the rain continuing to come down and showing very little sign of stopping referee Mark Spence carried out a small pitch inspection at the beginning of the second half, the ball failing to bounce in some areas whilst just about rolling in others.
However, the second half began with both sides and managers in agreement and just a few minutes in the visitors were level, Noel Etherington with a superb free kick curled past Belcher for the equaliser.
The referee undertook another short pitch inspection just before the hour mark, the game opening up with both sides looking to get on the scoresheet again, play however continued and Oakwood took the lead once again on 61 minutes, a superb strike from Adil Raman for Wood’s third of the afternoon.
But that was to be the end of the scoring as the referee abandoned the game around 65 minutes in, the ball not travelling well across a good two thirds of the pitch and the rain having not ceased since before half time.
A disappointing end for those who had seen three out of four fixtures completed so far but the correct decision in the end, debate could be had about whether the game should even have started with the forecast showing very little sign of a let up across the morning.
Both sides however did their level best to make it an entertaining spectacle for the time on the pitch but will have to do it all again no doubt in the next few weeks under the midweek lights.
189 souls braved the conditions, some travelling onwards to the final game of the six match weekend at Billingshurst where the 90 minutes were played in full and the points shared in a 2-2 draw.
