With some leagues having completed their full fixtures on the weekend and the remainder coming to a conclusion this coming weekend, midweek fixtures are a little in short supply without travelling too far.
Whilst I don’t mind a good drive and getting out of Sussex at times for a change of scenery sometimes getting home at a reasonable hour and having left the house also at a reasonable hour make a lot more sense.
Worthing Utd’s Lyons Way ground was the destination for me and my podcast mate Gaz, potentially the last time this season we’ll make a game together.
The content below was originally paywalled.
The Mavericks are already assured of a play off spot and with two games remaining can still finish above Wick in the final placings. Their visitors Oakwood had plenty still on the season. A few weeks they looked certain to finish bottom of the league and relegated to Division Two.
However, a superb run of form of late with three wins and a draw from their last seven games has given them a great shot at staying up, indeed victory on Tuesday evening would lift them off the foot of the table.
Another cold evening greeted us, a thick coat back in attendance and a probably smaller than anticipated crowd despite only a few fixtures across the area.
On what sounded like quite a hard surface, both sides did try to get the ball on the deck and play some football, the bounce of the ball however causing more than a few to misjudge the bounce.
The visitors got off to the worst possible start, Utd’s Alex Webber heading home from a corner after just seven minutes for the opening goal of the game.
Both sides wanted to attack, a mixture of short passes through the middle contending with a few balls in the channels or out wide to the wingers, something you couldn’t take your eye off.
Despite the early goal, neither keeper had very much to do throughout the first half, however both had picked the ball out of the net by the time the referee blew for half time, Szymon Kowalczyk with a very sweet finish after weaving his way through the penalty area to level the scores for the visitors.
The second half belonged to Oakwood. Coming out with purpose and buoyed by the equaliser just before the break, the home side simply couldn’t get near them and it was no surprise to see them take the lead just before the hour mark.
Getting forward from left back Luke New found himself in range and unleashed an arching shot that bent over Mavericks keeper Naythan Bryson from all of 25 to 30 yards out, Oakwood now in front.
They poured forward again and on 64 minutes they extended their lead. A little bit of pinball in the Utd box from a corner and Tom Agate took full advantage to slot the ball home from close range and seemingly send the points away with the visitors.
And they held that advantage until the 85th minute when Jaden Sparkes’ finish ensured there would be some defending to do, the Oakwood defence held out, Utd suffering only their eighth league defeat of the campaign.
A superb second half performance from the visitors did indeed see them move off the bottom of the table being replaced by East Preston, both sides with home games this weekend but Oakwood’s destiny firmly in their own favour.
Despite the defeat Utd can still finish in front of Wick if they win on Saturday, with little information coming out of the County League as to what finishing positions play each other in the play off’s one can only assume it’s 2nd vs 6th and 4th vs 5th as it stands (Dorking Wanderers B in 3rd are ineligible to compete beyond normal league games).
There were one or two stand out players across the 90 minutes, Kowalczyk was very tidy in possession and with Paul Johnston and Darrell Agyemang they formed a front three who put the home side to the sword in the second half.
Dean Sherwood tried to rally his side after half time but they were just over-run, Webber first half snuffed out a lot of the Oakwood forward play but those three had the measure second half.
A shout out to the guy running the tea hut, run off his feet but some great burgers coming out which tasted excellent, that and a cuppa was much needed on the night.
