The weather at the moment makes it feel like you’re heading into the winter months and not mooching through pre-season in July. Last weekend I took an umbrella to a game, the first time I’ve ever done that in a summer month.
Heading up to Kent on Tuesday evening straight from work both the traffic and the weather were neither too clever although it didn’t mean I missed a minute of action.
Gay Dawn Farm is set in the countryside a few minutes away from Brands Hatch, a football arena setting amidst a golf course and a farm, not your average non-league setting, certainly plenty of charm and character.
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I’ve been coming here since I was about eight years old, one of the many Kent grounds venturing around with my late father during that growing up period.
Corinthian and Cray Valley both had good seasons last year, the Hoops finishing in the play-off’s but beaten by Erith Town to promotion whilst the Millers chased down Ramsgate and eventually beat them to the title by six points to head into Step 3 for the first time ever.
Without a playing budget Corinthian do however manage to attract a host of decent players but the lure of playing for money does mean they lose a fair few of those every summer.
Cray Valley certainly won’t have one of the biggest budgets in the Isthmian Premier Division, a club four miles in the shadows of Charlton Athletic and new neighbours Cray Wanderers pitching up down the road, they too have to work harder to attract and keep their players.
The opening half of the game was played in steadily falling rain and actually didn’t let up for the full 90 minutes, very akin to those November months and beyond. Whether it affected the attendance I don’t know for sure, Spain vs France in the Euros semi-final having some bearing on the figure no doubt.
The Millers controlled the first half as you might expect being two levels higher, scoring five with Corinthian getting one back before half time. Steve McKimm the Valley boss fielded almost two different teams for 45 minutes each, being this early in pre-season it’s not uncommon.
Corinthian didn’t quite have the same luxury but a host of changes for them at half time as well, it made for the usual less than perfect second half, certainly not as fluid and just a single goal for the visitors resulted in a 6-1 final scoreline.
As always I appreciate these games are not for the supporters except to see new signings in action or checking out the raft of trialists appearing. Fitness and minutes for the players, tactical tweaks and trying out new ideas for the managers, first and foremost that is the rule.
For me it’s a good chance to catch up with people within the game and these clubs and under less pressure circumstances with no point on offer.
Frank May the Millers chairman doubling up on Twitter duties for the evening, no doubt has enjoyed a good few months without the football to reflect and plan for a new campaign where adventures await visiting pastures new.
I spoke to Hoops boss Michael Golding before the game to hear how his few months off had gone. As per is usual for them, a summer rebuild with those players moving on to teams normally higher in the pyramid and finding the hungry young players to fill those gaps.
Catching up with Barry Moore the Millers assistant manager at half time, they’re pleased with keeping a huge majority of last year’s title winning side together and ready for a crack at Step 3. Barry and Steve had been there before with Carshalton Athletic and Tonbridge Angels, some of the players also with the duo.
They know it’ll be tough, some big sides there in that division to come up against, the likes of Dulwich Hamlet, Billericay Town, Horsham and Chatham Town to name just a few, but it’s being relished to prove a few people wrong from the early predictions I’ve seen for their finishing position.
Impossible in a lot of these games to keep track of goal scorers with so many ‘trialists’ included on a team sheet, so the scoreline will pretty much be the only note taken, kind of refreshing to take a little step back and not such an intense look at the game.
