Originally I hadn’t planned in anything for Tuesday evening, with the season getting closer for a few there wasn’t a full fixture list locally. In the end I opted to head out but staying in Sussex for the midweek fixture.
With a later start for sides above Step 5 and those underneath in Step 6 many are at different levels in preparation given some still have two weeks before they kick off the new season.
Pagham and Littlehampton Town are two at opposite ends, the former beginning league games this weekend whilst the latter have a week’s wait for an FA Cup game, their Isthmian South East campaign underway seven days later.
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As per the previous games I’ve attended there hasn’t been much in the way of team sheets or social media updates which is fine, I’m not bothered apart from getting a final score in order to update my new Sussex non-league website, www.thesnlf.co.uk.
Little concentration other than watching the game, patterns and seeing how both teams wanted to play whilst catching up with friends around these grounds has almost been a lovely introduction back.
The weather was dry with the last dregs of sunshine, a rare day where it arrived and stayed for a while. Town have undergone a big rebuild this summer having struggled for a majority of last season but are heading into their third season at Step 4.
Pagham have rebuilt themselves over the last two years after spending 12 months in the Wessex League prior which almost sent the club down to Step 6.
I actually spent most of the first half being able to observe on my own but close enough to the Pagham bench to hear what their manager Jason Mines was asking of his players, someone who might not remember me but was my Under 18 manager at Wick a few years back.
With me at points during that half was photographer Tommy McMillan whose picture you can see above and many more from the game on his Twitter account (@TommyMc93289518) and also on www.thesnlf.co.uk.
Tommy heads around a variety of grounds and his pictures are top class, I’m glad to be able to share them around Sussex via the new site which is the aim of what we’re trying to do there.
Whilst I’m looking around the ground just before the end of the first half I spotted a small group of chaps that looked pretty familiar but not really sure if it was who I thought.
Ended up I was right as I wandered down to the bottom end, Simon Ediker, Kevin Playle-Howard and Marc Hilton, all with me at different times at Wick and Marc the current Secretary at Pagham. So, a second half spent catching up with these guys as the football played out.
As I’ve mentioned previously there are always people you know, staying locally or moving further afield across the South and sometimes beyond. Football is a massive industry even at non-league level but a small world when it comes to knowing people.
The game itself? Well, Littlehampton went in at half time 2-0 up and seven changes throughout the second period didn’t seem to disrupt things as they chalked up a 5-0 win by full time.
Pagham still a very young side but as Marc informed me for the first time in a long while every player came back from last year plus one or two additions, the hope is they push hard for the top six this year.
As I state above Mitch Hand and George Gaskin have brought in some decent players for the level this year and Littlehampton shouldn’t be anywhere near the talk of the bottom two places although time will tell.
More friendlies for them this weekend, Pagham begin their Southern Combination Premier Division campaign at home to Crawley Down Gatwick.
