Last weekend saw the Sussex Ground Hop take place across three different days. For those of you aren’t quite sure what it’s all about, six games take place from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon with groundhoppers galore turning up from all over the country to swell the attendances.
This is only the second year of the Southern Combination being involved and needless to say the weather was miles better than last year. We made sure on the SNLF (www.thesnlf.co.uk) podcast to heavily feature it and invited Laurence and Robyn Reade onto the show to explain more.
Being a child free weekend I took the opportunity to shuffle in three games with a trip to The Hive sandwiched in between (read about that one here). The Friday night game took me to Roffey FC, the Theatre of Trees, as they hosted AFC Varndeanians.
Now all three games I’ll feature within this blog as there isn’t the time to write all three up as separate blogs, but you will find some behind the paywall.
As well as different kick off times for some, clubs went all out on different food and drink options plus merchandise and more, a real celebration of football at this level if you like moving outside the box.
The visitors on Friday evening opened the scoring on 19 minutes, Ezra Roeg converting from the penalty spot. The lead however lasted merely a minute as the home side were level through Cavan Chedzy tapping home.
Five minutes before half time Roffey were in front through Jordan Mase, his initial shot blocked the rebound appeared to go in off his face. The visitors just needed to keep things tight as the half opened but seven minutes in they conceded a third from Shaun Findlay after a bit of pinball in the area.
 Despite some excellent wing from Damien Theodore they couldn’t find the finish in front of goal, 307 in attendance for this one versus a usual average of 99.
Saturday’s action which I didn’t see saw Alfold come from behind in the final ten minutes to beat Oakwood 2-1, Jarvis Brook and Southwater shared a 2-2 draw and Crowborough Athletic ended Hassocks’ unbeaten record winning 2-1, the games drawing crowds of 187, 257 and 413, excellent figures once again.
Sunday was a day of glorious sunshine and just perfect for watching football. Both games were 15 minute drives from my house in either direction.
The morning took me to Pagham as they hosted Loxwood. A first half very short on chances from both sides despite the sun beating down, the deadlock was broken in first half stoppage time when Howard Neighbour’s shot squeezed through the keeper to give the home side the lead.
Ten minutes into the second half Pagham doubled their lead, Oscar Johnston finding the corner with a superb strike from 20 yards out. With around 20 minutes to play the Lions looked home and dry, Neighbour notching his second and Pagham’s third from the penalty spot.
But football is football and you can never take anything for granted. Just a minute later Loxwood reduced the deficit, Wes Brown with a thumping strike from 25 yards out.
That looked like a consolation goal only, but with 12 minutes to play Charlie Martin with a fine finish made the final moments interesting bringing it back to 3-2.
The Lions held on to take the points in front of 259, hanging on in the end for a vital three points to inch away from the bottom three.
There is one more to come behind the paywall, to find out what happened to the rest of the day, grab a paid subscription from the link below:
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The final game took me to East Preston and the first time this season the three of us from the SNLF, myself, Mike McCaffrey and Gareth Spinks were all at the same game.
Godalming Town were the visitors to The Lashmar as the sunshine remained in situ for the afternoon, Town in front just five minutes in, Athan Smith-Joseph catching the ball nicely from 20 yards out and flying past Matt Walton for the opening goal.
EP were level on 18 minutes, Junior Kaffo heading home unmarked from a nicely flighted free kick. The home side had the opportunity to go in front from the penalty spot just after the half hour mark, but Nahum Green’s penalty brilliantly saved by Town keeper Ryan O’Sullivan.
Just before the hour mark Godalming took the lead again, a bullet header from Cameron Edwin gave Walton no chance in the EP goal.
Town had chances to increase their lead in the final half an hour, the home side down to ten men with Coye Hastings sent off but a 2-1 scoreline it remained in front of 231 spectators.
A great weekend of football, some excellent stuff played as well with the clubs really impressing the organisers. An average of 276 attended with 3.7 average goals across the games, no 0-0’s here for anyone to see.
