Every so often a club pops up on social media with something to catch the eye. Be that good food, impressive admission prices, proper infrastructure that looks fantastic and remains when all move onwards or upwards.
I don’t always end up making it to all I see and make a note of, some end up heading onto the new season list to see what they’re all about, there’s only so many Tuesdays and Saturdays in a season.
The weekend trip I fancied some distance for a change, especially with a couple of weeks coming up where there will be no football for me. While it’s lovely staying local, receiving some great hospitality in Sussex for the SNLF work getting further afield and opening the eyes to more of non-league football is the aim and the balance.
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Saturday afternoon was off to Uxbridge in West London. I actually spent of lot of time close by in West Drayton as a kid where my grandparents lived for years before they retired down to the West Country.
Before the season began they caught my eye on social media. Newly promoted from Step 4 in the Southern League, they capped season ticket prices at £50 for the year, £5 if you’re of concession age.
An outrageous move in the sense of that’s an offer you can’t surely refuse living around those parts, even if you only made half the games or less. Not content with that they went towards matchday prices remaining at a fiver as well, but the league ruled they must charge the minimum amount allowed for the level, a mere £3 hike to £8.
Now if you get around the grounds you’ll know watching Step 3 football is going to cost you anywhere around £13-16 a game, this offer from the Reds was one I felt the need to take up.
What I wasn’t expecting was the set-up! I’ve always said teams spending money on a good budget whilst having lavished some of the cash on the facilities I never have a problem with.
Granted when clubs lay a 3G surface down it looks tidy all around, Uxbridge have the blueprint to go above and beyond. Two seated stands facing each other, covered terraces behind both goals, a welcoming good sized clubhouse.
A beer garden area complete with bar, catering area with custom built condiments section, I was really impressed with everything I saw and clearly a club geared up wanting success.
Sitting third in the league they were welcoming struggling Yate Town, one place above the relegation zone. I hadn’t picked the match due to the distance between them in the league table, it was all about seeing what was going on there.
The visitors were disciplined as the Reds moved the ball across the pitch but lacking the penetration to make a difference despite constant overloads especially down the right hand side. They did get their goal however, Nnams Nwachuku with a sweet strike into the net to give Uxbridge a half time lead.
The second half was a different story, almost as if the home side forget to come out of the changing room such was the way Yate imposed themselves on the half, despite that the home side had the best chance to double their lead when Harry Rush curled a shot towards goal but hit the bar four minutes after the restart.
As the game wound down to the final ten minutes, the visitors got an equaliser that their second half play deserved, Marlon Jackson heading home and seemingly a share of the spoils.
However, football has form for turning games on their head from time to time and with two minutes left on the clock Jack Hooper headed in from a few yards out to put Yate into the lead.
With six minutes of added time to come from behind and take a point, Uxbridge had minutes on their side. But, giving the ball away in midfield Rex Mannings strode forward and fired past Laurie Shala from 20 yards out to give the visitors an unexpected three points but thoroughly deserved on the balance of play.
Substitutions seemed to make the home side weaker than providing an injection of energy to go on and win the game, as the match wore on Yate always looked like they would get something to take home with them.
Only a second league defeat of the season for the Reds, the win lifting Yate up four or five places in the table and some daylight between them and the bottom four.
How they increase the attendance levels I’m not sure, an average of 321 after Saturday’s game is one of the lowest in the division despite the cheapness of tickets and one of the top performing sides across the season so far, that’s the challenge though for a lot of clubs at this level and below, they can only hope the elite levels keep pushing people away and when you’ve got affordable football on the doorstep with excellent facilities then it becomes harder to ignore.
