The best laid plans don’t always work out. I had originally accepted an offer from Crawley Down Gatwick to join them on the coach journey to Cockfosters for an Isuzu FA Vase tie. For those of you who know where neither are, CDG are close to the airport in Sussex and Cockfosters is pretty well known for being the starting point or end of the Piccadilly Line which borders London with Hertfordshire, a fair trek for a Saturday but not outside the realms.
Receiving a text from Dave Connor, the CDG chairman, at 8.15ish on Saturday morning to tell me the hosts had scheduled a 10-10.15 pitch inspection when departure was set for 10.30 wasn’t ideal. An hour’s run to the Haven to meet the coach but uncertainty as to whether it would be called off caused me to head elsewhere, no guarantee I wasn’t to waste a couple of hours and petrol a shame, nonetheless.
Instead I picked a much closer option and another side I’d not yet seen this season. Reigate Priory were heading to Arundel in the Southern Combination Division One, I’d seen the Mullets back in October on the Ground Hop weekend and both sides are well in and around the play-off picture in this league.
Arundel like many do struggle to get games on during the winter months, with a river running right bedside the pitch it is prone to flooding and there is generally a backlog of fixtures for all their sides come the business end of the season. But with the officials happy to play it was game on to see how both sides faired in a top end of the table tussle. No doubt the pitch was going to play a big part in proceedings throughout the 90 minutes, the ball sticking in places, zipping off in others along the way.
Priory were the first to show, rattling Maicek Kason’s crossbar within the first five minutes, a lively opening but one that had the visitors in disbelief at what followed shortly afterwards. Both sides seemed keen to give it a strong attacking go, the hosts were quick to respond, Harry Russell’s flicked header was superbly saved by Reigate’s Jordan Markey on 11 minutes.
However, two minutes later he wasn’t able to stop Mullets Daegan Walsh giving the home side the lead, tapping in from a few yards out. On 16 minutes Arundel doubled their lead, a couple of deflected shots finally landed at the feet of Matt Storm who from a few yards out turned his man and shot through Markey’s legs, a stunning turnaround from that early Priory strike.
Harrison Mott thought he had added a third just before the half hour mark, Markey pulling out a top drawer save to tip the ball round the post, the shot was heading to nestle in the bottom right hand corner of the net. At the other end, Reigate looked menacing going forward, but the final ball was more often that not found wanting or it could well have been a score fest by half time, the Mullets going in two goals to the good.
The second half was a much quieter affair, scrappy in places with the conditions worsening and a few tasty tackles also finding their way to test the referee’s patience. Priory did have a late chance to grab one back and make the final few minutes a little interesting but Kason was equal to the effort, a clean sheet and three more points for the Mullets with one or two results going their way around them.
The conditions certainly added that bit extra to the proceedings and it might have looked a little worse for wear by the end but the referee made the right call and the players adapted as well as they could. On another day had the early Reigate effort hit the back of the net I could have been writing about a completely different game, fine margins always as Crawley Down Gatwick found out at Cockfosters, equalising with four minutes to play only to concede in stoppage time and crash out of the Vase.
Lots of good things going on around Arundel at the moment, and great to catch up with Si Butler and Dan Harvey before and during the game. Dan was a guest on the midweek SNLF podcast raising funds for a defibrillator for community use to be situated in the club car park, the link to sponsor his run can be found here.
A first time catch up with Priory boss Dale Wyatt as well at half time, no budget for his side as per Arundel and since arriving from Step 7 18 months ago his side have more than held their own and on current trajectory will finish higher than their maiden season. Markey was superb with shot stopping for Wyatt’s side, they could well have gone in 4-0 down and out of it by half time, but that did allow them to give it go in the second 45. Brad Johnson was also nice and tidy with quick feet on the boggy surface, but not quite enough to spark a comeback.
Couple of great shift’s from the Mullets front men Sam Pearson and Harry Russell, super hold up play at times on a sticky surface. Great to see Matt Storm on the scoresheet, seemingly a little underused at Littlehampton Town and needs to be playing regularly at his age. Likewise with Dale, good to catch up with Joss Parsons and Jim Warren in patches, guys carrying on the good work Craig Stuart put in place and with the win they sit in 4th spot with games in hand on all around them. It might be a touch too far to challenge for the title but well in the thick of the play-off race.
A last word on the crowd, good to see a number watching which hopefully will continue to build, there is more work behind the scenes to encourage the youth section to come and watch with their parents, a winning team on the pitch always helps.
