Not A Bad Shot

Badshot Lea  4  Guernsey  2

Isthmian League – Division One South Central

Admission / Programme - £10 / £2

The weather Gods for once were smiling down on us, it was one of those days where barring an unexpected incident of Phoenix Sports proportions, you could quite literally take your pick of games and be confident of seeing ninety minutes action.

I’d got a plan, a plan that would mean a slightly earlier start to the day, but an arrival back home at a more reasonable hour. You see, I’d spotted over the past couple of seasons that when Guernsey played an away game, they tended to kick off early to link in with the flights to and from Gatwick.

The game at Badshot Lea was bought forward an hour to 2pm, that suited me fine, and given I’d set off before Christmas to go to a game at Badshot, only to end up at Horsham due to waterlogging, it felt like the time had come!

I don’t know whether this was down to pure luck, or the fact setting off an hour earlier than normal makes a difference, but every single motorway behaved impeccably. Luton was actually quite pleasant, the M25 not once came to a standstill, and the lesser travelled M3 was also in fine form.

Badshot Lea then, where is it?

Well, the village of Badshot Lea involves a run down the Eastern edges of Farnborough and Aldershot, and can then be found just off the A31 before you get to Farnham. Which is fine, except the football club don’t actually play in Badshot Lea! You have to carry on a bit further, past Farnham, and then head South to the village of Wrecclesham. The club only moved to their home in Wrecclesham at the start of the 2019-20 season, having not been able to develop their home at Badshot Lea Recreation Ground, a venue that they left in 2007. In between times they have been somewhat nomadic, sharing at the likes of Farnborough, Ash United, Camberley Town and Godalming Town.

As I said, the journey was a breeze, and after calling at a local Morrisons for a chicken sandwich and a duo of hard boiled eggs, I was soon in the car park, surveying the scene. Two hours forty five minutes was the journey time, and being honest, I was a touch early!

As much as the Westfield Lane home of Badshot Lea is a new ground as far as the football club is concerned, if you weren’t in the know then you would have no idea that the venue is as new to the round ball game that it actually is. The clue is in the round ball, you see Westfield Lane was once the home of Farnham Rugby Club, and I suspect much of what is in-situ, certainly from a buildings perspective, dates back to the oval ball game.

The car park sits at the end of a track, just off the main road that runs down through the village towards the A3 which it joins at Petersfield. The turnstiles are behind the goal, as are the dressing rooms, clubhouse and tea bar, while a few yards in front of the said buildings is a small area of covered terracing that sits in the North East corner, while some scaffold and metal sheeting provides additional cover behind the goal, albeit with no back or sides.

The only other area of cover on the ground sits astride the half way line on the South side of the ground where a small seated stand is placed. Otherwise it’s open hard standing round the remainder of the ground.

The visitors from the Channel Islands arrived via a plane into Gatwick, from where a bus ferried them to the ground, and in fairness to them, they had a good number of supporters at the game, although I sensed one or two were mainland based.

Badshot Lea joined the Hellenic League in 2003-04 season, starting in Division One East, where they remained until 2007 when they won promotion to the Premier Division. After a single season in the top flight of the Hellenic they were laterally transferred to the Combined Counties League, and other than a single season when they were relegated and bounced straight back, they have been residents of the top flight, culminating in a second placed finish last season which earned them promotion to the Isthmian League. They’ve never won the FA Cup, Trophy, or indeed Vase, so we can swiftly move on from analysing that, and start to focus more on what happened in the game against the Green Lions.

I’ll be honest, as much as Badshot Lea deserved the three point from the 4-2 victory, I did feel a little bit sorry for Guernsey. Jonathan Sanchez opened the scoring for the hosts after ten minutes with an effort that eluded everyone in green to find the bottom corner, before Matt Loaring equalised when he closed down a complacent Harry Cawdron in the Badshot goal and the cleared ball deflected off of him and into the back of the net.

Anuar Ceesay rattled home a second for the hosts but then the first moment of controversy came when the visitors had a an equaliser chalked off thanks to a linesman’s flag and a referee’s whistle which was blown as the ball left his foot on the way to the back of the net.  I think the decision that was given was offside, but the man who found the back of the net certainly wasn’t! Trouble is, when the whistle blows, the games dead, whether the call is right or wrong.

The second moment of controversy came on the hour mark when Guernsey’s Thomas Dodds was sent off for a challenge. My initial thoughts were that it was very harsh, and judging by the sympathetic comments from the Badshot Lea faithful, I think they felt the same way. As Dodds walked to the dressing rooms he looked perplexed that he’d seen red, and having seen the video evidence since, I can understand why.

That was kind of it then, Kareem Akinibbi made it 3-1, Charlton Gauvain pulled it back to 3-2, but  Akinibbi got his second and Badshot’s fourth to seal the victory and the three points. Guernsey boss Tony Vance cut a frustrated figure at the end of the game, and I completely get why, but, Badshot march on and are proving more than a handful in their first season at Step 4.

Within a few minutes of leaving the ground, I could see the floodlights glaring at nearby Farnham Town, who were losing to Bridgwater United in the FA Vase. They are a club with a 100% record in the Combined Counties League currently, so it’s only a matter of time before I’m back in the vicinity.

Otherwise, the journey back was all very comfortable, and I’m not sure who got home first, me or the Guernsey….but as for Badshot Lea, their new home is proving to be a happy one.