Transit Van

Redbridge  1  Brightlingsea Regent  1

Isthmian League – Division One North 

Admission / Programme - £10 / Free

It does feel like getting to a game at the Oakside Stadium, the home of Redbridge Football Club, was proving to be more problematic than it needed to be.

The problem was not the doing of the football club by any means, the pitch is notoriously reliable, or at least seems to have been this season when others have fallen foul of the weather. No, the problem was very much one of my own doing. 

Bad planning for a start, like planning to go to a game that was never going to be played because Redbridge were in the FA Trophy. The fact two teams play at the ground, Newbury Forest being the other in the Eastern Counties League, meant I kept putting it off because effectively it was a ground I could go to on any given Saturday. Then of course, when it was on the radar recently, what was effectively the toss of a coin, took us to Raynes Park Vale instead.

Like I say, it wasn’t a Hanworth Villla situation by any means whereby a cat wazzing on the pitch would get a game called off, it was just one of those situations where it kept getting pushed back, and then further back, bearing in mind it was originally scheduled for a Saturday in November!

So, I had a plan, the home game against Brightlingsea Regent, the weather looked fine, and barring something pretty extreme happening, all looked good. A further twist on Saturday morning came in the shape of Alfreton Town’s home game with Kings Lynn Town being called off (ATFC Club Shop Mark predicted it to be fair on Tuesday – he knows you know!), and that meant I had a travelling companion for the fourth Saturday since the start of December when we went to Horsham.

A 10.30am departure from downtown ‘Ofton’ saw the sat nav spin us on to the A14 and then down the M11 which was not something I was expecting. The M11 had a couple or three hold ups, but as we passed the home of Woodford Town, and then slipped passed Redbridge Underground Station we were soon parking up at the very nice Crown & Crooked Billet pub in Woodford Green, a GBG pub that Mark had sniffed out earlier.

It was just before quarter to two, and following a quick necking of a pint, it was only 2.7 miles to the ground, and to be fair, by the time we’d admired the gated properties of this part of Essex along the main road that runs into Barkingside, it wasn’t long before we were crossing the bridge at Barkingside Underground Station and turning right into the car park.

So what’s the deal with Redbridge Football Club then?

Firstly, when you think about non-league football and the North / East of London the first thing that springs to mind is mergers, closures, takeovers, grounds going, grounds being shared, and ultimately a whole host of confusion. To be clear, Redbridge FC are absolutely nothing to do with Dagenham & Redbridge, and, despite the fact they play at the stadium in Barkingside, that Barkingside FC used to use, they are nothing to do with them either!

So forget your Walthamstow’s, your Leytonstone’s your Ilford’s, your Leyton’s, or your Waltham’s, this is completely separate.

Redbridge FC are the club formerly known as Ford United. Ford United came about in 1959 following a merger between Ford Sports and Briggs Sports. Yes, there is a very strong link with the motor company that was indeed entrenched in East London, and that very same motor company provided backing for Ford United who plied there trade at the Rush Green Sports Ground, which was eventually annexed by West Ham United who turned it into their training ground.

After playing in various local leagues, Ford joined the Essex Senior League in 1974, where they remained until 1997 when they joined the Isthmian League. A rapid rise ensued and by 2002 they found themselves in the Premier Division, before ultimately making the cut to join the newly formed Conference South.

This move coincided with the ending of the backing from the Ford Motor Company, and having recently moved to the Oakside Stadium after Barkingside’s lease was not renewed, they changed their name to the current guise in an attempt to better reflect the local community.

As Ford United they did make a bit of a name for themselves in the FA Cup, reaching the First Round in 1998-99 only to lose to Preston North End. Then in 2003-04, in the final season before the name change they held Port Vale to a 2-2 draw at Vale Park before losing the replay 2-1 in front of the TV cameras.

Redbridge’s first season in the Conference South ended badly, and with that came about a steady decline, so much so that by 2016 they were back in the Essex Senior League. That said though, they did beat Haywards Heath Town at the end of last season in the Inter-League Play Off and by doing so they now find themselves back in the Isthmian League.

Having said all that about the decline, in 2011-12 they reached the Second Round of the FA Cup, beating Oxford City in the First Round before going down 5-0 at Crawley Town.

What’s the Oakside Stadium like then?

Well, bit of a story for you, back in the mid to late Nineties I worked, ironically, in the automotive industry as a buyer, and at the time I had some dealings with a company called Directa UK. I used to speak on the phone to the sales rep fairly regularly, and in time we got onto talking about football. He did try and get me into an executive box at Tottenham Hotspur on a couple of occasions, but due to my commitments at Belper Town we could never make it happen. Anyway, it turned out he used to go down to the Oakside Stadium to watch Barkingside from time to time, having many a late Saturday night holed up in the bar!

Situated right next to the Underground Station, the ground is charmingly ramshackle. You enter behind the goal and directly in front of you is the smart clubhouse where Fosters was being sold at a price welcomingly cheap considering which part of the Country we were in. Behind the said North goal are a couple of steps of terracing but raised above those steps is a concreted walkway which provides excellent elevated views of the action.

The East side is out of bounds and it looks like the perimeter fencing has been the victim of some storms, while behind the South goal is a narrow concrete walkway. Furniture wise it’s all about the West side. An area of cover straddles the half way line, and contained within it are a number of seats of varying types, colours and styles, while towards the South end of the cover the seats stop and it’s just terracing. Either side of the cover, again, are areas of terracing with elevated concreted areas at the top providing the best vistas.

A couple of portakabin style buildings sit between the stand and the clubhouse / dressing rooms, but what they are used for, I couldn’t tell you. The pitch was a bit heavy, but perfectly playable.

A crowd of just 85 rocked up to watch it, with a fair number having travelled from Brightlingsea (the mini bus was parked outside!). It’s a shame the crowds are so low because the club were very friendly, but I guess in this part of the World, there are lots of other things you can do on a Saturday afternoon. 

The game was ok, not the best, not the worst. Regent started quite brightly but Redbridge had a golden chance to take the lead in the first half but Ayo Odukoya saw his weak penalty easily saved by Lewis Greene.

The second half was a better spectacle and it was the hosts who came out the stronger, taking the lead through Lewis Clark who got the vital touch from a free kick on the left hand side. Redbridge took the game to Regent in the second period as the visitors struggled to create anything, but a late sting in the tail saw Kurt Smith break free in the sixth minute of added time to grab the equaliser.

And that was it, game over, and before long we were gawping once again at some of the properties around Chigwell and the Epping Forest, before finally getting onto the M25 and homeward bound.

An enjoyable day at a very welcoming club, if only a few more of the locals would make the effort to go and watch them. The club could quite easily have died when Ford withdrew their backing, so credit to the ‘Motormen’ for trying to forge a new identity. 

However, notwithstanding the lack of support, the spirit of the Transit Van lives on!

Misinterpretation

Salisbury 2 Poole Town 0

Southern League - Premier Division South

Admission / Programme - £14 / £2.50

Regular subscribers to my blog, and indeed the patrons who pay a monthly subscription to access the Podcasts that run alongside it, will recall back in pre-season I visited Dorchester Town. I talked about Dorchester being one of two grounds in England that I considered to be the best, that I hadn’t previously seen a game at.

The other was Salisbury.

Salisbury Football Club play at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium in the Old Sarum area of the City, and it’s a venue that they only moved to in 1997, having previously played at Victoria Park, which was indeed a park in the centre of the City. In terms of allowing the club to progress, well, it simply didn’t!

I’ve got to be honest though, in my 51 years of residing on this planet, I’ve never been to the City of Salisbury, in fact I’ve never really been anywhere near it. So, as I’ve gradually been working my way down the Step 3 and 4 lists this season, ordinarily in distance from home order, the boys from Wiltshire have started to appear on the radar. But this one felt that bit more interesting, a bit more exciting, perhaps even a little sexy, and certainly capable of inducing a small amount of uncontrolled wee.

But, on the day, I very nearly didn’t make it, thanks to social media and my misinterpretation of it!

The weather of course had been ‘blankety blank’ over the previous week, we’d had snow, rain, volcanic lava, you name it, we’d had the lot, but to be fair to Salisbury they chucked a Tweet out on Friday night stating that barring a ‘wild’ weather event overnight, the game against Poole Town would be taking place.

That would do for me, so I set off, all was good in the World, Saturday morning had seen a game preview posted, what could possibly cause this one to go bustage up?

Well, I’d had a bacon sandwich before I set off, and by the time I was turning off the M1 onto the A43 I felt like I needed a drink, so I stopped at the services on the roundabout at the Towcester turn. I had a quick glance at my phone and noticed the club had put a further Tweet out….

“Hold It…” were the only words, with a GIF thingy posted underneath of a bloke in what looked like a blizzard. My initial thoughts were that we had a problem of the weather variety, but at the same time, I did think any question marks about the game would surely be significantly clearer due to the potential ramifications?

So, I did indeed “Hold It”, sitting in the services for a while, but nothing more came, from either club. I knew that once I’d got onto the M40 and then turned off onto the A34, it was shit or bust time. I had Salisbury or Salisbury to go to, but, if I was on the M40 and we did indeed have a problem, I had a plastic back up down in the capital in the form of regular back up plan, Rayners Lane!

The exit on the M40 was reached and I was in queueing traffic, I sneaked a look, no news about the game but a new signing had been announced, was that what we were indeed hanging on for? So, it seemed the uncertainty was unfounded, all was indeed good in Old Sarum!

A good tootle down the A34 followed, apart from a hold up in the Oxford area, and before long it was onto the famous A303, a road sung about by the Levellers on the track ‘Battle of the Beanfield’. Andover was bypassed before eventually taking a scenic route down past Porton Down and into Old Sarum, which in itself meant that the infamous city centre traffic was avoided. By now it was a quarter to two and the car park at the ground was pretty packed, but I got into it, and it was clear that a good sized crowd was going to be in attendance.

The ground itself is situated in the middle of a newly built housing estate, so access to and from it is via the one road, and there are restrictions around parking, so if you didn’t make the car park, it could be a tricky as to where to dump the car.

The ground is a cracker, with a capacity of 5,000, you have a large main stand that runs three quarters of the length of the South side. With a good number of seats set within it, you also have a bar area at the top, with a sponsors and officials viewing balcony in front of it. Sandwiched between the upper tier bar area and the seats at the bottom are the club offices and dressing rooms, which also, set to the rear, and accessible before entering through the turnstiles are a Club Shop and a further bar area.

At the West end of the stand it turns into covered terracing, which then extends all the way round the West end of the ground providing a steep rake of steps where excellent views of the field of play can be had. Further terracing albeit uncovered and not as steep runs along the North side of the ground and extends round to the East side, albeit on the North side two Atcost style seated stands sit on plinths.

Is it Football League standard, well if it’s not, it can’t be far off?

The history of the club is one of peaks and troughs, with the Ray Mac (as it’s known locally) being the catalyst of the club reaching it’s peak, but as we’ve seen many times before, it quickly went wrong. The original Salisbury City were formed in 1905, playing in the Western League, before they folded at the onset of the Second World War. A new incarnation, called simply Salisbury, re-appeared in the Western League in 1947, before gaining promotion to the Southern League in 1968 where they stayed until 1993, when they changed name again, this time adding the suffix ‘City’.

This is when the fun started, in 1995 the Southern Division championship was won and with it came promotion to the Premier Division. That was followed by a number of mid-table finishes (and a move to the Ray Mac) before relegation sent them back to the regional Southern divisions in 2002.

A one season spell in the Isthmian League Premier Division came in 2004-05, and the elevation came as a result of restructuring, but within a year they were moved back across to the Southern League and that was won at the first attempt, bringing about a promotion to the Conference South.

An immediate runners up spot saw them elevated to the top table of non-league thanks to a Play-Off Final victory over Braintree Town, culminating in a three season spell. However by now financial difficulties beset the club, administration followed and the club were demoted two levels back to the Southern League Premier Division.

Promotion came immediately thanks to a Play-Off Final victory over Hednesford Town. Then two seasons later came another Play-Off Final, this time against Dover Athletic, and once again, at the start of the 2013-14 season, the top table was returned to.

It lasted one season, a mid-table finish meant nothing because the club were expelled from the competition due to missing a deadline to clear outstanding debts. Salisbury City Football Club had gone.    

The City had a season without a club, but then in time for the 2015-16 club, a new Salisbury FC were good to go, playing at the Ray Mac, winning the Wessex League at the first attempt. The following season a runners up spot in the Southern League South Western Division saw them lose out to Tiverton Town in the Play Off Final, but the following year they did win a place back in the Premier Division, where they remain.

The current club reached the FA Vase semi-final in 2015-16, losing to Hereford FC, whereas the previous guise of the club had some impressive exploits in the cups.

The competition proper of the FA Cup has been reached on numerous occasions, with highlights including games against Hull City, Grimsby Town, Port Vale, Sheffield United (in the Third Round), Sheffield Wednesday and indeed Nottingham Forest who were held to a draw at the Ray Mac in front of the TV cameras.

The FA Trophy quarter finals have been reached on numerous occasions, while the semi-final was reached in 2009-10, only for the Whites to lose to Barrow over two legs.

So, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for the fans of Salisbury, but what about the current campaign, is the National League South within grasp? Sat second in the table to Chesham United before the game against Poole, they are well placed, and with a crowd of just under 1,000 in attendance, they strengthened their chances with a 2-0 victory.

The first half was a pretty even affair, with both sides having spells of pressure and indeed chances, but the opening goal came just prior to the break when full back Aaron Simpson crashed home the sweetest of half volleys from the angle of penalty area.

The pivotal moment came just before the hour mark when after a spell of Poole pressure (who were very well supported vocally and perhaps a little boisterously!), Salisbury goalkeeper Harrison Lee produced a fabulous double save to deny both Toby Holmes and Jamie Whisken. The ball immediately broke and Salisbury went straight up the other end and grabbed the second goal through Ryan Penny who curled a shot into the top corner.

Poole were awarded a penalty in injury time when Holmes was pulled to the floor by Sido Jombati, but the same players weak effort was easily saved by Lee.

So a happy home crowd left the Ray Mac and despite my fears, I found getting away pretty much trouble free, as was the rest of the journey back to blighty.

So, once again, the best I’ve never had, has finally been done, and to think, a cryptic player signing announcement almost saw me miss it! 

Happy Place

Broadbridge Heath  1  Erith & Belvedere  0

Isthmian League – Division One South East

Admission / Programme - £10 / £2

I can easily be swayed, and early in the week when Steve asked me if I fancied ‘jumping in’ with him on a trip to Broadbridge Heath, I shelved the original plan of a run to Redbridge and accepted his offer.

It’s been a while since we had a little day out, taking the Isle Of Man escapade out of the equation, we haven’t been on one this season, whereas last season we had some belters at Beckenham Town, Pontypridd United and Bracknell Town.

Broadbridge Heath as a club are new to Step 4 this season having won the Southern Combination League last time out. The Southern Combination is the league formerly known as the Sussex County League, a competition the Bears had been members of since a third division was formed back in 1983.

The history of the club is much deeper than that though. They were formed in 1919 by demobilised soldiers, and went on to play in local leagues such as the Horsham & District, and the West Sussex League, before ending up in the Southern Counties Combination, which eventually via a merger became the aforementioned Sussex County League.

In case you were wondering where exactly Broadbridge Heath is, it is in Sussex, but to be fair, when they were promoted to the Isthmian League back in the Summer, I did have to resort to looking on a map. Without being arrogant, not many places require me to look at a map to locate them, but Broadbridge Heath did, and it was from this that I ascertained that the place was in fact a small town on the edges of Horsham, and is in fact split from it via the main A23 which scoots down to Worthing.

Readers will recall a trip prior to the festive period that was meant to have ended up at Badshot Lea, but in actual fact, ended up at Horsham FC. Warthogs had taken hold and myself and Thorpey had to head further round the M25 at Leatherhead, and follow the A23 round the edges of the town, through Dorking and eventually past Broadbridge Heath before arriving at the Hop Oast ground of the Premier Division side.

I did comment to Thorpey on the day that Broadbridge Heath was a club that was on the radar, but in all honesty I wasn’t expecting to visit them quite so soon. The ground is easy to find, you come off the roundabout, head for Tesco and the Leisure Centre, park up in the bowls club and it’s right behind you, dead easy! In fact, it was dead easy, the journey was a proverbial piece of wee wee and we were in the car park at 12.45, such a shame Steve was driving……

The ground is a new one that they only moved into in 2019, but prior to that they were quite literally next door at the athletics track that belongs to the Leisure Centre. Steve and I would have gone and had a look at it because we were so early, but two thing stopped us, firstly we didn’t actually know it was the former ground until we got home, and secondly, the bar was open!

The ground is tidy, with the stand out feature being the single story clubhouse and dressing room building that sits on the North touchline. A seated stand is opposite, while behind the East goal is a narrow area of covered terracing of the Atcost style variety. The pitch itself was in excellent nick, but the most striking thing about this club was quite simply the welcome.

We walked into the clubhouse and were greeted by a home official, who relieved us of our admission money, but at the same time was incredibly interested why we had travelled down from Belper and Chesterfield respectively. He wasn’t buying the story that we were escaped prisoners on the run, and before we knew it we were being introduced to various other club officials who wanted to chat to us about the why’s and wherefores of our visit. It was all very welcoming and friendly, and when you are treated like that when you first visit a club, it goes a very long way in term of not only the first impressions, but more importantly, the lasting memories of a place.

That welcome was extended when at half time we were invited into the boardroom to enjoy a cup of tea, some sandwiches and a lovely slice of Victoria Sponge, where again we chatted to officials of both clubs and both sides cases, the challenges of moving from Step 5 to Step 4, not least in terms of the demands of the playing wage bill.

I suppose at some point I’d better mention the game. Erith & Belvedere sat next to bottom after bossing the Southern Counties East League last season, whereas the hosts were sat in the bottom half of the table. On paper it didn’t have the hallmarks of a classic, with the greatest of respect, and to be fair, the story on paper was mirrored by the action on the pitch.

It was not a great spectacle in terms of action. Both sides gave it their all, and we saw plenty of endeavour, but not much in the way of craft and guile. In front of 122 paying spectators, the first half was goalless, and as we moved into added time it did look like it was going to finish that way until Jamie Buchanan grabbed the all important goal that gave the hosting Bears the three points.

You had to be pleased for Broadbridge Heath, not least because of the hospitality and friendly welcome they afforded to us. The journey they are on is at an interesting stage. Clubs that gain promotion from the Southern Combination (Sussex County) League do not typically flourish and move on, some find their level and plateau, others give it a go but then drop back down a level again. Hopefully, for the Bears, plateauing is the least they will do, and maybe, that is where they will find their happy place.

Steve and I certainly found our happy place at Broadbridge Heath, give them a visit, I’m sure you will too, tell them we sent you!

The Wedding Cake

AFC Totton  1  Gosport Borough  1

Southern League – Premier Division South

Admission / Programme - £14 / £3

It seems like yesterday, but by my reckoning, it was close on twenty five years ago…….

My Mum and Dad dropped me at Derby Railway Station, and I was about to embark on an adventure, an adventure that hopefully would see the start of a new career in financial services.

I’d decided to make the move from the wholly unpleasant World of the automotive component supply chain, and into the exciting sphere that was becoming a financial adviser. As part of that I had to go on a training course, in Bournemouth.

A week in Bournemouth, in a hotel, paid for by Abbey Life, and of course, they had bought the train tickets. I was still living at home with the folks, so after a hearty Sunday lunch, it was time to go, nervous, but excited……

It proved to be a good move, and despite a couple of early setbacks (like being made redundant by Abbey Life), I remain in the game, having served nearly 24 years with my current employers. But, you might ask, what has this got to do with AFC Totton?

Right, so the train to Bournemouth followed a route that went via Oxford, Reading, Winchester and Southampton. I had a lovely time, looking out of the window at places I’d never seen before, but then as the train pulled out of Southampton, on the final leg of my journey, to my right was a football ground, and the signage on the stand roof made it clear who it belonged to, AFC Totton.

I’ve never forgotten it, and when it was announced that in 2011 the club were to move to a new stadium, it all came flooding back, I may have seen the former home of AFC Totton from afar, but in reality, I was never going to pay it a visit.

My dealings with Southampton have been minimal over the years. I never got to the old Dell home of Southampton, I once got part way on a supporters coach to watch Derby County but it got called off. I made it to St Mary’s in recent years as part of the 92 escapade, while I also got to Eastleigh when post 92, I decided to polish off the next couple of levels, but otherwise, nothing, it was largely unchartered territory.

The road to conquest all of the English pyramid down to the eighth tier is at a stage now where the end is in sight, the number is now below thirty, and pretty much every single one is a three hour or more trip to get to.

I’d been glancing through the fixtures, looking at the map, and trying to work out a destination for the final Saturday in January, weather permitting of course. The weather forecast was indeed a good one, and to be honest, I’ve been getting a little bit fed up of the M1 / M25 runs of late, so I fancied something a bit different.

The AFC Totton v Gosport Borough game jumped out at me for a few reasons. Firstly, it would be change in terms of the journey (and hopefully not as painful), secondly it would be two teams fighting in the play-off zone of the Southern League Premier Division South, but thirdly, most intriguingly, it was a Southampton v Portsmouth clash, or Scummers v Skates is it’s known locally, and would it be as tribal as the main event?

That was it then, the M40, Oxford, Newbury, Winchester and the M27 beckoned, this was very much one to look forward to. The journey was very comfortable it has to be said, every single road behaved itself, and I must admit while I do find the M40 a bit tedious, the A34 is more of an enjoyable drive in terms of scenery and landmarks. Winchester was bypassed nice and easily and within a matter of minutes the M3 was cutting through Eastleigh and the end was in sight just a bit further Westbound down the M27.

Totton is on the Western edges of Southampton, with the next stop effectively being the New Forest. While the old ground was right in the centre of the town (it is a town in it’s own right), the new stadium is on the Northern edges, adjacent to an industrial estate and less than a couple of miles from the motorway junction.

Upon arrival I was directed to the said industrial estate for parking, which to be fair was only a five minute walk at most from the ground, and as it was nice and early, it gave me plenty of time for a little explore of the place. Walking round the perimeter of the Snows Stadium (Testwood Park), the turnstiles behind the West goal were not yet open, but not to worry, a walk into the clubs main entrance adjacent saw me able to gain admission and then make my way into the clubhouse, from where you could get into the ground itself.

The ground is impressive, the club house, offices and dressing rooms sit on the North side of the ground with a tall but relatively narrow seated stand straddling the half way line. Either side of the stand towards each corner flag are areas of open terracing, while again, behind both goals are areas of uncovered terracing running the full width of the pitch.

The side opposite the main stand (South) again has two areas of uncovered terracing, but in between them is a low roofed seated stand with the TV gantry area erected above it. Despite having seen the previous midweek game called off due to a waterlogged pitch, the pitch, after a few days of benign weather, looked absolutely fine. The ground is shared with Southampton FC Ladies and Southampton FC B team, so it does get some wear and tear. Interestingly as well, right behind the ground is another ground on what is effectively the same complex, the home of Totton & Eling who are members of the Wessex League.

What’s the craic with AFC Totton then?

Well the AFC actually stands for ‘Amalgamated Football Club’, because they were formed as a merger between Totton and Totton Athletic, the two having got together in 1975. The new club took the place of Totton who were plying their trade in the Hampshire League.

They remained in the Hampshire League, playing at Testwood Park (the one I saw from the train), finishing either top or runners up in every season from 1980 onwards until they joined the newly formed Wessex League. The Hampshire League success did not translate immediately to the new surroundings, and it wasn’t until the noughties that they became a dominant force again, finally winning the title in 2007-08 and gaining promotion to the Southern League.

The previous season saw them reach the FA Vase Final, only to lose to Truro City as the competition finally returned to Wembley in front of a record crowd for the competition, but the move to Step 4 came with growing momentum. Two consecutive play-off losses in the South West Division saw defeats to Didcot Town and Cirencester Town, but finally in 2010-11 they won the championship and with it promotion to the Premier Division. Incidentally, the promotion season tied in nicely with the move to the new stadium.

A play off defeat to Oxford City the following year saw them miss out on back to back promotions to the National League South, and with that came a gradual slide and two seasons later they were back in Step 4 again.

The club then plateaued somewhat for a few seasons with mid-table finishes, before last time out clinching the South Division title, and with it a return to Step 3 for the current campaign.

A crowd of 1,353 filed into the stadium for the game, with a good number having travelled across the divide. The atmosphere was a good one, boisterous but certainly not threatening, and it was good to see the big City rivalry not to spill over into anything other than banter and chanting.

Gosport took a first half lead through Daniel Wooden when he powered home a header just after the half hour mark, and at that stage the visitors looked to have settled well into the game.

However, the hosts started to gain momentum, and equalised just prior to the hour mark when Samuel Magri fired in a shot from distance that the Gosport goalkeeper should have done far better with. After that it was Totton who were in the ascendancy, and on the balance of play they should really have gone on to win the game, but it wasn’t to be and you felt the visitors were the happier with the point.

The escape was easy, the roads back were fine, and Totton is no longer a memory from the days of travelling to the ‘Wedding Cake’ in Bournemouth (Google it!).