AFC Hayes 1-2 Uxbridge
15/01/13 - Southern League Division One Central
Att: 89
I had originally planned to attend the Blue Square South match between Staines Town and Welling United but as I was getting ready to leave I saw that the match had fallen foul to the weather. With the time approaching 6pm I had to hastily find a match within the local area that was still on and I was debating between AFC Hayes, AFC Totton or staying in the warmth. I opted to make the slightly shorter trip to AFC Hayes to see them take on Uxbridge in the only match in their league to survive the conditions.
With time against me and only a faint idea of where I was going I jumped into the car and made my way towards London, repeating the route over and over in my head while listening to The Beatles as I battled my way through the traffic on the M3, M25 and M4. Apart from a short delay on the M4 the journey went pretty smoothly and after coming off the A-road I went past a row of shops where I expected the ground to be and started to worry, but before long a set of floodlights appeared on my left, illuminating the night sky.
After parking in a nearby housing estate I wrapped up warm, finding an extra jacket in the back of my car to go with my scarf, gloves and Hellas Verona bobble hat. It was a bitterly cold evening, with my phone showing the temperature to be -2. AFC Hayes had put on their Twitter page that the pitch was wet but playable and somehow it didn't freeze over and the match went ahead. After paying in and surveying the scene I hunted down the tea hut and found some warm refreshment, which would prove to be a recurring theme throughout the evening.
It's a pleasant enough venue with a small seated Main Stand on one side of the pitch, with the changing room blocks adjacent to it. Behind one goal is a covered standing area and on the far side there is a strange block of covered standing, placed in line with the edge of the penalty area. The far end of the ground is just railed off and open to the elements. There are floodlight pylons in each corner which were erected in 1992 and allowed the club to enter the FA Cup for the first time, where their most notable result came in 1995/96 when they held then Conference side Stevenage to a goalless draw in the 1st Qualifying Round before losing the replay.
Before the 2006/07 season the club were known as Brook House FC, named after the pub which they represented upon their formation in 1974. After success in the district Sunday leagues the club switched to Saturday football in 1982 in the South West Middlesex League. The club's name change coincided with Hayes FC's merger with Yeading to create Hayes & Yeading United, who are temporarily playing 20 miles away in Woking while their new ground is under construction. It was hoped that the name change would help give the club a better image within the local area and perhaps capitalise on the situation with the more established local team, but the club's average attendance this season stands at just 68 - The second lowest in the division.
With a bit of time to kill before kick off I decided to have a flick through the programme to have a read up on the match as I'd spent all day reading about Staines and Welling, only to find that the programme was printed for the postponed Boxing Day fixture between the two teams. As the programme was only £1 I didn't feel too ripped off, but an up-to-date league table would have been nice. As it happens both clubs are stuck right in the middle of the table, with very average records over the course of the season. Going into this match AFC Hayes had won 10, drawn 2 and lost 8, meanwhile Uxbridge had won 11, drawn 1 and lost 12. Both sides find themselves off the pace for the play off places, but comfortably clear of the one relegation place which is currently taken by Woodford United who are still awaiting their first point of the season after losing their opening 22 matches.
Only 3 miles separate the two towns, so this was somewhat of a local derby and the programme notes mentioned that they were hoping for a triple figure crowd for the originally planned Boxing Day fixture, but on this freezing cold Tuesday evening only 89 hardy souls clicked through the turnstile.
Uxbridge enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame earlier in this season when they came up against the ESPN circus at Wembley FC in the FA Cup qualifying rounds. After drawing in front of a bumper crowd at their Honeycroft ground the Reds defeated their Combined Counties league opponents, including their star names, 5-0 in the replay. It was after this match that Uxbridge manager Tony Choules gave one of my favourite post match interviews. When asked how difficult they found it to get a result that night, Choules simply replied with "not very." - It was quick witted comedy genius and a refreshing change from the usual cliches and crap spouted my managers in the professional game.
Eventually the teams emerged from their separate changing rooms, exchanged handshakes and pleasantries and the match got underway. Freezing conditions and a pitch that was only just about playable meant that the match wasn't much of a spectacle in the opening stages, with lots of long balls and very few attacking opportunities. As the match settled it was Uxbridge who created the better chances and certainly enjoyed the majority of the possession and territory. Their best chance to open the scoring came when a ball into the box was turned on to the post by the out-swinging leg of the Hayes defender.
It was goalless at the break but just two minutes after the restart the visitors took a deserved lead when a good cross was met by the head of Woods who headed past the keeper. Having finally broken the deadlock it looked as if they would take control of the match but the home side had other ideas. They responded well to going a goal down and pressed for the equaliser, which came just past the hour mark when a defence splitting pass fell to Williams who kept his composure to slot the ball into the bottom corner of the net. It was quite an open game after this but as the match wore on Uxbridge regained a grip on the match and looked the more likely to score the decisive goal. They had several opportunities and as the match looked like it would be a stalemate the away side finally got their winning goal when a cool finish by Smith settled the match in the 83rd minute.
Whilst it was quite a watchable match considering the conditions, I must admit that I was hugely relieved to hear the final whistle. My toes were frozen, my face was numb and I'd done nothing but drink tea all night to try and keep myself from icing over completely.
After the match I got away from the ground easily enough and I was home within about 45 minutes, by which time I had thawed out quite nicely although my nose hasn't stopped running since. On the whole I was glad to have visited the ground and found it to be a friendly little club - Unfortunately the weather made it to be quite a miserable evening and the coldest I've been at a match in a long, long time.
Before the 2006/07 season the club were known as Brook House FC, named after the pub which they represented upon their formation in 1974. After success in the district Sunday leagues the club switched to Saturday football in 1982 in the South West Middlesex League. The club's name change coincided with Hayes FC's merger with Yeading to create Hayes & Yeading United, who are temporarily playing 20 miles away in Woking while their new ground is under construction. It was hoped that the name change would help give the club a better image within the local area and perhaps capitalise on the situation with the more established local team, but the club's average attendance this season stands at just 68 - The second lowest in the division.
With a bit of time to kill before kick off I decided to have a flick through the programme to have a read up on the match as I'd spent all day reading about Staines and Welling, only to find that the programme was printed for the postponed Boxing Day fixture between the two teams. As the programme was only £1 I didn't feel too ripped off, but an up-to-date league table would have been nice. As it happens both clubs are stuck right in the middle of the table, with very average records over the course of the season. Going into this match AFC Hayes had won 10, drawn 2 and lost 8, meanwhile Uxbridge had won 11, drawn 1 and lost 12. Both sides find themselves off the pace for the play off places, but comfortably clear of the one relegation place which is currently taken by Woodford United who are still awaiting their first point of the season after losing their opening 22 matches.
Only 3 miles separate the two towns, so this was somewhat of a local derby and the programme notes mentioned that they were hoping for a triple figure crowd for the originally planned Boxing Day fixture, but on this freezing cold Tuesday evening only 89 hardy souls clicked through the turnstile.
Uxbridge enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame earlier in this season when they came up against the ESPN circus at Wembley FC in the FA Cup qualifying rounds. After drawing in front of a bumper crowd at their Honeycroft ground the Reds defeated their Combined Counties league opponents, including their star names, 5-0 in the replay. It was after this match that Uxbridge manager Tony Choules gave one of my favourite post match interviews. When asked how difficult they found it to get a result that night, Choules simply replied with "not very." - It was quick witted comedy genius and a refreshing change from the usual cliches and crap spouted my managers in the professional game.
Eventually the teams emerged from their separate changing rooms, exchanged handshakes and pleasantries and the match got underway. Freezing conditions and a pitch that was only just about playable meant that the match wasn't much of a spectacle in the opening stages, with lots of long balls and very few attacking opportunities. As the match settled it was Uxbridge who created the better chances and certainly enjoyed the majority of the possession and territory. Their best chance to open the scoring came when a ball into the box was turned on to the post by the out-swinging leg of the Hayes defender.
It was goalless at the break but just two minutes after the restart the visitors took a deserved lead when a good cross was met by the head of Woods who headed past the keeper. Having finally broken the deadlock it looked as if they would take control of the match but the home side had other ideas. They responded well to going a goal down and pressed for the equaliser, which came just past the hour mark when a defence splitting pass fell to Williams who kept his composure to slot the ball into the bottom corner of the net. It was quite an open game after this but as the match wore on Uxbridge regained a grip on the match and looked the more likely to score the decisive goal. They had several opportunities and as the match looked like it would be a stalemate the away side finally got their winning goal when a cool finish by Smith settled the match in the 83rd minute.
Whilst it was quite a watchable match considering the conditions, I must admit that I was hugely relieved to hear the final whistle. My toes were frozen, my face was numb and I'd done nothing but drink tea all night to try and keep myself from icing over completely.
After the match I got away from the ground easily enough and I was home within about 45 minutes, by which time I had thawed out quite nicely although my nose hasn't stopped running since. On the whole I was glad to have visited the ground and found it to be a friendly little club - Unfortunately the weather made it to be quite a miserable evening and the coldest I've been at a match in a long, long time.
Doing their bit to promote the match
Club house
Outside the ground
Covered End
Looking across the Covered End
The block of terracing along the side
Main Stand
Open End
Hmm...
Players emerge
Pre-match handshakes
Uxbridge get the game underway
A bit of first half action
Main Stand
Block of terracing and dugouts
Every Non-League match features a player that looks like a fan and here he is
Colour co-ordination from the Uxbridge goalkeeper
My fuel for the evening
Through the net
The Uxbridge fans gather behind the goal that their team is attacking for the second half
No fancy electric boards here
Uxbridge line up a free kick
The visitors celebrate their winning goal
Handshakes all round as the match mercifully comes to an end
Panoramic view of Farm Park
