We had a very pleasant day out down in West Sussex to watch Chichester City on Saturday for their home game against Sevenoaks Football Club at Step 4 in the Isthmian League South East Division.
The first thing to say... what a beautiful Cathedral City it is with plenty of old pubs to wet the appetite before and after the game.
After sampling a few of the local establishments en route to the ground from the train station we arrived at Oaklands Park in plenty of time and received a very friendly welcome from the man on the turnstile and paid the reasonably priced £10 to get in and was happy to see a match day programme on sale for £2!
So, Into the ground we went and bought the obligatory 50/50 half-time raffle ticket off another friendly club volunteer who happily pointed out where all the facilities were.
As always the first impression of a club is the most important one and Chichester passed this test with flying colours!
We made our way upstairs to the impressive bar area and had another pre-pre-match pint lol.
The ground and facilities looked quite new and I believe it was redeveloped around 2008.
There was plenty of covered stands which were located on 3 sides of the pitch along with a seated stand which holds 100 people and there was a decent crowd in attendance of 188.
On to the game, my first thought was Chichester had a slight advantage having the choice of seven different goals to shoot at but I soon realised the cider consumption was playing with my eyes lol.
The game finally kicked off after the referee had tested his whistle and it was a very close match and nip and tuck with not much between the two sides and in typical fashion I missed the first goal of the game in the 36th minute scored by Jimmy Wild whilst having a slash, which was clearly down to the pre-pre-pre match beverages!
Half-time rolled around with the score at 1-0 to the home side so it was time for some food and it didn't disappoint!
The snack bar on site had loads of hot food to choose from and was very reasonably priced served up by the friendly ladies behind the counter!
In fact, the bacon cheese burger was that nice a second one soon followed!
Just had enough time to grab another cider and get ready for the second half.
The second half continued in the same vain as the first with not much between the two sides and their was some good old banter from the home fans including cries of "what the ****inhell was that in response to a couple of misplaced passes and shots from the away side and giving the well built centre forward some stick.
A rain shower soon cleared up and the sun was back out with a rainbow setting the scene as Sevenoaks pushed for an equaliser but they just couldn't break down a well drilled Chichester defence with the home side also having a few chances to extend their lead.
Chichester held on and ran out 1-0 winners which continued their good run of form and they now sit just one place off the playoffs.
All in all it was great day out at a fantastic welcoming club that is well worth a visit.
We headed back into town and picked off a few pubs we didn't get to before the game and plotted up in front of an open fire and looked back on a thoroughly enjoyable day out watching non-league football in the delightful historical City of Chichester!
Best wishes to both clubs for the rest of the season!
Yorumlar