Langley v Holmer Green
Combined Counties Division One
You might want to strap yourself in for this blog; it could take a while after an eventful day! This would be my first time seeing either side play although it was in familiar surroundings having visited the ground for an Uxbridge game in pre-season.
So my two train journey to West Drayton started well with the first connection actually working and second, the Elizabeth Line section from Reading leaving on time. I was sat in the uncomfortable seats facing forward rather than the underground type running along the sides of the train and it was there I noticed an older gentleman who made me smile. I say older, he was probably around my age but sometimes I forget just how old I am!
He was sat a little in front of me in the side seats and every time someone watched a reel or something on their phone with the volume turned up, a baby cried, a dog barked or pretty much anyone made any noise outside of the norm, his head would pop up over the top of the seats looking around to see who was making said noise. I was listening to music on my earphones so every now and again thought I’d test him by taking the plug out for a brief blast of music, sure enough the meerkat popped his head up. This continued until we reached Maidenhead when someone got on the train and sat next to me spoiling my little experiment!
So eventually we reached West Drayton and I left the meerkat behind and took the 15 minute or so wander to the ground. The first port of call was the clubhouse where I had a swift pint of cider and, after looking at the menu, saw a burger described as “huge”. Challenge accepted! While waiting for them to cook my food we had a massive cloudburst for about 10 minutes and it was a good job we were playing on a 3G surface otherwise there could have been issues.
Once the rain had stopped I faced the tricky struggle of getting through the turnstile trying to balance the meal and pay to get in. Langley had a special deal on for this game; your £7 entry also gave you a decent printed programme and a voucher for a free hot or cold drink which was a great deal.
Safely taking my place in the stand and chomping away at the seemingly never ending meal, the game started. It was an end to end start with both teams going for it from the off. Langley had the first chance when a poor pass across the defence was pounced on by Craig Mathieson who ran towards the area before being bundled over just outside the box. The free kick was on target with keeper Jenson Ellis parrying the ball and it was cleared away from danger.
Next Adeshola Onasanya made a good break down the right for the hosts and flashed a ball across the box but no-one was far enough advanced to get on the end of it.
At the other end a beautifully flighted Oskar Evans cross from the right corner of the area to the far post was headed over by Tyler Sims. Soon after Holmer had another chance from a corner which Aaron Bryan floated to the back post, the defence headed away only for it to fall to Alex Colverd on the edge of the box but his effort was blocked.
The visitors were making the better chances at this stage; Theo Alexander won the ball well in midfield and advanced into the area only to see his shot saved well down low to his right by Craig Garratt. Alexander was involved again soon after clipping a lovely diagonal cross into the box which neither Colverd nor Evans could quite reach despite despairing lunges.
Onasanya then made a quick break down the left for Langley but Evans recovered well and put the ball out for a corner which came to nothing. On 33 minutes the home side took the lead, Marco Raposo taking advantage of Ellis dropping the ball from a long pass into the box, by picking up the loose ball, taking it away from the keeper and finishing with a rabona into the empty net. 1-0
The game continued to ebb and flow but without any real chances of note before the half time whistle blew.
H-T: Langley 1 Holmer Green 0
The second half began with the hosts having two great chances to increase their lead. First some lovely footwork from Mathieson made space for a shot but his effort went straight into the keepers’ arms. Next, a delightful Liam Butters pass through the visitors defence picked out the run of Max McGarvie but again his shot went into Ellis’ midriff for an easy save.
Remember the old adage to score when you’re on top? Well Langley paid the price for not converting those early chances when Lloyd Majaya picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and fired past Garratt to level the scores in the 50th minute. 1-1
Next the referee took centre stage with a game changing decision; the first of a few baffling calls in the second half. Raposo went in with what looked to be a decent challenge on halfway but the Holmer player went down as if shot by the proverbial sniper, the referee who was in a poor position to see the incident, heard the shouts from the away side and immediately flashed a red card. His assistant on the far side had a much clearer view of the incident and didn’t raise his flag for a foul but was not consulted even after home protests.
Once everything had calmed down Langley had a chance with Butters again spreading a ball into the path of Onasanya, his clever pull back to the edge of the area found Luca Lombardi but his shot sailed over the bar.
From then on it was always going to be tough for the hosts and that was the way it turned out. Colverd and Jeffery Fordjour having chances but both sending their efforts over the bar. In the 70th minute the waves of visitors attacks finally paid off, Fordjour picked up a pass inside the box, cut inside a defender and hit a snapshot towards goal which Garratt saved with his legs. The rebound fell to the feet of substitute James Saxby who placed the ball into the bottom corner. 1-2
Saxby could have had a second moments later when the hosts defence was carved open again, his shot was saved well by Garratt low to his left and he just managed to smother the loose ball before Fordjour could take advantage.
A lovely one-two down the right between Evans and Saxby gave the former space to fire a ball across the area which was deflected just wide of the post. With the ball clearly out a visitors foot hooked the ball back into play and the ball was smashed into the net with the referee giving the goal. It was only after vehement protests from the home side that the official this time decided to consult his assistant who confirmed the ball was indeed out of play and goal rightly disallowed.
A Tyler Sims corner in the 76th minute led the visitors third; his set piece saw the home side’s defence static and Fordjour rose unchallenged in the six yard box to head home. 1-3
Garratt was again called upon to make a decent save with his legs following a Saxby shot from a Fordjour pass. With seven minutes to go Holmer Green made it four but again in controversial circumstances. A cross from the right saw a collision between Garratt and Fordjour in the six yard box with the Holmer player going down with a head injury. The keeper stopped to help the stricken Fordjour but the referee allowed play to go on despite everyone shouting head injury, with Sims firing into the net. 1-4
More remonstrations after saw the referee caution the Langley manager before being told it was actually the assistant manager making the comments so he too was shown a yellow card.
Holmer could have added to their tally in the final minutes but the game ended with the visitors coming away with a comfortable victory.
F-T: Langley 1 Holmer Green 4
Regular readers of my blogs and match reports will know, as a neutral, I try not to comment on referees in the games I cover whenever possible because we all know what a difficult and thankless task officiating a game is. This is only the second time in over a 140 games I’ve commented on the officiating, mainly as it was gamechanging, and I can only hope today’s referee can look back on this game and learn from it.
Anyway, congratulations to Holmer Green on the win and taking the three points home with them and I’m sure Langley will be rueing the chances they missed which could have made for a different outcome. An entertaining and incident packed game and I wish all the best to both sides for the rest of the season.
My journey home brought one more little snippet that you don’t see every day. On my final train back there were a group of four people, two men & two women, dressed in full Octoberfest lederhosen outfits obviously on their way to a fancy dress party, walking backwards and forwards through the aisle of the train throughout my journey. Maybe they were the peacemakers between two rival camps at either end of the train. Who knows?