Windsor FC
Stag Meadow
St. Leonards Road
Windsor
Berkshire
SL4 3DR
Ground: 57
Date: Saturday 6th October 2018
Windsor 0-2 Ascot United
Hellenic League Premier Division
Attendance: 115 (official)
Attendance: 115 (official)
Windsor FC - History
Windsor were founded in 2011, being formed after the demise of predecessor club Windsor & Eton. The 2011/12 season saw the club placed at Step 5 in the Combined Counties League Premier Division, a drop of two levels compared to where the original club were before folding. This first season saw the club finish second, but the following season saw the chairman remove the playing budget to minimise the chances of the new club going down the same path the original did.
Despite the loss of the playing budget, the club stabilised and finished mid-table in the 2012/13 season. Manager Mick Woodham's team continued to develop and finished as high as 5th in the 2014/15 season, but after this a lot of the squad moved up to Step 4 and, as a result, the 2015/16 season was a transitional one in which the club finished 12th in the league. The 2016/17 season was similar as the club finished 11th, before then being transferred to the Hellenic League Premier Division for the 2017/18 season, finishing a respectable 8th in the league last season.
In the FA Cup, the club's best run came in their first season in the competition (the 2012/13 season) when they reached the 1st Qualifying Round, beating Flackwell Heath and Aylesbury before beating Didcot Town. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run came last season as they reached the Quarter Finals, beating Devizes Town, Whitchurch United, Flackwell Heath, Erith Town, Walton & Hersham, Eastbourne Town and Hamble Club before losing to eventual runners-up Stockton Town.
My Visit
With Matt once again being available for yesterday's groundhop, discussions on where we could go began early, initially looking through the draw for the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round but not really seeing anything especially interesting. After ruling that out as an avenue for a game, I had a look on the Groundhopper app to see what other options there were when I noticed this game. With this being a ground that Matt and I had talked a lot about visiting last season, we quickly agreed to visit and tick it off while we knew we had the chance.
News of yet more strikes on South Western Railway did put this in doubt at one point, but a look at the updated timetables for Saturday (when they were released on Friday morning) showed that neither of us would have any issues getting there. Then there was the issue of the weather: while it had been nice and sunny all week, yesterday was forecast to be cold and rainy virtually all day so, remembering how little we enjoyed the walk to and from Crowborough's ground back in January when it was also raining (a 30 minute walk), we briefly debated whether it was really worth the 25 minute walk from station to ground. Ultimately though, with the strikes making it hard to predict how well trains would be running elsewhere, we decided just to stick with it as we knew it was definitely possible.
With everything finalised, I ordered my train tickets early Saturday morning and left the house just after 11:30am to head towards the train station. Upon arrival, and after collecting my tickets, it became clear that my train heading towards Reading (where I had to change to head towards Slough, before changing again for Windsor & Eton Central) would be late, which would make it very hard to catch my connection and meet Matt at the station at the planned time. Then, because the train got delayed by a further five minutes on the way ot Reading, I ended up missing my connection by a matter of seconds and, as a result, I arrived at Windsor & Eton Central 20 minutes later than planned.
Fortunately, even considering the 25 minute walk to the ground from the station (during which we got drenched from the rain and then splashed by some inconsiderate driver), we still had plenty of time before kick-off and arrived at around 2:25pm, each paying £7 for admission and receiving a programme for free with that (making it 2 weeks running where I technically should have been charged for the programme but wasn't).
I then did a quick circuit of photos, which was slightly hindered by raindrops landing on the lens (the effect of which you'll notice in some of the photos below), before we eventually went and sat in the main stand, taking a few minutes to find the most optimal seating position for viewing as much of the pitch as possible. At half-time, we went to the tea bar and bought a hot dog each (which was very good), missing a few minutes of the second half and having to find different seats in the main stand because of it.
Because I was otherwise preoccupied, I forgot to save an image of the league table before the game, but what I do remember is that Ascot were top, albeit having played several more games than their nearest rivals, while Windsor were floating somewhere between 7th and 9th. As such, I did expect Ascot to win, but I wasn't sure how emphatic it would be as I wasn't really sure how good Ascot actually were despite their position, especially given that they had been in a relegation battle for much of last season.
Match stats
Here's my report on a game that didn't really catch the imagination, but went the way I had expected it to based on the table:
The first half wasn't fantastic and largely followed a fairly simple pattern: Ascot attacked with high intensity and created chances, but were lacking that final finish despite the efforts of Luqman Kassim, while Windsor struggled to cope with the high intensity Ascot played at, but were very rarely breaking through and attempting to counterattack only for the Ascot defence to hold firm. The main reason for this - and something that Matt and I only really noticed due to there not being a lot of goalmouth action - was the teams' different approach to tactics and formation: Ascot had a clear and distinct formation, with two very noticeable banks of four; by comparison, Windsor didn't have any clear formation at all, with several players seeming to just roam around at random. Regardless, despite a few chances here and there, there's next to nothing I can report from the first half, and it was 0-0 at half-time.
The second half started in much the same vein as the first, but on the 54th minute the deadlock was finally broken by Luqman Kassim with a 25-yard wonder goal: it was unsurprising that both Ascot scored and that Kassim scored, as Ascot were creating the better chances and Kassim in particular was being given virtually free reign on the left wing. A few more chances followed in the next 10-15 minutes, but it wasn't until the 70th minute that Ascot doubled their lead, Nathan Minhas set through one-on-one and calmly placing his shot past the goalkeeper. At this point, with Windsor struggling to create much of anything, Ascot seemed comfortable with their advantage and eased off, but this didn't end up making much of a difference other than ensuring that the game petered out with barely any more chances for either side.
Overall, this was not a very good game at all, as both teams huffed and puffed but lacked much in terms of an end product. It took something special for Ascot to break the deadlock, and the second goal was then inevitable with the number of chances Ascot were creating, but even so this was a truly uninspiring contest. Ascot barely had to get out of second gear to beat a very limited Windsor side in what was ultimately a composed performance. That being said, I do doubt that Ascot will be able to maintain their current good start to the season, as they too looked very limited, even more so once Kassim was substituted late on.
The first half wasn't fantastic and largely followed a fairly simple pattern: Ascot attacked with high intensity and created chances, but were lacking that final finish despite the efforts of Luqman Kassim, while Windsor struggled to cope with the high intensity Ascot played at, but were very rarely breaking through and attempting to counterattack only for the Ascot defence to hold firm. The main reason for this - and something that Matt and I only really noticed due to there not being a lot of goalmouth action - was the teams' different approach to tactics and formation: Ascot had a clear and distinct formation, with two very noticeable banks of four; by comparison, Windsor didn't have any clear formation at all, with several players seeming to just roam around at random. Regardless, despite a few chances here and there, there's next to nothing I can report from the first half, and it was 0-0 at half-time.
The second half started in much the same vein as the first, but on the 54th minute the deadlock was finally broken by Luqman Kassim with a 25-yard wonder goal: it was unsurprising that both Ascot scored and that Kassim scored, as Ascot were creating the better chances and Kassim in particular was being given virtually free reign on the left wing. A few more chances followed in the next 10-15 minutes, but it wasn't until the 70th minute that Ascot doubled their lead, Nathan Minhas set through one-on-one and calmly placing his shot past the goalkeeper. At this point, with Windsor struggling to create much of anything, Ascot seemed comfortable with their advantage and eased off, but this didn't end up making much of a difference other than ensuring that the game petered out with barely any more chances for either side.
Overall, this was not a very good game at all, as both teams huffed and puffed but lacked much in terms of an end product. It took something special for Ascot to break the deadlock, and the second goal was then inevitable with the number of chances Ascot were creating, but even so this was a truly uninspiring contest. Ascot barely had to get out of second gear to beat a very limited Windsor side in what was ultimately a composed performance. That being said, I do doubt that Ascot will be able to maintain their current good start to the season, as they too looked very limited, even more so once Kassim was substituted late on.
On the whole, this wasn't a day I really enjoyed at all, but none of the blame for that falls on the club at all; in fact, they were quite a friendly lot, had an excellent ground, an "interesting" kit and provided good food. What I will instead blame it on is a lot of what I outlined above, as the issues with the trains and then the miserable weather kind of wore me down as the day progressed. I should also, in a way, apologise, as this fact also means that I can't honestly say that my match report I wrote last night did the match much justice: sure, it wasn't a fantastic game by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly wasn't as bad or as uneventful as what I've made it out to be. Alas, it's too late to amend now, as I've already forgotten pretty much everything other than the two goals.
Next Saturday, there's a possibility that Matt will be able to join me again, but regardless of whether that happens or not I'm looking at options either at Step 1 or 2 (if any of the clubs reasonably local for Guildford have Non-League Day deals on) or, failing that, I'll be looking to see if there's anything in the FA Vase 1st Round that catches my eye (I have a few ideas on that front, but I need to look again to be certain).
The Ground
Stag Meadow is an excellent traditional non-league ground, absolutely deserving of a much higher level of football than Step 5. From the classic 450-seater main stand on the near side to the covered terrace spanning the far side, there's a lot to like here, and that's before mentioning the additional uncovered terraces on all sides of the ground. There's also the impressive old-fashioned floodlight pylons here, including one that's covered with a cage that has been nicely decorated with red leaves of some sort.
In addition to this, there is also a club shop at the ground (albeit not open yesterday by the looks of it), which is always a surprise to see at Step 5 level. Overall, the ground has a capacity of 4,500, with a record attendance for the current club of 806 in December 2011.
The ground is currently also shared by fellow Hellenic Premier side Virginia Water, due to the fact that they were unable to get planning permission to carry out improvements to their original ground (which is still used by their Development side, and which I plan to visit in future), something which would have been necessary for them to get promoted to Step 6.
Photos
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