Chesham United - The Meadow

Chesham United FC

The Meadow

Amy Lane

Chesham

Buckinghamshire

HP5 1NE

Official Website (Chesham United)

Twitter (Chesham United)

Official Website (Aylesbury United) 

Twitter (Aylesbury United) 

Ground: 68

Date: Saturday 26th January 2019

Aylesbury United 2-1 Yaxley

Southern League Division 1 Central

Attendance: 131 (official)

Chesham United FC - 10 Facts

1) Chesham United were founded in 1917 as a merger of Chesham Generals and Chesham Town, making them one of a very small number of clubs established during World War 1.

2) Up until World War 2, the club played in the Spartan League, winning the title in the 1921/22, 1922/23, 1924/25 and 1932/33 seasons.

3) The club reached the FA Amateur Cup final in the 1967/68 season, but lost 1-0 to Leytonstone at the old Wembley Stadium.

4) The club reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup for the first time in the 1966/67 season, losing 6-0 at Enfield. Two more 1st Round eliminations followed (in the 1968/69 and 1976/77 seasons), before the club progressed all the way to the 3rd Round in the 1979/80 season, beating Minehead in the 1st Round and Merthyr Tydfil in the 2nd Round before hosting Cambridge United in the 3rd Round and losing 2-0.

5) The club joined the Isthmian League's Division 2 in 1973 (this was renamed Division 1 in 1977), having played in the Corinthian and Athenian Leagues prior to this point.

6) In the 1990/91 season, the club won Division 1 of the Isthmian League to earn promotion to the Premier Division, winning that two seasons later. While this should have seen them promoted to the Conference, their ground did not meet the necessary criteria so they were denied promotion.

7) After this, the club spent the next decade yo-yoing between the Isthmian's League Premier Division and Division 1 (North), but promotion in the 2003/04 season saw the club placed in the Southern League Premier Division instead, with relegation to its Division 1 South & West following two seasons later.

8) After one season in that Division, the club were transferred to Division 1 Midlands for the 2007/08 season and followed this with two play-off campaigns in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons: the first saw the club lose to Nuneaton Town in the semi-finals, while the second saw the club beat Burnham in the semi-finals and Slough Town in the final to return to the Premier Division.

9) After just missing out on the play-offs in their first season back in the Premier Division, the club entered the play-offs in three successive seasons: in the 2011/12 season, they lost to AFC Totton in the semi-finals; in the 2012/13 season, they lost to Hemel Hempstead Town in the semi-finals; in the 2013/14 season, they beat Stourbridge in the semi-finals but lost to St Albans City in the final. The club have remained in the Premier Division ever since.

10) In the FA Trophy, the club's best run saw them reach the 4th Round in the 1998/99 season, beating Yeading and Crawley Town before losing to Hendon. 

Aylesbury United FC - 10 Facts

1) Aylesbury United were founded in 1897 as a merger of Night School, Printing Works and Aylesbury Town. The club initially played in local leagues before joining the Spartan League and remaining there until the outbreak of World War 1.

2) After the war, the club remained in the Spartan League and played in its Division 1 until the Division was split East-West in 1928 (the club joined Division 1 West at this point). More restructuring saw this become the Premier Division one season later, from which the club were relegated after finishing bottom. Prior to World War 2, the club continued to yo-yo between the Premier Division and Division 1.

3) After the war, the club were founder members of the Delphian League in 1951 and, in the 1951/52 season, the club reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup for the first time and lost 1-0 to Watford. The club won the league in the 1953/54 and then remained in the league until joining the Athenian League in 1963.

4) In 1976, the club joined Division 1 South of the Southern League, which then became the Southern Division in 1979 after restructuring. The club were then transferred to the Midland Division in 1981 and earned promotion to the Premier Division at the end of the 1984/85 season.

5) After another couple of 1st Round appearances in the FA Cup (ending in defeats to Slough Town in the 1985/86 season and to Bath City in the 1986/87 season), the club won the Premier Division of the Southern League in the 1987/88 season to earn promotion to the Conference (they also reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup again, this time losing to Bristol City). However, the club lasted just one season in non-league's top tier before being relegated to the Premier Division of the Isthmian League.

6) Though that season ended in relegation, the club reached the 2nd Round of the FA Cup for the first time after beating Waterlooville, but they lost to Sutton United. They then reached the FA Cup 1st Round every season between 1989 and 1995: in the 1989/90 season, they beat Football League opposition for the first time in Southend United, before losing a replay to Northampton Town in the 2nd Round; in the 1994/95 season, the club made it all the way to the 3rd Round, beating Newport (Isle of Wight) and Kingstonian before losing to Queens Park Rangers.

7) After finishing as runners-up in the 1998/99 season, the club's fortunes saw a dramatic decline as they were relegated to Division 1 the following season, only to finish 3rd in the 2000/01 season to return to the Premier Division.

8) In the 2002/03 season, the club reached the semi-finals of the FA Trophy, beating Burnham, Chippenham Town, Kingstonian, Altrincham, Windsor & Eton and Gloucester City before losing 2-1 to Burscough over two legs.

9) In 2004, the club were transferred to the Premier Division of the Southern League, before being relegated to Division 1 Midlands at the end of the 2005/06 season. In 2009, the Supporters Trust took control of the club, but the 2009/10 season saw the club relegated to the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division. The club returned to Division 1 Central of the Southern League after finishing as runners-up in the 2012/13 season, and have remained there ever since.

10) In the FA Vase, the club's best run came in the 1974/75 season when they reached the 4th Round, beating Shefford Town, Harpenden Town, Northampton Spencer and Wolverton Town & BR before losing to Bracknell Town.

My Visit

As with the last few Yaxley away matches I've groundhopped at, this one was very much on the radar ever since the release of the fixture list back in July, even if it meant breaking a groundhopping principle of mine: generally speaking, I prefer to watch a game involving the actual "owner" (i.e. main team) of a ground when possible, and I'm generally reluctant to visit a ground when the tenants are the home side. Granted, I've broken this "rule" for both of Yaxley's recent UCL KO Cup final appearances, but it was still something on my mind going into this. However, I ultimately decided to go along anyway as supporting Yaxley is much more important than my groundhopping principles.

To make sure I got my train ticket at the cheapest price, I ordered tickets into and out of London Waterloo for yesterday after I returned to University a week ago. Normally, with the chance of the weather ruining everything I would be incredibly reluctant to do this (especially at this time of year), but there are so many groundhopping options in London that are accessible via London Underground that I wasn't worried. Still, the weather took a startling turn for the worse on Tuesday or Wednesday when it started snowing in and around London, so after my exam on Thursday I was quick to draw up a list of back-ups.

It also became clear prior to the game that Matt would be able to join me as he had also finished his exams, so I sent him the list of back-ups once it was done and we then discussed the logistics of each of them in case the weather turned again. By Saturday morning though, it was apparent that the worst of it wouldn't come until after the game, so there was no need to worry about a postponement.

Once that conclusion was reached, I left the house 25 minutes before my train was due to depart, picking up my tickets at the station upon arrival and then waiting on the platform. The journey from Guildford into Waterloo was easy as ever (albeit surprisingly crowded) and I arrived in Waterloo at around 12:45pm. I then quickly headed to the other end of the station to head to the Jubilee Line, getting on the Tube there and changing at Finchley Road. 

Upon arrival at Finchley Road, I had to wait a while for the next connection to Chesham, so I took a seat and waited for Matt to arrive. He eventually arrived just a few minutes before our connection did, and when it did we got on and chatted for the duration of the 45-minute journey to Chesham. It was a quick ten-minute walk to the ground once we arrived in Chesham, and we each paid £6 for student admission and I picked up the free programme that was available.

At this point, it had just gone 2:30pm, so Matt and I walked around the ground for a bit as I took my usual circuit of photos, stopping a few times to talk to some of the Yaxley players or remark on some of the ground's more unique fixtures (such as the tribute to the late Ryan Moran on the stand on the far side of the pitch). This killed around 20 minutes of time, and we stood in front of the main stand with the other Yaxley fans as we awaited kick-off and to see what end we were shooting at. As usual, we moved towards the right wing near the goal we were shooting at, but in the first half Matt and I moved under the cover behind the goal as the rain starting falling.

With the table showing that there was little between the two sides, I was expecting a tight game but hoping that we could come out on top, even if our 7-3 drubbing in the reverse fixture was in the back of my mind the whole time. With a virtually full-strength XI out, my confidence in our chances only increased as kick-off approached.

Here's my report on a match in which we generally competed well, but ultimately deservedly lost due to a rare poor attacking performance:

After a slightly shaky start to the game, we initially looked on top and were creating some decent chances through Matt Sparrow. However, against the run of play, Aylesbury United took the lead in the 21st minute, Aaron Berry picking up the ball just outside the box and given space to shoot into the top corner. This saw momentum swing the home side's way for the next ten minutes as they created a few good chances to double their lead. As for us, we worked hard to try and pull a goal back but struggled to create many clear-cut chances in the final third, so deservedly went in a goal down at half-time.

The second half saw Aylesbury United start on the front foot, with the home side coming very close to doubling their lead on 56 minutes: a header looked to be heading in, but James Blake made a wonderful save to tip the ball onto the crossbar and back into play. However, three minutes later - and just after we had made a substitution, bringing Frazer Garner on for Liam Hook, slotting Garner into defence and sending Charley Sanders up front - the home side did make it 2-0, an excellent through ball eluding our defence and setting Tre Mitford through to place his shot under Blake and score.

After this sucker punch of a goal, we attempted to make our comeback, with the decision to send Sanders up front creating a few problems for the home defence. With some renewed determination, Sparrow and Dan Cotton attempted to help us carve out some chances, but with little success until the last 10 minutes when we upped the intensity a bit. In the final ten a powerful cross from Sparrow was almost the perfect set-up for Dalton Harris, but he put his effort wide. A couple more efforts came before we deservedly pulled back a goal in the 87th minute: Sanders received the ball just outside the box, turned past his man and curled a shot into the net. We upped the pressure even more after this - while the home side went into time-wasting mode - and almost equalised through Cotton, but his low effort went the wrong side of the post and hit the side netting. Aylesbury United then saw out added time to claim the three points.

This was a frustrating game, as Aylesbury United did not look particularly great and were probably there for the taking on a good day. However, this was a rare game in which our attacking performance let us down more than the defensive side of things: unfortunately, neither Cotton nor Sparrow played at their best today, the former seemingly hell-bent on scoring and wasting several good chances as a result and the latter seeming unusually reluctant to drive at his man and put pressure on. As for Tom Waumsley, he didn't play badly but didn't really receive enough service to influence the game very much (though it also didn't help that the home defenders had their arms around him at every opportunity to hinder him).

Other than this, our big weakness today was a lack of pressing and intensity: too often we were slow to react to loose balls and too often we stood off Aylesbury United's players rather than pressuring them (it felt like they were just walking through us effortlessly at times). We certainly didn't lose today for a lack of trying, but we absolutely need to be reacting quicker and pressing harder than today at this level of football. Saying that though, we didn't really play too badly for the most part, we just needed a little more in places.

MOTM: Charley Sanders (a solid defensive performance and then some great attacking play when moved up front, topped off with a well-taken goal)

So, a disappointing result for us again, but it was nice to do another groundhop again after going three weeks without (after seeing family on the 12th meant I missed out on a groundhopping opportunity that day). More importantly, it was good to see Matt again and our conversation throughout the game kept things interesting as conditions worsened and hindered play more and more. Also, this was a landmark game for me, as it was the 75th time I've seen Yaxley play. A win definitely would have been nice in such circumstances, but it wasn't to be.

The return journey was about the same as the way there: lots of time spent on the Tube (albeit a little more crowded at this point as we were on near the end of rush hour on a Saturday) and a simple 40-minute journey back to Guildford. I got back into the house at around 7:30pm and went straight to work on a late dinner, writing up my match report while the pizza was in the oven.

As for what's next, to make up for missing a groundhop on the 12th I booked myself a ticket for the Barnet FA Cup game tomorrow night, which Matt will once again be joining me for. As it's a midweek game, I'll be impressed if I can get any good photos of the ground for this blog, but I'll do my best and see what I can get. This will also be my first neutral game since my visit to Dorking Wanderers on the 1st of December, so it will be a nice change of pace to go into a game with full objectivity for the first time in a while.

The Ground

The Meadow is an excellent non-league ground with plenty of character, but it's also showing its age in several places. There's some cover on all four sides of the ground, but only the main stand on the dugout side of the ground contains any seating: this contains 284 seats, elevated well above pitch level. In front of this is some uncovered terracing. Also, there is more uncovered terracing each side of the stand, with the far corner also having some additional turnstiles (that clearly haven't been used in years, judging by the state of them and the terracing).

Behind the near goal is a couple of new Arena terraces, in front of which is some more uncovered terracing. On the far side is yet more uncovered terracing, with an area of covered standing at the top of the terracing that stretches most of the length of the pitch. Next to this is some additional cover in front of the tea bar (not in use today) and the toilets. Behind the far goal is even more covered terracing and some more covered standing. Long story short: most of what isn't under cover at this ground is terracing, with there being very little conventional hard standing available (other than in front of the turnstiles where you first enter the ground).

The ground is more than good enough for both Steps 3 and 4 (where Chesham and Aylesbury United play respectively), but would likely need more seating for Step 2. However, the club are apparently planning to move into a new ground soon due to the high maintenance costs of this ground, and it's certainly understandable why. The ground has an overall capacity of 5,000, with the ground being filled to capacity for the FA Cup 3rd Round game against Cambridge United in 1979.

Photos