Knaphill - Redding Way

Knaphill FC

Redding Way

Knaphill

Woking

Surrey

GU21 7AY

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 99

Date: Saturday 23rd November 2019

Knaphill 4-1 Badshot Lea

Combined Counties League Premier Division

Attendance: 74 (official)

Knaphill - History

Knaphill were founded in 1924 and initially played in the Surrey Intermediate League, winning the title in the 1935/36 season. By the 1970s, the club had moved on to the Woking & District League. In the 1978/79 season, the club completed a treble by winning the Premier Division, the League Cup and the Charity Cup. They only finished as runners-up the following season, but still completed a treble by retaining the League Cup and the Charity Cup and also winning the Challenge Cup.

After this, the club joined the Surrey County Intermediate League (Western), being placed in Division 3 and winning it at the first attempt to move up to Division 2. The club then finished as Division 2 runners-up the following season (the 1981/82 season) to earn promotion to Division 1, before then finishing as runners-up at Division 1 level too.

The 2005/06 season saw the club win the Division 1 title to earn promotion to the Premier Division. After then going on to win the Premier Division title, the club earned promotion to Division 1 of the Combined Counties League for the 2007/08 season. The club spent seven seasons at this level before a 3rd-place finish in the 2013/14 season was enough to earn promotion to the Premier Division. The club have remained there ever since, recording a highest finish of 5th in the 2015/16 season.

In the FA Cup, the club's best run came in the 2017/18 season when they reached the 2nd Qualifying Round, beating Bournemouth FC, Laverstock & Ford and Guildford City before losing to Bath City. As for the FA Vase, the club progressed to the 4th Round in the 2015/16 season, beating Lydney Town, Cray Valley Paper Mills, Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury City before losing to Kidlington.

My Visit

Compared to the last month or so of groundhopping, the decision-making process behind this one was as simple as they come. Given that Christmas is already straining my finances, I had to stay as local as possible, even more so if I want to get somewhere more special next Saturday for my 100th groundhop. 

My most local option on this front was Farnham Town, so I set that as first choice quite a while back, though I made sure to have some back-ups in mind as I know their pitch doesn't always drain well after rain. And, as is becoming a common trend of late, the rain did come again this week, though not until just before the weekend (almost as if I am being messed with by the universe itself).

With all that in mind, one of the first things that I did when I woke up this morning was check the weather forecasts in the areas of my five non-3G options, as well as all the train timings (so as to see how long I could leave it before making my final decision). As it turned out, the forecast wasn't as bad as I had expected in terms of rain, so I soon found myself confident enough to disregard all my options besides this and Farnham.

This gave me leeway until around 12:30pm to make my final decision, so I was able to relax for a while, keeping an eye on the clubs' respective Twitters for any updates. For a while, the situation was that Knaphill's game seemed to be going ahead (based on both themselves and Badshot Lea tweeting about the match with no mention of a pitch inspection), whereas Farnham's pitch was fine but could change depending on the severity of the forecasted rain.

In the end, my decision was made when Knaphill confirmed that the match was definitely on, as the slight uncertainty over Farnham was enough for me to opt to play it safe (as usual, it turned out I was overthinking it, as the match ended up going ahead and finishing despite the weather). This meant I ordered my tickets at 12:30pm after having my lunch, before then leaving the house half an hour later.

The train journey to Brookwood wasn't too difficult, though a slight delay initially meant I had to run to make my connection at Woking. The train arrived in Brookwood at 1:55pm and I began my walk to the ground, having to ignore Google Maps' suggestions to walk through a cemetery and a country park due to both seeming very indirect and impractical. However, the adjustments to my route meant it took longer than planned to get to the ground, as I arrived half an hour later.

Upon arrival, I paid £7 for admission and £1 for a golden goal ticket (I really don't know why I bother with these, if I'm entirely honest) before starting my usual circuit of photos as the rain started to fall. With ten minutes to go before kick-off and the rain already worsening, I headed into the clubhouse and paid a surprisingly-cheap £2.50 for a burger, before heading back out into the rain to take a seat in one of the two seated stands. In the second half, I moved across to the other side and stood beneath the covered area closest to the exit.

Looking at the table, there didn't seem to be that much between the two sides. However, the form guides showed that Knaphill's recent form was far better than Badshot's, so I was expecting Knaphill to possibly come out on top in an overall close contest.

Here's my report on a match which saw Knaphill dominate and deservedly claim victory amidst torrential rainfall:

This match took quite a while to really get going, with the first 20-25 minutes being almost completely uneventful. As the half-hour mark approached, Knaphill began to take control and had the first noteworthy chance in the 22nd minute, Carlo Santoro's audacious shot from the edge of the box forcing a fine save out of Badshot keeper Kallum Lunn. Then, in the 31st minute, the home side took the lead through a Perry Coles shot from the edge of the box.

After this, the rest of the half saw Knaphill dominate, besieging the Badshot goal with chance after chance and trapping them in their own half. In the 33rd minute, Jack French drilled a deep free kick into the box and Kane Fitzgerald sent it into the post with an acrobatic volley. Three minutes later, French turned one defender and dribbled past another before shooting low and narrowly wide. In the 41st minute, Coles latched onto a French through ball in the box, but Lunn pushed the shot wide for a corner. Despite their domination, the home side couldn't extend their lead, so it remained 1-0 at half-time.

After having a torrid time at the end of the first half, Badshot would have hoped to make a better start to the second half. However, any hopes of that appeared to evaporate after two minutes when Santoro made it 2-0: he picked up a misplaced pass just outside the box and smashed a powerful shot into the crossbar and then the net. Despite this early setback, Badshot quickly regained their composure and were able to reduce Knaphill to fewer chances. At the same time, a couple of early substitutions saw the away side gain some attacking momentum for the first time, culminating in a penalty on the hour mark. Initially, the referee had given Badshot a free kick on the edge of the Knaphill box, but after talking to the linesman he instead gave the penalty. Lionel Masudi stepped up and scored.

Though the penalty had given Badshot a lifeline, their overall approach of favouring the long ball did not change and Knaphill continued to take advantage, with Coles again coming close to scoring in the 63rd minute after being able to dribble into the box and shoot narrowly over. Seven minutes later, Knaphill had a penalty of their own after a player was pushed over as a free kick was played into the box: French stepped up and restored the home side's two-goal lead.

The intensity of the match dropped after this, with Knaphill still largely in control but less willing to attack. However, deep into stoppage time substitute Calvin Camara made it 4-1 with a great solo finish: he picked up the ball on the left wing and dribbled past several players into the box, before placing a low shot beyond Lunn into the bottom corner. This proved to be the final chance of the game, as the referee blew for full-time immediately after the kick-off.

Overall, this was an unusual match, with a tepid opening 20-25 minutes followed by large stretches of Knaphill dominating against a Badshot Lea side whose only idea seemed to be to hit the ball long and hope for the best; Knaphill dealt with that with ease and sliced Badshot open time and time again. This made for a reasonably entertaining contest, but it would have been more so if Badshot had been able to do more besides scoring the penalty (I'm reasonably sure that was their only chance, or one of their only chances) in the entire match). That aside, the club seemed friendly enough, so it was an enjoyable day out despite yet more rain.

On the journey back, I wanted to get back a little earlier (so that I would have time to finish this tonight and focus on my essay tomorrow) so I had to run some of the way back to make the 5:15pm train from Brookwood to Woking and just about managed to do so. I then had to move quickly to make my connection back to Guildford, which meant I arrived back in Guildford at around 5:30pm and made it back to the house 20 minutes later.

I'm not sure what the plan for my 100th groundhop next Saturday is. I was hoping to go to Maidenhead United, but it may not be affordable to do so when taking my future groundhopping plans into account. If that proves to be the case, I'll end up sticking local and heading to Farnborough, or somewhere like that.

The Ground

Redding Way is a decent Step 5 ground, with slightly more character than the average at this level. As is the norm, there are two 50-seater Arena stands at the ground, one on the far side and one behind the near goal, just beyond the clubhouse. Each of these are further away from the pitch than is normally the case, which does somewhat limit their usefulness for viewing the match.

There are also three areas of standing cover on the near side of the ground: two of these are identical structures (one each side of the dugouts), while the structure in the middle is a smaller area of cover that lacks sides or a back. Each of these can likely provide standing cover for around 50 or so people. There's also a small area of cover in front of the clubhouse thanks to an overhang from the clubhouse roof.

That aside, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, though the area behind the far goal lacks hard standing and is hence out of bounds for spectators. The ground has an overall capacity of 1,000, with a record attendance of 323 for a league game against Guernsey in 2011.

Photos

Chertsey Town - Alwyns Lane

Chertsey Town FC

28 Alwyns Lane

Chertsey

Surrey

KT16 9DW

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 98

Date: Saturday 16th November 2019

Chertsey Town 2-2 Westfield

Isthmian League Division 1 South Central

Attendance: 414 (official)

Chertsey Town - History

Chertsey Town were founded in 1890 and initially played in the West Surrey League. After World War 1, the club joined the Surrey Intermediate League and remained there until the outbreak of World War 2, refusing an invitation to become founding members of the Surrey Senior League in 1923; after World War 2, though, the club gained senior status and opted to join the Senior League. The club then won the league title three times in the early 1960s and decided to turn professional to join the Metropolitan League in 1963.

The club spent three years at this higher level before mounting costs forced the club to drop down to the lower levels of the Greater London League. After one season at this level, the club moved up to the Spartan League in the 1967/68 season. The club remained in this league for the best part of a decade and mostly languished near the bottom of the league, apart from when they finished as runners-up in the 1974/75 season.

Two seasons after that, the club moved up to the Athenian League and finished bottom of Division 2 in their first season (which was the season before the two divisions merged). After a series of indifferent finishes, the club then transferred to Division 2 South of the Isthmian League for the 1984/85 season and finished bottom to suffer relegation to the Combined Counties League. The club then finished as runners-up at this level to immediately return to Division 2 South.

The club spent five seasons in Division 2 South before being placed in Division 3 after restructuring. The club then finished as runners-up in Division 3 to earn promotion to Division 2, before finishing as runners-up in their second season in Division 2 (the 1993/94 season) to earn promotion to Division 1. A 3rd-place finish was then enough to earn promotion to the Premier Division, where the club remained for two seasons before being relegated back to Division 1.

After this, the turn into the new millennium saw the club drop into Division 2. After two seasons at this level, the club were placed in Division 1 South for the 2002/03 season as part of restructuring, but finished bottom and were relegated back to Division 2. After another three seasons at this level, further restructuring led to the dissolution of Division 2 and saw the club placed in the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League for the 2006/07 season.

The club consistently finished in the top half of the Premier Division and finished as runners-up in both the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons, with the latter being enough to earn promotion to Division 1 Central ahead of local rivals Guildford City. The club's three seasons at this level saw them seriously struggle, first finishing 17th before just staving off relegation with a third-from-bottom finish in the 2012/13 season. However, the 2013/14 season saw the club finish second-from-bottom to return to the Combined Counties League.

The club then spent the next five years attempting to rebuild in the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League, narrowly avoiding relegation in the 2014/15 season and steadily moving up a couple of places each season after that. However, the 2018/19 season was a massive improvement for the club as they ran away with the league and comfortably won the league title to earn promotion to Division 1 South Central of the Isthmian League.

In the FA Cup, the club have progressed to the 3rd Qualifying Round on five occasions, most recently this season when they beat Cobham, Erith & Belvedere, Sheppey United and Biggleswade before losing to Maldon & Tiptree. In the FA Trophy, the club have reached the 3rd Qualifying Round on three occasions, most recently in the 2011/12 season when they beat Chalfont St Peter and Ashford Town before losing to Brackley Town. 

As for the FA Vase, the club came out as winners last season: they started by beating Woodley United in the 1st Qualifying Round before beating Tadley Calleva, Flackwell Heath, Horndean, Redbridge, AFC St. Austell, Irlam, West Auckland Town, Northwich Victoria over two legs and then Cray Valley Paper Mills 3-1 in the final at Wembley Stadium.

My Visit

After a busy footballing weekend last time out, I was hoping for something a bit more relaxed this time around. Initially, I had hoped to visit Banstead Athletic this weekend for their match against Raynes Park Vale, but that plan changed a week or so ago for a couple of reasons: firstly, we're now firmly in the build-up to Christmas, so my groundhopping funds are going to be more limited this month; secondly, I wanted to save up for something major for my 100th groundhop at the end of the month (which I'll talk about more at the end of this section).

With all that in mind, I had to change my plans to stick more local yesterday. I found that I didn't have many options (I was in fact limited to this, Reading City, Badshot Lea and Farnborough), but the options I did have were interesting enough. Of the four, though, I was most interested in Reading City and set that as my first choice.

Unfortunately, that match was already looking very likely to be postponed on Friday evening, so I did a quick reassessment of my other options before opting to check again in the morning. Upon doing so, I was unsurprised to see Reading City's match was postponed for a waterlogged pitch, so I went straight into preliminary research for my other options (i.e. looking at league tables, train times and the weather forecasts).

After all of that, this match ended up becoming my first choice and I booked my train tickets at 11am, having an early lunch before midday and then leaving the house at around 12:45pm. I arrived at the station with fifteen minutes to spare and picked up my train tickets before popping into WHSmith's to buy the other limited edition Cadbury's chocolate bar (having bought the gingerbread one last week).

I then began the journey towards Chertsey, first changing at Woking before changing again at Weybridge (one of my least favourite train stations due to it being impossible to get any signal there) and eventually arriving in Chertsey at around 2:10pm. It was then a simple 15-minute walk to the ground and, upon arrival, I paid £9 for admission and £2 for a programme before beginning my circuit of photos. In doing my circuit, I missed off a small section of terracing immediately next to the turnstiles, meaning that I didn't get a photo of the actual teamsheet (and didn't even notice there was one until I walked past it on the way out of the ground).

For the duration of the match, I took a seat near the front of the main stand, having good views of all the pitch other than the near corner closest to the turnstiles (which was blocked off by the away dugout).

Looking at the table, I was expecting a close but entertaining contest while also hoping that the two sides wouldn't just cancel each other out as often happens when teams near the top of a league play each other.

Here's my report on one of the most entertaining matches I've watched this season, with two attacking sides trading blows in an exciting end-to-end contest:

From the start, both teams made clear their intent to attack with pace and in numbers, and this meant that both defences were wide open in the early stages of the match. This saw Chertsey almost immediately score at one end, before Westfield almost did the same at the other end through Max Blackmore: he had space to shoot after a cross from Aaron Watson, but his effort was quickly closed down and blocked by Chertsey goalkeeper Nick Jupp. The match remained end-to-end for quite some time, but Westfield were having the better chances: in the 13th minute, a free kick from deep was headed into the post and went wide; then, in the 19th minute, Blackmore nodded a cross on for Watson to shoot low, forcing Jupp into a fine save.

However, it was Chertsey who scored first in the 27th minute: Lubomir Guentchev latched onto a cross and volleyed emphatically beyond Westfield keeper Gary Ross from just inside the box. This saw the momentum of the match swing in Chertsey's favour for a while as they began to control proceedings, but Westfield were able to equalise against the run of play before half-time: in the 41st minute, a through ball eluded the Chertsey defence and reached Blackmore, who had space to turn and shoot low to score. Chertsey almost reclaimed their lead straight away as they went straight back on the attack, Jake Baxter's low shot from the left wing going inches wide of the post. 1-1 at half-time.

The second half started where the first left off as both teams went straight on the attack again, with Chertsey coming close to retaking the lead in the 48th minute before Westfield almost took the lead four minutes later: for Chertsey, Samuel Murphy shot low from the right but pulled it narrowly wide; for Westfield, a Harry Carter through ball gave Arsen Ujkaj space to shoot inside the box, with Jupp blocking the initial effort before a defender blocked the attempted rebound.

After this initial flurry, though, the intensity dropped off as the match became very scrappy and tensions between the two sides grew and occasionally threatened to boil over. This also saw the ball being played in the air more and more, despite both teams doing a far better job with it played on the ground. However, an excellent Westfield goal in the 76th minute brought the match back to life: Watson picked up the ball on the right wing and charged into the box, dribbling past a couple of defenders before crossing at the byline for Tinashe Nkoma to tap in. In response, Chertsey upped the intensity in search of an equaliser, but struggled to break through a resilient Westfield backline.

Deep into stoppage time, Chertsey made their pressure count and equalised: a goalbound header from Scott Day was saved by Ross, before falling to Murphy on the edge of the box to half-volley into the top corner. The home side almost went on to win it moments later when Ross miscued a goal kick into the path of Chertsey's Baxter: Baxter played the ball to Jonathan Hippolyte on the wing, who charged into the box and passed to Murphy in the six yard box for a tap-in. Unfortunately for the home side, Murphy was in an offside position and the goal was ruled out. Chertsey went on one last attack after this, but they could not find a winner before the full-time whistle went.

Overall, despite the drop in intensity for much of the second half, this match was thoroughly entertaining throughout as both teams constantly looked to attack, both with pace and with numbers. It was fortunate that, despite recent poor weather, the pitch had held up very well and actually made it possible for the match to be played like that; on either of last week's pitches, none of the attacking play on display here would have been possible at all. That was just one part of an enjoyable groundhopping experience though, with the excellent ground, excellent atmosphere and friendly welcome also contributing to a great day out (and, for once, a dry one too).

The journey back started with me sitting around at Chertsey station for twenty minutes waiting for the train to Weybridge. With the suggested route South Western Railway gave me when ordering, it was then looking like I'd have to wait a further twenty minutes at Weybridge to get to Woking, but I checked the trains and noticed that there was one to Woking departing three minutes after I would arrive. Naturally, I ran to get onto that and, after all was said and done, ended up back at Guildford station just after 6pm, allowing me to make a much earlier start on my photos and match report than usual.

Currently, my plan for next Saturday is to finally visit Farnham Town, though I know their pitch doesn't handle rain very well so I have back-ups in mind. As for my 100th groundhop, my initial plan was to head to Lancing in the FA Vase, but I don't think I'm likely to be able to afford that in the build-up to Christmas. Instead, I'm hoping that Bromley win their FA Cup replay on Tuesday so that they host Plymouth Argyle in the next round, as one of my friends from back home (his name is Toby) supports Plymouth, so it would be nice to meet up with him for that if he can get the day off work. If not (or if Bromley don't win), I'll be aiming for either Maidenhead or Leatherhead on the 30th (and a Magic the Gathering event in Aldershot on the Sunday if Toby is free and Bromley end up losing).

The Ground

Alwyns Lane is an excellent ground with plenty of character, reminiscent to Egham Town's Runnymede Stadium in lots of ways. As with that ground, there is cover on all four sides of the ground. On the near side is the impressive old main stand, which contains a mixture of old wooden seats and new plastic seats, overall providing seating for around 200-300 people (as a rough guess). 

Either side of this stand is a couple of steps of uncovered terracing, as well as the clubhouse on the side closest to the turnstiles. Some segregation gates are in place on the other side of the stand (no doubt these were in use in the Vase semi-final in March).

Directly across from the main stand is a large area of covered standing (with a characterful uneven roof) that covers much of the length of the pitch. There are two steps of terracing inside this, and either side of it is more uncovered terracing. There is another large covered standing area behind the near goal, which covers almost the full length behind the goal and has a single step of terracing for elevation. Behind this is the tea bar and the toilets.

Behind the far goal is a smaller area of cover, which provides some standing cover along the single step of terracing there. The rest of the ground is open hard standing, with an overall capacity of 2,500 and plenty of room for expansion (though I would imagine the ground is at least good enough for Step 3 in its current state). Everything at the ground is painted in the club's blue and white and looks to be very well-maintained. The record attendance at the ground is 2,150 for a match against Aldershot Town in 2003.

Photos