Frimley Green - Frimley Green Recreation Ground

Frimley Green FC

Frimley Green Recreation Ground

Frimley Green Road

Frimley Green

Surrey

GU16 6GY

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 75

Date: Saturday 9th March 2019

Frimley Green 5-1 Bedfont & Feltham

Combined Counties League Division 1

Attendance: 108 (official)

Frimley Green FC - History

Frimley Green were founded in 1919 and won the Surrey Junior Cup in 1928. At some point after this, the club the Surrey County Intermediate League's Western Division, winning the title in the 1958/59 and 1959/60 seasons before joining the Surrey Senior League. The club initially struggled at this new level - finishing bottom in the 1962/63 season - but started to improve in the latter half of the decade: three consecutive 4th-place finishes rounded out the decade before the club went one better and finished 3rd in the 1970/71 season. 

However, the club's fortunes soon took a turn for the worse and, after finishing bottom again in the 1973/74 season, the club joined the Spartan League. After one season, this merged with the London Metropolitan League to become the London Spartan League, with the club placed in Division 2. Promotion to Division 1 followed, and after one season in Division 1 it was renamed the Premier Division. The club remained in this division until finishing second-from-bottom in the 1979/80 season to be relegated to the Senior Division.

After one season in this division, the club opted to transfer to the Western Division of the Combined Counties League, which was then reduced to a single division after their first season (in which they finished 7th out of 11 teams). The next decade was a difficult one for the club, as they struggled to break into the top half of the league: they finished second-from-bottom on two occasions but finished as high as 9th in the 1990/91 season. However, the club finished bottom of the league three seasons later and returned to the Surrey County Intermediate League.

After a few seasons in this league, the club finished as runners-up in the 1998/99 season to earn promotion to the Surrey County Senior League. After finishing 4th and 6th in their first two seasons in this league, the club finished as runners-up to earn promotion back to the Combined Counties League in the 2001/02 season. After one season in the league, it gained a second division, with the club placed in the Premier Division. The club then remained in the Premier Division for three seasons before finishing 18th out of 21 teams in the 2005/06 season to be relegated to Division 1.

After six seasons of inconsistent finishes in Division 1 (as low as 16th out of 18 in the 2008/09 season and as high as 6th in the 2007/08 season), the club won the title in the 2012/13 season to earn promotion back to the Premier Division. However, despite a respectable 12th-place finish in their first season, the club struggled to maintain this and finished bottom in the 2014/15 season to return to Division 1. The club have remained here ever since, steadily improving their league position and now finding themselves firmly in a promotion race this season.

In the FA Cup, the club have only progressed as far as the Preliminary Round on five occasions, most recently this season when they beat Fareham Town in the Extra Preliminary Round before losing to Lymington Town. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run saw them reach the 3rd Round in the 2008/09 season, beating Bookham, Redhill and Binfield before losing to VCD Athletic in a replay.

My Visit

As I stated in last week's blog entry, this was going to be my 75th groundhop and I was originally planning to head to Farnham Town. In fact, this was still the plan until midway through yesterday morning when, on a whim, I decided to look at the other two options I'd noted down (this and Fleet Spurs, both of which were intended as back-ups in case Farnham was postponed). 

 

When I looked on the Frimley Green Twitter feed, I noticed that they were offering reduced admission prices of £5 for their home fixtures this month. Granted, it wasn't a massive reduction, but it was enough to catch my attention and make me rethink things. I then had a quick look at the Combined Counties League Division table and noted that this game was a top-of-the-table clash, and that was what finally swayed me to choose this instead.

With my decision made, I promptly ordered my train ticket and had lunch, before heading out at around 12:35pm. My train left Guildford at exactly 1pm and arrived at Frimley station 40 minutes later. At this point, I opened Google Maps to figure out my route, only to find that the walk would only take 25 minutes rather than the 30 I had noted down. 

Of course, at my walking pace that meant it would take just over 20 minutes, so I ended up arriving at the ground just before 2pm, paying my £5 for admission and £1.50 for a programme. With roughly an hour to kill, I took my time with my usual circuit of photos (or as much of a circuit as the ground layout allowed), before taking a seat in the main stand awaiting kick-off. 

About ten minutes in the game, I opted to leave the stand due to some of the most annoying people I've ever run into at a football ground: a group of five or six or so teenagers who were yelling, playing awful music off of their phones and smashing the back of the stand like maniacs for little reason. This was the only real black spot on the day, but thankfully they had disappeared from the stand at half-time, allowing me to return and take a seat to at least try to escape the bitterly-cold wind.

As I said before, this was a top-of-the-table clash and, considering that and the two teams' identical recent form, I was expecting this to be a tight match and was expecting the two teams to cancel each other out. However, as I report below, this game completely defied everyone's expectations as Frimley Green overwhelmed Bedfont & Feltham in the second half to make a real statement in the promotion race:

The home side had two good chances in the opening ten minutes, the first of which saw a shot poked inches wide and the second of which saw a volley whistle past the post. Bedfont & Feltham then started to push up in response and forced some real defensive scrambles as they attempted to take the lead. In these early stages, both teams were placing immense pressure on the opposition defence, while at the same time leaving their own exposed to intense counter-attacks. One of these almost saw Dan Bone give Frimley the lead as he found himself through one-on-one with Bedfont keeper Devon Gordon, only for a good save to deny him. At the other end, Bedfont missed a golden chance three minutes later, a low cross played across the box before Ross Nunn and Farhad Mahboudi both scuffed their attempted tap-ins.

In the 24th minute, a push from Bedfont's Jamie Pearce saw Frimley earn a penalty, with Zac Horkan stepping up and calmly converting to break the deadlock. After this, the game became tense and scrappy as both teams searched for further openings in their attempts to change the game. A few chances came at both ends, but for much of the next fifteen minutes the two midfields dominated. It took until the 39th minute for another clear-cut chance to come: a long ball over the top eluded the Bedfont defence and forced Gordon to come out for it, with Sean Latimer chipping past him and towards goal, only for the ball to bounce wide. 1-0 at half-time.

After a less-than-stellar first half performance, Bedfont would have hoped to make a better start to the first half, but instead they crumbled in alarming fashion: Frimley kicked off the second half, instantly played a longball over the defence to set Latimer through to shoot and score off of the post. This can't have been much more than ten seconds into the half, so Bedfont were understandably shell-shocked. As such, it barely came as a surprise when Frimley made it 3-0 five minutes later: a corner was played into the box and an initial shot was blocked, but the Bedfont defence failed to clear and the ball eventually fell to Bone for a tap-in. Then, in the 57th minute, Latimer almost made it 4-0 with an attempted tap-in from a cross, but his effort went just the wrong side of the post.

Bedfont had their first real chance of the half just after the hour mark, Mahboudi receiving the ball from a corner and getting a shot away, only for his effort to be blocked and then cleared away after a bit of scramble. However, the game looked all but over in the 66th minute as Bone made it 4-0: the long ball over the top once again wasn't dealt with and Bone had plenty of time to receive the ball and calmly chip over Gordon. Despite this, though, Bedfont didn't give up on their attempts to attack and they brought on Jordan Sarfo in an attempt to at least get a consolation: this almost immediately paid off in the 69th minute, as a Sarfo cross reached the head of Mahboudi and was only kept out by an excellent save from Frimley keeper Chris Harris.

A few more Sarfo-led attacks followed - including one where he ran the length of the pitch before having his shot saved - before Bedfont deservedly scored their consolation: several shots were saved or blocked on the line before Elliott Hayden got a tap-in. This really seemed to revitalise Bedfont and they started to surge forward, forcing a few more goalmouth scrambles but somehow failing to score each time. However, that very faint hope of a Bedfont comeback was ruthlessly extinguished when Frimley scored their 5th in the 81st minute: Bedfont lost possession in their own half, allowing George Bowerman to finish with a powerful shot from the edge of the box. Even after this, the game continued to be end-to-end, but it gradually died down as the final whistle approached.

So, this was absolutely not what I expected at all: despite these two teams being the top two going into the game, Frimley ran away with it and won emphatically to go top. Looking at the game as a whole, though, the first half actually was what I expected from a top-of-the-table clash: tight but entertaining, with Frimley just edging things ever so slightly. However, the second half was nothing short of a demolition job from Frimley, and Bedfont were simply blown away. Overall, this game was fantastically entertaining, easily one of the best I've watched this season.

So, bitterly-cold wind and extremely annoying teenagers aside, this was another thoroughly enjoyable groundhop, with comfortably the best match I've seen in quite some time after a few dismal ones of late. The club on the whole also seemed pretty friendly, which at least somewhat compensates for those teenagers.

Though the train back was direct, the journey back itself was a litte more eventful than normal: after getting out of the ground pretty quickly after the game (due to there being minimal added time in either half), I was able to get to within a couple of minutes of the station as the next train to Guildford (and last one for another half-hour) pulled in. At this point, I didn't fancy waiting on the platform for ages for the next train (not with that wind), so I had to run to catch the train just before it left. This also meant I was back in the house just after 6pm, which was not what I was expecting.

My plan for next Saturday is still to head to Woodstock Town, but other plans have come up on Saturday the 23rd, meaning I disappointingly have to miss the Chertsey FA Vase semi-final. Instead, I'm looking to slot in a groundhop either on the Sunday or some point in midweek after that Saturday, and I'll have hopefully made a decision on that front by next Saturday.

The Ground

Frimley Green Recreation Ground is a decent Step 6 ground, with three different areas of cover. One of these is a standard 100-seater Arena stand, while the other two areas of cover have a little bit more character. 

The first of these is a very odd area of cover, a small sloped covered shelter just by the ground entrance: a few chairs are situated beneath it, but even without these you would probably only be able to get 10-20 people under it at most. The other area of cover is on the other side of the clubhouse and probably provides cover for around 100 people.

Other than this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, though there is a small area beyond the main stand that lacks hard standing, for whatever reason. In its current form, the ground is likely good enough for Step 5, but upgrading it to anything above that (if it ever became necessary) would be very difficult, partially because of a lack of space but also because it's so easy to watch the match from outside of the ground and there doesn't seem to be much the club could do about that.

Photos

Worcester Park - Skinners Field

Worcester Park FC

Skinners Field

Green Lane

Worcester Park

Surrey

KT4 8AJ

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 74

Date: Saturday 2nd March 2019

Worcester Park 3-0 Staines Lammas

Surrey Elite Intermediate League Challenge Cup Quarter Final

Attendance: 32

Worcester Park FC - History

Worcester Park are believed to have been founded as early as 1900, but didn't become properly established until the Athletics Club inherited the Skinners Field site in 1921. In 1949, the club joined the Surrey Senior League and remained there for the next fifteen or so years, before dropping into intermediate-grade football.

In the 1982/83 season, the club became a founder member of the Surrey County Premier League, finishing 4th and 9th in their first two seasons. At some point, the club left the league, but they rejoined it again in the 1995/96 season and finished as runners-up. After finishing 8th in the following season, the club once again left the league, only to return for the 1999/2000 season and finish as champions.

The following season saw the league renamed the Surrey County Senior League, but the club finished as champions again regardless. The following two seasons saw the club finish well in the top-half, after which the club joined Division 1 of the Combined Counties League for the 2003/04 season. 

Early finishes in this league were strong - including a 3rd-place finish in the 2006/07 season, with the club missing out on the runners-up spot on goal difference - before a runners-up finish in the 2009/10 season was followed up by the club winning the league the following season. Despite this, the club were not promoted to the Premier Division (presumably due to ground grading). 

After this, the club spent the next three seasons in mid-table, following that up with three consecutive 4th-place finishes. Early into the 2017/18 season, the FA announced that the Step 6 clubs who weren't compliant with ground-grading criteria would be demoted at the end of the season. This saw the club's manager depart early in 2018, but despite this the club still went on to win the Division 1 title. However, this was not enough to stave off demotion, and the club were demoted to the Surrey Elite Intermediate League for the 2018/19 season.

My Visit

This was a ground that had been on my radar for a while, with my original intention being to visit last season while the club were still at Step 6. Ultimately, this didn't end up working out, so that meant I had to wait for an opportunity to arise this season. A couple of weeks ago (give or take a few days), that opportunity finally presented itself with this game: a cup Quarter Final between two sides who were playing at Step 6 last season.

At that point, I added it to the groundhopping schedule, but it wasn't until late last week that I asked about the key details: namely, kick-off time, admission price, programme and so forth. The club gave a fairly prompt response on Twitter (2:30pm kick-off, no admission fee, no programme) and that finalised the decision. It was then just a matter of keeping an eye on the weather during the week, but for the most part it was nice and sunny so I didn't have to worry on that front.

Though I didn't technically need to, I opted to get some cash out on Friday, as I'd heard lots of good things about the food on offer at the ground and wanted to give it a try (as well as putting at least some money into the club). I just had to remember to leave enough cash available for next week's groundhop, which I ultimately managed easily enough.

I ordered my train ticket yesterday morning and left the house at around 12:35pm, with my train leaving Guildford just before 1pm. 45 minutes later, I arrived at Worcester Park station and could see the ground, but still had to find my way to it. Ultimately, this didn't prove to be too much of a challenge, and I arrived at the ground with 40 minutes to go before kick-off. I killed some of this time by doing my usual circuit of photos (or, rather, as much as was possible with the ground's layout), before taking a seat on a bench in front of the clubhouse as I waited for kick-off.

At half-time, I headed into the clubhouse to try some of the food out (the menu pictured above shows just how much they had on offer, with the specials board just above that containing even more options). With next week's groundhop in mind, I was slightly limited on what I could choose, so I went for a cheeseburger and some chips. Though I missed a few minutes of the second half waiting for it, the food was as good as I'd heard it would be, and at £3.35 for the lot it was outstanding value as well.

Not knowing much about the quality of the Surrey Elite Intermediate League (having never seen a match in it before), I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from the match. The only thing I could tell was that, on paper at least, Staines Lammas seemed like the favourites for victory.

Here's my report on a scrappy but entertaining match that saw Worcester Park dominantly secure a place in the semi-finals:

From the start, Worcester Park looked much the better side and almost immediately started to pin Staines Lammas back into their own half. However, despite such strong pressure early on, there weren't many clear-cut chances for the home side for two reasons: firstly, the finishing and decision-making was far from perfect and secondly, the referee was blowing up for fouls so often that the game could barely flow. In the moments that the game did flow, Park tried to force the issue and get the opener, while Lammas had to work hard to keep them out and had to settle for a very occasional counter-attack as a result.

This was the pattern for the entirety of the first half, and as half-time approached it seemed less and less likely that the deadlock would be broken, However, a quick cross from the left found the head of Lee Davison to make it 1-0 to Park in the 36th minute. Having offered little up front up to this point, it would have been reasonable to expect this goal to wake the away side up somewhat, but in all honesty this didn't happen before half-time. As a matter of fact, little changed in the game's overall pattern before half-time, so the score remained 1-0.

I was still getting food in the clubhouse as the second half got underway, so I didn't have the best view of the opening stages of the half. However, I did see Park spurn several chances early on from free-kicks and corners, before a corner in the 50th minute was headed in by Davison to make it 2-0. Despite this setback, Lammas had made a better start to the second half than the first, but it still took this second goal for them to truly wake up. Their best chance came a few minutes after the goal, when their number 18 ran the full length of the pitch on the counter and got a shot away, placing it inches wide. Not long after this, they had a header rattle the woodwork before being cleared.

After about ten minutes of increased Lammas pressure, though, Park were able to regain control of the game. In doing so, they started to carve out some great chances again, but in doing so started leaving themselves more open at the back. For the next 20 minutes, the game became very tense as both teams attempted to score and change the flow of the game; at this point, it was clear that one more Park goal would mean game over, but at the same time a Lammas goal would open the tie up again. Ultimately, though, it was Park who scored next, a cross from the right reaching the head of T'Jay Johnson to make it 3-0. Park could have had a further two goals after this through their number 16, but both times he was denied by the referee's whistle: the first was denied because he handled the ball as he charged down the Lammas goalkeeper's clearance before tapping in, and the second was denied by the full-time whistle going just seconds before he tapped into the empty net.

Overall, this wasn't exactly a bad match or anything, but like last week there wasn't actually too much to write about. As with last week, the main reason for this is that the match was pretty scrappy (not at all helped by a ridiculously bobbly pitch) and that there wasn't actually too much goalmouth action because of this (and because of poor finishing and decision-making, as I mentioned previously). Also, this was extremely one-sided to boot as Worcester Park dominated against a static Staines Lammas team; on another day (one that was less windy, perhaps), they could have easily doubled their margin of victory.

So, before I talk about my thoughts on this groundhop, I feel like I should address the elephant in the room here: the FA's ground-grading criteria and the demotions suffered by both Worcester Park and Staines Lammas (and numerous other teams at Step 6 last season). On the one hand, the FA are well within their rights to enforce their own rules, and I don't think many people dispute that fact. 

However, the issue that I have is the rules themselves on the ground-grading front. Simply put, it's excessive at all levels of non-league. Take the changing-room directive that the FA are cracking down on this season, for instance: Aylesbury will be demoted to Step 5 at the end of the season because they can't get the necessary work done, but they've hosted Step 4 football without any issues for the best part of a decade.

When you then drop down to Step 6, it gets even more ridiculous in terms of how much the FA want clubs to have relative to their expected crowds. For example, I visited the ground of Peckham Town at the end of the last season and it was an excellent set-up, with seating for around 100 people and additional covered standing besides that. Despite everything that ground had when I visited it, though, it still fell far short of the Step 6 grading at the time, which just goes to show how absurd the FA's demands are.

Last season's Combined Counties League Division 1 table (Worcester Park, Staines Lammas and Farleigh Rovers were all demoted to the SEIL at the end of the season)

Then you get onto the likes of Worcester Park and Staines Lammas, who have hosted Step 6 football without issue for years and were both popular members of the Combined Counties League. Despite that, they and so many others were needlessly demoted to Step 7. In particular, it's sheer insanity that Worcester Park won their Step 6 league last season and were demoted for it, while the universally-unpopular AC London were given a stay of execution in the division (they've since been removed, though). 

And that's not even mentioning the fact that demotion almost killed former Hellenic League club Letcombe, forcing them to drop into Division 3 of the North Berks League to survive (a drop of four or five tiers, I believe). Frankly, it's a complete and utter farce that this has happened, and the FA seem oblivious to the damage this decision has caused.

As for the groundhop, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day out, with a decent match, a friendly club and some truly fantastic food to boot. This is definitely a club I'd recommend other groundhoppers to visit; I doubt you'll get very many Step 7 clubs this side of London who can match Worcester Park.

The journey back was uneventful, but the fact that the game started and finished so early really threw off my sense of timing for the day, even more so when I was back in the house at 5:15pm; in many cases, I'm lucky to even have started the journey back at that point.

As for what's next, I've currently got the rest of the month planned out and, if the weather doesn't change anything, here's what's coming up:

Saturday, 9th of March: Farnham Town vs Eversley & California (for my 75th groundhop)
Saturday, 16th of March: Woodstock Town vs Moreton Rangers (another trip to a club demoted from Step 6 last season)
Saturday, 23rd of March: Chertsey Town vs Northwich Victoria (can't resist the allure of a local FA Vase semi-final)
Saturday, 30th of March: Aylesbury vs Yaxley (back home for an early start to Easter break, and back on the Supporters' Coach too)

The Ground

Skinners Field is a good ground for Step 7, with a good amount of character. There is some cover on the near side in the form of a small stand, but this does not contain any seats. The dugouts are in front of this. The only seating at the ground is in the form of numerous benches in front of the clubhouse. 

There is hard standing on these two sides of the ground: some of this extends beyond the stand in the form of a very narrow path (from pictures I've seen online, a rope was placed in front of this last season to allow spectators to stand there). Other than this, the rest of the ground lacks hard standing.

Photos