South Park 1 Guernsey FC 7
Bishopsgate
to London Bridge, not very far really but when you've got a train to
catch it seems to take forever. The Llama Express departed on time
though and what a fabulously spacious experience it was, courtesy of
the Southern Railway.
Fifty
odd minutes later we alighted at Reigate, only to bump into a blazer
model by the name of Ermin, waiting for a cab to South Park's ground.
About 30 minutes later a cab finally arrived and the driver set his
satnav (always a good sign for a local cabbie to be using satnav) and
took us to the Reigate Priory ground.
A
quick reset of the satnav and, at the second time of asking, we
arrived at our destination.
The
welcome was as warm as it was for our visit in the CCL, a polypin of
the local Pilgrim Brewery's Progress was on the bar, a stack of good
value and decent sized rolls was behind the bar. The clubhouse is
light and spacious these days, the club having made alterations to
increase its use throughout the week (with three dart boards they now
host a darts league for instance).
Only
one change to the ground since our first visit and that is a second
Atcost stand behind one of the goals. No doubt required to meet
ground grading regulations (well done FA) but, for South Park, not
really necessary and not used on the night (if ever). The South Park
faithful prefer to congregate near the (still excellent) teabar.
One
thing that hasn't changed is South Park's 'keeper. Still James
Wastell and he still gives good value. Immaculately coiffured his
performance on the night really didn't merit the hammering it turned
out to be. Three of our goals followed decent saves where the defence
was woefully slow in reacting, 2 penalties and a touch from Ross
Allen for GFC's 5th goal was, let's just say, simply
exquisite.
South
Park's tactics seemed to centre around lumping the ball upfield and
try and find Chris Smith. Much of the time the ball went nowhere in
particular but when he did receive it he showed why he's been banging
in the goals this season. The first half sawy a number of close
calls, although overall GFC were good value for the 2-0 lead at
halftime.
Our
third goal was harsh on South Park as, even peering through the gloom
from the far end, it looked an obvious backpass to Chris Tardif by
Tom de la Mare before we broke and scored within mere seconds.
Suffice to say the home side weren't happy and most of them were
resigned to defeat, the last few minutes becoming a bit of a rout.
Before
the game, with the usual midweek squad issues, no-one would have
imagined things would pan out as they did but the result should give
the lads some confidence ahead of the visit of Merstham on Friday
evening. And we do owe them one, or eight.
Allez
les Verts!!
