El Chocolato

I love a gimmick. That is not to say that everything about this fixture was gimmickry – Heath are celebrating their 125th anniversary this year, and Athletic their 25th. Perhaps the more obvious reason for these two teams to be facing off is the partially shared name and therefore the connotations with chocolate. Bristol-based Heath have been on my radar for a while, being on the easier-to-access side of the city for me, while the visitors today had travelled down from the southern reaches of Birmingham for this fixture. For the forthcoming season the home side will be competing in level 9 of the pyramid (Western League Premier), while Athletic are currently one step lower in the Midland League Division 1.

Compared to my midweek excursion to Bradford-on-Avon, the trip to Springfield was somewhat less straightforward. A (busy, due to the Bath carnival and Bristol pride) train to Bath Spa and then a 40 minute bus into the heart of the south-eastern suburbs of Bristol. I arrived in good time and found the pathway between the houses which would lead to the ground. As a reached the clearing I spotted the small club house straight ahead and the pitch to the left, with a triangle of grass in between which is used for car parking. I paid my £5 for entry and a programme and took a seat in the 100 person capacity covered stand at one end of the near sideline. Also along this sideline is a covered standing area with a tea room, and the teams’ and officials’ changing rooms. The dugouts were opposite, and other than that the remainder of the perimeter is unadorned.

The teams emerged into the sunshine – Heath in their red and white, and Athletic in Dairy Milk purple and white. The first chance went to the away team but their forward could only find the side netting from a tricky angle. The hosts responded with a couple of wayward long ranger efforts before taking the lead via their number 10 Matt Huxley who showed that you don’t need to be 6 foot 5 to be a threat in the air. A pinpoint cross was glanced home via the crossbar. Both teams were playing attacking football, and indeed Heath thought they had doubled their lead, again through Huxley, but the linesman held his flag aloft. This close call was swiftly followed by another but Athletic cleared off the goal line. 1-0 the score at half time.

Cadbury Heath started the second half strongly, and found a second goal – nothing wrong with this one – from a set piece. A quickly taken corner somehow found its way to the back post where right back Matt Binding couldn’t miss. Another long range Heath effort this time connected with the crossbar, but looped out for a goal kick. That would’ve been a goal to rival Hungerford’s third on Tuesday night. Today’s game always had a bit of edge to it and that would lead to me witnessing my first sin-binning. The referee deeming Athletic’s Kennie Roberts (I think) to be deserving of a 10 minute cooling-off period, and I would have to side with the man in black. The visiting midfielder always seemed a bit too fired up for a friendly match, and was substituted at the end of the 10 minutes. The game finished 2-0 to the hosts and that was probably a fair result, although today was more about celebrating two non-league teams formed in different centuries.

I had a blast at my first visit to Springfield – glorious weather, an entertaining match and strong vocal support, particularly for the visitors. I was given a friendly welcome from the ladies in the tea room and made conversation with a couple of other ground hoppers. There are already plans for a similar fixture up in the Midlands next year, and if I can, I will go.

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