St George’s Day

The Season So Far:

Going into this game it looked to me as though there was nothing to play for for either team: Roman Glass in 13th and with too much to do to threaten the teams vying for promotion, and Cadbury Heath in 17th yet 15 points clear of bottom placed Odd Down. To be honest I was just wanting to go to a game and, given the 3G pitch at Oaklands Park, this one was unlikely to be called off… especially given the lack of rain predicted for today.

The home side have endured a somewhat inconsistent 2020 so far with their DLWLWLDWLW record looking more like Roman numerals (appropriately) than promotion form. Good wins over Keynsham, Street and – in particular – Exmouth Town will give them confidence in getting 3 points from this match.

This year The Heath have suffered 7 heavy defeats either side of a 1-0 win over Wellington, and will be grateful for the dire performances of the four teams below them which is all that is keeping them from a relegation battle.

The Visit:

I was looking forward to this visit for a number of reasons: 1) it had been several weeks since i’d got to a game in the west country; 2) I always look forward to visiting new grounds; 3) this was at the headquarters of the Gloucestershire FA, and 4) it gave me the chance to ride on the new Metrobus in Bristol. The train to Temple Meads was uneventful and I was slightly underwhelmed by the Metrobus. They are clean and smart, but otherwise not obviously different from most other buses. Nevertheless, it got me to within 10 minutes walk of Oaklands Park – I just had to venture underneath the M5 which was a new one for me. I had time for some lunch at the Almondsbury Creative, just over the road from the ground and adjacent to the very nearby home of Almondsbury FC.

The ground is, to be honest, in a pretty weird location for a football stadium – next door to (I think) the Gloucestershire Police HQ, and a variety of industrial and business parks, and sandwiched between the M4 and M5 motorways. The facilities are decent for Western League level, no doubt helped by being the home of the local football association. One side has 3 covered stands – the middle seated stand is straddled by a couple of small covered terraces. The remainder of the circumference of the 3G pitch is uncovered standing. The game kicked off in windy conditions and before long both teams had had a go at goal. A header flew over for Roman Glass, while Cadbury Heath shot wide. It was the away side who would take the lead after 7 minutes – Enis Akgun tapping in after a good low cross from Simon McElroy. After this energetic start, the match went into something of a lull as the teams figured out how the rest of the game would pan out. Around 30 minutes, the home number 7 looked like he’d found a good shot from distance but it was too close to Ollie Jones in the Heath goal. Some neat play from the visiting forwards almost saw them into half time with a more comfortable lead, but home keeper Ross Grimshaw was out quickly to deny them. Half time, and it was the away side with a somewhat slender lead.

Cadbury Heath started the 2nd half on the front foot – blasting over from 18 yards and then a mishit cross ended up scraping the crossbar, all within the first few minutes of the 45. On 54 minutes, Roman Glass won a free kick deep in their opponents’ territory. It was swung in towards imposing central defender Sam Wentland whose looping header evaded Jones and dropped into the back of the net. Parity was restored. Just a few minutes after, Heath almost fell behind and it was almost their own undoing. A defender was caught on the ball, but recovered well enough to concede a corner. It was partially cleared and there were big shouts for a handball in the ensuing action. With quarter of an hour left Heath almost retook the lead but their shot was just wide. Straight down the other end and another defensive error was almost punished by the home side, but it was Jones to the rescue again. Glass found themselves on top and were really pushing for the winner. With two minutes remaining substitute Ryan Radford swept the ball home into the bottom corner. It was a great first time finish and left Ollie Jones with little chance of getting to it. Heath were rattled and downhearted, and couldn’t find a way past their opponents in what little time remained.

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