Frozen Peas

The Season So Far:

Both these teams play in the Mid-Somerset League Premier Division. Albion are based in Peasedown St John – a large village just outside of Bath, while the visitors today are from the town of Street; famous for Clarks shoes. The prematurely finished season saw Peasedown finish 7th out of 10 having played just 5 games, while Sports had played 8 and found themselves in 4th position.

The Dimmock Green Cup was arranged to compensate for a lack of games and Albion have almost a perfect record on their journey to the semi-finals; only failing to win in a 1-1 draw against Weston FC. A week ago, in the last 8 they beat Wells City A on penalties. By comparison, Victoria Sports suffered one defeat and played out a 1-1 draw against the aforementioned Wells City A team. An away win over Cam Valley saw them reach the semi-finals.

In theory this should be a close encounter between two teams with good records so far in this strange post-season period.

The Visit:

The two main teams in Peasedown – Albion and Miners Welfare play on separate grounds, roughly 300 metres from each other. The former share with the local cricket club – the two pitches overlapping slightly. Presumably this is the reason why Albion were playing their ‘home’ game at the home ground of their local rivals. The pitch sits on a public recreation ground just off the main road. Changing rooms sit behind the near goal, with a covered standing area situated between the two dugouts on the far sideline. The two remaining edges are unadorned, barring the skate park at the far end.

The game started quite brightly with a trio of chances in the first 10 minutes. Peasedown’s number 17 fired over on 3 minutes, while the visitors had a shot blocked shortly after. Later, an ambitious hook from the home number 8 would be easily gathered by the Sports keeper. Halfway through the first half and the away side had an effort cleared off the line by a defender who seemingly picked up a slight knock in the process. The chances were now few and far between, however with 6 minutes of the first 45 remaining Joe Everard was brought down by an Albion defender in the penalty area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. There were few protests from the home side and, after a short delay, substitute Ben Lantz stood up and sent the Peasedown keeper the wrong way. The last action of the half saw the visitors double their lead – a corner from the appropriately named Harry Ball was flicked on and subsequently buried by Dan Culliford. Half time: 0-2.

The second half started slowly and it wasn’t until 63 minutes that much of note happened. The Albion keeper cleared the ball well but found himself out of position. The ensuing attempt on goal was comfortably wide, however. 3 minutes later it looked as though it was game, set and match. The home defence froze, looking for an offside flag that wouldn’t come. The home keeper did well initially but the ball was squared to Lantz who rifled the ball emphatically and ensured he’d be on the hunt for a hattrick. 0-3. Peasedown heads were in danger of dropping, but they nearly had a goal back 3 minutes later as number 17 had his shot well blocked. With 12 minutes left on the clock, the Sports number 7 went on a great mazy run but his low shot was just wide. On 85 minutes the Albion goalkeeper made a fairly easy save from another low shot, and was quickly back in action again – saving well when one on one with the away number 7. There was still time for the visitors to hit the post, and then down the other end the home 14 almost squeezed in a shot from a tight angle, but the goalkeeper was in the right place at the right time. Into injury time and a mix-up between defender and goalkeeper almost saw Peasedown gifted a consolation goal but the home side could not capitalise. The final move of the game saw that home keeper again called into action, saving another one on one attempt.

The final whistle blew and the Victoria Sports players celebrated a place in next week’s final. It was probably a fair result overall, despite the home side just edging the majority of the first half. I’ll be back to Peasedown for sure – to see Albion play on their true home turf, and to see Peasedown Miners Welfare play on this same ground.