High Time.

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Intro

Highworth Town were relegated from the Southern League Division One Central at the end of last season, after a disastrous end to the campaign in which they won only one of their last 12 matches. As a result they find themselves in the Premier Division of the Hellenic League for the 2023/24 season and will hope to make an immediate return to Step 4. Preseason has so far seen Highworth lose to new League rivals Cinderford Town, before a 2-2 draw at home to a youthful Swindon Town XI. Their latest friendly saw them take on Devizes Town at home which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

I’m not ashamed to say that I wasn’t sure where Wallingford OR Crowmarsh (Gifford) was, before discovering – with the help of a certain online map – they are both located in Oxfordshire, each one either side of the Thames just east of Didcot. The football team plies its trade in the Combined Counties League Premier Division North, finishing in 10th position (out of 21) last time out. They finished the season strongly, losing just one of the final 8 games, including two convincing wins over London Lions who were similarly placed in the table.

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The Ground

The Elms sits on the southern edge of Highworth, next door to the town’s leisure centre. The car park designated to spectators lies across a field from the football ground where entry can be made via a small turnstile. There is another main entrance to the ground at the opposite end near the leisure centre. One edge of the pitch has covered viewing areas along nearly the entirety of its length. This is in the form of 2 decent sized seated stands either side of a standing area. Both goals have behind them uncovered standing areas. The remaining sideline has the 2 dugouts but no access to spectators. A fence on this side separates the football pitch from a public open space. There is a cosy clubhouse with bar and refreshment hatch, and from where I bought a pin badge. This provided much needed shelter in the rain today!

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The Match

There was almost a calamitous beginning to the match as inside a minute some hesitant goalkeeping from the Highworth keeper enabled an early shot on goal for the visitors. However the shot was charged down and the home defence was able to clear. The away side had clearly been working on some free kick routines in preseason training: one such routine saw a through-ball played to the byline from where the ball was sent into the centre. Highworth’s goalkeeper was tested but the ball stayed out of the net. The hosts’ first real chance came on 18 minutes as a powerful shot from Rhys Wells was straight at the visiting keeper Reuben Perry who beat it away. Just before the half-hour a great through-ball was played to The Wallys’ new striker Aiden Higgs, but Highworth’s goalkeeper was equal to it. The home side began to impose themselves more onto the game in the final 15 minutes, and a poor goal kick from Perry went straight to The Worthians’ Christian Turner-Williams, but his shot was scuffed and easily saved down low. At the other end, a good cross from Turibio Dos Santos on the left found the head of Higgs but the effort flew just wide. The final chance of the half went to the home team. A well-worked counter-attack, including a great dummy from Steve Robertson, resulted in a curled shot just over the bar.

Into the second half and this time an early chance for the hosts. Robertson’s shot was charged down and spun behind for a corner, from which a header sailed just the wrong side of the post. Almost bang on the hour the deadlock was finally broken. A deep diagonal into the box was redirected by a Wallingford defender towards Highworth’s Liam Haines. He bravely applied the finishing touch with his head and seemed to pick up a bit of a knock in the process. 10 minutes later the Wallingford captain Callum Young flashed a cross-shot just wide of the target. Seconds later Highworth nearly doubled their lead – Connor Mattimore was slid in by Sol Pryce but the shot smacked against the post. The follow-up was well saved by The Wallys’ replacement keeper Sam Baldock who had been on since half time. The Worthians were looking likely to score again, and soon had a flurry of chances ending in a blocked volley from Pryce from the edge of the area. The striker found himself one-on-one with Baldock a couple of minutes later but couldn’t find the target. And Pryce was to be disappointed again 9 minutes later: this time Baldock pulled off an impressive save to thwart a good Highworth attack. With 5 minutes to go Mattimore found himself in on goal. The angle was against him, though, and Baldock was able to make the save at the forward’s feet. The home side looked dangerous in the second half and would be disappointed to only have won by a single goal. Having said that, the visitors may be left thinking they should have gone into the break with a lead. All in all it was an entertaining match despite the weather. Highworth Town is a friendly place to visit with a characterful ground to enjoy.

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The Photos

The full gallery of match photos is also available HERE