Southampton League
Junior Division 3
Wednesday 2nd April 2025
Kick Off 18.00 Actual 18.02
CDC 4 Shield 1, attendance 26
27’ 0-1
31’ 1-1
38’ 2-1
50’ 3-1
83’ 4-1
@ Hunts Farm Sports Ground, Pitch 1
Stockbridge Road (A3057)
Timsbury
SO51 0ND
No Admission or Programme.
It was very slim pickings tonight, so I did only my second ever game in the Southampton League, for a match in Junior Division 3, the lowest of the four divisions that make up the league. It was played at Hunts Farm Sports Ground in Timsbury, which as the name suggests, is set up on former farm land. There’s a very smart changing room building and plenty of parking. It’s a huge field with six football pitches, four which were full sized and also hosts cricket. At least this was played on Pitch 1 (not that there’s anything to distinguish it from the others), in the near right hand corner from the car park, the pitch running lengthways away from here, to the right of the first cricket square.
The match was 5th versus 7th (out of 11), with CDC still having a chance of grabbing the second promotion place behind the unbeaten leaders Sarisbury Sparks, who are two points clear at the top and second placed Clarendon, who are two points adrift, but have played three games more. CDC trailed Sarisbury by eight points coming into this, with this being the first of their five games in hand, so they’re very much in with a chance of going up.
Shield started the better of the two, hitting the crossbar with a header early on, before taking the lead after twenty seven minutes with a 30 yard free kick that was spilled by the ‘keeper and bounced across the line. CDC levelled with a free kick of their own just four minutes later, when a 25 yarder found the bottom corner. They went in front seven minutes before halftime, when a corner from the right went straight in at the near post, with Shield having an effort hit the post just before the break. Five minutes into the second half CDC went 3-1 up, when a shot from the edge of the box went in off the post and they rounded off the scoring with seven minutes left, when a long ball over the top saw the ball taken round the ‘keeper and put in from a tight angle.
It was a glorious sunny evening, but did go rather cool as the sun dropped. We’d got underway just a couple of minutes late and with halftime taken out on the pitch, were finished for 19.46, so no problems with the light.
