Hampshire Premier League

Senior Division

Saturday 25th February 2023

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.07

Whitehill & Bordon 0 Colden Common 3, attendance 68

9’ 0-1

73’ 0-2

87’ 0-3

@ Bordon & Oakhanger Sports Club

Bolley Avenue

Bordon

GU35 9HG

No Admission or Programme.

Apparently, Whitehill & Bordon were given special dispensation from the league to use this ground following their promotion this season. I’m not sure why it doesn’t meet the criteria to host games here though, as it is a far better set up than many grounds at this level. Anyway, they have only got a handful of home games left here this season, so it seemed as good a day as any to visit. It also helped that the visitors were top of the league, defending the title they had won last season, whilst the hosts were sitting in seventh place.

It nearly didn’t happen though. I arrived just under an hour before kick off and shortly afterwards the two teams came out and began their warm ups. Ten minutes before kick off it became apparent that the referee hadn’t arrived. Quite why it took until this time for the home club to do anything about this is beyond me. Frantic phone calls were made, but he/she were unable to be contacted. Sensibly, in the end it was decided that a home ‘club official’ would do the game, although Colden Common didn’t seem happy about it, reluctantly agreeing that the game could go ahead. To be fair to the stand in, he was excellent and anyone arriving for the game would never have known he wasn’t the official appointment. Watching from a neutral perspective, I thought he did superbly and told him so at halftime.

Colden Common opened the scoring inside ten minutes, finishing a cross from the right with a stooping header at the far post. It was a very even contest throughout, but the visitors were just too strong. The killer second goal came seventeen minutes from time, when another cross from the right was finished with a tap in at the far post. The scoring was rounded off when they added a third in the dying minutes, when what looked to be a mishit attempt at pulling the ball back across the box, beat the ‘keeper at his near post.

The win sees Colden Common remain three points clear, with a game in hand, over second in the table Locks Heath. This completes the top division for me now, leaving just Division 1 side Hook for the full set.