East Sussex League

Premier Division

Monday 1st April 2024

Kick Off 14.00 On Time!

St. Leonards Social 1 Punnetts Town 7, attendance 19

19’ 0-1

34’ 0-2

40’ 0-3

61’ 0-4

64’ 0-5

70’ 0-6

73’ 1-6

90’ 1-7

@ Tilekiln Playing Fields, Pitch 2

Ingleside

Hollington

St. Leonards

TN38 9RZ

No Admission or Programme.

I had already done a game here at Tilekiln Playing Fields, when I saw Rock-a-Nore draw 1-1 versus St. Leonards Social back in April 2010, a game which was played on Pitch 3. That pitch is furthest from the changing rooms and is actually down on a lower level, separated from the main field by a row of trees/hedge, with the pitch running lengthways away from the complex. It was only about ten minutes drive from Westfield to St. Leonards and as F.A. Full Time was showing that today’s game was on Pitch 2, then it was worth driving here just to see if that was correct. It turned out it was and the allocated pitch number was also correct, being the furthest of the two pitches from the entrance, both running widthways as you look across from the changing rooms and separated by what was an old cricket square.

The match was 10th (out of 12) versus 2nd in the league table and in the end went very much as expected. Punnetts Town played some really good football, which was no mean feat considering the grass was in urgent need of a cut and certainly didn’t help with their passing game, but they still totally overran the hosts. It was 0-3 by halftime, the pick of which was the third goal, a 30 yarder into the bottom corner. Two more just after the hour mark made it 0-5, before a three on one break saw it become 0-6 with twenty minutes left. St. Leonards did pull one back minutes later, courtesy of a cracking 25 yard free kick that bounced right in front of the ‘keeper, skidding off the turf and totally mis footing him on it’s way in. They even went close a couple of times in the next five minutes, but it was Punnetts Town who rounded off the scoring when they made it 1-7 in the dying seconds.