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Saturday 20th July 2024

Kick Off 13.00 Actual 13.05

Yateley United 2 Holyport 3, attendance 26

27’ 0-1

28’ 0-2

32’ 0-3

51’ 1-3

83’ 2-3

@ Sandhurst School, 3G Pitch

Owlsmoor Road

Owlsmoor

GU47 0SD

No Admission or Programme (They produced a 40 page online one!)

I plumped for this game today as both teams had advertised it on Twitter and just in case there were any unforeseen problems, the 1 o’clock kick off left time to head elsewhere, but thankfully all was good. The pitch here at Sandhurst school is just a basic cage, with no spectator viewing area, but there was no problem watching from inside the fence, even though there were three match officials. Oddly, at least half the crowd chose to watch through the mesh, rather than pitch side.

The game was a clash between two Combined Counties League teams, with Division 1 (Step 6) hosting Premier Division North (Step 5). With the U23/Reserve teams playing each other immediately after the first team game, it meant there was no ridiculous amount of substitutes used, which helped with the flow of the game. I don’t recall anything of note happening, until Holyport broke the deadlock after 27 minutes, heading in unmarked from six yards, after the ‘keeper had failed to make contact with the ball as he attempted to punch a corner clear. Within a minute it was 0-2, intercepting a misplaced back pass, before scoring from a tight angle. A real purple patch saw them score a third goal just four minutes later, playing the ball across the six yard box to be easily converted at the far post.

Yateley made a game of it when they pulled a goal back early in the second half, with an excellent first time finish to a cross in from the right, but struggled to break down a resolute Holyport defence, although they did get it back to 2-3 with an angled finish into the far bottom corner with seven minutes left.