Hello!
If you have been outside in the last few days then you will know that yet another storm has hit the U.K.
Storm Jorge wiped out the majority of non league games yesterday including Hampton and Richmond v Chelmsford, which I was originally planning on going to.
So after the postponement was announced at 10:30 in the morning, we had to put our groundhopping heads on and find a game that would not be susceptible to the weather (a 4G pitch).
After searching far and wide across London, we found that Kensington & Ealing Borough were hosting Godalming Town in the Combined Counties Division one.
We hopped on the central line and then made our way through Acton to find ‘Club des Sports’, which was actually very easy to find compared to other grounds located in a leisure centre complex.
Interestingly, this was the first league game that Kensington & Ealing played at Club des sports, and I understand that they are only playing a few games there.
Anyway once we arrived, we realised there were no turnstiles or anyone looking to collect admission fees (this makes sense now knowing this appears to only be a temporary home) which means we got a free game!
The game kicked off and much to our surprise, there was in fact a lot of noise from the Godalming boys.
I go to a lot of football at this level and I have never witnessed fans actually making a decent level of noise, so this was great to see.
Despite Godalming being planted at the bottom of the league, they started with lots of intensity and passion.
This didn’t last for too long though as the hosts scored a couple of early goals, both were pretty simple goals, but goals nonetheless.
The away side once again found their footing in the game and managed to pull one back with an excellent finish from a tight angle.
We were midway through the first half and had already seen three goals, what a treat!
The fourth goal was the pick of the bunch however, a sublime free kick was bent in by Godalming’s number 7 (who by the way caught the eye throughout the game).
The ‘limbs’ from the away end were pretty spectacular as it could have been mistaken for a brawl had no context been provided.
Kensington & Ealing had the last laugh in the first half though as they wrestled back the lead with a nicely worked goal.
The first half had flown by as we saw a goal on average every 9 minutes, more of the same please…
Unfortunately the second half didn’t quite live up to the billing as the hosts confidently controlled the game.
But the half rested on one exact moment, a goal direct from a corner.
Now, the story I’m about to tell you is probably as ‘non league’ as it gets…
Just as the corner was swung in, I felt the wind pick up and as it came in it looped over everyone and went straight in, curling a lot right at the end.
Unfortunately I can’t find the full name of the scorer but Kensington’s Twitter refers to him as Mohab so we’ll go with that.
Anyway this goal completed his hat trick, but instead of sprinting off in celebration he casually ran back towards his half and just said “it was a cross” to those of us on the sideline.
He could’ve claimed he was going for goal I reckon.
But that was all of the action from the second half and thankfully the referee blew his whistle just as the wind was about to give us frostbite.
After the game I noticed that Kensington & Ealing have a couple of youngsters in their side, it is a credit to them that I didn’t notice this during the game, this is always good to see.
The game was followed by a very nice chicken and chip shop called ‘Chicken Land’ and a quick journey home.
Considering we were staring in the face of a Saturday with no football at 12pm, this was a very nice little outing.
Thanks for reading!
- GROUND: Club Des Sports
- GAME: Kensington & Ealing Borough 4-2 Godalming Town
- COMPETITION: Combined Counties Division One
- GROUND NUMBER: 75
- WOULD I GO BACK: Why not!
- TICKET PRICE: N/A
A Groundhoppers Guide to the Pyramid 