Alton 1 Farnham Town 1 (21st January 2023)
With two earlier choices frozen off, and a planned alternative of a day of rugby at Bedford rejected due to not fancying a 100 minute drive, the discovery of a closer match at Alton saved me from a game-free Saturday, not to mention the grimness of an afternoon watching Jeff Selling give updates on Reading’s 0-4 lumping at Stoke.
590 would make the same decision, if unlikely for the same reasons, for this local derby, which would make parking spaces at a premium, especially with rugby being played next door, and a multitude of kids and parents at the BMX track and playground behind one goal.
I did consider walking up the embankment of the BMX track to take a photo of the ground, but thought that, as a middle aged man, entering a play area full of children with a camera wouldn’t look ideal, even if in reality people aren’t going to be quite that suspicious, even in this day and age.
Less forgiving or my looks, even if not intentionally, was the young woman on the turnstile, who either made a mistake with the change, or thought I was old enough to qualify for reduced price admission. I didn’t realise until after, but the cost was made up by buying a cappuccino in the tea bar. It was one of the better coffees I have had in a football ground, even if the bar is set incredibly low on that front.
The bar is often set pretty low for artificial pitch grounds at this level, normally being an atcost stand and a cage around the footpath perimeter, but Alton’s did at least have a little more to it than that. True, it had goals on wheels, which cause traditionalists to go blue in the lips with horror, but the rest wasn’t too bad. I am not sure those in the main stand would have appreciated being located on the east side, so all in it would have spent the afternoon having the glare of the low sun burned into their retinas, but the very chunky side terrace opposite offered a decent view.
The footpath behind one goal was dug into the embankment and shored up with wooden poles, like half of a WWI trench, but the only shots those on top risked facing were from wayward footballs. The view this end looked towards the hills rising up south of the town, and for many fans, a wistful look at the housing estate in the foreground, where Alton used to play until 2015.
With kit designers seemingly in an experimental phase, Farnham taking the field in a bright pink wasn’t the surprise it might have been so long ago. I actually prefered it to the lurid neon yellow of Leek the other week, and like that away kit, this one seemed fairly popular among the away fans too. One even had a dog coat fashioned out of the same design, and (going by the name on the back) “Basil” seemed quite happy to wear it too, especially on a day as cold as this.
If the crowd was the season’s best, the game, I suspect, wasn’t. It was terrible by any means, but in the first half in particular both sides struggled to create to many meaningful chances. The cold of the afternoon probably didn’t help. If anyone was seen in the street in this weather in shorts and t-shirts they would have their sanity questioned, but these players are out there like that for the love of the game.
After seeing many attacks break down (and one decent shot and save, to be fair) Alton did go in front. A break down the right saw the ball chipped to beyond the back post, where it was met by a perfect cushioned header back across the keeper.
As so often happens, a team that’s broken the deadlock gets a boost of confidence, and Alton came very close to going 2-0 up with a shot from the edge of the box that only just went wide.
With the club bar likely to be rammed like a Tokyo commuter train, half time was spent trying to thaw outside. More heated, I suspect, was the Farnham changing room, as they came out with a determination and purpose that had been a bit lacking in the first 45 minutes.
Also less than happy was poor ‘Basil’, who got his back paw trodden on as the fans changed positions during the break, who hobbled away limping badly, and spent the second half carried in his owner’s arms.
Despite plenty of attacking intent, both defences were continuing to have the upper hand, and it took the intervention of the referee to add life to the encounter. Being the kind of ref who would give a goal kick when every player, without protestation, was lining up for what they thought was a corner, he awarded a penalty for the kind of coming together that would never be a free kick in the centre of the pitch.
The penalty was hit to the keeper’s left, but that was the way Alton’s keeper went, pulling off what seemed a crucial save.
Some kind of set piece did look the most likely route to a second goal of the game, and that’s how it turned out. A Farnham corner was nodded in at a crowded near post, giving the visitors reward for the increased second half efforts.
Near the end, another penalty, this time for Alton, seemed to have given the home side the chance to win it. With it being blasted into the net, they looked to have taken that chance too, only for the ref to have other ideas.
Encroachment was the call, which annoyed the home side enough, which was compounded by him giving Farnham a free kick, rather than the retake, that everybody, including the Farnham keeper, expected.
What should have been a last couple of minutes somehow dragged on for another ten disjointed minutes of so, before blowing for time.
An Alton player was heard saying the ref had told him that because only one player encroached, it was a free kick rather than a retake. That does sound like the kind of pointlessly picky directive FIFA would bring in, but I have seldom seen a set of players, not to mention the crowd, so confused. A check of the FA penalty guidelines for this season give no mention of this strange rule, so it seems it was just a big fat glaring error. It could have led to heated scenes at the end, but everyone just seemed too baffled to protest too vigorously.
People say a bit of controversy is good, as it gives fans something to talk about. Farnham fans will probably agree with that, but I’ve little doubt those from Alton would rather have been talking about their late winner in this derby instead.
The FA penalty rules for 2023…
Stadiums and Cities 