For enthusiastic ground collectors this is one day in the football calendar that really does add a bit of extra end of season excitement and spice. With the small distraction of an FA Cup Final taking place at Wembley, many football clubs up and down the land have rearranged their matches to accommodate the annual 'March to the Arch' which this year features a tie between Manchester City and Stoke City. For us the crucial Central and South Norfolk League Div 1 fixture at Narborough (near Dereham) has turned our heads today, providing the ideal chance to get in a new venue with the bonus of an earlier than normal scheduled start at 1pm. Bring it on!

In fact since we first discovered this wonderful Norfolk league only a few weeks ago with a midweek hop to Bridgham United Football Club, you could say the competition has definitely grown on us. Ironically the Blues are today's visitors to the Community Centre in Chalk Hill. Amazingly after their defeat to Tacolneston (0-3) on our debut visit, the club has hit a rich vein in form having amassed no fewer than twenty one points by winning all  of their last seven games played in the space of just five short weeks. This tremendous run has not only elevated them from sixth to second place in the fourteen team Division 1 table but more remarkably they have caught up with long time runaway leaders Thetford Rovers Reserves and remain just one point behind them.  Rovers have now finished the season on a total of sixty points which means that a win here today would allow Bridgham United to clinch the title, unbelievably for the first time in their eighty-nine year history. Quite rightly we just couldn't wait for the match action to start!     

In what was a distinctly one-sided game, Bridgham took full control of proceedings from the kick-off and were far too strong for a weak Narborough side who, in fairness, were missing several key players (apparently on a group holiday in Spain). Captain Morgan Crane, Michael Watts and Alan Boon all came close to scoring for United in the opening minutes seeing their shots go just wide of the target. However persistence paid off when Andy Kingsbury (27), rose beautifully at the near post to flick home Mark Hawes' corner. Within five minutes Bridgham doubled their lead after James Taylor (32) tapped in Watt's perfectly timed cross from the left. With just forty-five minutes left and barring a massive turn around in fortunes United already looked to have a one-handed (at least) grip on the Division 1 trophy.

Dressed in their familar kit of royal blue, Bridgham continued where they had left off and wasted little time in building on their comfortable lead. It was Alan Boon (48) who, unchallenged, beat the offside trap to hit a low drive past hapless home keeper Jamie Rose to claim his 27th goal of the season. Mark Hawes (65) was the luckiest man on the pitch when his shot-cum-cross seemingly evaded Rose (who must have thought the ball was going wide) to squeeze it between the keeper and his right hand post, ending up in the back of the net. After a great run down the right Luke Copeman (73) beat his marker, cut inside and converted with a well driven close range shot from a tight angle to wrap things up. At the final whistle there were unbridled scenes of joy as the United players and staff celebrated their well deserved victory and bit of history they had created for the club. A tremendous achievement indeed!   

The match which attracted only seventeen spectators was played in blustery conditions which alternated between bright sunshine and showers throughout. Following the recent period of unrelenting drought the pitch looked almost bare and the only patches of grass that yielded any signs of life took on a rather straw-coloured hue. In fact the dusty surface had given the referee Dave Pindar some cause for concern before the start of the game after spotting numerous sharp flint stones which appeared inside the top soil. I was reliably informed by one of the visiting committee members that had this been an early season fixture it probably would not have gone ahead. Thankfully as this was the last game of the campaign he decided to proceed with play. Phew!!

The ground itself is found behind the equally impressive and imposing Narborough Community Centre located off Chalk Hill, only a short drive from the Dereham by-pass (A47). A narrow driveway leads to a large gravel car park and adjacent changing rooms situated in the two storeyed building which today doubled as an auction room. The tree-lined playing field is surrounded by local housing to the left and open countryside with some crop fields (typical of a flat fenland landscape) to the right. The pitch which runs parallel and close to the club buildings is marked out on the left of the field (having originally been over to the right). A small children's playground, basketball practice area and small unusual communal shelter with bench seating are all found behind the left hand goal. Visitors here may not be surprised to learn that there are no dug outs or any other dedicated spectator facilities at pitchside. Owing to the increasingly threatening grey skies which had seen a heavy storm before kick-off, we decided instead to drive around the pitch and park the car on the opposite side to escape the rain. Luckily the rain relented and we didn't need our makeshift executive box after all!

It was lovely to meet up with the visiting committee members from Bridgham United Football Club once again. An excited bunch of personnel had travelled over en masse from the South Norfolk village located on the outskirts of Harling. I enjoyed chatting to affable, enthusiastic and hard-working club manager Simon Bell who had E-Mailed me earlier in the week regarding our site. Incredibly Simon will have been in this post for 25 years come August 2011 having made over 600 appearances (673 to be exact!) for the club during his playing days. Surely this must be a league record? There can't be many who deserve to win the title more for showing such terrific commitment and dedication towards one club. True to his word Simon kindly sent me the United team line-up for the game and told me that FGIF has really gone down well with the league management committee after promoting their league in recent weeks. A link to the excellent C&SNL website is shown below.

If you're in the area I can whole-heatedly recommend a visit to any of the clubs in this competition. You will not only be pleasantly surprised at the standard of football on offer (with many clubs fielding ex-Eastern Counties League players) but also be guaranteed a genuine warm welcome from real football folk when you get there. So come on, give it a try. What are you waiting for?! .                    

FGIF Match Stats

Scorers: (H) N/A and (A) A Kingsbury (27); J Taylor (32); A Boon (48); M Hawes (65); L Copeman (73)

Attendance: 17; Admission and Programme: None; Match rating: 3/5; Ground rating: 2/5.

Links

http://www.csnleague.co.uk/

http://full-time.thefa.com/Index.do?league=552112