No.18 - Sat. 15th October 2005; FA Trophy 1st Qual Round     3pm at Imperial Fields (att: 312; prog: 32 pages @  £1.50)

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Tooting & Mitcham United (1) 1 Wealdstone (0) 2

Grounds for a celebration!

Hallelujah!! At last the curse of Tooting & Mitcham United Football Club has been lifted! After failing miserably to watch a game at Imperial Fields in Bishopsford Road on no fewer than three other occasions, I finally managed to get in a game without any problem. The memories of messing up train connections; being stuck in traffic on the M25 and arriving at the ground only to find the match postponed half an hour before kick-off, were fading fast. In fact there was also another reason to celebrate as this was my 1000th visit to a Non League football ground.

For the record, the visitors fought back from being a goal down to win a close game in which all three goals were scored from set play headers. There was plenty of action in the first half; each side had managed to hit the woodwork before Tooting took the lead after 25 minutes. A Lasbrey corner from the left was met by Pinnock who rose to beat his markers from close range. After the break Wealdstone game back into the game and eventually took control. An equaliser came on fifty minutes with an almost identical goal. This time it was defender Ryan who had come up for a corner and deftly headed home to put his side back into the match. Within ten minutes 'Stones' had the lead when Tucker met a free-kick floated into the six yard box to head home. Despite a spirited Tooting fight back the visitors had done enough to book a place in the next round.

The game was played in glorious sunshine and attracted over 300 spectators including several travellers. With Old Sloppy on a four day 'hopping extravaganza in Ireland, I was accompanied on the trip by fellow Newmarket ground enthusiast Steven Walker. Being an avid collector of things to do with football, he was keen to track down some more memorabilia from the club shop. And just like a youngster at Christmas, his eyes were the size of dustbin lids when he spotted some boxes of old programmes inside the newly relocated 'souvenir kiosk'. The large plastic carrier bag stuffed with assorted back issues and match tickets was evidence that Steven had also enjoyed his day out!

The adjacent refreshment bar was doing a brisk trade throughout the afternoon, vending both hot and cold drinks and snacks. A 32 page programme sold for £1.50. This was a decent effort despite the large number of adverts contained in the glossy outer shell.

The journey was a good one. In fact we arrived at the ground and were parked up some forty-five minutes before kick-off (having left a busy Newmarket and its race going visitors at lunchtime). We travelled down the M11 and joined the M25 heading south over the Dartford Bridge before coming off at junction 8 (A217 Sutton). We continued along this road for most of the way, joining Bishopsford Road at the Rose Hill roundabout. After about a mile the leafy main entrance could be seen on the right as we came over the brow of a hill along the road. There is plenty of car parking behind the main stand and adjacent astroturf play area which was being used for hockey during our visit. A great day out and thankfully a memorable one for all the right reasons!

FGIF Rating 3* 

 

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