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United take chances in ill-tempered Vase encounter
This Vase game will certainly be remembered for all the wrong reasons! Despite the beautiful warm sunny conditions, Fran and I thought that the whole spectacle was an absolute digrace and it certainly didn't advertise non league football in its best light.
It has been a very long time since I have witnessed a match played in such a bad spirit. If the constant shirt pulling, diving, and cynical fouling wasn't bad enough, we then had to endure some of the worst possible dissent shown towards the officials seen anywhere. The referee was constantly abused throughout the ninety minutes and how no-one was sent off was quite remarkable. Amazingly the poor official even had to break up a melee between fans on the touchline during a stoppage in play whilst the physio treated an injured player. The amount of foul and abusive language used was a total embarassment too. At one stage during open play I can remember counting at least 23 four-lettered expletives in the space of just one minute. You can imagine the smile this brought to my wife's face when she noticed a full page advert printed in the programme requesting all patrons to 'Mind Your Language' !! Say no more (literally!).
For the record, the hosts won this scrappy affair after netting three second-half goals, all coming from close range. The third was hotly disputed by the visitors (also members of the Hellenic League Premier Division). During a goalmouth scramble the ball was kicked off the line but the eagle-eyed assistant was perfectly placed to judge that the ball had in fact crossed the line and entered the goal. Suffice it to say the official was on the receiving end of some rather choice vocabulary. Thankfully the culprit in question got his just desserts though when his name was added to the list already entered in the ref's notebook! The match was attended by just over fifty spectators and a basic 20-page programme with colour cover was on sale for 50p.
The ground is very exposed and provides some fine views of the Oxfordshire countryside from its elevated location. I imagine its better to make a visit in more favourable weather. A short driveway leads to the main pitch which is fully railed off with perimeter fencing all sides. The main facilities are all located along the furthest touchline. The toilets and changing rooms are housed in a number of portakabins on the right hand side. The adjoining main stand has a few rows of claret and blue (the club colours) plastic seats. To the rear is a tidy club house/bar area and an area with room for some picnic benches in front. Although there is no other cover the rest of the ground does have hard standing on all sides. The catering was excellent with a range of hot and cold food and drinks on the menu dispensed by some cheerful helpers.
To reach the club we followed the A34 from Oxford and after by-passing Abingdon, came off at the Milton Heights turning. After crossing the dual carriageway take the A4130 towards Wantage, next right (where the ground is sign posted) and left up Milton Hill. The main entrance and car park can be seen after 200 metres on the left hand side. There are a number of very large chimneys situated close to the neighbouring Milton Park - they can be seen from several miles away and provide a very useful landmark on the approach roads.
It was a pity that our visit was spoiled by a few mindless individuals. On another day the atmosphere would have been quite different. Mind you we made up for our disappointment with a bit of sight-seeing in Oxford on the way home. I suspect that most the university undergraduates studying Milton would be more concerned about the works of the famous seventeeth century poet than the relatively unknown Hellenic Football Club with the same name!!!
FGIF Rating: 1* | 