Saturday 20th January 2024 ko 15:00

Hellenic League Division One

LONG CRENDON 2 (Richardson 32 Bartley 90+4)

FC BRISTOL 5 (Plummer 47 75 80 Miller 69 Collins 70)

Att c40 at Oxford City FC

Entry & Programme £6

It was a day of frozen pitches, or to put a more positive spin on things a time to make use of 3G pitches. In my part of the world that added up to whoever happened to be using Oxford City‘s 3G pitch. I looked, saw it was Long Crendon, and smiled.

For those who who attended Hellenic Hops in the past will know why. They’d already sought and moved into their groundshare so played one game back on the Rec’ for the hoppers’ benefit. That finished 0-0 and the thin strand of the hobby that doesn’t count goal-less draws winced, as they’ve not played a league game there since!

Things have moved on. A site for a potential new ground has been identified and an application for outline planning permission will shortly be submitted. There’s a long way to go, but all the signs do look positive. If fact the only real issue is on the pitch.

It’s as simple as this, Crendon are rock bottom of Division 1 and if you take Full-Time as gospel then three clubs will be relegated, leaving them 8 points from safety and with only 3 wins all season. Whether an relegation would place Crendon in the Oxon Senior, or the one of the Hellenic’s Division Two is subject to conjecture, but clearly renting a National League Premier stadium would cease. Perhaps those nil-nil haters might get another chance….

It was a pleasure to watch much of the game with Carl Catling. He does much of the media work for Crendon, Oxford City Stars Ice Hockey, Risborough Rangers and until recently North Leigh. I was amused when he hadn’t realised that Liz and Russ, on committee there are my sister and brother-in-law. It was both enjoyable and informative to chew the fat on local sport, even though both Crendon and the Stars were to both lose that weekend (The Stars 9-1 at home to Slough Jets)

The game was the kind of encounter dreaded by relegation haunted clubs. With my Bristol connections I’m aware of FC Bristol and their background of success as Lebeq Tavern in the FA Sunday Cup, and we featured them on the latest Western Hop as Lebeq United. They went into this game 6th, but for long periods of this game there was little or nothing between the two sides.

But as is so often the case it was the final margins and the small errors that are killing Crendon and so it was the case here. 5-2 was harsh, but the points deservedly headed back to Almondsbury and Crendon’s problems continue to worsen.

In the end whichever league Long Crendon find themselves in next season, them finding a ground in Crendon is key to just about everything they aspire to. They’ve gone about getting that in precisely the right, collaborative way so you can only hope that those who make the decisions will make the right decisions. Either way, all the best to them for the future.