Damage in the Box!: UXBRIDGE (Honeycroft)

After plans a, b, c and d bit the dust, all postponed due to waterlogged pitches, it was on contacting Uxbridge that the thumbs up were finally received. Phew!

I was in London thanks to a cheap train deal and the original plan was a tasty looking clash between Harrow Borough and Bury Town, but that wasn't to be.

I found myself at the Honeycroft for a Southern League Central relegation six-pointer between Uxbridge and bottom-of-the-table AFC Hayes. I was lucky today that my mate very kindly came and picked me up from Uxbridge Underground station as the ground is actually 3 miles way in nearby West Drayton, public transport is not great when you have a raft of postponements to contend with!

The ground is actually not that bad with cover on each side of the ground, seating on either pitch side and terrace behind each goal. Considering the rain over the previous 12 hours the pitch was heavy but in remarkably good condition, save for a few bits of sand here and there.

As touched upon both teams are having a pretty bad run of things and are down amongst the dead beats, but they managed to produce a very entertaining game of football. Both teams created chances but failed to convert them, perhaps this goes some way to explaining their predicament.

The Reds had the majority of the play and chances in the first half but failed to capitalise on their advantage. Some last ditch AFC Hayes defending keeping the score blank. They managed to scramble one effort off the line and were lucky not to be down to 10 men when goalkeeper Simon Grant appeared to haul down and Uxbridge strike Dean Clark as he attempted to round him, the referee obviously thought the covering defenders would prevent a goal. I wasn't so sure.

In the second half Uxbridge were made to pay for being wasteful as two terrific strikes from The Brooks' Terry Smith sealed what seemed at half time an unlikely win. The first was a shot from the edge of box on 57 mintues and then he repeated the trick from the other side on 68 minutes. This knocked the stuffing out of the homesters and they couldn't rally to get themselves back into the game. AFC Hayes comfortable held on to lift themselves off the bottom of the table.

I must give special mention to the catering facillities at the ground as it is run by two old dears and they had for sale home-made bread and butter pudding and it was absolutely spot on. It was also a novelty to see a pastie (very nice too) on sale at a ground near to dat der London as normally southerners can't handle such a delicacy and usually have just the ratburgers on offer!!

All in all a very, very enjoyable day at a ground that wasn't anywhere near, let alone on, my radar. Isn't that usually the way though?