Day trip to Witham

With Dulwich Hamlet playing down on the Kent coast at Folkestone Invicta coupled with having a family meal booked for mid evening I decide to forgo a Dulwich away day for a trip to Witham in Essex.

Having never been to Witham Town before this was to be another new ground for me and help towards completing the Ryman League North division, a bit of added spice was that their game was a local derby against Heybridge Swifts. With having to be back home at a certain time I decided to drive. Even though the A12 was relatively clear the door to door journey still took me 90 minutes, this was via a stop at a very good chip shop in Witham High Street which had me arriving at the Spicer McColl Stadium at 14.50.

I parked up and paid my £8.00 entrance fee (no free entry for me today) and was stunned to be told by the lad behind the turnstile that all the programmes had been sold, he then went on to tell me this was strange as there were normally loads left.

This match was 9th vs 2nd with Heybridge being the top scores in all 3 Ryman leagues having bagged 67 goals in just 22 league games.
Witham started the game very brightly and had a number of efforts on goal without really troubling Nicky Eyre in the Swifts goal. While at the other end you would never of known the visitors were the higher placed team of the two as the Witham defence held firm. A decent half that ended goalless. With the assistance of the very help club president George Vale I managed to get a team sheet and then on the way to the bar at half time I spied a home programme from November when Witham hosted Potters Bar Town & Ware in a 3 day period.
 

After a warming cup of coffee the 2nd half started, Heybridge had a good spell with the home keeper having to dive down low to make a good save. The rest of the half played out much the same as the 1st except for a large and loud penalty shout for the hosts that the referee waved away without a 2nd thought. A few minutes of added time was played before the referee blew he's whistle to end the contest which finished goalless. The result left both teams in the same league positions as the start of the match. Even with their biggest crowd of the season of 147 I am sure it was Heybridge  that went home the happy team of the 2 leaving with a point gained instead of a loss especially as Maldon could only draw 0-0 at home.

On the way out of the ground I spied that someone had left their programme at the turnstile so I bagged this as I left and returned to the car.

Once in the warmth of the car my journey back to South East London was just an hour with the M25 & Dartford Tunnel being clear, having me indoors with enough time for a sit down and a cup of tea before heading out with the family.

A pleasant day in Essex was had with ground number 318 in the bag.

Til the next time….