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One of the great joys of watching football at lower levels is the sheer down-to-earth and make-do-and-mend mentality of many of the clubs and their supporters. Not for them the glitz and glamour of the Premier League, or even League 2 for that matter. As a visitor to such clubs, it’s acceptable to fall into the same bracket.
So it was then that my son and I rolled up in Arundel today to take in their Sussex County League division 1 clash with Peacehaven & Telscombe. We came on the (staggeringly expensive) local bus service, made our way past the imposing castle and ruined priory and into the Mullets’ Mill Road ground. Here, I made my rookie error, pausing only briefly before marching round to the small stand on the far side to take a seat. The problem this caused was we were now so far away from the ground’s single tannoy that the announcement of the two teams was muffled out by a murmured conversation nearby. Thus, the events I am about to relate to you will be largely nameless as I have very little idea of the names of the players on display. Those I can be sure of I managed to deduce through comparison of the names on the programme with the shouts on the field…
For what it’s worth, the conversation in question was a very interesting one about the likelihood of recently deposed Lewes manager Steve King taking over at Eastbourne Borough, themselves the recent wielders of the old managerial halberd. The general consensus seemed to be one of urging caution in every respect.
And so to the game. It was at least delightfully easy to tell the teams apart, Arundel in red and Peacehaven in a yellow change strip so flourescent the travelling supporters needn’t have made the trip.
The kit seemed to do the job in the early stages whilst the Mullets adjusted their sets. A long-range effort went wide before Peacehaven captain Wes Millis had a header from close range palmed over.
From the resultant corner Arundel broke and a well worked move saw a cross from the right headed back to Scott Tipper, and his well struck volley was beaten away by the Peacehaven stopper. Aside from an overhead kick from 20 yards which sailed wide, Peacehaven were unable to seriously trouble Andy McCarthy in the home goal despite enjoying the majority of possession, and half time came and went.
After the break Arundel carried a greater threat, and came close to opening the scoring with a close range header being scrambled off the line. A minute later they were ahead, however. Tipper, a sizeable centre forward subtly nicknamed Titch by his team mates, managed to bring the ball under control on the edge of the area, evade his marker and fire into the bottom right corner from 15 yards.
Peacehaven attempted to strike back, with Millis hooking over from 12 yards, but the game again settled into a pattern of possession for Peacehaven but little end result. Twenty minutes went by and suddenly Arundel were two ahead.
A penalty was awarded for a foul on the byline and Tipper again stepped up to emphatically smash the ball home and claim his 18th of the season. With less then 15 minutes to go, that seemed to be that, although McCarthy was required to make a couple of regulation saves as time wound down. Peacehaven’s frustrations boiled over and two late, rash challenges from number 4, who may or may not have been Mat Fleming resulted in a second yellow card.
The 2-0 win is an excellent result for Arundel, who have only recently extricated themselves from the relegation zone, against a top six team aiming for acceptance into the Ryman league in the near future. On this evidence, Mullets will be safe come the end of the season.