Football Days

Shawfield Road - Ash United FC

Ash United 0-3 Camberley Town

10/03/12 - Combined Counties Premier League

Att: 141

With limited funds in my bank account and very little League football of any interest locally, I decided to head to a non-league game to get my football fix. Looking down the fixtures, I was originally planning on re-visiting some local grounds, with Basingstoke, Sandhurst and Cove all playing at home, but when I noticed Ash United had a local derby with Camberley Town, I decided I'd head there, as it's a ground I'd never previously visited, despite it being only 7 miles away on the outskirts of Aldershot.

Unlike previous weeks there was no hang over getting in the way of my travel plans, just bone idle laziness, which meant I didn't leave home til around 2:30pm, but thankfully the A331 was clear and I arrived at the ground around 15 minutes before kick off. With the ground being in the middle of a housing estate, parking was easy enough and I got to the ground and went to take some pictures. It was then that I realised I'd left my memory card in my laptop, which meant I had to adjust the settings to make the pictures smaller files, but I would still only be able to take a few.

Formed in 1911 Ash United are celebrating their centenary year and originally played at Ash Common. They enjoyed great success in the Surrey Intermediate League before the Second World War and after the War, following a restructuring of the club, enjoyed more success winning the league and four cup competitions in the 1947/48 season. They had to wait til the mid-sixties before they tasted success again, when they won the Surrey Intermediate Premier League, finishing with 50 points out of a possible 52, scoring 121 goals and conceding just 19. They were promoted again the following season, but in 1971 they were forced to change grounds and as a result dropped out of the Surrey Senior League and were forced to take up residence in the Aldershot League. After finding a new home at Shawfield Road, they were re-admitted to the Surrey Senior League where they enjoyed more success and finished runners up in the newly named Combined Counties League. Facilities at Shawfield Road were upgraded in 1996 with the installation of floodlights, new dugouts and improved changing facilities. On the pitch they had a successful campaign in 1997/98, winning two trophies and setting a club record 29 match unbeaten run, which included 21 straight wins. The following season they won the league by 13 points, won the Aldershot Senior Cup and had their best ever run in the FA Vase, losing in the last 32 to eventual winners Tiverton Town. In 2001/02 they achieved their highest ever points total, finishing with 100, but remarkably finished runners up to AFC Wallingford.

Last season was a struggle for Ash and going into this match with Camberley they were sitting comfortably in mid-table, finding themselves in 12th place after 33 games and on a run of 3 games without a win, following last week's 1-0 defeat away at Wembley. On the other hand, their opponents Camberley, lead by former Aldershot left back Darren Barnard, are enjoying a successful campaign, sitting in 4th place in the league and coming into this game full of confidence after slapping Dorking 9-0 in their last outing.

Shawfield Road is a typical ground at this level, with a clubhouse and a covered area behind one goal and a small seated stand on one side, with the other two sides railed off and open to the elements. There are four floodlight pylons in each corner and with plenty of trees and houses in the surrounding area, it's in a nice setting. With this match being a bit of a derby, with only 9 miles separating the two towns, there was a decent crowd in for the match as the teams took to the field. Ash United were in their home colours of green with a red trim, while Camberley Town came out looking like an Atlético Madrid tribute act, wearing their home colours of red and white stripes with blue shorts and red socks. After the pre-match handshakes, which have for some reason filtered all the way down to the 9th tier of English football, the game got underway.

Unsurprisingly it was the visitors who started the brightest and enjoyed a succession of early corners, with the fourth one being bundled home after just 3 minutes to give them the lead. To their credit, Ash got themselves back into the game and almost drew level soon after, but a fine reaction save from the Camberley goalkeeper denied them. Despite the home side having more of the ball, it was the visitors who always looked more dangerous and after half an hour they broke away and doubled their advantage. It was 2-0 at the break and in truth, the second half was a bit of a non-event, with Ash struggling to break down a well organised Camberley side who were happy to sit back and pick them off on the break. They had several chances to increase their lead before they eventually added a third, with another incisive counter attack. 3-0 at full time was a pretty fair reflection on the game, with Camberley looking vastly superior throughout the 90 minutes.

After the match I had a drink in the clubhouse while watching the full time scores come in on Soccer Saturday, with Leyton Orient's failure to find the back of the net away at Tranmere Rovers letting me down for £68, but on the plus side news of Villa's stoppage time winner brightened my mood. It was a quick and easy journey back home from what was an enjoyable afternoon in the March sunshine at a very pleasant little venue.