League Leaders Held At Home - Newbury vs. Lambourn Sports

View from the stand at Faraday Road

On New Years Eve I attended the match between the Hellenic League Division One (East) leaders Newbury and Lambourn Sports. After finishing third the previous two seasons in third place Newbury were keen to get promotion this time round and had only dropped three points in the entire season. Lambourn were comfortable in mid table and were looking to have a strong second half of the season. The reverse fixture had ended in a narrow victory for Newbury and so it had the potential for being a good game.  

Moments before kick off.

Lambourn go at the league leaders from the off and this shakes up the home side a little bit. Once Newbury settle they begin to have a lot of the ball in the midfield areas and the game becomes open quite early on. Newbury get the ball in to good positions out wide but fail to test the Lambourn defence. The game becomes littered with fouls and from one of these fouls Lambourn take the lead. The ball is struck in to the top corner from around twenty five yards out. The lead doesn't last long however. The Newbury striker gets the ball at the edge of the box and cuts inside to fire a brilliant shot in to the corner.

Newbury on the attack in the second half.

The second half is as open as the first and the game is very end to end. Lambourn restore their lead when the ball is forced home from close range. Even then Lambourn don't try to sit on the lead and they still attack. Parity is restored once again when the Newbury player is allowed to get in to a decent position and slot the ball home. The visitors are then reduced to ten men when one of their players is sent off for foul and abusive language directed at the linesman. Newbury come close to snatching a late winner when a free kick is headed out from under the cross bar. The ten men manage to hold on for a good away point.

The Lambourn player receives his marching orders.

Faraday Road is a fifteen minute walk from Newbury station and the walk takes you through the town centre and market. There a lot of pubs on the High Street and on the market place. I went to The Old Waggon and Horses to watch the first half of the Man Utd vs. Blackburn game. The clubhouse is very much like a pub and has Sky Sports. Trains to Newbury depart from Paddington and the journey takes about an hour. 

The late Newbury chance which was headed off the line.