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Tuesday 1 May 2018

Seventh Heaven - Glebe vs. Deal Town

Main stand and clubhouse at Glebe under a spring sky
With me visiting MK Dons to finally see Scunthorpe on Saturday, I was keen to get some midweek non league in. In this regard, I was thankful to the horrible weather earlier in the year as it presented me with the opportunity to take in Glebe versus Deal Town in The Southern Counties East League. With Glebe being so close to Central London, I'd been saving Foxbury Avenue for a situation like this. I'd made the trip to the Kent Coast to visit Deal last season and I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to The Charles Sports Ground for a league game with Erith Town. As with the Welsh games the previous weekend, tonight's teams had already played each other six times this season - twice in The FA Cup, twice in The Vase, once in the league cup and once in the league. Both sides were in midtable and it was just pride up for grabs tonight.

Kick off under dramatic skies
It is a fairly quiet first half, Glebe are kicking downhill with the wind behind them and the Deal keeper does well to punch a couple of balls into the area away. Deal come close when a shot from the edge of the area is deflected wide. The only goal of the half comes when a long throw into the Deal area isn't cleared and the Glebe forward acrobatically volleys home from close range. Just before that, the Glebe forward drove a cross in that was cleared for the vital throw in.

The Glebe attacker drills the ball across goal
Glebe have the first effort of the second with a shot that is deflected wide. The Glebe keeper is then almost caught out with a long range bending free kick that he has to tip over at the last second. Deal then equalise as they are able to get the ball in for a second time and this time it is forced in from close range for the equaliser. The lead doesn't last for long however. Glebe are able to break after a Deal move breaks down and when the first shot is blocked the forward is on hand to bury the second effort. Glebe manage to see out the rest of the game to claim the three points.

Deal defend a Glebe corner in the second half
The closest station to Foxbury Avenue is Sidcup which can be reached in under half an hour from London Bridge. Then from just up the road you can catch either the 160 or 269 which should take about ten minutes depending on traffic. There are quite a few micropubs in Sidcup. Unfortunately, I only got to try one - The Hackney Carriage which had a great selection of ales and is highly recommended. The clubhouse just outside the ground had the usual selection of drinks and the food is worth checking out. Glebe have clearly worked hard to get their ground set up and I enjoyed my visit and the welcome from everyone was second to none.






Players dash past the stand at Foxbury Avenue

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