Wood March On In Cup - Colliers Wood United vs. Banstead Athletic

Team with its own bus stop

After not going to a mid week game for ages, I went to one on consecutive weeks. Last Tuesday I saw Scunthorpe at Wimbledon where The Iron continued their good start to the season. Last night I went to Wibbandune for The FA Cup replay between Colliers Wood United and Banstead Athletic. The first game ended 3-3 and so there was a hope for goals. Also with Colliers Wood being bottom of The Premier Division of The CCL without a league win and Banstead having won both of their league games in Division One there was a potential for a shock. The shock never came with Colliers Wood winning 3-0 although Banstead were more in the game than the scoreline suggests.  

The usual excellent welcome was experienced at Wibbandune as well as the tasty rolls from behind the bar. I took the usual route of walking from Raynes Park and popping in The Cavern which has an excellent selection of beers as well as an awesome jukebox. All in all a great evening and I fully recommend a trip to Wibbandune.

The heavens open in the second half

 

Raynes Park Continue Impressive Run - Colliers Wood United vs. Raynes Park Vale

Just before kick off at Wibbandnne.

Colliers Wood took on Raynes Park in the Merton derby on Wednesday night. Since the defeat at Sandhurst a couple of weeks ago, The Wood had won and draw one to get some vital points on the board. Raynes Park were unbeaten in 2012 and were looking to continue that run against their local rivals. The visitors should be out of sight within the first forty minutes of the game but are only two up and are made to pay minutes before half time when Colliers Wood score from a harshly given penalty. Colliers Wood have a better second half but can't find the equaliser as Raynes Park continue their impressive run. They do it all again on Tuesday night in the league cup at Grand Drive. If you haven't been before, try and get yourself down there and make use of the friendly clubhouse which provides excellent sandwiches!

The clubhouse and covered standing at Wibbandune.

Second London Derby Of The Week - Colliers Wood United Vs. Raynes Park Vale

The second London derby of the week was the Combined Counties League encounter between Colliers Wood United and Raynes Park Vale. The teams are at opposite ends of the table but as is often the case in derby games the form book goes out of the window. Colliers Wood have experimented a few times with Friday night matches and the previous Friday night matches had attracted a decent crowd. Unfortunately this time the crowd is quite small in comparison.

The clubhouse and covered standing.

Colliers Wood dominate from the off and take a two nil lead inside 15 minutes. The goalkeeper probably could have done better with the second goal but Colliers Wood were good value for their lead. The right winger for Colliers Wood in particular causing a lot of problems. Despite creating a lot of chances, Colliers Wood are wasteful and fail to add to their lead. Then Raynes Park manage to get back in to the game with a bullet header from a corner. Raynes Park would have been pleased to be within one goal at half time.

View towards the 'A3' end of Wibbandune.

In the second half Colliers Wood have a similar amount of possession, but fail to create the quality of chance that they did in the first half. The Raynes Park back line looked more solid and put in a fine performance in the second half. Considering how many chances Colliers Wood wasted in the first half, it was almost inevitable that Raynes Park would get an equaliser. Their second goal was a good passing move and deserved a goal. Both teams had chances to win the game in the closing stages but the game finished a draw.  

The other end of the ground.

The nearest railway station is Raynes Park which is a short trip from Waterloo station. From here the ground is about a 20 minute walk or you can get the 57 bus for a couple of stops to cut the journey time by ten minutes. The clubhouse is a decent size and has Sky Sports. It also serves brilliant sandwiches! There aren't any pubs near the ground so if you want to go somewhere other then the clubhouse then there are several pubs opposite Raynes Park Station.

The stand at Wibbandune from a different CWU vs. RPV match.