Time for a party in Bigg Market as the South East Geordies triumph!

The fine folks of Chertsey Town were busy even two and a half hours before kick off, directing traffic and early arrivals. The main car park was full, the cricket club car park was almost full, the side streets were rammed with parked cars, and there was an air of expectation; of success on the pitch and the biggest crowd of the season to watch. Eight hundred advance tickets had already been sold, and there was no doubt that the attendance was going to far exceed the one thousand, one thousand and nine who watched the Semi-Final win over Basingstoke Town in midweek.

By one o’clock there were queues at the bar, and at Lovely Jubblys snack bar, which was offering large amounts of candy floss for sale, perhaps inspired by the success of the sweet shop at Felixstowe and Walton United. Programmes were selling in a way that would make programme editors the world over envious, and the early drinkers were ignoring the drizzle and enjoying a pint pitchside, in a way that would make fans of professional football teams the world over envious. There’s nothing quite like Non League, eh?

Four points separated Chertsey Town and Hanwell Town at the end of the season, but each set of players had delivered a fine campaign, and the fact that these two clubs were meeting in the Play Off Final wasn’t a coincidence. With eighty five league goals for the hosts and eighty six for the visitors including their midweek results, we weren’t expecting a goalless draw, either. The hosts Jake Baxter was a hat trick away from claiming a share of the golden boot but sadly missing today, whilst for the Geordies Tom Collins and Ogo Obi were just one and two goals behind Baxter, respectively. The two meetings between the club this season had seen the Curfews travel to the Geordies and win, and the Geordies travel to the Curfews and win, with an aggregate of two-two. That away victory for the side in black and white was as recently as mid March, but we didn’t expect it would give them an edge today. If they were to have an edge, it might have been the absence of regular Curfews stopper Nick Jupp that was to give it to them; although the hosts had faith in his replacement, Lewis Gallifent.

The drizzle had stopped by the time that the teams ran out through a young guard of honour five minutes prior to kick off, and the home singing section were in fine voice in front of the tea bar. We don’t expect that their decision to stand there had anything to do with the easy availability of burgers, but it was a fine coincidence. The home side were in their usual blue and white stripes, the visitors in the black and white that reflects their North East origins, the home announcer in a smart striped blazer that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Eton riverside.

The Geordies got us underway, and the drizzle started again. It took only seventy seconds for the first shot, from Didi Ndombe, and it led to a home corner, which in turn led to a shot which was cleared just in front of the line. Immediately at the other end, and a Gareth Chendlik header gave Gallifent his first work of the day. It seemed that both sides had left their nerves in the dressing room, and the pace was frantic, challenges flying in from both sides- leading to two bookings in the first five minutes, Mason Welch-Turner for the hosts, Kyle Watson for the visitors. A long injury stoppage calmed matters down a little, probably for the best, but left Geordies centre back Calum Duffy with a new shirt and a bright white bandage around his head.

Dwayne Duncan had the next chance, for the Geordies, heading wide in the seventeenth minute, but in truth neither keeper was being unduly troubled. The game had developed into a midfield stalemate, with both sides struggling to find space in which to move the ball- apart from upwards. “Shall we sing a song for you,” trilled the home fans, not giving us a choice in the matter, before Magnus Abisogun finally made Hugo Sobte work, a shot from the Curfews number seven being claimed at the second attempt.

The game needed a goal, and it nearly got one in the twenty seventh minute, a corner from the right headed goalward by Darryl Harrison, but Sobte got across to grab it out of the air. It was a rare moment of excitement, and the half hour came and went with no more incident. We didn’t have long to wait for a goal, however. A wayward defensive header led to a corner for the Geordies, and there was Duncan, inexplicably unmarked, to head it home.

We expected a Chertsey fightback, but the visitors remained firmly in the ascendancy as we headed into the last five minutes of the half, with Duncan and his bandaged cohort Duffy winning almost everything in the air at both ends. The hosts did manage to earn a corner after an intelligent back heel from Abisogun set up Sam Murphy to cross, but the ball was soon at the other end and clattering off a post, before offside was given. Obi then got himself booked for stupidly refusing to return the ball for a throw in, and we moved into four minutes of added time. Abisogun, the most dangerous player on the park in the first half, was trying to get his side back into it almost single-handed, but it was the Geordies who applied the late pressure, and again Duncan got his head to a corner, but this time couldn’t direct the ball on target. The Geordies headed back to the dressing room with a slender lead, and they were good value for it.

During the break Duncan’s greatest fans- it appeared- walked around the perimeter waving home made signs asking for his shirt, a practice which is irritating when small children do it in the top flight but is rather bizarre when two grown men copy them at our level. In the main stand the home fans were restless, unsurprisingly, bemoaning the fact that their side hadn’t really got going. The match certainly wasn’t a classic, but we had at least forty five minutes during which it might become one.

The Curfews were out for the second half long before the Geordies, and were given encouragement by a large proportion of the seventeen hundred and sixty three in attendance. They had a big job to do. “Come on you Curfews, you can do it,” exhorted the announcer. We were about to find out if they could.

Within two minutes Chendlik had the ball in the net for the visitors, ruled out by the Assistant’s flag, and a moment later it definitely should have been two, Dernell Wynter firing over from eight yards after Obi pulled it back for him. Would that be costly? At the other end, Scott Day forced a diving save from Sobte, as the hosts finally got going. A blue haze filled the air, but we suspect that was just an Everton fan celebrating victory over Chelsea.

On sixty two minutes Ndombe caused some excitement, but fired wide of Sobte’s right hand post and perhaps could have done better. The Chertsey number eleven was replaced a few minutes later, as the hosts tried something different. They had twenty five minutes to make an impact, but it was the Geordies who were still applying most of the pressure.

Abisogun was still the hosts attacking threat and he earned his side a corner, but as it was cleared Obi was one on one with a defender and earned a corner of his own at the other end. A dog at the back of the main stand barked its encouragement, but we’re not sure who he was encouraging. The corner came to naught, but Abisogun ran at the visitors defence and was fouled, twenty two yards out. Sadly Andrew Crossley fired the free kick straight at the wall, but another foul on Abisogun gave them another free kick only a few yards further out, so Crossley had a quick chance to do better. This one led to a corner, and the pressure mounted, but Darryl Harrison could only head wide. This was the hosts best spell of the match, and the ball remained in the visitors half, but a break should have seen Chendlik score, however he miscontrolled and the chance was lost. Into the last fifteen we went. Another chance came to the visitors, and Chendlik headed over, having to lean slightly backwards to connect. He was unlucky, but the Geordies could- perhaps should- have been three goals up by now.

And then there were five. And then three, and two, and the equaliser looked no closer. The atmosphere in the main stand had gone from tense to resigned. Long kicks forward found Duncan and Duffy in imperious form, and time was running out fast. Four added minutes were signalled, to another hopeful long ball which came to naught. A yellow card for Nicholas, for a silly foul on the half way line, free kick lofted towards the Hanwell goal, claimed by Sobte, who stayed down for a moment before picking himself up. One more minute, and then with EIGHT SECONDS left on the clock, pandemonium! A ball into the box, flicked up in the air, and Ashley Lodge managed to bundle it home. We were off to extra time.

The first period kicked off with the hosts attacking the end they’d just scored in, and their fans, bouncing up and down behind it. The pattern of the game had changed, and suddenly the hosts looked in charged, the visitors- understandably- deflated. We had ninety five minutes on the clock when the air was firmly let out of their tyres, Bryan Taylor firing home fiercely to make it two-one. At the other end, Obi through on goal, over the bar- how many chances would the visitors miss today?

Chendlik went off, Tom Collins came on, one striker for another. Perhaps this one might have more luck? Hanwell pressure, and a corner, and the ball staying up there, desperate defending- and then a break, a foul, and a second yellow, Kyle Watson walking miserably to the dressing room whilst the main stand waved a cheerful goodbye. Surely that was the Hanwell dream over- destroyed in five minutes after they must have thought they’d won it. The two “sign boys” were suddenly silent and ha dput their signs away- Duncan’s shirt now looking less valuable- but only for a moment. The ten men broke forward, Collins fired at the goal, Gallifent saved- but the rebound looped up into the air and Collins was able to head it home. Somehow, inexplicably, it was two-two, and the ten men were level. We’d had more drama in fifteen minutes than in the previous ninety!

The second period started with the ten men applying the pressure, and with a corner that was too long for everyone. The best chance also went to the visitors, Harry Rush slipping the ball inside to Obi, but his shot went past the far post and out for a goal kick. At the other end, Lewis Driver hared forward and fired over. It seemed nobody was settling for penalties just yet- and then a Geordie break, Obi in behind the defence, and three-two Hanwell. Seven minutes left, and the signs were back!

Chertsey poured forward, and a goalmouth scramble saw a shot cleared off the line, and we were into the last five minutes, again, only this time it really was the last five minutes. Obi went off for O’Brien, as the Geordies went for defence over attack.

Chertsey pressed, and Lodge forced a fabulous, diving save from Sobte. Corner. Could they do it again? Not yet. One minute remained. Then the referee added two more. Abisogun fired, over the bar. It was as if someone had sucked the air out of the ground. One minute. Another ball into the box, and Sobte claimed, acrobatically. He kicked for touch, long into the opposing half. And then the whistle, and piles of black and white bodies everywhere.

Hanwell Town, somehow, had gone from being ahead, behind and down to ten men, to win promotion to Step Three. Overall, they deserved it, but what a match, what entertainment, and what bad luck for the hosts.

There’ll be a party in Bigg Market tonight!