Tuesday 5 April 2022

Evergreen - Southway

Evergreen FC
Southway Recreation Ground 
South Way 
Abbots Langley
Watford
Hertfordshire
WD5 0JL

01923 267812







Ground Number: 1062
Tuesday 5th April 2022
Evergreen Reserves 1-1 Bovingdon A
Herts Senior County League D3







EVERGREEN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1970 and was originally a church team. In 1980 the club amalgamated with Leggatts Way Old Boys and Abbots Langley Rovers Youth and currently has over 40 teams of various ages. Following the merger, they took  Leggatts Old Boys' place in the Herts Senior County League and were runners-up in the Premier Division in 1982. This remains the club's best finish to date but the team suffered a dramatic loss of form in the mid 80's. A double relegation in 1986 & 1987 saw them in Division 2 and they would not escape until 1992 when they finished as runners-up to Hertford Youth. Evergreen would remain in Division 1 until 2004 when they finished as runners-up to Whitewebbs. A 7th place finish was a great start back but the following season they finished bottom and were relegated back. A third-place finish behind Park Street Village and Bovingdon in 2007 saw them return to the Premier Division and they would stay there until 2010 when they left the league for a couple of seasons. In 2011 they would return to Division 1 and in 2015 a third-place finish behind Buntingford Town and Old Parmiterians saw them return to the Premier Division. They spent four seasons struggling in the top tier before returning to Division 1 in 2019 where they remain to this day. Their reserves play two levels lower in Division 3.

The club is based in the village of Abbots Langley which has a population of just under 20,000. Cricket is played by Abbots Langley and Langleybury in the village. There are a number of football clubs, including Bedmond who also play in the Herts Senior County League, plus some others lower down.  Famous people to have lived in the village include former Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia, TV host Bradley Walsh and Pope Adrian IV who was born in the village as Nicholas Breakspear. The latter has a road named after him. 


MY VISIT

Once more, the options for this Tuesday were quite limited. The good news was that it was the start of 'silly season'. This is a name given by groundhoppers to the time of year when the daylight allows teams to play evening games without floodlights, usually with the benefit of an early kick-off which allows for an early night. There were a few I had on my radar, notably Roade of the Northants League, although they were not obliging this year. The Hertfordshire League was another league with a few venues worth visiting and closer to home. Sadly, it was only the reserve sides playing, but that was better than nothing. Evergreen were not a side that was initially a target, although research showed that they had their own sports club and a railed pitch. It was close enough to home to take a gamble as neither side were especially active on Twitter. This is understandable when this level is all about participating rather than spectating though.


Since my game last Wednesday, I'd had a Wycombe game. It was a mixed day, with a disappointing lunch due to a couple of places I'd banked on being open, being closed. The game was also not the greatest, but the main thing was, that Wycombe got three points, beating Doncaster Rovers 2-0. It was the usual boozy Saturday with a nice Chinese in the evening, followed by two hard days at work at the mercy of the general public. I had my usual day off on Tuesday, glad of the rest and walking to town and back. I kept checking the FA Full Time website for any postponement but when I came to leave it was still on. After a dinner of chicken casserole, I left at 5.40. It was a good journey over but when I arrived at 6.10 the game was in progress but it was still 0-0 thankfully. The rail that had been present on other hoppers' photos had gone, but there was little time to worry about that.

Evergreen Reserves were 15th in the league, just a point off the bottom whilst Bovingdon A were 10th. Despite this, the hosts were in reasonable form and had drawn 2-2 against Little Heath on Saturday and 1-1 against Sarratt Reserves a couple of games before that. In between, they'd won 5-1 at Hatfield Town Reserves. However, prior to that, they had three defeats, losing 6-0 at Little Heath, 2-1 at Buntingford Town Reserves and 3-0 to Oxhey Jets Vets. The visitors were also in decent form and they'd won their last two games 1-0 against Hinton Reserves and away to Bedmond United. They'd also beaten today's opponents 2-1. However, they'd lost 3-2 at Hadley Veterans, 3-0 to Hemel Hempstead Rovers and 6-1 at Chorleywood Common. It was a real end to end game and Evergreen had the better of the first half. Their best chance came after 37 minutes, the Bovingdon keeper doing well to save with his feet from a close-range shot. The halftime break lasted just six minutes and when the teams came out for the second half, Bovingdon were the better side. They had a close-range header well saved and a sliding player failed to connect with an inviting cross. Evergreen came back into the game later on, the Bovingdon keeper again using his feet to defend the goal before the rebound was put over. Just as it looked as if it was going to finish goalless, Bovingdon took the lead when a corner was headed home. Following a few minutes break for an injury, the visitors levelled on 87 minutes. In a similar fashion, a corner was scrambled home much to the delight of the hosts and the despair of the visitors. 


It had been a good game to watch for the 30 or so fans in attendance. The result had been fair and I was glad there had been some goals as it didn't deserve to be 0-0. It had started to chill off and get dark near the end, so the 'early' kick-off made sense. I left at 7.50 and listened to our local radio BBC Radio station. I had to put up with the Luton game at first but as I got closer to home, the Wycombe game was available although reception as ever was patchy. I was home by 8.30 and put the Wycombe game on the radio while I typed my blog. We were winning 4-1 at Cambridge as I concluded this entry and my bet also won after a well-timed cashout so it had been a good day. I was pleased to be able to get an early night with a trip to Lincolnshire after work the following day.


THE GROUND

SOUTHWAY is a basic venue pitch-wise. There is no rail now, but there is a small area of cover and two dugouts. There's also a path along one side and three sides are hemmed in, giving it an enclosed feel. There are a few other pitches available for participants too. The best part is the social club which looked very smart and did food and drink. There was a fair bit of parking but the ground was in a mainly residential area and I didn't see much nearby. Overall, it's worth a visit if you live fairly locally.

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