Chorleywood Common - St Clement Danes 3G

Chorleywood Common FC

St Clement Danes 3G

St Clement Danes School

Chenies Road 

Chorleywood

Rickmansworth 

Hertfordshire

WD3 6EW

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Ground Number: 1186
Tuesday 9th May 2023
Chorleywood Common 1-4 Bedmond
Herts Senior County League D3

CHORLEYWOOD COMMON FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club is a very young one, being formed as recently as 2021. The adult side of a predominantly youth setup has played in the Herts Senior County League Division 3 since formation. This sits at step 11 of non-league or level 15 of English football overall. The village of Chorleywood is on the Bucks/Herts border and is probably most well-known for having a station on the Metropolitan Line. It has a population of around 11,300. It's an affluent area and rated as one of the happiest places to live in the UK. Its most famous resident was Johnny Speight. He wrote the comedy 'Till Death Us Do Part' and in turn the controversial character Alf Garnett. In 1998, Speight died of pancreatic cancer, aged 78 at his home in Chorleywood.

Chorleywood Common is 0.8 square kilometres (200 acres) of wooded common land. The Common is a County Heritage Site, a Conservation Area and a Local Nature Reserve with significant biodiversity and rich in fauna and flora, fungi, birds and wildlife. Since cattle grazing ended soon after the First World War, the land has been used for recreational purposes. In the 19th century, the MCC established a cricket pitch on the Common, which is used by Chorleywood Cricket Club's senior and junior teams to this day.

MY VISIT

This game was decided upon last Thursday. After a lot of driving on Friday and Monday, I really wanted to stay local for this game. I was also looking to complete the Hertfordshire League over time. For that reason, Chorleywood Common was perfect, just ten miles down the road. It was only a 3G cage but with the unseasonable weather, that was a blessing in disguise. With the Herts League FA Full Time site sometimes being unreliable, I pencilled in a revisit at Sarratt in case the game didn't go ahead.

After a late night on Monday, I still woke up around 8 am. I had a bath, got dressed and had breakfast. I was out by 9.30, doing my usual walk down town. I didn't buy much but had to pay some money into the bank. It was a nice walk, around 9 miles in all and happily, after torrential rain yesterday, it stayed fairly dry. It was still gloomy though. I was home by 1 and spent the afternoon at home. I basically had to start my Audley blog from scratch, so that took me all afternoon. That meant that I didn't get this one started. Finishing at 5.40, I got my things together, had some dinner and left just after 6. I picked up Colin en route and we were at the ground by 6.30. Martin was also there, calling in on his way home from Nottingham. Chorleywood Common were in 6th whilst Bedmond were in 8th. The hosts had been in mixed form. They'd lost their last game 5-3 at Hinton Reserves and had also lost 5-4 at Hadley Veterans and 4-0 at Lemsford Reserves. On the plus side, they'd won 2-1 at Sarratt Reserves and 5-3 at Evergreen Reserves. The visitors were in 8th and since I'd seen them at home on 18th April, their form had been mixed. League-wise, they'd beaten Hatfield Town Reserves 4-1. They'd drawn 1-1 at Lemsford Reserves and against Evergreen Reserves. They'd lost 5-0 at Allenburys Sports and also gone down 4-1 to Hemel Hempstead Rovers in a Cup game a week ago.

The game appeared to kick off at 6.37, though it might have been 6.20 as the opening goal was given as 18 minutes on FA Full Time despite the advertised kickoff of 6.45. Chorleywood had started with eight players but in any case, it was Joe McCarthy who got the goal. There was a controversial moment for the next goal. The referee allowed a goal that appeared to be a quickly taken free kick, so quick in fact, that the ref hadn't blown his whistle. Connor McGrath slotted past a bewildered and static home defence. It caused the Chorleywood manager, who was also acting as linesman to throw a fit. Or more accurately his flag, which fell apart. He was threatening to go home but eventually calmed down as two of his players turned up just in time for the advertised kickoff. Chorleywood reduced the arrears when a ball came inside and the striker shot home on the turn. The dodgy goal times continued as Matthew Standen's goal was given as 66 minutes despite being well before halftime. THat made it 3-1. The break gave the manager the chance to show his better side as he told the team how proud he was of them despite being let down by their teammates. The three-man disadvantage had probably cost them two goals at the start. It was a quick turnaround, with the second half kicking off at 7.19, possibly with shorter halves, as the game was done at 7.57. It was 4-1 around ten minutes from time, a header from a corner by Martin Woolridge, The lights came on around this point as it was getting dark. The last kick of the game saw the hosts awarded a penalty. The Bedmond keeper pulled off a great save to retain a three-goal lead.

There had been a fair few hoppers at the game, with an attendance of around 30. The lack of cover was a bit of an issue. Drizzle had started in the first half but this soon gave way to heavy rain. We all got a bit wet but it was worth it. That said, the weather has been especially unkind, raining on all three of the days  having glorious sunshine when I was stuck at work on Sunday. We left just after 8 and after dropping Colin off, I was back home by 8.30. I spent the rest of the evening catching up on YouTube. The only saving grace was that it was a fairly short one as I'd been doing so many games lately.

THE GROUND

ST CLEMENTS DANES 3G is a simple pitch in a cage but isn't actually bad as facilities like this go, There's a large viewing area which should accommodate most crowds at this level. There's no cover or stand which isn't usually a problem but on a night like this, it would have been handy. The pitch is floodlit. It's a fair way from anywhere but is on a bus route and has plenty of parking.