Wick - Crabtree Park

Crabtree Park

Coomes Way

Littlehampton

West Sussex

BN17 7LP

01903 713535

Official Website

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Ground Number 1095
Friday 5th August 2022

Wick 3-0 Mile Oak
Southern Combination D1

WICK FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was originally established back in 1892. They played in local leagues at first, most notably the West Sussex League but in 1964 they made the step up to the Sussex County League. A 5th place finish in Division 2 was a good season and they'd remain there until 1982 when they were crowned champions. Despite a credible 7th place finish in their Division 1 debut, they'd only last three seasons before going back down. However, they bounced back straight away as champions, returning to Division 1 in 1986. This time their stay in the top tier was more successful and they were champions in 1990 and 1994. Wick would return to Division 2 between 2003 and 2005 and then again in 2011. During this second spell, they briefly merged with local side Barnham to become Wick and Barnham United. During this time they finished 3rd in Division 2 in 2014 and this was good enough for promotion to the newly formed Southern Combination Premier (in effect the old Sussex County D1). They finished second-bottom in 2017 and were relegated to the Southern Combination Division 1 where they remain to this day. 

The club made their FA Cup bow in 1980 but it was the following year that they enjoyed their greatest run. A 4-1 win at fellow Sussex League side Arundel was a giant killing in itself as they were in the league above at the time. An even more notable scalp came in the next round as they beat Isthmian Premier side Woking 2-1. Their run came to an end at another Isthmian League side as Farnborough Town triumphed 3-0 following a 2-2 draw in the 2nd Qualifying Round. The 1998/99 season saw their best FA Vase run as they beat Hialsham Town, Tilbury, Cheshunt & Sidley United prior to a 5-0 defeat to Vauxhall Motors in the 4th Round. Local cup wins include the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup in 1993, the John O'Hara League Challenge Cup in 1988 & 1997 and the Sussex Royal Ulster Rifles Charity Cup in 1990, 1998 & 1999. Wick was originally a village in it's own right near Littlehampton but is now counted as part of the town. Littlehampton Town Council is the parish authority for the Town of Littlehampton, including Wick and Toddington which has a population of approximately 30,000.

MY VISIT

Since my last blog at Newhall United, it had been a mixed time. It had turned out that the bit of concrete in the middle of the road I had hit had once been a traffic island complete with lampost and bollard, but was now just a lump of concrete in the middle of the road. I was hoping that it would just be two new tyres but the guy that fitted them had told me that the front wheel had been buckled and I needed a new one. This was purchased for £75 on eBay, complete with a good tyre so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I was also going to get my car checked over and the balancing and alignment done, so I was hoping that there would be no further bad news. In the end, though, I'd lost confidence in the car though as it was still very rattly. Hence I opted to bring the date for upgrading my car to now rather than next May. I got myself a reasonable deal on a Kia Rio including a decent trade-in price for my old car. It had under 13,000 miles on the clock and no doubt I'll be doubling that in the first year. Aside from that, work was a bit of a slog with it being very busy due to school holidays, but at least that had the knock-on effect of quicker journey times.

As ever though, football was the saviour. I'd gone to Chesham United v Wycombe Wanderers on Friday. It had basically been one team of trialists against another with Chesham winning 4-2 but that wasn't important. The Meadow is always a nice place to visit and it was good to bump into a few familiar faces. This included Giles who does a great job volunteering for the club and runs a great club shop. I bought a few old programmes and pennants and was pleased to give £7 to the supporters club in return. Saturday was even better with me back in the old routine for Wycombe v Burton. A lot of walking, a great pub and takeaway and meeting up with mates. It was all capped off by a great 3-0 win for the team, with us blowing them away in the opening half hour. Finally, on Tuesday I was hoping for a walk up my local club, Holmer Green. They aren't the greatest at communicating on Twitter - my query at whether the game was on got a 'like' and no reply, so I was relying on visitors Sheerwater providing info. They did in the end, though they weren't advertising the game on their Twitter. It was on, despite my doubts and I saw the visitors cruise to a 4-0 win.

I picked my car up on Thursday and there were still a few hoops to jump through switching insurance and breakdown cover. It was all helped by a few ciders as I'd opted not to drink after the Wick game. I was overall happy with my new car, though the Sat Nav was a bit basic. I took a look at my old cars and saw that the Peugeot 207 that I ditched in 2015 (due to a dodgy gearbox) was still going strong 80,000 miles later. On reflection, I wish I'd have kept that as the next two cars were inferior but what's done is done. It wasn't too bad at work on Friday and I had around 40 minutes of rest when I came home, before setting out to meet Colin just after 4. He was a few minutes late as he had fallen asleep on the bus and had woken up a couple of miles down the road. It was not a great journey down, with tons of traffic. The school holidays were handy for work but it didn't appear to have diluted the traffic on the M25 and around Guildford. The rather basic sat nav on my car did an OK job but it wasn't as good as Google Maps.

We got there at 6.45 and so didn't have time to go to a takeaway. I paid £6 to get in plus £1 for a decent programme. I realised that I'd forgotten my Irn-Bru so I got a can of Fanta from the tea bar, a bit marked up at £1.20. However, the sausage roll and chips were great value at £3.50, though being cooked to order they took 15 minutes. They were very decent though and worth the wait. We were able to watch the game from the tea bar anyway and Wick started on top. It was an excellent long-range effort that opened the scoring on 17 minutes by David Crouch. On 28 minutes the same player got his second, a low shot from inside the area although the visiting keeper got a glove on it. There were quite a few meaty tackles and a couple of men went in the sin bin for what appeared to be dissent. Mile Oak came into it later in the half and hit the post just before halftime. However, the second half saw the hosts dominate and they confirmed their win in the last minute when substitute Joshua Irish lifted the ball over the keeper from a tight angle. 66 were in attendance on a pleasant evening. We left just before 9 and aside from getting stuck behind a slow-moving tractor for a while, it was a good journey with me dropping Colin off at 10:40 and getting home myself ten minutes later.

THE GROUND

CRABTREE PARK is a nice setup for the level. There's an attractive seated stand holding around 100, mainly with padded seats. Opposite is a small area of cover holding around 50 standing. The rest of the ground is open. The car park is pretty small at the ground and street parking is limited. In terms of food and drink, there's a decent tea bar at the ground which offers decent food at good value. There are also a few takeaways within a ten-minute walk. I did not try the bar but it looks a decent place with sports TV, plus you can watch the game from an elevated position as it's upstairs.