Pagham - Nyetimber Lane

Pagham FC 

Nyetimber Lane

Pagham

Bognor Regis

West Sussex

PO21 3JY

01243 266112

Official Website

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Ground Number: 1176

Tuesday 25th April 2023
Pagham 1-0 Baffins Milton Rovers

Wessex Premier

PAGHAM FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Pagham FC was established in 1903. They started out in the Bognor & Chichester League where they remained for a good few years. Sometime after the end of World War II, they had joined the West Sussex League. It was here where they found great success, firstly winning Division 2 South in 1963. They progressed through the divisions and won the Premier Division three times. After the last of those titles, they joined the Sussex County League. They were Division 2 champions by 1979 and Division 1 champions two years later. By 1984 though, they'd been relegated back to Division 2, bouncing back as champions in 1987. This was a golden era for the club as they won the Division 1 title in both of the next two seasons. Pagham remained in the top tier until relegation in 2005, they spent a couple of seasons in Division 2 before winning the title for a third time in 2007.  They've remained at step 5 ever since, with a couple of third-place finishes as their best showing in recent years. This season, they transferred from what is now the Southern Combination Premier into the Wessex Premier due to their location near the league boundary.

Pagham's best progress in the FA Cup is the 2nd Qualifying Round, reached on three occasions. Their best FA Vase run came during the 1980/81 season when they got past Amesbury, Worthing, First Tower United and Harefield United prior to a 2-1 loss at Whyteleafe in the 4th Round. Local cup wins include the Sussex Royal Ulster Rifles Charity Cup in 1989, the Sussex County League Cup in 1989 & 2017, the Sussex County League Division 2 Cup in 1972 and 1986, the Malcolm Simmonds Cup in 1968, a year after they won the Sussex Intermediate Cup. Their record attendance of 1,200 came for a local derby against Bognor Regis Town during the 1970/71 season. Former Lincoln City player Luca Coleman Carr also played for Pagham during his career.

Pagham is a coastal village in the Arun district of West Sussex, with a population of around 6,100. It lies about two miles to the west of Bognor Regis. Sussex County Cricket Club played two first-class matches there in the 1970s as the football ground is on the same site. Pagham is the home of the Pagham Pram Race which is the oldest pram race in the world. The race is run on Boxing Day every year at 11 am whatever the weather. Thousands of people line the streets of Pagham to watch the wacky contestants navigate the 3-mile course, drinking 3 pints of beer en route. All the money raised by the Pram Race is distributed to local good causes.

MY VISIT

As ever, this game was decided upon on Sunday. It was to be just Colin, Martin & I as Anwar had committed to going to London Samurai Rovers with another hopper. So, it was to be a journey south, or if I was on my own, Woodcote. I offered Pagham, Ringwood and Bournemouth to the other two and they chose Pagham which was fine by me. A host of other games were also put in place in what was going to be a hectic week as the season started drawing to a close. There was a possibility of Pagham saving the day a fortnight ago. With Selsey off due to rain, Pagham were very confident that their game would be on despite the deluge. My senses told me to turn back home, by that point I was just past Heathrow on the M25. It was a correct decision, whilst I was back home enjoying a curry, the game was called off by the referee, five minutes before kick-off. According to reports, he didn't even go out to look at the pitch until the last minute. I believe in respect for officials, but I think that respect should also be paid back to save people a wasted journey. In any case, the game was rearranged for tonight, so all was good.

On the flip side, the weekend had been a bit of a miserable one, though it had started well enough. A sober Friday night at home including a special One Foot in The Grave documentary was decent. As was my usual walk down to Wycombe with Colin. I bought a Bluetooth speaker with me and we took it in turns choosing songs, and introducing each other to some new bands in the process. The Rose and Crown was also its usual decent self. It went downhill from there. All the decent places were closed due to the owners rightly celebrating Eid so I had to make do with a burger and chips from the chippy. This was actually decent, but not the Chicken Dhansak that I'd been hoping for. It went further downhill from there as a listless Wycombe meekly surrendered 2-0 to Lincoln City in a dull game. We've now not won on a Saturday in over two months since Gareth Ainsworth left for QPR. Sunday marked 12 years since I started groundhopping, my first ever intentional groundhop was Hemel Hempstead Town v Evesham United. Previously, I'd just been to Wycombe games and local games, albeit getting 161 grounds done before I started actually looking to tick grounds consciously. It was the usual miserable Sunday, very busy and full of out-of-control kids, so I was glad when it finally got to 5 PM.

It was another long day at work Monday but I had the evening to do research for today's game. This was hampered by FA Full Time being down which is not a great site at the best of times. Tuesday was my day off as per usual and it was nice to have a rest and catch up with things. It was the usual 8-mile walk to town and back in the morning with the afternoon spent at home. I did some research on the history of Heyford Athletic FC for my Thursday visit before leaving at 4.05. There were a couple of sets of roadworks on the way to Colin's with me meeting him and Martin there just after 4.20. It was a decent drive down, with us getting to the ground at 6.30. I'd already planned my dinner, the Qmin Indian takeaway providing a new one for me in Chicken Tikka Moghul's Delight which had eggs and meatballs in it. Along with rice, it was a reasonable £12.50. This was very nice, we all eat our food on the wall outside before heading to the ground. Entry was £6 with a programme £1, very reasonable. I did a circuit of the ground to get pictures before taking a seat in the old seated stand for the first half.

 It was the last chance Saloon for Pagham - to avoid the bottom two places, they had to win and hope that Bournemouth didn't. Their cause was not helped by recent results, with them having lost 5-2 at Blackfield & Langley on Saturday. A 2-1 win at basement side Alresford had given them hope in the game before but they'd also lost 1-0 to Bemerton Heath Harlequins, 3-0 to Cowes Sports and 4-0 at Fareham Town as well as drawing 1-1 against Portland United. Baffins Milton Rovers were in 7th, a place they had occupied for much of the season. They'd won 5-4 in a thriller at Christchurch on Saturday and also 3-1 at Blackfield and Langley during a busy April. They'd also drawn 1-1 at high-flying AFC Portchester and 2-2 against US Portsmouth. However, they'd lost 2-0 to leaders Horndean and 1-0 at Moneyfields. Back in October, the two sides had met at Baffins' ground, the hosts recording a 1-0 win. The hosts were the better side early on, creating some chances but not really testing the Baffins keeper. The visitors improved and just before halftime, they had the ball in the net, only for it to be ruled out for handball. The Pagham keeper had made a couple of good saves to keep his side in it. The hosts came close in the second half, skewing wide from a free kick but with Bournemouth leading 2-0, it all looked to be academic. Baffins' Dillon North was sent off for kicking out on 72 minutes. An excellent free kick was tipped onto the bar by the Baffins keeper as Pagham threw everything forward. Joe Clarke got the goal his team deserved on 86 minutes, a low shot from six yards out.

There was a decent 164 crowd in attendance. Once more, I'd been let down by ID Mobile's patchy Internet speeds which is becoming very common lately. Sadly, I still have a year to go on my contract. I got some chips at half time, they took a while and cost £2.50 but they were nice and freshly cooked. It's always nice to support clubs financially where I can. Despite it nearly being May, the weather still got quite nippy towards the end and my hat was needed. It was a shame for the hosts being relegated, they certainly didn't look like a side down the bottom. We left at 9.45 and headed for home. There was a closure on the M25 which added 15 minutes to our journey but I dropped the guys off at 11.35. I was home 15 minutes later, sorting pictures and doing my blog before I went to bed.

THE GROUND

NYETIMBER LANE is a ground that I visited back on Tuesday 1st May 2012, prior to my visit to Bognor Regis Town. What was there was a decent ground, a couple of covered areas, one standing, one seating. Looking at some pictures, it appeared as if they had added an arena-style stand to bolster the seating capacity. There's a fairly decent amount of street parking. Around five minutes away is a couple of pubs, a Chinese and an Indian. The Qmin is excellent and they also do food and drink at the ground.

2012 PICS

2023 PICS