Football: Frozen Pilot and 3-2 Win
A statement issued by Hastings United football club last Saturday evening apologised for the late cancellation of the home match at Pilot Field against Enfield Town which was due to have been played that afternoon.
Club officials and volunteers had put in long hours to enable the fixture to go ahead. Heat blowers operated all night; groundsman Simon Rudkins worked “throughout the night”, according to the statement, and actually slept at the ground; several others assisted from early morning.
At 10am an independent referee inspected the pitch and declared it playable. The Enfield team were advised to travel, while the club called upon supporters and volunteers to help clear frozen areas of the ground, including the spreading of salt and grit on pathways and other surfaces, to ensure the ground was safe for spectators. There was huge disappointment, therefore, when the match official arrived just before 2pm, declared the pitch unplayable “in parts”, and refused to sanction the playing of the game.
It was the second match cancellation at Pilot Field in a week – the fixture on the previous Tuesday against Bowers and Pitsea having also been frozen off – and, at the time of going to press, it seemed likely that a third Isthmian League match, away at Aveley on Monday of this week, would also fall foul of the winter weather.
3-2 win at Brightlingsea
On the previous Saturday (15 January) the ‘U’s and their travelling supporters may have spent much of their game at Brightlingsea wishing that it was not taking place. Their hosts, bottom of the league with only three victories in 22 games this season, shocked them by taking a two-goal lead in the first half. Manager Gary Elphick suggested they had been “complacent”, and they duly turned the game round in the second half with two goals from Kane Penn and a late winner from captain Jack Dixon.
That win hoisted Hastings to seventh place in the league table and, although the subsequent match cancellations have resulted in them falling back to tenth place, they remain within four points of the play-off positions. Indeed only nine points separate Hornchurch, the leaders, from Horsham in 13th place.
Assuming that the freezing conditions relent, the ‘U’s will be playing tomorrow away at Haringey Borough, then returning to the Pilot Field for two more home games against Kent coast opponents – Margate on Saturday 4 February, Folkestone Invicta on Tuesday 7th February.
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