Westfield of Dreams

With a place in the playoffs already assured, and 2nd place virtually wrapped up too, Uxbridge travelled down to Surrey on Saturday afternoon, in the enviable and rare position of having a match with little to no jeopardy on it, and the dream of a promotion season to think about - but one more game to tick off first.

The match gave Danny the chance to rotate the squad, and give some players a chance to stake their claim for a starting place, and it gave the supporters a chance to test their phone data allowances with constant checks as to who they would be facing in Wednesday’s semi final - which given the closeness of the teams in contention, changed about a dozen times through the course of the afternoon.

The match itself was a low-key affair, being played in the pleasant Spring sunshine, almost having the air of a pre-season friendly about it. Although Uxbridge saw plenty of the ball early on, they went close to opening the scoring on the 8th minute, when a good cross from Morrison Hashii evaded the defence, finding Dernell Wynter free in the box, but his shot was well parried by Lewis Gallifent in the Westfield goal and was cleared. Wynter again was at the heart of the action a few minutes later, when Jonathan Hippolyte’s cross found the Reds No.10 in the box, this time his first shot was blocked by the defender, before he fired the second chance over the bar. The visitors continued to press, on 19 minutes Harry Gallagher headed narrowly over from a corner, and a minute later a low cross into the box evaded Hippolyte as he closed in, when the ball took a nasty bobble on the dry undulating surface. Midway though the half saw Westfield spring into life, on 21 minutes Quincy Rowe headed over from a free kick when well placed, and then a couple of minutes later they made a quick break from a Reds attack, but Adam Hassane in the Uxbridge goal was quickly out to snuff out the danger. On the half hour - with Uxbridge scheduled to be playing Hanworth Villa in the semi final at this point in the afternoon - the visitors took the lead. Captain Casey Bocarro lofted a ball into the box Hashii took the ball on his chest and was primed to shoot, but the ball sat invitingly for Wynter, who made no mistake slotting home into the corner of the net. Five minutes later it should have been two, when Hippolytes low cross was straight into the path of Wynter, who appeared to be impeded in the box, but the ball ran to the unmarked Hashii, who could only shoot just wide. Westfield had one more chance late on in the half, but a loose ball from a corner was sent high over the bar.

HT 1-0

So as the second half started it was Hayes & Yeading Utd who would be visiting Honeycroft on Wednesday, and Uxbridge were sitting back allowing Westfield to come more into the game. On another day Westfield could well have taken something from this match but they were unable to take full advantage. On 60 minutes Gary Abisogun broke clear, and Hassane was able to block the shot, but the ball fell invitingly back to the forward - Hassane was up quickly and able to block that as well. For Uxbridge Wynter was still providing a good outlet up front, and on the hour mark only quick thinking from Gallifent to smother a shot prevented him adding to his tally. Four minutes later, Westfield hit the post, with Hassane again called upon to gather the rebound. And then a few minutes later a goalbound shot looked to be heading in for the home side only for the ball to strike a player in yellow and was deflected away. The match then drifted, although Westfield had one late chance, after a foul on Hippolyte was inexplicably waved away by the referee, the home side broke, but the resultant shot was straight at Hassane who held on, as did Uxbridge.

The result means that the Reds ended the regular season with 12 away wins, which equals the club record set in both 2011/12 under Tony Choules & 1982/83 under Ron Clack. Our 2nd place finish is also our best since the 1984/85 season when we won promotion from the old Isthmian League Division 2 South. Of course the season is not yet done, and it is in fact Kingstonian who we will face on Wednesday evening in the play off semi final - with happy memories of our win over the K’s just before Christmas still fresh, we look forward to seeing a big crowd down at Honeycroft to support the team.

FT 1-0

Att 226