Kent County Division One West teams, Ide Hill FC and Chipstead FC, took to the 3G pitch at Wrotham School on Saturday in glorious sunshine. Both sides have struggled in their opening games with Ide Hill securing only a point from the first two matches, whilst Chipstead had fared a little better with three points, having beaten Old Roan FC 3-2 in the season opener.
And it wasn’t long before the back of the net was shimmering, between them they have scored 10 goals this season. Ide Hill took the lead through central defender Philippe Alteirac midway through the first half, after one of their players was taken off due to injury. Chipstead didn’t relax though and replied shortly afterwards with a lovely finish to make it 1-1. Just before the break Ide Hill took back control to go in at halftime with a 2-1 lead.
The match official, Martin Bullock, was fairly consistent with his whistle, blowing up at every opportunity for both sides, however as the match went on and the showers continued to fall, tackles seemed to go startlingly unnoticed.
Towards the end of the match the Chipstead goalkeeper had handled the ball outside his area, stopping a great goal scoring opportunity for Ide Hill. The referee initially gave the player a straight red card (correct decision), but then seemed to change his mind and offered a yellow instead. Quite puzzling.
Inside the last five minutes, Ide Hill then took the game to Chipstead scoring a third through a great worked goal and finished wonderfully by Columb Grant. In the dying seconds Chipstead squeezed in a second via a deflection, but it was not enough to get the game back. The match finished 3-2 to Ide Hill, another one-goal game for Chipstead, however on this performance, I fully expect both teams to be challenging for trophies come the end of the season.
