AFC Stoneham 4 Portland United 2

4 January 2025

Grigg Lane having fallen victim to the frost, the Content Adviser and I had a quick look at the remaining fixtures, and decided to take (another!) unscheduled trip to Stoneham Lane… pretty much guaranteed to be on, and very easy to reach for both.  Believe it or not, this was the fifth time we’ve watched the Purps this season (previously home and away in the league, once in the Russell Cotes, a random FA Trophy game against Royal Wootton Bassett Town): don’t go getting any ideas, they’re not a second team, it’s just happened that way!

The hosts did get their noses over the line in the end, but this was a much tougher assignment than the final score suggests: for the second week in a row, Stoneham were the better side in quite a tight game, just about deserved to win but struggled to put their seal on things.  The Purps can no doubt play better, and will need to; but ultimately they did enough. 

The game started slowly: Orvis powered a shot goalwards in the 4th minute, well tipped over by Moggeridge, but the visitors were solid, and 25 minutes passed with no other incident… and suddenly, one long ball over the top, Pope ran onto it in splendid isolation (looking more offside than a couple that had been given previously) and smashed his shot past the keeper to open the scoring.  That didn’t open the floodgates, although Portland picked up a couple of yellow cards for late challenges and could possibly have had a couple more; they weren’t overly physical but some silly and unnecessary fouls.  42 minutes, referee Harry Redman gave Stoneham a free kick for something we didn’t see: Johnston straight into the wall, but the ball came back to him and his excellent volley was tipped over.  And then, 44th minute, a throw for Portland, flicked on and, to everyone’s surprise, in at the back post through a crowd of players from Gadsby, and the visitors were level.  Cue disgruntlement in the stands… the Purps upped the energy, Nagle with a great run down the left, good cross – two defenders converged on it ahead of Martins, and the ball cannoned in off one of them for an own goal.  I have no idea which, and I doubt they want to claim it.  HT 2-1

The second half started with a few Stoneham corners which Portland didn’t find easy to defend, and on 50 minutes Orvis bobbled a shot just wide with the keeper nowhere, but the game settled back into its familiar pattern of home possession and solid visiting defence.  Going to take a minute here to mention Troy Walbridge for Portland, playing the lone role up front, worked exceptionally hard, great hold-up play, credit to him.  Then another “out of nowhere” moment; a free kick on the halfway line to Portland (no idea why this was given, right in front of us), played high to the edge of the box; keeper Casey came for the ball into a crowd of players, didn’t collect it, the ball broke loose and a golden chance for the Blues smashed against the bar, another shot seemingly handled by Martins on the line but again recycled and this time squeezed home for a second equaliser by Cleaver.  Personally I didn’t see a foul on the keeper and a goal looked the right decision.  So the hosts had to do it all again.  Jenkins blazed over the bar with 12 minutes to go… it was actually quite hard to call, the hosts looked the more likely but it wasn’t entirely one-way traffic (and there was one glorious, outrageous turn from Portland sub Stavrianos which sadly led to nothing).  Three minutes left: another cross into the Portland box, the shot badly mishit and heading well wide, hit Sampson who was standing almost on the byline and somehow the ball rebounded and spun high across goal and in! – but Sampson was miles offside… no goal.  90 seconds left – a cross into the box, headed back across by Jenkins and headed home by Martins from four yards to give Stoneham a lead that they would not, this time, let slip.  And just into injury time, another cross, a weak header from Martins but Moggeridge fumbled it, the ball squirmed loose along the line and Sampson scored from about two yards to finally put clear purple water between the teams.  FT 4-2

Not a bad game, overall.  Six goals, interesting clash of styles, credit to Portland for their organisation and for not folding, barely taking a backward step; but credit to Stoneham for finding a way.  And let’s just say, whatever happens, I won’t be following them to Portishead next weekend!