Wilderspool Causeway

Evan’s first evening game (and therefore my first pre-match pint before one of his games – at The Jolly Farmer in Hurst) merits a short report before the league season starts in two weeks’ time. Reaching this local derby required a minor feat of fleet fingers on the SatNav; you have to know your Warfield from your Wargrave and negotiate some eccentric Bracknell roundabouts such as Frampton Bridge, Quelm Park and County Lane. If you get to Sheppee, you’ve gone too far. If you get to the Isle of Sheppey, you’ve gone way too far: all the way past Maidstone and over the Kingsferry Bridge.

The dilemma – for me if not Evan – has been whether he should stay at Wokingham where he was happy and the team were doing well, or move to Bracknell Town who play in a tough division of the East Berks league and have a mini academy set-up within the club. It’s not a decision I am ‘at peace’ with, but Evan has opted to move to Bracknell and play alongside Ronny, Solly, Oli, Seb, Ted, Ashton, Jacob, Sam, Josh, Josh and Lucas.

The pitch, bordered by dark banks of trees in the shadow of a dipping sun, was by far the biggest that any of the lads would ever have played on. Though this was supposedly a friendly, hefty challenges were flying in with regularity, and at one point Evan was studded in the thigh as he got to the ball before a Whitegrove lad. Lots of people gathered around, but this didn’t sit well with one Whitegrove player: ‘Oi, give him some space! Don’t crowd him.’ The first half was extremely tight and ended 0-0. With Evan playing left midfield, the consensus among the coaches seemed to be that he was doing well defensively, but that they would rather he worried the opposition rather than be worried by them. In the next phase of the game, this became a reality as he won the corner which led to the first goal – a lovely whipped cross/shot from Ronny – and was involved in some great attacking interplay down the left channel. Bracknell began to move the ball around at pace, judging the offside trap excellently to play weighted through balls beyond the Whitegrove defence, leading to a final score of 3-1. Evan has settled into the group very well, but I’m still unsure about the move. There’s another friendly on Saturday before the season starts for real a week after that, requiring many a trek through Binfield, Warfield, Ascot, Sunnymeads and beyond.