Game 3: Rayners Lane 2.0 Hatfield Town (Friendly) 02.07.22
The original plan was to take in a second game at Spelthorne Sports until we discovered the kick off was at 2pm which wouldn’t have given us time to travel from Bedfont. We found an alternative at Rayners Lane that kicked off at 3pm which turned out to be a good move as the late kick off at Bedfont meant that we didn’t leave there until 2pm. It took us about 40 minutes to get to Harrow through the Saturday traffic and we managed to find a parking space in the main car park at Tithe Farm.
The game was advertised as “Pay what you want” following on from an 11am game for ground sharers Broadfields United. A club official came around during the first half with a bucket for any spare change. After a quick visit to the tea hut we wandered around the ground to find a spot opposite the bar. Rayners Lane will be playing in the Combined Counties Division 1 next season while Hatfield Town play one level below in the Herts Country Premier League.
The first half ended scoreless with Rayners Lane having two goals disallowed for offside in the last few minutes. For the second half we saw a change of kit for both sides to accommodate multiple substitutes. It looked like Rayners Lane changed their whole team as they moved from yellow to white shirts. Hatfield Town changed from purple&white shirts to red&white shirts although you could tell there were some players who stayed on as they had purple rather than red shorts on.
The changes worked for Rayners Lane as they took the lead a couple of minutes in from a goalmouth melee. After the Hatfield keeper dropped a catch the ball was flicked across goal to a Rayners Lane player. His shot came back off the bar but the second shot found the net. Both teams were hitting shots high into the trees behind each goal but Rayners Lane finally added a second in injury time. The ball was won on the edge of the area and a Rayners Lane player chipped the ball over the keeper and in.
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