USP Ease. through

Midhurst & Easebourne 0 United Services Portsmouth 2


I'm always away for the first round of Vase matches so good to be back on the road again.

Needless to say, Waterloo has track works going on, it was okay going out, but coming back had 30 minutes added to the journey as we had to take the Staines Loop. Who even knew there was such a thing?

After my now weekly, early morning, Saturday work-out, I was beyond hungry when reaching London. I couldn't wait to reach my destination nd bought a Beef, bacon and Guinness pasty which was lovely, a tub of mini pork pies which turned out to be too much and a large prezel that I ended up eating during the game. An interesting mix probably never to be repeated.

The journey to Haselmere station was without incident and I then had a 20 minute wait fro my bus. About 10 minutes in, a couple turned up and were all over each other, they were quite frankly old enough to know better- GET A ROOM!!

The bus turned up bang on time and we were soon passing a packed out food market. If I'd known, I would have got there earlier and had a nose round. You can't beat a good food market. 

The bus apparently passes the ground I was told, indeed it does and in fact stops directly opposite it. I somehow missed this stop and ended up staying on the bus until it terminated in Midhurst. Not the end of the World as it was only a 5-10 minute walk back and it was a glorious afternoon. There were some interesting looking ruins that a steady flow of people were walking to and I then passed the entrance to Cowdrey Park Polo Field. I've never seen a game of polo in my life and although I'd heard of Cowdrey Park, I had no idea where it was. I was actually glad I missed my stop as it was a more than interesting stroll back.

I found the ground which  had a small entrance with a gentleman sitting by his little hut. I was given a programme that had completely the wrong date of 21/5/17 on it and he asked me if I was a concession. I clearly wasn't looking my best!

This was a nice spot to visit on a sunny day. There is a small stand with benches within to sit on, the pitch undulates greatly and it is surrounded by a white rail. The clubhouse is about 100 metres from the pitch but is a reasonable size. There is also a dilapidated old cricket pavillion that I found quite fascinating, I would love to hear its story.

The game itself was not bad. This was Midhurst's debut in the FA Vase and they gave a good account of themselves. Portsmouth were always slightly on top though and they won the game with a flicked header on 28 minutes and a breakaway goal on 55 minutes.

Very pleasant spot and well worth a visit on a nice day.