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Matchday images (17) https://picasaweb.google.com/footballgroundsinfocus/UphamFC
Waited a number of weeks for this game to happen, off at Upham switched to Totton back to Upham. It was a great afternoon all round, what football further down the Pyramid is all about. Getting to the ground is quite an adventure, it is only 7 or 8 miles from the junction of the A34/M3 at Winchester but in those miles you end up using some very narrow rural roads maybe bordering on tracks! The ground which has been undergoing some changes in recent years due to a very narrow pitch is now very nice for the level Upham play at. The village is small, the ground is in the middle of it, parking is at a premium. You park your car walk into the ground with the changing block on your left. This contains the dressing rooms, spectator toilets (inc disabled), tea bar and general meeting area. All quite new, it is only a few yards from the pitch. The pitch runs lengthways from said building. It is roped on three sides the fourth is shared with a public footpath that has been moved 15 or so yards to widen the pitch. The pitch slopes in more than one direction and the ball can bobble. The set up also has a very up market kiddies play area at one end and a adventure area at the other, which I had a go on.
It's a funny old game of two halves at Upham as the first half of the pitch slopes a lot more than the second half. In the first period the homesters were kicking up the slope and hit the bar early doors with a neat chip from the wing. They were well on top and could have been 2 or 3 in the first 20 minutes. Totton then mastered the pitch and started to play some very ncie neat football, they got the only goal of the half but when they did they had been on top for a few minutes.
After a nice cup of tea and free biscuits if you so wished, it was Totton's turn to go up the slope. The first 15 minutes was all Upham but they could not get the ball in the net. Totton as in the first period got back into the game and got a penalty midway through the half. 2-0 to the visitors and it became real end to end stuff, Totton added a 3rd but the homesters still went on the attack peppering the visitors goal. Totton got a 4th with another penalty just before the end following a deliberate hand ball by the left back - a bit silly really as it was a lost cause by then, it had to be a red card as he tipped the ball over the bar.
The referee was a former Southern League ref who was very much in the veteran stage, though a nicer chap you could not meet. The game could have been 10-10 it was that good, a credit to both sides, the referee and the home club, smashing afternoon out, smashing people. In fact everything about the day was great. Home by 5.00pm as this was a 2pm kick-off. Upham is a well worth a visit. Thought this "tick" was completing the Hampshire "2004" but it appears Forest Town may use a separate ground to Blackfield and Langley.
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