SDL Div 4 Dittisham United V Roselands 2nds 21st Feb 2015

[Dave]

South Devon League Division Four

Dittisham United FC V Roselands 2nds

Venue Shinners Meadow Dittisham

Saturday 21st February 2015 Kick-Off 2.30pm

Referee Chief Whitefoot ( Carl)

Final Score Dittisham United FC 4 Roselands 2nds 1

The village of Dittisham is believed to have been named after 'Deedas', a Saxon chief, who probably settled there soon after the Saxon invasion of Devon, in about 660 A.D. 1355 years later the village was invaded again, this time by the Roseland Tribe of Paignton.

The Saxton’s arrived at Dittisham by boat, sailing up the River Dart. The Roselanders arrived in a number of cars which was just as well really. If the Roselanders had journeyed by boat to Dittisham, they would have seen the 'Anchor Stone' or 'Scold Stone' as some people call it.

Legend has it that the unfaithful wives of the Dittisham village men were tied to this stone at low tide and left there as a 'punishment for their sins'. These days the stone is only used to tie any visiting WINNING football teams to it. What sort of men once lived in the village? In bygone days Dittisham men used to sell their wives - presumably the unfaithful ones! The last recorded sale was in the middle of the 19th century.

The venue for this latest battle took place at Shinners Meadow and started at 2.30pm, both sets of warriors had agreed to let Chief Whitefoot (Carl) stand in the middle of the battle and blow a whistle if he thought any foul play had taken place. I bet they wish now they never agreed to let him have such a whistle to play with.

Dittisham has only managed to play eleven league games so far this season before today’s encounter and sat in fifth place in the table on 26 points. The league leaders Riviera United had 37 points, but they have played eighteen games in total. Roseland 2nds had played 13 games to date and were seventh in the table on 19 points.

Last weekend both teams won their games against teams near the bottom of the table. Dittisham played away at Illslington Villa and won by three goals to nil. Roseland 2nds were at home to Newton Abbot 66 2nds and thumped them by nine goals to one.

I do not think there is any better location in the whole world to watch a game of football than Dittisham, what a fantastic place to play and watch a game of football with the wonderful River Dart as the back drop. The pitch while small is flat and sits on the side of a hill. The only downside is the home side needs lots and lots of balls to keep the game going.

If anyone wanted to pick a football match to act as an ad for the forth division of the South Devon League, then this game would have been just perfect. Both teams went for it from the off and both teams were hard in the tackle, maybe too hard on occasions.

In saying that there was only one booking, there could have been so many more to be honest, but Chief Whitefoot kept the game well in check, without the need to keep handing out yellow cards. This in itself was very refreshing as no one really wants to see booking after booking happening. . His way worked as he was not subjected to any form of abuse during the whole game.

Not sure if Roselands were aware of the fete that might greet them should they win the game, if so that might explain why they were not really at the races in this match. Dittisham were the better team all over the pitch and fully deserved their victory.

Dittisham look an early lead, they won a corner on the left hand side and when the ball came into the Roselands box their defence failed to clear it. The ball ended up at the feet of Joe Kirby who hit an unstoppable shot into the back of the net from twelve yards out.

Dittisham came close to scoring again very soon after their opening goal as a result of a very poor clearance by the Roseland keeper Ashley French. His weak ball out went straight to Marcus Copeman who looked up and saw the keeper well off his line and then hit a 25 yard shot that only just went wide of the right hand post.

But Dittisham did not have to wait too long to add to their lead and it came about after Roselands wasted a free kick in a good position. From the free kick the ball went tamely to the Dittisham keeper Ross Williams. He quickly kicked the ball long down the right hand side of the pitch. Lee Prestage got on the end of the ball and was way out of the right still when he hit the ball towards the goal. Was it a cross or a shot? I’m sure he will tell us it was a shot as it flew into the top left hand corner of the goal.

Ditts came close to scoring again, but I’m sure there would have been complaints from the Roseland bench if they had. The ball went out of play on the left hand side and the linesman put his flag up. The left winger for Dittisham kept on running down the line towards the corner flag. The referee looked towards the linesman who for some strange reason had put his flag down. The ball was fired in low and hard into the Roseland box and Joe Kirby hit a fine shot that hit the underside of the crossbar and came back into play.

Dittisham did manage to go in at half time three goals up, a great header at the far post by my man of the match Joe Kirby. Meanwhile the ref booked Roselands Adam Blackburn, Adam had only just been spoken too before deciding to hack down a Dittisham player.

Roselands worked hard in the second half with no real reward, the Ditts captain at the back made sure of that. In fact they were soon to go even further behind when a free kick was fired towards the back stick and knocked in by Daniel Bastin.

They did manage to pull one goal back when for the first time in the match the Dittisham defence failed to deal with a ball played into their box. Roselands had won a free kick on the halfway line and played the ball forward to the edge of the Dittisham box. The defender missed the ball when he looked certain to get a boot on it and clear it and Phillip Jewell nipped past him and put the ball into the back of the net from close in.

It was too late on in the match to expect a Roselands come back, but they never gave up and for that alone they deserve plenty of credit. The final chance of the match fell to Ditishams Marcus Copeman. A fine over head kick that sadly for him flew over the crossbar.

The referee blew up for fulltime and with Roseland failing to win, there was no need for them to be rounded up and taken to the 'Anchor Stone' Instead they were taken to the local pub at the top of the village for food. I myself was kindly offered by the Ditts captain to join them; I only wish I had had the time to do so.

Today was the most enjoyable Saturday afternoon I have had all season, great location, two great sets of lads and the best and most friendliest Ref I have met so far.