Ground #408 - Bayliss Avenue

Date: 22nd March 2025
Location: Thamesmead, London
Ground: Bayliss Avenue

My first new ground of 2025 was on Saturday 22nd March at Bayliss Avenue in Thamesmead, London. The game was SC Thamesmead vs. Welling Town in Southern Counties East League Division One.

Bayliss Avenue is located in parkland with the edge of the residential area of Thamesmead to the west and the Crossness Pumping Station to the east. It has two pitches - a grass field for the main ground and a 3G pitch for the reserves next door to the east. The venue is 1.3 miles north-east of Abbey Wood station on the national rail network and Elizabeth Line. It has been home to SC Thamesmead since 2014 and prior to that the now defunct Thamesmead Town since the mid-1980s.

The eastern side is the key side of the ground. The sports complex is situated here with facilities on the lower level and access to viewing areas for two different grounds on the upper level. The primary arena is to the right at the top of the stairs, through the club bar with a secondary 3G arena used by the reserves to the left of the top of the stairs. Both open up to a balcony giving a good view of the respective pitches. This top level of the primary arena offers covered standing with additional picnic benches towards the northern end. It merges into the main stand which has 152 seats spread over 3 rows for the northern section and 2 rows for the southern section. The dugouts and a tunnel back to the player dressing rooms sits underneath the elevated stand at pitch level.

The opposite side is uncovered standing along a fairly thin space. The northern end has an all-seater stand directly behind the goal which can house 96 spectators and takes up around a quarter of this side of the field. The remainder of this end is uncovered standing. The southern end is hard standing though the middle half of this is covered.

The game saw Thamesmead enter the day sitting securely in 11th with Welling Town down in second bottom. The visitors were not mathematically relegated but given the points deficit there was little hope of moving up. The hosts started brightly, going close in the 10th minute when Welling keeper Cameron Sanghera denied Steve Karkari's close range effort. He could not stop Karkari a couple of minutes later when the Thamesmead striker headed home but fortunately for Welling, Karkari was stopped by the offside flag. A few minutes later Welling had their first chance as Archie Aldous palmed away Harry Mark's shot from the left of the box. The rest of the half was a very poor spectacle but this perked up in with the last action of the half when Welling's Sam Huckle gave away a free-kick by blatantly punching the ball. Luke Alliband whipped into the danger area and after bouncing around it fell to Karkari who turned and shot home. The second half was a much better affair for the neutral. Firstly, the hosts extended their lead in the 61st minute when a well-timed ball over the top picked out Matthias Broome who advanced on the keeper before squaring for Deshon Carty to tap into an empty net. A couple of minutes later the game was almost put to bed when Leaven Sullivan picked the ball up on the edge of the box, leapt over a challenge and smashed the ball off the near post. Welling got a foothold in the 77th minute when Casey Nolan-Samuels lofted a free-kick over the wall to Archie Aldous' right, into the net. In the 85th minute Thamesmead scored again when Matthias Broome smashed in from a few years out but two minutes later the lead was back down to one as Kimani Williams slotted under Aldous from close range. The home side went up the other end from the kick-off and a cross from the left fizzed across the goal line but with no-one there to poke over the line the game stayed 3-2. This is how things remained in injury time with Thamesmead running out 3-2 winners.

Result: SC Thamesmead 3-2 Welling Town

Division: Southern Counties East League Division One

Attendance: 52