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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Daily Archives: December 29, 2011

Red Blue Cross

29 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by laurencereade in P

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Blue Cross, Football, groundhopping, Potton, The Hollow, United, United Counties League, Wootton

Monday 27th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

United Counties League Division One

POTTON UNITED 1 (Dunville 68p)

WOOTTON BLUE CROSS 1 (Simons 24)

Att 114

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Tea and Coffee by donation

So, another 30 mile trip, this time via Stevenage and on to the A1(M) to Potton, a village 10 miles east of Bedford. This was to complete my triple for the day and the first thing I noticed was how the journey from Spartan League to United Counties League meant how much more rural everything felt. Continue reading →

Maggie’s Farm

29 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by laurencereade in S, Uncategorized

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Anstead, Aulsberry, Donnelly, Football, groundhopping, Recreation Ground, Spartan South Midlands, St Margaretsbury, Stotfold

Monday 27th December 2011 ko 3.00pm

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

ST MARGARETSBURY 2 (Anstead 6 79)

STOTFOLD 2 (Aulsberry 51 Donnelly 89p)

Att 46

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

Tea £1

Bacon Roll £2

After the Kings Langley game it was straightforward to drive round a few exits of the M25 then onto the A10 through Cheshunt, towards Stanstead Abbotts. Or was I? The team used to be called Stanstead Abbotts, but changed names when they moved to the Recreation ground. I was told that despite the fact that the postal address is in Stanstead Abbotts, the ground itself is, in fact in adjacent St Margarets. The “Bury” bit refers to the fact that the ground lies in the former grounds of the Bury, or Manor House. The Manor house was the property of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, but reverted to the crown after her execution in 1536. Continue reading →

A sense of Dacorum

29 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by laurencereade in K

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chiltern hills, Football, Gaywood Park, groundhopping, Kings Langley, London Colney, ovaltine factory, plantagenet kings, Spartan South Midlands

Tuesday 27th December 2011 ko 12.00pm

Spartan South Midlands League Division One

KINGS LANGLEY 4 (Noonan 24 90 Warrell 26 Armstrong 90)

LONDON COLNEY 0

Att 130 (record gate receipts of £340)

Entry & Programme £4

Tea-in-a-mug 70p

The village lies on the Southern Edge of the Chiltern Hills, and its western portion lies in Dacorum. The borough includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, and Tring. It was once the location of Kings Langley Palace, a royal palace of the Plantagenet kings of England. The village is perhaps best known for being the location of the Ovaltine factory, now long since closed and converted to flats.

If the film “Field of Dreams,” espoused the comment “Build it and they will come,” then this fixture suggested a comment of “Set and stick to an unusual kick off time and they will come.” Continue reading →

Chances

29 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by laurencereade in S, Uncategorized

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AFC Sudbury, Dan Cotton, Danny Gay, Division One North, isthmian league, Julius Martin Lane, Soham Town Rangers

Monday 26th December 2011 ko 3.00pm

Isthmian League Division One North

SOHAM TOWN RANGERS 3 (Cotton 7p 21 Carter 53)

AFC SUDBURY 1 (Henshaw 64)

Att 221

Entry £7

Programme £1.50

Tea 70p

Cheeseburger £2.50

Chips £1.10

The small Cambridgeshire town of Soham seems to have been touched by tragedy more than most. As if the 2002 murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were not bad enough, in 1944 the town narrowly escaped destruction. A fire developed on the lead wagon of a heavy ammunition train travelling slowly through the town. The town was saved by the bravery of four  staff, Benjamin Gimbert (Driver), James Nightall (Fireman), Frank Bridges (Signalman) and Herbert Clarke (Guard), who uncoupled the rest of the train and drove the engine and lead wagon clear of the town, where it exploded, killing Jim Nightall and Frank Bridges but causing no further deaths. Ben Gimbert survived and spent seven weeks in hospital. Although small in comparison to what would have happened if the entire train had blown up, the explosion caused substantial property damage. Gimbert and Nightall were both awarded the George Cross (Nightall posthumously).

Despite all this Soham is a thriving market town and its club has done well to graduate from the Eastern Counties League. Julius Martin Lane now reflects that elevation, with covered terracing on the 3 accessible sides, the fourth a victim of the ground graders. It appears to be just too open! All this cover has slightly restricted the view from the main stand, a bench-seated affair, with doors at the side for access at the side. All very welcome on a cold, windy day.

The part of the ground the club are probably most proud of is the clubhouse. Both large and comfortable, it easily coped with a bumper Boxing Day crowd. I found it handy to buy my food from the burger bar nearby and quietly sit and read my programme.

The club was established in 1947 by a merger of Soham Town and Soham Rangers.Town were formed in 1920, won the Cambridgeshire Junior Cup in 1932–33, and played in the Cambridgeshire League during the 1930s, earning promotion to the Premier Division in 1938. Rangers were formed in 1919 and reached the top division of the Cambridgeshire League in 1926, the same year in which they won the Junior Cup. The merged club entered the Eastern Counties League in 1963,  won the 2007-2008 title and were promoted to the Southern League, Midland Division. For this season they were switched sideways to the Isthmian part of the pyramid.

As befits a local derby the action was fairly frantic. Soham took the lead from the penalty spot, after Andy Furnell ran strongly into the Sudbury penalty area. He seemed bound to score but Sudbury keeper Danny Gay managed to block his shot, but  a further block by defender Steve Adams was adjudged to have been handball. He was booked and Daniel Cotton stepped forward to fire the spot-kick low into the bottom left hand corner.

Soham doubled their lead on 21 minutes, and again Cotton’s hard work paid off. His neat one-two put him clean through and he beat former Southend keeper Gay easily. All quite surprising given the relative League positions of the clubs. You expected the visitors to make a better fist of things in the second half, but on 51 minutes the game was put out of reach when Gay spilled a Cotton free-kick and Scott Carter was on hand to force the ball home through a melee of players.

Sudbury gained some consolation when Michael Shinn’s 64th minute free-kick defeated the Soham Town Rangers defence and Ryan Henshaw was on hand to reduce the deficit. However despite all Sudbury’s huffing and puffing the final score was a fair reflection on the game.





Downham out

29 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by laurencereade in M

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Downham Town, Football, GER Sports Ground, Great Eastern Railway, groundhopping, March Town United

Monday 26th December 2011 ko 11.00am

Eastern Counties League Divsion One

MARCH TOWN UNITED 2 (Franks 19og Odain 62)

DOWNHAM TOWN 0

Att 129

Entry & Programme £4

Badge £2.50

Tea 50p

All Chocolate 50p

March’s football are team called the Hares, and to an outsider you’d think that’s just about all you can say about the place. It’s a far more interesting place than that, the town is actually an island on the now drained marshes that surround it, and the unusual name is in fact a corruption of the names of the two settlements that made up the town, Merche and Mercheford. Dart player Kevin “The Artist” Painter hails from the town.

March Town United play at the GER, or Great Eastern Railway Sports Ground, which is the other reason for the town’s existance. March was a major junction on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Railways, in fact the floodights at the ground are from the Great Eastern’s shunting yard in the town. One of the fences behind a goal is held up by sleepers, seemingly from the same source.

None of which you notice when you pull into Robingoodfellows Lane. Its the wooden pitched roof stand that dominates, built in 1929. Its been lovingly maintained, a Stradivarius of football architecture.  Not surprisingly smoking is banned anywhere near it! Its set a little back from the pitch, a relic of its past use for a greyhounds and occasionally speedway. The turnstile operater’s booth has been turned into a toilet, and the referee’s booth to the right is now used for hospitility.

The club made, in my opinion, an error in not providing hot food on a cold, blustery morning, perhaps they thought everyone would be still full from Christmas day! The club and its supporters were notably friendly, most of the information here is from them!

Sadly the game failed to live up to the surroundings, not the fault of the Hares, Downham were utterly lacking in attacking threat. So it rapidly became a case of how and when March were going to put the visitors away, and with the wind that wasn’t as as straightforward as you’d think. The opener came in bizarre circumstances, Matthew Franks’ shot was beautifully placed, past his own keeper!

The second half carried on in much the same vein, the highlight being the second goal. Ondre Odain collected the ball from a throw-in , executed a sharp one-two and eased past two defenders to the 18 yard line, and fired a left-foot shot into bottom right hand corner.

Downham subsituted, and altered formation to improve things, but it all added up to nothing more than two corners for the entire game. Disappointing, but the ground more than made up for it.


Turnstile booth cum toilet!
The Pop side

PA Box

The 2nd goal

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