Category Archives: M

The Case at Minster Lovell

10 Friday May 2013

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Friday 10th May 2013 ko 18.15

Witney & District League Division One

MINSTER LOVELL 7 (Ryan 13 Harris 22 51 86 90 Wright 48 Sallis 87) Hewar missed penalty 66

STANTON HARCOURT 3 (Jackson 46 Cornish 71 Smith 74) Jackson sent off 89 (dangerous play)

Att 44

Entry FREE

No Programme, although the club do any information leaflet which may keep the ardent paper chaser happy.

 

 

The village of Minster Lovell lies on the River Windrush around 2 miles west of Witney, in Oxfordshire. It has three parts: Old Minster, Little Minster and New Minster. Old Minster includes St. Kenelm’s Parish Church, Minster Lovell Hall and the Old Swan Inn and Minster Mill Hotel. A large part of New Minster is the Charterville Allotments, which were founded by the Chartists in 1846-50.

The suffix “Lovell”, from the main landowning family, was added to the name from the 13th century, and in 1197 a William Lovel  held land here, probably granted in 1124 to his father William by Henry I.

Minster Lovell Hall and Dovecote are extensive ruins of a 15th century manor house, once belonging to William Lovel’s descendant, Lord Lovell. There is a medieval dovecote nearby.

But its the Lovell family that hold the key to two legends about the village, although I suspect they’re derived from the same tale.

William, Baron of Lovell and Holland, was one of England’s richest men. His son John was a prominent Lancastrian and a courtier of Henry VI. But family fortunes took a nose dive when Francis Lovell, John’s son and the ninth baron, sided with the Yorkists in the disputes between the houses of York and Lancaster that became known as the Wars of the Roses. He was made a Viscount by Richard III, but within two years, Richard and the Yorkists were defeated at the Battle of Bosworth.

Briefly exiled, Francis returned from France only to take up the losing side once again, in an abortive Yorkist rebellion. According to local legend, he hid in a vault at Minster Lovell Hall giving a servant the only key. The servant died shortly after and, so the story goes, his skeleton, surrounded by mouldy books and the skeleton of his little dog at his feet, was found by workmen in 1708.

Or if you’d prefer, in this story, one William Lovell’s bride disappeared during a game of hide and seek in the hall on her wedding night. Many years later, a servant found the body of a girl dressed in a bridal gown, well preserved in a leaden cool chest used for food storage. Legend again suggests that she hid in the chest during the wedding party and the lid fell shut, trapping her inside.

Either way, its reckoned that William Lovell’s ghost haunts the hall, wailing either for help, or for his lost bride on quiet nights. Its fair to say though there was little chance of hearing anything haunted on my visit to the village this evening.

Minster Lovell FC play at the positively bucolic Wash Meadow in Old Minster. The Windrush bubbles along pleasingly along one edge, St. Kenelm’s Parish Church is clearly visible, and nearby is the Old Swan and Minster Mill hotel  which was apparently frequented by Winston Churchill. It is by any standards a stunning setting, and there was the bonus of a Friday evening fixture, presumably as by now cricket will have precedence over the ground on a Saturday.

The game had something riding on it too. Whilst Lovell had won the league Stanton Harcourt had win, and better Aston’s result with that club being at home to Brize Norton simultaneously. Then and only then could they leap-frog Chadlington to the second promotion place. Very quietly, the Chadlington captain watched proceedings…

I had a chat to referee Rob Huxford. Interestingly he’s the chairman of Kingham All Blacks FC, also of this division, and wore a KAB shirt underneath his black shirt. He expected a physical game, and he had one major decision to get correct which he did.

Early on, 10 goals looked a pipe dream. Neither side looked capable of forcing a mistake from the other, and it continued to be a tight game even after Mike Ryan opened the scoring for Lovell. Ultimately the difference between the two sides was Nathan Harris. He scored his first after 22 minutes and when the Stanton Harcourt defence imploded in the final 10 minutes he took full advantage, collecting a stunning four-goal haul.

That’s not to say that Stanton didn’t give them a real run for their money. They did after all pull the score back to 3-3 and their management must have regretted not shouting louder to stop goalkeeper taking (and missing) a penalty when the score was 3-1. They clearly wanted their regular taker to step up but player pressure won out, incorrectly it transpired.

In the end it didn’t matter, Harris ran riot, and an obviously unfit Craig Sallis came on and scored within 2 minutes! Soon after Stanton Harcourt’s Andy Jackson collected a straight red for a quite horrible challenge, but as Rob Huxtable admitted later he could have easily sent him off for his antics afterwards, and the language he used!

The final whistle saw the Lovell celebrations start, and I managed to catch up with League fixtures secretary Ralph Davies, and former chairman Fred Bellinger. They are part of a well-run league, and I congratulated them in particular on their excellent website. I stopped for the presentation, and I do wonder what a champagne shower will do for my receding hairline! I also spotted a grinning Chadlington captain, this result and Aston’s defeat meant his team took the runners-up spot and with it promotion.

 

 

The Mission

21 Sunday Apr 2013

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Friday 17th April 2013 ko 18.30

Notts Senior League Senior Division

MAGDALA AMATEURS 2 (Sutton 10 48)

BILBOROUGH TOWN 1 (Lucas 22og)

Att 245

Entry £3

Programme £1

Badges sold out

If there’s one thing I like more than a groundhop weekend, its a groundhop I’m not involved in organising! Rob Hornby, apart from being a good friend, is a wizard of organising events in and around his home in Mansfield. He organised the sadly finished Central Midlands League Groundhops, but has now switched to the parallel status Notts Senior League for his annual Bonanza. The format was one game on the Friday, followed by 4 on the Saturday, and with none of the clubs having floodlights it was set to be a busy weekend!

My mistake, in retrospect was not taking half a day off work; Friday night traffic meant I missed the first few minutes of the game, that apparently kicked off a touch early. Never mind, that’s my fault, especially as the Stuart Clarke influence in me likes to get to a ground early and soak the place up.

The club play behind the ROKO Health Club, in West Bridgford, in South Nottingham, and their unusual name takes a little explanation! They were formed in 1895 by the Rev. Gwynne as the side of the St Emmanuel Sunday School based on Magdala Road nearby. They took the name as Notts Magdala, but when a reserve side was added they promptly broke away and became the Magdala Amateurs of today! The first XI carried on, and eventually changed their name to Nottinghamshire FC and also play in the Notts Senior League, just north of the city.

For a club less than 2 miles from a major city’s centre, the ROKO centre’s pitch is quite arboreal in location! It made for an attractive meeting point, in the setting sun, although I did feel sorry for the owner of the car wash in the car park, who must have thought his Christmases had come at once as 10 times Magdala’s attendance arrived only to drive straight past him!

Rob had clearly got the club working along the correct lines, as everyone looked busy. The catering was contracted out to a local sandwich bar, and the merchandise stall did a roaring trade. I found Rob, and donated a bag of programmes towards his charity stall. Then I actually managed to relax and watch the game!

It didn’t take long to work out that Magdala were clearly the stronger team, and they took the lead through Lee Sutton. Only poor finishing and the woodwork stopped them adding to the score and the profligacy was punished when Bilborough equalised when a cross spun off Magdala defender Richard Lucas for a bizarre own goal.

Sutton doubled his tally just after the break and that was to be the end of the scoring, although both sides had chances, the majority falling to Magdala. I watched Rob as the final whistle blew. The first game is always the most nerve-wracking as organiser but his smile spoke volumes. I gave another hopper a lift into the centre of Nottingham, then disappeared into the night.

Teifi Time

14 Thursday Mar 2013

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Saturday 9th March 2013 ko 13.30

Ceredigion League Division One

MAESGLAS 2 (Harman 3 Evans 52)

LLANBOIDY 1 (D Thomas 45)

Att 155

Entry & Programme by Hop Ticket

Badge £3

It didn’t seem a long drive from Llangrannog to Cardigan, but the town by the River Teifi is difficult to find your way around due to many roads not having signs and a fairly impenetrable one-way system! Despite a couple of “Deja Vu” moments we reached Maes Radley on the edge of town in plenty of time. Continue reading →

Blue Moon

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

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Monday 25th February 2013

National Football Museum

Urbis Building
Cathedral Gardens
Manchester
M4 3BG

Entry FREE

Brochure £1

Curry Mile

Rusholme, Manchester

then at 19.45

North-West Counties League Premier Division

MAINE ROAD 6 (Warburton 42secs 85 Chappell 23 61 Bentham 27 51)

ALSAGER TOWN 1 (Aspinwall 84)

Att 55

Entry £5

Programme (excellent) £1.50

Sometimes everything conspires to allow a quite wonderful day out. I’d wanted to visit the National Football Museum for some time, and with Maine Road kicking off in the evening that made the decision to head north a simple one. Fareham Town secretary Paul “Splodge” Proctor offered to drive too, making it an even easier day’s hopping. Many thanks Splodge, and for those who haven’t visited his club, and the excellent Cams Alders here’s why you should go.

The National Football Museum moved rather controversially from Preston North End’s ground, Deepdale and now occupies the former Urbis Art Gallery close to Manchester Victoria Railway Station. Surprisingly, Continue reading →

Pre-dating Hardy

17 Sunday Feb 2013

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Friday 15th February 2013

Stonehenge, near Amesbury, Wilts

Entry £7.80

Maiden Castle, near Dorchester, Dorset

Free Entry

Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, Dorset

Free Entry

then, at 19.45

Wessex League Premier Division

HAMWORTHY UNITED 2 (Shovelton 26 43)

CHRISTCHURCH 3 (Cook 60 Osborne 65p Cornick 82)

Att 94

Entry & Programme £6

The roots of this lie in Hamworthy’s tenancy of the Dorset County Ground, just outside of Poole. An under-18 County Cup tie was scheduled for the Saturday, so with their fixture being a local derby, it was shunted backwards, affording me a finale to a day’s sightseeing! My friend Mike offered me a bed for the night nearby, so with a full tank of diesel, £50 in my pocket, and a headful of ideas, I had all the ingredients for a road trip!

With the counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset being covered, there was no doubt I was going to be exploring Thomas Hardy country, but having visiting many of his haunts previously, I fancied something different, and dare I say, unworldly?

I don’t want to think too much how many times I’ve passed the monoliths of Stonehenge on the A303. I do wonder how many times cars have crashed, their drivers distracted by the prehistoric feat of engineering to the side of the road. Once you adhere yourself to the audio guide, you’re given still more reasons to stand and stare. The henge we see today was built 2500-1600 BC, but wooden henges existed prior to that, and the site started as an earth and ditch structure as early as 5000 BC.

The stones aren’t local, they’re bluestones up to 45 tonnes in weight transported from the Preseli Hills in South-West Wales. Let’s consider that for a moment, that’s 180 miles, with nothing more than wooden rollers, and brute human strength to transport the stones, then place them in exactly the right place to catch the sun at the solstice.

But why? The archeologists don’t think it was Druids, surprisingly. I’ve long since worked out that the best buildings tend to be religious, the glorification of a god seems to bring both the best and worst of people, but Stonehenge seems to have fulfilled a military need too. Again that’s not unusual, churches have towers so as to provide a place for a look-out and to defend the area if under attack, but the more you study, the more of a mystery the place seems to be! I do recommend the guide-book here, an absolute bargain at £5. The only quibble I can muster about the place is I could find absolutely nothing unworldly about Stonehenge. Maybe if I arrived at the solstice when the druids are chanting I would, but spirituality aside, it’s a fascinating place. Hardy clearly felt something spiritual here, as he used Stonehenge in Tess of the d’Urbervilles for the Tess’ final day of freedom, lying on the Alter Stone, with all the controversial (of the day) connotations that would produce.

From there it was an hour’s drive to Dorchester, or Casterbridge if you’re a Hardy aficionado (The Mayor of Casterbridge). I eschewed the delights of Hardy’s House, Max Gate, mainly because only a room or two is ever open, and opted for Maiden Castle, to the south of the town. It’s an Iron Age hill fort, dated around 600BC, and be warned it’s quite a hike to climb to the top, but worth the effort! It was expanded, tripling in size around 450BC making it by some definitions the largest in Europe. The views over Dorchester and the suburb of Poundbury, designed by Prince Charles are spectacular.

My last site was the smallest, but had the most varied history. The Maumbury Rings, started life as a henge, a smaller version of what I’d seen earlier. Their location, near the centre of Dorchester has meant they’ve changed use frequently over the centuries. In Roman times they were converted to an amphitheatre for the people of Durnovaria (Dorchester), before being converted once again to a fort during the English Civil War (1642-1649).

In 1685 after the Monmouth Rebellion the Rings were converted back to an amphitheatre. This time the “Entertainment” was public executions, as The Bloody Assizes saw Judge Jeffreys sentence 80 of the rebels to be executed here. Soon afterwards, in 1705 saw the odd case of Mary Channing, which Hardy based his poem The Mock Wife on.

Mary came from a well-to-do family in Dorchester, and received an education commensurate with her status. The problem was she took a liking to the male population of the town, several of them! Her despairing parents decided the best solution was to marry her off quickly so as to avoid a scandal, so Thomas Channing from nearby Maiden Newton was found, and despite neither party being at all keen they were married.

It’s fair to say the marriage wasn’t a success. With in 4 months of the nuptials, Mary bought a vial of Mercury and poisoned Thomas, him living just long enough to disinherit her. She was quickly caught, tried, and sentenced to death, the execution delayed due to her successfully pleading her belly, and the wait for her child to be born. Eventually her son arrived and soon after she was strangled then burned at the Rings.

Writing this I’m struck at the similarities between the Channing case, and that of Mary Blandy in Henley-on-Thames.

https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/memories-of-henley/

Perhaps every town has a Mary Channing or a Mary Blandy whose ghost haunts its past?

I drove east to the outskirts of Poole for the evening’s game, and the whole ambiance changed, from the historical to the modern. From the harbour, with the Sunseeker powerboats propped up for sale in dry dock, to the modern harbour bridge with its blue Krypton lights showing you the way.

The County Ground is a fine home for Hamworthy, and could easily stage games at a higher level. There’s generous cover behind one goal, but the undoubted star of the stadium is the main stand. It’s beautifully maintained, and painted in club colours. It was a pleasure to watch a game with that as a backdrop.

And what a game it was! Christchurch came into the game with a defensive injury crisis and it showed as Hamworthy raced into a 2 goal lead at the break with Joseph Shovelton applying the coup de grace on both occasions. But if you can’t defend then you may as well attack, and Christchurch did exactly that in the second half.

AFC Bournemouth have just signed teenage winger Harry Cornick, but loaned him back to Christchurch for the rest of the season, and he tormented the defence. His cross found Russell Cook for the first and he was fouled for Ben Osborne’s penalty. His reward was a goal, showing composure to slide the ball home from an angle.

It was an entertaining coda to a busy day, even if I’d found nothing that was remotely unworldly today. With a busy itinery for Saturday though, there was still opportunity.

Omnibus donis quae de tua beneficentia accepturi simus

09 Saturday Feb 2013

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Thursday 7th February 2012 ko 14.00

Oxford University Junior Common Room League First Division

MERTON MANSFIELD 0

BRASENOSE 2 (Gilbert 9 Saunders 47)

Att 4

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

One of the delights of living in Oxford is that there’s the colleges and their environs to explore. With Mansfield College being small, only around 210 students, it pairs up with its larger, older neighbour for undergraduate sport. But here’s the quirk, Merton College Sports Ground is actually in the grounds of St Catherine’s College, just off Manor Road. St Cat’s ground is the other side of the River Cherwell, a short walk over a footbridge owned (and usually locked) by Magdalen, but a 10 minute drive. You wonder why the two colleges don’t simply swap grounds!

The Junior Common Room refers to undergraduates, those studying for Batchelors degrees, so players tend to be 18-21, although there are some mature students. Therew’s also a smaller MCR (Middle Common Room) League for post-graduate players, played on Saturday mornings. Fixtures can be found at http://www.ouafc.com/

Both are situated on floodplain, so there’s little chance of any development, but I have a feeling that if I published this without any pictures, you’d paint the picture of cloisters, quadrangles and coloured scarves from an episode of Inspector Morse. Of course there are hints of this, Magdalen College tower is visible in the background, but the backdrop is more Bauhaus then Baroque, with Danish architect Arne Jacobsen’s vision in steel and concrete to the fore. Interesting no building is greater than 3 storeys, technically we are on marshland, and the bell tower isn’t attached to a church! Nevertheless there were no lack of bicycles, even if the vast majority of their owners eschewed the delights of a second tier collegiate football match.

We were joined for a little while by my mate Simon who I haven’t seen for years. He spotted where I was from a Facebook post, and came over for a chat interrupting his duties as Head Gardener. It was good to catch up, however briefly.

On the pitch Brasenose overtook their hosts in the table and deservedly so. Charles Gilbert pounced on a dawdling defence to fire home low down, before turning provider, his shot hitting the post for Luke Saunders to follow up and fire home. Save for a brief home rally, the hosts offered little in resistance, and what they did create Brasenose keeper Pelham Barron dealt with easily.

It’s been a couple of years since my last JCR game, perhaps I should do a few more, when finding a game is this straightforward.

 

Insurance

23 Sunday Dec 2012

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Saturday 22nd December 2012 ko 15.00

Isthmian League Division One South

MAIDSTONE UNITED 2 (King 69 A Olorunda 86)

WORTHING 2 (Brown 3og Daniel 55)

Att 1,765

Entry £10

Programme £2

Badge £3

With so much sport falling to the weather, I wanted something that was more or less guaranteed to be taking place. With Maidstone’s new ground having a plastic pitch, the element of doubt was more or less removed. It did leave the vexed question of having to get back to Oxford early enough to attend a Christmas bash, but I spotted a short-cut up a grass bank to get quickly back to my car, parked in a charity car park. The game finished, I made for the bank, slipped, and… Continue reading →

Morning Service

07 Sunday Oct 2012

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Sunday 30th September 2012 ko 9.00am

B Klasse München Gruppe 4

VIKTORIA MÜNCHEN II 2 (Rebel 5p 77)

FC BOSNIA I HERCEGOVINA II 3 (Kaltak 27 Nergic 41 Becirovic 73)

Att 10 (h/c)

Entry €3.50

No Programme

I honestly can’t remember attending an earlier kick-off, but with an 11.00am a few hundred yards away this was an opportunity not to missed! The alarm went off at 6.20 and Lee and I quietly regretted that final bottle of Wiessbier we’d quaffed the night before. With Andreas opting to make his way back to Stuttgart today, it was 4 Englishmen who left Regensburg at 7am and made our way 130 km south to München, or Munich if you’d prefer.

We passed the Allianz Arena, the iconic home of Bayern München and 1860 München, then the Olympic Stadium, long since rebuilt after the 1972 Olympiad where the likes of Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut shone, and the whole event was marred by Black September terrorists killing 11 members of the Israeli team and one German Policeman.

That seemed a million miles away as we headed into the southern suburbs, even the streets had cobbles, giving the place a homely, yet timeless feel. When you’re this early and nothing much is open, there’s little else to do than listen to the rustle of branches and contemplate the leaves just beginning to change to autumnal shades of gold. Or as an alternative, watch a game at the eleventh level of German football!

The Sportanlage Wackersbergestraße was the perfect place to spend a couple of hours of a Sunday morning. There was coffee in plentiful supply, and as the teams trotted out they were accompanied out by church bells calling the faithful to prayer. And yes, this was a game between 2 reserve sides, the first elevens following at, well eleven! And in case you’re wondering, yes there IS a C Klasse!

The standard was as poor as perhaps you’d expect, although the game always held your attention. Whilst the visitors named 5 subsitutes that seemed to be more in hope than expectation, and when Zahib Negic didn’t appear for the second half he wasn’t replaced. It didn’t seem to worry them unduly because while Viktoria played the better football, it was the Slavs who were the more clinical in front of goal.

As we watched, an elderly gentleman arrived, presumably as much for the first XI game as for ours. He found a chair from the picnic area and his favorite spot. From there, he took out his sandwich and bottle of beer from his plastic carrier bag, and quietly settled down for the morning. A Vikoria fan explained that he does this every week, his wife sleeps in on a Sunday, so he’s allowed out but must be home for lunchtime!

With the first elevens warming up behind one goal for the main event, we made our way to close to the exit in one corner, and when the final whistle echoed around the stirring neighbourhood we dashed back to the car. We had only a few minutes to get to the next installment.

By appointment to Officer Michel

04 Thursday Oct 2012

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Saturday 29th September 2012 ko 15.30

Czech 2 Liga

KF BANÍK MOST 0

FK BANÍK SOKOLOV 3 (Vaněček 24 Vondráček 39 Dvořák 59)

Att 525

Entry 60 Czk

Programme 5 Czk

Badge 50 Czk

Barbeque Spiced Sausage 35 Czk

From Kladno it wasn’t a long drive to Most, but we did get the chance to leave the world of motorways and faceless “Service” Stations and travel through small villages seemingly touched only by Tesco for the last 40 years. We headed north, away from Prague and its environs and soon arrived in Most.

Most is Czech for “Bridge” and during the Nazi occupation was renamed “Brüx” a corruption of the German word for bridge, “Brucke.” The town became a plant for fuel produced from brown coal, and a satellite from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp provided forced labour. As a result, the town was on the receiving end of Allied bombing, and was extensively rebuilt post-war.

A result of this is that the town has a very high proportion of its accommodation in the form of panel apartment blocks constructed of pre-fabricated, pre-stressed concrete, known colloquially as “Paneláks.” When I visited the Czech Republic 20 years ago they were an ugly reminder of the Communist era, but the Most Paneláks have seen extensive redecorating, and have proved to be ideal for the rolling out of large-scale broadband in the town.

In the midst of all this lies the Stadion Josefa Masopusta named after the town’s most famous footballing son Josef Masopust, who it has to be noted, only played youth football for Most! He did, however win the European Footballer of the Year in 1962. The Stadium, like Kladno in the morning, reflects Most’s stint in the Czech top flight in recent years. The drop to the second tier has made the all-seater capacity of 7,500 unnecessary, but the despite the low crowds, there was a real vibrancy about the place, despite the faded green seats.

That was mainly due to the Most “Ultras,” who have taken on programme production, and the running of the club shop, a garden shed behind one goal. A barbeque was ready for half-time, the bar did a roaring trade, and the band of “Ultra’s to my right in the main stand, shouted, sang, and banged drums for the entire 90 minutes. They deserved far better than the performance they got from their team.

A goalkeeping howler gave David Vaněček the opportunity to open the scoring with an easy header, and that lead was soon doubled when Zybněk Vondráček’s thunderbolt shot from 35 yards provided the highlight of our tour, let alone just the game. After the break Jakub Dvorák’s low shot put the game far beyond Most who looked bereft of ideas. We felt rather sad for the friendly Ultras, they deserved better. Still, another excellent tick, and so we made for the border, filling up the car again, once again making use of cheaper Czech prices.

We crossed the border, but as soon as the lights marking the change of country had disappeared behind us, an unmarked car screamed past us. In the rear window the lights flashed “Polizei! Stop” and we were led off the main road, to a secluded lay-by. Two plain-clothed officers showed us their ID,  and explained they were German border police and we were asked for our passports for checking. They asked what we were doing, so we explained our weekend, to a look of disbelief, not good when that look is on the face of a border guard! We were asked firstly whether we had cigarettes and alcohol, we had neither, and then Andreas was asked whether we had drugs or weapons too!

When that answer was in the negative too, Andreas was asked how he knew 4 Englishmen. That meant a long story involving Lee, and a St Pauli T-shirt, and the officer clearly came to the conclusion that our tale was so far-fetched it had to be true!He let us on our way, but not before Andreas asked him for the final score from Stuttgart (he didn’t know) and for a recommendation for a restaurant as we were hungry! He did recommend a restaurant, and when we arrived there, we mentioned him to our waitress. She responded, “Oh , Officer Michel, he comes in here for his Cappuccino!” You really can’t get a better recommendation than that!

Two paths you can go by

03 Monday Sep 2012

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Sunday 28th August 2012 ko 6.30pm

Mid-Wales League Division 2

MACHYNLLETH 0

KERRY 4 (M Mumford 28p 36 Vickers 71 L Mumford 89) M Mumford missed penalty 63

Att 347

Entry/ Programme Hop Ticket

Tea 50p

Raffle £1

Team Sheet 20p

Poster 50p

Hog Roast £2.50

I suppose the first question you have to answer is this one. ” Mach-unt-leth!” Not exactly, but hopefully you get my drift! After the fireworks at Aberdyfi we headed back inland and soon arrived at the town that was the seat of Owain Glyndŵr’s Welsh Parliament in 1404, and as such claims to be the “Ancient capital of Wales”. However, it has never held any official recognition as a capital, but you are still very much in “Welsh Wales,” here. In more recent times Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote the Led Zeppelin classic “Stairway to Heaven,” at the 18th century Bron-Yr-Aur cottage near the town.

At Cae Glas there was no lack of activity as the club made the most of their opportunity. A hog roast had a near-permanent queue, and the two girls selling raffle tickets should go into business, they were so persuasive! Mach were the only club to sell teamsheets, and there were so many prizes for the raffle it took more than half-time to complete the draw. Chris and I helped out with the line-ups board, and noticed that the crowd count would take time, the place was getting quite full!

The little stand filled quickly and I propped myself against its wall to watch the game and chat to the club officials. They soon became dismayed as Kerry’s tactics became all to clear. They simply waited until Mach attacked, looked for any weakness at the back when they did, and ruthlessly counter-attacked, Matt Mumford open the scoring with a penalty, and soon broke clear to make it 2-0. Mach certainly didn’t ever look a side destined to be on the wrong side of a heavy home defeat, but try as they might the goals kept coming.

The second half followed the same blueprint, Kerry even being able to miss a penalty. Luke Vickers was put clean through top make it 0-3 and the coda of Luke Mumford firing home for the winner was a fair summary of what had preceded. Still Machynlleth’s fans and committee smiled, made new friends, and probably realise that few other clubs will come to Cae Glas this season and come away with three points.