Category Archives: N

From Steeplechase to Pallisades

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

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Saturday 26th October 2013 ko 19.00

Northern League Division One

NEWCASTLE BENFIELD 2 (Stephenson 29 Brayson 31)

MORPETH TOWN 1 (Chilton 35)

Att 328

Entry £5

Programme £1

Teamsheet 10p

Badge £3.50

Chicken Curry & Rice £2

It may have been less than a mile from Team Northumbria to Sam Smith’s Park, but the whole feel of the area changed completely between the two grounds. I’m sure nightfall had something to with it, but Benfield’s home looks like a traditional football ground, and one that could grace a league higher up the footballing pyramid.

Looks are deceiving, the club has only been around since 1988, and with Northern Alliance outfit Newcastle East End next door I wonder how many hoppers pondered whether a fifth game could have been squeezed in? It wasn’t a long-lived thought, it would have been too much- four is enough!

Where the club unquestionably got it absolutely right is Continue reading →

Any Two Can Play

28 Monday Oct 2013

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Saturday 26th October 2013 ko 16.00

Northern League Division One

TEAM NORTHUMBRIA 3 (Luke 7 Riley 21 Watling 55)

WHITLEY BAY 4 (Chow 16 27p 53 65)

Att 396

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge NOT AVAILABLE

Parking 50p

It says something about the proximity of Team Northumbria to West Allotment that notoriously impatient hoppers were happy to wait for the car park to clear! It was less than a mile from Whitley Park to Coach Lane and as I arrived I spotted a queue of hoppers grumbling about paying 50p to park.

On one hand it IS only 50p, a trifle but the argument some hoppers make is that
Continue reading →

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker

18 Thursday Apr 2013

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Wednesday 17th April 2013 ko 18.30

Oxon Senior League Division One

NORTHWAY 3 (Welby 37 Simpson 62 Albin 66)

YARNTON 4 (Steele 4 Marsh 17 Webb 25 83) Marsh missed penalty 34

Att 17

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

The Parish of New Marston, in Oxford used to be part of Headington, and the cottages and stone fronts of Old Headington soon give way to the red brick and concrete of the newer estate as you head down the hill on Dunstan Road. The vast majority of the estate was built in the  20th century, when the County Borough of Oxford developed estates of council houses around Marston Road and north of Headley Way. The County Borough had built 138 council houses at New Marston by 1938 and added another 70 after 1950. More recently the influx of Eastern Europeans saw the local church in Ferry Road become Russian Orthodox and be restyled Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. A small gold cupola has been added too!

In the middle of it all is the Northway estate, and the huge Plowman Tower which dominates what is in all but name, a village green surrounded on three sides by roads. The Northway club is a community centre and social club here with the shops and buses leaving city centre bound from opposite the club. It’s nothing if not convenient if you want to watch a game, especially if you happen to live in the first few floors of the tower! As convenient as it all is, Northway cannot progress further than Oxon Senior League football here, assuming they’d want to. There is no hard standing, its barely enclosed, and there’s no cover save for the odd tree. But then again, do they really need more?

And if the delights of the Oxon Senior League aren’t to your taste, the floodlights of Court Place Farm, home to Oxford City are clearly visible a couple of hundred yards away. In fact my only regret in attending this game was that one of the shops wasn’t a Fish and Chips Shop. Sometimes on a windy night, only a bag of chips will do!

Not that there was anything wrong with the entertainment on offer, with two contrasting sides on view. Yarnton are former Hellenic Leaguers and the well-to-do village has been inhabited since Bronze Age times. They looked highly organised with no lack of trainers and looked smart in their club tracksuits. In contrast Northway’s manager did everything, and had clearly arrived straight from work.

Maybe that was why Yarnton made such as good start, they scored 3 in 25 minutes, and missed a penalty 10 minutes after that. What was noticeable was that the Northway heads didn’t drop, and the manager was positive throughout. The comeback started with Lewis Welby’s fine strike before half time, and they managed to keep the momentum going after the break.

I wondered when Yarnton would fine their feet again, but Northway kept piling on the pressure. Anthony Simpson mugged the keeper for the second and when Nick Albin nodded home from a corner there looked to be only one winner, but when a game is this good, there’s sting in the tail.

The Yarnton bench castigated striker John Webb for not tracking back, and clearly stung by the criticism, he let fly from 20 yards, and the ball fairly whistled in! Cruel on Northway, who had nothing left with which to respond. Breathless stuff on a windy night, with 2 friendly sides whose company I enjoyed. I feel a trip to Yarnton coming on!

Vectis

18 Sunday Nov 2012

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Saturday 17th November 2012 ko 15.00

FA Vase 2nd Round

NEWPORT (IW) 1 (Przepolewski 10)

CADBURY HEATH 0

Att 201

Entry £6

Programme £1.30

Badge £3.50

Tea £1

In my last article I commented that I liked Sweden, at least in part for its wide open spaces. As I sat on the bus leaving the Red Jet ferry terminal at Cowes, I realised one of the reasons why I like the Isle of Wight, is the compact nature of the place. The streets are narrow and winding and there’s no great distance between anywhere. Other than my somewhat contrary nature, that feeling was rather shattered when the bus passed HMP Albany on the outskirts of Newport. The maximum security walls circling the huge facility looked particularly austere on a grey, cold day.

The bus amused me, as the company is called “Southern Vectis.” Vectis is the Roman name for the Isle of Wight, so why do you need to add “Southern?” From the bus station, its a short walk to St George’s Park, and you pass the Morrison’s and Marks & Spencer shops that sit where the football club used to live, until land prices saw a move further away from the town centre, to a purpose-built facility 25 years ago. Now Asda are sniffing around St George’s Park, but the club reckon they’ll move in next door, rather than displace them.

The ground reflects the club’s former Southern League status, with a large main stand and cover on all 4 sides. It’s an impressive home, albeit lacking the quirks and character traits of an older ground. The land was extensively levelled to build the the ground which has created a problem, with the pitch flooding. When there’s rain its a good idea to call ahead, we did, and the club were very good, calling me back with the message that the game was “Definately ON.”

The match was a match-up of the form teams of the Wessex and Western Leagues. I’d watched the Bristolian side at home in the 2010/11 FA Vase. They lost badly to an almost ridiculously strong Spennymoor side, but I remember the day most for a classy article in their programme by former resident Ian Holloway, now manager of Crystal Palace. This was a far more competitive match, although Cadbury Heath will wonder how on earth they managed to fail to at least force a replay.

Alek Przepolewski’s early header was his 18th goal of the season, but was also the end of Newport’s domination of play. Cadbury soon gained the ascendancy with some fine passing and movement, but at the end of it all, the forwards either blazed wide, or forced another good save from Gary Streeter in the home goal. Matt Huxley ballooned a shot over when it looked a good deal easier to score, and Streeter’s acrobatic tip over the bar from Mark Reynolds will live long in the memory.

Even a change of forward line couldn’t change the visitors’ fortunes and its was well before 5 minutes of stoppage time that their heads dropped. There was one last penalty shout, the aftermath of which saw Reynolds booked, but Newport had already one eye on Monday’s draw, as of course will I!

The 22

24 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Tuesday 23rd October 2012 ko 19.45

FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round Replay

NEWPORT COUNTY 1 (O’Connor 43) Pipe sent off 66 (2nd booking)

YATE TOWN 3 (Knighton 72p Thomas 109 Groves 115)

AET

Att 1,463

Entry £13

Programme £2

Large Hot Dog £3

Tea £1

The City of Newport, has an undeserved reputation for being bereft of anything cultural. I have never found a port town that didn’t have something of interest and the city on the confluence of the River Usk, and Severn estuary has much to recommend it. Whether its the Peter Fink sculpture, “The Wave,” situated on the harbour, or the Newport Transporter Bridge, built in 1906 there’s something to catch the eye wherever you look. More recently, in 2007 the Newport City footbridge opened, and that provides a backdrop to proceedings at the local football club.

The travails of Newport County are an article in itself! I remember in the late 1970’s the bottom of the Football League always seeming to consist of Crewe Alexandra, Workington, and Newport County. Workington failed to get re-elected, Crewe found salvation with Dario Gradi and a vaunted youth system, and Newport found two lethal strikers in Tommy Tynan and John Aldridge. A renaissance followed and Newport as Welsh Cup winners went on a run in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1980-1 eventually losing in the quarter final over two legs to Carl Zeiss Jena. Thereafter it was a gradual decline in fortunes for the club, and they were relegated out of the league in 1988, and were bankrupt before completing their first season in the Conference.

You could argue that this was ony the start of the club’s problems. The club was quickly revived, but as a new club in Wales the Welsh FA wanted them to play in the Welsh pyramid, but the embryonic club’s sole aim was a return to the League- in England. It meant that the club started based over the border in Moreton-in-Marsh, and periods of exile followed in Gloucester, until the High Court found against the Welsh FA and County moved into Spytty Park, a multi-sport stadium, but crucially, in Newport.

The trouble is that the sight-lines across a running track were poor, and the pitch, shared with Llanwern worse. So for the next 3 years the club have agreed a groundshare of Rodney Parade with Rugby Union outfit Newport Gwent Dragons.

The ground has a unique flavour, being not just for rugby, but also being the base for the local bowls club. There’s two stands, the modern all seated “Bisley” stand, and the classic Hazell stand which only runs for around 3/4 of the pitch length. For football only the terrace in front is used. There’s an open terrace behind one goal, but the other has only the changing rooms, and a multi-storey hospitality block there. For football the capacity is 5,511.

With Newport being back in the Conference, there’s no lack of league experience in the playing ranks. Top goalscorer Aaron O’Connor has tasted League football with Rushden & Diamonds, but fellow striker Jefferson Louis takes well-travelled to extremes, this is his 25th club, and he’s still only 33!

With a lower than average crowd it made for a poor atmosphere, and County’s player did little to raise spirits. They’d had a real scare on Saturday with Yate, 3 relegations and bottom of the Southern League’s South and West Division, coming within seconds of a famous victory, Tony James header giving the Exiles, currently top of the Conference a barely deserved replay.

That final score never looked like being replicated, Newport continued to underestimate their part-time opponents, and may well have got away with it, Aaron O’Connor did give them the lead, but two bookings for pointless fouls saw Newport captain David Pipe take an early bath. Within 5 minutes goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley had flattened Mitchell Page; Pidgeley collected a booking and Tom Knighton levelled the game from the penalty spot. With a first round tie with Cheltenham Town the reward, the incentive was obvious but only Yate showed the requisite urgency.

In extra time it was Yate who looked the fitter, and the inevitable happened. A corner was swung in, the ball bounced back off the bar, and there was centre half Scott Thomas to head in from close range. As Newport finally began to push forward, more out of shock than belief, they were hit with a real sucker punch. Matt Groves exploited the gap where right back Pipe used to be to turn and fire home, in front of a band of delirious travelling fans. The Newport faithful turned, and silently made for the dark wet exits.

Above & Beyond

30 Thursday Aug 2012

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Saturday 25th August 2012 ko 1.45pm

Mid-Wales South League

RADNOR VALLEY 2 (Layton-Morris 33 Matthews 41)

NEWCASTLE 3 (Oxford 22 26 Price 47)

Att 212

Entry/ Programme by Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Another first for the hop on this game, the first ever international! New Radnor may be a mere 16 miles from Newcastle-on-Clun, but the latter is on Shropshire, England, and the club plays in Wales by convenience. That convenience doesn’t look all that convenient as Newcastle won the league last season but were refused promotion to to the Mid Wales League….because they’re English! Continue reading →

The Pickled Herring Brigade

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 10th June 2012 ko 17.00

Division 5 Svart Sörmland

IFK NYKÖPING 1 (Abdulsatar 77)

VALLA IF 2 (Nilsson 59 L Larsson 90)

Att 55

Entry, Programme, Yearbook, and meal- Hop Ticket

Coffee 10 sek

Pennant 20 sek

The final game of the Swedish hop saw something of a homecoming for the 6 of us that were on the very first trip back in 2007. Back then, we’d landed early at Skavsta and stayed in the pretty town of Nyköping. We’d arrived too early to be allowed into our hotel rooms so went for a stroll and discovered Folkungavallen. We’d also discovered that IFK were at home that Friday, and were sorely tempted to stay and ditch a trip to Nyköping BIS. I’m glad we didn’t for many reasons, but Kim and I were keen to take the hop here ever since.

But why? Have a look at pictures! A wonderful gatehouse and a pretty as a picture wooden stand. Is that not enough? What made it special for Kim and I was watching the other hoppers jaws drop as we arrived, then started to explore.

The stadium was originally built for an agricultural fair in 1914. After the show, it was decided that the facility would be converted to sports use. By 1919 the conversion was complete, but the ground wasn’t officially inaugurated until 1921. The ground was only renamed Folkungavallen in 1925, after a poll in the local newspaper. From my perspective, it was the fact that it doesn’t seemed to have changed much since then, that makes it what it is. On one hand a relic, on the other something of real beauty.

We were welcomed by the ebullient figure of club President Veronica, and were invited for a meal of pickled herrings, potatoes and light beer at half time. Did this make us the Swedish equivalent of the Prawn sandwich brigade? It didn’t feel like it, as this was a friendly, down to earth club struggling at the bottom of the table, but who made some tired hoppers extremely welcome.

A word about that league and division. There are 2 division 5’s in the area, and unusually the authorities have not gone for a geographical split. They’ve gone for “Black” (Svart) and “Blue” (Blå), strange but it seems to work for the local FA!

Sadly, what it didn’t give us was an exciting game. The heavens opened and it appeared to drown any goalscoring ambition. It was clear that the hosts would willingly take a point, so Nicklas Nilsson’s goal for Valla looked to open things up a little. That it did, until Sardast Abdulsatar scrambled an equaliser for Nyköping, and at looked to be the final score until Lars Larsson tucked home the winner for Valla with just seconds remaining. Harsh on Nyköping, but things like this happen when you’re occupying one of two relegation spots. The other, by the way is held by the other club that plays at Folkungavallen- Harg.

That was the last game of this year’s Swedish hop, and a little run of 20 non-UK games for me! There was barely enough time to do the final bits of housekeeping on the short drive to Skavsta airport, and in no time we were flying back to Stansted.

I’d like to thank firstly Kim Hedwall for organising the whole thing. Put simply, no Kim, no hop. Secondly Thomas Nybom, our driver, and often the voice of sanity. Every hop needs a great coach driver, and Thomas is a gem. Lastly, I’d like to thank everybody who supported the hop in its 6th year; I hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!

If reading these reports tempts you into attending next year, we’ll be advertising the 2013 hop around April. Normally that’s in the “Football Traveller”, and ” Non League Digest” together with various Facebook pages and Twitter.

Valhalla

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Friday 25th May 2012 ko 19.00

Division 6 Östra Varmland

NORDMARKS I.F 3 (Skallare 10 Rojo 43 Allpour 77)

IMMETORPS BK II 1 (Karlsson 75)

Att 30

Entry FREE

No Programme

Coffee (Kaffe) 10sek

Pennant FREE (Gratis)

From Borås we started the long drove back towards Stockholm. There was plenty to do on the way though with a trip to Degerfors to buy the tickets for the imminent Swedish hop game and a trip to Immetorp to meet up with Dennis Gustafsson who’s organising the hop’s visit to his club. That will be superb, but he was rather worried about raising a side for his reserve side’s game that evening at Nordmark. He was worried enough to name himself on the bench, and was just a touch more worried when Kim and I admitted to him that we were going! Continue reading →

The Falklands Walk

25 Sunday Mar 2012

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Wednesday 21st MArch 2012 ko 7.45pm

Cambridgeshire County League Senior A Division

NEEDINGWORTH UNITED 1 (Steward 40og)

HUNDON 1 (Hayes 17p)

Att 10 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Tea 70p

Raffle £1

The small village of Needingworth lies close to St Ives, and for a small town a lot has happened. There’s a massive aggregate pit, which in time will become a nature reserve under the wing of the RSPB. The ground, Millfields, as the name suggests was linked to a long demolished windmill, and the village has gained an excellent sports facility. There’s room for 4 football pitches, as well as a cricket pitch, together with the clubhouse, opened by local MP John Major in 1992. Surrounding the whole lot is Falklands Walk, an area of woodlands and footpaths funded by a unit of the Royal Engineers after their posting to the Falklands in 1989. Yes, it’s all very neat, if a little bland, the trouble is that the locals patently don’t care about their football club.

And what a bonny little club it is. Run by a small band of stalwarts, it was an absolute pleasure to spend a couple of hours in their company. From running a line, to making tea, to sorting out two bottles of wine for the raffle prize, everything was done with humour and a friendly welcome, so why on average do only 4 locals come and watch their team?

Yes, the team are struggling, near the bottom of the second tier of the league, a feeder to the United and Eastern Counties Leagues. They once had a ground inspection for acceptance into the UCL, but balked at the cost of adding the lights and stand they had already. The stand got sold to Ramsey Town, themselves refugees from the UCL, but so far hasn’t been erected there. On the pitch relegation happened despite the league rather liking a floodlit ground in the Premier Division.

This game saw two clubs struggling to maintain their place in the division. The home officials happily admitted they’d be happy for a point, and that both sides would probably still be the same division next season due to a withdrawal and a lack of clubs wanting to make the step up.

The game was therefore exactly as I expected, nervy and error strewn. The moment of controversy was when Hundon’s Jamie Farlie was put clean through on goal. The keeper Tom Kulik went in on him with his knee raised, and a penalty was the only decision referee Brian Lewis could possibly make. The question was, should it be interpreted as dangerous play or denying a goal scoring opportunity too?  Lewis opted not to, arguing that a penalty was enough, and took into account on the fact the Kulik had been on the receiving end of a studs-up challenge the previous Saturday. Probably against FA directives, but instinctively correct. Jamie Hayes slotted home the spot kick neatly.

Needingworth got the equalizer in bizarre circumstances. Luke Gatford swung in a corner to the near post and there was Ben Steward to head home… past his own keeper! The second half was a bitty affair, with few chances, but to be honest I was enjoying the company too much to care!

I left having watched a distinctly average game, but loved this little club with a big heart. I wish the locals would walk down the road and discover what I drove for 2 hours to find.

Thinking Tactically

14 Wednesday Mar 2012

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Tuesday 13th March 2012 ko 7.45pm

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

NETHERTON UNITED 2 (Jackson 55 64)

PINCHBECK UNITED 0

Att 87 (h/c) on their new floodlit 3G pitch

Entry FREE

No programme

Tea 80p

Bacon Roll £2

I often get asked by non-hoppers what will I do when I run out of grounds to visit? The answer is that I won’t run out, it’s a question of how low a standard will I accept, or how far am I prepared to travel?  What is finite is the number of grounds with floodlights I can reach on a midweek evening. As a consequence this highly unusual fixture required my attendance. It also means I’ve still not reduced my list of do-able floodlit grounds! Continue reading →