The Two Green

20 Thursday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 18th February 2014 ko 19.30

Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division

ROTHLEY IMPERIAL 2 (Love 33 Howard 70)

SILEBY TOWN 1 (Jelly 53)

Att 29

Entry £3

No programme

Tea 50p

Regular readers on these travels will know that I like to tell both of you, dear readers, a little about where I visited. The trouble with the small Leicestershire village of Rothley is where to start and what to leave out!

The village is centred off two greens, the Cross Green and the Town Green, both reached from the crossroads on the A6 that is the village’s raison d’etre. Continue reading →

Quality

16 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 15th February 2014 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Connolly 27 Wroe 53 Smalley 68)

MANSFIELD TOWN 0

Att 5,108 (365 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc’ Oxford Mail)

Its been a good week to look at sport as a whole. I do enjoy the Olympic games, and like many others I watched agog as Lizzie Yarnold won gold for Team GB in the Skeleton Bobsleigh. I’m not sure why I enjoy watching the sports that I don’t know intimately, but there’s something visceral about throwing yourself down an ice tube on a tray with your chin an inch from the ice. Of course she won by just under a second over 4 runs, a massive margin, but it was the way she conducted herself afterwards that impressed me. Calm, collected and respectful she is a credit to herself, her country and her sport, and watching her interview you could imagine a legion of young girls taking up sport with her as their inspiration. I fact a few hours later I saw a tweet of a 5 year-old girl, face down on a skateboard wearing her brothers cycle helmet. It’s a powerful, positive message, and one I hope will be repeated many, many times. Continue reading →

3rd Time Unlucky

13 Thursday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 12th February 2014 ko 19.45

Oxfordshire Senior Cup Quarter-Final

THAME UNITED 0 Lynch sent off 24 (serious foul play)

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Hawtin 20 71)

Att 171

Entry £5

Programme £1

My football season really isn’t complete without a trip to Thame United, they’re a decent bunch, and I wish we’d managed to pay the ASM Stadium a visit before the Hellenic hops finished, but league politics put paid to that idea. Still, I’ve managed to visit for local cup finals, and of course Thame United home games! I remember Chinnor borrowing the ground for last year’s quarter-final against Oxford United in this competition. It was cold then, and well, some things don’t change! Continue reading →

Everything You Need

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 8th February 2014 ko 13.45

Scottish Junior FA West Region, Central League Cup 2nd Round

BENBURB 1 (McGurgan 30) Lovering sent off 88 (2nd booking)

THORNIEWOOD UNITED 6 (Duffy 6 Murphy 16 Malone 45 McGowan 62 O’Donnell 78 Brophy 85)

Att 64

Entry £5

Programme £1

When I was a sixth-former we were encouraged to debate the burning issues of the time. I remember a particularly heated debate on the death penalty, and a particularly powerful argument was putting yourself in the position of the condemned prisoner and the dread of waiting for the appointment with the executioner. I felt a flavour of that dread about those involved at Benburb.

Benburb are on borrowed time at their home Tinto Park. The 82 year old stadium has been sold for housing, the “Site Office,” sign is up on the fence outside, and the club neither know who now owns their home, or when the axe will fall.

Continue reading →

Lawyers, Doctors & Architects

06 Thursday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 4th February 2014 ko 19.45

Southern Counties East League

TUNBRIDGE WELLS 2 (Davey 37 Parsons 42)

CORINTHIAN 4 (Wilson 21p Ascheri 64 Gayle 73 Marsh 76)

Att 146

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

I’m beginning to think that the Kentish town of Tunbridge Wells has something of an image problem. You tend to think of the place as being the epitome of a brand of blue-rinse conservatism that manifests itself in the form of an acerbic letter to the newspaper signed by “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.”

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Loneliness

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

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1st February 2014 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Newey 40 Connolly 56)

AFC WIMBLEDON 1 (Wyke 75)

Att 5,745 (693 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc’ Oxford Mail)

A few years ago I was genuinely lonely. I was sat in a house that I was doomed to be leaving, on my own. Although friends and family spent plenty of time with me and I’ll always be grateful for their support,  I didn’t start rebuilding my life until I moved out.

It felt a lot like that at Oxford United over the last few weeks with former manager Chris Wilder surrounded by people, but utterly alone with only his own thoughts for company.  On Saturday with Wilder happily ensconced in a relegation battle at Northampton Town, it felt that the burden has been lifted on both club and former manager.

Continue reading →

The Free Tick

01 Saturday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 28th January 2014 ko 20.00

Friendly

OAKHAM UNITED 1 (Eason)

YAXLEY 7 (Carter 10 77 87 Hook 34 72 Cooke 67 Whaley 86p)

Att 7

At Uppingham Community College 3G pitch, Uppingham, Rutland

Entry FREE

No Programme

There aren’t many advantages of this lousy weather, but a game on a ground not usually used is a bonus. Oakham booked the college pitch, watched as one opponent pulled out then found Yaxley as a late replacement. It offered a tick not usually available, although with Oakham’s ground waterlogged this pitch is set to be used for league games. The Peterborough & District League have none of the hang-ups over a good artificial surface that the Conference do. I am indebted to uber-hopper Brian Buck for alerting Lee West and I to this fixture. Continue reading →

Exit North

31 Friday Jan 2014

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Saturday 25th January 2014 ko 15.00

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Smalley 6)

TORQUAY UNITED 0

Att 4,744 (322 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc Oxford Mail)

There are some advantages of writing this article a few days after the event, Saturday was nothing if not bizarre!

On the pitch, it was a routine Chris Wilder game, dull, uninspiring, against a team in desperate trouble at the bottom of the table. The one bright moment was Deane Smalley’s well-taken goal, but many eyes were less on the pitch and more on the home dugout. Continue reading →

Shooting Practice

30 Thursday Jan 2014

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Wednesday 22nd January 2014 ko 18.00

Malta FA Trophy 4th Round

HIBERNIANS 0

PIETA HOTSPURS 1 (Kooh Sohana 82)

Att c150

At Centenary Stadium, Ta’ Qali

Entry €6 (both games)

No Programme

Teamsheet FREE

Kinnie €1.50

Popcorn €2.00

Our last full day in Malta allowed a visit to one of the islands most famous sites, Fort Rinella, on the eastern side of the Grand Harbour, over the water from Valletta. The number 3 bus made its way past Vapur for Hibernians’ ground, then past the former Naval Prison and Kalkara before terminating outside the main gate. Continue reading →

Victor

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

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Tuesday 21st January 2014

18.00 Malta FA Trophy 4th Round

LUXOL ST ANDREWS 0

BIRKIRKARA 4 (Camenzuli 12 86 Bissi 32 Benites 74)

Att c400

20.00 Malta FA Trophy 4th Round

QORMI 0 Bajada missed penalty 120

TARXIEN RAINBOWS 0

AET Qormi won 6-5 on penalties

Att c200

Both games at Victor Tedescu Stadium (Hamrun Spartans), Hamrun

Entry €6

No Programme

Teamsheets FREE

Coffee 60c

With the change in locale it was high time for Andy and I to explore Malta’s capital, Valletta. It’s one of the world’s smallest capitals, being just 0.8 km2 in size. It was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion in 1565, and is one of the world’s first examples of a city designed along the grid system.

It’s the defences though that grab the attention, the huge walls were constructed in the 15th century and proved to be a bastion against German and Italian attack during the Axis powers attempts to invade the strategically important island in World War II. The legend has it that the island was defended by 3 Gloster Gladiator aircroft named Faith, Hope and Charity. Continue reading →