Confluence

30 Monday Jul 2012

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Friday 27th July 2012 ko 19.00

Pre-Season Friendly

FARINGDON TOWN 1 (Benson 10)

CLANFIELD 85 3 (Oswin 36 Williams 45 Oxendale 88)

Att 35 (h/c)

My appearance here for once had absolutely nothing to do withn the game on offer! I was there for a North Berkshire hop planning meeting, and League Press Officer Phil Annets thought along the same lines as me, why not watch the friendly first? Moreover he even bought his dinner from the same Chinese takeaway I did!

We did as others did and grabbed a table and chairs from the bar, and watched an enjoyable game in the warm eveing sun. It proved, if proof were needed that there isn’t much difference in quality between Faringdon, who will see themselves as North Berkshire League title contenders, and Clanfield, who will probably finish mid-table in Division One West of the Hellenic.

That, last season was a mere one promotion, but things aren’t as clear-cut this time, The FA have removed the NBFL’s step 7 status; based on facilties that’s probably fair enough. However to then find out that the neighbouring Oxfordshire Senior League has retained its status despite similar facilities and vastly inferior administration is to be polite, baffling.

Faringdon opened the scoring with a fine 15 yard strike from Chris Benson, and if Faringdon’s goalkeeping had have been less eccentric, they may well have got something from this fixture. Ollie Oswin fired home from a corner, and a goalkeeping howler gave Ben Williams an easy chance to give Clanfield the lead on the stroke of half-time. It stayed that way until the 88th minute when Royston Oxendale chased down a through ball. He did enough to beat the on-rushing keeper, and steer the ball in the the net, but collided with the glovesman in so doing. The referee took one look at the stricken keeper, and decided to blow full time. There was no lasting damage, and so Phil, I and the representative of the 4 hosting clubs trooped into the bar for our planning meeting.

It proved to be most productive, we’re good to go on the 22nd of September, and the line up will be as follows.

10.30am Coleshill United
1.30pm Faringdon Town
4.30pm Stanford-in-the-Vale
7.30pm Uffington United

There will be programmes for each game produced by the participating clubs, together with the usual metal badges. There also looks to be a decent range of real ales to be bought, and the clubs are liasing to provide a different type of catering for each game.

There will be the facility to buy a pre-bought ticket, guaranteeing a programme on either a match-by-match or whole event basis as well as the usual pay-on-the-day. Obviously there’s a lot of work for both Phil, I and the clubs to do before the League’s big day, but after this meeting I’m confident that the day will be a success.

If you’d like more information, just email groundhopuk@yahoo.com. See you there!

Rolling Round The Bend

29 Sunday Jul 2012

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26th July 2012 ko 7.30pm

Pre-Season Friendly

HMP WOODHILL 2 (24 60)

KEMPSTON CONSTITUTIONAL CLUB 1 (10)

Att 16 (h/c)

Played at Tattenhoe Pavilion, Milton Keynes

Not so much a case of hearing the train a comin’, more driving to the correct location! HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes is a Category A prison, so that means prisoners would be those, and I quote, ..

“whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or national security. Offences that may result in consideration for Category A or Restricted Status include: Murder, Attempted murder, Manslaughter, Wounding with intent, Rape, Indecent assault, Robbery or conspiracy to rob (with firearms), Firearms offences, Importing or supplying Class A controlled drug, Possessing or supplying explosives, Offences connected with terrorism and Offences under the Official Secrets Act.”

Or to put it more simply those who would have “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” Continue reading →

Revival

29 Sunday Jul 2012

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Wednesday 25th July 2012 ko 7.30pm

Pre-season Friendly

WOLVERTON TOWN 0

MILTON KEYNES DONS XI 1 (Osei-Addu 13)

Att 165 (h/c)

Entry £2

Programme FREE

I spent far too much of this evening listening to a well known hopper whingeing about this game. Firstly he whinged that the game kicked off later that advertised on the Wolverton website (but was advertised as 7.30 on the MK Dons website, and on the programme), then he whinged about how poor he felt the game was. If of course, he have stopped whining and looked for the back-story, he may have had as enjoyable time as I had. Continue reading →

Procedure

29 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in B, C

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Tuesday 24th July 2012 ko 19.00

Pre-season Friendly

RAF BRIZE NORTON SELECT 2 (Rockley 7 Groves 47)

CARTERTON FC 3 (Fitzmartin 68 74 Duerden 72)

Att 21 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No programme

Bottle Diet Coke £1.20

The normal procedure to get into an RAF base is to simply turn up with photo ID and time, and after checks as to your address and purpose of visit you’ll be allowed in. That was the case when I watched Benson Lions at RAF Benson, but with the Olympics imminent all military bases are on “Heightened” alert, so more stringent procedures are in place.

I phoned the Carterton manager Martin Wilkinson, and its purely down to his kindness that Lee and I were able to watch this game at all. The base asked that over and above the normal procedures, that all players, coaches and spectators should submit details for scrutiny before arrival, and that everyone should arrive en masse.

That meant meeting at Carterton’s ground, Kilkenny Lane, and driving in convoy to the base, around 5 minutes drive away. The check-in at the guard post was remarkably efficient, and in was interesting to see the departure board, exactly as you’d see at a domestic airport, but with destinations such as Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. I considered the memorial garden just outside the main gate, now in use since repatriation flights moved here from Royal Wootton Bassett. My fun evening, suddenly had a dark edge. Also of interest was the list of what you can’t take on a flight to Afghanistan. I quote, “The Sun, FHM etc.” Innocuous enough to western eyes, but not to an ultra-orthodox Islamic state.

From there we drove round to a large sports ground. Two football pitches, the remnants of an artificial wicket, and a positively gargantuan assault course. Lee took pictures, I chatted to the referee, the RAF’s Billy Moggach, and a bored WAG settled down with her copy of “Fifty Shades of Grey.” It turns out that there are many links between the two sides, indeed the Carterton reserve keeper was playing for Brize tonight! The Brize team consisted of members of the 3 teams that play on the base, in military leagues, which I pondered must mean when the base is on “Heightened” alert it must be virtually impossible for a civilian to watch a game!

With the Hercules aircraft providing a spectacular backdrop, Brize made by far the better start and deservedly opened the scoring when Aaron Rockley’s curling
shot found the top corner of Damien Mulhall’s net. The hosts looked far better organised and it was of little surprise that they double their lead just after half time, Phil Groves having all the time in the world to walk the ball in.

The game was turned on its head as late as then 68th minute, when the visitors finally learned to play together. A neat one-two set up Ben Fitzmartin on the
edge of the box and he blasted home. That was followed up by Mike Duerdon’s shot from a similar position, and the victory was won just 6 minutes after the comeback begin, with Fitzmartin doing well to follow-up a Lewis Brownhill free kick to nod home.
On a worrying note Carterton right-back Aaron Perry had to be taken to hospital suffering with breathing difficulties, manager Wilkinson missing his side’s come-back to take him, but I understand he suffered no ill-effects.

All in all this was both an interesting and spectacular evening out. I’d like to thank Lee for spotting it, and Martin Wilkinson for allowing us on the guest list. Martin, I promise I’m not scouting for anyone!

Curiosity

22 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in C, K, T

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Saturday 21st July 2012 ko 3pm

Pre-Season Friendly

KETTERING NOMADS 3 (Ingham 20p Langley 64 Payne 82)

THRAPSTON TOWN 7 (Gilsenan 7 Thompson 51 74 89 Arnold 73 Petranyuk 80 84)

Att 16 (h/c)

Played at Victory Field, Catworth, Cambs

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

Another in a my series of grounds you can’t normally do on a Saturday, this pitch, is only used for Sunday football. The village is only just over the border from Northamptonshire, used to be in Huntingdonshire, and is now in Cambridgeshire. I noticed that this is roughly where the land begins to level out, as you head towards East Anglia.

There’s a well-appointed clubhouse, and a rather laconic game of mixed doubles was taking place on the tennis court. Underneath the mulberry trees the groundsman silently observed the afternoon’s entertainment.

The game pitted Northants Combination Division One Nomads against United Counties League Division One Thrapston, a gap of two promotions. Of course I’d seen Thrapston a week or so earlier so when manager Paul Lenaghan spotted me, clipboard in hand, he laughed, ” Couldn’t you find some decent football to watch?” That of course is selling his embryonic side short, as they’re a good watch, and on the evidence of this fixture the side’s shaping up nicely.

If last time they made a slow start, then found their feet later, then this was the exact opposite. Jamie Gilsenan’s goal was scant reward for 15 minutes of utter domination, and they were denied what even the Nomads bench admitted was a clear penalty. But as the half wore up the concentration began to wilt, and a silly penalty allowed Nomads back into the game. The rest of the half was relatively even, in fact what swung the tie back in Thrapston’s favour was the introduction of Jake Thompson at half time.

The bald facts state that Thompson notched a superbly taken hat-trick, but he brought better play from those around him, particularly Taras Petranyuk. 5 goals between them speaks volumes, and whilst some of that success can be attributed to a tiring opposition, that opposition did still manage to score twice during that time!

All in all a hugely enjoyable afternoon out, and (say it quietly) the sun shone!

Probables? Possibles?

22 Sunday Jul 2012

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Friday 20th July 2012 ko 7.45pm

Pre-Season Friendly

DIDCOT TOWN 1 (Vincente 84)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Smalley 78)

Att 593

Entry £9

Programme £2

To be honest, on Friday afternoon I was fully intending to give this one a miss. The new job with its commute is tiring, and I’ve been to Loop Meadow Stadium many times. However Dad asked if I was going, and that’s Dad-speak for “Can you give me a lift?”

And there’s a lot to like about the place. From the ground next door, used by Didcot Casuals that is in fact the floodlights and rail from Town’s old ground at Station Road, to the well-designed stand with far better sightlines that at, say Oxford City’s Court Place Farm. There’s a spacious bar, and now there’s cover behind the goal to keep the groundgraders happy. That, sadly is for the time being is irrelevant with Town relegated to the Southern League- South and West Division.

More than anything else it’s the friendly welcome that appeals most, and this evening was no exception. Didcot tends to be thought of as the town with the power station, and the cooling towers do dominate, but its significant garrison town too. There’s a significant railway presence because Lord Wantage prevented the Great Western Railway from having a station in Abingdon, thus passing the economic benefits around 5 miles south. The Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed station has been long since superceded, but the nearby Didcot Railway Centre is well worth a visit.

It was everything I expected from a pre-season fixture between these sides. Good passing football from both sides with the visitors dominating possession. United could, and should have led, but found no-one to do the simple thing and pass the ball into the net. James Constable forced a smart save from Marco Belloli in the home goal, and later saw his improvised bicycle kick sail just over the bar. Didcot were working extremely hard but could not get to grips with Jake Forster-Caskey who, in midfield was behind almost everything good United did. One through ball to Constable will live long in the memory, although the chance was eventually smothered by Belloli.

Oxford made 8 changes at half time, with just Adam Chapman, Wayne Brown and triallist Femi Orunuga remaining. Orunuga, formerly of Everton didn’t last long, yet another piece of trickery with no end product saw him replaced by first-year professional Tyrone Marsh. Chapman in the first half showed what a good midfielder he is and in the second, how he really shouldn’t play at right back. His sloppy pass was intercepted by Anaclet Odhiambo but Wayne Brown saved well.

Last season, the form of forward Deane Smalley was a major disappointment. A one-goal return and an unsuccessful loan spell at Bradford City, can only be improved on, and two goals in two pre-season games is a fair start. The root of the goal was an excellent diagonal pass from Tyrone Marsh to Sean Rigg on the right side of the box. Rigg crossed well and Smalley timed his run perfectly to tap home.

And that should have been that, but Odhiambo’s cross was horribly spilled by Brown, and there was Danilson Vincente to tap into the empty net. Of course you shouldn’t read too much into friendlies, but have a look at the right side of the teamsheet and ignoring the triallists, its hard not to see the two OUFC line-ups as “Probables” for the first half and “Possibles” for the second.

 

Rain o’er me

22 Sunday Jul 2012

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Thursday 19th July 2012 ko 7.00pm

Pre-Season Friendly

DESFORD 0

LUTTERWORTH ATHLETIC 1 (Laxton 30p)

Att 22 (h/c)

Played at Kirkby Road, Desford.

It was, I suppose the classic reason to do a pre-season friendly, a ground not normally used for Saturday football. With the pitch at Peckleton Road, being relaid, and improved drainage being installed, this fixture was moved across town to Kirkby Road. It’s very much a community facility, the facade of the changing room block reflecting the multi-cultural nature of the community here. Mind you, I didn’t know that the Simpsons live in Desford!

This part of Leicestershire is a former coal mining area, reflected in the pit wheel used as a logo by the home team. Nearby is Market Bosworth, where to the south in 1485 the House of Lancaster led by Henry Tudor, beat the House of York led by Richard III who was hacked to death during the battle, ending the Plantagenet dynasty.  It must be an unlucky place as Lady Jane Grey was born here, before being beheaded 16 or 17 years later after being monarch for only 9 days.

None of which seemed relevant on an evening where the weather was as wet as the football was uninspired. I was fortunate to have company in the form of Lee West, together with the self-styled poor man’s Peter Ustinov, Dan Bishop. Dan’s general manager of Newhall United latterly of the Leicestershire Senior League, and its fair to say his view of that league is less than complimentary! He kept us entertained through 3 dire periods of 30 minutes, where we got throughly soaked.

What seemed to be lost on Desford was the word, ” Friendly.” The tackles were consistantly late, and they took full advantage of the convention that no-one gets a card in a pre-season friendly. If the same tactics get used during the regular season, they’ll be fundraising to pay the disciplinary fines. We did get a goal, just before the end of the 1st third, Ben Laxton picking himself up after being chopped down in the box, to put away the penalty. After that it was simply a case of whiling away the time until the players finished. For that Dan and Lee’s presence was greatly appreciated.

Nurture

22 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in A, H

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Tuesday 17th July 2012 ko 7.45pm

Pre-season Friendly

HIGHFIELD RANGERS 2 (Oshungere 47 Bond 90)

BORROWASH VICTORIA 5 (Newton 7 9p 24 Thompson 16 Banks 75)

Att 25 (h/c)

At 3G pitch, New College Leicester, Glenfield Road.

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

Sometimes you have to accept the less than ideal to get a new ground to tick off, or in this case a new pitch. When Lee and I drove up the M69 to Leicester, I wondered why Derbyshire based Borrowash would want to travel this far for a friendly, and travelling back afterwards I was none the wiser!

The only reason I can think of its the facility. It’s well appointed, with a spacious clubhouse and changing room block, and other than our game Leicester Storm were playing on a far pitch, trooping to and from the block. Annoyingly the tea bar wasn’t open this evening. After handing over a large envelope of chinese takeaway menus to a fellow hopper who collects them, for some reason I felt peckish!

The 3G pitch is brand new too, and apart from the occasional wire above our heads breaking the flight of the ball, it played beautifully. Beyond the 3G is the pitch used by Allexton & New Parks, newly promoted into the Leicestershire Senior League. A brick-built set of dugouts have appeared since my last visit, but I noticed how bumpy the pitch looked. That will need some attention before thew season starts.

So, the game; nominally at least LSL versus East Midlands Counties League, so one step on the footballing pyramid. Some interesting people too, the friendly Borrowash committee, and it was fun chatting to Mark Wilson their manager. As far as I know I don’t need Police checking to obtain the line-ups. For the hosts the problem wasn’t a CRB check, it was that they didn’t know who many of their players were! But when you’re a club that discovered the likes of Emile Heskey, and have Dion Dublin’s brother Clem as your manager, you let them get on with it!

That lack of knowledge cost Highfield the game, as they conceded 4 goals in 25 minutes, with Shane Newton collecting the easiest hat-trick he’ll ever notch. It didn’t help that Highfield lost their keeper Ben Davies to a knee injury picked up during the scpring of the 3rd goal. It looked nasty, but he seemed determined to turn-up for the night shift at work. ” They’ll sack me if I don’t!” Daniel Magalhaes took over his position, but the damage was irrepairable.

The second half was a poor spectacle, as the rate of substutions increased. Levi Oshungere mugged Victoria for some consolation. The lead was restored by substitute Steve Banks before Tim Bond rounded off the entertainment with Highfield’s second.

Not one to remember with any great fondness, but a useful run-out for both sides. I for one won’t read too much into the result.

Codebreakers

16 Monday Jul 2012

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Saturday 14th July 2012 ko 3.15pm

Pre-season Friendly

CROCKENHILL 3 (Golding 9 43 A Triallist 67)

BETHNAL GREEN 0

Att 17 (h/c)

Played at Blackheath RUFC 3G pitch, Well Hall Sports Ground, Kidbrooke Lane, Eltham

Entry FREE

No Programme

Coffee £1

From Chislehurst it was only about 3 miles to Eltham, passing the stunning 1930’s built Art Deco Eltham Palace on the way. As the central London skyline came into view the suburban landscape lost some of its foliage but at no time did I feel in an entirely urban environment.

As a drove into Kidbrooke Lane I felt I recognised the place, but couldn’t place why. I went and had a look at the reconditioned stand, that looked familiar, but it was only when I looked at the clock on the outside wall of the clubhouse that the penny dropped. The clock still says Thames Polytechnic, the former owners of the ground, and I played there as a student for the Polytechnic of North London FC! In those days Thames Poly played in the Kent League but my encounter wasn’t at those dizzy heights, it was in a game for PNL’s 6th XI (I was captain though!) in the SEETECH league and we lost 20-0 to Thames Poly’s 3rd XI. I’d like to say that the scoreline flattered our hosts but my abiding memory of the fixture was the kindly referee finding all sorts of spurious reasons to disallow home goals! Thames Poly FC withdrew from the Kent League in 1992, and the institution is now the University of Greenwich. That was in the days before 3G, in fact the only plastic grass around then was part of a meat display at the local butcher! With the pitch beyond the stand, it looks a redundant edifice.

It’s the oval ball that dominates here now. That said Blackheath do have a small but significant role in the formation of the Football Association. In 1863 a series of meetings was convened in an attempt to create a common code of rules for football.

Blackheath were one of eleven clubs invited and Francis Maude Campbell of Blackheath was elected Treasurer. After a series of meetings Campbell refused to eliminate “hacking” or tripping an opponent and kicking his shins, from the rules, and commented that to do so would,  “Do away with all the courage and pluck from the game, and I will be bound over to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week’s practice.” A week later Blackheath withdrew from the FA and Campbell’s rules were incorporated into what is now Rugby Union. The club still plays home fixtures at nearby Rectory Field.

That would explain why the 3G pitch was marked only nominally for football, and why there was space to walk behind both goals. 5 or 6 hoppers arrived fully expecting to see Crockenhill take on Bromley Green, it was on the Crocks’ website after all, but instead we got Bethnal Green, a week early! Not an issue, and it proved to be an entertaining afternoon’s entertainment. I will never know though how Bethnal Green failed to score, a 3-3 result would have been more than fair but the visitors were guilty of missing a string of gilt-edged chances, and were made to pay as Ryan Golding hit them twice on the break, and missed an absolute sitter later on. That didn’t matter as a trialist made it safe, and ended the game as a spectacle.

Incidentally Crockenhill’s normal home, Wested Meadow, near Orpington I cannot recommend highly enough. From the scarf collection in the clubhouse, to the stand seemingly built without recourse to a spirit-level, it’s a gem of non-league. Do pay them a visit.

“Third” Time

15 Sunday Jul 2012

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Saturday 14th July 2012 ko 12.30pm

Pre-season Friendly

HOLMESDALE 4 (Carnegie 16 Hiwood 37 Spain 64 Wells 89)

ELTHAM PALACE 2 (Axell 38 Harris 71)

Att 19 (h/c)

Played at Chislehurst Recreation Ground, Empress Drive

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

It was an apocalyptically bad drive round the M25 to get to the London Borough of Bromley, in fact at the road’s a southern-most tip by Cobham the rain was bad enough to make 6 lanes of traffic slow.

If my recent trip to Bacon’s College was an exercise in renewing my acquaintance with central London, then this one was a reason to enjoy its south-eastern suburbs. John Betjeman waxed lyrical about London’s north-western suburbs in “Metroland,” but he could have done similar work about this part of the world. There’s a pleasing mix of the urban and rural, the major chain shops together with a duck pond complete with children attempting to fish in it!

This is also Richmal Crompton country too, and you could imagine William Brown and The Outlaws playing in the woods, while his father caught the train, “To do something in the city.” The local Wetherspoon’s pub in Bromley is named after Crompton, and you get the impression that little has changed since the 1920’s when, ” Just William” was set. Even the lamp-posts look as if they’ve been converted from gas!

With the weather as bad as it was, I did wonder whether the game would be on, but ever the optimist, I stumbled on and upheld by intermittent hope, I parked up in Empress Drive, with its large Edwardian houses, and narrow road built without mass car ownership in mind. The ground entrance is in the far corner, an unlikely place, almost an apology, strange given this place has a “Friends of Chislehurst Rec'” group for it. The stream of muddy children leaving told me my journey had not been in vain, and there was the bonus of a little cover too!

The Rec’ is used by Holmesdale as a training base, and although the pitch is short, it held up to the deluge well. The trouble is that everything surrounding it didn’t, and I quickly regretted not wearing boots! The match saw a match-up between Homesdale of the step 5 Kent League, against Eltham Palace, newcomers to the Kent Invicta League at step 6.

Unusually the game was played in three 30 minute periods, which did create a small issue for both benches, as neither could come up with a suitable term for the two breaks. It clearly wasn’t “half time,” and “third time,” just doesn’t sound right! Other than that, and the rolling substutions, you could have been forgiven for thinking this was a normal league game. Both teams worked hard, and their fitness will be all the better for it. The final score flattered Holmesdale, but only slightly, the difference being that extra sharpness in front of goal.

I have to say though I found myself enjoyed this more for the surroundings than the football, good though the game was. That, I suppose is a back-handed complement for a side (Holmesdale) that I’ve managed to see play “home” games twice without ever having visited them at Oakley Road.