• About this humble little website

Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Didcot Town

Hipster

01 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by laurencereade in D

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Barney Martin, Cain McCormack, Didcot Town, Duran Martin, FA Youth Cup, Josh Ashby, Kieran Beesley, Matthew Woodley, McCormack, oxford united., Southend United

Wednesday 30th October 2013 ko 19.45

FA Youth Cup 1st Round

DIDCOT TOWN 0

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Ashby 26 56p McCormack 67)

Att 291

Entry £4

No Programme

Team Sheet FREE

Regular readers of these articles will be aware that the Loop Meadow Stadium is one of my semi-regular haunts. There are no lack of local clubs I could frequent, but Didcot are a friendly bunch, and they seem to be a club that stages a game well. The game was intriguing too, with the club’s respective youth teams facing off for the right to play the winners of Maidstone vs Southend United.

What I hadn’t expected was the size of the crowd, or the demographic of them. Continue reading →

51.613522 -1.241943

Reunion

06 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by laurencereade in W

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Alfredian Park, Didcot Town, FA Cup, Jermaine Ferriera, Pablo Haysham, Richard Claydon, Sean Webb, Wantage Town

Friday 30th August 2013 ko 19.45

FA Cup Preliminary Round

WANTAGE TOWN 2 (Claydon 60 86)

DIDCOT TOWN 3 (Webb 3og Ferriera 37 Haysham 70)

Att 321

Entry £6

Programme £1 (poor, far too many adverts)

After the excesses of the weekend, I’d felt rather footballed-out. There were no lack of options on Tuesday and Wednesday, but save for a little writing the urge to jump in the car had been absent. But on Friday, a nice local game beckoned, and an FA Cup game too. It was time to get back in the swing of things, and on arrival I wasn’t the only one to have thought along the same lines. There were a good 20 hoppers, many of whom had been touring around North Wales with Chris and I. There was North Berkshire League representation too, with fixtures secretary Charlie East, and Treasurer Mike Panting casting an interested local eye on the proceedings.

However the reunion had a far more significant member, Continue reading →

51.588868 -1.426453

McGlide

11 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by laurencereade in D

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Aiden Hawtin, Didcot, Didcot Town, Dylan McGlade, oxford united., Scott Davies, Town, tyrone marsh

Wednesday 7th August 2013 ko 19.30

Pre-Season Friendly

DIDCOT TOWN 0

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Marsh 13 71 McGlade 27)

Att c150

Entry £6

No Programme

I like visits to Didcot Town’s Loop Meadow Stadium, as unlike at least one club local to me the welcome is always fulsome, and the they work at the little things that add up to great customer service.

This game proved the point well. The press area required the line-ups, so the club knocked up a team sheet at zero notice. It wasn’t pretty, but it did the job and was much appreciated.

It did seem odd recording this as a Continue reading →

No, we didn’t!

23 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by laurencereade in D

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Chris Berezai, Clevedon Town, Didcot Town, Eliott Osborn-Ricketts, James Clark, Joe Flurry, Lee Matthews, Loop Meadow Stadium, Scott Murray, Southern League

Friday 21st September 2012 ko 19.45

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

DIDCOT TOWN 3 (Clark 62 73p Osborn-Ricketts 77)

CLEVEDON TOWN 1 (Flurry 22)

Att 190

Entry £9

Programme £2

With the North Berkshire League hop the next day, this fixture couldn’t have been more convenient for those staying over the night before. Or in fact anyone who fancied a “warm-up” game. There were even 3 hoppers who’d watched Didcot Casuals, on Town’s training ground 2 years ago. I bet its unusual for the two grounds to be ticked off in that order! The convenience of the fixture lead to a rumour that Chris and I had got the fixture moved to attract hoppers. Not the case I’m afraid, we don’t carry that much clout, but Phil Annets media officer at the NBFL did get the club to put a full page advert for the hop in the excellent programme!

Loop Meadow Stadium is one of the better new-builds, replacing their Station Road (now a Sainsbury’s) home in 1999. The sight lines are good, and there’s now cover behind one goal, a condition of Southern League Premier football, now sadly a division above their current status.

Annoying for all concerned the draw gave Didcot the fixture that they would have had if neither side had made it through the 1st qualifying round, albeit with the away team at home. What the game proved, apart from that the Railwaymen have a nice little cup run going is that they should have little difficulty in collecting 3 points when the two sides meet again in the rearranged league fixture at The Hand Stadium next Tuesday.

It was a travesty that Clevedon were leading at the break. Joe Flurry’s stab home following ex Reading and Bristol City striker Scott Murray’s blocked shot, represented virtually the visitors’ only meaningful attack of the half. In contrast Didcot saw chance after chance go begging though a mixture of profligate finishing and the brilliance of Lee Matthews in the Clevedon goal.

The second half saw juctice prevail as Didcot made the pressure count. James Clark was put though by Sam Elkins to equalise. Didcot’s second was a little fortunate as Eliott Osborne-Ricketts powerful shot hit a Clevedon hand and a penalty was awarded on the linesman’s signal. Clark’s spot kick was emphatic to give Didcot the lead. 4 minutes later the tie was over as a spectacle as Osborne-Ricketts scored the goal of the game, skipping through two challenges before rifling home.

It was a highly statisfactory game to watch and the crowd was significantly higher than normal, so hopefully the experiment will be repeated. The statistic that no-one cold have predicted is how close 190 was to the crowds at the 4 NBFL games the next day!



Probables? Possibles?

22 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by laurencereade in D, O

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Anaclet Odhiambo, Danilson Vincente, didcot railway centre, Didcot Town, Femi Orunuga, great western railway, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, James Constable, Loop Meadow Stadium, Marco Belloli, oxford united., sean rigg, Southern League, tyrone marsh, Wayne Brown

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.

Good to see the local MP taking an interest



 

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 6,521 other subscribers

Look for stuff here folks!

Blogroll

  • Damage In The Box Chris Powell’s travels across the UK and Europe. The artist must frequently seen in the pub 0
  • FA Cup Factfile Phil Annets on all things to do with the World’s greatest cup competition 10
  • Football Club History Database Want to know where a club finished in what league and in what year? Richard Rundle’s site is a veritable goldmine! 0
  • Football Hopper “Fast” Eddie McGeown’s erudite perambulations around the nation’s football grounds 0
  • Gibbo's 92 As Atherton Colleries’ programme editor puts it, ” The best trips are random, unplanned and spontaneous.” 0
  • Groundhopping.se Per-Gunnar Nilsson’s trips around his native Sweden, and into Europe 0
  • Grounds for concern The late Mishi Morath’s picture blog. Obviously no longer updated but still a wonderful archive. 0
  • Kate Shrewsday. A thousand thousand stories Not about football, but beautiful writing, Kate can make words dance. 0
  • Modus Hopper Random Graham Yapp’s travels 0
  • Swedish Football History & Statistics Mats Nyström’s curates this site, which does exactly what you’d expect 0
  • The 100 Grounds Club Shaun Smith’s groundhopping football blog. The original internet ground logging website. 0
  • The Football Traveller The bible for every groundhopper. Non-League fixtures magazine delivered weekly. Published and edited by Chris Bedford 0
  • The Intinerant Football Watcher Peter finds the grounds other hoppers cannot reach. Top bloke too! 0
  • The66POW Rob Waite’s travels 0

Your very own calendar!

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Jan    

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Football: Wherever it may be
    • Join 494 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Football: Wherever it may be
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...