Tag Archives: Football

Not them…THEM!!!

25 Sunday Mar 2012

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Thursday 22nd March 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

BOURNEMOUTH FC 1 (Ewen 90p)

TOTTON & ELING 0

Att 72

Entry & Programme £6

I wonder why Bournemouth don’t rename themselves Bournemouth Poppies. They must have heartily sick of being mistaken for AFC Bournemouth, who after all used to be Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. Still the Poppies plough their furrow on the Poole side of the Dorset Town, which according to a a 2007 survey by First Direct was found to be the happiest place in the UK, with 82% of people questioned saying they were happy with their lives. The comedian and actor Tony Hancock lived in the Winton area of Bournemouth for much of his early life.

Victoria Park, retains the feel of a public park, despite hosting Step 5 football. There’s no turnstile or pay box, the entrance fee is collected in the bar, where the excellent programme is sold. The stand is worthy of note, being a part of a single building encompassing the changing rooms, and bar area. Its highly unusual and works well, with the bench seating affording a good view of the action.

Except on this occasion we didn’t get much! The reason for the Thursday fixture was good old fashioned end-of-season congestion, caused by the Poppies’ FA Vase exploits. In a poor game both sides were thankful to their goalkeepers in the first half as Poppies stopper Kenny Vaughan made three saves, while his opposite number Steve Mowthorpe clawed debutant Sean Leadbetter’s header out of the bottom corner. Phil Ward kept out another Leadbetter effort with a goal-line clearance before half time.

In the second half, Mowthorpe’s brillance was all that kept the Poppies at bay. He produced two first class saves, the second, from Dave Ewen, was worthy for a far higher level.  Luke Ingram was denied a Poppies penalty seven minutes from time but when the hosts were handed a late spot kick for the weakest of challenges, Ewen made no mistake to seal the points. That was harsh on the visitors, and especially on young Mowthorpe who deserved a clean sheet. Seconds later, it was full time, and one of the linesmen had to intervene as one of the Totton & Eling coaching staff took exception to a comment from the stand and decided to negotiate the point by physical means. He was led away before anything untoward happened.

 

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.

On a Whing and a Prayer

20 Tuesday Mar 2012

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Tuesday 20th March 2012 ko 7.45pm

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Morgan 57)

AFC WIMBLEDON 0

Att 6,366 (362 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc Oxford Mail)

So, those of you who weren’t there will look at the score, and think, play-off side struggles to beat lower-table side, in a dour encounter. And you’d be right, except for the last 4 words. For at no point did this game look like ending nil-nil, as both sides played good passing football, but with a frustrating lack of end product.

As a little aside, the first time I watched AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow they were playing AFC Wallingford in a Combined Counties League game. How times change, as Wimbledon have been promoted 6 times to reclaim the league place that had been stolen from them. Poor old Wallingford now languish at the bottom of the North Berkshire League’s top flight. By my reckoning, there’s now 7 promotions between the two clubs. And to square the circle, North Berkshire League Press Officer Phil Annets was watching the game from one of the executive boxes!

Oxford looked capable of tearing their visitors apart, but at times looked lopsided, with Dean Morgan looking lost for much of the first half. Not withstanding that, its was refreshing to see both sides play an attractive passing game, with Oxford’s Adam Chapman, and Andy Whing both going close with a free kick and close-range header respectively. For Wimbledon George Moncur’s shot was well smothered by Ryan Clarke.

Its was a little suprising that United made no change at half time, as they had looked a tweak away from looking really convincing. As usual Chris Wilder showed why he’s the manager and I’m sat typing this, as a glorious passing move led to the goal. After a series of passes, Scott Rendell moved the ball wide, and Asa Hall’s flicked back-heel found Morgan on the left. His shot seemed to come from nothing, and was from an acute angle, but it flashed past Seb Brown, and into the top right corner.

After that United looked happy to attack sporadically, and defend in numbers. Oli Johnson headed on to the bar following a quite wonderful Peter Leven free kick, and the visitors were limited to just two chances. Sammy Moore’s 25 yard shot found the car park when it should have found the goal, and the only real scare came at the end of injury time. Leven was adjudged to have fouled on the edge of the box, a decision that angered Chris Wilder sufficiently for him to be dismissed from the technical area. The shot was driven in, Clarke parried, and Andy Whing blocked twice to keep Wimbledon out.

And it was the popular full back/midfielder/centre half that summed the last few minutes to me. Not pretty, but wholly committed and always gets the job done. Cheltenham away, I suspect will be a different challenge all together.

Soap & Steel

18 Sunday Mar 2012

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Saturday 17th March 2012 ko 4.30pm

Central Midlands League North Division

DRONFIELD TOWN 4 (Doran 15 90 Gange 48 67)

THORESBY COLLIERY WELFARE 1 (House 60)

Att 276

Entry & Programme-Hop Ticket

Teamsheet 25p

Badge £3

Cheeseburger £2

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

The day’s 3rd game saw a real change of environ, from North Nottinghamshire to North Derbyshire, and there’s a real rivalry between the 2 counties, exacerbated by the UK miners’ strike (1984–1985). I drove through Chesterfield with its iconic crooked spire (or typical Derbyshire workmanship if you’re from Notts!), and headed north to to the small town of Dronfield. Rick Allen, drummer with Def Leppard hails from the town.

Situated as it is on several borders, Dronfield’s roots lies in several industries. There have been, at various times tanneries, soap works, and with a nod to nearby to nearby Sheffield, a significant steel industry. With the Peak District being a mere 3 miles away agriculture was also a massive contributor to the town’s prestige, and the most famous building in the town is testament to this.

The “Peel Monument”, situated on the town’s High Street, was built in 1854 out of gritstone as a tribute to Sir Robert Peel, to commemorate his repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The monument is very distinctive, and is often portrayed in images of the town. It also forms the football club’s badge.

Dronfield’s ground makes use of the hilly topography of the town. The car park is above the cricket club, which is in turn above the football ground in Stonelow Road. On the other side of the valley the terraced houses disappear into the distance like a Lowry painting.

Like Basford, Dronfield Town are an ambitious club, and buckets were in evidence for their floodlight fund. A barbeque was fired up, but the club found the one food that even groundhoppers turned their noses up at. Pork dripping sandwiches are, so I was told by Rob Hornby, a local speciality, but I actually heard a hopper comment “Do they come with a free heart attack!” That said, I now regret not trying one, it couldn’t have been that bad could it?

The game pitched Dronfield against a Thoresby side that had only conceded only 9 goals in 19 league games. Clearly, noone had told Dronfield, and particularly fowards Andy Gange and John Doran, who scored excellent braces, despite at various times playing through driving rain and hail. Doran in particular looked a class better than the CMFL, and I do wonder whether in the future he’ll feature on a Northern Counties East hop! Danny House’s strike, from Thoresby’s only corner of the game was scant reward for the visitors who made a fine contribution to the game, for me the best of the 4 on offer today.

Real Football

18 Sunday Mar 2012

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18th March 2012 ko 10.10am

Central Midlands League South Division

CLIFTON 3 (Atkins 52 C Anderson 61 Richardson 90)

REAL UNITED 0

Att 267

Entry & Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Team sheet 20p

This was the 9th, and sadly the last Central Midlands League Bonanza, where games are staggered so as to attract the groundhoppers. It’s hop that I was involved in for a short time until GroundhopUK and the League mutually agreed that the League would take over the running of the hop wholly themselves. The face of the CMFL, of course is Rob Hornby, one of life’s unsung heroes who works both tirelessly and with a huge smile for grassroots football despite serious ill health. Rob’s retired from the CMFL committee but continues to run the Bonanza, and will shift the hop to the Notts Senior League for next season. We at GroundhopUK were pleased to donate a stuffed carrier bag of programmes for Rob and wife Hazel’s charity programme stall and attend a hop where all we had to do was watch the game. Mind, you it didn’t stop me being stopped regularly to be asked whether I’d done the crowd count!

I wonder how many people who seeing Clifton would immediately think Bristol. In fact this Clifton is in Nottingham.  The Clifton family trace their lineage back to Alvaredus de Clifton, a Norman knight who was appointed Warden of Nottingham Castle in the time of William the Conquerer, and who took his name from this Nottinghamshire village, now a city suburb, in which he settled. Sir Gervase de Clifton purchased the manors of Clifton and Wilford from the de Rodes family in the late 13th century, and held Clifton Manor until the 1950’s.

Clifton is also a well known area in Nottingham for sporting talent, with Olympic Ice Skater Jayne Torvill growing up here, as did former Boxing Champion brothers Tony and Kirkland Laing. Jermaine Pennant, Jermaine Jenas, and Darren Huckerby all played as youngsters for Clifton (Formerly Clifton All Whites).

The Norman Archer Memorial ground is more than adequate for the club’s needs, playing 7 promotions from the football league. There’s a small stand, with no seats, plus hard standing. I can imagine the place being fairly bleak when its cold and windy. Not a problem on a warm day like this, the programme sold out, and club officials were kept busy printing out teamsheets for the throng. There also seemed to be a roaring trade in bacon rolls!

The opposition were even more intriguing. Real (pronounced the Spanish way-“Ray-Ahl”) play at the nearby Gresham Sports Centre, but started life in 1998 as a means of reducing drug use and associated crime in the area.

With the CMFL altering its constitution from a top and second division to North and South divisions I was interested to see how the standard would have fitted in the old set up.  The visitors pronunciation of Real was unfortunate as this game was real football, in the English language sense, two amateur sides slugging in out in what was at times more enthusiastic than skillful. The game needed a goal and a spectacle it was a little dull until Clifton opened the scoring, after that it was one way traffic.

It was a pleasure to catch-up with friends, especially those who couldn’t be on last week’s Welsh hop-up, and the promise of another 3 games kept me more than interested. That said it did seem strange for it to be midday and I still had 4 and a half hours of football to watch!

Scott & Charlene

16 Friday Mar 2012

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Thursday 15th March 2012 ko 7.45pm

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

RAMSEY TOWN 3 (Mitchell 4 Edwards 41 Ives 51)

PARSON DROVE 1 (J McManus 87) Patrick sent off (2nd booking) 37

Att 68 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No programme

Tea-in-a-mug £1

Whilst this game was in the same division as Tuesday’s at Netherton, it really couldn’t of been more different. Mind you a home official was heard to comment that the League had phoned him to ask whether Ramsey would play in Netherton’s caged 3G pitch. He laughed as he commented that they’d already played Netherton home and away.

Many of the differences are due to location. Ramsey is in the Cambridgeshire fenlands and you are so obviously in the Eastern Counties, even though the football club dropped out of the United Counties League during the 1996/7 season. The overiding impression is of a small agrarian town, albeit one whose parish church used to have St Thomas à Becket as its priest.

The ground is still well up to lower division UCL standards with its elongated “Bus Shelter stand, and hard standing on two sides, and most importantly floodlights! The bugbear for promotion, I suspect is the fact that the ground is shared with cricket, compressing the season-time.

If Henry II said of Thomas à Beckett, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” referee Nick Breen must have thought the same of Parson Drove’s forward James Patrick. With his team 2nd from bottom of the divsion, and having just the one substitute, you would have thought simply completing 90 minutes would be a priority. Not a bit of it, as during his 37 minute stint he could have easily been dismissed twice before the red card was finally shown. After 6 minutes his “Tackle” on his marker was lucky to earn a mere booking. His colleague up-front Scott McManus got in on the act too, his booking for a foul-mouthed rant directed at Breen. Patrick then decided to perfect his two footed lunge technique by repeating his previous assault. That earned a final warning, but still the thuggery continued until he contrived to stamp on his opponent’s er “gentleman’s vegetables.” That earned only a second booking, but as he departed, he was heard to comment “I wasn’t me fault, he fell under my boot!!”

By this stage Ramsey were a goal up and cruising and when Edwards fired home after a free kick was swung on from the left, the game was over as a contest. I counted the crowd, and waited to see what would happen next.

The second half saw Ramsey dragged down to their visitors’ level, collecting 2 bookings for dissent from referee Breen whose patience was Beckett-like. Justin Ives smashed home for the third, before the visitors gained a consolation with something completely out-of-place with what had gone before. An erudite diagonal ball found James McManus out wide right, His cushioned chip expertly beat Lloyd Turner-Potter. I wondered why they hadn’t tried to do that in the first place!

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 →

Mae cyfle a gollwyd?

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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Saturday 10th March 2012 ko 1.30pm

Mid Wales League Division 2

ABERAERON 3 (R Jones 20 B Thomas 64og R Davies 85)

MACHYNLLETH 1 (Jarman 60)

Att 224

Entry FREE

Programme £2

Badge £3

It really was a very short drive south from Aberystwyth down the coast to Aberaeron. The pretty fishing town is that way for a reason. There are very strict guidelines on what get built and how it looks. Unusually for a Ceredigion/Cardigan settlement there is a regency feel to the place, due to the work of Shrewsbury architect Edward Haycock. The council keeps a book of pastel colours approved for houses, and the houses have to have sash windows. In typical Regency style the village is built round a square, and in untypical Regency style, the town square is where the football team plays.

This fact is why we were there, as on August Bank Holiday the square is used for the town carnival, and the club are moving off at the end of the season, in favour of a move of a shared pitch with the local rugby club nearer the sea front. That facility was where the players and officials changed before walking through town to the pitch. The Town Square, without meaning to, caused a whole host of problems.

In order to get a visit in we had to schedule the hop a year earlier than we’d planned, and not so early in the year as to risk postponements. We also didn’t want to clash with next week’s Central Midlands League Bonanza, run by our good friend Rob Hornby. Putting our event on a week before was not ideal, but we couldn’t run later, as that would clash with the final arrangements for the Northern Counties East Hop, in a month’s time, over Easter.

On a more local level the ground has one other massive problem, namely that, despite the presence of a quite wonderful old turnstile, the club are not allowed to charge for admission. That inevitably means entry by programme, and under those circumstances a club has to work all the harder to get people to pay. I’m not sure how many two pounds were collected. Again, with no catering facilities, a burger van was parked behind one goal, and the bakery and pub on the square did a roaring trade. I managed to get the line-ups put up on a blackboard, and many locals delayed watching Wales play 6-Nations rugby in favour of more local entertainment. I’ve certainly never seen a ground like it, and suspect I never will again. It was certainly worth the effort getting there.

It was a bruising encounter with a couple of unsavoury off the ball challenges.  After one I commented to a fellow hopper that the perpetrator was lucky to stay on the pitch, I was told by a Machynlleth fan, that it was a “Contact sport!” Well I suppose kicking out at your opponent is contact-of a fashion! Aberaeron had just that little too much for their guests. Ryan Jones’ opener was equalised by Kurt Jarman courtesy of a defensive howler. Parity didn’t last long as a good cross was turned into his own net by Ben Thomas, and Rhydian Davies made things safe with 5 minutes left.

As we waited for Keith and the coach (he had to park some distance away at a local school) I watched as all trace of the big match was quickly dismantled and the locals disappeared into the pub to watch the rugby. I just left wondering how much impact the day made on the town and its football club.

Apart from the first one, and the last eight, all pictures by Craig Dabbs

Pêl-droed Myfyrwyr

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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Saturday 10th March 2012 ko 10.30

Mid Wales League Division One

UNIVERSITY OF WALES ABERYSTWYTH 0 G Thomas sent off 44 (dangerous play)

BOW STREET 1 (D Evans 86)

Att 236

Entry & Programme-Hop Ticket

Badge £3

It was a early start for everyone to get this one done. Those in the hop hotel, were treated to a gargantuan buffet breakfast, which the hotel could not have made money on, but I suspect with an exclusively male clientele I reckon that breakfast will be remembered more for the two Slovakian waitresses!

It was a short trip across to Vicarage Fields, home of the local University side UWA. The reason this ground couldn’t be visited on the August hop is because being a University, they aren’t there in August. In fact the League has to schedule their fixtures so that they start and finish their campaign in a smaller than usual window of opportunity! One or two hoppers got lost as the League website has the wrong postcode for the ground, and we were endebted to hopper Chris Powell for supplying the correct code a few days before the event.

The coastal town of Aberystwyth, is a link between North and South Wales. Its isolated, in comparative terms, with the nearest large settlement being Swansea, 70 miles away and in driving time 2 hours. Other than the university, the other academic institution is the National Library of Wales, one of only 5 deposit libraries in the UK. The impressive building can be seen high above Vicarage Field.

There’s plenty of interest at the ground, and some of the older hoppers noticed that the pitch has been rotated through 90 degrees, with the steps of an old stand, long since demolished, now isolated a remnant of the past. The stand’s replacement is a movable metal terrace, a rather poor relation of its predecessor, but ideal for the crowds UWA normally get. The students were there en masse, working against the quip that students cannot get up in the morning. Everything worked efficiently, although they brought in a burger van for the catering. That will have cost them revenue, although with no catering facilties at the ground, doing food and drink themselves would have been difficult. Not impossible though, a some clubs have done very well on that front in less than ideal circumstances. The opposition, Bow Street were a case in point.

The best complement I can pay the club is that all I had to do is count the crowd. Unfortunately the game was not worthy of the efforts made to stage it. The first half was notable for the horrendous challenge by Gareth Thomas for which he was correctly sent off. The second half continued in the same turgid vein, and just when everyone had written the game off as a ni nil bore draw up popped Dean Evans to win the game for Bow Street! Sighs of relief emanated from the bumper crowd, and we soon moved on to our next game.

My thanks for Chris Bedford and Craig Dabbs for the use of their photos

Eisteddfod

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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Friday 9th March 2012 ko 7.30pm

Ceredigion League Division One

LAMPETER TOWN 2 (Rivers 39 Coombes 90)

LLANYBYDDER 2 (McEnery 13 D Thomas 84)

Att 197

Entry & Programme by hop ticket

Badge £3

Cawl (Lamb stew) £3

For those of you who don’t know me, I should explain my involvement for the next 4 games. I’m Chris Berezai’s deputy at GroundhopUK and we’ve organised hops over England and Wales for many years. I also assist Kim Hedwall who organises the Swedish groundhop in June each year. The idea is to “Turbo-charge” groundhopping by staggering kick-offs so multiple games can be seen in a day. To attract the fans the clubs produce a programme, and lay on catering. In the case of the clubs on this hop, it turned a normal attendance of 20 , into 200 or so, producing a good payday for the clubs.

This hop was in fact a tidying up exercise to get visits to Aberaeron and UWA done. Both are Mid-Wales League sides, and we’ve done hops in that league on August Bank Holiday for the last 3 years, with another, the last this coming August. Trouble is neither of those two sides are able to play at that time, so an extra hop was needed. More pressingly Aberaeron will vacate their ground at the end of the season.

With 2 sides to visit, the day needed padding out. The original idea was to finish at Llanrhaedr, but when the visitors refused to a later kickoff we had real problems. We were fortunate that Dai Davies at the Ceredigion League (a feeder to the Mid-Wales League), grabbed at the idea, and after much to-ing and fro-ing, games were resheduled to give us a Friday night under lights at Lampeter and a late afternoon game at New Quay the next day. Accomodation was booked, Keith Regan at Castell Coaches (a legend and he knows it!) sorted us out a coach, and his expert driving services booked.

Friday turned out to be a very long day, albeit very rewarding. Fellow hoppers Craig and Lee met me in Oxford at 8am, and our first job was to head to Coleshill United for a ground inspection for September’s North Berkshire League hop (You’ll love the place!). Then it was over the Severn Bridge to meet Chris and his party at one of our old stamping grounds, Trefforest. Whilst the others enjoyed South Wales’ best real ale pub The Otley Arms, Chris and I drove to the western end of the the M4, Pont Abraham to meet journalist Chris Harte, who very kindly had collected the programmes for all 4 games. From there it was back along the M4 to another hopper Richard, who let us use his front room to put together 95 programme packs for those with prebooked tickets. From there it was back to Trefforest to pick up the others. From there just a short drive along the A470 to Caerphilly to Castell Coaches.

It’s always a pleasure to work with Keith and Castell, and he was in his usual ebullient form as he bypassed Friday afternoon traffic as we picked up 35 hoppers from Cardiff station, and headed north, via Merthyr Tydfil, to the west Wales town of Lampeter in double-quick time.

Make no mistake, you are in Welsh Wales here. On an extreme level, the Free Wales Army was founded here in 1963, by  William Julian Cayo-Evan. A paramilitary Welsh Nationalist organisation, it fizzled out in the 1970’s. On a far less extreme level, the town is a centre for the Welsh language and culture, and is the UK’s smallest university town, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David adding around 1,000 on to the normal population of around 3,000. On a personal level, I very nearly went to university here, before choosing the brighter lights of London.

If things had worked out differently I may have visited Maes Y Felin over 20 years earlier, its very much the junior partner of the rugby union club running parallel to it. The rugby pitch is railed off, and there’s a large club house behind one goal. The football club makes do with a changing room block, and a rope for the pitch. The floodlights were an unusual sight for this league but gave us our Friday night game.

An under 18 game was in progress on the rugby ground and I was pleased to see our game gettiung a larger attendance. The rugby crowd looked a little nonplussed a the high attendance the football was getting!

The club made the most of their opportunity with a gazebo being erected, and a barbeque on an old circular saw fired up. A pot of Welsh Cawl (lamb stew) provided sustainance for Keith and I, followed by some Barra Brith (malted loaf). Programme packs were distributed and we were royally entertained as Lampeter entertained Llanybydder hailing from a mere 12 miles away.

Oliver McEnery’s free kick was a spectacular opening to the game, but Mark Rivers’ reponse was a fitting reposte. The two sides slugged it out in a highly entertaining, end to end match, with Daniel Thomas thinking he’d won it for Llanybydder only for Josh Coombes to fire home for a deserved equaliser deep into injury time.

It was a marvelous start to this mini-hop and it was a happy coach party that arrived the Hotel Gwesty Marine in Aberystwyth around an hour later. With around 40 hoppers staying a poster in the hotel lift amused me. It read,  ” If the hotel bar is quiet we will be closing at 10.30pm.” They clearly didn’t know who they were dealing with, as we were still chatting and drinking at midnight! When you see some people so infrequently, you have to use every opportunity to catch up!

Many thanks for Craig Dabbs for the use of his photos