Tag Archives: League

The Playoff for the Playoff

15 Sunday Apr 2012

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Saturday 14th April 2012 ko 3.00pm

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0

GILLINGHAM 0

Att 7,322 (641 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (inc Ox Mail)

At the end of my last Oxford United match report, I pondered whether U’s keeper Ryan Clarke would have got to the lob that gave Torquay a point on Monday, if he hadn’t been injured. Wayne Brown’s first league appearance of the season tells me that he probably would. Such is football.

This game meant a lot to both sides, United to stay in the play-off zone as they were equal on points with Crewe who were away at relegation haunted Macclesfield. For Gillingham a win was necessary to maintain a realistic hope of sneaking into the 7th spot held by United.

Unsurprisingly for United, Harry Worley made way for Michael Duberry returning from suspension, and equally logically Scott Rendell replaced James Constable in the starting line-up. The enigma that is Dean Morgan kept his place, on the left side of attack in a 4-4-3 formation.

And virtually every OUFC attack in that first half came from through balls behind Gills left back Andy Frampton, clearly deemed slow enough for Cristano Montano to beat for pace. The trouble was OUFC’s Achilles heel was also very much on show, inability to put the ball away.  There were no lack of chances at either end as Liam Davis’ fine flying block prevented Danny Kedwell taking the lead for the visitors, while Gills keeper Paulo Gazzaniga’s spectacular save kept out Asa Hall’s volley. The rebound fell kindly to Morgan, but Connor Essam’s block was the equal of Davis’ before.

There was a exchange of bookings for Oxford’s Jake Wright and Kedwell as things got a little feisty, but at half time the score reflected the fact that neither side could get the upper hand.

Nothing tactical changed form the start of the second half. Again Hall was unlucky not to be on the score sheet, as his goal bound volley was somehow headed off the line by Matt Fish. Pace was replaced by pace as Montano was switched for Oli Johnson, and one target man for another with Rendell being replaced by James Constable. It was Constable’s cross for Johnson that saw the latter’s shot again headed off the line by Essam.

The final chance saw Johnson go down in the box under a stiff challenge. Was it a penalty? I’ve seen plenty like that given, but for me he went down a little too theatrically, which may be why linesman Robert Ellis did not flag, and Johnson was booked for diving.

A game that United on another day would have one with Asa Hall getting a brace, but with Crewe only getting a point too, is as you were Cedric. Next Saturday its Oxford’s turn to visit a relegation threatened side, Plymouth Argyle.

Jurassic Park

02 Monday Apr 2012

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Saturday 31st March 2012 ko 2.30pm

Perry Street & District League Premier Division

LYME REGIS AFC 2 (Simier 52 Gosling 90)

ILMINSTER TOWN RESERVES 1 (Gilman 41)

Att 44 (h/c)

Entry by donation

No programme

125 years of LRFC brochure £2

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

It was a full 18 months since I’d last visited the Dorset town of Lyme Regis, and with me finally getting round to visiting friends Mike and Christine, in footballing terms the number one priority was a visit to the Davey Fort.

Lyme Regis is known primarily for one thing, palaeontology as the coast, a World Heritage site, stretches over a distance of 153 kilometres from Exmouth, in the west, to Old Harry Rocks in the east.The coastal exposures along the coastline provide a continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations spanning approximately 185 million years of the Earth’s history. The localities along the Jurassic Coast include a large range of important fossil zones. The Blue Lias rock is host to a multitude of remains from the early Jurassic period.  Many of the remains are well preserved, with complete specimens of several important species. Many of the earliest discoveries of dinosaur and other prehistoric reptile remains were made in this area  notably those discovered by Mary Anning (1799–1847).

The Davey Fort sits on the hill as you enter the town from the north. There’s a clubhouse with an overhang behind the near goal, and a rail on one side. There simply isn’t room for much else as the ground is on a ledge cut out of the hill, and despite the obvious attempts to widen it, the pitch is too narrow to allow the club to progress upwards into the Dorset Premier League.

And that’s the tragedy of the piece. Here is a wonderful, charming club, who’ve won the league at a canter, and are clearly a big fish in a small pond, but the biggest problem lies in finding a large enough piece of flat land, in a hilly town that’s fashionably expensive! I chatted to club stalwart Graham “Percy” Vere (529 goals in 20 years), who told me that the club had found a suitable site further north, only to be turned down by the local authorities, as ONE PERSON had complained that he might have been able to have seen a floodlight! And people wonder why this country has an obesity problem!

With Lyme having the title all wrapped up, this game had the incentive of the club maintaining its 100% home record for the season. They made a confident start but the visitors, one of whose subsitutes had no idea in which league his first eleven play(Somerset County League), soon found their feet. Ilminster surprised everyone, including themselves, by scoring just before half time, when a beautifully flighted free kick from the left was turned in by Louis Gilman.

Regis didn’t seem unduly worried and soon after the restart a perfectly flighted cross from the right was expertly headed home by subsitute Julian Simien. Its was one way traffic by now and only a series of baffling off-sides given by the Ilminster club linesman kept the champions out. It was, of course only a matter of time, and in the final minute a perfect cross-cum-shot from the right by Joel Gosling nestled in the corner of the net. When you’re this good, you need no other opportunity.

A great achievement, but tinged with the regret that through no fault of their own, they’ll be having no other challenge next season but to try to repeat the feat.

When the sun declared war on the butter, and the butter ran

12 Monday Mar 2012

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Saturday 10th March 2012 ko 4.15 pm

Ceredigion League Division One

NEW QUAY 1 (Harvey 41) Thompson sent off 88 (dangerous play)

MAESGLAS 2 (Howell 38 R Evans 88) Morgan sent off 90 (violent conduct)

Att 276

Entry & Programme-Hop Ticket

Badge £3

3 bottles of Pen-Lon beer at £3 each

Curry and Chips £3

Not having to worry PRICELESS!!!!

The last game saw us head south once again to the pretty fishing village of New Quay (not to be confused with the Cornish town of Newquay!) Once again, in footballing terms this was another step down in status, and once again it felt like a step up! Continue reading →

Rest in Peace

05 Monday Mar 2012

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I’ve just heard the news at that Broadway United of the Cheltenham League have folded. Now while this isn’t exactly massive news in the world of football, it’s a real shame as the ground is a cracker, and I really enjoyed my visit there last season. So, here’s my report from that time, which I have updated slightly to the format I use now here. The original title was “Loz! Your thong is showing!”

Sunday May 22nd 2011 ko 4.00pm

Evesham Hospital & Charity Sunday Minor Cup Final

BREDON FC 3 (Drew 11 Carroll 45 Oughtred 90)

AC OLYMPIA 0

Att 97 (h/c)

Entry & Programme £2

Played at The Milestone Ground, Broadway (Broadway FC)

The Worcestershire town of Broadway is right in the centre of the Cotswolds and it would be hard to find a prettier location, nestled as you are in the hills. The most famous feature is the Broadway Tower. It was built on an ancient beacon site and has a colourful history. It was home to the renowned printing press of Sir Thomas Phillips, a country retreat for Pre-Raphaelite artists, notably the artist, designer, writer, craftsman and socialist William Morris, a location for the studies of the distinguished archeologist Sir Arthur Evans, and less interestingly as a farmhouse!  Today the Tower houses exhibitions connected with its past and the surrounding area. On a clear day you can see 13 counties from the top!

So, picture the scene. A warm Sunday evening, and I’m sat on a grass bank watching two Evesham and District Sunday League teams slug it out for a minor piece of silverwhere, when a WAG yells out “Loz! Your thong is showing!”

Not many people answer to “Loz,” so I checked the back of my trousers, no they were in place, and come to think of it that would not be my choice of underwear! but then I glanced away from the action, to my left. Loz, it transpired was Laura, the girlfriend of one of the Bishops Cleeve based Olympia players, and she’d stood up to throw the ball back in. And yes her red thong was showing, and yes she wore it well, to quote Rod Stewart. Well worth the £2 entry!

Other than Laura’s underwear there was plenty on display. Broadway is a pretty village just over the border into Worcesterhire from Gloucestershire and the ground reflects that. There’s a fair sized clubhouse but for the hopper, there’s a wooden stand made out of larchlap. Its raised too, on a grass bank, no seats just covered standing. I’ve not seen anything like it. Which rather belies the ground’s original use as a rubbish dump. Once upon a time the pitch was flat, like a bowling green, but then the rubbish rotted, and it has to be noted that there were obvious undulations. It didn’t help the players, who were of a low standard, and with a long season behind them.

The game pitted Bredon in Division 1 against Division 3 Olympia, and with all due respect to Laura and her mates, whose support was excellent, they didn’t look like winning from the moment goalkeeper Alcock dropped the ball right in front of forward Mark Drew.

Just one of those warm evenings when you can relax and watch a Broadway show when you don’t know the ending. Lovely.

Long Time Love Affair

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

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Tuesday 14th February 2012 ko 7.45pm

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Johnson 51 Constable 80)

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 1 (Arber 72)

Att 5,653 (119 away)

Entry S/T

Programme (inc Oxford Mail) £3

It seemed like a long time since I watched an Oxford United game, and for a change it was not due to me gallivanting around! With the Barnet game postponed a week last Saturday with me conveniently in the Netherlands, and last Saturday’s game at Accrington frozen off, OUFC’s last home game was on 21st January, and the last game of any description just 8 days later.

Regular fans know OUFC find it difficult to break down the teams at the bottom of the League, and with Dagenham 3rd from bottom and with wily old fox John Still in charge it was always going to be a game that would be one for the result, rather than one to enjoy as a spectacle. The visitors simply placed 2 banks of 4 in front of the goal and aimed to soak up the pressure.

The first half demonstrated the point. For the U’s Asa Hall had one shot, Billy Bingham had another for D&G, and one corner was won, for the visitors. Yes, United were forced, due to a mixture of injury and suspension to field a side with 2 debutants, Scott Rendell, and Mark Wilson, but the team was carrying too many  passengers.

The second half saw a switch from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, with another debutant, Lee Holmes replacing Hall. The performance improved, but not by much, but at least the U’s were exploiting the flanks through Holmes on the right, and Liam Davis on the left. It was through the latter that Oxford took the lead. Davis took the ball on the left flank, and his curling cross was met by Oli Johnson’s late run. His header beat D&G keeper Chris Lewington at his right post.

That meant the visitors had to come out and attack, but even then they lacked any real cutting edge, although both Andy Whing and Jake Wright provided important blocks. The equaliser, when it came was a defensive error as a cross from the right was allowed to travel to the back of the box and there was captain Mark Arber to head home, across U’s keeper Ryan Clarke.

For D&G substitute Adam Cunnington’s shot grazed the post, but United won the game with a move started by yet another debutant, Mehdi Kerrouche. His erudite pass found Johnson. His turn and pass found James Constable, who slammed the ball into the bottom right corner with positive glee.

Romantic? No chance. Entertaining? Barely. Important? Definately.

That’ll do!

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

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Tuesday 31st January 2011 ko 7.45pm

Combined Counties League Premier Division

COVE 1 (Harewood 63)

SOUTH PARK 7 (Lavery 2 9 13 64 G Smith 41 C Smith 74 84)

Att 25 (h/c)

Entry £6

Programme 50p

Oak Farm, at the end of Squirrel Lane, in Farnborough owed me a game. Or rather I owed the Farnborough district of Cove a game! Let me explain. Around 14 years, and 1000 grounds ago, I was learning my hopping trade. I spotted in the “Non League Paper” that Cove were at home on Spring Bank Holiday. I arrived at 2pm, about an hour before what I thought was kick off. What I didn’t know then was that on Bank Holidays CCL fixtures are usually at 11am, so all I saw was the start of the post-match drinks! Entirely my fault, and I’ve made use of this quirk of the fixtures a few times since.

It was a chilly night, but I tucked into a mug of tea and a delicious burger (a shame no onions) , and with 3 other hoppers enjoyed a game that summed up much of this friendly little club’s recent history.

From being relegated by choice from the Isthmian League in 1996, to finishing rock bottom of the Combined Counties League in 1997/8 and 98/99, and the Premier Division in 03/04, to having arsonists torch the main stand in 2002, life has not been kind to them. The stand was replaced by a modular affair which does little else but maintain necessary gradings, but on this occasion the defence looked in most need of rebuilding.

Put simply, defending a high line and being incapable of spring the offside trap properly will inevitably lead to the concession of goals, and plenty of them. Time after time the Cove defence stepped up and each time a South Park forward found himself clean through. Keiran Lavery collected a quite superb 13 minute hat trick, and goals continued to arrive at regular invervals. It wasn’t that Cove were wretched, but every mistake was being punished. A shred of salvation arrived with Andrew Harewood’s fine shot, but a minute later there was Lavery at the other end to resume normal service. Substitute Chris Smith scored and missed two, as Cove’s defence seemed to lose what little of the plot they’d had had in the first place.

On this occasion the final whistle served two purposes, one to put Cove out of their misery and for those hardly souls spectating to trudge off in search of some warmth, observing that the puddles in the car park, were now ice.

If Cornered Will Fight

21 Saturday Jan 2012

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Saturday 21st January 2011 ko 10.30am

Oxfordshire FA U14 Girls County Cup Quarter Final

TOWER HILL VIXENS 0

CARTERTON FC 2 (42 54)

Att 21 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Refreshments Available

Since I let it be known that I would be attending this game, I’d had a few calls commenting that it shouldn’t count towards my records. I pondered that one, and came to the conclusion that its a game of football, so it counts. But why was I there at all?  That was down to Ali Haining, my boss many years ago, and manager of the Tower Hill side. We hadn’t had a chat since seeing each other at a funeral in 2004.  So there you go, these days I’m available for weddings, bar mitzvahs and U14 football matches!

The West Witney Sports Ground is to be found by the B4027 Burford Road, if you’ve ever visited Witney Town’s Downs Road Ground, chances are that you’ve passed here.

On a horrible wet cold, and windy morning the place was packed. I had to park on the grass verge outside, as a multipicity of games were taking place on the ground, on various sizes of pitches. I recognised the referee from my 10-10 at Islip a few months ago. https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/the-i-was-there-game/

Tower Hill have no Saturday male team, that’s the job of West Witney of the Witney and District League. They have a reserve team, but every other team falls under the Tower Hill banner. I was reminded of my visit to SanFrecce Hiroshima back in the summer. Not for the stadium, or the conditions, but for the field outside where hundreds of children were learning about the game by playing and having fun.  Any snobbery I could have felt disappeared with that thought. https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/the-big-day-at-the-big-arch/

The game saw the Vixens pitted against their counterparts from Hellenic League Carterton FC. I’d looked up “Vixen” for some inspiration before setting out. Obviously its a female fox, but I was rather taken with the comment, “Will fight if cornered.” It turned out to be  positive metaphor for the game, as the two sides worked extremely hard to both master the conditions and the opposition.

When watching the womens’ game you have to accept that the pace is slower, but once I got used to that, the game ebbed and flowed nicely. I thought an error would settle the contest, and as usual I was wrong. A corner was floated in and a forward was able to bundle the ball in. Soon after, a through ball found a Carterton forward; her shot cannoned off the defender’s foot to wrong foot the keeper for 2-0.

A little harsh on the hosts I thought, although Carterton had enjoyed marginally more possession. For all of that this was football in its purest form in some respects, played for the enjoyment only.

All change at Crewe

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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Saturday 14th January 2012 ko 3.00pm

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0

CREWE ALEXANDRA 1 (Pearson 89)

Att 7, 052 (313 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 including Oxford Mail

I remember the first time I watched Crewe. Oxford had just been relegated into what’s now called League 1 and we were playing them that Saturday. I sniffed that this should be an easy win, and was rapidly educated about the Alex manager Dario Gradi and all that he’d achieved on absolutely no budget. Oxford did win that day but the beautiful passing game Crewe played marked my card.

Gradi did get Crewe to the second tier, until a mixture of the Bosman ruling and budgetary restrictions saw the Alex return to the bottom divsion. Dario’s now retired after a 24 year stint as manager, and is now involved at the club’s academy. Its worth noting that Crewe are the only club to participate in the FA Premier Youth League, whose adults have never played in the Premier League.

With Gradi upstairs, its fallen to former Oxford United player, and Nantwich Town manager Steve Davis, to revive the Alex’s fortunes. Judging by the start Oxford made, Davis looked to have his work cut out. Oxford, as befits a team 6 games unbeaten, looked sharp, and James Constable had a goal disallowed for a push in the build-up. Soon after Constable’s goal bound shot was deflected over the bar and at that point you felt that if Oxford had have scored, they’d have won the game at a canter.

The fact they didn’t gave Crewe heart, and as the game progressed, a change of formation allowed them to stifle play, and gradually Oxford’s passing got longer as the space available decreased. It certainly wasn’t reminiscent of the Gradi years, but for the 313 away fans it worked a treat. A Crewe corner was headed wide by Adam Dugdale when he really should have hit the target, but Pittman’s front play for Oxford was still causing the away defence problems, full of feints and mis-moves.

The second half was notably more dull as Crewe were more than happy to settle for a point. But with Oxford frustrated the visitors looked more and more confident. Byron Moore was put through following a clever flick and only a sliding challenge from Michael Duberry prevented a shot on goal. Nick Powell then saw his 25 yard shot just go over the Oxford bar.

From a point early on where Oxford looked like easy winners, the 89th minute saw Crewe take the win. A series of one-twos on the left eventually found Powell. His cross found late subsitute Gregg Pearson, and the on-loan Burton forward touched home.

Peter Leven had a late free kick to gain some sort of salvation for Oxford, but his shot, like his forwards, hit a wall….. For Crewe a welcome away win, but I’ve never seen a Crewe side pass so badly. Maybe with Dario’s retirement, the style will change, but I hope the production line of talent never will.

Test Match

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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Friday 13th January 2012 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Division One

TEAM SOLENT 3 (Kinge 20 Churms 30 Edwards 74) Edwards missed penalty 74

PETERSFIELD TOWN 1 (Coker 70)

Att 148

Entry & Programme £4

Tea 50p

Pot Noodle £1.50

Test Park, is the Sports Ground of Southampton Solent University, and is to be found on Lower Brownhill Lane, just off Junction 1 of the M271. It’s a modern set-up with some real quirks. The car park is small and the lane narrow, so its well worth arriving early to get a parking spot. There doesn’t appear to be good public transport links either. The team are attached to the University, and seem to attract players doing courses after being released by other football clubs.

The facilities have the feel of a leisure centre, rather than a Step 6 football team. You buy your match ticket at reception, and there’s a large lounge area. Its got ESPN tv, but the bar facilities haven’t been installed yet, so there’s a hot water urn, and sweets for sale. It does the job for now. The ground reflects the fact that its Team Solent’s first season in the Wessex League. The rails and floodlights are in place, as is the turnstile block, but the “Meccano” stand won’t arrive for another few weeks. The ground will have been massively improved, fulfil all ground grading issues, but be almost totally lacking in character. That, I suppose will come with age.

Another improvement with time will be how the club copes with 1. a crowd, and 2. the needs of groundhoppers. The procedure of selling tickets at reception at least meant the queue at the turnstile moved slightly quicker, but the real issue was that each ticket issued was having “Adult” and a message allowing free entry to their next home game written on the back of it. It may work when the attendance is 40 or so, on this occasion it produced a massive queue that meant many missed kick-off. I ended up getting the teamsheets photocopied, and the manager admitted that a lot of hoppers had asked for the lineups, and he’d told them to look in the programme. I’ve long since known that clubs don’t understand hoppers, and vice-versa! Mind you the club took heed of the number of phone-calls they’d received, and printed 150 programmes; I would imagine that’s around 6 times more than the normal print run!

One area thought the club has got right though is the playing side. On a bitterly cold evening they had far too much for their visitors. They raced into a two goal lead, before being pegged back before half time. They continued to dominate in the second period, and the winner came when Declan Edwards’ penalty was well saved by John Burnett but the rebound fell kindly to Edwards and he was able to tap home.

Correctly Team Solent are planing for Wessex Premier football. Whilst the hopper-fest tested them closely, they’ll have learned from the experience and I expect they’ll be far better able to cope next time they get a big crowd.

Cantilevered Containers

31 Saturday Dec 2011

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Saturday 31st December 2011 ko 12.00pm

Hellenic League Division One West

NEW COLLEGE SWINDON 0

TYTHERINGTON ROCKS 3 (Chapman 25 Perry 42 Criddle 79)

Att 78

Entry & Programme £3

Tea 60p

Steak Pie £1.50

It has to be said that New College are a difficult side to get a grip on as to what they’re about. Formed in 1994 as a side playing friendlies on Wednesday afternoons (a day typical for student football), they graduated to academy status two years later with a tie up with Swindon Town. That lasted 2 years before the club linked up with Forest Green Rovers, but these days there appears to be no official link-up, but coaching is directed by Paul Bodin, youth team manager at the County Ground. There were a few Swindon Town bench coats in evidence. Continue reading →