Tag Archives: Town

Badges Posters Stickers & T-Shirts

08 Sunday Apr 2012

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Friday 7th April 2012 ko 10.45am

Northern Counties East League Division One

ECCLESHILL 2 (Edwards 26p Smith 90og)

DINNINGTON TOWN 3 (Trench 11 72 Mirfin 53)

Att 253

Entry & Programme Hop Ticket

Badge £3

Raffle £1

After watching the forty or so hoppers take full advantage for a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we set off north for the first of four games today.

It had many years since I’d last visited Bradford. The cliches about Mosques and Temples do hold to some extent, but the ward of Eccleshill is more suburb than sikh, and Plumpton Park a green oasis. There’s tradition, the sadly disused urinals that a tall person could have used and continued to watch the game, and the stand whose seat numbers aren’t sequential. I watched our coach load languidly walk round and enjoy the facilities.

If the NCEL wanted a blueprint on how to host a hop game, this was it. From the moment I walked in, the club showed wonderful hospitality, even down to a gentleman cleaning down the seats in the stand. I was asked “Are we doing all right” by chairman Adrian, “Mate, I replied it really couldn’t be better.” Bacon Rolls and sausages were bought at a quite incredible rate, and Chris and I had to do nothing more than enjoy a cup of tea and chat with the club and League officials who again had turned out in force.

There was a presentation to Andy Sykes of Dinnington by League Chairman David Morrall, to mark the players 400th appearance, before the real action started.

Dinnington started brightly, and opened the scoring in spectacular fashion with Michael Trench’s superb free kick going in with the help of the post. Marcus Edwards replied for Eccleshill from the penalty spot after Sykes was adjudged to have handled.

After the break a defence splitting ball put Dinnington’s Simon Mirfin clean through, and he made no mistake slotting past home keeper Dominic Smith. Finishing was the difference between the two sides, as Eccleshill were to miss two gilt-edged chances. Andy Howland’s miss was bad, but Marcus Edwards effort – a yard out with the keeper behind him was incredible. No-one, not even him will understand how it was physically possible to get the ball over the ball from there! The player could do little else in the aftermath than weakly smile.

United were made to pay as Liam Cartledge’s erudite lay-off found Trench, and he blasted home from 25 yards. A little rough on the friendly hosts, who found scant solace in Matt Smith’s late own goal. By that time the clubs were enjoying the phenomenon of “Groundhoppers itch” where hoppers get itchy feet and head for the exits with a few minutes left!

I thanked the club for their efforts and headed for the coach. Another 3 to do, you see!

The Right Way

12 Saturday Nov 2011

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Saturday 12th October 2011 ko 10.30am

Midland Combination U21 League East/North Division

WOODBOURNE SPORTS 4 (Shemwell 20 Thomas 51 Mullings 56 Carter 87)

STAPENHILL 2 (Weir 39 Crawshaw 58)

Att 10 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Programme-NO

Tea-in-a-mug 50p

The Burrows is not to be confused with Earlswood Town’s ground, that lies a good 2 miles away. This is very much a community facility, with the clubhouse being a community centre, complete with skittles alley. Just head down Rumbush Lane and its easy to find.

And what a friendly club Woodbourne is! Genuinely pleased to see two visitors they really couldn’t do too much to help me, with the lineups and information on the club. The club used to Continue reading →

Solace

05 Saturday Nov 2011

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Saturday 5th November 2011 ko 1.30pm

United Counties League Cup 1st Round

BUCKINGHAM TOWN 0

PETERBOROUGH NORTHERN STAR 3 (Staffieri 31 61 Medwynter 57)

Att 51 (h/c)

Entry & Programme £4

Tea 60p

In 1997 Buckingham Town were playing Southern League football at their home, Ford Meadow, in the heart of the pretty Buckinghamshire Town. I saw them a few years later, playing in the UCL Premier, and loved their old stand with railway sleepers as a terrace to bolt the seats to. When a subsituted player used the showers the spectators kept warm through the steam creeping through the gaps in the sleepers!

All of that has gone, Town were evicted during the summer by landlords hell-bent on building houses on land that routinely floods, and the club are now in UCL Division 1,  based at Continue reading →

The Netting

02 Wednesday Nov 2011

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Tuesday 1st November 2011 ko 7.45pm

Wessex League Premier Division

ALRESFORD TOWN 3 (Saleh 11 32 Llewellyn 40)

FAREHAM TOWN 2 (Tattersall 32 Doswell 81)

Att 59 (h/c)

Entry £5

Programme £1

Tea £1

Cheese & Onion Roll £1.50

Now those of you know I need absolutely no excuse to go a watch a game, but for this one I had no lack of reasons. For one, it involved Fareham which means the presence of Mr Fareham himself, the one and only Splodge! Also present was Callum Smith who very quietly is building up a seriously impressive ground count. His love life is always worth a listen to also! Continue reading →

Salem’s Crucible

22 Saturday Oct 2011

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Saturday 22nd October 2011 ko 3.00pm

FA Vase 1st Round

COWES SPORTS 3 (Insley 52 57 Williams 87)

GILLINGHAM TOWN 0 Ben Salem sent off 24 (2nd booking-both dissent)

Att c120

Entry £5

Programme £1

Badge £3

Tea-in-a-mug 65p

Coffee-in-a-mug 70p

The idea for this one was Chris Berezai’s. He discovered that Red Funnel do a group off-peak discount on the Sea Cat from Southampton to Cowes. The “group” bit is as little as two, so a return ticket was just a shade over £15.00 for the both of us! What a bargain!

From the harbour it was a 10 minute walk up the hill to Reynolds Close, and Westwood Park. And what a ground it is, with the modern clubhouse, and best of all that stand. Built in the twenties in a weekend, by shipyard workers, yes it does have a number of pillars, but is an icon for a really friendly club. You really do forget you’re watching a club 6 promotions from the football league, they are so well organised and appointed. From Mick the mic on the PA through to the ladies working the tea bar, this was friendly club, who seemed genuinely pleased to host neutrals from Long Eaton and Oxford. Mind you Mick did initially pronounce the visitors’ name with a soft “G.” Its an easy mistake to make, but this is the Gillingham from Dorset, not Kent (Oxford United were playing there by the way), and he was quickly put right. Cowes, like their visitors are in 7th position in a step 6 league, so the match had the potential to test the relative strengths of the Wessex and Western leagues. Continue reading →

Milestones

20 Thursday Oct 2011

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Wednesday 19th October 2011

Lincolnshire Senior Trophy 1st Round

BLACKSTONES 4 (Barker 9 45 Holmes 67 Nelson 90p)

BOSTON TOWN 4 (Davies 45 Beck 48 Bull 65p James 78)

No Extra time, Boston won 5-3 on penalties

Att 80

Entry & Programme £5

There were few options for a new ground on this day, and I really wanted one, so I could clock up ground number 1200. A minor milestone, but one I will note.

Blackstones play at Lincoln Road, in Stamford, and started life as the works side of the Mirrlees Blackstone Engineering firm based in the ancient town.

http://www.enginemuseum.org/mrindex.html

The firm is long since closed, and the club was forced to take out a long mortgage to buy the ground, and stop it being lost to housing. Today the ground is a pretty, and well appointed place to visit, but the lack of turnstiles would make it difficult, but not impossible for it to stage Northern Premier League football. Most impressive is the bar area. Apart from being large, and spotless, its the huge televisions that you notice. This is a club that’s worked out the way to pay down the mortgage is to place yourselves right in the heart of the community. You can imagine yourself going for a pint on a non-match day.

The advantage of seeing two step 5 clubs (United Counties Premier) in a County Cup fixture is that you can more or less guarantee that’ll they’ll take the fixture seriously, and these two certainly did! For a long time it looked like Stones’ tricky left winger Danny Barker would be the difference, scoring from a tight angle then lobbing the keeper from a full 40 yards! But Boston regrouped after half time and 3-3 would have been fair, but the referee Mr Amess decided to give Boston a dodgy penalty, then compounded the error by evening things up by giving Blackstones an even more dubious one!

The rules of the competition state no extra time, just penalties, and I was glad of that with a 2 hour drive home. The important penalty miss was by Matt Cox, and Billy King converted Boston’s 5th penalty to send them through. It was a shame it had to be settled this way but a replay I suspect would have pleased noone.

Hero and Villan

13 Thursday Oct 2011

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Wednesday 12th October 2011 ko 7.45pm

United Counties League Division One

HUNTINGDON TOWN 1 (Moyes 12)

WOOTTON BLUE CROSS 2 (Janes 17 34)

Att 65

Entry & Programme £5

Coffee 50p

A few days ago I watched Witney Town, a side becalmed at a location way out-of-town. Here’s club, again way out-of-town, but making it work for them. And for those who haven’t been yet and are planning a visit, don’t use the postcode, you’ll go horribly wrong! I did! Aim for the village of Kings Ripton, and Jubilee Park is just before you get there.

And what a well organised place it is. Spick and span, with a large clubhouse, its similar to Market Harborough’s Bowden’s Park. It’s all there. A tea bar, alcohol bar, cover, lights, and multiple pitches for community use. In fact my only quibble was the lack of a seated stand, with my hernia and general tiredness making such a thing desirable! I suspect, with the club at step 6 and having only been in situ since 2003, the comment would be all in good time!

I immediately took to the club, because, yes, they are friendly. It costs nothing to have friendly people having a joke behind the tea bar, and to help you out with the line ups. Put that with a local making their first visit, and there’s someone who’ll be back and will bring a friend.

So I walked (slowly) out to the pitch quietly rooting for the homesters. Interestingly former West Ham star Calum Davenport was turning out for the visitors, his career wrecked by injury, but it was Huntingdon who took the lead with Daniel Moyes’ free kick freakishly evading the keeper from a full 45 yards. A fluke? Oh yes, but they all count.

But just over 20 minutes later, it was Blue Cross who lead, Gary Janes taking advantage of first a defensive howler and secondly a glorious through ball. It was first half stoppage time when the first of the two major talking points occurred. Davenport pulled a shirt, in the box, was booked but Joe Furness’ penalty was well saved by Gerrard, diving to his left.

The second half could, and didn’t live up to the excitement of the first, but even with my newly found bias it was hard to deny Huntingdon at least a point. And in stoppage time, potential salvation occurred. Again referee Moore spotted an infringement in the box, again Furness stepped up to take the spot kick, again he aimed bottom right, and yes again Gerrard saved. Hero and Villian 18 yards apart.

Soon afterwards Blue Cross loudly celebrated an important away win. Home manager Ricky Marheineke walked off with his arm around a destraught Furness. You couldn’t help but feel not only for the player, but this warm friendly club.

To finish though, a question. Why is the club playing in the UCL? Nearby Godmanchester play in the Eastern Counties League, and Huntingdon’s under 18’s play in the Eastern Counties Youth League!

Elevation

13 Thursday Oct 2011

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Tuesday 11th October 2011 ko 7.45pm

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

HATFIELD TOWN 0

ROYSTON TOWN 6 (Lockett 20 Young 39 Feumi 43p Robins 67 Standen 81 90)

Att 87

Entry £6

Programme £1

Tea 50p  (in a University of Chester paper cup!)

Until last season Hatfield groundshared at Welwyn Garden City FC. Sharing somewhere other than your home town is seldom ideal, but Hatfield now at least have a home to call their own. The problem is that its still in Welwyn Garden City! Moreover the Gosling Sports Park, doesn’t just contain a 6 lane running track but a velodrome too, making the football spectator extremely distant from the pitch. That said the velodrome is perhaps the ground’s saving grace, as the banking does provide elevation, ameliorating some of the distance. Its helped further by a balcony the height of which I’ve never enountered anywhere other than Wembley Stadium. The panorama shot is from there and it does give a Subbuteo feel to wtching a game.

With 3 distinct viewing areas, the terrace, seating and balcony, the ground is certainly different, and I’ve heard descriptions of Stalinist, and East German, neither of which I’d necessarily disagree with. For me it simply felt municipal, nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn’t want to watch football somewhere like this all the time. I should add that the club has had to work hard to get the ground usable for football. Gates have to be locked at specific times, and a huge players tunnel built, which if it were in Kent would have the anti-polytunnel brigade up in arm!

Hatfield have signed a 7-year lease, but I got the impression that their tenure may well be a lot shorter than that. The bottom line is that they want to be in Hatfield, and they think they’ve found a suitable location. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but I’d get to Gosling Sports Park soon to avoid disappointment.

On the pitch there were 2 sides with radically different agenda. Hatfield are building for the future, in both senses of the word, while Royston simply wish to return to the Isthmian League. After watching one of the biggest away drubbings I’ve ever seen I’m not sure which club will achieve their ambitions. Yes, Hatfield’s defence was appalling, but they looked a young side, and an older, better remunerated team, ran riot. Are Hatfield relegation fodder? On this outing yes, but they’re not in a relegation spot, and are there better teams than Royston in the league? You suspect quite possibly.

Definately one to keep an eye on.

The Little Details

09 Sunday Oct 2011

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Saturday 8th October 2011 ko 3pm

Hellenic League Premier Division

WITNEY TOWN 0 Stott sent off 64 (pro foul)

READING TOWN 4 (John 30 38 75 Spence 88)

Att 117

Entry £5

Programme £1

Once upon a time Witney had a thriving football team. Based at Marriotts Close, in the centre of town, the social club made enough money to sustain Southern League football, even though attendances at the games were relatively low. But once the club relocated to their new stadium, in Downs Road, that link was broken. That’s because Downs road is closer to Minster Lovell than Witney itself, and who wants to go for a beer at a breeze block edifice by an industrial estate? The club folded, were restarted by the fans as Witney United, but that in turn folded at the end of the last season. Witney Town were quickly revived and controversially kept United’s league position and FA Cup place.

But it doesn’t solve the conundrum of football in Witney, namely that the facilities are excellent, but in precisely the wrong location. A wonderful friendly club, the free teamsheets, were most welcome, but the team was so obviously lacking.

There was a 10 minute delay due to problems with Reading Town’s kit. Last Monday they’d had a kit stolen leaving just two left. They’d picked one, in yellow only to discover upon arrival that Town still play in Witney United’s gold and black! They found red shorts and socks and borrowed Witney’s change shirts, a delightful shade of purple!

One look at the team sheet showed the depth of Witney’s on field problems. Reading Town featured former Torquay, Hartlepool and Cambridge United forward Marcus Richardson, and perhaps more intriguingly Ray Spence, formerly of Farnborough, Oxford City, and South Reading. That’s right, South Reading of the 2nd tier of the Reading League, Spence is to be polite, a controversial figure. No lack of talent, but with a quite appalling disciplinary record. I saw him play at Marlow United for South Reading and I would have booked him four times for dissent or unsporting conduct, and sent him off for throwing a punch. Somehow he stayed on the pitch…. On this occasion he was reasonably well-behaved, just a rake down a leg missed by the officials.

Perhaps he didn’t need to misbehave, as Reading won this game purely on the little details, if they got a chance, they converted it, mainly through Phillip John’s runs from the right which caught the home defence time after time. When Witney did get a chance, it was spurned, most notably by Bloomfield after 82 minutes. But when you’re struggling that’s what happens. That includes Jon Stott’s dismissal for hauling down a clean through Spence.

Maybe Reading will find themselves in the Southern league soon, but that’s level Witney should be at with these facilities, if only they can square the circle of such a poor location.

The All-Revisit Hop

09 Sunday Oct 2011

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Saturday 8th October 2011 ko 12pm

Hellenic League Division One West

CARTERTON FC 2 (MacDonagh 10 17)

LYDNEY TOWN 2 (Elliott 43 Liddington 47)

Att 102

Entry £4

Programme £1

Cappuccino 90p

Sausage & Chips £2

The purpose of this “mini-hop” is worth explaining. The Hellenic hop started life as a stand alone hop organised by the league itself. Later on the hop expanded and was attached to the Welsh hop when Chris Berezai became involved. With the Welsh hop now in Mid-Wales, the Hellenic has reverted to being stand alone. This day was set aside for those who had not visited the grounds on the original hops to catch up. That by the way included Chris himself! And that reader, is why I came to be doing 3 revisits for the first time, possibly ever!

Kilkenny Lane is one of my favourites in the league. It manages to combine good facilities with quirkiness. The bar is superb, little wonder League meetings are held here, but despite, the two stands, there is only one realistic place to watch the action, the bar’s balcony, thoughtful covered since my last visit. Jens from Germany was impressed; 5000+ grounds and he could drink, smoke and watch football simulaneously! Wunderbar! His travelling Margarete, was another welcome visitor, and her dislike for brown sauce was gently mocked as normal. Wonderful to see them again.

Carterton, were relegated last season, and have struggled to adjust to their new division. Lydney too have been in the top flight, and are struggling too. They would not have be happy to ship two goals in 10 minutes to goal keeping howlers, and then watch a stonewall penalty not be awarded by a referee bent on making as few decisions as possible. Creditably they fought their way back into the tie, and and their two goal blast was richly deserved.