Tag Archives: United Counties League

The Free Tick

01 Saturday Feb 2014

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Tuesday 28th January 2014 ko 20.00

Friendly

OAKHAM UNITED 1 (Eason)

YAXLEY 7 (Carter 10 77 87 Hook 34 72 Cooke 67 Whaley 86p)

Att 7

At Uppingham Community College 3G pitch, Uppingham, Rutland

Entry FREE

No Programme

There aren’t many advantages of this lousy weather, but a game on a ground not usually used is a bonus. Oakham booked the college pitch, watched as one opponent pulled out then found Yaxley as a late replacement. It offered a tick not usually available, although with Oakham’s ground waterlogged this pitch is set to be used for league games. The Peterborough & District League have none of the hang-ups over a good artificial surface that the Conference do. I am indebted to uber-hopper Brian Buck for alerting Lee West and I to this fixture. Continue reading →

UFO

16 Thursday Jan 2014

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Tuesday 14th January 2014 ko 19.45

Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup Quarter-Final

WISBECH TOWN 1 (White 45)

CAMBRIDGE REGIONAL COLLEGE 2 (Hogan 28 Hurst 87)

Att 101

Entry £5

Programme FREE

Sausage & Chips £1.50

Tea £1

It’s odd how everything changes at Peterborough. The lands flatten and for the most part the roads become single carriageway. You’re now in East Anglia, this is arable country, and a lot of it reclaimed land at that. Continue reading →

Circles

12 Sunday Jan 2014

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A week or two ago I was asked by the United Counties League Facebook page to write a guest article. It quite deliberately doesn’t mention the Peterborough & District League, who are also involved in August’s hop, after all it was for a purely UCL audience!

I’m a groundhopper, there I’ve said it, and the United Counties League and I go back to October 2003. I’d just moved to Banbury, and saw that Woodford United were at home to Stewarts & Lloyds. The ground was a devil to find, it helped when the lights were switched on, and I watched S & L triumph once their regular goalkeeper arrived and was substituted on! The people were friendly, and the barbeque tasted as good as it smelled!

I must have enjoyed myself, Continue reading →

Kes

19 Thursday Dec 2013

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Tuesday 17th December 2013 ko 19.45

United Counties League Premier Division

SLEAFORD TOWN 2 (Siddons 15 Tunstall 86) B Greenwood sent off 80 (2nd booking)

WISBECH TOWN 4 (Jones 64p Reed 65 80 83)

Att 106

Entry £5

Programme £1

6 days earlier, Wavendon-based Chris Garner and I were thawing out after the game at Waltham Forest and we talked about where to head next. Between us we’ve visited around 1,900 grounds, and fortunately there’s very little duplication, but when he suggested Sleaford I reflected for a moment.

Chris didn’t know, but with my GroundhopUK hat on Chris Berezai and I had been talking to the United Counties League and one of their feeder Leagues the Peterborough & District League, about a potential groundhop starting in August next year. The UCL committee, I knew were meeting on Monday evening to make a final decision so me being at a UCL fixture the next day was either going to look like perfect timing or somewhat awkward. Fortunately, the groundhop proposal was passed, I’ll post the details at the end of this, and I was able to have a chat with both club and league officials during the game. Continue reading →

Transformer

04 Friday Oct 2013

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Wednesday 2nd October 2013 ko 19.45

Hinchingbrooke Cup First Round

PETERBOROUGH SPORTS 2 (Brader 82 90)

BOURNE TOWN 1 (Robinson 30)

Att 85

Entry & Programme £3

It’s the lot of the groundhopper that you expand your circle of comfort time after time. Consider that idea for a moment, its that point on a journey when you can’t find your way home off the top of your head. When I was a child Dad would drive the family Mini to a resort somewhere in England or Wales, and initially it was a case of wondering whether at the end of the road we’d turn left for south or right for north.

As the years went by you learned more roads, the ring road around Oxford, the route to my Aunt and Uncle in Reading, and I saw a lot of the A34 south (I still do!). But as a groundhopper you gradually learn a taxi drivers knowledge of the motorways, and trunk roads of the country, but then, as you complete the football grounds of a particular area or league, that knowledge falls into abeyance.

It was the case to a large extent for Peterborough, up the A43, with the one junction stint along the M1 before heading past Northampton, Rushden and Raunds, before crossing under the A11. It was for a good reason, as Peterborough Sports are new to the United Counties League, and this was their first game under their new floodlights. However what I and the handful of other hoppers saw on arrival surprised each and every one of us.

The ground, in Lincoln Road used to be Continue reading →

Itinerant Football

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

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Wednesday 17th July 2013 ko 19.00

Pre-Season Friendly

BUCKINGHAM TOWN 3 (Schembre 11 Riley 66 Murrell 80)

GRENDON RANGERS 1 (Lewis 14)

Att 24

80 minute game

Played at Medbourne Pavilion, Pascal Road, Shenley, Milton Keynes

Entry FREE

Football Card £2

It’s fair to say I have a mixed relationship with Milton Keynes. I’m no fan of the New, or Expanded Town, and Milton Keynes is the epitome of the entire genre. The facilities in the town are first class, and there’s no denying that everything was planned logically. It’s that last point that rankles with me, I don’t like things to be too planned, sterile even. I approached MK this evening on the A421 and once again winced at the name of the first of the multiplicity of roundabouts. Its called the Bottledump Roundabout; could the authorities have dreamt up a less romantic name to introduce the visitor to their town?

The planners did make one gift though to the collector of football grounds, there are many well-appointed sports grounds, so many in fact that there are more grounds than there are adult football teams! Judging by the last couple of years I seem destined to visit one of them each pre-season! Medbourne gets used for the occasional Sunday morning fixture, but as far as anyone could tell the venue has never seen an adult Saturday side settle here.

Buckingham Town have led an itinerant existence since losing Ford Meadow in 2010. They’ve had a temporary base in Winslow which was less than ideal, http://wp.me/s1PehW-solace before taking on the former Bletchley Town ground, Manor Fields. It isn’t Buckingham nor is it close to it, but at least its a base, and one that can be improved too. Perhaps now they can improve on the 15th place (out of 18) in the United Counties League they achieved last season. For a club that’s won the lower division of the Southern League, UCL Premier football should be within their grasp. Whatever the club do manage in the future, they will have the UCL management to thank for helping the club massively in their time of need. In another league they could have folded.

Grendon from Grendon Underwood are approaching this season from the other perspective. They’ve moved from the North Bucks & District which is off-pyramid, into the second division of the Spartan South Midlands League. It’s a move to Step 7 football, nominally one notch lower than Buckingham, but at this level of the game there often isn’t much difference in quality.

And so it came to pass this evening. Given the heat wave, a decision was made to pay the fixture as two halves of 40 minutes each split in half with a short water break. That and regular rolling substitutions made, a little counter-intuitively for a better spectacle and fresh legs were always available. It was clear who the step 6 side was, Buckingham were just that little bit more crisp, and the 3-1 was a fair result in the end.

The Fish and the Barrel

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Tuesday 9th October 2012 ko 19.45

Southern League Central Division

RUGBY TOWN 2 (Koriya 12 Palmer 90)

WOODFORD UNITED 0

Att 145

Entry £8

Programme £2

Ever had one of those evenings when things conspire to trip you up? This was definitely one of those! The original idea was to head south to the Wessex League to watch Hayling, but that called off before I left work (Thanks Splodge for letting me know!), so I headed north to watch Saffron Dynamo, in the Leicestershire Senior League. That, it transpired got postponed because the Cosby-based side didn’t fancy playing Desford twice in 3 days, so I was faced with a choice, do a revisit or head for home.

A call from Graeme helped no end with my options, so I parked up in Butlin Road with a couple of minutes to spare. It was about a decade earlier that I’d first visited, when the club were mid-way though their transformation from Valley Sports, to VS Rugby, to Rugby United. Nowadays its Town following the merger with the United Counties League side, and Butlin Road remains a magnificent ground, a league ground in waiting, totally out of step with the club’s position, 4 promotions from the supposed promised land.

They were always likely to a take a step in the right direction this evening as Woodford are having a dreadful time of it. Led by former Birmingham and Yeovil forward Howard Forinton, and featuring former Leamington striker Josh Blake, you’d have expected a lot more than no points from 7 games. It became clear why though, as every first step was a backward one. It gave Rugby a head start every time, and on a different night there could have been a bucket-load of goals.

And for the life of me I don’t understand why there weren’t! The game was so one-sided I placed myself each half towards the end Rugby were attacking, as Woodford had almost no answers, to the obvious frustration of Forinton. But if the Woodford goal was a barrel of fish, for the most part the hundreds of bullets fired, missed. Fazel Koriya was there to finish off a neat through ball in the twelfth minute, but then a mixture of poor finishing, over-passing, and inspired goalkeeping from Jamie Brassington kept the game within reach of the beleaguered visitors.

Every time you thought “They’ve got to score with this,” Rugby found another way to miss, and on the odd occasion Woodford ventured forward, you wondered if they could steal the most unlikely of points. They didn’t, as with yours truly already moving towards the exit, an reverse pass from Seb Lake-Gaskin found subsitute Steve Palmer, and he did the simple thing, stroking home from just inside the box. If only his team-mates had done the same…..

 

 

Clouds Unfold

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

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Tuesday 10th July 2012 ko 7.00pm

Pre-season Friendly

THRAPSTON TOWN 3 (Middleton 22 Cummins 23 Gilsenan 50) Marshall sent off 79 (foul language)

WHITTLESEY BLUE STAR 1 (Hibbins 7) Morrell sent off 78 (violent conduct)

Att 12 (h/c)

Played at Titchmarsh Playing Field, Northants

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

With Thrapston’s ground unavailable due to cricket, this fixture was moved around a mile and a half to the pretty village of Titchmarsh. Its population is a mere 500 or so, and is the birthplace of the former Poet Laureate John Dryden (1631-1700). The village is dominated by the parish church of St Mary, which seems far too large for the size of the village. There’s nothing too unusual about that, England’s pleasant pastures supplied enough itinerant labour in the past to make a church like this thrive.

In ancient times those feet toiled the lands where the playing field now stands. There’s two pitches, one raised above the other, and both are used in the Rushden and District Sunday League. There’s a smart Pavillion too, built in 2008 and when the rain came, a few of the hoppers used its entrance for shelter during the second half. The agrarian feel still is there with the fields still in evidence on two sides of the pitch. In, one two horses rather disdainfully ignored the action.

The game saw United Counties Division One outfit Thrapston take on Blue Star, newly promoted to the top flight of the Peterborough and District League, one division below their hosts. Intriguingly the fixture was being refereed by Bruce Stevens, a qualified official, but also the husband of the home secretary. It didn’t matter to either side, even with what happened later. Yes there were multiple substitutions, Thrapston virtually changed teams at half time, but this was a good competitive fixture to watch upon the clouded hills.

The opening few minutes saw the mental fight conclusively won by the visitors. Paul Hibbins fired home after 7 minutes, but as the half wore on, the clouds unfolded and the rain fell, Thrapston gained the ascendancy. Jordan Middleton soon equalised from a free kick, and a defensive slip saw Luke Cummins fire home a minute later. When Jamie Gilsenan made it 3 it looked like an entertaining, if routine win against lower level opposition. What made it interesting was what happened with just over 10 minutes left.

It is, of course an unwritten rule of pre-season friendlies that no-one gets booked, or sent off, but in this instance Mr Stevens had no choice, the arrows of desire had taken over completely. Clearly, Blue Star’s Jamie Morrell was the victim of a rough challenge from Lewis Harman. Harman deserved his booking and possibly worse, but when a player (Morrell) kicks out at his tormentor, what option does the Ref have, whoever their spouse is? It got dafter a minute later as Scott Marshall’s backchat to Mr Stevens produced another dismissal, but if you will swear at an official, what do you expect?

It all seemed out of keeping with the resy of the game, and the beautiful surroundings. A satanic finish which produced a furrow to the countenance divine, in England’s green and pleasant lands.

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 →

Red Blue Cross

29 Thursday Dec 2011

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Monday 27th December 2011 ko 7.45pm

United Counties League Division One

POTTON UNITED 1 (Dunville 68p)

WOOTTON BLUE CROSS 1 (Simons 24)

Att 114

Entry £4

Programme £1

Badge £3

Tea and Coffee by donation

So, another 30 mile trip, this time via Stevenage and on to the A1(M) to Potton, a village 10 miles east of Bedford. This was to complete my triple for the day and the first thing I noticed was how the journey from Spartan League to United Counties League meant how much more rural everything felt. Continue reading →