Anglian Combination League

Division 1

Friday 30th November 2018

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.32

Stalham Town 1 Reepham Town 3 (Abandoned 59 minutes due to player injury). attendance 59

8’ 0-1

29’ 1-1

42’ 1-2

53’ 1-3

@ The Football Development Centre @ Flegg High School 

Somerton Road

Martham

NR29 4QD

No Admission or Programme.

This match was switched here due to a Stalham Town player winning a competition whereby his team got to play a home match at the new 3G Pitch at Flegg High School. Not much of a prize really, as it is just a standard caged pitch, although there is spectator access along half of one side. Unfortunately, due to a serious injury to a Stalham player, the match was abandoned just short of the hour mark. At least it only took the Referee eleven minutes from the time of the injury, until abandoning the game, rather than dragging things out unnecessarily.

It was disappointing for Reepham, because they were well worth the 1-3 lead that they had built up when the match was brought to a halt, which would have been only their second league win of the season, but this leaves them rooted to the bottom of the league table.

British Universities & Colleges Sport

South Eastern 1A

Wednesday 28th November 2018

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.08

East London University 8 Reading University 0,  attendance 20

2’ 1-0

18’ 2-0

36’ 3-0

58’ 4-0

73’ 5-0

86’ 6-0

90’ 7-0

90’ + 3, 8-0

@ Mabley Green 3G Pitch No.2

Mabley Green Park

Lee Conservancy Road

Hackney

London

E9 5HW

No Admission or Programme.

Here at Mabley Green Park there are two 3G Pitches. Running parallel with the road, is Pitch No.1, which has a couple of steps of terracing as well as a spectator rail along one side. Next to this, is Pitch 2, which is a newer addition to the complex, but there are no spectator facilities with this pitch, although as there is a 10 yards gap between the touch line and fence, viewing from inside the cage was no problem.

This looks like a real freak result, especially considering that league  leaders Reading were undefeated in their first six matches, winning five of them. However, in the end, they were lucky the score wasn’t double this, and even if they hadn’t missed a penalty, awarded when the score was already 4-0, they still took a real hammering and if you’re going to lose your unbeaten record, then you might as well do it in style !

The win leaves East London in third place in the league table, level on points with Chichester and just three points behind Reading, having a game in hand over both. Crucially, the game in hand is against bottom team Surrey.

It was a very gloomy day, but at least it remained dry, although it was very windy at times. The floodlights finally came on with just three minutes of normal time left on the clock, but they could have done with being put on 15-20 minutes earlier.

Below photo : East London make it 3-0 with a free kick that went under the wall.

Anglian Combination League

Premier Division

Saturday 24th November 2018

Kick Off 14.00. On Time !

Caister 2 Sheringham 5,  attendance 39

15’ 1-0

41’ 1-1

58’ 2-1

62’ 2-2

76’ 2-3 (pen)

81’ 2-4

90’ + 2, 2-5

@ Caister Playing Field

Allendale Road

Caister-on-Sea

NR30 5ES

No Admission or Programme.

With the east of the country being forecast to be rain free, which indeed it was, it seemed the best area to head for today. The choice of match was quite easy, with the league leaders at home to sixth place in the table. The ground here only has changing rooms, with the club headquarters being elsewhere in the town. At least they made an effort with serving hot drinks at halftime though, which were well received on a cool afternoon.

Caister were the better side for the majority of the first half, but only went in level at 1-1. When they regained the lead with a shot that went in off the underside of the crossbar, just before the hour mark, I thought they would go on to win the game comfortably, but a neat one-two on the edge of the box saw a shot into the far corner of the net level it up at 2-2 less than five minutes later. The game hinged on a red card for the Caister No.5 after seventy six minutes, when he made a superb save on the line, with his ‘keeper well beaten. Sheringham duly dispatched the penalty and made the extra man advantage count by adding a couple of late goals to give them a resounding win. Despite the defeat, Caister remain top of the league table, with Sheringham moving up to fifth place.

On these last few Saturdays leading up to Christmas, over here in the east, two o’clock is really too late to be kicking off without floodlights. When the match finished at 15.49, the light was really poor and more akin to a midweek match in September, when leagues try and cram an extra round of fixtures in, when there really isn’t enough daylight available.

Liverpool F.A. Senior Cup

1st Round

Wednesday 21st November 2018

Kick Off 20.00 Actual 20.02

Lower Breck 2 Skelmersdale United 0,  attendance 261

35’ 1-0

66’ 2-0

@ Anfield Sports & Community Centre, 3G Pitch

Breckside Park

Lower Breck Road

Liverpool

L6 0AG

£3 Admission

£1.50 Programme, 28 pages, plus free team sheet.

On first impressions, the programme looks decent and you are issued a match specific ticket when you pay your admission money at the reception area to the building, but……..you then notice the wrong date on both the programme cover and the ticket. Opening the programme and reading the first page of text and it gets worse….twice they use ‘there’, instead of ‘their’……I couldn’t be bothered to read on, but I wouldn’t imagine it got any better.

I have been to many Hellenic League grounds over the years, which are possibly the worst standard Step 6 grounds you could possibly come across, but these dreadful 3G caged grounds make those seem far better than they were. I would probably put this ground top of the list of ‘worst ground of the current Step 6 set up’. It is just accessible down one side and behind one goal. As for the tiny atcost stand that is plonked in one corner, well what a waste of time that is, but as we all know, the F.A. will say it ‘ticks all the boxes’.

On the pitch however, Lower Breck are really impressive. They are currently in fourth place in the North West Counties League, Division 1 North, whilst tonight’s visitors are two levels higher, in the Northern Premier League, West Division, although they are propping up the table. The opening goal came against the run of play, but they dominated the second half and once they scored the second goal it was game over. It was an excellent crowd ( I only counted 234, but still very good) swelled by a good away following, despite it being a really cold night in such an exposed ground. At least it was dry.

The journey home wasn’t as bad as it could have been, considering the M6 was closed from Junction 15-14 and the M25 was closed from Junction 11-10, but I still made it home for 02.10.

British Universities & Colleges Sport

Northern Conference Cup 3rd Round

Wednesday 21st November 2018

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.01

Bangor University 3 Newcastle University 2nds 4,  attendance 16

2’ 0-1

36’ 0-2

53’ 1-2

75’ 2-2

77’ 2-3

83’ 2-4

90’+2, 3-4

@ Nantporth 3G Pitch

Holyhead Road

Bangor

LL57 2HQ

No Admission or Programme.

After staying overnight in Bangor, this was my obvious choice for this afternoon. The 3G Pitch here is next door to the stadium of Bangor City, which is behind the left hand goal, down in a hollow and running in the opposite direction. It is also where the teams got changed for today’s match.

The five hour journey for Newcastle will have felt all the better having progressed into the quarter finals with this win. They were coasting at halftime, but a free kick early in the second half lifted the spirits of Bangor and they drew level with a shot from a tight angle that went through the ‘keeper’s legs with fifteen minutes left on the clock. However, within two minutes, Newcastle were back in front and when they made it 2-4 with seven minutes left, it looked all over. Bangor pulled it back to 3-4 in stoppage time, but despite playing an additional seven minutes, they were unable to force an equaliser.

Welsh Alliance

Division 2

Tuesday 20th November 2018

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.31

Pwllheli 3 Amlwch Town 0,  attendance 37

49’ 1-0

56’ 2-0

64’ 3-0

@ Treborth Playing Fields

Treborth Road

Bangor

LL57 2RQ

No Admission or Programme.

Having had a successful run in the cup matches this season, Pwllheli have fallen behind in their league matches, having only played 4 games so far, which leaves them second from bottom in the league table. Amlwch are propping up the table, coming into this having lost all ten of their games.

Their own ground doesn’t have floodlights, so in an effort to catch up their fixture backlog, Pwllheli hired the floodlit ground at Treborth Playing Fields, (belonging to Bangor University) which is Pitch 4 according to the map of the complex that was on the changing room building wall.

Amlwch battled well, although they did ride their luck at times, but when Pwllheli broke the deadlock early in the second half, then added another two soon after, it was game over. With a three goal lead, they took their foot off the pedal and coasted to a comfortable three points. The win lifted them three places up the league table, and if they were to win their games in hand, they could go up to second place, just two points behind leaders Blaenau Amateurs. Despite kicking off a minute late, this was a very prompt finish. The players stayed on the pitch at halftime, rather than trek the 200 yards back to the changing rooms, so we were done and dusted by 21.09.

I know the Welsh have their own language, but didn’t realise they also have a different way of counting numbers. According to the league website, the official attendance tonight was 70. It wouldn’t have reached that total even if you included the players !

Belgium

Luxembourg Provincial 1

Sunday 18th November 2018

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.07

R. Union Sportive Ethe- Belmont 1 R.F.C. St. Hubert 1,  attendance 148

44’ 0-1

52’ 1-1

@ Stade Charles Servais

Parking “Aux Onous” 1

6760 Ethe

€ Admission ?

Team Sheet, free.

Today, the car load would be splitting up to do two different matches, as two of us had already been to R. Olympic Club Meix-devant-Virton, which was where the driver was heading in order to complete his visits to all the clubs in the Belgian League. I had seen them beat R. Etoile Sportive Champlonaise 4-1 in a Luxembourg Provincial 1 match on 4th April 2014. With the two grounds being around 14 minutes drive apart, it meant we were dropped off close on ninety minutes before kick off, so we were in the clubhouse well before the pay gate was opened and once again no one came inside to collect the admission money off those that arrived early, so a free afternoons entertainment.

The match was 7th versus 4th in the league table and looked like it might be a second successive goalless match for us, but St. Hubert finally broke the deadlock just before the interval, when a shot that was already going in was helped across the line by their big No.9 from all of a yard out. What had been a pretty tepid affair burst into life when Ethe levelled it up early in the second half and they probably did enough to have won the game on the balance of the overall match.

As our match had kicked off late, it meant we only had a couple of minutes to wait to be picked up afterwards. By 17.05 we were on our way, for the 243 mile drive back to The Tunnel, where we were booked on the 21.49 crossing. All was going well, until we got within 10 minutes of the terminal, where we were held in a massive traffic jam caused by French fuel tax protesters, who are not happy with the increase of fuel duty added by their government. Even with the increase, it is still cheaper than in England !

We decided to try and exit the motorway, but they had the slip road barricaded as well, using metal gates and burning fires to disrupt the traffic as much as possible, only allowing 3 or 4 cars to pass through every 5 minutes or so. There were hundreds of protesters walking in the road and running up the motorway embankments and onto the carriageway to prevent traffic moving forward, but despite this, there were no police in sight, although there looked to be plenty of flashing blue lights around and continuous sirens blaring, but no sign of removing the blockage.

We made it through, going around the outskirts of Calais, before approaching the terminal from the opposite direction, where the motorway was free of protesters, although according to our live traffic information, this was only freed up in the last half hour. We actually missed our check-in for our booked 21.49 train, but were offered a place on the next train out which was due at 22.10. Amazingly, this left two minutes early, so we were only nineteen minutes behind our schedule. We thought we would have to contend with the M20 being closed between Junctions 6 and 4, which was supposed to last until Monday morning, but the traffic was moving through unhindered. So, in the end, everything turned out quite well considering…….

Belgium

Namur Provincial 1

Saturday 17th November 2018

Kick Off 20.00 Actual 20.01

R. Union Sportive Loyers 0 Union Sportive Beauraing ‘61 0,  attendance 65

@ Rue Comognes De Loyers, 3G Pitch

5101 Loyers

€6 Admission

No Programme.

Three of us in the car had visited Loyers back on 25th November 2012, where, oddly enough, we saw the same opposition as tonight lose 4-0 in front of 93 spectators. The game was played on Stade Nicolas Loyers, which was a wonderful ground, full of character and still in place. There was a new clubhouse, that was halfway through construction, taking shape behind the top goal. This is now along the side of the newly constructed 3G Pitch that is now home to the first team. The new ground is so bland and unfortunately it is the way so many clubs are now heading, in what they call progress.

Loyers were in second place in the league table, behind Nismes on goal difference. Beauraing were fourteenth, which is three off the bottom. The match was simply dreadful, although Beauraing certainly didn’t look like a team near the bottom and quite how Loyers can now be top of the league following this point is beyond me. Even more ridiculous, is the thought that they could be playing in the Belgian League next season !

Belgium

Oost Vlaanderen Provincial 4C

Saturday 17th November 2018

Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.32

F.C. Velzeke ‘B’ 1 S.V. Everbeek 2,  attendance 64

3’ 1-0

29’ 1-1

90’ 1-2

@ Windmolenstraat 1

Velzeke-Ruddershove

9620 Zottegem

€4 Admission

No Programme.

This trip was booked almost two months ago, when the outbound crossing on The Tunnel was to be at 09.24. This was actually re-timed to 09.29, which departed two minutes late.  We were originally only planning a match in the evening, but a couple of matches in the Oost Vlaanderen Provincial League were brought forward to this afternoon.

F.C. Rangers Merelbeke was our chosen match, but when the fixture list was updated, this had reverted back to the original Sunday afternoon slot, but with the match in Velzeke being no more than ten minutes off route, we decided to go here instead,(we were booked on the same outbound train, whether we did the match or not) even though it was only the ‘B’ team and the match was being played on the main ground, which is home to the first team, who play one level higher, in Provincial 3. Things are a bit different in Belgium. Despite being the ‘B’ team, many of these clubs clubs play in the main pyramid and there is then a reserve league below this, where they field their ‘reserve’ teams.

Anyway, this looked like it might be a reasonable match, as the ninth placed hosts were entertaining the unbeaten league leaders, although it was hard to tell which of them was top of the table, as Velzeke attacked them from the off and totally dominated the early exchanges. Having scored after three minutes, they then had a couple more chances, before being awarded a penalty in the twenty second minute, which is where the match turned on its head. The penalty was easily saved and a few minutes later Evebeek levelled it up with a 20 yard free kick that gave the ‘keeper no chance. The second half was played almost entirely in the Velzeke half of the pitch, but they looked like they would hang on to gain a point, until a long ball over the top saw the visitors break clear and win it at the death.

There was plenty of time to head south east into Namur Province, checking in at our overnight hotel, before taking in a match in Namur Provincial 1 at 8pm.

Below photo : The Evebeek ‘keeper easily saves the Velzeke penalty kick.

British Universities & Colleges Sport

South Eastern 3B

Wednesday 14th November 2018

Kick Off 14.00  On Time !

King’s College London (GKT) 2 Kent University 2nds 1,  attendance 2

7’ 1-0

39’ 1-1

88’ 2-1

@ Honor Oak Park Sports Ground

Brockley Rise

Honor Oak Park

London

SE23 1NW

No Admission or Programme.

The ‘GKT’ in the college name stands for Guy’s, King’s and St. Thomas’s. The ground here in Brockley Rise was used last season by South East Athletic in the Kent County League, but I never got round to visiting here during their tenure.

King’s had so much possession and created so many chances, it was hard to believe they only just won it in the dying minutes. They led early on, but a scuffed clearance by their ‘keeper, from the corner of the 18 yard box, saw Kent draw level with a lob from the halfway line. King’s scrambled the winner when a corner on the left was not cleared from the box and the ball was swept in from 12 yards. One odd thing of note, was that King’s played in four different versions of their shirt,  as apparently they are in need of a new kit and these were the best they could muster up from various old ones.