Cambridgeshire County League

Division 2B

Saturday 3rd May 2025

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 14.58!

Soham United 2 Wisbech St. Mary Reserves 5, attendance 37

18’ 0-1

21’ 0-2 (pen)

23’ 1-2

40’ 1-3

47’ 1-4

51’ 1-5

90’ 2-5

@ Qua Fen Common

Soham

CB7 5DQ

No Admission or Programme.

I gave away my two original options (both 3G) for this afternoon in favour of this. A fellow hopper at the morning game had received a positive reply that the game was going ahead okay and it was only a twelve minute drive away. Even better, it was on grass and the game still had something riding on it, as the visitors knew a win would see them finish in the second promotion place in the league.

The ground is to the north of the town, just off the A412 heading towards Ely, the ground being on the left as you head back in towards the town. There’s a small car park, as well as ample roadside parking. There’s a wooden changing room building, that also housed a tea bar. In front is a youth team pitch, with the men’s pitch to the right, roped along the near side and a pair of dugouts on the other. Wooden fencing, bordering fields, gives the pitch a more enclosed feel on the other three sides.

Wisbech St. Mary got off to a great start and were 0-2 up after twenty one minutes, the second being a penalty. An own goal saw Soham pull it back to 1-2 within minutes, as a defender diverted a cross into his own net when attempting to clear the ball. Wisbech restored their two goal lead five minutes before halftime, with a 25 yard free kick that went straight over the ‘keeper. They killed the game off when an easy finish at the far post made it 1-4 two minutes into the second half and almost scored again minutes later, but the effort hit the post. Minutes later they did make it 1-5 though, beating the keeper with a shot at the near post. Soham rounded off the scoring with a consolation goal in the last minute to give a final score of 2-5, beating the offside trap and finishing one on one against the ‘keeper.

A nice touch by the home club at halftime, when free tea or coffee was brought round on a tray to all the spectators, as it was the last game of the season and they wanted to use up some of their remaining stock. Rather than heading home after the game, I was on my way north, for my overnight hotel, in readiness for tomorrow’s rugby league ‘Magic Weekend’ at Newcastle United F.C.

Cambridgeshire County League

Division 1B

Saturday 3rd May 2025

Kick Off 12.00 Actual 12.22

Exning United 7 Needingworth United 0, attendance 16

3’ 1-0

10’ 2-0

28’ 3-0

32’ 4-0

55’ 5-0

65’ 6-0

89’ 7-0

@ Lacey’s Lane

Exning

CB8 7HL

No Admission or Programme.

The noon kick off here gave plenty of options for a double today, or at least should have done. By Friday evening, a lot of fixtures in this league had already been called off, due to teams not being bothered to complete their season, although my two first choices were still, allegedly, going ahead. However, there was the added problem here of the Referee not turning up until after we should have already started. His excuse was that he didn’t know it was a 12 o’clock kick off, until the club phoned him, by which time both teams were already out on the pitch doing their warm ups! Anyway, at least he turned up, albeit resulting in the kick off being 22 minutes later than scheduled, ending a nervous wait for the ‘hoppers present, who made up half the crowd!

It was 4th versus 5th in the league table, with Exning still in with a chance of finishing second, which would see them promoted behind league winners Huntingdon United. It was an easy win for them, being 2-0 up after just ten minutes. The visitors had a man sin binned after nineteen minutes, for arguing the decision of a penalty awarded to Exning. A bit of a waste really, as the kick was saved! The ten men conceded again when a header was saved by the ‘keeper, but followed in to make it 3-0 and within minutes of being back to full strength, they conceded a fourth, when a one two on the edge of the box was finished into the bottom corner. An own goal made it 5-0 ten minutes into the second half, before number six was curled in from the edge of the box ten minutes later. An angled shot into the bottom corner rounded off the scoring with a minute left.

So, the win sees Exning finish their season in second place, but they’ll have to wait to see what happens, as Stretham could still finish above them, depending on the outcome of their home match versus third bottom Great Paxton, which was called off on Saturday. It certainly doesn’t reflect well on the league when a ‘no show’ costs another club a promotion place, whether it’s Exning or Stretham that miss out in the end.

Home to Exning United is Lacey’s Lane (not the ground in Chapel Street, which is where F.A. Full Time shows the game as being played, but correctly marked on Apple Maps) about 200 yards along on the right, after turning off Chapel Street. There’s a small car park, but ample parking outside on the lane too. Just a brick built pavilion, with overhang on the front, with the pitch running lengthways away from here.