There was no problem getting in at this one, but you are restricted to standing behind one goal end. Scouts etc. are in the near corner to the entrance, whilst all ordinary spectators are in the other corner.
Portsmouth had already had a penalty saved before they broke the deadlock after twenty minutes and they had also hit the post and crossbar with two further efforts. They added another goal before halftime and made it 3-0 just before the hour mark. Both sides hit the woodwork again and if it wasn’t for a couple of decent saves by the Argyle ‘keeper, then the score could have been much higher.
A trip to Norfolk on a Friday evening is not the best idea. A tedious journey, which took four and a half hours, is something that makes you wonder why you bother with midweek matches, as the roads are so clogged up nowadays that even local journeys are a pain. At least it only took 2 hours 35 minutes to get home!
Thankfully, the seven hours of heavy rain from lunchtime onwards, that was forecast for this area by the BBC Weather team, was inaccurate. It did rain a bit, but it was windy enough to move it on swiftly. The pitch certainly wasn’t troubled by the rain and was in superb condition.
Despite kicking off a minute ahead of schedule, the Referee decided to play 2 x 40 minute halves, due to it being a poor night weather wise, which didn’t impress the visitors Manager too much and they were still arguing about it at halftime. He played an additional minute in the first half and then three more at the end of the second and there was still plenty of light when the game finished at 20.04.
The game itself never really hit any heights. Plenty of effort, but not that many chances created. Freethorpe won it with the only goal of the game after 18 minutes, when their No.9 was played through and he slipped the ball into the corner of the net past the onrushing ‘keeper.
Above : The Freethorpe No.9 scores the only goal of the night.
Despite having rained for most of the day and a light drizzle falling for the majority of the match, the pitch here was perfect. Newly promoted Duxford opened and finished the night’s scoring, but in between, it was Thaxted that held the upper hand and they should have scored more than the five goals they did manage.
The Duxford ‘keeper twice handled the ball outside his 18 yard box, but each time it was punished with just a free kick and not even a yellow card. Both teams also had a player sin binned, in separate incidents, and a Thaxted player who was booked late on thought he had been sin binned as well, but it became apparent it was a ‘proper’ yellow card, which resulted in him sprinting back onto the pitch when he realised, much to the astonishment of his Manager!
This must be the away match that all clubs dread having to do for an early kick off in midweek, as the traffic getting through Lyndhurst during rush hour is horrendous. First to arrive at the ground was the Referee, just before 6 o’clock, then the players arrived over the next half hour or so. It was quite a surprise that we only kicked off eight minutes late in the end.
Bush Hill are the reigning champions and they came into this having won their opening three matches. Sway are very erratic, as far as their two previous home matches have gone, having lost 0-5 and won 8-2 so far, and they also lost their away match at Lyndhurst 1-3. The opening stages tonight were very even, but when Bush Hill opened the scoring after nineteen minutes it was very much one way traffic. They scored at will and were well in command by halftime. The second half just never got going, but the visitors did manage to make it 0-6, when a cut back on the right was turned into his own net by the ‘keeper to round off an easy win.
Having been at Meon Vale for my last match, the ‘Meon’ theme continued, as it was a trip to East Meon for today’s game, although the two villages concerned are over 100 miles apart. As with the match on Thursday, this is not the normal home venue for the club, with Clanfield playing this match, plus one other, here in East Meon as their own pitch recovers from damage caused by moles.
In very windy conditions, where the wind was blowing down the pitch, it was pretty even early on. Locks Heath went ahead with a penalty, but Clanfield were level within two minutes. With the wind in their favour for the second half, Clanfield totally dominated and were well worth their three goal winning margin, which gave them their first win of the season from the opening three games. Locks Heath are one of four teams that are yet to pick up a point.
Welford on Avon 2 South Redditch Athletic 3, attendance 18
16’ 1-0
49’ 1-1
56’ 2-1
57’ 2-2
80’ 2-3
@ Meon Vale Leisure Centre
Bailey Avenue
Meon Vale
CV37 8QW
No Admission or Programme.
With their own ground in Welford-on-Avon still being used for cricket, it meant this match was switched to the relatively new complex here in Meon Vale, some 5 miles south of there. Despite having changing rooms on site, they were not used tonight, so the players got changed in the main Leisure Centre building and walked across the road to the pitch.
Welford looked well in charge, scoring the only goal of the half early on, and South Redditch were resorting to very heavy handed tactics. Two of the visitors strikers moaned at every decision and threats were made to the home club Linesman, which the pathetically weak Referee did nothing about. A minute before halftime one of them was ‘sin binned’ following two head butts and a third attempt at another. At the start of the second half, the 10 men, who had substituted the other moaner by now, looked a much better team and started to play some decent football. They soon levelled it up at 1-1 and even though they went behind again, it was level at 2-2 within a minute. Welford then had their ‘keeper sent off for handling the ball outside his area and it was then a case of just how long it would take South Redditch to score a winning goal, which they finally did with ten minutes left.
R.A.F. Regiment 10 Thetford Town 1, attendance 144
7’ 1-0
16’ 2-0
33’ 3-0
38’ 3-1
45’ 4-1
59’ 5-1
66’ 6-1
72’ 7-1
76’ 8-1
78’ 9-1
89’ 10-1
@ R.A.F. Honington
Heath Road
IP31 1EE
No Admission
Programme, by donation, 8 pages, 1 blank.
This match was played to raise funds to help send Jordon Brown to the U.S.A. to receive medical help that is more advanced than that available to him in the U.K. There was a decent turn out, for what was a real stroll in the park for the R.A.F. team. With Thetford Town having played an Eastern Counties League match last night, the squad tonight was mainly made up of the Reserves. The only reason most of them play for the Reserves, is because they have no Third Team! They were dreadful.
Above : Thetford score their only goal of the night.
I had been to watch Broadbridge Heath twice before. The first time was on Boxing Day 1998, in a Sussex County League Division 1 match, versus East Preston, which was abandoned at halftime due to a waterlogged pitch, with the score 0-2 at the time. I returned on 20th March 2012, when I saw them beat Uckfield Town 3-2 in a Sussex County League Division 3 match in front of 43 spectators. According to my notes that day, admission was £2, which included the programme.
Tonight was the first match at their new ground, which is only 100 yards or so from their old ground, which is still in use as an athletics arena. As with all new builds, it is bland and dull, with no thought gone into it whatsoever. At least it has a grass pitch, rather than 3G, although this looked in a really poor state and could do with some water on it. I really don’t like doing floodlit matches during the ‘early kick off’ time of the season, but with my only alternate choices for a new visit being a minimum 450 mile round trip, then why not, and it is only half an hours drive from home!
With it being the first match at their new home it attracted plenty of ‘hangers on’ and loads of kids. Add to that at least 30 ground hoppers and you see how they got a very impressive attendance of 330. Once the novelty value wears off though and the kids go back to school, they will more than likely go back to their normal 40-50 crowds for night matches.
Loxwood took the honour of scoring the first goal on the ground, somewhat against the run of play, to lead 0-1 at the break. Broadbridge Heath headed level, but their ‘keeper was beaten with a shot from a good 40 yards to see Loxwood regain the lead. As we approached the dying minutes, Broadbridge Heath levelled it up at 2-2, with a goal aided by a good advantage played by the Referee, following a foul in the build up.
Programme available, but I won’t buy one at any event organised by or involving Groundhop U.K. in any capacity.
Although this was called the Chairman’s Cup Final, which was the League Challenge Cup winners (Pinxton) versus Division 1 Cup winners (Bakewell Town), it was really only a glorified friendly. It was part of a double header, with the ‘Invitational Cup Final’ between Netherseal St. Peters (Midland Regional Alliance League) and Renishaw Rangers (Central Midlands League North Division) having taken place at noon.
The fact of whether it was a competitive fixture, or a friendly, was of little importance. The main objective was to see a football match played on the ground used by Burton Swifts and then Burton United (a merger of Burton Swifts with Burton Wanderers) in the Second Division of the Football League between 1892 and 1907.
Apart from the fact that the crowd was largely made up of ground hoppers, it didn’t really have the feel of a normal ‘groundhop’ match. The catering was well below par and seemed to be what would be on offer for a rugby union matchday. The food was well overpriced and after two bites, what was left of the £3.50 hotdog I purchased was deposited in the bin. It was disgusting.
The match itself wasn’t great, not helped by the fact that the grass hadn’t been cut and was far too long to try and play football on and it was too one sided to hold the interest. Pinxton were just far too strong for Bakewell, which was perhaps to be expected.
Two years ago Burton R.U.F.C. announced that they would be leaving Peel Croft and moving to an out of town new build. We passed it on our way to St. George’s Park this morning and it really does look a soulless place. Sadly, Peel Croft’s day’s are numbered and yet another wonderful ground that oozes character will soon be no more and it will become a retail park once the rugby club move out.
The Central Midlands League were holding two matches at Burton R.U.F.C. today, with our plan to do the first of the matches at 12 o’clock, then head off for a second game at 3 o’clock. Of the three of us, only the driver would get two new ground visits, as we were unable to find anything suitable for the afternoon. However, as we were en route to our meeting point, I received a text message to say that Acorn Albion had tweeted that their friendly match today was being played at noon and would be at St. George’s Park, although we had no idea which pitch would be used. Two of us had been here before, as Derby County U23s have regularly used the show pitch ‘Wembley Pitch 6’ , so it was a case of turn up and hope for the best. It wasn’t much more than ten minutes drive to Burton R.U.F.C. from here, so it wasn’t going to be a problem. As it turned out, as we drove into the complex, we were pleased to see a team warming up on Pitch 2, who were wearing the yellow and black colours of Acorn Albion, so we would all be getting two new ground visits today after all, it was just that we would now be doing a game at the rugby ground as the second part of a double header.
Acorn Albion played their matches here at St. George’s Park when they were members of the Staffordshire County League Division 2, although they used Pitch 1 and Pitch 3 according to one of their officials, but this season they have transferred to the Midland Regional Alliance League Division 2 and have also moved to Marstons Sports Ground in Burton upon Trent, but that was hosting an event today, hence the switch of venue for this match. The Butchers Arms are from the Chesterfield Sunday League.
Butchers were the better side for the first half, but with this being their first outing of the season they tired noticeably as the second half went on. Acorn are well into their pre-season build up, so they were able to take full advantage, although overall a draw would have been a fair result.
One thing that was unusual today, considering the level of the two teams, was that we actually had four match officials. We asked one of the Linesmen why this was and he said it was because there was a chance that the Referee might not arrive in time as he had been running the line at Luton Town versus Middlesbrough in the League One opener last night!
