Portugal

Taca de Portugal 4th Round

Friday 24th November 2023

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.32

F.C. Vizela 2 C.F. Estrela Amadora 1 (AET) attendance 1,315

19’ 0-1

80’ 1-1

114’ 2-1

@ Estadio F.C. Vizela

Rua do Aidrin 497

4815 Caldas de Vizela

€10 Admission

No Programme.

We were on the 0940 EasyJet flight (which left 20 mins late) from London Gatwick to Porto, which arrived at midday and having collected our hire car, we drove east to Gandra (20 mins), checking in at our hotel before heading off to Vizela. It was 20 miles north east and we arrived at the ticket office about 15 minutes prior to it opening. We weren’t sure how serious Portuguese clubs, or more precisely supporters, take the national cup competition, so were pleased to obtain tickets easily, not even having to produce any identification details. The ground here is only two sided, with an all seated capacity of 6,100. As non-members, we could only buy tickets for the Bancada Nascente stand, the smaller of the two, but no problem. It was a decent view and you could sit pretty much in any part of the stand. Only around a sixth of the seats were occupied, such was the low turnout of locals. The visitors section (opposite us, in the top right hand corner of the main stand as we looked across) was also sparsely populated. It was easy to count the 62 away fans that had made the 220 mile trip north from Amadora (down near Lisbon) to Vizela.

The match was an all top division clash, as 14th hosted 12th, as far as league positions go. It was Estrela Amadora who opened the scoring, when a quick breakaway down the right was crossed in and finished from 12 yards after fifteen minutes. The best chance of the first half for Vizela came a minute before halftime, when they hit the crossbar with an effort from just outside the box. Estrela thought they’d doubled their lead midway through the second half, but had the goal ruled out for offside. Vizela equalised with ten minutes left, finishing into the bottom corner from 20 yards, after a cross was pulled back from the right. Five minutes later Estrela had a man sent off, having picked up a second yellow card, but they managed to hold out, taking the game into extra time. I can’t remember either side doing anything of note in the first period, but the hosts managed to grab a winner late in the second half, finishing a left wing cross off at the far post. Estrela then went down to nine men, ending any chance of them getting back level, losing a player to injury, having already used up their allocated substitutions.

F.A. Sunday Cup 2nd Round

Sunday 19th November 2023

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.04

F.C. Bapco 2 East Christchurch Sports & Social 0, attendance 128

60’ 1-0

84’ 2-0

@ The Royals Academy Training Complex, 3G Pitch

Adjacent to Reading F.C.

Boot End

Reading

RG2 0FL

No Admission

Programme, free. 7 x A4 single side printed pages stapled together

This was Reading & District Sunday League versus Bournemouth Sunday League. The game was originally due to be played at Marlow F.C. but having been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch last week, it was re-arranged to take place on the 3G pitch here at Royals Academy, which is adjacent to the Reading F.C. stadium, located behind the indoor training dome at the far end of the car park. Quite why the F.A. allow a national competition to be played in a 3G cage that has no spectator access is beyond me. It meant there was no admission charge and despite there being no designated spectator area, there was no problem with watching from inside the fence…..well, until halftime that is. With the linesman on the entrance side constantly having to tell kids who were playing with a football to get off the pitch during the game (the parents did nothing to stop them), it came as no surprise that everyone was told to watch from outside for the second half. Far easier to punish 120 spectators, than removing the handful of ‘problem kids’!

The game itself saw two evenly matched teams, with very little between them. There were few real clear cut chances. Bapco broke the deadlock on the hour mark, when a cross was controlled and finished into the far corner by Liam Ferdinand. Six minutes from the end he made the game safe, when he scored again, when another cross from the right was finished with a first time shot at the near post.

Central Midlands Alliance League

Premier Division South

Saturday 18th November 2023

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.01

Melbourne Dynamo 1 Cromford & Wirksworth Town 0, attendance 55

50’ 1-0

@ Melbourne Sports Park

Cockshut Lane

Melbourne

DE73 8DG

No Admission

£2 Programme, 20 pages.

I had been offered a lift to this game, so asked the club late last night, via Twitter, as to the likelihood of the game going ahead okay, mindful of the dreadful Met Office weather forecast for the area overnight and during the hours leading up to kick off. I had already received a reply when I got up this morning and it was good news. Game on! A trouble free journey north saw us arrive about ninety minutes before kick off. The playing surface looked excellent, although the walk across from the changing rooms to the pitch was very soft underfoot. Melbourne Sports Park is home to the local rugby (also at home today), cricket and tennis clubs, as well as the football. The rugby pitch runs lengthways away from the two storey clubhouse/changing room building, with a football pitch running parallel, at a slight angle to the left, then the main football pitch further to the left, at right angles to the other two. It is enclosed with a white plastic rail, with a pair of dugouts on the far touchline, sandwiching an electronic scoreboard, although it was not in use.

The match was 6th versus 12th in the league table and although it was fiercely contested throughout, never really produced much in the way of goalmouth action. In fact, we were probably lucky to actually see a goal at all. The visitors did have one effort disallowed for offside half an hour in, but there were very few other real chances of note in the remainder of the half. Melbourne broke the deadlock five minutes into the second half, breaking down the right before playing a ball across the box which was finished from 10 yards out.

As it turned out, the forecast heavy rain obviously never fell and apart from a brief period of drizzle, it remained dry throughout. This completed the Premier Division South for me today and just leaves St. Josephs Rockware Worksop to finish off Premier Division North.

Gloucestershire F.A. Trophy

1st Round

Wednesday 15th November 2023

Kick Off 19.45 On Time!

Avonmouth 2 Mangotsfield United 3, attendance 258

39’ 1-0 (pen)

55’ 1-1

60’ 1-2

89’ 1-3 (pen)

90’ 2-3

@ North Bristol Park

Avonmouth Road

Avonmouth

BS11 9ND

No Admission

£1 Programme, 32 pages.

Tonight’s game was a first round county cup game, where 1st in Gloucestershire County League (Step 7) hosted 11th in Hellenic League Premier Division (Step 5). There was little between the two sides in a very even first half, with the opening goal going the way of the hosts, scoring with a penalty, awarded for a handball, six minutes before halftime. Mangotsfield levelled ten minutes into the second half and were in front five minutes later, coolly lobbing the ‘keeper at the near post after being played through on the right side of the 18 yard box. When they made it 1-3 with a minute left, converting a penalty, awarded following a foul by the ‘keeper, it looked all over, but Avonmouth hit back immediately, setting up a tense finish. There were five minutes of stoppage time, spent mainly in the Mangotsfield half of the pitch, but although they hit the crossbar during this time, Avonmouth were unable to get an equaliser.

The ground here is entered via an alleyway adjacent to Number 31 Avonmouth Road, right underneath the flyover of the M5 motorway. A little further along there is vehicular access, but no car park as such, just about room for half a dozen cars. The ground is developing nicely and the clubhouse, which was up and running well over a hour before kick off, was doing a good trade in the usual bar snacks, with filled rolls also available. The club are regular programme issuers, available on-line, as well as a limited number of printed copies too. The club coped well with a very impressive crowd of over 250. The pitch was in good condition too, considering the amount of rain recently. The club were updating their social media over the days leading up to the game and confirmed to me within minutes, via a reply on Twitter, that the game was on okay. Nice to see, as so many clubs never bother!

Their ambition is to progress to Step 6. They look capable of achieving their aim this season (P11 W10 L1), but if not, it is surely only a matter of time before they do make the step up. They certainly have the feel of a club heading in the right direction.

Trouble free journey in both directions, via the M25, M4 and M5. That’s the Gloucestershire County League ground visits complete once again.

Above : Avonmouth open the scoring from the penalty spot.

Spain

Segunda Division

Monday 13th November 2023

Kick Off 21.00 On Time!

Real Oviedo 1 F.C Cartagena 1, attendance 12,203

2’ 0-1

90’ + 8, 1-1

@ Estadio Municipal Carlos Tartiere

Calle Isidro Langara

33013 Oviedo

€30 Admission + €2 Booking Fee, Print at Home Ticket.

It was a 3 hour drive west to Oviedo, in the region of Asturias, for tonight’s game, where 14th in the league table were hosting bottom. The stadium here has a 30,500 capacity, all seated, set out with two tiers in each stand. It was opened in 2000, replacing their former ground of the same name. Tickets were obtained online, although there would have been no problem buying on the night. Parking was once again available in the surrounding streets, although it meant a walk of around 15 minutes, which was almost double on the return, as the ground is at the foot of a very steep hill and the steps back up afterwards seemed never ending. Once back in the car, it was no more than two minutes before being on the ring road and heading back east towards Bilbao.

Cartagena got off to the perfect start, when a cross was volleyed in from the edge of the 18 yard box with just 1 minute 26 seconds on the clock. They seemed happy to try and hold out from here, rarely venturing near the Oviedo goal, a tactic that so nearly paid off. Oviedo quickly ran out of ideas and really struggled to break down the 10 man defence. They did think they’d levelled the scores just before the hour mark, but VAR said otherwise. Eight minutes into stoppage time they were awarded a penalty, this time the VAR intervening in their favour and with the last kick of the game they got an equaliser. It was 23.02 by this time. A ridiculously late finish for a midweek match. Their lacklustre display hardly warranted a point, but then again, Cartagena didn’t do too much after opening the scoring to have got anything more than a point either.

The atmosphere was pretty decent and they were whipped into quite a frenzy late on as they felt the match officials were not giving them any favourable decisions. There were repeated warnings on the big screens warning them about abusive chanting directed towards them, but it only resulted in whipping them up even more. I should imagine the atmosphere here would be great with a decent away following in place.I never noticed a single away supporter anywhere and even their goal was celebrated in complete silence. Not unexpected though, as Cartagena is 560 miles away, down in the southeast of the country.

So, this brought down the curtain on the trip to Spain. Five matches, only one 0-0 and covering just over 700 miles once picking up the hire car, having done Athletic Club Bilbao on public transport on the first night. The Tuesday lunchtime flight back to London Gatwick left a few minutes early, arriving back in Blighty around 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

Above : Oviedo score their stoppage time penalty equaliser.

Spain

Segunda Division

Sunday 12th November 2023

Kick Off 21.00 Actual 21.01

Sociedad Deportiva Eibar1 Albacete Balompie 1, attendance 4,543

10’ 1-0

67’ 1-1

@ Estadio Municipal de Ipurua

Ipurua Kalea 2

20600 Eibar

€25 Admission + €2 Booking Fee, Print at Home Ticket

No Programme.

Having had lunch in Tarazona, it was a two and a half hour drive north west, via Pamplona, to Eibar for the second game of the day. It would have been possible to squeeze a game in between the two matches, but would have left little time for eating or checking in at our hotel. In hindsight, it was the correct call to do just two games. Even arriving in Eibar well before kick off, finding any sort of parking was horrendous. It was on the third loop round the one way system that I managed to grab a place in the street. From here it was uphill all the way to the ground. Luckily, there is a system of escalators to do the work. The steep rise from town to stadium would certainly give you a good workout…..would have took it in my stride a few years ago…but, sadly, not these days!

The ground just suddenly appears in front of you, hidden from sight until you’re literally on top of it. Even the four corner floodlights don’t offer any help in locating it. Booking tickets online was not a problem. The bottom row on all four sides was more or less 100% available, with only the odd few seats elsewhere. We managed to get a couple of the furthest seats back from the pitch and even then it was only on the third row. It was a little baffling that the ground holds 8,164 all seated, but was only just over half full. There must be a lot of season ticket holders that don’t bother turning up for games? The ground is very compact and not really that great as far as getting a proper view of the action goes. The near touchline was totally obscured and looking down towards the far near corner was not helped by everyone leaning forward or standing up whenever the ball went that way as they strained for a better view. The ground was opened in 1947 and has gradually been re-developed over the years, with renovation carried out in 1989 and again in 2016, before finally reaching it’s current layout in 2019.

As for the match, it was 4th versus 17th in the league table. Eibar took an early lead, when a break down the right was played into the box first time and finished at the near post. They were well on top, but lacked any real cutting edge up front. They had the chance to double their lead a couple of minutes before halftime, but they saw a penalty saved by the visiting ‘keeper, diving towards the corner, but saving with his trailing leg. Albacete were much better in the second half and it came as no surprise when they equalised with just over twenty minutes left, finishing with a 25 yard angled shot into the far top corner, which the ‘keeper got a hand to, but couldn’t keep out. At least the 75-80 away fans will have felt the effort of making the 400 mile journey north was worth it, despite the game not finishing until 22.57!

Tonight’s match brought up the half century of grounds I’ve now seen a game at in Spain.

Spain

R.F.E.F. Primera Division

Grupo 1

Sunday 12th November 2023

Kick Off 12.00 Actual 12.03

Sociedad Deportiva Tarazona 0 Club Deportivo Teruel 0, attendance 800

@ Estadio Municipal de Tarazona

Avenida de la Paz

50500 Tarazona

€20 Admission

No Programme.

It was a 1 hour 20 minute drive south from Pamplona to Tarazona, in the region of Aragon, for this game in the third level of Spanish football. Once again no problem with parking in the surrounding streets. The ground is floodlit and has a 702 seat stand on one side, with cover stretching from one 18 yard box to the other on the opposite side, although standing is at one level for the entirety. There is access behind each goal too, one with a couple of steps of terracing and viewing from the top of the bank at the same end. There was a small refreshment bar, but it was located at the rear of the stand, so not really of use whilst the game was in progress.

The game was a real relegation battle, as fourth bottom hosted bottom of the table. Tarazona had only managed one win and four draws from their opening eleven games, whilst Teruel hadn’t won at all, but had managed to draw six of their eleven played so far. I didn’t expect much of a game, but didn’t expect it to be as bad as this. I would expect both these sides to struggle to survive at Step 6 in England. They were absolutely dire. I don’t recall anything like a goal opportunity being produced by either side. It felt more like an endurance test than a football match. At least Teruel will have been happy picking up a point though, as it got them off the foot of the table, climbing up two places!

Above : The match poster obtained from a shop doorway after the match.

Spain

La Liga

Friday 10th November 2023

Kick Off 21.00 Actual 21.01

Athletic Club Bilbao 4 Real Club Celta Vigo 3, attendance 44,435

25’ 0-1

37’ 1-1

41’ 1-2

45’ + 5, 2-2

51’ 3-2

65’ 3-3

90’ + 8, 4-3 (pen)

@ Estadio San Mames

Calle Rafael Moreno “Pitxitxi”

48013 Bilbao

€80 Admission + €2.50 booking fee, Print at Home Ticket

No Programme.

I had visited the original Estadio San Mames back in October 2011, when Athletic Club drew 2-2 versus S.V. Salzburg in a U.E.F.A. Europa League Group match in front of a crowd of 25,000. Since then a new 53,289 capacity stadium has been built, slightly offset from the original footprint, where there is no pitch overlap, but one goal end is on top of what would have been part of the old ground, hence the ground opening in September 2013 with just three new sides built. The last remaining part of the original structure was then knocked down to enable stadium completion. It is a sight to behold. The stadium is easily reached, having its own station on the Bilbao city metro system, unsurprisingly called “San Mames”.

The atmosphere was superb and it has to be said, the view here is superb, even if it is very expensive for the pleasure! We were unable to get two adjacent tickets, but had managed to get a pair just two seats apart and when the two locals who had the two between us arrived for the game, they offered to shuffle across after sussing out the English accents! It was a surprise to see the official attendance announced was only around 44,500 as there were not many seats available to purchase around a week before the game. There was no way there were almost 9,000 empty seats. I would have said maybe 1,500 to two thousand, if that. Even the away section looked well populated.

The match was 5th versus 18th in the league table and was absolutely superb to watch from start to finish. Celta Vigo, who are managed by Rafael Benitez (ex Valencia, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea and Newcastle United boss) looked a very good side. They certainly didn’t play like a team sitting third from bottom. If they hadn’t resorted to the all too usual (amongst so many foreign teams) diving/cheating and time wasting in the last fifteen minutes, then they could have won it. They had an early goal disallowed for offside, but did open the scoring with a 20 yard shot that went in off the far post after twenty five minutes. Athletic equalised eight minutes before halftime, hooking in at the far post, after a cross from the left wasn’t cut out, but Celta Vigo were back ahead within four minutes, punishing a poor clearance from a free kick with a first time shot into the bottom corner from just outside the D. Athletic Club made it 2-2, touching in a left wing cross at the near post, in the fifth minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half

Athletic Club went in front six minutes into the second half, tapping in from close range, after an angled shot had been saved by the ‘keeper. Celta thought they’d levelled the scores with twenty five minutes left, but the effort was ruled out for offside, but it was only a matter of seconds before they did make it 3-3, breaking quickly down the right and playing the ball across to finish unmarked at the far post. Seven minutes later they had the chance to regain the lead, but a penalty, awarded by VAR for a handball offence, was saved by the ‘keeper. Eight minutes into stoppage time there was another penalty awarded, again for handball, but this time in favour of the hosts and it was put away to give them all three points. The final whistle then blew, dead on eleven o’clock!

Our early morning Vueling flight out from London Gatwick to Bilbao this morning managed to land slightly ahead of schedule, despite departing about fifteen minutes late, leaving plenty of time in Bilbao pre-match and even better, the hotel was only about five minutes walk from the stadium, which was clearly visible from our tenth floor room!

Brighton, Worthing & District League

Saturday 4th November 2023

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.07

S.S.B. Unity 0 Sompting 4 (Abandoned 31 mins, Referee abused), attendance 6

6’ 0-1

18’ 0-2

28’ 0-3

31’ 0-4

@ Stanley Deason Leisure Centre, 3G Pitch

120 Wilson Avenue

Brighton

BN2 5PB

No Admission or Programme.

Today was another step towards my aim to see a first team match played on every ground in Sussex. This is not the normal home of S.S.B. Unity, but the game was switched to here late in the week. It is one of 2 artificial pitches here at Stanley Deason Leisure Centre (the other being for hockey) and is the further (lower) of the two from the building/car park. Both are dug into the hillside, running end on to each other, with decent views from above the near goal end out over the city to the sea. The spectator viewing area actually runs along the full length of one side, with the only thing hampering the view being that the two teams ‘benches’ set themselves up on this side too, rather than on the opposite touchline, although it was hardly a problem with such a sparse crowd.

The match was 5th versus 8th in the league table. Sompting took an early lead, following in after an initial shot had come back off the far post. The second goal came after being played through one on one with the ‘keeper. The home linesman flagged for offside, but was correctly overruled by the Referee, who allowed the goal. Number three arrived on twenty eight minutes, squeezing a shot in at the near post from a break down the right. Three minutes later it was 0-4, again the linesman (a change from the earlier one) flagged for offside, but once again it was (correctly in my opinion) overruled and the goal was awarded. The home team and ‘bench’ ran towards the Referee, surrounding him just outside the centre circle. There was plenty of shouting, followed by a bit of jostling and pushing. Seconds later the Referee abandoned the game!