According to the league table on the BBC website, this was 10th versus 2nd in the league table, but the programme indicated that bottom club Featherstone Lions, who Oulton have beaten twice this season, have withdrawn from the competition and accordingly the subsequent table adjustments mean that Oulton have now dropped to sixth place.
It turned out to be a cracking game. Oulton scored a try after three minutes, but failed to convert and three minutes later Pilks drew level, before adding the kick to lead 6-4. Surprisingly, there were no more points added in the remainder of the half.
The second half remained in the balance and with twelve minutes left Oulton scored their second try of the game and added the two point conversion to lead 6-10. Unfortunately for them, they then had a man sin binned and with a man short were unable to prevent Pilks from finally drawing level two minutes from the end when they scored close to the posts to level it up at 10-10. Somehow a relatively easy conversion was sent wide of the target and we ended up all square.
Home to Pilks is Ruskin Drive Sports Ground, which was very busy today as bowls and a cricket match were also taking place. I had been here twice before to watch football. In December 2000 I saw Pilkington beat Barnton 4-1 in a Mid Cheshire League match, which was played on a grass pitch now partially covered by today’s pitch, whilst in August 2017 I had seen the 0-0 draw between St. Helens Town and Abbey Hulton United (on the other 3G ground that runs in the opposite direction at the near end of the rugby ground) where the game was infamously abandoned seven minutes into stoppage time, due to the floodlights going off just as Abbey Hulton were about to take a penalty, with what would have been the final kick of the match.
Kulture Club 2 Estudiantes London 6, attendance 17
1’ 0-1
9’ 0-2
19’ 0-3
29’ 0-4
43’ 0-5 (pen)
57’ 1-5
65’ 2-5
82’ 2-6
@ Lea Valley Academy, 3G Pitch
Bullsmoor Lane
Enfield
EN3 6TW
No Admission or Programme.
This was a game between two sides who had played in Division 1 (Central & East) of the Middlesex County League in the season just finished. Estudiantes were excellent on Twitter in confirming both the venue and kick off time for this game. It attracted 12 hoppers, with the main debate appearing to be whether this game counts in season 2022/23 or 2023/24! It is neither for me, as I keep a running total by calendar year!
Estudiantes dominated early on and comfortably built up a five goal lead. Kulture Klub only started with the bare eleven, but a number of additional players arrived during the early stages and the second half was probably a truer reflection of the strength of each side.
It is a standard cage set up, with no problem watching from inside the fence, as there is a solid pathway running around the pitch perimeter which is edged by ‘kickboards’ along the sides.
Having stopped overnight at Winwick, just north of Junction 9 of the M62, it was an easy half hour drive to do the 25 miles to Castleton, just south west of Rochdale. As with last night, it was a ground I had already visited for football. It was previously the home of Castleton Gabriels F.C. who I had seen draw 2-2 versus Chadderton in a North West Counties League Division 2 match here back on 26th October 1999. In those days it was known as Butterworth Park. It is a cracking old ground, that oozes character and was a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon in baking sun, overlooking the moors on the far side of the ground. Good to see a crowd in excess of 400 too, as second in the table Rochdale Mayfield (won 9 lost 1) hosted sixth placed Thatto Heath Crusaders (won 5 lost 6).
It was a comfortable win for Mayfield. They led 12-0 before Thatto Heath scored their first points of the day with a try that pulled it back to 12-4, but by halftime Mayfield had increased their lead to 28-4. The second half was much more even and actually finished 22-22, but the damage had already been done and Mayfield deservedly held on for the win. They remain second in the league table, behind leaders Hunslet on points difference, but they do have a game in hand on the leaders.
The journey back south was uneventful, with traffic surprisingly light.
St. Helens 34 Wigan Warriors 16, attendance 17,088
@ Totally Wicked Stadium
McManus Drive
Peasley Cross Lane
St. Helens
WA9 3AL
£30 Admission, e-ticket
Programme? Never saw any.
I had already been here for football. I hadn’t realised it was as far back as March 2012 that I saw Liverpool U19 lose 0-6 to Ajax U19 in the Nextgen Cup semi final in front of a 6,000 crowd. The ground was named Langtree Park when it opened that year, but took on the sponsor name of Totally Wicked Stadium in 2017. The stadium has a capacity of 18,000 and is seated along the sides, but has terracing behind each goal. It is a far cry from their previous home at Knowsley Road, where I had seen them beat Leigh 12-6 in a Division 1 game on 25th March 1990 in front of 9,189 spectators, which was only my third ever rugby league ground attended at the time (I subsequently visited for football, seeing Liverpool Reserves play 4 games there between December 1999 and February 2000).
The Saints-Wigan derby is probably the biggest rivalry in the northern hemisphere, so I was surprised that tickets were still available to book online the day before the game, albeit only odd seats here and there. Rather oddly the attendance was announced as 16,272 at the game, but this was increased to 17,088 according to the official club Twitter the following morning. No idea how they can come up with two different figures in this day and age. Either way, it was short of the ground record of 17,980 that this fixture attracted in both the 2012 and 2014 meetings. Perhaps a major contributor was the fact that both teams are having relatively poor seasons by their normal high standards, as it was only 6th versus 4th as far as the league table was concerned, both at least two wins adrift of top two Warrington Wolves and Catalan Dragons.
It only took Saints four minutes to go ahead, when Joe Batchelor scored from close to the line and Tommy Makinson converted to make it 6-0. Wigan levelled at 6-6 when Harry Smith chipped over the top for Jai Field to cross the line, with the kick converted by Smith. Makinson then went over in the corner and converted his own try to make it 12-6, but Wigan pulled it back to 12-10 with a try from Bevan French. Right on halftime Saints made it 18-10, when Jack Welsby collected his own kick to score near the posts, which was converted by Makinson to give the hosts an eight point lead at the break.
Saints started the better in the second half, as a close range try by Agnatius Paasi was converted by Makinson to make it 24-10, before Welsby went over, again converted by Makinson, to stretch the lead to 30-10. Makinson scored in the corner, but couldn’t convert, to make it 34-10. A try by Abbas Miski, converted by Smith, did reduce the arrears for Wigan in the dying minutes, but Saints were well worth their 34-16 win.
The journey up to the North West was painfully slow, as expected, taking five and a half hours to drive the 230 miles. I was stopping overnight, so didn’t have to worry about endless lane closures on the return journey.
Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio 5 Associazione Calcio Monza 2, attendance 19,389
12’ 1-0
45’ + 1, 2-0
51’ 2-1
74’ 3-1
78’ 4-1
81’ 4-2
90’ + 2, 5-2
@ Gewiss Stadium
Viale Giulio Cesare 18
24124 Bergamo
€40 Admission + €2.20 booking fee, Print at Home Ticket
2 different Programmes available, both free. A 36 page full colour Magazine and a 40 page Newspaper.
My first trip to see football in Italy was back in November 1994, when I flew out on a day trip to see A.C. Milan draw 1-1 with Internazionale in the Milan derby, played at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, more commonly known as the San Siro, which is actually the area of Milan it is in, rather than the name of the stadium. Further trips to Italy saw a 2-1 win for Lazio versus Internazionale (Dec 2003), followed by Torino v Empoli (at the now demolished Stadio delle Alpi (Apr 2005) and the following day Novarra v A.C. Pisa. A month later a trip to Florence resulted in my third consecutive 0-0 draw in Italy, when Fiorentina hosted Atalanta. The lack of goals and what always seemed to be problems sorting out tickets in advance, meant I had pretty much given up with football trips to Italy.
However, a wedding invitation to a ceremony to be held near Milan, meant there was a possibility of perhaps combining the trip to fit in a football match as well. Being late in the season didn’t throw up too many opportunities though. Not knowing exactly what time the wedding reception would finish, meant both Cremonese and Parma would not be possible on the Saturday evening, due to ticket sales ending on the night before the match. This removed the option of making a late decision to head there. Luckily though, there was still a chance to get a game in on the Sunday, in nearby Bergamo. It was only 1 hour 8 minutes by train and cost just €5.80 single….not a return, but more of that later. These days obtaining tickets for games in Italy is far less problematic. All done online and the club website confirmed tickets were available for general sale and that a foreign passport was okay for use as identification. It would also help to confirm we weren’t from Monza!
The Gewiss Stadium is part way through modernisation, with just the Curva Sud now looking out of place compared to the rest of the ground, although they could do with extending the roof along the side, as we got absolutely soaked during the second half, which isn’t great when you are charged €40 for the pleasure! Capacity here is 21,300 and the club were advertising the match as a sell out (I think Monza had sold all bar 145 of their allocation) although there were empty seats dotted about and the official attendance certainly didn’t suggest this.
This was the last match of the season. Monza were safe in tenth place and had nothing to play for. Atalanta, on the other hand, started the day 5th in the table on 61 points. They were in a three way fight with Roma (60 pts) and Juventus (59 pts) to see which two would get the Europa League places and who would end up in the Europa Conference League. All three games involving them would start simultaneously…or at least that was the plan. The game here started a couple of minutes late as the Referee had to wait for the smoke to clear the pitch after flares left thick clouds of smoke swirling across the pitch as we were about to kick off. Security are red hot on stopping you take bottles of water into the ground and there is no way you are allowed to keep the top on any drink purchased once inside, but it seems you can take in as many flares as you like, as well as 4-5 foot long flag poles, which of course, could never be used as a weapon….
As expected, it was a great atmosphere. The home fans in the lower sections of seating behind the goal at the north end of the ground boycotted the opening five minutes or so, not happy in how they perceived they were being treated, but soon filtered into their seats. The noise certainly went up a notch or two as they joined the party. Dutch striker Teun Koopmeiners headed Atalanta in front after twelve minutes and he made it 2-0 in stoppage time at the end of the first half, following in after an initial save by the ‘keeper. A cracking 20 yarder into the top corner saw Monza pull it back to 2-1 early in the second half, but their hopes of getting anything from the match were dealt a blow, when their Brazilian player Marlon received a red card in the seventieth minute, just 60 seconds after coming on as a substitute! Hojlund (assisted by Koopmeiners) made it 3-1, before Koopmeiners completed his hattrick with twelve minutes left to put the hosts 4-1 up. Monza immediately got one back to make it 4-2, before Atalanta added a fifth goal in the second, of what turned out to be ten minutes of stoppage time, rounding off the scoring. So Atalanta had scored the same amount of goals tonight as my previous five games here in Italy had produced in total!
The win saw Atalanta finish fifth and wins for Roma and Juventus meant we finished the night as we started, as far as European qualification went. The 21.00 kick off meant that the last train back to Milan would be long gone, so we had pre-booked a car to pick us up near the ground at 23.15, rather than mess about getting back to Bergamo Airport, from where a shuttle bus runs to Milan Central Station at very regular intervals throughout the night. Another taxi would then have been required from there. No change out of €100, but back in our Milan hotel before midnight, so certainly the correct decision.
This final was played at Llanishen High School 3G pitch, a venue that also hosts the games of Llanishen Rugby Union Club, hence the rugby posts behind the goals. Viewing is along the whole of the near side, where there is also a small kit stand, although standing room only. It was certainly useful today, but not for sheltering from the rain, but the blistering sun, as temperatures hovered around 22-23 degrees throughout.
These two play in Division 1 (the middle of three divisions) of the Cardiff Combination and it was 4th versus 2nd as far as final league placings went. They were evenly matched throughout, although Allstars (how the club spell their name, rather than All Stars as suggested on the programme) could have been out of sight before halftime, had they not wasted the better of the chances produced. A follow in to a shot parried by the ‘keeper saw them break the deadlock and their lead was doubled in stoppage time, when a through ball was coolly taken wide of the ‘keeper and rolled in from a tight angle. When Radyr pulled it back to 2-1 a few minutes into the second half, poking in at the far post following a corner that wasn’t cleared, it kept the game interesting. Three minutes into stoppage time Radyr saw a header come back off the crossbar, but Grange finally killed the game off nine minutes into stoppage time, when they scored from a penalty, which had seen Radyr reduced to ten men following a second yellow card for the foul.
The usual nightmare Bank Holiday traffic meant an arduous four hour drive to Cardiff, where the ‘live traffic’ was certainly earning its keep on the SatNav, diverting off the M4 on various A and B roads before Bristol, then again around Newport. The return journey took 90 minutes less!
This was 10th versus 5th in the league table, with nothing on the game for either side. It was played with full commitment from both teams, but just never looked like producing a goal. In fact, there wasn’t a genuine attempt on goal in the entire ninety minutes.
The ground is in a public park. It has a fully railed pitch and a pair of brick built dugouts. The changing rooms are through the hedge, adjacent to the bowling green and tennis courts.
It was good to still have a game with something on it, at least as far as the visitors go, with 9th hosting 3rd in the league table. Inter Belper trail leaders Hilton Harriers by 4 points (+ 38 GD) and second placed Bakewell Town Development by three (+39 GD) and have two games in hand on both. The top two still have to play each other again yet, so the title is very much a three horse race.
Inter Belper went in front after just three minutes, finishing from close range. Six minutes later it was 0-2, this time breaking down the left before a pass across the box was easily put away. Midway through the half it was 0-3 and game over, when a corner wasn’t cleared and was finally forced in at the third attempt. Markeaton did hit the crossbar early in the second half and had a volley tipped round the post late on, but the visitors were well worth the win.
The win sees Inter Belper move up to second in the table and perhaps more crucially their goal difference is now + 40, which could be the deciding factor in who takes the title come the end of the season.
The ground is in a huge park. Tonight’s game was played on a pitch in the area south east of the lake, the furthest of the two pitches there, the one beyond the artificial cricket wicket. Typically for a council set up the markings were barely visible. The pitch had been freshly mowed, but the cuttings hadn’t been removed!
Above : Now that’s what you call a proper grassroots crossbar!
This was the perfect end to the season, with 2nd hosting 3rd in the league table. Whoever won would be champions. A draw would see the title go to current leaders Higham Town. Or, at least that was the case until some time this morning (after I had looked at the league table on the F.A. Full Time website) when it was decided by the league to award Higham Town 3 points from a game they had lost 2-1 away at Corby Siam back on May 6th (why did it take 2 weeks to sort this ?) which subsequently gave them the title. Nobody here seemed to know how many clubs get promoted from this division, so I’m not sure if the game actually had anything on it or not, or whether both clubs had already been promoted, regardless of the outcome. It certainly doesn’t give a glowing impression of the league. Mickey Mouse comes to mind……
Anyway, both teams appeared to be going for it. It certainly seemed to matter to them, even if the league itself comes across as a shambles. At least there were 3 match officials, so whoever came out on top would do so fairly, rather than be aided by some dodgy ‘offside’ call that is far too often the case when ‘club linesmen’ are involved!
The game was very keenly fought, although there weren’t many goal scoring opportunities. Finedon led 1-0 through a penalty, scored nine minutes before halftime. Medbourne levelled just after the hour mark, finishing left footed from just outside the 18 yard box. Two minutes into stoppage time Medbourne scored the winner, when a long range shot seemed to deceive the ‘keeper, sailing over his head, before going in off the underside of the crossbar. There was still time for Finedon to have a man sent off and despite a further eight minutes played after the goal, there was to be no way back for the hosts.
It was a very impressive crowd for this level. The number of ‘hoppers present was in the mid-teens and it certainly helped that the Reserves had a game following on from the main event.
With Hinton’s normal home venue unavailable due to sharing with cricket, this game was moved to the railed off grass pitch at Hadley Wood Sports Trust, a venue I had previously visited in July 2018, when I saw Hadley lose 0-3 to Redbridge, in a friendly that was played on the adjacent 3G pitch.
I’m not sure if it was the lure of a programme that attracted about 20 ‘hoppers for this one, or the fact that the game had something on it for both teams. It was the last game of the season for Chipperfield. They were second in the table, two points behind leaders Bush Hill Rangers, who still have two games to play, as well as having a better goal difference, so nothing short of a win would be enough for Chipperfield, and even then, they would still be unlikely to win it. Hinton needed the points for a different reason. They are currently in the relegation zone, but could still avoid the drop if they win one of their last two games, starting with tonight.
It was a very tight game and Hinton really made Chipperfield work for the three points. In fact, on the evidence of tonight’s performance, it was hard to believe that Hinton were struggling near the foot of the table.There were plenty of chances at both ends, but only one was converted. It was enough to win it for the visitors and came seven minutes into the second half, when a ball in from the wing went straight across the face of the goal, before being put in at the far post.
Due to their superior goal difference over Hoddesdon Town Reserves, who are one point above them, having completed their games, a draw at home to Buntingford Town on Thursday will see Hinton survive the drop.
