Professional Development League

Tuesday 25th January 2022

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.01

Bristol City U23 1 Charlton Athletic U23 2, attendance 128

32’ 0-1

80’ 0-2

86’ 1-2

@ Robins High Performance Centre, Stadium Pitch

Cleveland Road

Failand

BS8 3TN

Admission Free, Print at Home Ticket

Team Sheet, free.

I had seen Bristol City U18 lose 0-1 to Chelsea U18 back on 5th September 2009, where the game was played at the Q.E.H. Sports Ground. Car parking is still at this ground, but the new Robins High Performance Centre has been built next door, towards Bristol, with a main Stadium Pitch that has just over 300 seats. Admission is free, but you have to book a ticket online.

Today’s game was poor. Charlton created far more chances and were deserved winners. The opening goal came from a follow in on a shot that came back off the crossbar and their second was a tap in at the far post, after the ball was played across the six yard box. The late City goal, followed in after the ’keeper parried a shot from the edge of the box, was little more than a consolation.

Bedfordshire F.A. Senior Trophy

Semi Final

Saturday 22nd January 2022

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.03

Queens Park Crescents 0 Stotfold 5, attendance 125

10’ 0-1

27’ 0-2

34’ 0-3

63’ 0-4

73’ 0-5

@ Allen Park

Old Ford End Road

Bedford

MK40 4LY

No Admission or Programme.

This was 9th in Bedfordshire County League Premier Division (Step 7) versus 1st in Spartan South Midlands League Division 1 (Step 6). I had seen QPC away at Oakley United in an earlier round of the competition (they were losing 3-2 when the game was abandoned due to an horrific injury to an Oakley player, before getting through on penalties, after a 4-4 draw, when the game was rescheduled) and had been impressed with them. They played some really good football and were third in the league table at the time.

Today, however, they were easily blown away by the visitors. In fact, I don’t recall them even having a shot on target. It was very disappointing game to watch as a neutral and never looked like there was ever a chance of a cup upset. The game was all over before we were even half an hour in, as Stotfold went 0-2 up and soon added another to make it 0-3 at halftime. The second half was more of the same, with Stotfold adding two more, both scored by Kersey, to complete his hat trick. I can’t imagine too many teams have had such an easy game to reach a cup final.

National League U19 Alliance

Academy South

Wednesday 19th January 2022

Kick Off 12.45 Actual 12.48

Dover Athletic U19 2 Welling United U19 2, attendance 9

17’ 1-0

62’ 1-1

66’ 1-2

86’ 2-2

@ Baldon Sports Ground

Eltham Palace Road

Lee

London

SE9 5LU

No Admission or Programme.

Although this was a Dover Athletic home game, it was played in South East London, at a ground Welling United use for their academy games when not using the main stadium at Park View Road.

The match was 5th versus 11th (2nd bottom) in the league table and was an excellent match of very high quality. Dover opened the scoring with a superb goal. The ball was played forward to a striker, who with back to goal, flicked the ball up and swivelled to volley an unstoppable shot that dipped over the ‘keeper into the far corner of the net. Pretty much a carbon copy of the goal Thierry Henry scored for Arsenal against Manchester United at Highbury back in 2000.

Welling turned the game round with two goals in five minutes just after the hour mark, the first a shot from the edge of the box and the second a cracking 30 yarder that flew over the ‘keeper. Dover deservedly drew level with four minutes left, scrambling in a corner from close range, but they will be disappointed to have only taken a draw from a game where they were the better side for long periods.

National League South

Tuesday 18th January 2022

Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.48

Hampton & Richmond Borough 2 Braintree Town 4, attendance 657

20’ 1-0 (pen)

22’ 1-1

30’ 1-2

37’ 1-3

81’ 2-3

88’ 2-4

@ The Beveree Stadium

Beaver Close

off Station Road

Hampton

TW12 2BX

Free Admission (normally £14)

£1 minimum donation for Programme (from original date) Didn’t bother buying.

With no new grounds available to me tonight, I had whittled down to a couple of choices for revisits. Here, or nearby Molesey, who were hosting Jersey Bulls. I went for this as it was free admission (still had to book a ticket online, but just counted in by a hand clicker on arrival, so didn’t need it) which came about due to the original game being abandoned (with Braintree leading 0-1 at the time) before the rescheduled match was postponed not long before kick off. So they were hoping it would be third time lucky. My only other visit here was to see Hampton 0 Brentford 8 in a pre season friendly back on 19th July 1995 and I remembered nothing whatsoever about the ground. It is a bit of a hotch potch of six separate bits of cover and tightly hemmed in. In those days Hampton were only in Isthmian League Division 2, whilst Brentford were in the ‘old’ Second Division, so quite a rise for the two clubs in the intervening 27 years.

Tonight’s match was 15th versus 21st (bottom). Braintree started off much the better side, but H&RB went in front from the penalty spot, totally against the run of play. By halftime the visitors had turned it round, to lead 1-3, but they could easily have doubled this, such was their dominance. The second half never matched the free flowing, end to end, nature of the first. A late goal for the hosts, making it 2-3 with nine minutes left, livened it up though. Braintree didn’t sit back and try to hang on, but instead replied with a fourth goal two minutes from time, breaking down the right and playing the ball across the box, where the ‘keeper was beaten emphatically to make it 2-4. Braintree deservedly took all three points and climb off the bottom of the table as a result.

Bedfordshire County League

Premier Division

Saturday 15th January 2022

Kick Off 14.00. On Time !

Marston Shelton Rovers 4 Cranfield United 0, attendance 47

2’ 1-0

16’ 2-0

49’ 3-0

78’ 4-0

@ Marston Playing Field

Bedford Road

Marston Moretaine

MK43 0LD

No Admission or Programme.

This was 11th versus 1st in the league table. When checking out the visitors, I was surprised to see it was as far back as 2013 that they dropped back into County League football from the Spartan South Midlands League. MSR went ahead after just two minutes, increasing their lead with a header from a corner after sixteen minutes and the league leaders just never recovered. It was 3-0 four minutes into the second half, before a long ball over the top was well finished by the striker to round off the scoring with twelve minutes left.

The defeat sees Cranfield drop to second place in the table and with the four clubs below them all having enough games in hand to potentially overtake them, then it is unlikely that they will still be in with a realistic chance of winning it. MSR are now tenth.

Arthurian League

Premier Division

Saturday 15th January 2022

Kick Off 10.30 Actual 10.32

Old Harrovians 3 Old Alleynians 5, attendance 9

15’ 0-1

26’ 0-2

30’ 0-3

41’ 0-4

45’+ 2, 0-5

71’ 1-5

75’ 2-5

89’ 3-5

@ Harrow School, 3G Pitch

Garlands Lane

Harrow

HA1 3EA

No Admission or Programme.

I had seen a match here before, when Harrow School played Allen’s School in the Independent Schools F.A. Cup, a game that was played on Park Lake Field, which runs parallel to the 3G pitch, but is on a higher plateau and separated by grass banking and a few trees. The cage here has no designated spectator area, but there was no problem standing inside the fence to watch.

As for the game, it went pretty much as expected, where bottom of the league table hosted fourth. Alleynians were simply superb in the first half, cruising into a 0-5 lead by halftime, with a couple of top quality goals. Despite Harrovians scoring three times in the second half, without reply, the game was never as close as the score line suggests. I have seen Harrovians play at home twice now this season and both games have produced eight goals. Unfortunately for them, they were both defeats, as they were beaten 2-6 by Old Wykehamists in a game played at The Philathletic Ground on 16th October.

F.A. Youth Cup 4th Round

Friday 14th January 2022

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 19.04

Leicester City U18 1 Crewe Alexandra U18 0, attendance 448

90’ 1-0

@ Leicester City F.C. Training Ground, Stadium Pitch

Park Hill Lane

Seagrave

LE12 7NG

£3 Admission, plus £1-50 booking fee, Print at Home Ticket

Team Sheet, free.

I was surprised to see last Sunday that tickets for this game had gone on general sale. It was the perfect opportunity to visit the club’s brand new training facility and guarantee that the game would be played on the Stadium Pitch here, which has a 499 seat stand. Apparently there were 448 tickets available for the match and they had all sold by Wednesday evening. As with the training grounds of most Premier League clubs theses days, it is an impressive set up, which along with numerous other pitches, there is also a full size indoor one as well. It is a far cry from their Belvoir Drive Training Ground in Aylestone, where I saw their U18 side draw 1-1 versus Birmingham City, in a Midland Youth League match back on 19th September 1992.

It was advertised that there was limited parking at the site, but on arrival at 17.45, it was clear this wasn’t the case and there were plenty of spaces and everything was well organised. The only problem there would be tonight was the weather. It was very foggy and there were doubts that the game would reach the ninety minute mark, let alone extra time and possibly penalties. It certainly looked bleak approaching halftime, as the fog began to descend again, but thankfully, it started to lift early in the second half.

The first half wasn’t great. Crewe hit the crossbar early on and Leicester never looked like scoring. The second half improved. If there was to be a breakthrough, then it was the hosts that looked to be the more likely to achieve it, especially as they piled on the pressure in the last 15 minutes. The winner came with just 57 seconds of normal time remaining. Joe Wormleighton flicked the ball over one defender, then beat a second, before playing the ball across the 6 yard box for Jack Butterfill to net the winner. What a relief. I certainly didn’t fancy having to watch another half hour of what had been a poor game overall.

National League U19 Alliance

Division B

Wednesday 12th January 2022

Kick Off 11.00 Actual 11.02

V.C.D. Athletic U19 3 Charlton Athletic Trust U19 2, attendance 8

2’ 0-1

14’ 1-1

45’ 2-1

77’ 2-2 (pen)

90’+ 3, 3-2

@ Kidbrooke Playing Fields, 3G Pitch

Dursley Road

Kidbrooke

London

SE3 8PB

No Admission or Programme.

The ground here is home to Long Lane J.F.C. which perhaps explains why the pitch is so narrow, as it is only about 7 yards from touchline to 18 yard box. Spectator access is limited to one side only, but at least it is the entire length and there is a seated Atcost stand on the halfway line, but the sight lines are not good, which is why no one sat in it. There is a railed off grass pitch running the opposite way beyond the far goal, where Long Lane play in Division 2 West of the Kent County League, so another visit beckons one day to see a game on there as well.

Charlton took an early lead, but V.C.D. levelled through an own goal before we were quarter of an hour in. It was a good end to end, free flowing match, with V.C.D. edging 2-1 in front right on halftime, flicking the ball past the ‘keeper after a headed clearance from a free kick was put back into the box. The second half pattern followed that of the first and Charlton looked to have got a point, when a penalty made it 2-2 with thirteen minutes left, but V.C.D. nicked it in stoppage time, scrambling in from close range following a long throw into the 6 yard box.

Premier League 2

Division 2

Monday 10th January 2022

Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.29

Aston Villa U23 1 Middlesbrough U23 2, attendance 200

21’ 0-1 (pen)

66’ 0-2

82’ 1-2

@ Bodymoor Heath Training Ground, Stadium Pitch

Bodymoor Heath Road

Bodymoor Heath

B78 2BB

£5 Admission, e-ticket.

Team Sheet, free.

I was quite surprised on Sunday to notice that tickets for this match had gone on general sale, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic causing a number of top clubs to close their training grounds recently due to outbreaks. It just required registering to obtain a fan I.D. number to enable buying a ticket online.

I had actually seen a match at Bodymoor Heath before, when I saw Villa U18 beat their Wolverhampton Wanderers counterparts 3-1 in a Midland Youth League game, back on 17th December 1994. In those days the ground was immediately to your left (it is still there) as you turned in off Bodymoor Heath Road. Another 400 yards along the driveway is a section of the new training complex that has 4 pitches along with an indoor training centre, then another 3-400 yards further on is where todays game was played. There are a number of full and small sized pitches in this section, as well as a 3G pitch that backs on to the main Stadium Pitch.

The league table suggested this might be a home win, as Villa were fifth, having taken 22 points from their 13 games, whilst Middlesbrough had won just 4 of their fifteen games, losing the other eleven. It certainly went against form. Boro were the better side for long periods, taking a first half lead with a penalty scored by Calum Kavanagh. The same player added their second, rounding the ‘keeper when put through, before finishing from a tight angle. A late 20 yarder from Finley Thorndike, that the ‘keeper should really have saved, was too little, too late, as far as Villa getting anything from the match went. The second half had deteriorated badly, not helped by the constant time wasting from Boro, which was happening for the entire half. Unfortunately, we had a Referee who was too weak to put a stop to it.

Herts Senior County League

Division 1

Saturday 8th January 2022

Kick Off 15.00. On Time !

Oracle Components 2 Bovingdon Reserves 0, attendance 12

26’ 1-0

75’ 2-0

@ Richard Hale School, 3G Pitch

Peg’s Lane

Hertford

SG13 8EN

No Admission or Programme.

I’m not a fan of doing 3G grounds on a Saturday afternoon, or watching games with Reserve team opposition, but the late kick off at my earlier match left me with little option. At least it meant I would complete the top two divisions of the Herts Senior County League by finally getting this one done and it had the look of a decent game, as it was 3rd versus 5th in the league table. Unlike earlier, there was a spectator rail along almost three quarters of the near side, and with the opposite side and the far goal end being enclosed by wooden fencing panels, rather than the standard see through mesh fencing, meaning it didn’t really feel like a cage,(apart from the small sized goals all over the place) which is certainly a plus.

I was surprised at how good the football on show was, from both teams. It certainly seemed a better standard than other matches I have watched in this division (tier 2) over the years. The game was decided by a goal in each half for the hosts. A right wing cross was headed in at the far post for the opener, before another header, finding the top corner of the net from 10 yards, with fifteen minutes left, made the points safe.

The win sees Oracle Components leapfrog Hinton into second place in the table. They trail leaders Hertford Heath by eight points, but do have two games in hand, as well as hosting them here later in the season, so they are in with a great chance of taking the title.