Portugal

Primeira Liga

Friday 7th February 2020

Kick Off 20.30 Actual 20.31

F.C. Paços de Ferreira 0 Boavista F.C. 1, attendance 3,105

35’ 0-1

@ Estadio da Capital do Movel

Rua do Estadio,

Apartado 26

4594-909 Paços de Ferreira

€15 Admission

Programme free, 16 pages.

A visit here was never in our thoughts until a few days ago. We had been planning a weekend trip to Spain, which despite being ranked as a top league in European terms, is certainly not so when it comes to how poor they are at releasing exact fixture dates and kick off times, usually working on four weeks ahead at best. Having seen the latest batch of dates released, we booked our flights on 13th January, heading for our planned opening fixture of the trip at the 21.00 kick off at Real Valladolid C.F. However, despite tickets being available to buy on the club website in the days running up to us booking our flights, we were astounded to see that at just six days notice. the match was moved to 18.30 on the Saturday night instead! There were still two matches being played in Spain tonight though, but unfortunately they were at Alaves and Almeria. One of us had been to Alaves, whilst the other had been to Almeria, so no use to us.
Portugal was our only hope. There was only one match scheduled in the top two divisions tonight, here at Paços de Ferreira. The good news was that neither of us had visited the ground. The bad news was that we had booked flights into Madrid (Valladolid is only 2 hours drive north of here) so we were faced with a five and a quarter hour drive (369 miles), but as our flight was due to land at 13.35, then we would make it comfortably. We were also helped by Portugal being in the same time zone as here in the U.K. (1 hour behind Spain) so we had an extra hour to play with once we crossed the border. The only problem was, the flight was delayed, leaving one hour thirty seven minutes late, and having landed in Madrid, it then took another 15 minutes for them to get the doors open to get us unloaded! By the time we had collected our hire car, the SatNav was showing we would arrive at the stadium just 43 minutes before kick off. We would still need a fuel/food stop as well, but as there were no other options, we would just give it our best shot.

We arrived in Paços de Ferreira, parking in a side street adjacent to the ground, by 20.05. A five minute walk soon saw as at the ticket office, then it was a case of joining the long queue at the turnstiles, which was slowed considerably by the ‘patting down’ security check, but we had made it. We were seated with six minutes to spare! (7 if you count the minute late it actually started). The stadium has a capacity of 9,146, which is ample for most games in the top level of Portuguese football. The new seated stand behind the goal was the only part of the ground that wasn’t open tonight,

The match was 16th versus 8th in the league table. A lot of games I have seen in Portugal have been dull affairs, but that certainly wasn’t the case here, despite there being only one goal. A right wing cross was headed in powerfully at the far post to win it for the visitors, but Paços should have won this comfortably. They made chance after chance. They totally outplayed Boavista, pinning them inside their own half for long periods, but just couldn’t break them down. Boavista were awarded a penalty in stoppage time, but this was overturned by V.A.R. taking a ridiculous three minutes for them to review the decision. The match kept the interest throughout and was really enjoyable from a neutral point of view. The atmosphere was good too. The 400 or so Boavista fans, in the open end behind the goal, were in full voice and even a couple of rain showers in the dying minutes didn’t quieten them down.

It had been a long day, most of it spent under pressure in one way or another, but it had been worth it. The fact that it was such a good game certainly lifted our spirits. At least tomorrow would see less driving………..

France

Ligue 2

Tuesday 4th February 2020

Kick Off 21.05. On Time !

Paris F.C. 2 Athletic Club Ajaccio 3, attendance 1,875 (official)

7’ 0-1

11’ 1-1 (pen)

24’ 1-2

42’ 2-2

86’ 2-3

@ Stade Sebastien Charlety

99 Boulevard Kellermann

75013 Paris

€15 Admission

Programme free, 8 pages.

The Stade Sébastien Charléty, which is in the south of Paris, was opened in 1939 and is now a modern all seated stadium of 20,000 capacity. It is far too big for Paris F.C. (tonight’s crowd was barely 500, despite what the official attendance figure claims), but along with Red Star ‘93 they are very much the poor relations as far as football goes in the French capital. Paris F.C. were formed in 1969, but just one year later they merged with Stade Saint-Germain, forming Paris Saint-Germain, who are now one of the richest clubs in the world. By 1973 the two clubs had split and they have certainly gone in different directions since. Whilst P.S.G. dominate the game in France, Paris F.C. have struggled to establish themselves and haven’t played in Ligue 1 since 1978/79 season.

Tonight’s match was 19th (second bottom) versus 3rd in the league table. As French matches go, this was actually quite entertaining. It certainly helped that the visitors (from the island of Corsica) took an early lead when a back pass was under hit, leading to the ball being played across the box for an easy tap in. Within four minutes it was level again when Paris scored from a very generously awarded penalty. A cracking left footed volley from 20 yards put the visitors back in front, but Paris made it 2-2 in the dying minutes of the half. The crossbar was hit three times, but it looked like we would see no more goals. However, Paris missed an absolute ‘sitter’ with four minutes to go, blazing high and wide with the goal gaping and Ajaccio then went down the other end and a through ball was slipped past the onrushing ‘keeper by substitute Jallow to take the three points.

Paris is just about as far as you’d want to travel for a day trip, and if you do, you certainly need four people in the car to try and offset the French Toll Road costs. The return journey, 185 miles each way from The Tunnel, was a whopping €42.20 in tolls, and on top of that, there was the car parking charge. €16.60 in the underground car park beneath the stadium. The journey down took considerably longer than the return, not helped by hitting Paris in ‘rush hour’. The 21.05 kick off, along with the near three hour drive, meant we had to book the 03.25 return on Eurotunnel, due to the lack of trains running through the night. At least it left on time, but it lost 10 minutes off the scheduled arrival. Once again the M20 had closures, which seems to be a permanent thing these days! It was closed from Junction 11 to 10, then again from Junction 4 to 2, meaning key in the door at 04.40. One consolation though. The other three passengers would be home an hour later than me!

Essex & Suffolk Border League

Premier Division

Saturday 1st February 2020

Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.35

Flitch United 2 Great Bentley 3, attendance 25

1’ 1-0

29’ 2-0

59’ 2-1

82’ 2-2

86’ 2-3

@ Alcott Playing Field

Oak Field

Stebbing

CM6 3SY

No Admission or Programme.

Today’s match was 3rd versus 4th in the league table. Flitch United were 7 points behind the leaders Stanway Pegasus, but with two games in hand. Great Bentley were two points further adrift, but have an additional two games in hand, so they were both still very much in with a shout of winning the league.

Flitch United scored after just 30 seconds when a speculative shot found the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box. It was 2-0 half an hour in, with a volleyed finish from twenty yards. Great Bentley had actually had the better chances, but it took them until just before the hour mark to make a breakthrough, when a cross from the right was chested down and guided into the bottom corner from 6 yards. They really pressed for an equaliser, which they finally got with eight minutes left, heading in from a corner. The inevitable winner followed four minutes later. The ball was hooked back across the six yard box and scrambled in at the far post.

The Netherlands

Friday 31st January 2020

Derde Divisie, Zaterdag

Kick Off 19.30. On Time !

V.V. G.O.E.S. 2 H.S.V. Hoek 0, attendance 1,250

34’ 1-0 (pen)

52’ 2-0

@ Sportpark Het Schenge

Geldeloozepad 5

4463 AJ

Goes

€6 Admission, including Programme, 4 pages.

Free Team Sheet and Season Magazine.

It is quite rare to get a match outside the top two levels of Dutch football being played on a Friday night, so when this ‘Zeeland Derby’ was switched to a Friday evening, it was too good an opportunity to miss. Even better, it was less than two and a half hours drive (via the Terneuzen Tunnel Toll Road, which costs €5 each way)from the Eurotunnel terminal in France.

Hoek is only 22 miles south of Goes,(via the Terneuzen Tunnel) so a big crowd was anticipated. The visitors even laid on extra coaches to transport their fans to the match. Non Members were being charged €20 for the round trip of less than fifty miles. Perhaps a well known ground hop organisation from England were advising them on their pricing! G.O.E.S. were certainly geared up for their biggest crowd of the season, including additional car parking, the arrangements having been posted on their website a few days in advance. Even though we knew about this, we decided to drive as near to the ground as possible and take a chance on finding a parking place. Everything was barriered off, but the car parking steward took pity on us and allowed us to park in the area reserved for sponsors and officials. It saved us a ten minute walk after the game, which was invaluable, as it meant there would be no problem making our booked crossing on the way home.

Even though the club has the same name as the town, it is actually an abbreviation of their full title….Gezamenlijk Opwaarts Eendrachtig Sterk (English translation Together Upward United(ly) Strong). Back in 1911/12 they spent one season in the second level of Dutch football, whilst this season sees their return to the Derde Divisie, ( two divisions of equal standing, split between Saturday and Sunday clubs) which these days is level four of the pyramid, giving them a ‘rivalry’ with Hoek.

G.O.E.S. came into this 13th in the league table, but they have been a on a decent run of late, winning three and drawing one of their last five games. Hoek were in fifth place, but some 16 points adrift of table toppers Sparta Nijkerk. Despite the large crowd, which seemed to be split 60-40 in favour of the visitors, the atmosphere seemed rather subdued, although you wouldn’t have thought that would be the case from the welcome the Hoek fans gave the teams as they entered the pitch. They certainly took no notice of the plea on social media to refrain from using fireworks or flares!

Neither side looked to be getting on top for the first half hour, but the game turned the way of G.O.E.S. a few minutes later, when Hoek had a man red carded for a push inside the box and G.O.E.S. converted from the penalty spot to open the scoring. The all important second goal arrived seven minutes into the second half, with a ball pulled back across the six yard box easily side footed in at the far post. The 10 men never looked like getting back into it and G.O.E.S. easily held on for a comfortable 2-0 win.

It was once again a trouble free journey back to The Tunnel and we easily made it in time for our booked 00.20 return crossing. It was nice to be a part of history of sorts, as this would be the first Eurotunnel train to return to the U.K. following us leaving the European Union! As with our outbound train earlier in the day, it left six minutes late. At least the M20 was only closed from Junction 4 to 2, meaning our drive home took ten minutes longer than it should have.

Essex & Suffolk Border League

Premier Division

Wednesday 29th January 2020

Kick Off 20.00 Actual 20.04

Tiptree Engaine 3 Brantham Athletic Reserves 1, attendance 34

11’ 1-0

23’ 2-0

52’ 3-0

79’ 3-1

@ Thurstable School Sports Centre, 3G Pitch

Maypole Road

Tiptree

CO5 0EW

No Admission or Programme.

Tiptree Engaine play their home matches at two different venues. Back in November I saw them play Alresford Colne Rangers at Burches Meadow, in Colne Engaine, where I witnessed a quite unbelievable match. Tiptree were 5-0 up after nineteen minutes, but conceded a goal four minutes into stoppage time, which resulted in the visitors winning the game 5-6!

Their other home ground is here at Thurstable School, where they normally play on a grass pitch. In an effort to catch up on their fixtures, they played this on the 3G Pitch, which is just a basic cage, having no designated spectator area, although there was no problem with spectators watching at pitch side.

The match was a real relegation battle, as third from bottom in the league table hosted second from bottom. Tiptree Engaine led 2-0 at the break, both goals courtesy of their No.14. It was 3-0 early in the second half, as the hosts began to get well on top. Their No.14 missed two great chances to complete his hat trick, but it wasn’t to be and an own goal saw Brantham pull it back to 3-1 late on.

Wessex League

Premier Division

Tuesday 28th January 2020

Kick Off 19.45. on Time !

A.F.C. Stoneham 0 Horndean 0, attendance 102

@ Stoneham Lane Football Complex, Stadium Pitch

Stoneham Lane

Eastleigh

SO16 2PA

£6 Admission, including Programme (they had run out, but still charged full price)

It is hard to believe that this 3G caged pitch meets the standard to play matches at Step 5. Stoneham moved into the ground a few weeks ago and surprisingly it is the sixth ground I have now visited in Stoneham Lane! There is just one Atcost seated stand and that is it. To use the toilets you would have to go back through the turnstiles, unless you didn’t need to use the facilities until after the players and officials left the pitch at halftime, when they finally opened the gate to the side.

The most ridiculous thing here is that you have to register to access the site in the first place. One rumour going round was that this is a requirement from the Hampshire F.A. (they paid for the development, which also has two other artificial pitches) so that they can monitor the demographic of users and how frequently they visit. Full personal details have to be given online in order to receive your ‘QR’ code, which is scanned just to get you into the reception area. It would be interesting to understand how this scheme complies with GDPR and how the personal data collected is managed. It is a pointless exercise though, as it is just as easy to just scan yourself in using someone else’s code as you can go in and out as many times as you want.

Every so often you visit a ground you wish you hadn’t bothered doing and this is one of them. You know how bland it will be before you go, but would expect far better for this level of football. The pitch even has other markings on it, which really shouldn’t be allowed so high up the pyramid. It makes matters worse when the club is not welcoming in the first place. They advertise admission which includes the programme, but having not produced enough, they still continue to charge full price to those outside the print run numbers. Having paid with a £10 note, I was given 2 x £1 and 2 x 20p coins as my change, which was apparently a genuine mistake by the gateman! It was soon rectified.

Despite this being 2nd versus 3rd in the league table, it was absolutely dreadful. These were two really poor sides and if they are this high up the table, just how bad are the teams below them. At least Horndean had a couple of shots, both early in the game. Stoneham were just awful.

Belgium

Brabant Provincial 4D V.F.V.

Sunday 26th January 2020

Kick Off 17.30 Actual 17.33

K. Sporting F.C. Haren 1 K.F.C. Wezembeek-Oppem 4, attendance 28

24’ 0-1

44’ 1-1

53’ 1-2

74’ 1-3

90’ 1-4

@ Sporthalstraat 21

1130 Haren

No Admission or Programme.

In the end we made it in plenty of time for this one, arriving thirteen minutes before kick off and it kicked off three minutes late on top of that! Although it is a 3G Pitch, the surroundings look old, so it was probably a grass pitch originally.

The match was 12th versus 2nd in the league table. It wasn’t high on skill, which is what you’d expect at this level, but both teams had a go and there were plenty of chances at both ends. Wezembeek were in control, having gone ahead midway through the first half, but Haren levelled a minute before the break, when their winger cut inside and finished with a shot into the far corner. Wezembeek edged back in front early in the second half and deservedly added two more goals to run out comfortable 1-4 winners.

We were booked on the 21.36 Eurotunnel, which was the earliest available at the time of booking, due to planned engineering works. We knew we weren’t going to make it on time for check in due to watching the extra match, but rather than reschedule, we just took a chance and hoped for the best. We ended up being given the 2250, which wasn’t too bad, but made it onto the 22.42. This left seven minutes late, so we didn’t gain much, but it could have been worse. The M20 was once again closed between Junction 9 and 7 as we headed home and added to the fact that most of the M20 is restricted to a 50 mph limit from Ashford to the M26, then it meant arrival home was five minutes before midnight.

Belgium

Limburg Provincial 1

Sunday 26th January 2020

Kick Off 14.30. On Time!

Bregel Sport 2 K. Achel V.V. 1, attendance 88

66’ 1-0

68’ 1-1

79’ 2-1

@ Terboekt

Meistraat 29

Sledderlo

3600 Genk

€10 Admission (included one free drink)

Team Sheet, free.

I had visited Bregel Sport on 12th September 2010, when they beat S.C. Zichen-Zussen-Bolder 2-0 in a Limburg Provincial 1 match. That game was played at their ‘Richter’ ground, but in 2013 (unknown to us until last season) they had moved to their new complex in Meistraat .

Today’s match was a mid table battle, as ninth hosted seventh. The first half was goalless, with neither team looking like making a breakthrough. The second half continued in the same vein, but it burst in to life when Bregel opened the scoring, when a free kick from just outside the box left the ‘keeper rooted to the spot as the ball flew into the top corner of the net. Achel levelled within two minutes, with a shot from 20 yards, that beat the ‘keeper into the bottom corner with the aid of a deflection.

Bregel got the winner through their No.9, who had come on as a second half substitute, when a cross from the left was headed in from 6 yards with eleven minutes left. They ended up playing the last eight minutes, plus almost four minutes of stoppage time, with 10 men, having had a defender red carded for dragging down an Achel striker as he tried to break clear. Achel pushed hard for an equaliser, but the Bregel defence stood firm.

We had been keeping an eye on the clock, hoping that the game wouldn’t finish too far past 16.15, as we had noticed that there was a 17.30 kick off in the north east of Brussels, and it was only a few miles off our route home. With a bit of luck we would make it, as according to SatNav it would take us just under an hour to drive the 58 miles. By 16.22 we were on our way……

Belgium

Limburg Provincial U17 C

Sunday 26th January 2020

Kick Off 11.15. On Time!

Eendracht Termien U17B 4 F.C. Diepenbeek U17 0, attendance 43

42’ 1-0

47’ 2-0

51’ 3-0

77’ 4-0

@ “ ‘T Heke “, Pitch 2

Oude Termienstraat 8

Termien

3600 Genk

No Admission or Programme.

This match was used to kill a bit of time for us and was less than fifteen minutes drive from our intended afternoon match. Having done a couple of games at this level on recent weekend trips, I wasn’t expecting too much. The two matches I have seen before were just too one sided. Today was far more competitive, although once Termien made the breakthrough they ran out comfortable winners.

The game was played on Pitch 2, which runs end on to the main stadium, being separated by the clubhouse/changing room building. I had seen the first team beat K. Daring Hugo Jeuk 3-1 in a Limburg Provincial 1 match back on 5th January 2014, but hadn’t paid any attention to the other pitches within the complex.

Having taken no photographs on my visit to the main stadium, I decided to do so today. The ground looks unchanged in the intervening six years. (See below).

Belgium

Brabant Provincial 2A V.F.V.

Saturday 25th January 2020

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.33

K. Stormvogels Haasrode 1 V.C. Houtem-Oplinter 1, attendance 130

45’ 1-0

53’ 1-1

@ Kartuizerstraat 2

Haasrode

3052 Blanden

€7 Admission

No Programme.

We were staying overnight in Leuven, so we checked in at our hotel before heading off to our evening matches. The driver was heading for O.H.R. Huldenberg in Brabant Provincial 1, but I had visited there in November 2014, so I needed an alternative. Haasrode fitted the bill, as it was an easy drop off en route to Huldenburg, without going too far out of the way.

Haasrode started the game in twelfth place in the league table, whilst Houtem-Oplinter were second, two points adrift of the leaders Sportief Rotselaar. The first half was very dull. Neither team managed an effort on target until Haasrode opened the scoring in the dying seconds of the half, when a shot on the turn from the edge of the box went in off the inside of the post. Houtem-Oplinter went up a gear in the second half, levelling the score with a close range finish after Haasrode had failed to clear a corner. They were unlucky not to nick a winning goal as they were well on top for the last half an hour, twice hitting the crossbar. Haasrode nearly won it in stoppage time though, when they broke clear, but the ‘keeper saved well with his legs.

During the afternoon game it had been misty, but as we headed eastwards, it became more foggy. Although it swirled over the stands for much of the match, it never became bad enough for the game to be under threat of not lasting the full ninety minutes, although I believe that wasn’t the case down the road in Huldenberg!