At this time of year you can never guarantee everything going to plan. We were booked on the 09.20 Eurotunnel, but were loaded on the earlier 08.50 train, which left a minute early. We knew we would get at least three games in over the weekend, but things turned out better than expected.
Our day was starting in the bottom level of Oost Vlaanderen Provincial, where we would see fifth in the league table hosting fourth place. The game was lacking in skill, but was very entertaining. Neigem scored early on and could easily have been five or six goals ahead, but for some dreadful finishing. Winnik levelled in stoppage time, when a long range effort was spilled by the ‘keeper, with the ball volleyed in by a striker following in.
Winnik never really got going in the second half, despite kicking down the slope. The game could have gone either way, but as we approached the final ten minutes, a long ball was played over the top and as the Winnik ‘keeper game out to scoop the ball up, he misjudged the bounce, with the loose ball scrambled over the line to put Neigem 2-1 up. A third goal for the hosts finally made the game safe in the last minute. There was still time for a Neigem player to receive a yellow card, when he removed his shirt as he walked towards the bench as he was being substituted!
S.K. Munkzwalm 5 K. Standaard S.V. Denderleeuw 3, attendance 206
3’ 0-1
12’ 1-1
17’ 2-1 (pen)
49’ 3-1
59’ 3-2
70’ 3-3
82’ 4-3
85’ 5-3
@ Zwalmmeersch
Rekegemstraat 19/1
9630 Munkzwalm
€5 Admission
Team Sheet, free.
Today was the first trip to Belgium of the new year and indeed new decade. With the only Provincial 1 matches we hadn’t visited being too far east to risk the weather, we played safe and chose to stay west of Brussels, taking in the Oost Vlaanderen 2B runaway leaders S.K. Munkzwalm. With the 3G pitch here, our only problem would be snow, but it was a pleasant day in the end and quite warm when the sun broke through.
Munkzwalm saw their 13 point lead at the top temporarily cut back to 10 points, as second placed K.V.C. De Toekomst Borsbeke won 2-0 last night. Today’s visitors, Denderleeuw, came into this in sixth place in the league table, just 4 points off third place.
Denderleeuw opened the scoring with a curling shot into the top corner after just three minutes, but Munkzwalm had turned it round by the seventeenth minute, levelling it up with a close range finish, following a blocked shot, before converting a penalty, awarded for a trip, to make it 2-1, which was how it remained until halftime. It was 3-1 within minutes of the restart, but two goals for the visitors, both scored from the edge of the 18 yard box, pulled it back to 3-3 with twenty minutes left. Munkzwalm won it with two goals in the last eight minutes, capitalising on two defensive mistakes, when a sliced clearance from a defender was volleyed in from 6 yards for 4-3, before a misplaced pass was intercepted by the winger who scored with a shot off the inside of the post to make it 5-3. Denderleeuw had a man sent off in the last minute following his second yellow card.
The decade got off to a good start as far as The Tunnel was concerned. We were booked on the 09.20 outbound, but were in time to be boarded on the 08.50 instead, whilst we made our planned 19.20 return train without any problems. The train even left a minute early in both directions!
Above : Munkzwalm go 2-1 up from the penalty spot.
The last time I saw Southwater play at home, back on 2nd January 2010, they lost 1-3 to Hurstpierpoint in a Mid Sussex Charity Cup 2nd Round match, which was played at Southwater Leisure Centre. This season they have moved into the recently opened Southwater Sports Club, which has a cricket pitch and tennis courts, as well as two football pitches. The club had tweeted on Friday night that “with our amazing new pitches and drainage we have no issues with called off games”. Since moving here they have not had a match postponed, which is hardly surprising, as the two pitches are absolutely superb and despite being halfway through January they remain in immaculate condition. There can’t be many clubs at this level who have access to such good playing surfaces.
Southwater came into this as league leaders, six points clear of second placed The Unicorn Bognor Regis, but having played three games more. Newtown Villa started the day in fifth place, level on points with fourth placed Capel, but having played five games more to amass the same total!
When Newtown Villa took an early lead it was just what the game needed from a neutral point of view and Southwater really turned on the style as they fought hard to get back into it. Despite levelling the scores after twenty minutes, they were unable to get in front before halftime, but not for the want of trying. They hit the crossbar four times and also had a goal disallowed. Southwater edged in front within five minutes of the restart, but the visitors were always in the game and looked dangerous on the break. When the lead was increased to 3-1, just after the hour mark, their resistance was finally broken. Southwater now attacked at will, but despite creating chance after chance, they only managed to add two further goals.
@ University South Wales Sport Park, Stadium 3G Pitch
Treforest Industrial Estate
Main Avenue (A4054)
Upper Boat
Pontypridd
CF37 5UP
£5 Admission
£1 Programme, 28 pages.
This season has seen a restructuring of the Welsh Pyramid. At level two there are now two divisions called Cymru North and Cymru South. The former is basically the Cymru Alliance League under a new name, whilst in the south, the new division replaces what was Division 1 of the Welsh League (this reduces from three divisions to two).
I have been to see matches at the University South Wales Sport Park twice before. The first time was on 22nd February 2003, when the ground was known by its former name, University of Glamorgan Playing Fields. I saw Cardiff City U19 draw 2-2 with West Bromwich Albion U19 in a Football League Youth Alliance Merit Division match, on a grass pitch that was beyond, but running parallel to the synthetic hockey pitch that is next to the car park. The second time I came here was for a Welsh League Division 1 match, on 26th May 2009, when I saw Bridgend Town beat Cwmbran Town 1-0. That game was played on a pitch in the near right hand corner of the complex, which was railed off and had dugouts and a small stand. It was a ground that Pontypridd Town have also played at, amongst various ground shares, since they left their former town centre ground Ynysangharad Park, which could not be brought up to the required ground grading standards due to it being in a public park.
I knew that Pontypridd Town had returned to play at USW Sport Park, but assumed it was back on the ground they used previously. Rumours of them using a 3G pitch here led me to believe that the grass pitch was now replaced by plastic. It turns out that they actually play on the brand new ‘Stadium 3G Pitch’, (complete with two seated stands of around 100 seats each) which is in the far left corner of the complex (end on to the grass pitch I have seen Cardiff City U19 use) running parallel to a full size indoor 3G Pitch. This was their third home game here and the first time they have played a midweek game here.
Despite this being 12th versus 14th (out of 16), the fact that it was a local derby, added to the novelty value of the first match here under lights, meant there was a very healthy crowd of close on two hundred here to see The Dragons coast to a very comfortable 6-0 win. The opening goal came courtesy of a good save by the Taffs Well ‘keeper, but as the ball hit the pitch, it went spinning backwards over the goal line as he desperately tried to claw it away. Rather harshly, some of the crowd were saying it was an own goal! He was unlucky with the second goal as well, when a shot was deflected past him to give the hosts a 2-0 lead at the break. It certainly didn’t look to be his night, when he was beaten at his near post for the third goal, then miss kicked a clearance which resulted in him being lobbed from 25 yards for the fourth. He certainly couldn’t be blamed for the last two goals, a near post header and a side footed finish from 6 yards.
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Middlesbrough 1, attendance 49,202
2’ 1-0 Lo Celso
15’ 2-0 Lamela
83’ 2-1 Saville
@ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Bill Nicholson Way
748 High Road
London
N17 0AP
£20 Admission + £3.50 (Non Members) booking fee, Print at Home Ticket
£3.50 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
Tottenham moved into their new 62,062 capacity stadium towards the end of last season, playing their final five home league matches there, having played at Wembley Stadium in the interim since leaving their old ‘White Hart Lane’ stadium in May 2017. There is a definite overlap of the stadium footprints at the South end (of the new ground), although I am not too sure whether the actual playing area has any overlap.
It feels like years ago, which of course it is, since I went to the old White Hart Lane ground. In fact, it was 22nd March 1987, when I saw Tottenham beat Liverpool 1-0 in a Division 1 (now Premier League) match in front of 32,760 spectators. It was very early on in my ground hopping days and was done purely to watch the game. Thoughts of ticking off ‘The 92’ had never entered my head at that stage, but that is no longer the case.
The attraction of visiting the ground tonight (apart from recompleting ‘The 92’) was that the tickets had gone on general sale (this was the lowest crowd they have had here for a first team fixture so far), so it was easy to book online, although you were still ripped off £3.50 to print off your own ticket at home! It helped though that all tickets at the North and South ends of the stadium were only £20, which is about as cheap as it gets to watch a match at a Premier League ground these days.
Jose Mourinho played a reasonably strong team, although Harry Kane is missing through injury and Dele Alli and Son Heung-Min were both on the bench, but did play during the last half hour, replacing Eric Dier and Lucas Moura respectively. According to the screens at the ground, Spurs have not lost a home game to lower division opposition in the F.A. Cup for 41 matches, going back to a defeat by Nottingham Forest in 1975! That run looked like it would soon be added to, when a mistake by the Middlesbrough ‘keeper gifted Spurs the opening goal in under two minutes and when the second goal came after a quarter of an hour, it looked like this could be a real thrashing. On balance of play, it could have easily been five or six nil at the break. Spurs played some really good football, and as a neutral, it made the game very easy to watch.
The second half tailed off a bit, but a late goal for Boro meant a very nervy last 10 minutes (including stoppage time) for the hosts. At least it gave the 3,700 fans in the away section of the ground some hope, although Boro never really did enough over all to take the match on into extra time. If it wasn’t for the away fans, the atmosphere would have been pretty dead, as the home support were only heard with an occasional chant here and there.
Due to the late kick off time and the possibility of extra time and penalties, I was forced to drive to the match (if I wanted to guarantee getting home). I drove to Southbury railway station (a couple of miles inside the M25, just off the A10 heading into London), using free street parking in Crown Road, no more than 200 yards away, and got the train 3 stops south to White Hart Lane station, which is only a few minutes walk from the ground. The first train back after the match was at 22.07, so rather than rush, (or leave the game early) I decided to make do with the 22.37 (one of the reasons I don’t use public transport in this country as it is so infrequent and unreliable). I was sitting in the South end of the stadium, up in Row 69, and despite taking forever to get down the blocked exit routes (they stood and applauded the team off the pitch, which was not helped with them attacking the far end in the second half) I easily made the train and was home before midnight.
It has to be said, that of all the new grounds that have been built for Premier League/Football League clubs during the last 30 odd years, (Scunthorpe United kicked it all off when they moved to Glanford Park in 1988) this is, in my opinion, the best of the lot and would rank well against any ground, not just in Europe, but the World.
So, ‘The 92’ is complete once more, for this season at least. Brentford are due to start next season playing at their long awaited new stadium. If things continue to go well for them on the pitch (they are currently third in the Championship) they could start life at their new home as a Premier League club!
Once again, the main objective today was to get a game on grass, rather than taking the 3G option, so when I received confirmation from the Stratton Juniors Secretary just before 11.30, that the game was going ahead, then it was a trip to northern Swindon and an opportunity to tick off the only ground I had yet to visit in the Wiltshire Senior League.
The match was a ‘relegation battle’ (although there isn’t actually any relegation from this league) as fourth from bottom in the league table took on the team two places below them. As it turned out, the biggest battle for the teams today was with the strong wind that was blowing diagonally across the very exposed pitch, actually blowing more fiercely as the game progressed. Stratton played against the wind in the first half and held a narrow 1-0 lead at the break. Ludgershall struggled to come to terms with the conditions in the second half and a goal from the hosts early in the half sealed the three points. Stratton had been awarded a penalty, for a foul, but this was well saved by the visiting ‘keeper, but the ball wasn’t cleared and it was was cut back inside, resulting in a neat left footed finish from their winger, beating the ‘keeper at the near post.
Above : Stratton Juniors No.10 opens the scoring from a tight angle.
Bangor 1876 were set up by fans disillusioned with the goings on at Bangor City. The club are based at the new 3G Pitch at the Bangor University complex at Treborth Playing Fields. I came here on 20th November 2018, when I saw Pwllheli beat Amlwch Town 3-0 in a Welsh Alliance match, but that game was played on the floodlit grass pitch that is just beyond the new synthetic pitch. In fact, on that night, there was little evidence that a new caged pitch would appear in a matter of months.
The newly formed club are already ‘too big’ for the Gwynedd League (level 5 of Welsh football) where they have started off at. Arriving at the ground, the first thing you notice are the amount of match day stewards, with proper organised parking. There is bar/tea bar, which is rare at this level, and a well stocked club shop set up in one corner of the clubhouse. Plenty of home fans decked out in club hats and scarves too. The crowds they get are superb, and not just for this level. Some clubs in the top tier of the Welsh Pyramid can only dream of these sorts of numbers! I have seen no official attendance for tonight’s game, but I did a count of 243. According to their website, they had a crowd of 440 for their game last Monday evening, although I’m not too sure where the other 200 would have gone, as it is only a two sided spectator area, although there is a 100 or so seated stand on the halfway line, and that was only half full tonight.
They back up their off field ‘professionalism’ with a team to match. They came into this having won all twelve league matches so far and have really dished out some thrashings along the way. They have played four home midweek matches in the league before tonight, winning 10-0, 12-0, 14-0 and 13-2, so when they opened the scoring after eight minutes, I feared the worst, as games that one sided are not great to watch. Not as a neutral, anyway. A right wing cross was headed in from 6 yards to make it 2-0 after 24 minutes, but the visitors were holding on, even if the result was never in doubt. Waunfawr had a great chance to pull a goal back right on halftime, but their striker lifted the ball over the crossbar having been put clean through and from the goal kick, Bangor went down the other end and added a third goal, with the last kick of the half, following a shot on the turn from ten yards.
The second half was one way traffic, but with a bit of luck and some good saves by their ‘keeper, Waunfawr kept the score down to a respectable level, before the fourth goal was added two minutes from time, with a calm finish from the edge of the box. Bangor march on towards their inevitable league title, now having 13 wins from their 100% winning start. They have now scored 87 goals and conceded just 7. The lead at the top is now eight points, but it is all over bar the shouting!
Today was a rare chance to visit Hazlemere Sports when they were playing first team opposition. The Hellenic League is probably the poorest standard Step 5/6 league in the pyramid, especially when it comes to ground facilities, or more to the point, the lack of. The three divisions which sit at Step 7 level (North, South and West) are really one division too far and are riddled with reserve and development teams. In fact, there are only 15 of the 39 teams at this level that are actually first teams!
Today’s match was 7th versus 11th in the league table. I knew that, at best, part of the pitch would be roped off. It turned out to be down each touch line. Despite there being a social club (there is also tennis and bowls here) it remained closed for the duration and the only toilet was in the team changing rooms. The reputation of the league was summed up by Hazlemere only having the bare 11 players, which is pretty pathetic at this level, although it certainly didn’t affect their performance, even having lost a player to injury around twenty minutes into the first half.
Hazlemere scored after five minutes, when Taplow failed to clear a corner and the ball was forced in from close range. They could have added more, but for poor finishing. They thought they had added a second goal, but it was disallowed for a foul on the ‘keeper (correct decision from what I saw), but the female Referee was ‘unsighted’ and missed the incident, eventually going with the opinion of the Taplow ‘Club Linesman’ to chalk it off. Shortly afterwards, Hazlemere lost a man injured, so were left to play the final 70 minutes a man short, as they had no substitutes!
It remained 1-0 at the break, but Taplow should have been level, having had an effort cleared off the line, the ‘keeper well beaten, but a defender went full stretch with a diving header, clearing the ball as we approached the ninth minute of stoppage time. The expected comeback during the second half never materialised. Instead, it was the 10 men who finished as deserved winners. A shot from the edge of the box made it 2-0 early in the second half and Taplow looked done. A shocking miss with the goal gaping should have made it three, before a one-two on the edge of the box was finished emphatically to round off what turned out to be a very comfortable 3-0 win.
Herne Bay 3 Whitstable Town 0, attendance 831 (official)
4’ 1-0
27’ 2-0 (pen)
61’ 3-0
@ Winch’s Field
Stanley Gardens
Herne Bay
CT6 5SG
£10 Admission
£2 Programme, 32 pages.
Each year it becomes harder to get in a game at an unvisited ground on New Year’s Day, as very few leagues bother to play on this day anymore. Of the few that do, they tend to be leagues where floodlights are a requirement, so any new grounds that do appear, have already been visited for a midweek fixture before the turn of the year.
At least it gives the chance to revisit a ground with reasonable facilities, rather than standing in a field like most other weeks, and be part of one of the home clubs biggest crowds of the season, which was certainly the case here. I had last been to Herne Bay on 13th August 2005, when I saw them beat Sevenoaks Town 3-0 in a Kent League match, in front of 105 spectators. The club had tweeted that they were hoping to beat the 730 record crowd for this fixture in recent times, and perhaps even top the 1,000 mark. They comfortably beat the record, but were well short of the four figure target, and in truth, the crowd only looked to be around 600 really, although I never did an actual ‘head count’. At least after this money spinner they can afford to replace the non working bulbs in the floodlights. All four corner pylons had one of the three bulbs out, with one corner only having one bulb working. If that one had gone out, then there may have been a problem finishing the match, as the lighting was really poor and well below the standard you would expect at Step 4 football.
As a neutral, the game got off to the worst possible start, as Herne Bay scored in the opening five minutes, with an angled shot into the far corner of the net. I always think these sort of matches need the away team to go in front and open the game up. Anyway, Herne Bay made it 2-0 from the penalty spot, through top scorer Zak Ansah, following a foul just inside the box and that was pretty much game over. Whitstable did have a number of good chances, but wasted them all. If just one of them had gone in, it could have been so different. The second half was more of the same, with Tushaun-Tyreese Walters scoring his second goal of the match, this time scoring from the opposite corner of the box and into the top corner of the net, to round off the scoring just after the hour mark.
Used Substitutes : Chris Boucher, Oshae Brissett, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson, Terence Davis, Malcolm Miller
Coach : Nick Nurse
@ TD Garden
100 Legends Way
Boston
MA 02114
$106 Admission + $22.58 fees. Resale, Mobile Ticket.
Team Sheet, free. Double sided poster size.
Tickets for this game had been bought in advance on-line. Despite being loaded onto your mobile phone, therefore requiring no printing, they are still subject to extortionate add on fees! The price for tickets was reasonable, considering this was 2nd versus 4th in the Eastern Conference, especially with Toronto Raptors being the reigning NBA Champions, although they are now without Kawhi Leonard, who was the difference between them and former champions Golden State Warriors during last years finals and it will be a massive surprise to everyone if they repeat the feat. In fact, just winning the Eastern Conference title will take some doing, let alone taking on the best from the West, which will more than likely be either L.A. Lakers, Denver Nuggets or L.A. Clippers, which is where Kawhi Leonard is now plying his trade.
TD Garden was opened in 1995 (as Fleet Center)and is now named after its sponsor, TD Bank, and has a capacity of 18,624, which is 532 less than the official attendance for tonight’s game! Considering it is a relatively new venue, it is a dreadful place to endure two to three hours of pain, as the seats are the most cramped I have ever come across and I still have the bruises on each hip to prove it. Quite a few people couldn’t even fit into their seats at all, choosing instead to sit in the gangway, which went unchallenged by the arena security team, so it must be a regular thing.
The two teams met on Christmas Day, in Toronto, with Celtics taking the game 118-102. The Raptors haven’t played since, but Celtics were playing their second game in succession, having beaten Cleveland Cavaliers here in Boston last night. The rest looked to have suited The Raptors, as apart from a couple of times midway through the first period, when the score was briefly tied, Raptors led for the remainder of the game and never looked like being pegged back, giving only a second home defeat of the season to The Celtics.
Despite missing two of their top four scorers due to injury, Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell, they were also missing Centre Marc Gasol, all three having picked up injuries in a win at Detroit a week ago. Kyle Lowry top scored for the visitors with 30 points, with Serge Ibaka getting 20. Patrick McCaw and Fred Van Vleet each scored 18. Kemba Walker led the way for Celtics with 30, backed up by 17 points from Jaylen Brown.
