Friendly

Tuesday 12th July 2022

Kick Off 19.15 Actual 19.16

Tunbridge Wells 2 Eastbourne Town 0, attendance 79

35’ 1-0

85’ 2-0

@ Hayesbrook Academy, 3G Pitch

Brook Street

Tonbridge

TN9 2PH

No Admission or Programme.

Tonight’s match was between two Step 5 teams, Tunbridge Wells in Southern Counties East League Premier Division and Eastbourne Town in Southern Combination League Premier Division. It was played at the neutral venue of Hayesbrook Academy, where the cage has a spectator area along two thirds of one side, although high sections of fencing mean only about half of this is of use.

The opening goal came ten minutes before halftime, when a cross from the left was met with a powerful looping header into the top corner from just inside the 18 yard box. The second goal came five minutes before the end, when a shot across the six yard box, which looked to be going well wide of the target, was diverted into the net by the ’keeper as he tried to scoop the ball clear. It was a comfortable win for Tunbridge Wells, helped by the fact that Eastbourne Town offered very little threat going forward.

Friendly

Saturday 9th July 2022

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 14.58

Liss Athletic 2 Headley United 1, attendance 61

17’ 0-1

54’ 1-1

68’ 2-1

@ Liss Cricket Club

The Glebe

Farnham Road

West Liss

GU33 6JU

No Admission or Programme.

Liss Athletic play in Hampshire Premier League Senior Division (Step 7), whilst Headley United play one step lower, in Division 1 of the same league. This was another neutral venue, which despite all the signage being for Liss Cricket Club, it appears to now only host football, with the cricket pitch totally overgrown and looking like it has been unused for quite some time. The football pitch has also been turned to run the opposite way to which it did when the cricket pitch was in use.

Considering the relentless heat, which meant a drinks break during each half, this was a decent game, played at a good pace throughout. Headley led at the break, having gone in front when a striker managed to nick the ball off a defender, before shooting low into the bottom corner. Liss levelled early in the second half, when a mix up between defender and ’keeper on a backward header that fell short, saw a striker nip between them, guiding in a header from the edge of the box. The winner came midway through the half, when a corner from the left went in at the near post, perhaps via the ’keeper, as he tried to punch the ball clear.

Friendly

Thursday 7th July 2022

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 19.04

Sungate 3 Great Wakering Rovers 2, attendance 35

20’ 1-0

44’ 2-0

49’ 3-0

67’ 3-1

75’ 3-2

@ Frances Bardsley Academy for Girls, 3G Pitch

Brentwood Road

Hornchurch

RM1 2RR

No Admission or Programme.

Sungate are in Essex Olympian League Premier Division (Step 7), whilst Great Wakering Rovers are in Isthmian League Division 1 North (Step 4). This was another game played at a neutral venue, where despite there being no official spectator area, there was no problem with watching from inside the cage. Both teams had a large squad, so it was a bit of a surprise that the match was played as just 2 x 40 minute halves.

Sungate were the better side early on and led 1-0 at the break, before deservedly adding two second half goals to lead 3-0. Great Wakering pulled a goal back, with a free kick into the top corner that went over the top of the defensive wall, before adding a 25 yarder that made it 3-2 with five minutes left. If they had played the full ninety minutes, they would most likely have drawn level, as they were well on top in the dying minutes.

Friendly

Wednesday 6th July 2022

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.34

A.F.C. Croydon Athletic 1 Holmesdale 4, attendance 39

1’ 0-1

30’ 0-2

43’ 0-3

60’ 1-3

67’ 1-4 (pen)

@ Croydon Post Office Social & Athletic Club

Trenham Drive

Warlingham

CR6 9RU

No Admission or Programme.

Unbelievably, considering that Warlingham is just a village, this was the sixth ground I have now visited here for football and despite having seen Warlingham F.C. play on two of those grounds, I have yet to do the current ground where they play their Surrey South Eastern Combination League matches.

Tonight’s match was again played at a neutral venue and was between two Step 5 teams, with A.F.C. Croydon Athletic in Combined Counties League Premier Division South and Holmesdale playing in the Premier Division of the Southern Counties East League.

Holmesdale looked much sharper than a Croydon team that were much changed from the one that I saw last night against Elmstead, with far fewer trialists, involved. The opening goal came within a minute of the start and Holmesdale were on top for the majority of the first half, volleying in a second goal, before a shot that beat the ’keeper at his near post saw them lead 0-3 at halftime. Croydon pulled it back to 1-3 on the hour mark, rounding the ’keeper before finishing from a tight angle, but Holmesdale restored the three goal margin seven minutes later, scoring from the penalty spot to make it 1-4.

Friendly

Tuesday 5th July 2022

Kick Off 19.30 On Time !

F.C. Elmstead 1 A.F.C. Croydon Athletic 1, attendance 31

86’ 0-1 (pen)

90’ 1-1

@ Bishop Justus Church of England School, 3G Pitch

Magpie Hall Lane

Bromley

BR2 8HZ

No Admission or Programme.

Elmstead are in Southern Counties East League Division 1 (Step 6), whilst A.F.C. Croydon Athletic are in Combined Counties League Premier Division South (Step 5), with the game played at the neutral venue of Bishop Justus School. There are actually two 3G pitches here, this one being to the right of the car park/entrance (Astro Pitch 2 according to the sign at the cage entrance) and the one with a spectator rail along all bar 20 yards of one side, which included a small section of cover. The second cage, to the rear of the buildings, has narrower pitch markings.

It was a game of few chances. Elmstead did hit the angle of post/crossbar following a corner on the left, but that was as close as we came to breaking the deadlock in the first half. The second half was just as tight, with both defences in command. Croydon substituted their ’keeper on 64 minutes, which immediately led to some real drama. From the restart, a ball was played through and the new ’keeper brought down the striker to concede a penalty with his first ’touch’, before then saving the kick with his second!

It looked nailed on to finish goalless, but Croydon went ahead from a penalty of their own with just four minutes left, before Elmstead smashed in an equaliser from close range, with what turned out to be the last kick of the match, as the Referee blew the full time whistle as the ball hit the back of the net.

Friendly

Saturday 2nd July 2022

Kick Off 14.15 Actual 14.11

Redhill 6 Loxwood 2, attendance 41

24’ 1-0 (pen)

36’ 2-0

54’ 3-0

61’ 4-0

79’ 5-0

81’ 5-1 (pen)

84’ 5-2

88’ 6-2

@ Oriel High School, 3G Pitch

Maidenbower Lane

Maidenbower

Crawley

RH10 7XW

No Admission or Programme.

The drive from West Ewell to Crawley took forty minutes, for part two of my double, which was again at a neutral venue. The cage here has no official spectator area, although a concrete path runs around the entire pitch perimeter, so there was no problem standing inside the fence to watch, although all bar half a dozen of us chose to watch from outside for some reason.

The match was between two Step 5 teams. Redhill play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South whilst Loxwood are in the Southern Combination League Premier Division. Redhill were far too strong for Loxwood. A penalty opened the scoring for Redhill and they added a second nine minutes before halftime. They had a player sin binned two minutes before halftime, which followed a flurry of yellow cards when the game threatened to get out of hand.

They changed their entire line up for the second half, although one player had to wait an extra eight minutes to join the action, as the sin bin offence had to be completed. They added three more goals, before Loxwood scored a penalty of their own to pull it back to 5-1, before making it 5-2 a few minutes later with the goal of the game, when a striker received the ball with his back to goal and flicked it up before sending an overhead kick high over the ’keeper, who despite back pedalling, was unable to scoop the ball away. Two minutes from time Redhill rounded off the scoring with an excellent finish, curling a shot into the top far corner, giving them a resounding 6-2 win.

Friendly

Saturday 2nd July 2022

Kick Off 11.15 Actual 11.25

Colliers Wood United 1 Westside 1, attendance 48

31’ 0-1

50’ 1-1 (pen)

@ Epsom & Ewell High School, 3G Pitch

Ruxley Lane

West Ewell

KT19 9JW

No Admission or Programme.

Part one of a double today, began with an all Combined Counties League clash, Colliers Wood United being in the Premier Division South (Step 5), whilst Westside are in Division 1 (Step 6). Westside are also based at the Wibbandune Sports Ground home of Colliers Wood United, just to add a little spice, although this was played at the neutral venue of Epsom & Ewell High School, which was a standard 3G cage with spectator access along two thirds of one side, with at least half the crowd made up of ground hoppers.

The game finally got underway ten minutes late, as neither side showed any urgency in getting started. It was a slow burner. Westside hit the crossbar, before opening the scoring after half an hour, finishing with an angled shot after being played through on goal. An early second half penalty saw Colliers Wood draw level and despite a number of chances at both ends, neither side were able to grab a winning goal.

Friendly

Friday 1st July 2022

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 19.07

Cogenhoe United 2 Irchester United 1, attendance 97

9’ 1-0

34’ 1-1

71’ 2-1

@ Compton Park, Pitch 2

Brafield Road

Cogenhoe

NN7 1ND

Admission by donation

Programme free, 4 pages.

I had visited Cogenhoe United on 26th October 1993, when I saw them beat Long Buckby 1-0 in a United Counties League Premier Division match, which was played on the main stadium pitch, but tonight’s match took place on an outside pitch.

It pitted United Counties League Premier Division South (Step 5) versus Northamptonshire Combination League Premier Division (Step 7). Cogenhoe opened the scoring with an angled shot across the ’keeper, but Irchester levelled eleven minutes before halftime, finishing past the ’keeper having cut in from the left. Cogenhoe won it with nineteen minutes left, finishing from just inside the box, with a shot into the bottom corner that totally wrong footed the visitor’s ’keeper.

I remembered nothing at all about the main stadium here, but the two photos below show what it looks like these days.

Friendly

Thursday 30th June 2022

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.25

Northampton O.N. Chenecks 3 Lutterworth Athletic 2, attendance 41

8’ 1-0

18’ 1-1

22’ 1-2

27’ 2-2

74’ 3-2

@ Northampton School for Boys, 3G Pitch

Billing Road

Northampton

NN1 5RT

No Admission or Programme.

This was unusual for a pre-season game, as both teams will play in Spartan South Midlands League Division 1 (Step 6) this season. It was played at the neutral venue of Northampton School for Boys, which is more or less opposite O.N Chenecks normal home venue, where I saw them draw 1-1 versus Higham Town in a United Counties League Division 1 match on 1st September 1995 and adjacent to St. Andrews Hospital, where I had seen Northampton Town U18 host West Bromwich Albion U18 in a Midland Youth League match on 17th February 1996.

Chenecks opened the scoring after eight minutes, with a 25 yard shot into the bottom corner, but two goals in five minutes saw Lutterworth turn it round midway through the half. The lead only lasted five minutes, before a cross from the right was finished with a header at the far post, which looped over the ‘keeper to make it 2-2. The winner came sixteen minutes from time, when a Lutterworth defender blindly played a ball back to his ’keeper, who was well out of position on the edge of the 18 yard box and the ball rolled past him into the empty net, to win it for the hosts.