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.
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.
@ 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.
London Broncos 36 Sheffield Eagles 28, attendance 550
@ Kuflink Stadium (Ebbsfleet United F.C.)
Stonebridge Road
Northfleet
DA11 9GN
£15 Admission, bought in advance online
No Programme.
This was an ’on the road’ game for the Broncos, as their home ground at A.F.C. Wimbledon is undergoing work on the pitch. They are aiming to play one game in Kent each season, in an effort to attract support and help spread the game in the South East, but there is just not the interest in Rugby League down here. Despite giving an attendance of 750 on their website, it was at least a couple of hundred fewer, although there may have been season tickets counted on the official total.
The first half performance of the Broncos was pitiful. They were simply dreadful and were lucky to only trail 0-28 at halftime, which would have been more, but Eagles failed to convert four of their six tries, which in the end cost them dearly. As bad as Broncos were first half, they were the total opposite in the second. Eagles only came close to adding to their score once in the second half and as Broncos started to run in the tries, the comeback certainly looked possible, if perhaps a little optimistic, but they went in front late on and even added a converted try in the final minute to complete a tremendous turnaround, taking a 36-28 win that few would have though possible at halftime.
I had visited Ebbsfleet United on Sunday 2nd January, when I saw them beat Dartford 1-0, which was after a gap of just over thirty years since my first visit and nothing has changed in the intervening six months. It is a fantastic stadium and remains one of my favourite non-league grounds ever visited.
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.
Above : Redhill open the scoring from the penalty spot.
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.
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.
Above : Cogenhoe open the scoring.
I remembered nothing at all about the main stadium here, but the two photos below show what it looks like these days.
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.
A nice easy 15 mile drive kicked off the new season for me, as Southern Combination League Premier Division (Step 5) hosted Southern Counties East League Division 1 (Step 6), played at the neutral venue of Edenbridge Rugby Club, some four miles east of Lingfield.
Lingfield started the better of the two and it was no surprise that they broke the deadlock midway through the first half. Croydon levelled in stoppage time, tapping in from close range, after the ’keeper had saved an angled shot, to make it 1-1 at the break. The winner came eight minutes from time, with a cross from the right headed down into the bottom corner of the net at the near post.
A decent game, made all the better by a lack of what seem continual substitutions that normally occur in the early run outs during pre-season. At least a quarter of the crowd was made up of ground hoppers.
I was originally planning to do this game as part of a driving trip, which would be a ’day return’, aiming to return during the early hours, but when the numbers involved became five, rather than the normal four, I decided to drop out, as a 600 mile trip in cramped conditions didn’t appeal. Rather than miss out, I looked at driving it myself, but with Eurotunnel charging a ridiculous £194, plus 12 gallons of petrol to cover the trip, this was not a sensible option. In the end, I decided to fly. A return from London City Airport to Luxembourg City came in at £76, flying out with Luxair and returning with British Airways. The only downside would be travelling in and out of London on the train, which surprisingly took only 1 hour 17 minutes, including a couple of changes, having arrived into London Bridge, before taking the Jubilee Line and Docklands Light Railway to complete the journey. Wouldn’t it be nice if the railways were this reliable all the time.
My 1135 flight left 21 minutes late and lost another ten minutes once we landed, as we had to wait for the steps to arrive before we could disembark, but I had seven hours to play with before kick off, so not a problem. From the airport, bus number 29 takes just under 25 minutes to reach Gare Centrale, the main railway station, from where it was a five minute walk to my hotel. Unbelievably, all public transport in Luxembourg is free. Not just in Luxembourg City, but the entire country! It covers all buses, trains and the relatively new tram system. I hadn’t been to a match in Luxembourg since visiting C.S. Grevenmacher for a National League game on 10th August 2015, when I drove down from Brussels. In those days petrol was only €0.89 a litre in Luxembourg (usually 10-15 cents cheaper than in Belgium at the time), but I noticed it was €2.09 yesterday!
The Stade de Luxembourg is situated to the south of the city, just beyond the A6 motorway. Bus number 18 runs from Gare Centrale, taking nine minutes, dropping off right outside the stadium. Luxembourg played their first game here on 1st September 2021, when they hosted Azerbaijan in a World Cup Qualifier. The capacity is 9,386, which is perfectly adequate for the crowds they get and has been built to replace the soon to be demolished Stade Josy Barthel. I had seen Luxembourg beat Northern Ireland 3-2 there, in a World Cup Qualifying match back on 10th September 2013, which was their first win in that competition in 41 years!
Unlike some of the so called bigger nations, these two were taking the match very seriously. It is countries at the lower end of the ranking system that benefit most from the U.E.F.A. Nations League, as it gives them an opportunity to regularly win competitive matches and can only benefit them in future. This four team group is headed by Turkey, or should that now be Turkiye, whilst Luxembourg are second, with Faroe Islands third and Lithuania propping up the table. The reverse fixture last week saw Luxembourg come away with a 1-0 win, courtesy of a Rodrigues penalty and it was the same player who opened the scoring tonight, once again converting from the penalty spot, after he had been fouled by the ’keeper when put through on goal.
Both teams attacked at every opportunity, in what was a very entertaining game, but neither side were able to add any further goals before halftime. As the one minute of added time was announced at the end of the half, it signalled the arrival of the ‘M Block Fanatics’ (according to the banner on display), who were obviously demonstrating some sort of grievance by not taking up their seats during the first half. They certainly added to the atmosphere and were very vociferous for the remainder of the game.
When a cross from the left was volleyed in to make it 2-0 four minutes into the second half, it looked like Luxembourg might have gone on to win comfortably, but two goals by Bjartalio, the first a cracking left footed shot into the bottom corner, swiftly followed by a deflected shot that gave the ’keeper no chance, saw the Faroe Islands draw level at 2-2 just before the hour mark. Both teams had chances to win it and Luxembourg will probably be the more disappointed of the two to have come out of this with just one point. Brilliant game to watch as a neutral though.
After the match, despite my seat being at the furthest point possible from the bus stop, I still managed to make it onto the ’extra’ number 18 bus that was parked outside, rather than having to wait for the scheduled 23.03 I was intending to get. It ran direct to Gare Centrale and dropped off back in town just 18 minutes after the final whistle!
My return flight the next morning with British Airways, back to London City Airport, left a couple of minutes ahead of the advertised 10.55 departure and good tube connections, and just a thirteen minute wait for a train from London Bridge, meant back home just before 12.30. Excellent trip.
Above : Rodrigues is fouled by the Faroe Islands ’keeper and Below : The penalty is put away to make it 1-0.
