Cymru South League

Friday 17th January 2020

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.29

Pontypridd Town 6 Taffs Well 0, attendance 196

11’ 1-0

35’ 2-0

53’ 3-0

59’ 4-0

61’ 5-0

85’ 6-0

@ 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.

F.A. Cup 3rd Round Replay

Tuesday 14th January 2020

Kick Off 20.05. On Time !

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!

Wiltshire Senior League

Saturday 11th January 2020

Kick Off 14.15 Actual 14.16

Stratton Juniors 2 Ludgershall Sports 0, attendance 7

20’ 1-0

53’ 2-0

@ Meadowcroft Recreation Ground

Addison Crescent

Upper Stratton

Swindon

SN2 7JX

No Admission or Programme.

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.

Gwynedd League

Monday 6th January 2020

Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.48

Bangor 1876 4 Waunfawr 0, attendance 243

8’ 1-0

24’ 2-0

45’ 3-0

88’ 4-0

@ Treborth Playing Fields, 3G Pitch

Treborth Road

Bangor

LL57 2RQ

£2 Admission

No Programme.

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!

Hellenic League

Division 2 South

Saturday 4th January 2020

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 13.59

Hazlemere Sports 3 Taplow United 0, attendance 9

5’ 1-0

53’ 2-0

78’ 3-0

@ The Hazlemere Memorial Hall

Hazlemere Recreation Ground

Amersham Road

Hazlemere

High Wycombe

HP15 7QW

No Admission or Programme.

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.

Isthmian League

Division 1 South East

Wednesday 1st January 2020

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.01

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.

Spain

La Liga

Sunday 22nd December 2019

Kick Off 18.30. On Time !

Levante Union Deportiva 3 Real Club Celta Vigo 1, attendance 18,653

12’ 0-1

60’ 1-1

70’ 2-1

90’+1, 3-1

@ Estadi Ciutat de Valencia

Calle San Vicente de Paul 44

46019 Valencia

€45 Admission + €2.50 fees, Print at Home Ticket

No Programme.

The Estadi Ciutat de Valencia was opened in 1969, under the name Estadio Antonio Roman, which became Nou Estadi del Llevant in 1972, before taking its current name in 1999. Capacity here is 26,354. The stadium can be reached by way of two different lines on the Valencia Metro system. Estadi del Llevant, on Line 6, is right outside the main stand, whilst getting off at Machado, on Line 3, brings you to the other side of the stadium, but this is a 7 or 8 minute walk.

As with the match last night, tickets had been bought on-line, with €45 being the cheapest available, as we required two seats together, but as with the majority of games I’ve attended in the top divisions in Spain, we arrived to find our seats already occupied, as the Spanish seem incapable of being able to read numbers and letters, despite the section and row clearly being shown in their own language on the ticket. Perhaps they are just lacking in basic education. Anyway, our correct seats were soon vacated! It was nice to see, for the second successive day, that both teams would be playing in their traditional colours, rather than changing for the sake of it, which is something clubs in the Premier League in England could take a lead from!

Levante came into this match 12th in the league table, with Celta Vigo struggling down in 18th place, which is three off the bottom. As with last night, these were two very poor teams. Levante missed two glorious chances in the opening ten minutes, both from headers, the first missed the target altogether, whilst the second hit the crossbar. Both looked impossible to miss. Celta Vigo took the lead after twelve minutes, with their only proper effort of the half, when a corner on the left went right across the six yard box and was swept in at the far post by Aspas. For some reason, it took well over two minutes for VAR to confirm the goal. The rest of the half drifted by with neither team making any inroads and the halftime whistle went with no added time played whatsoever.

Celta Vigo seemed happy with what they had and made no effort to improve on their slender lead as the second half wore on. Levante looked a lot brighter and levelled on the hour mark through Marti, when he followed up a shot that was spilled by the ‘keeper. Ten minutes later, Marti put Levante in front, when a quick throw in saw the ball worked down the left hand side and it was pulled back for him to scuff home his shot from six yards. Celta Vigo never looked capable of turning things round from here, but were always in with a chance while there was only a goal in it, but substitute Borja Mayoral side footed in from close range to make it 3-1 for the hosts in stoppage time, to finally kill the game off. The game was not the greatest ever, but it wasn’t helped by two teams that rolled about and cheated at every opportunity, which is somewhat typical of the style so often seen in Spain. Celta Vigo took the honours as far as yellow cards went, by 6 to 3.

Spain

La Liga

Saturday 21st December 2019

Kick Off 18.30. On Time!

Villarreal C.F. 1 Getafe C.F. 0, attendance 14,526

52’ 1-0

@ Estádio de la Cerámica

Calle Blasco Ibanez 2

12540 Vila-real

Castello

€25 Admission + €1.75 fees, Print at Home Ticket

2 different Programmes available, both free.

Staying for a few days in Valencia meant an ideal time to head the 40 miles north to the town of Vila-real (note the different spelling to that of the football club) to take in the top division match at Villarreal C.F. It was just under one and a quarter hours by train from Valencia Estacio del Nord and cost €12.40 return. With all the rain back home it felt surreal to get off the train in a nice sunny 25 degrees, even though it was 16.30. It was then a mile walk to the stadium, which is on the far side of the town, but at least it was flat all the way. Tickets had been bought on-line, but there would have been no problem buying tickets on the night, as this was their lowest league crowd of the season and there were plenty of gaps on all four sides of the ground.

The stadium was opened in 1963 as ‘Campo del Villarreal‘, then two years later renamed ‘El Madrigal’, which remained up until a couple of years ago, when it became Estádio de la Cerámica, in an effort to help promote the local ceramics industry. In 2016 it underwent a partial facelift, with half of the exterior now having a bright yellow facade, which matches the club colours and nickname ‘TheYellow Submarine’. The ground is all seated, with a capacity of 24.500.

The match was 13th versus 4th in the league table, but I’m not sure how Getafe have managed to reach such heights, as they were absolutely rubbish. Villarreal were little better, which meant the atmosphere was quite subdued, although this is not helped by the fact that Spanish fans don’t really travel in great numbers to away matches. This looked nailed on for a 0-0, as both teams seemed to lack any attacking flair. When the breakthrough did come, it followed a strong run from A. Zambo Anguissa, when he powered through from the centre circle, holding off challenges as he reached the box, before seeing his shot saved, but it fell kindly for Moi Gomez to sweep the ball home. Getafe lost any chance of an unlikely comeback, when their defender M. Olivera picked up two yellow cards in the space of three minutes, (having only come on as a substitute at the start of the second half)leaving them to play the last half an hour with 10 men.

After the match it was a brisk 18 minute walk back to the station to catch the 20.47 train back to Valencia, otherwise it would have been a bit of a wait for the next one, which was due at 21.38. We needn’t have rushed though, as it was six minutes late!

West Midlands (Regional) League

Division 1

Wednesday 18th December 2019

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.31

Team Dudley 1 Old Wulfrunians 2, attendance 35

8’ 1-0

54’ 1-1

72’ 1-2

@ Priory Road Football Complex, 3G Pitch

Priory Road

Dudley

DY1 4AD

£4 Admission, including free hot drink

£1 Programme, 32 pages.

It was nice to get a midweek match with the traditional 19.30 scheduled kick off. The reason for the earlier than normal start is due to the floodlights here having a 21.30 curfew, enforced by an automatic cut off switch, although we still managed to kick off late and the second half was four minutes behind schedule, but we were done and dusted with about eight minutes to spare in the end.

It had hammered it down with rain for the couple of hours up to kick off and if it wasn’t for the 3G surface then this would have had no chance of going ahead. It rained for the majority of the game too, but the small seated stand just about kept everyone dry. Team Dudley came into the game eighth in the league table, with Old Wulfrunians three places above them. Team Dudley took an early lead, somewhat against the run of play, and managed to hold on to their slender lead until halftime. Old Wulfrunians looked the better side and once they were level, through an angled shot into the far corner of the net, nine minutes into the second half, then they always looked the more likely winner. What turned out to be the winning goal came courtesy of a side footed finish into the bottom corner from just inside the 18 yard box, giving the visitors the three points, which sees them climb a place in the league table.