British Universities & Colleges Sport

South Eastern Conference Cup

Quarter Final

Wednesday 15th February 2017

Kick Off 13.30 Actual 13.47

Buckingham New University 3 St. Mary’s University 1,  attendance 24

10′ 1-0

57′ 2-0

76′ 2-1

90′ 3-1

@ The Rye

Bassetsbury Lane

High Wycombe

HP11 1QX

No admission or programme.

This one fitted in well with my intended evening match and would mean I wouldn’t have to touch the M25 after the game either.

The game was played on the second pitch on the left as you enter the complex off the road. Another game took place on the first pitch as you enter. With it being open to the elements, it was lucky that we only had to contend with light drizzle to start with, which turned to light rain, but this had stopped early into the second half.

BNU looked well in control and coasting, but they were hanging on at the end, clinching it with a breakaway goal with the last effort of the match.

Anglian Combination

Premier Division

Tuesday 14th February 2017

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.31

Mulbarton Wanderers 1 Norwich C.E.Y.M.S. 0,  attendance 31

67′ 1-0

@ Mulberry Park

The Common

NR14 8AE

£2 Admission

No programme.

This was at least my fifth attempt at getting a game here, spread over about 15 years, following four aborted attempts when the game has been called off after setting off for the match. As is normally the case with clubs who have so few games scheduled midweek, when they are re-arranged it is normally for the last week of March, or later, and as all ground hoppers know, floodlit grounds are not even on the radar once the early kick offs arrive for clubs without floodlights.

Of course, most of the attempts were for the club that previously played here, Mulbarton Town. They disappeared, and after a while a new club was formed, taking the name Wanderers. They started in the bottom division of the Anglian Combination and a rapid rise soon saw them back in the leagues top division.

Programmes are normally issued for games. Indeed, copies were available from Saturday’s game, free of charge, to any of the hoppers present who wanted one. It looked like a decent effort, but if it isn’t for the actual match I am at, then I don’t bother taking one.

The game was poor and didn’t really have the feel of a local derby, with the visitors being based about three miles away. We were lucky to get a goal at all and even that was a scrappy affair, forced in from close range.

Mid Sussex League

Premier Division

Saturday 11th February 2017

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.02

Smallfield 3 Copthorne 2,  attendance 15

26′ 1-0

38′ 1-1

64′ 1-2

65′ 2-2

90′ 3-2

@ Smallfield Cricket Club

Plough Road

RH6 9JL

No admission or programme.

So, my first game since moving back to England. In fact, we had only landed back at London Heathrow airport at 07.30 this morning, with a further 45 minutes sat on the plane waiting for a gate to become available due to the plane currently parked  there having to be de-iced. It seemed hard to believe that just 12 hours earlier (not counting the 6 hour time difference) we had been picked up at our hotel in Dallas where it was a beautiful sunny day and very close to 26 degrees !

A fair bit of running around, trying to sort out a few of the basics that just have to be done when you move back home, meant it was soon 1330. I had only got a couple of games in mind for today, this being one of them. Confirmation that the game was going ahead, as far as he knew, was done with a quick phone call to the away team’s Secretary, and by 1352 I was pulling into the car park and pleased to see corner flags and nets up and both teams warming up. It was bitterly cold, just 2 degrees, according to the temperature gauge in the car and it was snowing, albeit quite lightly. The walk from the changing rooms/clubhouse to the pitch was across the cricket field, where water came over my shoes at nearly every step. Thankfully, the actual playing area for the football was fine, but had the two different sports pitches been in opposite positions, then I doubt this would have been on.

At halftime, five of the crowd had pints in the clubhouse, with another couple nipping to the pub across the road from the ground. Two returned for the second half and finished their drinks pitchside !