British Universities & Colleges Sports

South Eastern 2A

Wednesday 21st February 2018

Kick Off 17.10 Actual 17.15

University Portsmouth 1 St. Mary’s University College 2,  attendance 80

21’ 1-0

47’ 1-1

86’ 1-2

@ Langstone Campus, 3G Pitch

Furze Lane

Portsmouth

PO4 8LW

No Admission or Programme.

It was a comfortable 45 minute drive from Winchester to here and street parking was available on the road leading along to Furze Lane. I had been to see a match here previously, on the grass pitch that runs end on to the 3G pitch. Oddly, back on 4th March 2009, I saw the exact same fixture, which Portsmouth won 6-0. I also did a double that day as well, heading across to The Isle of Wight afterwards, where I saw Brading Town beat Lymington Town 2-0 in a Wessex League Premier Division match.

Todays match was 1st v 2nd in the league table. Portsmouth had won all eight of their games so far, with St. Mary’s having 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat (at home to Portsmouth) from their first six fixtures. This could have gone either way, but the visitors nicked it with just four minutes left, when a cross was converted from close range, but Portsmouth argued the ball hadn’t crossed the line, but the Linesman, who was right up with play, signaled the goal immediately, so that was that, the 100% winning record gone.

Although this was just a cage with spectator access along one side, it did have a couple of small sections of benches that had 3 rows of seating, which made it a little different.

British Universities & Colleges Sports

Western 6A

Wednesday 21st February 2018

Kick Off 14.00. On Time !

University Winchester 3rds 3 University Winchester 4ths 3,  attendance 32

5’ 1-0

15’ 1-1

52’ 2-1

61’ 2-2

63’ 3-2

84’ 3-3

@ King George V Playing Fields

Milland Road

Winchester

SO23 0QA

No Admission or Programme.

Well, this certainly wasn’t what I intended to watch today. I had actually come to watch Winchester 1sts v Winchester 2nds in Western 4A, but having arrived at The Garrison Ground, where the game was due to be played, it soon became obvious that there was not going to be a match there. The pitches were marked and the goal nets and corner flags were out, but there were no players warming up.

I enquired in the reception at The Garrison Stadium, which is where the SatNav actually took me with the postcode advertised and confirmed that the pitches next door, to the right, were indeed where I should be. They were still expecting the game to be on, but were surprised no one had arrived yet !

One member of staff suggested I try ‘next door’, beyond the 3G pitch, as he had opened the gates there and there were certainly games being played there today and perhaps that was where the 1sts might be playing. King George V Playing Fields are indeed next door, entering by a driveway of their own to the left of the entrance of The Garrison Stadium. As I drove in, I was pleased to see two teams warming up, both in identical shorts and socks, so it looked like all was okay. I saw the Referee coming out of the pavilion, but when I asked him if he was doing the 1sts v 2nds, he told me that it was off, as one of them couldn’t raise a team, but that he was doing the 3rds v 4ths, which was the two teams that were on the pitch.

Rather than have a wasted afternoon, I decided to stay and watch the match. I could have gone straight on to my second match, but I would have got there far too early. As it turned out, it was pretty entertaining and a far better standard than I was expecting and the weather improved as the day went on. Watching non first teams of the Universities is not something I would actually do by choice, but having already driven there, it was better than nothing and it got me a match on a ground that I doubt I would ever do otherwise as the 1sts never play their games here.

Checking the B.U.C.S. website, it shows that Winchester 1sts have failed to play three of their last 4 matches now, including both home and away fixtures versus their own 2nds !