Belgium

Namur Provincial 2

Tours Final Promotion Play Off

Wednesday 8th May 2019

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 18.59

F.C. Olympic Namur 1 Renaissance Sportive Fernelmont-Hemptinne 3, attendance 153

8’ 1-0

15’ 1-1

45’ 1-2 (pen)

88’ 1-3

@ Rue Tir De Ronet

5020 Flawinne

€5 Admission

Team Sheet, free.

The journey east from Lille took around 1 hour 35 minutes, which saw us arrive half an hour before kick off. It was dry for most of the way, but we hit some heavy rain as we got to within fifteen miles of our destination. Thankfully, the rain stopped a couple of minutes before the start of the match and it brightened up for the rest of the evening.

As far as final league positions go in Provincial 2A, this was 5th versus 4th, with the winners of tonight’s match going through to face either R. Sporting Club Neffe or R. Cercle Sportif Schaltin in the next round.

Namur went ahead early on, but were soon pegged back by the visitors. Fernelmont looked far the better side, even though they only finished a point ahead of Namur during the league season, and they were well in control. When they scored from the penalty spot in the dying seconds of the first half to make it 1-2, it looked like it would be hard for Namur to get back into it. The game should have been sewn up long before Fernelmont finally made it 1-3 with a couple of minutes left.

This mornings outbound crossing on The Tunnel left a couple of minutes late, but we had got an earlier train, despite being booked on the 10.50, so it was not a problem. Apart from long sections of speed restrictions in roadworks, we had an easy journey back to The Tunnel after the match. We were actually booked on the 01.22 return, but having made check in by 23.22, we were offered the earlier 23.50 instead and we certainly weren’t going to turn down the chance to get home an hour and a half earlier than originally expecting. It even left a minute early.

France

Ligue De Football Des Hautes De France

Coupe De La Ligue Seniors Quarter Final

Wednesday 8th May 2019

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.02

Lille Olympique Sportive Fives 2 Itancourt Neuville 3, attendance 102

12’ 0-1

19’ 1-1 (pen)

27’ 1-2

67’ 2-2

84’ 2-3 (pen)

@ Stade Marcel Duhoo

80 Rue Du Long Pot

59000 Lille

€3 Admission

No Programme.

With it being a Public Holiday in France, it was a perfect opportunity to make another day trip across The Channel. As we were heading to Belgium (where it wasn’t a Public Holiday) for an evening match anyway, then this fitted in perfectly and was no more than five minutes off route, so it took no persuasion of the fellow passengers to add this to our itinerary. It was raining for the entire journey down through Kent and it was no better once we reached France, but as we got within half an hour of Lille, it stopped, and the weather improved as the day went on and it was warm and sunny for the second half of the game.

It was a shame the two matches weren’t the opposite way round, as it is always nicer to do the furthest away first and work your way back towards home, but it doesn’t always fall like that. As it turned out, I was glad we were doing the game here during the afternoon, as the suburb of Fives is not the nicest area of Lille and parking was at a premium. We parked in the street that runs parallel to the ground, where there was broken glass from car break ins and another car with a smashed window that was taped up. Just for good measure, it looked like a vehicle had been set alight, judging by the burn marks on the road!

Lille O.S. Fives are top of Regional 3 Poule E, eight points clear of the team in second place, with four games left to play. Itancourt Neuville play two levels higher, where they are in fifth place in Regional 1 Poule A.

As is often the case with French football, it was played at a very slow tempo, but somehow, we actually got a match with plenty of goal mouth action. Neuville should have won it far more comfortably than they did, especially after Lille had a man red carded after 38 minutes, with the score 1-2 at the time.