Midland League

Division 3

Saturday 31st August 2019

Kick Off 14.00 On Time !

Leamington Hibernian 1 Continental Star 2, attendance 16

7’ 1-0

10’ 1-1

17’ 1-2

@ Hampton F.C. Pitch 2

Field Lane

off Lugtrout Lane

Solihull

B91 2RX

No Admission or Programme.

This was a ground I first visited on 6th December 1992 when I saw Lodge Cottrell play here in an F.A. Sunday Cup match. Since then, Hampton, who are in Midland League Division 2, have taken over the ground. In fact, Hampton were playing at 3 o’clock on the main pitch, but I don’t think this had any bearing on our match kicking off an hour earlier, as in a few weeks time, when the clocks change, they will both have to start early as there are no floodlights here.

Three weeks before the season was due to start, Leamington Hibernian were told that they would be unable to continue using the ground where they were based last season, so at short notice they managed to strike a deal where they would play on the second pitch here at Hampton. This now takes the number of grounds I have seen Hibs play home matches on to four, having seen them at Campion School & Community College (3.5.1999), Bishops Tatchbrook Sports & Social Club (20.12.2014) and Cubbington Playing Fields (25.4.2018) on my previous visits.

Hibs have really struggled over the last few seasons and invariably finish at the bottom of the league table, but this season, despite once again occupying that position, they look far more competitive, and only lost by one goal in their last match. This was a real battling performance, against a team that started the day seventh in the table and it could have been so different if they had converted a first half penalty when the score was 1-2. They really dominated the second half and if their two strikers weren’t so lightweight, then they would probably have won this game. Any hope of getting an equaliser disappeared when their No.10 managed to get himself sin binned just as we entered the last ten minutes of the match, and with a man short, it was too much too ask. If there was an award for the ‘most unnecessary item on a pitch’, then it would surely be won by the teenage substitute of Continental Star, who came on wearing gloves, despite it being over 20 degrees.

The three photos below are of the main pitch here at Field Lane, the one which I saw Lodge Cottrell play on in 1992 and which is now home to Hampton.

Oxfordshire Senior League

Premier Division

Wednesday 28th August 2019

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.29

Charlton United 0 Hanborough 2, attendance 38

4’ 0-1

69’ 0-2

@ The Playing Field

High Street

Charlton-on-Otmoor

OX5 2UL

No Admission or Programme.

This was the opening league match for these two. Charlton had finished in seventh place in the Premier Division last season, whilst Hanborough are newly promoted, having finished third in Division 1 last season.

Hanborough scrambled in the opening goal after just four minutes and were the better side throughout. The second goal came following a miss kick by the home ‘keeper which was controlled and shot into the far corner of the net by the very alert Hanborough striker. Charlton had a chance to pull a goal back late on, but the volley from 12 yards hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced back out from the goal line with the ‘keeper nowhere near saving it.

Leicestershire Senior League

League Cup 1st Round

Tuesday 27th August 2019

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.32

Newbold Verdon 3 F.C. Guru Nanak Gurdwara 4, attendance 46

19’ 0-1

43’ 0-2 (pen)

66’ 1-2

76’ 1-3

84’ 1-4

87’ 2-4

90’+ 1, 3-4

@ Alans Way Sports Field

Alans Way

Newbold Verdon

LE9 9LB

No Admission or Programme.

Newbold Verdon are new into the league this season, coming from the North Leicestershire League and have joined Division 2. F.C. GNG finished third in the Premier Division last season, although they have apparently lost the majority of that team, plus the Manager, as they have moved on to play for a club higher up the pyramid. On paper though, this still looked like it could be the tie of the round.

GNG played the first six minutes with just 10 men as a car load of their players arrived late. They scored after 19 minutes and added a penalty just before halftime to lead 0-2 at the break. Newbold Verdon pulled a goal back twenty minutes into the second half, but GNG scored on a quick breakaway to make it 1-3 and it looked all over. It was soon 1-4 and GNG took their foot off the pedal. Newbold Verdon made it 2-4 with three minutes left. A minute into stoppage time it was 3-4 and then GNG were down to 10 men again when a player who was sin binned made a further comment to the Referee and received a straight red card instead, although he would have missed the final minutes whatever. There were six minutes of stoppage time played, with the light getting very gloomy, but GNG held on and we didn’t have to worry about whether it would be too dark to complete a penalty shoot out to decide matters.

Gwent Premier League

Division 1

Monday 26th August 2019

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.03

Pentwynmawr Athletic 3 Lucas Cwmbran 2, attendance 237

8’ 1-0

15’ 1-1 (pen)

31’ 2-1

37’ 3-1

41’ 3-2

@ The Welfare Ground

Fox Avenue

Pentwynmawr

NP11 4HP

£4 Admission, including raffle ticket

Programme available, but I won’t buy one at any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

The second part of my double today was again part of the organised hop. Despite only being in Division 1, this was the most expensive match of the weekend, although they tried to mask how much you were being ripped off by including a raffle ticket in the price! They even had the cheek to charge £2 for the programme on top of this, but they will have been told that some hoppers are so obsessed with ‘getting a piece of paper’ that they can basically charge what they like. I wouldn’t have had one even if they were giving them away free.

Of the four grounds I have done on the organised hop this weekend, this was by far the best ground and also the best match, especially the first half, although Coed Eva pushed it close as far as the entertainment on the pitch was concerned. The ground reminded me very much of the type so often found in the Provincial leagues in Belgium and it had a little bit of character, unlike the ‘railed off pitch in the middle of a big field’ type of ground that is more prevalent in the Gwent Premier League.

The hop would be rounded off with an evening match at Newport Civil Service, which I had visited for a Welsh League Division 3 match on 20th May 2010, when they beat Pentwyn Dynamos 5-1, so like many others, I would be heading off home and giving this match a miss. There had been a rumour started at the morning match that this game was in fact being played on a 3G Pitch and not the proper grass pitch. Of course, it wasn’t true, it was just a pathetic attempt in trying to con extra punters into turning up at the match.

The traffic on the homeward journey was very quiet. Even with a brief stop at Membury Services on the M4, I was home for 18.45.

Gwent Premier League

Premier Division

Monday 26th August 2019

Kick Off 11.00 Actual 11.01

Abertillery Excelsiors 2 Villa Dino Christchurch 0, attendance 236

18’ 1-0

53’ 2-0 (pen)

@ Jim Owen Field

Brookside Row

Cwmtillery

NP13 1LW

£3 Admission

Programme available, but I won’t buy one at any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

So, for the first match of the day of the hop schedule , it was into the Premier Division. Excelsiors are the early league leaders, having only just been promoted and it didn’t require much for them to add another three points. It was a pretty poor match. When Excelsiors went 2-0 up early in the second half, courtesy of a penalty, it was job done as far as winning the match went. Villa Dino did have a chance to reduce the deficit with a penalty of their own, but the spot kick was well saved by the home ‘keeper.

As with most grounds in this league, it was fairly basic, but with a few advert boards, dugouts, and the fact there were also floodlights, meant it had the feel of a ‘proper’ ground.

Gwent Premier League

Premier Division

Sunday 25th August 2019

Kick Off 18.00 Actual 18.05

Wattsville 2 Pill Y.M.C.A. 2, attendance 243

25’ 0-1 (pen)

29’ 1-1 (pen)

57’ 1-2

73’ 2-2

@ Islwyn Road

Wattsville

NP11 7QH

£3 Admission

Programme available, but I won’t buy one at any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

There were three matches scheduled on the ‘hop today. The first one was in the Bridgend Sunday League, which I had no interest in whatsoever, whilst the second one was a Gwent Premier League match at Cefn Fforest, where I had visited for a 3-3 draw versus Trethomas Bluebirds in a Gwent County League Division 2 match back on Tuesday 11th September 2012. So that just left the final match of the day at Wattsville. I wasn’t sure whether to bother with this match, but once it was moved back an hour from 5 o’clock to 6 o’clock, then it made a little more sense to travel back to South Wales, especially as I was planning to do the first two ‘hop games tomorrow anyway, but it would now involve an overnight stop.

I arrived at the ground an hour before kick off, which meant the Groundhop U.K. fanfare hadn’t arrived from Cefn Fforest yet. The club really missed a trick here, as the only place where they were taking admission money was next to the changing room buildings. With two other side roads leading off Islwyn Road that brought you pitchside, rather than the one by the changing rooms, it meant many wandered in free of charge. I reckon as many as 50 took the free option, although many of these would have been locals and as it is free to watch the club in every other match they play here, then they would probably not see why they should pay tonight.

As for the match. Not great, despite it producing four goals.

South Wales Alliance League

Division 2

Saturday 24th August 2019

Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.39

St. Albans 1 Canton Rangers 4, attendance 10

27’ 0-1

47’ 0-2

66’ 1-2

83’ 1-3

85’ 1-4 (pen)

@ Tremorfa Park

Kenyon Road

Tremorfa

Cardiff

CF24 2RN

No Admission or Programme.

Thankfully, I only needed the morning ground on the organised ‘hop, so decided to visit a club that was not visited by Groundhop U.K. when they had the South Wales Alliance League under their spell. St. Albans, along with Cardiff Cosmopolitan and STM Sports Old Boys were left as the three clubs that missed out on being visited, despite at least one other club in the league getting two matches during this time. Anyway, today was a perfect time to tick off one of the ‘missing three’…….

Tremorfa Park is shared with St. Albans R.U.F.C. with the pitches being side by side, but some 200 yards from the clubhouse/changing room building. There is certainly no question as to which is the most popular sport in this area, with the crowd at the football just hitting double figures, whilst there were over a hundred watching the egg chasers!

St. Albans came into this seventh in the league table, with Canton Rangers in fifth place, although they are now second following this win. The match kicked off nine minutes late, as the Referee realised he had forgotten his whistle as the handshakes were taking place, so had to make the long trek back to the changing rooms. He didn’t move much during the game though, as he never strayed more than five yards outside the centre circle unless he really had to!

It was far too hot for watching football, so it must have been dreadful playing in such heat. A pretty drab first half saw Canton lead 0-1 at the break and they doubled their lead two minutes into the second half with a deflected shot. St. Albans pulled one back when a right wing corner was headed in off a post, but two more goals in the last seven minutes by the visitors rounded off a good win for them.

Gwent Premier League

Division 1

Saturday 24th August 2019

Kick Off 11.00 Actual 10.57

Coed Eva Athletic 4 Newport Saints 3, attendance 227

4’ 0-1

9’ 1-1

10’ 1-2

36’ 2-2

50’ 2-3

62’ 3-3

64’ 4-3

@ The Birches

Pontnewydd

NP44 5LL

£3 Admission

Programme available, but I won’t buy one at any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

So, for the third time already this season, there was a Groundhop U.K. event taking place. The organisation of this ‘hop, or more to the point, lack of organisation, meant that the full schedule of matches, including teams involved, kick off times etc. wasn’t actually finalised until the day before the first match, when Cefn Fforest and Wattsville tweeted that their matches had been pushed back an hour. The reason for this was to accommodate a Bridgend Sunday League match, slotted in as an extra match for those desperate to get in an extra game on the weekend.. It was a late ‘replacement’ for a match that was called off about a week before, due to the away team not agreeing to play at 11 o’clock on a Bank Holiday Sunday morning, rather than the normal Saturday 3 o’clock standard kick off. Perfectly reasonable really, although perhaps the timing could have been better.

The lack of information on the ‘hop was pathetic, at least for those not on the ‘mailing list’ of the organisers, although at least people were posting bits and pieces on the most popular non-League forum and sharing the information with the entire ground hopping fraternity, so at least it meant that the clubs could get a decent pay day by welcoming those who travel independently (therefore giving all their money to the clubs hosting games) which is probably double the number on the organised trip.

As for the league website, you would be hard pushed to find a worse one. The fixtures on their website were still listed as all being played on Saturday, at the same time, rather than spread over 4 days and they didn’t even match the ones that took place in some cases. Even worse, they still call it the Gwent County League, but it has changed name to the Gwent Premier League from this season!

The first game of the day was at Coed Eva, which is a suburb of Cwmbran. There is a nice pitch with painted rail and posts and a small changing room building, but they can’t use that, as the pitch is deemed too small for adult football, so they play on a pitch beyond the far goal that is just railed off and has no other facilities.

Over the years I have done over 30 games in this league and it rarely disappoints as far as the entertainment value goes and this was no different. It was 2-2 by halftime and a cracking overhead kick saw Saints go 2-3 up early in the second half, before a blistering free kick levelled it up for Coed Eva just after the hour mark, then two minutes later their No.11 notched his hat trick to give them a 4-3 win, although Saints nearly levelled again when they hit the crossbar in stoppage time.

Cambridgeshire County League

Division Senior A

Wednesday 21st August 2019

Kick Off 18.15 Actual 18.33

Orwell 6 Fulbourn Institute Reserves 0, attendance 27

19’ 1-0

29’ 2-0

45’+ 1, 3-0

70’ 4-0

83’ 5-0

89’ 6-0

@ Eddington Sports Centre

Eddington Avenue

Cambridge

CB3 1AA

No Admission or Programme.

Orwell are playing here at the newly opened Eddington Sports Centre for this season, but plan to move back home to their village ground when improvements are completed.

On arrival, there was no evidence that this was even a football ground at all. The modern changing room building doesn’t even have a name on it, so unless you were aware that you were ‘in the right place’ you would have no clue that this was a ground at all. About 45 minutes before kick off both teams were arriving, but no one was getting changed. It turned out that there was no key for the changing rooms! A few of the home players roped off the pitch down each side and Fulbourn then started changing into their kit outside the building, so it looked like they were going to play, whether the changing rooms were open or not. The key arrived just before 6 o’clock and when the two sets of goals were wheeled into place, we were good to go, eventually getting started 18 minutes late.

It wasn’t a great game to watch as a neutral, as Orwell were far too good for a Fulbourn side that were on the end of their second successive six goal hammering. Orwell at least kept going until the end, even though the game was over as a contest by halftime. Their No.9 completed a hat trick, as well as missing a second half penalty, which he fired wide of the target. I can’t remember Fulbourn having a single shot on target.

Leicestershire Senior League

Division 1

Tuesday 20th August 2019

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.32

Greenhill Youth Council 5 Anstey Town 4, attendance 73

12’ 0-1

38’ 0-2

42’ 1-2

46’ 1-3

64’ 1-4

68’ 2-4

70’ 3-4

82’ 4-4

86’ 5-4

@ Greenhill Youth Centre

Cropston Drive

Coalville

LE67 4HS

No Admission or Programme.

Greenhill Youth Council are new into the Leicestershire Senior League this season and by virtue of having won the North Leicestershire League, it has seen them placed into Division 1, rather than Division 2, which would be the normal route for new entrants.

The area of Coalville that the ground is in is not the best. The shops have metal shutters, rather than windows and the local Co-Op went for the boarded up look, just to be a little different! The Youth Centre, which had no facilities, apart from a spectator toilet, fitted with the run down look of the area. From the car park, you walk past a small 3G cage and through a gate in the metal fencing, where behind the hedge are two pitches. Greenhill play on the one to the right, which they roped off on three sides for tonight’s match.

Anstey arrived here as league leaders, albeit after just the one match and Greenhill had opened their season with a 3-3 draw here on Saturday. Anstey led 1-2 at halftime and having increased their lead a minute into the second half, then making it 1-4 just after the hour mark, it looked all over. Greenhill lost quite a few players from their title winning team, moving on to other clubs who are paying them to play, but they still retain a good spirit. Two goals in as many minutes pulled it back to 3-4 with twenty minutes left to play. It only seemed a matter of time until they drew level, and sure enough, eight minutes from time, they scored with a header following a long throw in. Still time to get a winner and it duly arrived with four minutes left. Their young striker broke clear and smashed the ball into the bottom corner of the net giving the ‘keeper no chance. Anstey should have levelled it in stoppage time though, when a cross was somehow diverted wide of the open goal from a couple of yards out.