Belgium

Brabant Provincial 1 V.F.V.

Sunday 29th September 2019

Kick Off 15.00. On Time !

K.V. Kester-Gooik 0 K.F.C. Diest 3, attendance 163

25’ 0-1

55’ 0-2

61’ 0-3

@ Wolvenstraat

1755 Gooik

€7 Admission

Team Sheet, free.

Today’s match would be between the only two clubs I haven’t visited in Brabant Provincial 1. Kester-Gooik have only been promoted this season and having played a few matches here at Wolvenstraat last season, it has now become their full time home. The ground originally had a grass pitch, but the area was flattened and the pitch was turned through ninety degrees and relaid as a 3G. The ground looks to have been built with little or no thought going into it. The seated area is uncovered and the viewing area outside the clubhouse is open to the elements as well, if you want a decent view of the game, as the cover that is available is set well back from the rail and totally useless.

Kester-Gooik came into this third from bottom in the league table, having taken just two points from their first four games. Diest, on the other hand, are third, with two wins and two draws from their opening four games. Diest were just too good for the hosts and once they opened the scoring it was a stroll in the park for them. They could have won by a much bigger margin, but they seemed content with just the three goals and never had to get out of second gear. It was nice to see they had a good away following, which was around one third of the crowd.

We were booked on the 09.20 outbound crossing on Eurotunnel, but actually travelled on the earlier 08.50 train. Our return also saw us leave ahead of our booked time, making the 19.36, rather than the 20.06 we should have been on. Have Eurotunnel finally worked out how to run to a timetable ?……probably not.

Gloucestershire County League

Saturday 28th September 2019

Kick Off 15.00. On Time !

Bromley Heath United 1 Wick 0, attendance 75

40’ 1-0

@ Pomphrey Hill Playing Fields

Pomphrey Hill

Mangotsfield

Bristol

BS16 9NF

No Admission

£1 Programme, 16 pages.

Bromley Heath United are new additions to the Gloucestershire County League, having been promoted as champions of the Bristol & Suburban League Premier Division.

They have had a poor start to the season, having lost their opening five matches, which sees them one off the foot of the league table, courtesy of a better goal difference than bottom club Hardwicke. Wick arrived here as league leaders, having won five of their first six games, so this looked like it might be a predictable outcome, but that was not the case.

It was a pretty even first half, which saw both clubs have chances to go in front. A speculative shot, from the corner of the 18 yard box, was spilled by the Wick ‘keeper and was poked in from close range to give Bromley Heath the lead five minutes before the break. Wick piled on the pressure in the second half, but were not able to break down a very resolute home defence and the hosts hung on to gain their first win of the season, which sees them climb another place in the league table. The defeat sees Wick drop down to third.

Leicestershire Senior League

Division 2

Tuesday 24th September 2019

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.28

Northfield Emeralds 7 Sutton Bonington 1, attendance 40

5’ 1-0

9’ 2-0

39’ 3-0

52’ 4-0

60’ 5-0

74’ 6-0

79’ 7-0

90’ 7-1

@ The Emerald Centre

450 Gipsy Lane

Humberstone

Leicester

LE5 0TB

No Admission or Programme.

This was a chance to see two of the new clubs that have joined the newly formed Division 2 of the Leicestershire Senior League. Northfield Emeralds finished third in the Leicestershire & District League Premier Division last season, whilst Sutton Bonington finished bottom of the North Leicestershire League Premier Division.

They have had contrasting starts to life playing at a higher level. Northfield Emeralds had won their opening six league matches, scoring 49 goals in the process and sit top of the league table. Sutton Bonington, on the other hand, had won just one of their four games, which was a 10-0 away win, which shows just how weak this new division is.

As a contest it was all over after ten minutes when Emeralds were already 2-0 up. Sutton Bonington did settle into the game though and actually created a few chances of their own, but it was 3-0 by halftime and Emeralds had also missed a penalty, which was well saved. The second half was one way traffic and Emeralds should have scored at least double the amount of goals they actually managed. Their No.9 managed to get himself booked twice in a minute with six minutes left on the clock, before Sutton Bonington scored a consolation goal with the last kick of the match.

Emeralds now top the league by six points and have a very impressive +51 goal difference. Lewis Turland scored four of their goals tonight, which if the stats on the F.A. Full Time website are correct, was the ninth hat trick by one of their players in the league this season, (by 6 different players) and the fourth time one have them have scored four goals, in a game (there has also been a 5 and 6 haul). Oddly enough, Nathan Kew-Moss has managed 4, 5 and 6 goals in games this season, but didn’t even get on the score sheet tonight!

As grounds go, this is probably the best one in this division by some distance. It does look a bit strange to see the pitch marooned somewhat in a large railed off area, but apparently this is due to the ground hosting Gaelic sports as well.

Mid Sussex League

Montgomery Cup 2nd Round

Saturday 21st September 2019

Kick Off 16.00 Actual 16.03

Nutley 2 Eastbourne Rangers 4, attendance 27

3’ 0-1

15’ 0-2

33’ 0-3

52’ 0-4

54’ 1-4

64’ 2-4

@ Fords Green

Nutley

TN22 3LJ

No Admission or Programme.

The drive from Ardingly saw me arrive twenty minutes before the scheduled kick off. It is always a pleasing sight when you are aiming for a double, to see the teams warming up on the pitch when you arrive, as there is always a possibility that they may have kicked off early if the earlier scheduled match at the ground hasn’t taken place for some reason.

Nutley are second from bottom in the league table of the Championship (level 2 of the league) having taken one point from their first four matches. Eastbourne Rangers are in the Premier Division, sitting third from bottom, also having just a single point, but from five games.

It was evident from the start that Eastbourne Rangers were from a higher division. They were ahead after just three minutes and by halftime it was 0-3 and they were coasting. A defender diverted a cross into his own net to make it 0-4 in favour of the visitors and that looked to be it. Nutley did reduce the arrears within two minutes, heading in from a corner, before a fine solo run and finish from midfield saw it pulled back to 2-4 with twenty five minutes left. Nutley never looked like scoring again though, even when Eastbourne Rangers had a player sin binned for the last ten minutes of the match.

Mid Sussex League

Division 1

Saturday 21st September 2019

Kick Off 13.30 Actual 13.33

Ardingly 0 Lindfield II 5, attendance 18

8’ 0-1

38’ 0-2

41’ 0-3

48’ 0-4

63’ 0-5

@ Ardingly Recreation Ground

High Street

Ardingly

RH17 6TB

No Admission or Programme.

There were double opportunities today in the Mid Sussex League as a number of 4 o’clock matches were scheduled. Rather than risk a cup match, with the possibility of games going to a penalty shoot out and possibly finishing too late to enable making it to a second match, I decided to play safe and do a league match for the first game.

Division 1 in this league is actually the third level (Premier Division, then Championship being the top two levels). These two had started the season losing their opening match, Ardingly going down 0-3 at home, whilst Lindfield II had been thrashed 10-0 at Holland Sports. Had I checked last weeks results beforehand, I probably wouldn’t have risked Lindfield II as the opposition today!

This was pretty much one way traffic from the off. Lindfield II were 0-3 up by halftime and also had 3 shots that hit the post with the ‘keeper nowhere near saving them. They added another couple in the first twenty minutes of the second half to make it 0-5. Ardingly played the last 21 minutes of the match with only 10 players, as they had already used all their substitutions when another player left the field with a head injury. Lindfield II seemed to take pity on them and the last quarter of an hour really dragged.

It seemed strange to be at a match this late in September where there were drinks breaks due to the warm weather. There was one midway through the first half, before two more followed in the second.

Belgium

Division 3 Amateurs A.C.F.F. A

Friday 20th September 2019

Kick Off 20.00 Actual 20.05

R. Union Saint-Ghislain Tertre-Hautrage 1 R. Leopold F.C. 1, attendance 127

13’ 1-0

84’ 1-1

@ Stade Saint Lo

Rue du Moulin 68

7330 Saint-Ghislain

€8 Admission

No Programme.

Having won Hainaut Provincial 1 last season, R. Union Saint-Ghislain Tertre-Hautrage have moved from their Stade Achille Bavier ground in Tertre, to this athletics stadium in Saint-Ghislain on their return to the Belgian League. It is quite distinctive, with its unusual blue running track, but oddly enough, the visitors also play at an athletics stadium that has a blue running track as well.

I only noticed this fixture had changed to a Friday night at around 17.30 on Thursday evening, and within half an hour it became apparent that they had indeed moved ground this season, so it was no problem filling the car for the trip across The Channel. We were booked on the 14.20 outbound crossing on The Tunnel, but having had a clear run down through Kent, we actually made it onto the 13.50, which left a minute early.

A quick look at the league table suggested this might not be the best of matches. Saint-Ghislain sat bottom, having lost all four of their matches, whilst Leopold were just two places above them, having picked up just two points from their first four games. Saint-Ghislain went ahead within a quarter of an hour with an angled shot across the ‘’keeper and Leopold had quite a few chances, some of them which looked harder to miss than score, but we reached the interval with it still 1-0. Leopold again had the better of the second half chances and they were finally rewarded with an equaliser, when a cross from the right was headed in from close range with six minutes left.

With the second half getting started nine minutes behind schedule, due to the Referee keeping both teams waiting on the pitch for a good five minutes before he reappeared, it meant we would be tight for our check in time for our 00.20 train home. We made it though and we actually left on time. Unfortunately, having arrived in Folkestone, a car ahead of us broke down, causing a fifteen minute delay to unloading, then a closure on the M20 meant we lost another 15 minutes on the diversion route.

Carmarthenshire League

Premier Division

Wednesday 18th September 2019

Kick Off 18.00 Actual 17.57

Pontarddulais Town 6 Loughor Rovers 4, attendance 85

13’ 1-0

16’ 1-1

49’ 1-2

68’ 1-3

71’ 2-3 (pen)

74’ 2-4

84’ 3-4

86’ 4-4

90’+ 2, 5-4

90’+ 4, 6-4

@ Coed Bach Park

Gwynfryn Road

Pontarddulais

SA4 8LG

No Admission (they did do a raffle) or Programme.

When you drive into Coed Bach Park, the first thing you notice is the metal entrance gates to the smart ground on the right hand side of the car park. It is fully enclosed, floodlit and has cover on each side of the pitch. However, if you look a little to the right, you see a brick building and an open pitch. This is the football ground. The other, of course, is home to Pontarddulais R.U.F.C. who, as is normally the case in these parts, are the ones with all the facilities!

I rounded off my midweek ‘early kick offs’ (that’s it now until the end of March when the clocks go forward) with an absolutely cracking match here. Pontarddulais started the night tenth in the league table, whilst Loughor sat in sixth place. The first half was good, but it was only 1-1 at the break. The second half was superb. Loughor were 1-2 in front within minutes of the restart and then a substitute volleyed in to make it 1-3, with his first touch of the ball, as we approached the final twenty minutes. Pontarddulais replied with a penalty, before the same substitute scored again to put the visitors 2-4 ahead with sixteen minutes left and surely wrap up the points…….

Six minutes to go and Pontarddulais headed in from a corner. Two minutes later a long throw in was glanced past the ‘keeper to level it up at 4-4. Loughor had a great chance to regain the lead, but a couple of minutes into stoppage time Pontarddulais completed an incredible turnaround, with a cut in from the right that was finished with a low shot into the far corner. There was still time for them to add another goal, with a mirror image of the last one being well finished from the left. So, 6-4, but it could easily have been 10-10. What a game!

Both teams were on the pitch warming up at 17.30 and the Referee very sensibly got the match underway three minutes early at 17.57. We had two minutes of added time in the first half, six minutes for halftime, then a further four minutes of stoppages at the end of the match, but were still all done for 19.39. It wasn’t properly dark until I reached Port Talbot on the long trek home.

Swansea Senior League

Division 1

Tuesday 17th September 2019

Kick Off 18.00 Actual 18.07

Mumbles Rangers 1 Brynawel 5, attendance 20

12’ 1-0

18’ 1-1

37’ 1-2

40’ 1-3

43’ 1-4

63’ 1-5

@ Underhill Park, Pitch 1

Newton Road

Mumbles

SA3 4SW

No Admission or Programme.

If you want a game without floodlights during this midweek, the only place you will still find games scheduled are in West Wales. There was a full programme of matches in the Swansea Senior League Divisions 1 and 2 tonight, so I went for the top division match that was 7th versus 11th (2nd bottom) in the league table.

Underhill Park is the main sporting hub in the town, hosting football, cricket and rugby. Mumbles Rangers play on Pitch 1 here, which is directly outside the changing rooms. It was roped along a section of each side, oddly done with each club roping off the side where they had their ‘bench’. What was more surprising was that they had a tea bar up and running from around half an hour before kick off.

Mumbles, who had won two of their opening five matches, took an early lead. As Brynawel had drawn three and lost three of their first six games, I expected this game was heading only one way, an easy win for the hosts, but it soon turned round. Brynawel levelled, then tore the hosts apart, and a three goal burst just before halftime sewed the game up. They added one more during the second half, but it could have been far worse for Mumbles and they should be thankful it was only 1-5 in the end.

Despite kicking off seven minutes late, there was an eight minute halftime, where Mumbles even went back into the changing rooms. Even when we finished at 19.47 the light was pretty reasonable.

Belgium

Hainaut Provincial 1

Sunday 15th September 2019

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.04

R. Leopold Club Hornu 0 Sporting Club Montignies 0, attendance 98

@ Stade Barbet

Rue Du Commerce 98

7301 Hornu

€5 Admission

No Programme.

This was our first trip of the season over to Belgium. The driver was heading for A.S. Snef-Tyber, which I had been to, where he would be completing Provincial 1 in Hainaut, whilst two of us were being dropped off in Hornu, which would also see the completion of Provincial 1 in Hainaut for me as well.

Leopold Club Hornu are one of the oldest clubs in Belgium, having been formed in 1921. They have a very low 129 matricule number and they first played in the Belgian League back in 1946, having suffered relegation and promotion in the meantime, but having been relegated back into the Provincial League in 1997, they have remained there ever since and even dropped into Provincial 3 at one stage.

Having won promotion back into Provincial 1 this season, they have had a reasonable start, topping the league table with seven points from their opening three games. Montignies arrived here in eleventh place. Unfortunately, neither side had any ambition to try and win the game and they served up an absolutely dreadful match. I saw three awful matches yesterday and this was equally as bad. Yesterday it was due to the fact that the level we were watching was of a very poor standard. Today, it was because neither team wanted to win and were very happy to play for 0-0.

Having not been over here since May, we had forgotten what a shambles Eurotunnel are. Our outbound 09.20 train left eight minutes late and despite arriving back at The Tunnel twenty minutes before check in closed for our 20.20 return, we were told it was full (as we were well within our check in time, this seems a very strange way to operate a service) and we had been moved to the 20.36 crossing instead and surprise, surprise, it didn’t leave until 20.47.

Witney & District League

Division 2

Saturday 14th September 2019

Kick Off 16.15 or 16.30 Actual 16.30

Ducklington 2 Wootton Sports 3, attendance 178

33’ 1-0

51’ 1-1 (pen)

73’ 1-2

87’ 1-3

90’+ 2, 2-3

@ The Glebelands Playing Fields

Aston Road

Ducklington

OX29 7US

£4 Admission, including Programme*

*(Once again you got a programme whether you wanted it or not. Again I applied the rule of putting it in the nearest bin, as I don’t even want a ‘free’ copy on any event run by Groundhop U.K.)

Third game of the day and again confusion on what time the kick off was. This was an even shorter distance to travel, being just 5 miles from Minster Lovell, so it didn’t really matter, but it meant arriving at the ground an hour and five minutes before kick off, so Ducklington were certainly not going to have to rush to try and make the most of their big pay day.

This was two levels lower than the first two ‘hop matches today, but it was still a case of paying top dollar to watch it. Although they tried, the standard of play here was about as low as you could get, with plenty of effort, but with two teams of limited ability, to say the least, it wasnt great to watch. The dreadful state of the pitch won’t have helped. It looked like it hadn’t seen any water in months. Ducklington led 1-0 at the break, but should have added a fair few more, but having failed to do so, were easily beaten in the end. Three second half goals from Wootton saw the game made safe, before a goal for the hosts, two minutes into stoppage time, made it look closer than it was.

It had been a real endurance test watching three games of such poor standard today, although the hot weather may have contributed to that. It wasn’t helped by the Referee at this match adding nearly seven minutes of stoppage time in the first half, then a ridiculous sixteen minutes to the second half, of a game that was turgid at best.

With the obsession of having these ground hops at intervals of what certainly feels like every other week, it means dropping lower and lower in order to find clubs and/or leagues that want to be involved, but as long as there are sufficient numbers turning up, then they will be here to stay, no matter how low the level drops. It will take some doing to find a league with a lower standard of football than this, although the scenery around some of the villages in this part of the Cotswolds does make up for it somewhat.

We could have gone on the organised trip, which this time involved just two mini buses, but we would have first had to drive to Oxford to meet up, then pay to park the car, before paying £19 each for the privilege of being driven the 49 mile round trip to the three games and back . We decided to drive ourselves instead, and as there were three of us, it only cost us £5 each and none of us live anywhere near Oxford!