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!

Witney & District League

Premier Division

Saturday 14th September 2019

Kick Off 13.30 or 13.45 Actual 13.30

Minster Lovell 2 Carterton 3, attendance 126

29’ 1-0

38’ 2-0

48’ 2-1

62’ 2-2

85’ 2-3 (pen)

@ Wash Meadow

Minster Lovell

OX29 0RN

£4 Admission, including Programme *

*( As with this mornings game, you had the programme whether you wanted it or not, so it was again a case of finding the nearest bin for it, as I don’t even want a ‘free’ copy from any event organised by Groundhop U.K. At least the club were a bit more sensible by ‘only’ charging £4 more than they normally do!)

This was a bit of a strange one here, as there was some confusion regarding kick off time, as depending where you were getting the information, it was either 13.30 or 13.45. Quite a number of twitter feeds had tweets and retweets stating both times. It wasn’t a problem getting here, even for the earlier time though, as it was only seven miles from the morning match, but even so, it meant the club only had 15-20 minutes pre match to try and sell refreshments and really cash in on the day.

It turned out that it was indeed a 13.30 start, so their money making opportunity was certainly squeezed to the bare minimum. I thought these ‘hops were supposed to be about making money for the clubs, but on this evidence, you wouldn’t think so………

Anyway, on to the football, which again was of low standard. Minster Lovell led 2-0 at the break, but Carterton somehow turned it round in the second half, winning it with a late penalty. The one moment of quality was the free kick scored by the visitors that pulled it back to 2-1. It started the comeback that certainly wasn’t expected from their first half showing.

Witney & District League

Premier Division

Saturday 14th September 2019

Kick Off 11.00 Actual 11.02

Milton under Wychwood 1 Spartan Rangers 2, attendance 166

3’ 1-0

48’ 1-1

85’ 1-2

@ The Village Green

Shipton Road

Milton under Wychwood

OX7 6JH

£5 Admission, including Programme *

It is hard to imagine just how low a level of football you can go to where the crowd will be in excess of three figures, but of course, this was only possible as it was part of a ground hop. The fact that there was a £5 Admission charge (* The club still charged full price for concessions and you had the programme whether you wanted it or not, despite it having a £1 cover price) was a giveaway that this was an ‘organised’ ‘hop. As this was a Groundhop U.K. event it meant that despite the programme being included in the price, my copy was deposited in the nearest bin, as I won’t even take a ‘free’ copy from anything they may be involved in and charging this much at this level of the game actually makes Premier League prices look reasonable in comparison!

I hadn’t watched a match in this league since 2010, but can’t remember it being as poor a standard as what this match was. It was a lovely setting for a ground, helped greatly by the fantastic weather, but sadly the quality of football was lacking somewhat. Milton scored early on and were coasting it. Spartans were very poor, but somehow they levelled it up at 1-1 early in the second half and somehow managed a late winning goal, that certainly wasn’t deserved, taking into account their performance over the ninety minutes.