It seemed strange to be travelling down to the South Coast in temperatures of between 5 and 6 degrees, on a sunny day, looking out over mile after mile of green fields knowing that we would be watching one of only a handful of lower level non league matches taking place in the South East today. It just didn’t seem possible that games had been called off for snow, frost and waterlogged pitches, but that seems to be the excuses used for the lack of choice in choosing a match today. I had already got half an eye on this match anyway, but when I was offered a lift here, then my mind was soon made up.
Eastbourne Rangers only have one more home league match left to play after today and that is in a fortnight, so it seemed a good time to tick this off. Rangers are tenth in the league table, whilst Balcombe are third and still in with a chance of winning the title. When the visitors went ahead after five minutes it looked like it would be an easy three points for them. By halftime, Rangers were 2-1 in front, but two howlers by their ‘keeper in the opening ten minutes of the second half saw them trailing 2-3. Balcombe looked to have sewn it up when it became 2-4, but a quick reply brought it back to 3-4. It was nice to see both teams still going all out for another goal, even though the visitors could have shut up shop and settled for what they had.
Kensington Borough 0 Harefield United 6, attendance 47
10’ 0-1
30’ 0-2
49’ 0-3
72’ 0-4
81’ 0-5
90’ + 5, 0-6
@ Middlesex County F.A. Ground, 3G Pitch No.1
Rectory Park
Ruislip Road
Northolt
UX5 6DE
*£5 Admission, including free 8 page programme.
I came to Rectory Park at the end of July, on a night where there were pre season friendlies being played on the two 3G pitches here. I opted to watch the game on Pitch 2 that night, as I thought it less likely that I might see a game on there in the future, especially as Pitch 1 had two seated stands, so was more likely to host a competitive match at some stage. It does host the matches of Middlesex County League, Premier Division club Lampton Park, but they haven’t played any midweek fixtures there, so the gamble to tick off Pitch 2 paid off when this fixture appeared.
Since my last visit, there is now a cafe at the ground, which does a huge range of hot food as well. Typical ‘London prices’ and I think it is the first time I have ever been at a match where a hot drink cost more if you had milk in it! Sugar was still free!
The set up here doesn’t really meet the requirements for staging a match between two Step 6 teams, as you enter the reception and then go into the cafe, which is actually the entrance to the pitches.*Unless you wanted a programme, (I didn’t bother) which in effect would cost you £5, there was no admission charge as you would have to go back out to pay. Not sure why they didn’t charge money pitchside, which would have made more sense, or even come round and collect money during the match. It was also odd to see the teams and match officials having to come through the cafe to get access to the pitch.
Kensington Borough, (groundshare at Leatherhead F.C.) are third from bottom in the league table in the Combined Counties League Division 1, having won only three of their twenty two matches this season. Harefield United, on the other hand, are still undefeated, having won 21 and drawn 2, as they sit top of the Spartan South Midlands League Division 1. The game went exactly as expected. One unusual occurrence was when ex-Queens Park Rangers (plus 35 other clubs apparently!) striker Richard Pacquette struck an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner which would have made it 0-4 and completed his hat trick. The ball hit one of the wheels that are on the transportable goal frames and came back out……it was clear to everyone that it had gone in…..except the match officials. At least it didn’t have any effect on the final outcome.
Today was a bit of a risk in travelling over for a match. The provinces of Liege, Namur, Hainaut and West Vlaanderen had decided to call off all their matches this weekend, whilst Luxembourg are still on their winter shutdown. However, Antwerpen, Brabant and Limburg had gone down the route of the Referee making a decision at the ground. Here in Oost Vlaanderen, there was no additional information, so as far as we knew, they were all expected to play. The only real problem today, as far as we were concerned, was that the car load was going to be watching two different matches and as I had already been to K. Sparta Waasmunster ( 2-0 v Yellow Blue Beveren, Provincial 3E, 1st February 2014) where the driver was heading, then I would be being dropped off en route. I had read on the club website how proud Dendermonde are to have one of the best kept pitches in the whole of Belgium and a truer fact would be difficult to find. The pitch was immaculate and even at the final whistle it still looked pristine.
It is not just the pitch that is excellent. The ground is an absolute cracker. The old main stand has been refurbished and is in fine condition. This is flanked by two big open terrace sections, with more behind one goal. The entire length of the pitch on the opposite side is covered, with a mixture of bucket seats and benches in the centre section, with the ends being terraced. Just to round things off, there are proper traditional corner floodlight pylons.
The match itself was certainly a slow burner. Dendermonde came into this in ninth place in the league table, having won away at second placed S.K. Lochristi last week. Zele, which is only four miles away, were in fourth place and well in with a chance of promotion to the Belgian League. An unmarked header at the far post opened the scoring just before the break, in what was a dreadful first half. It was game over just after the hour mark, when a decisive pass opened up the defence to make it 0-2 and a close range finish rounded things off with six minutes left. The win leaves Zele in fourth place, just two points behind the leaders K. Racing Club Bambrugge. Dendermonde drop to tenth.
A miscalculation by the driver, forgetting about the length of time needed for picking up after the game, meant we were never going to make check in for our 19.20 return crossing on The Tunnel. On arrival, at 18.52, the timetable was once again suffering delays. We checked in, but there was no indication of what train we were actually on. It turned out it was the retimed 19.55, which ended up leaving two minutes early. Despite warnings that the M20 motorway was shut all weekend between Junctions 9 and 11, this turned out to be false, so a nice straightforward journey to Folkestone and back.
This tie caught my eye as soon as the draw was made. Wymondham are currently in fourth place in the Anglian Combination League, Premier Division. Thetford are two levels higher, sitting in fifteenth place in the Eastern Counties League, Premier Division. They had also met in this same competition last season, with Wymondham coming out on top on that occasion, but it was not going to be a case of lightning striking twice, as Thetford took the honours this time.
The weather was forecast to remain dry in the eastern half of the country, and apart from five minutes of drizzle around the half hour mark, that was exactly how it turned out. It probably helped in attracting a very good crowd, as with no shelter here, it wouldn’t have been very nice had it rained.
The Referee got things underway a couple of minutes early and the visitors wasted no time by scoring from their first attack, in what was a very even first half, although lacking in any real quality, especially in the final third of the pitch. It was all over as a contest when Thetford volleyed in their second goal early in the second half. A looping header, a shot that went in off the post and a header from a corner, finished things off. In the end, Wymondham were lucky it was only a five goal margin, as they were totally outclassed in the second half and will probably be disappointed that they never really looked like they would ever get anything from the game after conceding so early on.
Bedfordshire University 0 Cambridge University 2nds 1, attendance 24
6’ 0-1
@ Polhill Sports Field
Polhill Avenue
Bedford
MK41 9EA
No Admission or Programme.
Bedfordshire University normally play their first team fixtures at Alexander Sports Centre, where I saw them play earlier this season, but this was one of two matches that they are scheduled to play at the university campus. The only problem was likely to be from snow or frost, but the white stuff had disappeared not far north of Luton and as it was a sunny 4 degrees, there was no problem with the pitch being frozen.
When Cambridge took an early lead, when a free kick was volleyed in from 10 yards, it looked like we could be in for a few goals, but that was it. Bedfordshire only had one weapon, a long throw in from their No.5, but despite delivering the ball into the 6 yard box, no matter how far he was throwing the ball in from, they couldn’t convert anything, whilst Cambridge settled for doing just enough to hold onto the win and move just a point behind East Anglia 2nds at the top of the league table.
Dorking Wanderers 1 Enfield Town 0, attendance 404
78’ 1-0
@ Meadowbank Stadium
Mill Lane
Dorking
RH4 1DX
£10 Admission
Programme ? Never saw any, but must have been one as they were shown on their twitter account pre match.
On the last two occasions I had watched Dorking Wanderers play home matches, they were both played at Westhumble Playing Fields. They have now moved to Meadowbank Stadium, right in the town centre and what was the former home of Dorking F.C. I had been here on 28th August 1995 when I saw Dorking 0 Witham Town 2 in an Isthmian League Division 2 match. Since then, the whole area has been flattened and a brand new ground has been built, which is also home to the Surrey F.A., with the pitch almost entirely on the original footprint, but with a new 3G Pitch and totally new surroundings.
As with most modern grounds, it is functional, but is very bland and is totally lacking in any character. There is a decent sized seated stand, but the two areas of covered standing have been put in two of the worst positions they could have been placed for watching a game from, not that the club will care one bit about that. Also, the floodlights are not that good, which seems to be a problem that is now so common on 3G pitches. At least the parking is good. In the Pay & Display car park off Mill Lane, it is free after 6pm during the week and is less than 50 yards walk from the ground.
In the half hour leading up to me leaving for the match, the back garden had been covered in snow, but I decided to go anyway and there were no problems whatsoever on arrival at the ground some thirty five minutes before kick off.
Wanderers were second in the league table, five points behind leaders Haringey Borough, but with this game in hand. Enfield started the night in ninth place. It was not a very good game to watch from a neutral point of view, with very little goalmouth action. I thought Enfield were the better team, having hit a post and having had a shot cleared off the goal line with the ‘keeper well beaten, whilst Dorking did virtually nothing during the first half. The only goal of the game came when a left wing cross was headed down and the striker turned and brought a good save out of the ‘keeper, but the ball fell kindly to another Wanderers player, who swept the ball into the net from close range.
I was surprised at the size of the crowd, which was announced as 404, although I thought it was around the 300-350 mark at best. Dorking are still in with a good chance of promotion, but I would think the ground as it is at present, is well short of making the next grading, but can probably be rectified by plonking another couple of kit stands in the other two corners of the ground.
I had visited Sun Postal Sports & Social Club before, having seen Sun Postal Sports beat Ampthill Town 1-0 in a Spartan South Midlands League, Division 1 Cup, 2nd Round match on Wednesday 13th October 2004. That was played on the main stadium, which is still as it was, despite the club, now just known as ‘Sun Sports’, plying their trade lower down the pyramid, in the Herts Senior County League, Premier Division.
With Aldenham now also playing here, albeit listed as a different pitch, it was an ideal time to visit today, as Sun Sports were also at home (2nd bottom v bottom) versus Evergreen, so there was no chance of the Aldenham match taking place on the stadium pitch, or so I hoped. It is always risky visiting these venues when there is only one match taking place as there is always the chance that they will just play on the stadium pitch, which according to one of the substitutes, has happened a couple of times.
All seemed to be going to plan, as each pitch had two teams warming up, but around half an hour before kick off it became apparent that the Referee for our match hadn’t arrived, but at 13.39 he arrived pitch side, already kitted out. Apparently he was local and had just misjudged the traffic en route.
Aldenham started the day in eleventh place in the league table, whilst Lemsford were bottom. The visitors only had the bare eleven players at kick off, but said that a substitute would be along later, once he had finished work. The game was very even and due to some poor finishing looked like it might be goalless as we neared halftime. Lemsford then got an injury to a player, which was bad enough for him not to return to the action, and within a minute they conceded the opening goal to give Aldenham a 1-0 lead at the break.
During halftime, the Lemsford substitute had arrived, so they were back up to full strength. Within two minutes of the restart it was 1-1 and the game completely turned. Just after the hour mark Lemsford went 1-3 up and totally overran the hosts. To be honest, the 1-4 score line totally flattered Aldenham. Lemsford look far too good to be propping up the table, especially after their performance in the second half and must have been disappointed to find out that Hatfield United, who were just one point ahead of them, had also won today.
Above : On the stadium pitch, where the floodlights were on, despite it being a 2pm kick off…..Evergreen head in an injury time equaliser to make it 1-1.
Havre Athletic Club 4 Valenciennes 3, attendance 5,325
16’ 0-1
21’ 1-1
32’ 2-1
34’ 2-2
36’ 2-3
40’ 3-3
67’ 4-3
@ Stade Océane
Rue du Stade Océane
off Boulevard De Léningrad
76600 Le Havre
€12 Admission
Programme, free, 4 pages.
I had visited Le Havre before, when I saw Havre A.C. draw 1-1 versus A.C. Arles Avignon in a Ligue 2 match at 14.30 on Saturday 28th January 2012, in front of 6,524 spectators, doubling it up with F.C. Dieppe 2 U.S. Saint Omer 1 in a C.F.A. 2 match at 18.00 as I headed back home.
In those days Havre A.C. played at the 16,382 capacity Stade Jules Deschaseaux, which is still in place, but no longer stages first team matches. The Stade Océane is only a few hundred yards away, being separated from the old stadium by the railway lines and a main road. It was opened in July 2012 and has a capacity of 25,181 which is far too big for the club in this division, but would be adequate for life in Ligue 1 if they were to gain promotion, especially if the away team had more than the 20 fans spotted in the visiting section tonight.
We were booked on the 11.50 Tunnel crossing from Folkestone across to France, but having arrived earlier than we were expecting, made it on the earlier 11.20 train. This meant we arrived in Le Havre in plenty of time to go and buy our tickets at the stadium and an extra half an hour to explore the town. This turned out to be half an hour too long! As with most ports, it is pretty drab and had a run down feel to it. The only food outlets that appeared open were kebab joints, so we ate at the food stalls outside the ground instead.
At the start of play Havre were tenth in the league table, with Valenciennes in sixteenth place (out of 20). Judging by the amount of goals these two had scored, or rather hadn’t scored, so far this season, then we would have been happy just to see a goal, no matter which team got it, as past experience told us not to expect too much in attacking flair, as a cautious approach is the way French League football is often played out. As it turned out, this was an absolute cracker, with the first half being as good as you would see anywhere, although two poor defences contributed to much of that. The second half was more reserved, but Havre did get what turned out to be the winner mid way through the half with a shot on the turn from 15 yards. Valenciennes had a man red carded with two minutes left, but almost nicked a point with the last effort of the match, but the ball was scrambled clear and the final whistle sounded as the ball left the 18 yard box.
We had parked in the road outside the old ground, as did most of the crowd, which was only 5 minutes walk from the end where we had watched the match, so by 20.55 we were on our way back. It was 165 miles to The Tunnel, so we booked the 01.22 train, as it was unlikely that we could make check-in for the 23.58 crossing. With the A16 closed just south of Boulogne, which meant a diversion through the south eastern suburbs of the town (it did save us €2.60 off the toll road fare) we had settled for being on our booked train, especially as we only checked in at 23.36 (check in closes 45 minutes before departure). However, we decided to go straight round to the loading area and were delighted to see that we had green arrows all the way, so made it onto the 23.58 train after all. Despite it being eleven minutes late leaving, we were still 1 hour 13 minutes up, so it rounded off an excellent day out in Normandy.
With a £30 voucher off The Tunnel price (issued as compensation for their incompetence to run on time a couple of months back) it only cost us £20 each ( Tunnel and fuel) as there were four of us. As around 100 miles of the route each way was on toll roads, it meant we each paid €8.20, although as is normally the case, the last one to get the money ready got the best deal, as they were ‘rewarded’ with the cheaper €5.60 fee when we were diverted off the motorway earlier than expected at Boulogne.
Above photo : The view from the old stadium.Above : There can’t be too many times that a scoreboard has shown this halftime score at a French match !
Above: Stade Jules Deschaseaux viewed from the concourse of Stade Océane
F.C. Saint-Josse 2 R. Racing Club Boitsfort 2, attendance 103
2’ 1-0 (pen)
39’ 1-1
47’ 2-1
90’ 2-2
@ Stade Georges Petre
Rue Georges De Lombarde 55
1140 Evere
€8 Admission
No Programme.
The Stade Georges Petre has been home to F.C. Saint-Josse (and previously R.C.S. Saint-Josse) since 1915, but is rumoured to be replaced by a new stadium in the near future, which will see the current ground flattened and a new ground constructed on the site which will see the pitch turned by 90 degrees from its current position.
With the driver heading for F.C. Saint-Michel (where I had visited on 18th May 2014 to see them beat V.C. Eendracht Mazenzele 6-0 in a Brabant Provincial 3 Promotion Play Off.) also in this division, and around 4 miles away, it was an ideal opportunity to make a visit here whilst the ground is one of character, which the new build almost certainly won’t be. Oddly enough, this was only a five minute drive from home when I lived in Brussels and would have been my second nearest ground. As is often said, “you can’t do everything”, but I am glad I made it here before modernisation arrives and it was certainly a stadium worthy of being my 800th Belgian ground that I have seen a match on.
The only problem today could have been the rain, but thankfully the heavy rain that was forecast was nothing more than light rain or drizzle, for the duration of the match at least, although it had certainly rained earlier in the day as both 6 yard boxes had standing water in them and the pitch was a bit squelchy in front of the main stand, but didn’t cut up too badly.
The match was fourth in the league table versus eighth. Saint-Josse made a blistering start, going ahead from the penalty spot after just two minutes. Boitsfort settled into what was a real end to end match and deservedly levelled it up with a 25 yard free kick that went in off the post around five minutes before the break. Saint-Josse were ahead again early in the second half when their Centre Forward cut inside and fired an unstoppable shot into the far corner of the net. They totally dominated the game from here, but just couldn’t get a third goal to make it safe and as we hit the ninety minute mark, Boitsfort got a corner on the right and the same player who had scored their first equaliser scored directly from the kick, when the keeper misjudged the flight of the ball and it went in off the far post.
We were booked on the 09.20 outbound train, but were offered a place on the 09.06 on arrival, which was an ‘extra’ slotted into the schedule, which actually left a couple of minutes early. A good journey back to The Tunnel meant we were once again offered the crossing before our booked one, so were on the 19.50 that left on time. At least the time we gained helped with the fact that the M20 was closed for the weekend for roadworks, so made up for any loss on the diversion.
Punnetts Town 4 The J.C. Tackleway 3, attendance 9
8’ 1-0
40’ 1-1
41’ 1-2
48’ 2-2
54’ 3-2
60’ 3-3
66’ 4-3
@ Punnetts Town Recreation Ground
B2096 Battle Road
Punnetts Town
TN21 9DE
No Admission or Programme.
I hadn’t considered this on my possible list of matches for today, but was offered a lift here, so my plans changed. It looked like it could be a decent match, which was certainly how it turned out.
Punnetts Town came into this in second place in the league table, knowing that a point would take them above Wadhurst Town at the top, as they were playing a cup match today. The visitors (J.C. stands for Junior Club) were in fourth place, but would have remained there even if they had picked up the three points.
It looked like this was going to get underway a good half hour early, but despite the Referee and The J.C. happy to do so, as ‘everyone was there’, Punnetts Town were not so keen. In the end it was only three minutes ahead of schedule.
The J.C. started the better of the two sides, but fell behind to a header from a corner. It was very much end to end for the remainder of the half, with the visitors scoring a quick fire double just before the break, to turn it round for a 1-2 lead. Within a few minutes of the restart it was back level, before the hosts edged back in front. By the hour mark it was all square at 3-3 before Punnetts Town scored again, to go 4-3 up, with what was surprisingly the last goal of the day, despite both sides having plenty more chances to add more goals. They now sit two points clear of Wadhurst at the top of the table, although they have played two games more than this mornings leaders.
