Gwent County League

Division 3

Tuesday 17th April 2018

Kick Off 18.15 Actual 18.26

Cwmcarn Athletic 3 West of St. Julians 4,  attendance 10

26’ 0-1

34’ 1-1

45’ 2-1

46’ 2-2

49’ 2-3

51’ 2-4

63’ 3-4

@ Waunfawr Park

Waunfawr Park Road

Crosskeys

NP11 7PH

No Admission

£1 Programme, 24 pages.

There was a bit of confusion over what was the correct kick off time for this match, with 18.00, 18.15 and 18.30 the various options. The Referee arrived at 18.07, so at least the possibilities were down to two, but we actually got underway at 18.26.

The match was 7th versus 11th in the league table, although the visitors still have ten more league matches to play after tonight, so they should climb up a few places on the evidence of this performance.

Once again, the Gwent County League came up trumps for entertainment, with both teams attacking at will, on a pitch that stood up well to the rain that fell before the match, plus the light rain we encountered for most of the second half.

The programme produced by the club is worth a mention.  It looks very professional, with the fixtures, results and league tables bang up to date. All in colour, with quite a few photographs too.

Midland League

Division 3

Monday 16th April 2018

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.33

Guru Nanak Prakash Sports 7 F.C. Stratford 1,  attendance 42

2’ 1-0

30’ 2-0

37’ 2-1

58’ 3-1

62’ 4-1

69’ 5-1

71’ 6-1

72’ 7-1

@ Coventry Athletics Track

University of Warwick Westwood Campus

Kirby Corner Road

Coventry

CV4 7AL

No Admission or Programme.

This ground went on the ‘to do’ list when G.N.P. Sports announced recently that they will play their home matches next season at Coventry Sphinx F.C. Although the ground will not disappear, it may not host football so regularly in the future.

With just one more home game after tonight, which is on Saturday, this was the ideal time to tick this one off, especially as this was a virtual title clincher. G.N.P. came into this match unbeaten in their 24 league matches, winning 22 of them, whilst Stratford were in fourth place in the league table, being 27 points adrift, but with 5 games in hand.

G.N.P. were ahead within two minutes before increasing their lead with as good an own goal as you could ever wish to see, with the defender somehow managing to beat his own ‘keeper with a superb finish from just inside the 18 yard box. When Stratford pulled a goal back before halftime it set it up nicely for the second half, but G.N.P. ran away with it, scoring five goals in a fifteen minute purple patch, with some finishing that would not look out of place a few divisions higher.

Having not lost in 25 games, G.N.P. would now have to lose their last five matches for either F.C. Stratford or Central Ajax to draw level with them, as well as both those teams winning their remaining 10 matches. The fact that G.N.P. have a goal difference of +102, compared to the +53 and +21 of the two chasers, then it really is all over.

Although the match was scheduled to finish in ‘daylight’, the floodlights around the running track were switched on early in the second half. Even if the the five bulbs that were not working were replaced, the lights might not be good enough to stage a proper midweek ‘floodlit’ match.

South West Peninsula League

Division 1 East

Sunday 15th April 2018

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.02

Honiton Town 4 Torridgeside 2,  attendance 60

1’ 1-0

36’ 2-0 (pen)

59’ 3-0

65’ 3-1

79’ 3-2

86’ 4-2

@ Mountbatten Park

Ottery Moor Lane

Honiton

EX14 1AR

£3 Admission, included Programme (marked as £1 on front cover), 12 pages.

On Good Friday, Honiton Town should have been hosting the middle game, of three, on the South West Peninsula League Groundhop, but due to constant rain, the match was switched to the ground of Exwick Villa, with it’s 3G pitch, which I had visited when the ground was used by Exeter Civil Service, albeit a grass pitch in those days.

A conversation with the home club Secretary at 10.15 convinced me to travel to East Devon for this match, as although it had been raining all morning, the club were confident everything would be fine. Indeed it was, and although it was a little soft underfoot, the pitch was immaculate, despite the Reserves having played on it yesterday. The rain even stopped before kick off and apart from a five minute bit of drizzle during the first half, it remained dry and patches of blue sky began to appear during the second half.

Honiton were fourth off the bottom of the league table, with visitors Torridgeside safely in mid table. A goal in the first 50 seconds gave The Hippos a dream start, before the visitors had a man red carded, with the resultant penalty dispatched to make it 2-0. When a further goal was conceded there looked no way back for the 10 men, but they managed to score twice before Honiton finally notched their fourth goal to seal the three points.

South Wales Alliance League

Division 2

Saturday 14th April 2018

Kick Off 18.00 Actual 17.59

Cardiff Hibernian 2 A.F.C. Bargoed 2,  attendance 197

14’ 0-1

28’ 0-2

32’ 1-2

89’ 2-2

@ Trelai Park (Ely Racecourse)

Vincent Road

off Cowbridge Road West

Ely

Cardiff

CF5 5AQ

No Admission

£3 Programme * (didn’t purchase as never saw any on sale)

This match was part of the South Wales Groundhop, which is organised by Groundhop U.K.  It is the second time I have visited Cardiff Hibernian when they have hosted a ‘Hop Match’ , as they were on the 2016 Groundhop, when they lost 2-4 versus Cardiff Airport, in a match played at their former home, Archer Road. This season has seen them move here for their home matches. Sadly, the Secretary of Cardiff Hibernian, Stephen Price, died a week before the match, so it was decided that this would become a memorial match, with any profits going to his family.

* Apparently, very few programmes were produced, and there was certainly no effort made to sell any. As the ground is little more than a railed off pitch, in a huge expanse of grass (last used as Ely Racecourse in 1937) then it is not possible to charge for admission, so the majority of the close on 200 crowd would have paid nothing. There was not even a collection made, which was very odd, considering this was supposed to be geared to raising money. With the pitch being so far away from the nearest building, it also meant no refreshments being sold, although it was later mentioned that there were sandwiches and filled rolls available from a table near the dugouts.

As for the match, which was third bottom versus bottom in the league table, it was never going to be a classic, especially on a dreadful pitch that had some pretty deep holes on it, but at least they weren’t full of water, unlike the ones that had to be walked across to reach this one.

The Groundhop continues tomorrow, with a match in the Bridgend Sunday League (which is of no interest whatsoever) before a visit to A.F.C. Butetown, of the South Wales Alliance League, which although I haven’t visited, will be left for another day, as it is certainly not worth the cost of an overnight stop.

Today was another milestone of sorts, this being the 350th ground I have seen a match on in Wales.

Gwent County League

Division 2

Saturday 14th April 2018

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.04

Newport Corinthians 1 New Inn 3, attendance 8

10’ 0-1

30’ 0-2 (pen)

32’ 0-3

38’ 1-3

@ Coronation Park

Stephenson Street

Newport

NP19 0RB

No Admission

Programme, free, 12 pages (from original match that was postponed on 24th March).

The Gwent County League is certainly not one of the best leagues for finding out information on fixtures. The league website is rubbish and is very rarely updated and around a quarter of the clubs don’t list any phone numbers to contact them !

Corries twitter didn’t even mention they had a match, but at least New Inn had tweeted that they were indeed scheduled to visit Corries today, although there was no news as to whether the match would actually be on. As it was just seven minutes drive from my early match it was a case of head here first and hope everything was okay.

I arrived to see the home players putting up the nets and erecting the dugouts. I ventured into the clubhouse and enquired about whether there was a programme for today’s match, as although it is a (ridiculous) league rule that all clubs have to issue a programme, not all do. I was told, if there was one, it would be pinned on the noticeboard. Sure enough, there were 4 copies there, but all for different matches. Luckily, one was versus New Inn, which had been produced for the match on 24th March that had been postponed.

The Referee arrived around 14.15 and carried out his pre-match checks, confirming that despite it being a little soft, the pitch was perfectly playable. The only concern now ,was whether the away team would be coming, as there was only one player there so far. At 14.35 another couple arrived and at 14.42 the last stragglers drifted in.

The relatively late arrival certainly didn’t affect the visitors. A blistering first half hour had them well in control. Quite how there were no second half goals is anyone’s guess as both teams went for all out attack. A red card for Corries, late in the game, rounded off a bad day for them.

English Football League Youth Alliance

Merit League 2

Saturday 14th April 2018

Kick Off 12.00 Actual 12.04

Newport County U18 1 Northampton Town U18 4,  attendance 42

10’ 0-1

47’ 0-2

50’ 0-3

71’ 1-3

90’ + 2, 1-4

@ Dragon Park, Pitch 2

Velodrome Way

Newport

NP19 4RB

No Admission or Programme.

Taking in this noon kick off meant I would be able to visit three new grounds today, with a number of 3pm choices, before finishing up at Cardiff Hibernian, in the South Wales Alliance League at 6pm.

Dragon Park is owned by the F.A. Wales. The main stadium is floodlit and has a seated stand. Pitch 2 is actually about half a mile away and even has a different postcode ! (running parallel, beyond today’s pitch, is the 3G ground of Gwent County League club Lliswerry) It is a grass pitch, but is surrounded by the awful green mesh fencing that is used for 3G pitch cages. To make matters worse, there is no spectator access and they padlock the gate just to let everyone know where they stand regarding viewing options. I assumed the person on top of the gantry, that is between the dugouts, was filming the match, but perhaps he was using it as a watchtower to spot any intruders !

Northampton dominated throughout and looked a bigger and stronger team. The first half wasn’t great, but it was a much improved second half. Perhaps the fact that the padlock wasn’t put back on the gate after halftime helped, as I was able to gain an unrestricted view of the action, albeit from the corner of the pitch. Newport blew any chance of getting anything from the match when they had a penalty saved a few minutes after they had cut the deficit to 1-3.

Hellenic League

Division 2 East

Thursday 12th April 2018

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.31

Long Crendon 5 Penn & Tylers Green Reserves 0,  attendance 19

26’ 1-0

28’ 2-0

40’ 3-0

57’ 4-0

87’ 5-0

@ Long Crendon Recreation Ground

Chearsley Road

Long Crendon

HP18 9AW

No Admission or Programme.

Once again the weather was causing problems. This match passed a pitch inspection at 15.30, which was good, in that I had a match to watch, but bad in the fact that I would have to battle the M25 much later than I would have wanted, which meant it took 2 hours to travel the 68 miles to Buckinghamshire !

The match was 3rd versus 6th in the league table, with both teams likely to remain in these positions at the end of the season. Once the hosts went 2-0 ahead it was pretty much game over. Despite only kicking off a minute late, then having barely five minutes for halftime, it soon became clear that this would be another struggle with the light, as it was very grey and overcast from the start and it started to drizzle towards the end. For the last ten minutes, members of both teams and their coaches were asking the Referee to blow his whistle for full time, but he insisted he would get the full 90 minutes in. He finally called a halt at 20.05, which was about a minute early, by which time it was very hard to tell which team was which and impossible to pick out any of the shirt numbers.

This visit now completes the Hellenic League grounds for this season.

East Sussex League

Hastings F.A. Junior Cup Semi Final

Wednesday 11th April 2018

Kick Off 18.30 Actual 18.27

Northiam ‘75 3 Peche Hill Select 3 (8-7 pens),  attendance 28

3’ 0-1

14’ 0-2

28’ 1-2

65’ 2-2

79’ 2-3

85’ 3-3

@ Northiam Recreation Ground

Main Street

Northiam

TN31 6LP

No Admission or Programme.

With my first three choices of match tonight all falling to waterlogged pitches, I was relieved to be told there was no problem with the pitch here.

Northiam had won Division 1 of the East Sussex League at the weekend and will now be promoted into the Premier Division. Peche Hill are currently in sixth place in Division 2, so I wasn’t expecting such an even match, despite it being a semi-final.

Despite kicking off three minutes early, this was lost by halftime as three minutes stoppage time was played. A quick seven minute halftime got us back on track, although surely it would be pretty dark if the match went to penalties. A minute extra was played at the end of the second half, which meant a 20.08 finish.

It was hard to pick the players out near the end, but we were now on to penalties. Peche Hill went first, with both teams having their fourth kicks saved. At 7-7, the home keeper again made a save before Northiam converted their own kick to advance to the final. It was now 20.20 and probably the darkest finish I have ever had at a non floodlit match. 18.30 kick offs, with the possibility of penalties to follow, are too late so early in April, especially this far East.

Suffolk & Ipswich League

Senior Division

Tuesday 10th April 2018

Kick Off 18.15 Actual 18.17

Ransomes Sports 1 Coplestonians 9,  attendance 59

8’ 0-1

11’ 0-2

22’ 0-3

24’ 0-4

27’ 0-5

51’ 1-5

53’ 1-6

55’ 1-7

84’ 1-8

85’ 1-9

@ Ransomes Sports Pavilion

Sidegate Avenue

Ipswich

IP4 4JJ

No Admission or Programme.

This could have been a decent match, but bottom of the league table Ransomes only had ten players when the game kicked off. By the time their eleventh player arrived, they were already 0-4 down, then conceded a fifth goal within a minute of him coming on !

With time running out, two goals in a minute saw fourth in the league table Coplestonians add goals number eight and nine and the Referee blew for full time with five minutes left to play, perhaps saving Ransomes from the embarrassment of a double figure defeat.

The result means Ransomes cannot now finish higher than bottom of the league, whilst Coplestonians are up to third, still having a game in hand over second placed Crane Sports, who they trail by three points, but they now have a better goal difference than them after tonight.

For the record, Ransomes did eventually also have two substitutes who came on in the second half.

Stroud & District League

Division 2

Sunday 8th April 2018

Kick Off 14.30  On Time !

Didmarton 2 Tibberton United 0,  attendance 11

26’ 1-0

30’ 2-0

@ Didmarton Playing Fields

The Street

Didmarton

GL9 1DS

No Admission or Programme.

There was no problem with the pitch here, despite light rain falling for the majority of the match. It was 9th versus 8th in the league table, with the clubs swapping positions with this result. Both clubs had plenty of chances to score a hatful of goals, but sadly lacked the skill to convert most of them. The two goals that were scored, came courtesy of a lob over the ‘keeper for the opener, then a dipping shot from just outside the 18 yard box to round things off.