Gwynedd League

Monday 6th January 2020

Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.48

Bangor 1876 4 Waunfawr 0, attendance 243

8’ 1-0

24’ 2-0

45’ 3-0

88’ 4-0

@ Treborth Playing Fields, 3G Pitch

Treborth Road

Bangor

LL57 2RQ

£2 Admission

No Programme.

Bangor 1876 were set up by fans disillusioned with the goings on at Bangor City. The club are based at the new 3G Pitch at the Bangor University complex at Treborth Playing Fields. I came here on 20th November 2018, when I saw Pwllheli beat Amlwch Town 3-0 in a Welsh Alliance match, but that game was played on the floodlit grass pitch that is just beyond the new synthetic pitch. In fact, on that night, there was little evidence that a new caged pitch would appear in a matter of months.

The newly formed club are already ‘too big’ for the Gwynedd League (level 5 of Welsh football) where they have started off at. Arriving at the ground, the first thing you notice are the amount of match day stewards, with proper organised parking. There is bar/tea bar, which is rare at this level, and a well stocked club shop set up in one corner of the clubhouse. Plenty of home fans decked out in club hats and scarves too. The crowds they get are superb, and not just for this level. Some clubs in the top tier of the Welsh Pyramid can only dream of these sorts of numbers! I have seen no official attendance for tonight’s game, but I did a count of 243. According to their website, they had a crowd of 440 for their game last Monday evening, although I’m not too sure where the other 200 would have gone, as it is only a two sided spectator area, although there is a 100 or so seated stand on the halfway line, and that was only half full tonight.

They back up their off field ‘professionalism’ with a team to match. They came into this having won all twelve league matches so far and have really dished out some thrashings along the way. They have played four home midweek matches in the league before tonight, winning 10-0, 12-0, 14-0 and 13-2, so when they opened the scoring after eight minutes, I feared the worst, as games that one sided are not great to watch. Not as a neutral, anyway. A right wing cross was headed in from 6 yards to make it 2-0 after 24 minutes, but the visitors were holding on, even if the result was never in doubt. Waunfawr had a great chance to pull a goal back right on halftime, but their striker lifted the ball over the crossbar having been put clean through and from the goal kick, Bangor went down the other end and added a third goal, with the last kick of the half, following a shot on the turn from ten yards.

The second half was one way traffic, but with a bit of luck and some good saves by their ‘keeper, Waunfawr kept the score down to a respectable level, before the fourth goal was added two minutes from time, with a calm finish from the edge of the box. Bangor march on towards their inevitable league title, now having 13 wins from their 100% winning start. They have now scored 87 goals and conceded just 7. The lead at the top is now eight points, but it is all over bar the shouting!

Hellenic League

Division 2 South

Saturday 4th January 2020

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 13.59

Hazlemere Sports 3 Taplow United 0, attendance 9

5’ 1-0

53’ 2-0

78’ 3-0

@ The Hazlemere Memorial Hall

Hazlemere Recreation Ground

Amersham Road

Hazlemere

High Wycombe

HP15 7QW

No Admission or Programme.

Today was a rare chance to visit Hazlemere Sports when they were playing first team opposition. The Hellenic League is probably the poorest standard Step 5/6 league in the pyramid, especially when it comes to ground facilities, or more to the point, the lack of. The three divisions which sit at Step 7 level (North, South and West) are really one division too far and are riddled with reserve and development teams. In fact, there are only 15 of the 39 teams at this level that are actually first teams!

Today’s match was 7th versus 11th in the league table. I knew that, at best, part of the pitch would be roped off. It turned out to be down each touch line. Despite there being a social club (there is also tennis and bowls here) it remained closed for the duration and the only toilet was in the team changing rooms. The reputation of the league was summed up by Hazlemere only having the bare 11 players, which is pretty pathetic at this level, although it certainly didn’t affect their performance, even having lost a player to injury around twenty minutes into the first half.

Hazlemere scored after five minutes, when Taplow failed to clear a corner and the ball was forced in from close range. They could have added more, but for poor finishing. They thought they had added a second goal, but it was disallowed for a foul on the ‘keeper (correct decision from what I saw), but the female Referee was ‘unsighted’ and missed the incident, eventually going with the opinion of the Taplow ‘Club Linesman’ to chalk it off. Shortly afterwards, Hazlemere lost a man injured, so were left to play the final 70 minutes a man short, as they had no substitutes!

It remained 1-0 at the break, but Taplow should have been level, having had an effort cleared off the line, the ‘keeper well beaten, but a defender went full stretch with a diving header, clearing the ball as we approached the ninth minute of stoppage time. The expected comeback during the second half never materialised. Instead, it was the 10 men who finished as deserved winners. A shot from the edge of the box made it 2-0 early in the second half and Taplow looked done. A shocking miss with the goal gaping should have made it three, before a one-two on the edge of the box was finished emphatically to round off what turned out to be a very comfortable 3-0 win.

Isthmian League

Division 1 South East

Wednesday 1st January 2020

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.01

Herne Bay 3 Whitstable Town 0, attendance 831 (official)

4’ 1-0

27’ 2-0 (pen)

61’ 3-0

@ Winch’s Field

Stanley Gardens

Herne Bay

CT6 5SG

£10 Admission

£2 Programme, 32 pages.

Each year it becomes harder to get in a game at an unvisited ground on New Year’s Day, as very few leagues bother to play on this day anymore. Of the few that do, they tend to be leagues where floodlights are a requirement, so any new grounds that do appear, have already been visited for a midweek fixture before the turn of the year.

At least it gives the chance to revisit a ground with reasonable facilities, rather than standing in a field like most other weeks, and be part of one of the home clubs biggest crowds of the season, which was certainly the case here. I had last been to Herne Bay on 13th August 2005, when I saw them beat Sevenoaks Town 3-0 in a Kent League match, in front of 105 spectators. The club had tweeted that they were hoping to beat the 730 record crowd for this fixture in recent times, and perhaps even top the 1,000 mark. They comfortably beat the record, but were well short of the four figure target, and in truth, the crowd only looked to be around 600 really, although I never did an actual ‘head count’. At least after this money spinner they can afford to replace the non working bulbs in the floodlights. All four corner pylons had one of the three bulbs out, with one corner only having one bulb working. If that one had gone out, then there may have been a problem finishing the match, as the lighting was really poor and well below the standard you would expect at Step 4 football.

As a neutral, the game got off to the worst possible start, as Herne Bay scored in the opening five minutes, with an angled shot into the far corner of the net. I always think these sort of matches need the away team to go in front and open the game up. Anyway, Herne Bay made it 2-0 from the penalty spot, through top scorer Zak Ansah, following a foul just inside the box and that was pretty much game over. Whitstable did have a number of good chances, but wasted them all. If just one of them had gone in, it could have been so different. The second half was more of the same, with Tushaun-Tyreese Walters scoring his second goal of the match, this time scoring from the opposite corner of the box and into the top corner of the net, to round off the scoring just after the hour mark.

Spain

La Liga

Sunday 22nd December 2019

Kick Off 18.30. On Time !

Levante Union Deportiva 3 Real Club Celta Vigo 1, attendance 18,653

12’ 0-1

60’ 1-1

70’ 2-1

90’+1, 3-1

@ Estadi Ciutat de Valencia

Calle San Vicente de Paul 44

46019 Valencia

€45 Admission + €2.50 fees, Print at Home Ticket

No Programme.

The Estadi Ciutat de Valencia was opened in 1969, under the name Estadio Antonio Roman, which became Nou Estadi del Llevant in 1972, before taking its current name in 1999. Capacity here is 26,354. The stadium can be reached by way of two different lines on the Valencia Metro system. Estadi del Llevant, on Line 6, is right outside the main stand, whilst getting off at Machado, on Line 3, brings you to the other side of the stadium, but this is a 7 or 8 minute walk.

As with the match last night, tickets had been bought on-line, with €45 being the cheapest available, as we required two seats together, but as with the majority of games I’ve attended in the top divisions in Spain, we arrived to find our seats already occupied, as the Spanish seem incapable of being able to read numbers and letters, despite the section and row clearly being shown in their own language on the ticket. Perhaps they are just lacking in basic education. Anyway, our correct seats were soon vacated! It was nice to see, for the second successive day, that both teams would be playing in their traditional colours, rather than changing for the sake of it, which is something clubs in the Premier League in England could take a lead from!

Levante came into this match 12th in the league table, with Celta Vigo struggling down in 18th place, which is three off the bottom. As with last night, these were two very poor teams. Levante missed two glorious chances in the opening ten minutes, both from headers, the first missed the target altogether, whilst the second hit the crossbar. Both looked impossible to miss. Celta Vigo took the lead after twelve minutes, with their only proper effort of the half, when a corner on the left went right across the six yard box and was swept in at the far post by Aspas. For some reason, it took well over two minutes for VAR to confirm the goal. The rest of the half drifted by with neither team making any inroads and the halftime whistle went with no added time played whatsoever.

Celta Vigo seemed happy with what they had and made no effort to improve on their slender lead as the second half wore on. Levante looked a lot brighter and levelled on the hour mark through Marti, when he followed up a shot that was spilled by the ‘keeper. Ten minutes later, Marti put Levante in front, when a quick throw in saw the ball worked down the left hand side and it was pulled back for him to scuff home his shot from six yards. Celta Vigo never looked capable of turning things round from here, but were always in with a chance while there was only a goal in it, but substitute Borja Mayoral side footed in from close range to make it 3-1 for the hosts in stoppage time, to finally kill the game off. The game was not the greatest ever, but it wasn’t helped by two teams that rolled about and cheated at every opportunity, which is somewhat typical of the style so often seen in Spain. Celta Vigo took the honours as far as yellow cards went, by 6 to 3.

Spain

La Liga

Saturday 21st December 2019

Kick Off 18.30. On Time!

Villarreal C.F. 1 Getafe C.F. 0, attendance 14,526

52’ 1-0

@ Estádio de la Cerámica

Calle Blasco Ibanez 2

12540 Vila-real

Castello

€25 Admission + €1.75 fees, Print at Home Ticket

2 different Programmes available, both free.

Staying for a few days in Valencia meant an ideal time to head the 40 miles north to the town of Vila-real (note the different spelling to that of the football club) to take in the top division match at Villarreal C.F. It was just under one and a quarter hours by train from Valencia Estacio del Nord and cost €12.40 return. With all the rain back home it felt surreal to get off the train in a nice sunny 25 degrees, even though it was 16.30. It was then a mile walk to the stadium, which is on the far side of the town, but at least it was flat all the way. Tickets had been bought on-line, but there would have been no problem buying tickets on the night, as this was their lowest league crowd of the season and there were plenty of gaps on all four sides of the ground.

The stadium was opened in 1963 as ‘Campo del Villarreal‘, then two years later renamed ‘El Madrigal’, which remained up until a couple of years ago, when it became Estádio de la Cerámica, in an effort to help promote the local ceramics industry. In 2016 it underwent a partial facelift, with half of the exterior now having a bright yellow facade, which matches the club colours and nickname ‘TheYellow Submarine’. The ground is all seated, with a capacity of 24.500.

The match was 13th versus 4th in the league table, but I’m not sure how Getafe have managed to reach such heights, as they were absolutely rubbish. Villarreal were little better, which meant the atmosphere was quite subdued, although this is not helped by the fact that Spanish fans don’t really travel in great numbers to away matches. This looked nailed on for a 0-0, as both teams seemed to lack any attacking flair. When the breakthrough did come, it followed a strong run from A. Zambo Anguissa, when he powered through from the centre circle, holding off challenges as he reached the box, before seeing his shot saved, but it fell kindly for Moi Gomez to sweep the ball home. Getafe lost any chance of an unlikely comeback, when their defender M. Olivera picked up two yellow cards in the space of three minutes, (having only come on as a substitute at the start of the second half)leaving them to play the last half an hour with 10 men.

After the match it was a brisk 18 minute walk back to the station to catch the 20.47 train back to Valencia, otherwise it would have been a bit of a wait for the next one, which was due at 21.38. We needn’t have rushed though, as it was six minutes late!

West Midlands (Regional) League

Division 1

Wednesday 18th December 2019

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.31

Team Dudley 1 Old Wulfrunians 2, attendance 35

8’ 1-0

54’ 1-1

72’ 1-2

@ Priory Road Football Complex, 3G Pitch

Priory Road

Dudley

DY1 4AD

£4 Admission, including free hot drink

£1 Programme, 32 pages.

It was nice to get a midweek match with the traditional 19.30 scheduled kick off. The reason for the earlier than normal start is due to the floodlights here having a 21.30 curfew, enforced by an automatic cut off switch, although we still managed to kick off late and the second half was four minutes behind schedule, but we were done and dusted with about eight minutes to spare in the end.

It had hammered it down with rain for the couple of hours up to kick off and if it wasn’t for the 3G surface then this would have had no chance of going ahead. It rained for the majority of the game too, but the small seated stand just about kept everyone dry. Team Dudley came into the game eighth in the league table, with Old Wulfrunians three places above them. Team Dudley took an early lead, somewhat against the run of play, and managed to hold on to their slender lead until halftime. Old Wulfrunians looked the better side and once they were level, through an angled shot into the far corner of the net, nine minutes into the second half, then they always looked the more likely winner. What turned out to be the winning goal came courtesy of a side footed finish into the bottom corner from just inside the 18 yard box, giving the visitors the three points, which sees them climb a place in the league table.

Middlesex F.A. Senior Cup

2nd Round

Tuesday 17th December 2019

Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.53

Barnet 1 Staines Town 1 (3-4 pens), attendance 63

9’ 1-0

82’ 1-1

@ The Hive, ATP 1, 3G Pitch

Camrose Avenue

Edgeware

HA8 6AG

No Admission

Programme online only, Team Sheet available 50p, didn’t bother buying.

Car Park £1.

This was my third visit to see a match at The Hive. On 23rd January 2011 I saw London University 1 Cambridge University 2 in a representative match. The match was played on a grass pitch (which now has a stand on the halfway line)on a plateau to the right of what was in those days a part built stadium. The second visit was on 12th November 2013 to see Barnet 0 Welling United 0 in a National League match, with the game on the main stadium. Tonight’s match was being played on ATP 1, which is one of two 3G pitches here, this being the one on the left of the driveway as you enter the complex.

Barnet had tweeted that the match had been switched to this pitch due to the stadium pitch being waterlogged. It was free admission, but viewing was to be “down one side and behind one goal only”. They didn’t say that viewing was to be through the cage though, as they were not allowing anyone to stand inside, and it was only half of one side and goal end where you were allowed to stand. The not too friendly stewards (around one for every half dozen spectators) made sure no one strayed in an attempt to gain some sort of decent view. The ‘ground’ really wasn’t fit to stage a game of this level, with yellow lines in addition to the white pitch markings and some of the dimmest floodlights I have ever seen a match played under.

It is hard to tell what kind of match it really was, as watching through a green mesh fence means you feel like you’re not really part of it and it is like you are detached from what’s going on. A very youthful Barnet team went in front inside ten minutes, with a side footed finish from close range. Staines levelled with eight minutes left, with a superb top corner shot from the edge of the D. Thankfully, straight to penalties. Both teams missed their second kicks, then Barnet missed their fourth as well, meaning Staines converted the last kick to win 3-4 and go through to face Wealdstone in the next round.

Surrey County Intermediate League (Western)

Saturday 14th December 2019

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.02

Hambledon 6 Cranleigh 0, attendance 37

15’ 1-0

21’ 2-0

44’ 3-0

51’ 4-0

80’ 5-0

82’ 6-0

@ Badger Park

Hambledon Road

Hambledon

GU8 4DL

No Admission or Programme.

With it raining heavily for most of Friday, and into the early hours of Saturday, it was once again going to be a challenge to avoid having to watch a match on a 3G pitch, with my first choice of matches rapidly joining an ever increasing list of postponed games, but thankfully, around 12 o’clock Hambledon tweeted that their match was on and despite being wet, the pitch was playable. On arrival, in what was now a sunny day, it was good to see the teams warming up on the pitch, rather than to the side, which was a good sign that it perhaps wasn’t too wet after all. It certainly helped that the pitch had a side to side slope, which meant it had drained quite well and the pitch looked very good. It did cut up in the centre circle, but otherwise it remained in very good nick.

Hambledon came into this top of the league table, although their two point lead over second placed Guildford United has been achieved from playing three games more, so they might not remain top for long. Cranleigh were only ninth in the table, but they put in a good performance here and the game was much closer than the score line suggests. The killer third goal, just before the break, finally saw the points safe for Hambledon, but Cranleigh competed well, with the real difference being that the hosts were far more clinical with their chances. The gap at the top of the table now stretches to 5 points, with Guildford United now having four games in hand over the leaders.

Hampshire Premier League

Division 1

Saturday 7th December 2019

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 13.58

Kingsclere 3 Queens Keep Southampton 2, attendance 17

12’ 1-0

45’+1, 2-0

52’ 2-1

67’ 3-1

84’ 3-2

@ The Fieldgate Centre

Field Gate Drive

Kingsclere

RG20 5SQ

No Admission or Programme.

I am assuming the road was built before the building, so it is odd that the road is named Field Gate Drive, but the centre is Fieldgate. Must make sense to somebody. Anyway, this was my second choice of match today, as I had originally planned a double in East Sussex, but the first part of it was postponed quite early on, so it was on to plan B.

Kingsclere won Division 1 of the Andover & District League last season, winning all 10 matches, in what was just a six team division. They have had a bit of a mixed start to life at a higher level, currently sitting in eighth place in the league table (out of 12), whilst visitors Queens Keep are fourth, looking to bounce back from being relegated from the Senior Division at the end of last season, having finished second from bottom.

This was real end to end stuff, on what was a very soft pitch, with both teams looking much better going forward than they did defending.Both teams squandered chance after chance, but Kingsclere went into the break with a 2-0 lead, but it could easily have been QK that were in front. The visitors pulled back an early second half goal, but when Kingsclere went 3-1 up with just over twenty minutes left, it looked all over. QK got a second goal, with a superb volley from the edge of the box with six minutes left and pushed hard for an equaliser. They headed in a leveller in the last minute, but this was disallowed for offside, wrongly in my opinion, but a Club Linesman will always give a decision to benefit his own team, rather than a ‘fair’ view, so Kingsclere hung on to take the three points.

Portugal

Primeira Liga

Sunday 1st December 2019

Kick Off 17.30 Actual 17.34

Vitoria Futebol Clube Setúbal 1 Vitoria Sport Clube Guimarães 1, attendance 3,648

50’ 0-1

62’ 1-1

@ Estádio do Bonfim

Praca Vitoria Futebol Clube

2901-882

Setúbal

€15 Admission

No Programme.

The train from Lisbon took 52 minutes and cost €9.90 return. On arrival at the station, the ground is no more than ten minutes walk, so we headed there to buy tickets for the match, before heading into the town. There is currently refurbishment going on at the ticket booths, so tickets are being sold from the club office at present, so we were glad to be ahead of the queue as it was snaking back quite a way as kick off approached.

The ground here is very typical of the older Portuguese stadiums, having been built in 1962. It is an all seater oval shape, and as expected, had very little cover, although it remained dry throughout, so not a problem. The only choice of tickets for non Socios were €10 behind the goal, which was with the away fans, or €15 down the side, but at least you could sit where you wanted, so this was what we went for.

The match was 14th versus 6th in the league table. The first half was a very cagey affair, with Setúbal having the better of the early exchanges, then Guimarães coming into it as the game went on. The breakthrough came early in the second half, when an angled left footed shot into the far corner put the visitors ahead, before Setúbal drew level just after the hour mark, when a long ball over the top saw their striker finish a one on one chance past the ‘keeper. Neither side did enough to win it and a draw was probably a fair result.

Even with the match finishing fifteen minutes later than expected, it was an easy stroll back to the station for the 19.58 train back north to Lisbon.