Totterdown United 2 Pucklechurch Sports 1, attendance 35
35’ 1-0
58’ 1-1
69’ 2-1
@ Bristol Barbarians R.U.F.C.
Norton Lane
Whitchurch
Bristol
BS14 0BT
No Admission or Programme.
Having done a match in the same league last night, we knew that an 18.30 kick off, without floodlights, might mean us seeing a shortened game, but both clubs tweeted this morning that it was an 18.00 kick off, so perhaps we’d be okay. Both teams were on the pitch doing their warm ups at 17.30, but any hopes of getting underway by six disappeared when the Referee only arrived at 17.56, although he was soon ready for action and we kicked off at 18.06.
Totterdown had drawn their opening two matches, whilst newly promoted Pucklechurch were playing their first match of the season tonight. It was a game of very few clear cut chances, which Totterdown just about deserved to win. They did have quite a few scrambled efforts that were blocked with desperate last ditch tackles or blocks, but they should really have done better with their finishing.
Having had a short halftime, the game was all over by 19.42 and the light, or lack of, never came into question.
Bradley Stoke Town 1 Shirehampton Reserves 1, attendance 25
3’ 0-1
44’ 1-1
@ Patchway Community College, 3G Pitch
Hempton Lane
Patchway
Bristol
BS32 4AJ
No Admission or Programme.
Bradley Stoke Town were promoted from the Bristol & District League, having finished in third place last season. They played most of their matches at the Gloucestershire F.A. Ground in Almondsbury, on the 3G Pitch, but as a result of a number of teams using it, had to play most of the matches with a 17.30 kick off time on Saturdays. When the new facility at the Community College opened in February, they relocated here, along with their Reserve team.
Despite having floodlights, the game was still scheduled as an 18.30 kick off, which was due to the league not allowing them to start any later. If it wasn’t for the lights, which came on during the second half, it may have been a problem getting a full match in, despite the prompt start and it was pretty dark when the match finished at 20.09, even on a nice sunny evening.
The game could have gone either way. Shirehampton scored very early on, before Bradley Stoke levelled a minute before the break. Both teams had chances to win it in the second half, but some poor finishing meant no further goals were added.
At least we got to see the player who made the news when signing for Bradley Stoke Town back in November…….as their No.6 was none other than…Bradley Stokes !
I picked this match as it was the chance to see the league newcomers Quedgeley Wanderers, promoted from the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League, take on the early season table toppers AEK Boco, who have taken 10 points from their opening four games.
Quedgeley are a very good addition to Step 7 football, with a very neatly enclosed pitch and a nice clubhouse that did hot and cold food and drink, with the bacon rolls at £1 (2 rashers) being the pick of the day. Whoever sells their advertising boards has done a superb job, as every space around the pitch is sold, both on the inside and outside of the rail!
AEK Boco dominated the early stages, but just couldn’t score, eventually breaking the deadlock when a left wing cross was volleyed in at the near post just before the interval. Quedgeley came into it more in the second half and were rewarded with an equaliser that was smashed past the ‘keeper from near the penalty spot. Boco were ahead again within a few minutes, when a long ball was controlled on the corner of the 18 yard box and shot into the far corner of the net via the post. A neat one-two on the edge of the box saw Quedgeley nick a second equaliser with a couple of minutes left to send the match to penalties to decide the winner.
Boco went first, and after five kicks each it was 4-4. Boco then scored their next one and Quedgeley missed theirs, and that was it.
A couple of hundred yards from the main pitch, there is another pitch which the Reserves and Third teams use and it is better than many of the grounds that I will visit in England this season !
Today, it hosted Quedgeley Wanderers Reserves 2 Chalford Reserves 7, in a Stroud & District League Division 1 match.
Cheltenham United 0 F.C. Lakeside Reserves 2, attendance 7
33’ 0-1
36’ 0-2
@ All Saints’ Academy, 3G Pitch
Blaisdon Way
Cheltenham
GL51 0WH
No Admission or Programme.
I am not a big fan of doing 3G cages at the best of times, especially on a Saturday, preferring to do them for friendlies, rather than ‘waste’ time doing them for competitive games when there are plenty of much better options to chose from. However, with this kicking off at noon, it meant at least I could double it up, rather than make a special journey, and even better, it was only twenty minutes drive from here to one of my favoured choice of games this afternoon, so it fitted the bill perfectly.
Although there is no barrier inside the cage, the distance from the touch line to the fence is quite wide, so no problem standing inside to watch, especially with a crowd as small as today’s.
These two teams are in Division 3, which is not the greatest standard of football, but there was plenty of effort, and loads of chances, more down to poor defending than good attacking play. It was certainly a lot lower standard than the Division 2 match I saw in this league on Thursday night.
Cheltenham dominated the early stages, but conceded two goals in quick succession just after the half hour mark, to trail 0-2 at halftime. Lakeside had the better of the game in the second half, but it might have been a different story if Cheltenham hadn’t put a penalty kick wide of the target just after the hour mark, before hitting the crossbar and post with two other good efforts late on.
Above : Not sure how goal line technology would have coped with this on today’s pitch!
With both teams and the Referee out warming up on the pitch at 18.10, we thought we might get started a little bit earlier than the scheduled 18.30 start. We did start five minutes early, but the Referee decided to play 2 x 40 minute halves, despite it being a nice sunny night.
These two had both played on Tuesday evening in cup matches, with Leckhampton losing 1-7 at home and Fintan having won 3-1 away, so when the visitors opened the scoring with a superb lob from the corner of the box after just five minutes, it looked like this could be another long night for the hosts. Although they equalised, they were soon trailing again and it was 1-2 at halftime. It was 2-2 just after the hour mark and Leckhampton completed their comeback to go 3-2 up with six minutes left. Two minutes from the end, Fintan had a player sin binned for the remainder of the match, but despite being a man short they pushed for an equaliser and following a long punt into the box they were awarded a penalty, just as the 80 minutes were up. Unfortunately though, it was hit wide of the target and despite the Referee playing six minutes of stoppage time, Leckhampton held on for the win.
As expected, when the match finished at 19.56 there was still plenty of light left and the extra ten minutes would have been no problem to fit in, especially with the fact that there were seven minutes of stoppage time played over the two halves.
Above : The old Pavilion, no longer used for changing in, but the covered area would offer shelter if it rained.
Flitwick Town 2 A.F.C. Kempston Town & Bedford College 2, attendance 29
15’ 1-0
45’ 2-0
47’ 2-1
74’ 2-2
@ Flitwick Football Centre
Ampthill Road
Flitwick
MK45 1BA
No Admission or Programme.
You would be hard pushed to find a more soulless ground than this. The building which houses the changing rooms and reception room remained closed all evening and the pitch is as far away from here as it could possibly be, in the far right corner of the field, with the pitch being roped down each side. It was sunny at the start, but it soon clouded over and there was a strong wind blowing down the pitch as well as an odd shower of rain.
Having gone ahead early on, Flitwick doubled their lead right on the stroke of halftime, with a 30 yard shot that the ‘keeper struggled to see due to the low level sun being in his eyes. Kempston pulled a goal back early in the second half and with Flitwick failing to add to their tally, despite having a couple of good chances, it came as no surprise when Kempston levelled it up at 2-2 with a quarter of an hour to go. The rain returned for the last ten minutes and it was very dark when the game finished at 19.56.
Donhead United 2 Shaftesbury Town Colts 3, attendance 36
30’ 1-0
49’ 2-0
59’ 2-1
63’ 2-2
71’ 2-3
@ Donhead Sports Club
Charlton Lane
Charlton
Shaftesbury
SP7 0PL
No Admission or Programme.
Despite being scheduled by the league as an 18.30 kick off, the two teams had decided between themselves that they would go for an 18.15 kick off, which the home club had posted on their Facebook page. These plans were scuppered when the Referee failed to arrive at the ground until 18.20, as apparently he drives coaches for National Express and had only just got back from London, but he still managed to get the game underway a minute before the official start time.
It has to be said, the performance of the Referee was shocking and some of his decisions were baffling, but at least he was consistent, as he was dreadful for both sides! He awarded Shaftesbury a penalty in the first half, which was at least 3 yards inside the box (I was in line with the incident), but after consulting the club Linesman he admitted he was guessing where the foul had occurred and instead changed his decision to a free kick a yard outside the box.
In a very keenly contested match, between two clubs just three miles apart, it was Donhead who led 1-0 at the break. As the teams were walking off the pitch at halftime a Donhead player was given a yellow card for dissent, which meant he would be sin binned for the first ten minutes of the second half, but the Referee had other ideas. He said that as the offence occurred during the interval the player was only receiving a standard yellow card, but after being berated by the Shaftesbury Manager, he changed his mind and quite rightly sin binned the player instead.
Even with 10 men Donhead went 2-0 up and looked to be heading to a comfortable three points, but a goal for the visitors just before the hour mark turned the game on its head. Four minutes later it was 2-2 and it looked like there was only going to be one winner now, and sure enough, it was Shaftesbury who won it, with a shot that gave the home ‘keeper no chance. Apparently, he was an outfield player, who was standing in for the normal ‘keeper who was unavailable tonight, although I doubt he would have saved it either if he’d been between the sticks instead.
No problem getting the full 90 minutes in tonight, aided by only having a six minute halftime, although the light was just starting to go when the match finished at 20.07.
Leamington Hibernian 1 Continental Star 2, attendance 16
7’ 1-0
10’ 1-1
17’ 1-2
@ Hampton F.C. Pitch 2
Field Lane
off Lugtrout Lane
Solihull
B91 2RX
No Admission or Programme.
This was a ground I first visited on 6th December 1992 when I saw Lodge Cottrell play here in an F.A. Sunday Cup match. Since then, Hampton, who are in Midland League Division 2, have taken over the ground. In fact, Hampton were playing at 3 o’clock on the main pitch, but I don’t think this had any bearing on our match kicking off an hour earlier, as in a few weeks time, when the clocks change, they will both have to start early as there are no floodlights here.
Three weeks before the season was due to start, Leamington Hibernian were told that they would be unable to continue using the ground where they were based last season, so at short notice they managed to strike a deal where they would play on the second pitch here at Hampton. This now takes the number of grounds I have seen Hibs play home matches on to four, having seen them at Campion School & Community College (3.5.1999), Bishops Tatchbrook Sports & Social Club (20.12.2014) and Cubbington Playing Fields (25.4.2018) on my previous visits.
Hibs have really struggled over the last few seasons and invariably finish at the bottom of the league table, but this season, despite once again occupying that position, they look far more competitive, and only lost by one goal in their last match. This was a real battling performance, against a team that started the day seventh in the table and it could have been so different if they had converted a first half penalty when the score was 1-2. They really dominated the second half and if their two strikers weren’t so lightweight, then they would probably have won this game. Any hope of getting an equaliser disappeared when their No.10 managed to get himself sin binned just as we entered the last ten minutes of the match, and with a man short, it was too much too ask. If there was an award for the ‘most unnecessary item on a pitch’, then it would surely be won by the teenage substitute of Continental Star, who came on wearing gloves, despite it being over 20 degrees.
Above : Hibs miss a penalty, wide of the target.
The three photos below are of the main pitch here at Field Lane, the one which I saw Lodge Cottrell play on in 1992 and which is now home to Hampton.
This was the opening league match for these two. Charlton had finished in seventh place in the Premier Division last season, whilst Hanborough are newly promoted, having finished third in Division 1 last season.
Hanborough scrambled in the opening goal after just four minutes and were the better side throughout. The second goal came following a miss kick by the home ‘keeper which was controlled and shot into the far corner of the net by the very alert Hanborough striker. Charlton had a chance to pull a goal back late on, but the volley from 12 yards hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced back out from the goal line with the ‘keeper nowhere near saving it.
Newbold Verdon 3 F.C. Guru Nanak Gurdwara 4, attendance 46
19’ 0-1
43’ 0-2 (pen)
66’ 1-2
76’ 1-3
84’ 1-4
87’ 2-4
90’+ 1, 3-4
@ Alans Way Sports Field
Alans Way
Newbold Verdon
LE9 9LB
No Admission or Programme.
Newbold Verdon are new into the league this season, coming from the North Leicestershire League and have joined Division 2. F.C. GNG finished third in the Premier Division last season, although they have apparently lost the majority of that team, plus the Manager, as they have moved on to play for a club higher up the pyramid. On paper though, this still looked like it could be the tie of the round.
GNG played the first six minutes with just 10 men as a car load of their players arrived late. They scored after 19 minutes and added a penalty just before halftime to lead 0-2 at the break. Newbold Verdon pulled a goal back twenty minutes into the second half, but GNG scored on a quick breakaway to make it 1-3 and it looked all over. It was soon 1-4 and GNG took their foot off the pedal. Newbold Verdon made it 2-4 with three minutes left. A minute into stoppage time it was 3-4 and then GNG were down to 10 men again when a player who was sin binned made a further comment to the Referee and received a straight red card instead, although he would have missed the final minutes whatever. There were six minutes of stoppage time played, with the light getting very gloomy, but GNG held on and we didn’t have to worry about whether it would be too dark to complete a penalty shoot out to decide matters.
