K.F.C. Beekhoek Sport 4 F.C. Gierle 1, attendance 212
36’ 1-0
40’ 2-0
47’ 2-1
74’ 3-1
76’ 4-1
@ Broekstraat
Ten Aard
2440 Geel
€6 Admission
Team Sheet, free.
Game two of the day was a visit to the league leaders Beekhoek Sport versus second from bottom Gierle, who climbed off the bottom of the table with a win last weekend. Beekhoek were well on top, but struggled to break down a very dogged defence. The breakthrough came after 36 minutes and the second followed shortly after. Gierle set things up nicely when they pulled it back to 2-1 a couple of minutes into the second half, but Beekhoek soon regained the upper hand. Two goals in three minutes,as we entered the last quarter of an hour, finished off a resounding win for the hosts, with the fourth goal the pick of the bunch. Following a cut in from the right, a 20 yard shot found its way into the top corner of the net. Beekhoek finished the match with 10 men, having had a defender red carded for a last man foul five minutes from time, but the three points were already in the bag.
The match finished at 16.22, which meant we had plenty of time to reach our third and final match of the day, which was a Provincial 1 game on the other side of Geel.
We had not been too impressed with the last match we saw at this level, but once again it fitted the bill in killing time before our afternoon match. It was a much more even game than the 14-0 thrashing we witnessed at Lommel S.K. the other week, as the two teams here were more evenly matched physically. Nijlen were just too strong and it was easy to see why they are top of the league. They led 5-0 at halftime and added their sixth goal three minutes into the second half.
Above : Nijlen score their fifth goal from the penalty spot.
K.F.C. Nijlen first team will be moving into their new ground at the start of next season. We were surprised to see that the new ground is actually within the current youth complex and is the other side of the clubhouse to the pitch that this mornings match was played on. It all looks ready to go and as far as we could tell, it just appears to lack pitch markings.
Their current ground, Ophoven, which I visited in 2014, is only a couple of hundred yards from the new ground, so we called in on our way to our next match and as the gate was open, it was a good opportunity to have a look around before it disappears and take a few photos.
Herleving Red Star Haasdonk 2 K.V. Eendracht Aalter 3, attendance 116
30’ 0-1
41’ 0-2
45’ 1-2 (pen)
73’ 2-2
77’ 2-3
@ Poerdam 7
9120 Haasdonk
€7 Admission
Team Sheet, free.
Our route from Vlissingen, east across the border into Belgium, was going to take a little over an hour, if we took the Liefkenshoek Tunnel ( €6 toll) rather than the longer and slower route to the east of Antwerp, so we opted for the former, as it gave us plenty of time to book into our overnight hotel in Sint-Niklaas, as well as grabbing food before the evening match.
There was a club formed before the Second World War called Red Star Haasdonk. In 2000 they reached the Belgian Fourth Division for the first time in their history and achieved promotion to the a Third Division at the first attempt. Their stadium had become too small for them to progress any further, so they moved to the Puyenbeke Stadium, recently vacated by SK Saint-Niklaas, and they changed their name to KV Red Star Waasland (who would in turn merge with, then move into the ground of, SK Beveren, to form the club now playing in the top division of Belgian football). In 2009 it was decided that a new club would be formed in Haasdonk, and Herleving (meaning revival in English) Red Star Haasdonk were born, starting off life in Oost Vlaanderen Provincial 4 and this season sees them play in Provincial 1 for the first time.
Following promotion, Haasdonk have struggled this season and they are currently propping up the league table, having won just one game so far and managing just five points from their opening eleven matches. The visitors from Aalter were lying in fifth place coming into this and looked by far the better team during the early exchanges. They went in front after half an hour, when the ball was squeezed in at the far post and were 0-2 up through a free kick that the ‘keeper got a hand to, but couldn’t prevent going into the top corner of the net. Right on halftime Haasdonk were given a lifeline, when they pulled it back to 1-2 from the penalty spot. A much improved second half performance saw Red Star pull it back to 2-2 on 73 minutes, but just four minutes later Aalter netted the winner, when a one-two was slotted past the ‘keeper from 6 yards.
We headed out on the 08.20 Eurotunnel, which left a minute late, bound for a 4 or 5 match weekend which would start off with a game in the Zuid I District Cup in The Netherlands. Vlissingen is a port on the Southwest coast of Zeeland, so it was to be a drive of just under two and a half hours from Calais, which would include going through the Terneuzen Tunnel, which had a €5 toll.
G.P.C. (Gemeente-Post Combinatie, originally formed as the postal workers team) play in 3 Klasse A and are third bottom in the league table, whilst Serooskerke are one level higher, currently in fourth place of 2 Klasse E. We expected an away win, but not quite as one sided as it turned out.
An own goal after just two minutes set the tone for the match, when a back pass hit a bobble on the pitch, which meant the ‘keeper miss kicked and the ball trickled over the line. It was one way traffic from here and Serooskerke were five goals up by the interval. It could have easily been double figures, but they eased up during the second half, adding two late goals to round off a very comfortable 0-7 win.
University Westminster 3 Brunel University 3rds 2, attendance 4
2’ 1-0
34’ 2-0
68’ 2-1
90’+ 2, 2-2
90’+ 3, 3-2
@ Quintin Hogg Memorial Sports Ground
Hartington Road
Chiswick
London
W4 3TL
No Admission or Programme.
The lower down the levels of university football you go, the more ‘Mickey Mouse’ it can become. The match kicked off late, due to the late arrival of the Referee, although to be fair to him, he was a replacement for a ‘no show’, so at least it meant the game could go ahead. Then there are the colour clashes of the kits. One team played in all black, the same as the Referee, although he wore tracksuit bottoms, which did help things a bit, whilst the other played in navy blue, with a yellow front. Great when they were facing you, but awful when they turned away and were in a chase for the ball with the opposition.
Westminster scored early on and made it 2-0 just after the half hour mark. A minute before halftime they had a player sent off for an over the top tackle, but having disagreed with the decision, the argument went on for a couple of minutes before he finally left the field. He then stood on the touch line shouting at the Referee, before both he and the coach continued the argument at halftime. Not content with that, the two of them started up the argument again as the players lined up to restart, meaning another three minute hold up. Unbelievably, they pressured the Referee into agreeing to reverse his decision, by downgrading the red card to a yellow one…..but only if Brunel agreed. They didn’t, which was seen as ‘unsporting’ by the Westminster players, but as one Brunel player said “we’re here to win bro, so it will be easier playing against ten men, so no way are we doing it”. With the extra man Brunel attacked at will, but it took a stoppage time header from them to pull it back to 2-2. From the restart, Westminster played the ball forward, and following a scramble in the box, the ball was cleared, only to see it hammered back into the bottom corner of the net for an unlikely looking winning goal.
When entering the car park, immediately in front of you is the Roko Health Club, which itself flanks the old stand of the Polytechnic Stadium, home of Fulham R.L.F.C. (now London Broncos) from 1985 to 1990 and used for hockey during the 1948 Olympic Games. The stand looked in good condition, but the pitch, which is still there, looked far less so.
Skegness Town 3 Barton Town 3 (2-4 pens), attendance76 (official 56)
21’ 1-0
33’ 2-0
45’ 3-0
52’ 3-1
66’ 3-2
77’ 3-3
@ Vertigo Stadium
Wainfleet Road
Skegness
PE25 2EL
£5 Admission
£1 Programme, 16 pages.
Skegness Town moved to the Vertigo Stadium towards the end of their time in the Lincolnshire League, with this being their second season in the Northern Counties (East) League. Despite playing in a league where floodlights are mandatory, they rarely schedule midweek matches where they are actually required. They may have used them once last season, but this season this was the first proper game under them, as the first two midweek games were played in August, when games can easily be played without lights.
Both clubs had mentioned on Twitter on Monday that the game was on and the weather forecast for Skegness was reasonable, although you can’t always believe a forecast. It came as a bit of a surprise whilst en route to the match when Skegness tweeted at 4 o’clock that there had been a precautionary pitch inspection, but the game was all set to go ahead. As the ground is on the right hand side when entering the town (if coming from anywhere other then the north) we called in there, before heading off for food/drink. Apparently, the match Referee had been called in due to it being very wet and the opinion was, as long as there was no more rain, the game was on. Thankfully it remained dry, as I don’t think the game would have survived otherwise. Had I known beforehand that there was going to be a pitch inspection at that time of day I would not have risked travelling. Skegness has to be one of the most awkward and tedious journeys out there, wherever you live. Even Barton Town had tweeted a pre match thank you to any of their supporters making the ‘long’ 118.4 mile round trip! Don’t know what they would think about a 400 mile jaunt then!
Both clubs ply their trade in the Northern Counties (East) League. Skegness are top of Division 1, whilst Barton are third from bottom in the Premier Division, so we were expecting an even contest, which is what we got, but oddly, where each team totally dominated a half each. Skegness were already 2-0 up when Barton had a player sin binned for the last bit of the first half and when they made it 3-0 just before the break it looked all over. An early second half goal for the visitors set things up nicely and when they added a second, with a cracking 25 yard shot, they were very much on top. A bullet near post header levelled it up at 3-3 with thirteen minutes left. Either side of the equaliser the Barton ‘keeper pulled off two brilliant saves and when we went to penalties to decide the tie (thankfully no extra time) he was once again the hero, saving two of the Skegness efforts, whilst Barton scored four out of four.
The aim of once again completing the top ten levels of the English pyramid is edging closer. Just Tottenham Hotspur, Crawley Green (Step 5) and Jersey Bulls (Step 6) to go.
With today being Armistice Day, it meant it was a Public Holiday in Belgium, so another opportunity to take in an afternoon midweek game. The only problem was, with it being so close to the weekend, there were very few games moved from Saturday or Sunday, but we managed to hunt out what we think was the only first team match in the country today. In fact, it was only due to a club function being held at Cercle Melle yesterday, where the players were all involved, that meant them requesting the game be played this afternoon and luckily Overmere agreed to the change.
The match looked like it could be a good one too, as Overmere started the day in fourth place in the league table, with Cercle Melle one place higher, although they were 10 points adrift of the top two. The drive down through Kent, then through France and on into Belgium saw almost constant rain, but as we got within ten minutes of Overmere, it began to brighten up and it was more a case of showers for the match and we even had patches of blue sky appearing towards halftime. Despite the damp weather, a crowd of close on 200 is pretty impressive for what is the lowest level of the Belgian pyramid.
Overmere opened the scoring with their first chance of the game, after just three minutes, but Cercle Melle were 1-2 in front just eleven minutes later. There could have been a hatful of goals for both teams, but chances went begging. Overmere levelled it up at 2-2 with almost the last kick of the half, when a left wing corner was fumbled by the ‘keeper and the ball was forced in from close range, Overmere edged in front just after the hour mark, but Cercle Melle still looked well capable of turning things round for a second time, and having made it 3-3 with seventeen minutes left, they scored what turned out to be the winner just four minutes later. On balance, they probably deserved it. Although lacking in skill at times, there was certainly no lack of effort and it was certainly top marks for entertainment value.
There could certainly be no criticism of Eurotunnel today. Our outbound train this morning left on time at 08.50. It was a bit disappointing, having arrived back at The Tunnel in plenty of time for our booked 19.20 return crossing, to see that the 18.50 train was cancelled, so no earlier return than what we were booked for, but at least we left a minute early and all the motorways were running without problems for the drive home from Folkestone, which capped off a good day.
Back during my time living in Belgium, I saw what I thought was the most remarkable comeback I would ever witness at a ‘live’ match. On 23rd January 2014, at a Brabant Provincial 3B match between F.C. Limelette and Union Sportive D’ Ophain, I saw the visitors race into a 0-5 lead after 37 minutes. Somehow, Limelette clawed their way back, levelling it up at 5-5 with sixteen minutes left and they nearly pulled off an incredible turnaround when they hit the crossbar with the last kick of the match.
As we approach six years since that unbelievable night, I was to see a five goal deficit actually turned round again, but this time it went one better, as it finished with a winner. Tiptree Engaine came into this match in twelfth place in the league table, in what is their first season in the Premier Division, having only been formed in 2013. Alresford Colne Rangers were third and could even end the day in second place if other results went their way.
When Tiptree scored an early opener, I thought “at least it makes a game of it”. A second goal, a superb volley from the edge of the 18 yard box, soon followed. Four minutes later it was 3-0, then 4-0 and very quickly 5-0, and we had only been playing nineteen minutes!
Surely the game was out of reach for Alresford. Within three minutes though, it was 5-2, and we had already seen seven goals in the opening twenty two minutes. Tiptree missed two absolute sitters and had an effort hit the crossbar, but somehow we reached halftime with no further goals scored.
A header was glanced in to pull it back to 5-3 early in the second half. Could the comeback really be on. Just after the hour mark it was 5-4 and there was plenty of time for an equaliser. Both teams were still going all out for goals, which was the best tactic, as neither defence looked like they were capable of holding out. Tiptree were visibly tiring, playing on the break, whilst Alresford really began to build the pressure. Tiptree missed three or four great chances, which at least forced the ‘keeper to make a save each time and then hit the crossbar with an effort that would have surely sewn the game up. Alresford finally got the goal their second half performance deserved, to make it 5-5 after 87 minutes. They weren’t satisfied with that though. Four minutes into stoppage time they were awarded a free kick ten yards into the Tiptree half of the pitch, but wide on the left touch line. The ball was played high into the box and a combination of strikers, defenders, and the home ‘keeper challenged for the dropping ball and somehow it managed to fall perfectly for Alresford to force the ball over the line for an unbelievable winner.
It would be nice to think I will see a better game than this as the season progresses, but somehow, I don’t think I will. Just brilliant!
Above : Tiptree make it 3-0 and Below : Round the ‘keeper for 5-0.
Middlesex University 5 Queen Mary University 2nds (Barts) 2, attendance 2
6’ 0-1
30’ 0-2
32’ 1-2
51’ 2-2
68’ 3-2
71’ 4-2 (pen)
76’ 5-2
@ St. James’ Catholic High School, 3G Pitch
Grahame Park Way
Colindale
London
NW9 5PE
No Admission or Programme.
It was only 50 miles from Cambridge, but the journey took just short of two hours to drive. The pitch here has only recently opened and although it only has spectator access along one side, it doesn’t feel like a normal caged pitch as there is plenty of room between the barrier and perimeter fence, but it probably couldn’t be used to stage ‘non league’ matches as the spare goals for 5-a-side football stay inside the barrier and are no more than a foot from the touch line, so it would fail on safety grounds.
Barts went 0-2 up, having dominated the opening half hour, with Middlesex struggling to contain them, but an absolute thunderbolt free kick from 30 yards pulled it back to 1-2 and the game completely changed. When Middlesex levelled it up at 2-2 early in the second half, there was only going to be one winner, and they added three more goals to ease to a comfortable 5-2 win, which certainly didn’t look likely following the opening stages of the match.
Cambridge University 2 University East Anglia 0, attendance 8
45’ 1-0
66’ 2-0 (pen)
@ Clare College Sports Ground
Bentley Road
Cambridge
CB2 8AW
No Admission or Programme.
Clare College Sports Ground is a multi sport complex with 2 tennis courts, a central cricket square and 4 football pitches around this. Today’s match was played on the pitch in the near left corner, (when looking from the clubhouse) running lengthways away from the tennis courts that are behind the end nearest the car park.
This was evenly contested throughout, although Cambridge always looked the better side. It was hard to see where a goal would come from, but we finally got a breakthrough right on halftime, when a long ball over the top saw the big No.9 outmuscle a defender and fire home a shot off the inside of the far post. The second half saw the game become stretched and Cambridge made sure of the points when they converted a penalty, that was awarded for a handball.
