Mid Sussex League

Division 5 South

Saturday 11th January 2025

Kick Off 14.00 On Time!

Marl Place Wanderers 5 Welcroft Park Rangers Reserves 3, attendance 23

6’ 1-0

10’ 1-1

20’ 2-1

23’ 2-2

50’ 3-2

52’ 4-2

56’ 4-3

61’ 5-3

@ The Burgess Hill Academy, 3G Pitch

Station Road

Burgess Hill

RH15 9EA

No Admission or Programme.

Marl Place Wanderers normally play their home games at Worlds End Recreation Ground, on the northeastern edge of Burgess Hill, where I’d visited in April 2021 for a Burgess Hill Albion game, but the freezing weather conditions of the past week meant they switched today’s game to the 3G pitch here at The Burgess Hill Academy. It’s just a caged pitch, but with 5 or 6 yards gap between touchlines and fence, there was no problem watching pitchside, with both ‘benches’ and the majority of the crowd standing on the same side, with the sun at our backs.

The match was 8th (out of 11) versus 2nd in the league table and was end to end stuff from start to finish and Welcroft Park created enough chances to have forced at least a draw and probably should have even won it, but they just didn’t take their chances. Marl Place went ahead after six minutes, but Welcroft Park were level just four minutes later, having already had a goal ruled out for offside. After twenty minutes Marl Place went back in front, scoring with a header from a corner, scooped away by the ‘keeper, but not before it had crossed the goal line. Another quick response from Welcroft Park saw them level it up at 2-2, lobbing the ‘keeper from the edge of the box after a long ball over the top.

Surprisingly, there were no further goals until five minutes into the second half, when Marl Place grabbed the lead for a third time, aided by the ‘keeper fumbling a free kick which squirmed over the line and a one on one finish saw them make it 4-2 just two minutes later. Again the visitors replied quickly, when a cross from the right somehow evaded the home defence and ‘keeper, nestling into the far corner, but it only took Marl Place five minutes to restore their two goal lead, when a long clearance from their ‘keeper saw a striker race clear to finish one on one into the bottom corner. As with the first half, the goals seemed to come in a flurry. Plenty of chances in the last half hour, especially for the visitors, but no more goals.

It was bitterly cold, despite being sunny and clear, never getting above three degrees all afternoon, yet late in the second half, unbelievably, the jingles of an ice cream van could be heard from the road behind the ground….

West Sussex League

Division 1

Saturday 23rd March 2024

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 14.58

Flansham Park Rangers 2 Holbrook Olympic 2, attendance 8

22’ 0-1

30’ 1-1

62’ 2-1

74’ 2-2

@ Ormiston Six Villages Academy

Lime Avenue

Westergate

PO20 3UE

No Admission or Programme.

I never got to see Flansham Park Rangers play a game here at Ormiston Six Villages Academy before they upped sticks and moved to groundshare at Southern Combination League Premier Division club Pagham at the start of this season. Their reserve team still play here in Westergate, but a fixture clash with their landlords meant I had a chance to finally see the first team host a game in the village. A very quick response to a text message sent to the club contact number on the league website confirmed both that the game was going ahead okay and indeed that it was here at OSVA. It’s nothing more than a couple of pitches in an open field, with the pitch to the right of the artificial cricket wicket (when walking from the changing rooms) being used today.

The match was 6th versus 1st in the league table and was much more of an even contest than I’d anticipated it being and the good news was, that despite the forecast showing a high possibility of heavy rain at some point, there was little more than a brief shower at the start of each half and plenty of sunshine throughout. Holbrook went ahead midway through the first half, forcing in from close range, after a couple of point blank saves had been made by the home ‘keeper as the ball pin balled around the six yard box, before he was beaten at the third attempt. Flansham soon levelled, when a quickly taken goal kick bounced well inside the Holbrook half and the striker shot first time into the bottom corner. Flansham went 2-1 up just after the hour mark, finishing off a diagonal free kick from near the centre circle with a stooping header at the far post. Holbrook made it 2-2 with sixteen minutes left, when a free kick was hooked back across the six yard box and finished from close range.

Holbrook only have two games left now and have a healthy 13 point lead over second placed East Dean, who have 2 games in hand, but are still not guaranteed the title, or even promotion yet (top 2 go up) as third placed Goring by Sea are 14 points off the top, but have seven games left and Rudgwick Reserves are four points further back, but still have eight games to play.

Spain

La Liga

Saturday 11th November 2023

Kick Off 18.30 On Time!

Club Atletico Osasuna 1 Union Deportiva Las Palmas 1, attendance 20,125

70’ 0-1

73’ 1-1

@ Estadio El Sadar

Calle del Sadar

31006 Pamplona

€50 Admission + €2 Booking Fee, Print at Home Ticket

No Programme.

This morning started off with a €3 bus ride from a couple of hundred yards away from our hotel, in order to pick up a hire car from Bilbao Airport. Today would see a drive south of about 1 hour 50 minutes, to the town of Pamplona, in the Navarre region, to see another top division game. Pamplona is probably more famous for the ‘Running of the Bulls’ festival that takes place over a week of July each year, where people basically run around the city streets being chased by a bull, rather than it’s football team Club Atletico Osasuna, who celebrated their centenary four years ago, which has included four Segunda Division titles and twice being Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) runners-up, in 2005 and again last season. Their home is at the Estadio El Sadar, opened in 1967 and now modernised to hold a 23,516 all-seated capacity. It is very compact. The crowd are right on top of the action and it generated a good atmosphere. The very small corner section for away fans was almost full, although I suspect many of them now live on the mainland, rather than having travelled from the Canary Islands (the club are from the island of Gran Canaria) and there were plenty of away colours openly displayed around other sections of the ground too, without a hint of trouble. Car parking was plentiful in the surrounding streets (free after 2pm on a Saturday apparently) and we managed to bag a space less than ten minutes walk from the stadium.

The match itself was a mid-table clash, with12th hosting 10th. Not too much in the way of goalmouth action. Both teams seemed content with faffing about in the centre of the pitch. Plenty of short passes, but achieving little, other than keeping the possession percentages high! The only real thing of note in the first half was an Osasuna header tipped round the post seven minutes before halftime. At least the game opened up second half and Las Palmas broke the deadlock with twenty minutes left, cutting in from the left before curling a shot into the far top corner from just inside the angle of the 18 yard box. Their lead only lasted three minutes though, Osasuna drawing level when a cross from the right was finished with a stooping header from six yards out at the near post. Both teams seemed to settle for a point each from here, protecting what they had, rather than trying to grab a winning goal.

Oxfordshire Senior League

Premier Division

Saturday 28th October 2023

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.02

Brill United 5 Yarnton 2, attendance 33

10’ 1-0

13’ 2-0

45’ 2-1

47’ 3-1

48’ 4-1

60’ 5-1

84’ 5-2 (pen)

@ Brill Sports & Social Club

Church Street

Brill

HP18 9RT

No Admission or Programme.

Ashton Folly had played here in Brill last season and over the summer changed their name to Brill United. As with last season, it was the only ground I hadn’t visited in this division, so it was about time that was put right. The journey from St. Albans took about an hour and having passed through one particularly heavy downpour en route, about fifteen minutes away, I was relieved to see nets and corner flags up on arrival and the players heading out to warm up. At least it remained dry throughout, bar a brief few spots of rain that lasted a couple of minutes, if that.

The ground is shared with the local cricket club. The cricket pitch is in front of the pavilion, with the football pitch beyond, running widthways, on the other side of a tarmac path separating the two and roped along the left hand half of this side only. The two ‘benches’ set up opposite, although no problem accessing all four sides. The view over the countryside beyond the far touchline goes as far as the eye can see and if bird spotting is your thing, well, red kites to be specific, then you can’t get much better than this.

The game was 7th versus 11th in the league table. Brill were 2-0 up after just thirteen minutes, the second goal being a cracker into the top corner, cutting in from the left and finishing right footed leaving the ‘keeper rooted to his spot. Brill then lost their ‘keeper after half an hour, going off injured, with an outfield player taking over. Right on halftime Yarnton finished a ball over the top with an angled shot into the bottom corner, setting it up perfectly for the second half. However, any hope of a comeback soon disappeared, as Brill scored twice in the opening three minutes of the restart. A stooping header, after a corner wasn’t cleared, quickly followed by a shot into the far corner. Goal number five arrived on the hour, finishing one on one, after being played through on goal. With six minutes left Yarnton pulled it back to 5-2, when they scored with a penalty. The stand in ‘keeper was booked for giving away the kick, then sent off when getting a second yellow card, for dissent, after conceding it. So Brill played out the remainder of the game a man short and with their third ‘keeper of the day playing in goal!

National League U19 Alliance

League Cup 1st Round

Wednesday 11th October 2023

Kick Off 13.30 Actual 13.32

Gateshead U19 1 Darlington U19 0, attendance 23

90’ + 1, 1-0

@ Academy for Sport, 3G Pitch C/D

Neilson Road

Gateshead

NE10 0EF

No Admission or Programme.

After the failure to get a new ground yesterday, I decided to do a game I hadn’t even planned on until late last night. Gateshead played this on one of the two artificial pitches here at Academy for Sport, which is adjacent to the Gateshead International Stadium. It is tucked away at the back of the main building, to the left and then raised slightly to the left. The two cages run end on to each other, with spectator viewing along the full length of one side on each pitch, bar a couple of sections of mesh fencing and a slightly obscured view where each pitch also has a pair of dugouts. Entry is in the corner of Pitch A/B (to identify half/quarter pitch hire) and today’s game was on Pitch C/D, the furthest from the entrance. As well as my game, there was also a University/College game on Pitch A/B which kicked off at 13.45 and another on the grass pitch which started just after 14.00, with this being the only one with three match officials. During the first half one of the groundskeepers was mowing the grass on his sit on mower. Hard to imagine this happening, when fifteen minutes down the road, Washington couldn’t even get their game on last night in the Northern League!

As for the game….Played mostly in the middle third of the pitch. Plenty of effort, but fair to say it was one for the purists. It just never looked like producing a goal, then out of nothing, a minute into stoppage time, a cross from the right was played back across the six yard box and put in at the far post, to win it for Gateshead.

Isthmian League

Division 1 South Central

Wednesday 9th February 2022

Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.47

Staines Town 2 Guernsey 8, attendance 121

24’ 0-1

28’ 0-2

29’ 1-2

30’ 1-3

33’ 2-3

38’ 2-4

51’ 2-5

68’ 2-6 (pen)

83’ 2-7

88’ 2-8 (pen)

@ Wheatsheaf Park

Wheatsheaf Lane

Staines

TW18 2PD

£10 Admission

£2 Programme, didn’t bother buying.

As with last night, with no new grounds for me, it was time for another revisit. I hadn’t been to Staines Town since 21st February 1995, when they drew 1-1 with Uxbridge in a Middlesex F.A. Senior Cup Quarter Final, back in the days when replays were still a part of the game. An added attraction tonight was that it was Guernsey who were the visitors.

The game was a real ’six pointer’ as bottom of the table was hosting fourth bottom, although Guernsey are in a bit of a false position, as following travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, it sees them having seven games in hand on most of the clubs in the bottom half of the table.

As dull as last night’s game at Sutton United was, this was the complete opposite. In fact, the first half was as good as I’m likely to see anywhere this season. Both teams attacked at every opportunity and it was a surprise that it took twenty four minutes before the first goal arrived. Once it did, the floodgates opened. The opener went the way of the visitors and they added a second just four minutes later. Within a minute, Staines pulled it back to 1-2, but Guernsey restored their two goal lead almost immediately. We only had to wait another three minutes for the next goal, as a superb free kick, into the top corner from the angle of the box pulled it back to 2-3. Five minutes later, Guernsey made it 2-4, when goal machine Ross Allen scored his second goal of the night, scoring at the near post, but he was injured in the process, resulting in him being substituted a couple of minutes later. According to the Guernsey F.C. website he has scored 267 goals for them in 270 appearances! Even at non-league level, that is some record. After an incredible spell of six goals in 15 minutes, it was a shame that there had to be a halftime.

The second half never matched the first, but that would have been too much to ask. Staines still battled, but Guernsey powered on to add four more goals, two of which were penalties, to run out deserved 2-8 winners. If only all relegation battles were as good as this. Fantastic entertainment.

National League U19 Alliance

Division C

Wednesday 26th January 2022

Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.34

Enfield Town U19 0 Barking Whites U19 1, attendance 7

92’+ 2, 0-1

@ Peter May Sports Centre, 3G Pitch

Wadham Road

Walthamstow

London

E17 4HR

No Admission or Programme.

This was 4th versus 1st in the league table. Both teams had great defensive records coming into this. Enfield had conceded just seven goals in their eight matches, whilst Barking had let in just 8 in their 12 games. It soon became obvious that they were very evenly matched and that it would take either a mistake, or piece of magic, for either team to make the breakthrough. In the end, it took a brilliant curling shot from the angle of the 18 yard box, to win it for Barking in stoppage time. Excellent game.

The cage has a spectator area along the entire length of one side, which extends about 10 yards behind the goal end at the entrance.

Yeovil & District League

Premier Division

Saturday 25th September 2021

Kick Off 11.45 Actual 11.49

Stoke-sub-Hamdon 1 Martock United 3, attendance 101 (official)

29’ 0-1

50’ 0-2

90’ 0-3

90’+ 2, 1-3

@ Stoke-sub-Hamdon Recreation Ground

West Street

Stoke-sub-Hamdon

TA14 6QE

No Admission

£1 Programme, 12 pages.

Today was the inaugural Yeovil & District League ground hop. There were to be three matches, with less than eight miles distance between first and last hosting ground. When a new league host a ‘hop, you never know what kind of numbers will turn up. There was no attendance from any of the organisers of the rival ‘hops (Groundhop U.K. and the Bedfordshire County League ‘hop), perhaps to be expected, as today’s event could be seen as treading on their toes. It was no surprise that the main ‘hangers on’ from those ‘hops weren’t here either. Even a number of the ‘programme obsessive’ ‘hoppers didn’t make the effort and others claimed the standard of football was too low! Having witnessed the rubbish on the Witney & District League ‘hop last week, it couldn’t possibly be as poor as that, and it wasn’t.

Stoke-sub-Hamdon came into this match second bottom in the league table, having just a single point to show from their four matches played. Martock United had won two of their three matches, so an away win looked on the cards. The visitors were the better side for long periods. They went 0-2 up early in the second half, finally adding a third goal on ninety minutes. There was still time for the hosts to get a consolation goal, but far too late to make a difference to the result. A well deserved win for Martock United.

Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League

Premier Division

Tuesday 7th September 2021

Kick Off 18.00 Actual 18.01

North Gawber Colliery 1 Jubilee Sports 1, attendance 72

24’ 0-1

43’ 1-1

@ Woolley Miners Welfare

Woolley Colliery Road

Darton

S75 5JA

No Admission or Programme.

This ground has been on my ‘to do’ list for years. It hosted Northern Counties (East) League football up until the end of 1989/90 season (I was only just starting to tick off non-League grounds around this time, so had plenty more others to do, never thinking I would ever drop to this level !) when it was home to Woolley Miners Welfare F.C. It has remained in good condition, surprisingly avoiding any major vandalism, (the perimeter rail being almost complete and the stand is still impressive, although now minus any seats), although judging by the empty alcohol bottles and cans strewn across the floor of the stand, then sadly, this might not remain the case.

This was the first game of the season for North Gawber Colliery (the 2018/19 league winners in the last completed season before COVID-19 struck), whilst Jubilee Sports had lost their opening match 0-7 at home to Swinton Athletic. I half expected this to be a comfortable home win, but despite dominating for long periods, NGC just didn’t convert their chances. Jubilee scored against the run of play, their striker latching on to a through ball, before beating the ‘keeper and finishing from a tight angle and the inevitable equaliser came just before halftime, a 30 yard free kick that the ‘keeper got a hand to, but couldn’t keep out. The second half followed a similar pattern to the first and in the end Jubilee could have nicked all three points, but they missed a penalty in the dying minutes, the kick sent high over the crossbar.

We had kicked off just a minute behind schedule and with the match officials/teams staying on the pitch for halftime (the changing rooms are the far side of the cricket pitch), we were done and dusted for 19.37.

Friendly

Tuesday 13th July 2021

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 18.58

Knaphill Athletic 3 Dial Square 5, attendance 27

4’ 0-1

8’ 0-2

36’ 0-3

53’ 1-3 (pen)

67’ 2-3 (pen)

74’ 3-3

79’ 3-4

87’ 3-5

@ St. Peter’s Recreation Ground

Ford Road

Old Woking

GU22 9HJ

No Admission or Programme.

Originally, Bagshot were supposed to be the opposition tonight, but they pulled out of the game yesterday evening. Thankfully, due to the magic of Twitter, within an hour of the call off, Dial Square had stepped in to take their place. They are the club formed by Arsenal fans (Dial Square was their original name when they were formed) disgruntled at the way their club was being run by the American owners.

Knaphill Athletic had finished last season in bottom place of the Surrey County Intermediate League (Western), whilst Dial Square sat second bottom of the Guildford & Woking Alliance League Premier Division (North) when their season was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Considering the poor condition of the pitch, with sunken areas in the six yard boxes and grass that was far too long for football, the two teams put on an excellent show. Dial Square, who only officially begin their pre-season preparations next week, raced into a 0-3 lead, which they held until early in the second half and looked a really good side. The longer the game went on, the more they tired, and having pulled it back to 2-3, courtesy of a couple of penalties, it was no surprise that Knaphill Athletic levelled it up at 3-3 with sixteen minutes left. It looked like only one team was going to win it from here, but Dial Square responded with two late goals to win it 3-5.

Former Arsenal player Ian Selley (substitute in both the 1993 F.A. Cup Final Replay and League Cup Final versus Sheffield Wednesday, as well as playing in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final win against Parma in Copenhagen the following year), who is now 47, made an appearance for Dial Square tonight. Still looked good on the ball.