Western League

Premier Division

Monday 6th March 2017

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.34

Melksham Town 2 Bristol Manor Farm 1,  attendance 485

20′ 1-0

63′ 2-0

89′ 2-1

@ Oakfield Stadium

Eastern Way

Melksham

SN12 7GU

£6 Admission

£1 Programme, 28 pages.

So, tonight saw the first midweek fixture played at the new home of Melksham Town, the match being 4th v 1st in the league table. It also meant the club was invaded by Groundhoppers, with close on 50 making the trip to Wiltshire. A very impressive set up that has a number of other pitches, including a second floodlit pitch, used by their reserves, which is to the right of the driveway leading to the main ground. The clubhouse is shared with Melksham Rugby Club, whose pitch runs parallel to the main ground, separated by the two storey building. Good selection of food on offer and very nice home made cakes available at the tea bar.

No problems pitch wise, despite the rain over the weekend, apart from one corner of the pitch where the drainage has collapsed. Melksham were missing a number of players tonight, but it didn’t really show. They were already 2-0 up when BMF had a player red carded on 71 minutes and despite the 10  men pulling one back, it was never going to affect the final outcome.

This once again completes the Western League grounds and brings the required number left to visit at Step 5 down to three, namely Fisher, Leicester Nirvana and Royal Wootton Bassett Town.

Hampshire Premier League

Division 1

Saturday 4th March 2017

Kick Off 15.00, On Time !

South Wonston Swifts 0 Sway 0,  attendance 16

@ South Wonston Recreation Ground

West Hill Road South

SO21 3HP

No admission or programme.

On paper this looked like a decent game, 4th v 1st, the two sides having drawn 3-3 at Sway earlier in the season. The visitors were also on a good run, winning their last 9 games. Oddly, before that run started, they had drawn their two previous matches, both away, 0-0. I think Sway only managed one shot on target in the entire match. Swifts hit the bar and forced an excellent save from the ‘keeper in stoppage time at the end of the first half, but that was about it.

This was actually my second choice match today, Colden Common v Bush Hill, in the top division of this league, falling victim to the weather very early on. A phone call to the newly installed Swifts secretary, shortly before midday, confirmed that the game was going ahead and the pitch was not a problem. In fact, he had been down and marked it out himself at 8 o’clock this morning.

Luckily, the rain held off until five minutes from time, when a brief shower had the ‘crowd’ running for shelter under the overhang on the changing room building, although it wasn’t much use as the wind was blowing straight into it.

Premier League 2 (Division 1)

Friday 3rd March 2017

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 18.59

Manchester City U23 3 Everton U23 0,  attendance 650

66′ 1-0 T. Ambrose

71′ 2-0 Brahim Diaz

77′ 3-0 J. Sancho

@ Academy Stadium

Etihad Campus North Gate

400, Ashton New Road

M11 4QT

£3 Admission, On-line Ticket

Team Sheet, free.

With no cash sales, or tickets available at the stadium, you have to register and buy tickets for these games on-line. As I was unable to gain access to a printer, I had to collect my ticket from a portakabin outside the entrance.

I had left home six and a half hours before kick off, but even with Friday traffic hadn’t expected it to take 5 hours 52 minutes to drive the 225 miles. On arrival, I was directed to the ‘Blue Parking’, which is on the far side of the Etihad Stadium from the Academy Stadium, and although free to park, it is around 15 minutes walk, crossing the main road via a footbridge, which leads you to the northwest corner of the stadium, where your ticket can be collected. The only entrance on matchday is on the corner of the North and East (main) Stand, the latter being the only stand open tonight.

As it was pouring with rain, I was already soaked by the time I got here, so didn’t bother attempting to take any photos of the exterior. At least inside, unlike at Brighton & Hove Albion on Monday, there was no hostility towards spectators and there were no problems whatsoever with taking photographs.

This is a really impressive stadium, having opened in 2015, with a capacity of 7,000. Not sure what chance they have of filling it, as although tonight’s official attendance was 650, it was probably only half of that. Perhaps the Manchester City women’s team, who also play their matches here, get more watching ? I had previously seen a Manchester City Reserve fixture played on the Regional Athletics Arena, which is the opposite side of the main stadium to the new ground. Oddly, it was also Everton who were the visitors, in a 2-2 draw on 26th October 2004. The crowd that night was 863.

Despite it raining for the entire match, the pitch was in immaculate condition. The game itself was 2nd v 1st, the gap now down to 3 points, but never looked like producing a goal, then when the deadlock was broken it looked like City would score with every attack.

The walk back to the car was again in rain, although much lighter than the rest of the evening. The drive home was also much better, taking a shade over 4 hours, including two stops.

National League North

Wednesday 1st March 2017

Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.48

Darlington 3 Altrincham 1,  attendance 1,423

3′ 1-0

29′ 2-0

33′ 2-1

80′ 3-1 (pen)

@ Blackwell Meadows

Grange Road

Darlington

DL1 5NR

£12 Admission

£2.50 Programme (from original postponed fixture on 11th February) 56 pages, plus 4 page insert.

Having arrived in plenty of time from Leeds, it was easy to get a prime parking spot in the nearest road to the stadium, although it is still a good 10 minutes walk away. The main objective here, apart from avoiding the £3 car park charge, is the fact that all cars are held back until all pedestrians have cleared from the driveway leading to the ground from the main road, so even by walking back to the car, you can still be away onto the A1 before the cars are released from the car park.

Darlington still think they are a Football League club, judging by the prices charged for everything, although of course the club disappeared in 2012, and were reformed, joining the Northern League the following season, under the name Darlington 1883. No mention anywhere of the 1883 part of the name in the programme or on their badge, so I assume they have now dropped this from their title ?

I had seen the original club play in the Football League at two different home grounds, Feethams (22.4.1989 v Scarborough, 2-1, Division 4, attendance 2,850) and then Reynolds Arena (30.9.2003 v Southend United, 0-0, Division 3, attendance 4,369) which was when their problems really began in a stadium that had nearly 20,000 seats more than they were ever going to need.

The current ground, shared with Darlington Rugby Union Club, is not a good venue for viewing the game. It is totally inadequate for large crowds, tonight’s being their lowest since moving here on Boxing Day 2016, when they sold out the ground to its 3,000 capacity. Even only half full the view was awful, so it must have been impossible for most people to have seen anything at all with more than double tonights attendance rammed in.

A very poor standard of football on show for the second level of the English non-league game, perhaps not helped by Altrincham being bottom of the table, where it is a matter of when, not if, they are relegated. Darlington didn’t really need to be very good to beat them.

This just leaves one more to do at Step 2 and one that I am really not looking forward to at all…..F.C. United of Manchester. I can’t wait………

British Universities & Colleges Sport

Northern 2B

Wednesday 1st March 2017

Kick Off 14.15 Actual 14.17

University Leeds 2 University York 4,  attendance 6

4′ 0-1

11′ 1-1

12′ 2-1

25′ 2-2

26′ 2-3

48′ 2-4

@ Weetwood Sports Park, 3G Pitch

Weetwood Hall

Leeds

LS16 5AU

No admission or programme.

This was my second visit here, having previously been on 9th February 2005, when the game was played on the grass pitch that runs at right angles to the 3G pitch, beyond the far goal when entering from the car park end of the complex.

As a new pitch has recently been laid, spectators are not allowed inside the cage, but you can watch from the entrance gate, or from the grass bank adjacent to the rugby pitch at one end.

A surprise result as it was 3rd v 5th, out of six teams, in the group. Leeds had won the reverse fixture 1-0. At least three of the goals today were high quality finishes.

Having stayed over following last nights game in Consett, it was a nice easy drive south to the northern outskirts of Leeds. Thankfully the heavy rain shower had dispersed about half an hour before kick off and it remained dry for the rest of the day.  From here, it was a 1 hour 20 minute drive back up the A1 to Darlington for our evening entertainment.

Durham Challenge Cup

Semi Final

Tuesday 28th February 2017

Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.32

Consett 1 South Shields 3,  attendance 785

9′ 0-1

30′ 0-2

48′ 0-3

55′ 1-3

@ Belle View Stadium

Delves Lane

DH8 7BF

£6 Admission

£1.50 Programme, 44 pages.

A trip to the North East would probably not be the best idea in February, but unless there was snow, the 3G pitch at the relatively new home of Consett AFC, which they moved into in November 2013, would mean the game would more or less be guaranteed to take place.

Compared to their old ground, ( visited 22.1.2000, 0-1 v Alfreton Town, attendance 276, F.A. Vase 4th Round) with the magnificent crumbling, run down, atmospheric charm, (from a Groundhoppers point of view) this is an awful place to watch football, especially with a crowd of this size inside. Earlier in the afternoon, the club had tweeted that they had negotiated extra car parking space with the business next door to the ground and, what we thought was ridiculous at the time, that the turnstiles would be open at 5pm to help alleviate some of the queues nearer to kick off time !

I would say at least 500 of the crowd were with the visitors. Very impressive for any non-league club, let alone one at Step 5. The league match between these two, currently 7th v 2nd in Northern League Division 1, drew the highest home attendance for Consett this season, of 671 and they were obviously expecting another good turn out as they had tweeted about it earlier in the day. What a pity they let themselves down with totally inadequate catering facilities. We joined the queue at the tea bar four minutes before halftime. As the second half kicked off, we abandoned the line, as they had only served about a dozen people in this time ! As everyone knows, profit margins are high in food/drink sales, so for the club to willingly give away money in failing to get people served, shows that this must be a club with no financial worries. Surely a crowd of this size required at least one added mobile caterer ?

As for the game, Consett started well and the visitors actually opened the scoring against the run of play. From here on, it was a stroll for South Shields. A red card for Consett, in injury time, simply rounded off a disappointing result for them.

This was South Shields  22nd consecutive win, in what could be a fantastic season for them. They are second in the league ( 8pts behind North Shields, but with 2 games in hand) and favourites to win the F.A. Vase, having reached the semi final. This win sees them face Billingham Synthonia in the Durham Challenge Cup Final, to be played at Hartlepool United, in May.

So, with Northern League Division 1 now complete, it leaves just Stockton Town to visit for the full set in this league. Step 5 is also a bit nearer completion, with just four clubs grounds not visited yet…..Fisher, Leicester Nirvana, Melksham Town and Royal Wootton Bassett Town. These clubs have moved into new grounds during my time living abroad, two of them during the last couple of months.

Premier League 2

League Cup Group Match

Monday 27th February 2017

Kick Off 13.00 Actual 13.01

Brighton & Hove Albion U23 3 West Ham United U23 0,  attendance 150

18′ 1-0 Bjordal

42′ 2-0 Tilley (pen)

53′ 3-0 Connolly

@ American Express Elite Football Performance Centre

60, Marsh Barn Lane

Lancing

BN15 9FP

£5 Admission, Print at Home Ticket

Team Sheet, free.

Getting tickets for this was really easy. They were available on-line through the club website, with this being the only possible way to gain admission as there is no facility to pay at the ground. Unlike so many other places, there was no booking fee to pay !

On arrival at the ground, you give in your printed ticket at the barriered security gate, then proceed into the car park where there is a steward directing you to where they want you to park. From here, there is then another fenced off area, so admission is via the reception area, where you are then taken by another steward and held in a room until about 5 minutes before kick off, when everyone is escorted en masse to whichever pitch the game is being played on.

Today, the game was on the main pitch in the complex. Four rows of blue seats are the full length of one side, with dug outs and a television gantry opposite. The roof on the stand is a waste of time. Even sat on the back row the rain was impossible to avoid due to the wind.

I don’t know why clubs such as Brighton bother admitting anyone in to watch games here as they certainly don’t make you feel welcome. Stewards stand along various points of the stand just trying to catch anyone who dares to try and take a photograph. One person was ‘caught’ and stood over whilst being forced to delete the photos he had taken. They bang on about it being ‘the law’ as the players are ‘under age’ (is 23 really under age ?) and can’t be photographed, yet an hour after the match the club website has a selection of action shots from the match !

I would have thought any problem with paedophiles within the game is from within the clubs themselves, not from the spectators  watching from the stands.

As for the game, far too easy for Brighton. Both sides had already qualified for the knockout stages of the cup, so this was basically to see who topped the group. West Ham would have done so had they won today.

Surrey County Intermediate League (Western)

Premier Division

Saturday 25th February 2017

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.03

West End Village 3 Shottermill & Haslemere 1,  attendance 19

48′ 1-0

70′ 1-1

77′ 2-1

86′ 3-1

@  West End Sports Pavilion

Benner Lane

West End

Woking

GU24 9JP

No admission or programme.

5th v 10th and a game that eventually went to form. Despite dominating for long periods West End only had one goal to show for it and they had their ‘keeper sent off four minutes before the visitors levelled at 1-1. It ended 10-a-side when a Shottermill defender received a second yellow card for a foul leading up to the third WestEnd goal, duly dispatched after an excellent ‘advantage’ played by the Referee, then issuing the card before the restart.

At halftime, a resident from the houses that run alongside the pitch, put out a table and served hot drinks as well as chocolate and crisps. All items were £1 with money going to a local charity. The drinks were most welcome as the game was played in a bitterly cold wind. Unfortunately, the rain that had been forecast arrived bang on time, just as the second half kicked off, but was only drizzle.

British Universities & Colleges Sport

South Eastern 2A

Wednesday 22nd February 2017

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.02

St. Mary’s University 1 University Portsmouth 0,  attendance 18

16′ 1-0

@ Teddington Lock Sports Campus

Broom Road

Teddington

TW11 9BE

No admission or programme.

This was 1st v 2nd and had been niggly throughout. The last 5 minutes saw two melees involving all the players, plus a fair few of the substitutes. Portsmouth had a player red carded following the second one, then in the last minute, St. Mary’s had a player sent off for hacking down the ‘keeper as he tried to launch the ball upfield.

Light drizzle fell for most of the second half, but thankfully the old cricket pavilion gave adequate shelter, albeit from the corner of the pitch.