November 2022

                                                           Ozymandias

                                    I met a traveller from an antique land
                                    Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
                                    Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
                                    Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
                                    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
                                    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
                                    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
                                    The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
                                    And on the pedestal these words appear:
                                    "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
                                    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
                                    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
                                    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
                                    The lone and level sands stretch far away.

by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
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Saturday 5th November 2022

Wessex League Division 1

Fleet Spurs 0

Downton 1

Shaun Prentice 74,

Referee: Lucas Bomela.                                                       Attendance: 45

Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£6).                                      Programme: on line

We travelled in the monsoon conditions, more in hope than anticipation, and were pleasantly surprised to find the match ON and the pitch in pretty good nick. There is a substantial club house and changing rooms, several additional pitches behind the clubhouse, hard standing on all four sides and seating for maybe fifty to the front of the club house. Apart from that, it was pretty bleak. This was the host’s fourteenth consecutive home defeat (7 from last season)and fourteenth consecutive defeat (home and away) this season. Bottom of the league and twelve points adrift of safety, whilst Downton are in second place, but it was pretty difficult to tell which was the better team! The visitors got a lucky strike fifteen minutes from time in a drab game and that was that! Basic and very expensive refreshment on offer! With John Main.

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Thursday 10th November 2022

Dry and overcast with a stiff breeze meandering past the almost finished new housing where horses used to roam and then, out along the farm track, catching up with the crumbling boundary wall leading to Harringworth Lodge ( the house, and not the lake, where, today, the heron was about). On the way to Spanhoe, a magnificent specimen of horned cattle was, fortunately, separated by secure barbed wire fencing and down in the valley, the viaduct dominated the landscape. On the downward slope the viaduct loomed closer as Turtle Bridge hove into view, and closer still as the track negotiated the parish church of St John the Baptist in Harringworth, itself. Next, along the route, was the village of Thorpe-by-Water and then across the river and the gentle climb to the railway line and, at last, the welcoming tower of St James’ Church. Nearly there, the Baptist Church was understatedly, yet tastefully, adorned for Remembrance. Five stiles and 12.06 miles.

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Saturday 12th November2022

Isuzu FA Vase 2nd Round

Laverstock & Ford 2

Russell Jones 52,Chae Sykes 90,

Falmouth Town 1

Jack Bray-Evans 76,

Referee: Nicholas Whittington.                                       Attendance: 268

Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£7).                                  Programme: £2.00

A beautiful day in Salisbury under an azure sky and the hosts had organised a special menu for this encounter between two teams from parallel leagues (Wessex Premier v Western Premier). The visitors brought flags and drums and a Karaoke player and in truth, they should have won, but they missed so many nailed on chances, and were killed off with a late winner in the 90th minute!

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Monday 14th November 2022

Southern League Premier Division Central

Hitchin Town 2

Diogo Freitas Gouveia 51, Bradley Bell 80,

Coalville Town 2

Timothy Berridge 7, Eliot Putman 74 (pen),

Referee: A Cresswell.                                                           Attendance: 293

Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£13).                                    Programme: £2.00

Teamsheet: 20p

On a dank, misty evening with a heavy shower of rain at the end of the first half, these two sides served up some rattling good entertainment at Top Field. The ground has been substantially refurbished without losing its olde worlde character, but you can’t get in without buying your ticket in advance, on line. Coalville struck first and were good value for their half-time lead. The hosts came from behind twice in the second half and just about deserved a share of the spoils.

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Tuesday 15th November 2022

United Counties League Division 1

Barrow Town 4

Tom Mangan 62, 88, Callum Parsley 80, Wade Ball 82,

Dunkirk 2

George Harrison 76, McKenna Parton 83, Jake Want s/o 27

Referee: Paul-Valentin Mihalache.                                Attendance: 40

Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                                   Programme: F.O.C.

It is always wet when I visit Riverside Park and this evening was no exception. The ground is basic. A substantial clubhouse and changing rooms, but very little in the way of pitch side furniture – but it does have the extended high level footbridge behind the far goal! Tonight, Dunkirk must have travelled with high expectations considering the relative League positions of the two clubs. The 27th minute dismissal of their custodian for handling the ball outside the area, considerably evened things up. The hosts scored first after an hour, but then five more goals were scored in the final fifteen minutes, with Barrow taking three of them for victory and three points! Good to see Chis Berezai and Dan.

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Wednesday 16th November 2022

Lincolnshire Senior Trophy Quarter Final

Blackstones 2

Ryan Lennon 55, Jordan Niell 74,     Louie Venni s/o 85

Deeping Rangers 3

Will Bird 5, Spencer Tinkler 58, Sam Fielding 90+5

Referee: Peter Brothwell.                                          Attendance:- 123

Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                            Programme: £2.00

Lincoln Road, home of Blackstones is an atmospheric ground best seen in Autumn and at night, but perhaps not with the increasingly intense downpour that occurred this evening! These two local rivals (the visitors are a step higher at step 5), entertained a sizeable crowd and the match was only won with a strike five minutes into added time at the end of the second half. In the first half, the visitors should have been four or five goals to the good, but managed only one. The second half was much more even until the 85th minute dismissal of the home number 11, after a melee. Deeping deserved their victory, but the hosts gave them a fright!

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Until 1991/92, the club were known as Mirrlees Blackstone, after the former engineering company in the town

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Saturday 19th November 2022

Wessex League Premier Division

United Services Portsmouth 5

Luke Richards 15, Lamin Jatta31, Danny Burroughs 69, Dan Sibley 80, Cam Quirke 90+2,

Alresford Town 0

Referee: Ethan Grainger (whose father and grand father-in-law were both there to see him officiate)

Attendance:- 46.      Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5)       Programme: £1.00).      Car parking: £5.00.

Very heavy traffic meant slow progress through Portsmouth, then there was no parking at the ground! It was a pretty impressive ground for step 5, just across the road from the former Hampshire CCC headquarters, (before they moved to The Rose Bowl). Neither of these teams are setting off fireworks this season and, predictably, 16th placed USP thrashed bottom of the table, Alresford, but it wasn’t a classic on a mild, autumnal, sunny afternoon after the recent persistent rain.

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Tuesday 22nd November 2022

United Counties League Premier Division North

Loughborough Students 5

Anthony Lynn 8, Ethan O’Toole 22, 28, Matty Bowman 58, Dylan Edwards 86

Heanor Town 1

Jack Dando 46,

Referee: Daniel Haywood.                                      Attendance: 138

Admission OMGDS £2.50 (£5).                            Programme: £2.00

Another visit (my 34th) to the very impressive Holywell Sports Stadium at Loughborough University and an equally impressive display by the unbeaten leaders of the division who thrashed visitors, Heanor Town in very entertaining encounter and really should have added to their score! With John Main and Martin Hayden.

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Saturday 26th November 2022

Vanarama National League North

Banbury United 3

Jack Stevens 46, Alex Babos 82,  Giorgio Rasulo 86,

Chorley 0

Referee:- Jonathan Maskrey.                                Attendance:- 803

Admission: OMGDS £11.00 (£15).                      Programme: £2.00

The Spencer’s Stadium now has fan segregation following some idiotic ‘hooligan’ incidents earlier this season. There was also a WW2 bomb discovered in a waterway close by the ground! After a very even first period, the hosts scored immediately after the break and the goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors, who subsided tamely to a pretty emphatic defeat. With son, Jim and grandsons, Sonny and Kingsley.

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Grand son, Kingsley enjoying the match AND the result against Grandad’s team!

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Monday 28th November 2022

The early morning was misty, dank and dreary. The village hall was closed and still, the pathway pitted with puddles all the way down to the Harringworth Road, where the monument to Fanny Blaydes, the vicar’s wife, killed when thrown from her carriage 138 years ago, with a smaller stone – “hic obit – here died” – alongside, whilst further down the road are the remains of a burnt out vehicle, before crossing the fields with the colossus of the Harringworth Viaduct disappearing into the hazy mist. The Welland was close to bursting its banks and two stately swans glided where the path across the field ought to be. In Seaton, the church of All Hallows loomed out of the mist, the steps took the path to Bisbrooke, crossing the former spur railway line to Uppingham and past the church of St John the Baptist and, further on, two roses in bloom in late November. Uppingham at last, where a group of school children were being given a lesson in the esoteric intricacies of religious edifices in the church of St Peter and St Paul. Beautiful golden leaves adorned the path out of the town, before the greedy pig, nuzzling amongst the grass and UCC, where my grandson enjoys his education. Onwards to Lyddington and the church of St Andrew, with the remains of the monks Friday fish ponds en route. Gretton Weir was riding high and the sight of St James’ Church, asserting itself above the Autumn branches, was welcome, indeed. 12.25 miles and only one stile

           

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All Hallows, Seaton.

The steps in Seaton leading to the path to Bisbrooke.

The site of the railed of the former Uppingham Spur.

I have actually walked the length of the spur line,

but it is difficult to negotiate in parts,

very overgrown and there is no official pathway!

St John the Baptist, Bisbrooke.

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Church of St Peter & St Paul, Uppingham.

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Uppingham Community College.

St Andrew’s Church, Lyddington (and, below the former monks’ fishponds.

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Gretton Weir.

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Monday 28th November 2022

Pitching-in Southern League Premier Division Central

Hitchin Town 2

Jack Snelus 30, Ashley Hay 67,

Redditch United 1

Ryan Woollacott 44,

Referee: J. Perry                                         Attendance:- 276

Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£13)          Programme: £2.00

On a pretty dank, miserable evening I travelled down to Top Field and met up with Mark Sumner who had travelled up from London on the train. This was my fiftieth visit to the ground – and I hadn’t realised it! Hitchin are in the middle of a good run and this was an excellent victory against a team only two places above them in the table. Drove Mark back to Hitchin Station after the match.

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OTHER MATCHES:-