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April 2023

Posted in Uncategorized | April 6th, 2023

Pippa’s Song

The year’s at the spring,

And day’s at the morn,

Morning’s at seven,

The hillside’s dew-pearl’d,

The lark’s on the wing,

The snail’s on the thorn,

God’s in His heaven –

All’s right with the world.

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

Saturday 1st April 2023

Southern Combination Premier Division

Steyning Town 1

Jack Barnes 90+2 (pen)

Little Common 1

Sam Ellis 25, Paul Feakins s/o 52,

Referee:- Darren Eaton. Attendance: 73

Admission:- FREE. Programme:- NONE

The Shooting Field at Steyning has a 3G pitch, a couple of seated stands for maybe a hundred spectators, a covered standing area along the same side but no cover elsewhere, although there was hard standing all round. Little Common, becalmed in the lower reaches of the table, scored first against play-off hopefuls, Steyning, and then, despite the dismissal of one of their defenders, held on until the second minute of added time at the end of the match, when a somewhat fortuitous penalty was awarded to the hosts, who gratefully grabbed the lifeline! Free entry, it was said, because they had no-one to man the gate! With John Main and several other hoppers!

Sunday 2nd April 2023

Papa Johns Trophy FINAL at Wembley Stadium

Bolton Wanderers 4

Kyle Dempsey 4, Dion Charles 10, Elias Kachunga 49, Gethin Jones 63,

Plymouth Argyle 0

Referee: Ben Toner. Attendance:- 79,389

Admission: OMGDS £16.50 (£30.50) Programme: £10.00

All the sons and grandsons (and Gary Miller!) came to see grandad’s team playing – and winning – at Wembley. Long before the final whistle, the vast majority of Argyle’s faithful had left the stadium and were well on their way home as the Wanderers decisively and comprehensively dismantled the opposition in this one sided encounter with the biggest ever result in EFL Cup Final history. Lovely day, tremendous atmosphere and we all went home happy!

Liam, Gary and Mike with Sonny to the right at the front, in the Brazilian / Argentinian cafe before the match.

Jim, with Sonny (top) and Kingsley

We had lunch in the shadow of the great arc of Wembley, a Brazilian/Argentinian style lunch, very enjoyable

From left: (rear): Liam, Gary Miller, Jim, Mike, Ed (front): Kingsley, Freddie and Sonny

The view from our excellent seats (absolute pain getting into the ground – we had to queue for twenty-five minutes!

Basking in the sunlight, the Bolton Wanderers faithful enjoying their moment of triumph.

By the end of the match, the vast majority of Plymouth Argyle supporters had left the ground and only the congratulations to Bolton Wanderers sign remained!

Monday 3rd April 2023

Spartan South Midlands League Division 2

AFC Caddington 1

Callum Moore 6,

Sarratt 2

Dan Ormsby 31, Richard Vercesi 77 (pen)

Referee:- Connor MacKay. Attendance:- 59

Admission : F.O.C. Programme: NONE

On a chilly evening, just outside Luton in the Bedfordshire village of Caddington, with aeroplanes, low flying overhead, coming in to land at Luton airport, and a goodly gathering of hoppers, these two sides from the lower echelons of the division, played out a fairly feisty encounter on a cow field of a football pitch. The hosts, newly arrived back in The SSML this season, scored first, but were pegged back before the interval and then undone by a 77th minute penalty.

Tuesday 4th April 2023

Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 2 South

Letcombe 3

Josh Fowler 18, 78, Jordan Davies 52,

Farringdon Town 0

Referee: Michael Cofie. Attendance: 41

Admission: F.O.C. Programme: NONE

Letcombe Regis in darkest, deepest Oxfordshire (population: 578), hosts a quite scenic recreation arena with cricket and tennis and far out at the back, a football ground with a fifty seater stand, hard standing and access to the rustic club house with a couple of excellent real ales available. Tonight, top of the table Letcombe, were taking on local rivals, Faringdon Town, who were themselves occupying third place with a game in hand, but it was no contest. Farringdon never really looked like scoring, whilst the hosts bagged a couple of second half strikes to add to their eighteenth minute opener. It was pretty dark at the end!

Thursday 6th April 2023

Spartan South Midlands League Division 2

Sarratt 4

Connor Wagner 66, 76, 81, Richard Vercesi 80 (pen),

Buckingham United 3

Ashley Urquhart 39, 56, Matt Cruse 70,

Referee:- Mark Bowring. Attendance: 23

Admission: F.O.C. Programme: NONE

The King George V playing Field (Sarratt) was drenched by heavy rain prior to this encounter, but the pitch, whilst greasy remained bumpy and uneven. The hosts, becalmed in mid-table were lacklustre for much of this match. They went into the interval a goal down and wih ten minutes remaining, were 1-3 down and third from bottom Buckingham had hopes of a rare victory. Three goals in a rousing final five minutes retrieved the situation and consigned the visitors to yet another defeat.

Germany April 2023

Another foreign visit and the second to Germany this year! Son Mike and grandson Freddie were joined by Mike’s brother-in-law, Alan Eathorne and his son, Albie, and Gary Miller, perennial and brilliant organiser of these German trips. Me? I just tag along for the ride and enjoy getting to as many grounds as possible!. Our flight left Stansted at 07.25 and we were in Cologne for 9.30am (CET). The first day was split up. We were all staying at The Mercure Hotel in Dusseldorf, but the rest of them were going to see Bayer Leverkusen. As I had already been there, I chose to go, instead, to Duisburg, despite the fact that the match in Liga 3 was against Borussia Dortmund seconds! So, when they got off the train at Dusseldorf to go to the hotel, they took my bag with them, but I stayed on the train to Duisburg.

Saturday 8th April 2023

Deutsche Bundesliga 3

MSV Duisburg 0

Borussia Dortmund II 5

Antonio Papadopoulos 25, Nijnmah 57, Michael Eberwein 67, Marvin Senger (og) 70,Franz Pfanne 75,

Referee:- Jonas Brombacher. Attendance:- 11,073

Admission:- €27.00. Programme:- NONE

Quite an impressive stadium, though barely a third full and only a small gathering of away fans, maybe a little over a hundred. Lots of BVB fans at Duisburg station going to their home match with Union Berlin! Neither of these two teams are proving successful, this season, though the hosts are higher in the table. However it was the visitors who stole the show, started slowly, a single goal to the good at the break, but a stunning second half saw them strike four more times and, at the end, they ran to their fans in the away end, ecstatic and pretty well pleased with themselves. Many of the home fans did stay, but many also left before the end!

The away contingent at MSV Duisburg

Sunday 9th April 2023

Deutsche Bundesliga

Borussia Monchengladbach 2

Nathan Ngoumou 34, Marcus Thuram 63,

VfL Wolfsburg 0

Referee:- T Gerach. Attendance:- 51,127

Admission:- €31.90 (re-sale). Programme:- NONE

The usual German efficiency, free bus service to and from the Hauptbanhof to the stadium. However, after the match, whilst I enquired which bus went back to Hauptbanhof, the rest just jumped onto the first available bus and it WAS NOT GOING to Hauptbanhof! They had a merry ride before being dropped off somewhere nearer the station, whilst I was already back in Dusseldorf! Magnificent arena, plenty of legroom in this ground, less than 20 years old and a victory for” Die Fohlen” – the foals, named after the very successful young team of the seventies.

I was sat next to Joachim Gnatzky, who was from Monchengladbach. He to was a football hopper, though perhaps not on the grand scale, but he was knowledgeable and he mentioned an U-19 tournament taking place in Dusseldorf over Easter, and suggested that I might go and see one of the matches.

Today’s game was cat and mouse. The visitors had by far the better possession, but went in a goal adrift at the interval. The hosts, who rarely squandered more than three players in attack, stole another breakaway goal midway through the second half and strode away with an unlikely victory!

From the left: Albie, Freddie, Gary, Mike and Alan

Freddie treated himself;f to a “Bucket Hat’, courtesy of his Dad!

Monday 10th April 2023

Das Osterturnier U-19 Championship

Second Semi-final

Borussia Monchengladbach U19 1

Tony Reitz 47,

Red Bull Salzburg U-19 1

Gabriel Zaic 20,

Referee:- Erich Leichy. Attendance: 446

Admission: OMGDS €10 (€12). Tournament Programme: €10

Neat little ground, impossible to find on Futbolog, but sporting a 500 seater stand down one side with terracing adjacent. This tournament is reaching its climax, but I had another match in Dusseldorf, so I didn’t stay for the final. Gladbach, much the weaker side, equalised three minutes from time, but Salzburg won the penalty shoot out by 6-5.

Monday 10th April 2023

Oberliga Nuderrhein

Turu Düsseldorf 0

SF Baumberg 2

Robin Homig 29 (pen), Milan Burovac 33,

Referee:- Thibaut Scheer. Attendance:- 215

Admission: OMGDS €6.00 (€10). Programme: FREE

Lovely little ground nestling in the lee of the main line railway to Dusseldorf and with a large seated stand down one side (space for 800?) and terracing down the opposite side. Poor old Turu are third bottom of this league and it looks like five to be relegated. Their mid-table opponents had secured the victory with both goals by half-time and simply played out the second half for a comprehensive victory.

from left: Gary Miller, Alan Eathorne, Mike McGeown, Albie Eathorne, Freddie McGeown with the Steelmen on Tour flag!

And that was the last game. I was the only hopper to do all four games, and the rest of the gang went to see Beyer Leverkusen whilst I was at Duisburg. It was a superb weekend, staying for two nights at The Mercure Hotel in Dusseldorf and even finding time to take in some of the pleasant sights of Dusseldorf itself, including coffee on the banks of the Rhine! After the last match, the train back to Cologne Bonn airport was, uncharacteristically, 35 minutes late and then, due to French air traffic controllers’ industrial action, our flight back to Stansted was delayed by an hour, but none of that detracted from the weekend!

from left, Mike McGeown, Freddie McGeown, Albie Eathorne, and dad, Alan outside the Beyer Stadium in Leverkusen

Freddie, feeding his face!

Deutsche Bundesliga: Beyer Leverkusen 3 Eintracht Frankfurt 1 attendance: 30,210

Sightseeing in Dusseldorf: Freddie and Dad Mike McGeown

Sightseeing in Dusseldorf, Grandad, Ed and Grand son Freddie McGeown (a rare picture of the author!)

Famous German poets and writers!

The banks of The Rhine in Dusseldorf.

Wednesday 12th April 2023

Spartan South Midlands League Division 2

The 61FC (Luton) 2

Wayne Polson 23, Rayvon Bintuuka 25

Tring Corinthians 0

Referee: Jonathan Brown. Attendance: 16

Admission: F.O.C. Programme: NONE

A railed pitch in a public park with a small stand in one corner of the pitch, now bereft of its seating, and a clubhouse behind the near goal, is all there is to The 61FC. This season has been disastrous for them. They sit bottom of the league, fifteen points adrift and this evening was only their second victory of the season (their first came quite recently in the revsrse fixture!). This evening, they grabbed two early goals for a half-time advantage and clung on for dear life, after the break, for a rare success!

Thursday 13th April 2023

Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 2 West

Meadow Park 0

Feckenham 1

Ben Cox 17,

Referee: Ben Goode. Attendance:- 53

Admission: F.O.C. Programme: NONE

The hoats play at The Harris Brush Works in Stoke Prior, near Bromsgrove. Their ground is a field with a rope fence and a club house with changing rooms and a small refreshment facility. Tonight, they faced the team immediately (and five points) above them in fourth place and it was the visitors, with an early goal who took the victory and the points, and John took a vicious ball in the face whilst spectating. Very dark towards the end of the match. With John Main and Martin Hayden.

Saturday 15th April 2023

Wessex League Division 1

Fawley 1

Kyle Joryeff 63,

Petersfield Town 1

Connor Hoare 45+2 (pen)

Receree:- Stephen Fall. Attendance:- 127

Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£6). Programme: NONE

A ramshackle ground largely made up of former lorry containers (players changing rooms, club house, toilets and refreshments), but with a sizeable stand by the near side goal, with seating for around 100 souls and two covered standing areas on the opposite side of the ground. It was quite quirky and appealing. Petersfield (the Rams) and in the play-off spots, should have won this game handsomely. After spurning several gilt edged first half chances, they scored with a penalty in the second minute of added time. Fawley, (the Oilers), who rent their ground from Esso for £1.00 per year, equalised spectacularly in the 66th minute, It wasn‘t the best of games, but, in the end a draw seemed about right.

The main stand at Fawley, on the left hand side of the near goal.

Tuesday 18th April 2023

Northern Premier League Midland Division

Daventry Town 0

Corby Town 7 (seven)

Tristan Thompson-Matthews 27, Toby Hillard 34,Daniel Gordon 41 (pen), 56 (pen), 74 (pen), Michael Jacklin 43, Tsaguim Florian 77,

Referee:- Ryan Williams. Attendance: 135

Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£10). Programme: on line

Elderstubbs was not looking at its best this evening. The pitch would have benefitted from a mowing and the whole ground had a sense of faded glory. The hosts look likely to be departing the NPL for pastures new, and tonight’s thrashing did them no favours in that regard. The visitors forlorn hopes of a play off place were fanned by a match where they took full advantage, 4-0 to the good by the interval and taking the foot off the accelerator in the second period, they still managed to claim a three further strikes.

Thursday 20th April 2023

FA Women’s Northern Premier League

Loughborough Lightning 1

Georgia Stevens 44,

West Bromwich Albion Women 2

Mikayla Wildgoose 28 (og), Phoebe Warner 48,

Referee:- Lee Markwick. Attendance:- 150

Admission:- OMGDS £3.00 (£5). Programme: on line

The last home game of a miserable season for Lightning who are rooted to the foot of the table without a win in the league all season. An own goal in the first half didn’t help matters, but an equaliser before the break was richly deserved. However, an early second half strike by Albion drained away all the home sides confidence and they sank to an eighteenth league defeat out of twenty-one games.

Wednesday 26th April 2023

Spartan South Midlands League

Division 1 play-off Ssmi-final

Rugby Borough 4

Robbie Parsons 24, 44, Halim Halim 56, Sam Lockley 81,

Amersham Town 0

Referee: Zach Cunningham. Attendance: 261

Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5). Programme: £1.00

Just a few short weeks ago, a rampant Amersham Town visited Kilsby Lane and gave Borough a 4-1 thrashing. Tonight, the boot was firmly on the other foot as Borough overwhelmed their opponents with two goals in each half, to advance to the play off final at Northampton ON Cheneks.

Thursday 27th April 2023

Hellenic League Division 2 West

Feckenham 4

Kian Davies 37, 45+2, Aaron Bunn 78, Ben Cox 85,

Shipston Excelsior 2

Ashley Bunn 34 (og), Joe Godson,

Referee: Stuart Parker. Attendance: 22

Admission F.O.C. Programme: NONE

There was one minutes silence before the match to commemorate three Shipston sixth form students killed in a car crash on their way home from school last Friday. The match, at Feckenham’s tight little ground, was a celebration of the host’s championship win and Shipston gave them a good contest in persistent precipitation. The hosts from a tiny village (pop: 670), had an early goal disallowed because the ball, having crossed the line, bounced out off a low stantion and back into play. The referee thought it had hit the post! The contest was decided by two goals in the final ten minutes, both in the host’s favour which gave them the win and the points.