You are here: Home > Uncategorized > April 2018

April 2018

Posted in Uncategorized | May 3rd, 2018

When I hear the whistle
It’s like a cannon
Giving the signal for the game to start
A war between warriors
With a victory on their mind
With the aim of bypassing the keeper,
Getting the ball inside the goal
The ball touching the net
Setting off the crowd
Hearing the screams
From a thousand miles away

Jose Santos

Sunday 1st April 2018
FA Women’s Premier League North Division

Leicester City Women 6

Leigh Dugmore 1, 55,

Rosie Axten 33, 40,

Nicole Nymoen 39,

Ellie May 80,

Wolves Women 0
Referee:- Ian Danson. Attendance:- 89
Admission:- £4.00. Programme:- incl.
The hosts play their home games on the 3G at Quorn FC and are enjoying a pretty successful season sitting fourth in the division whilst their opponents languish one place from the foot of the table. Leicester Women won this match at a canter hardly moving out of second gear!

Tuesday 3rd April 2018
Sky-Bet EFL Championship

Aston Villa 3

Birkir Bjaarnason 47,

Conor Hourihane 63,

Scott Hogan 70,

Reading 0
Referee:- Darren Bond. Attendance:- 29,229
Admission:- OMGDS£20 (£30) Programme:- £3.50
A pretty tepid first half saw the visitors down to ten men in the 30th minute (two bookable offences) and this had a major bearing on the outcome. Reading held out until just after half time and eventually conceded three goals. Neither side impressed and I will be more than happy to return to more fascinating adventures in non-League football! With son Mike and grandson Freddie.

Son, Mike and grandson, Freddie

Thursday 5th April 2018
Eco-Stik Northern Premier League Division 1 South

Carlton Town 1

Kayla Mitchell 8,

Aaron Hooton s/o 26

Corby Town 1

Jake Bettles 69
Referee:- Gareth Davis. Attendance:- 88
Admission:- OMGDS£6.00 (£8) Programme:- £2
After a slow-moving start which saw the hosts take the lead, the match warmed up quite nicely with Carlton reduced to ten men midway through the first half. They held the lead until just after the hour mark when Corby drew level and then put increasing and desperate pressure on the home defence. Even an added five minutes couldn’t break the deadlock. Corby hit the post with the last kick of the match!

Grandson, Freddie

Saturday 7th April 2018
FA Premier League

Watford 1

Roberto Preeyra 62,

Burnley 2

Sam Vokes 70,

Jack Cork 74,
Referee:- Paul Tierney Attendance:- 20,444
Admission:- Hospitality. Programme (incl) £3.50
Grandson, Freddie, is accumulating grounds a lot faster than I ever did!

What a change at Vicarage Road. The whole ground is now totally enclosed with seated stands all the way round!

Sadly, the team weren’t up to it today. They scored first just after the hour mark, but less than ten minutes later and LESS than ten seconds of being brought on as a substitute, Sam Vokes equalised. Four minutes later they were in front and never looked like relinquishing their hold on victory and the points. Excellent hospitality. Freddie got his picture taken with Luther Blissett!!! One minutes clapping at the start in memory of Ray Wilkins.

Hospitality in The Sir Elton John Suite!

Grandson, Freddie and Luther Blissett

A minutes clapping prior to kick-off in memory of Ray Wilkins who died recently

Tuesday 10th April 2018
Total Motion Midland League Premier Division

Rugby Town 2

Ruben Wiggins-Thomas 69,

Stuart Hendrie 75,

Sporting Khalsa 1

Mykel Beckley 17 (pen),
Referee:- Will Ottaway. Attendance:- 96
Admission:- OMGDS£4.00 (£8). Programne:- £2.00
Rugby Town’s Butlin Road ground is suited to a much higher level of football. Two years ago, they were playing in The Southern League. This evening, there were given a stern examination by hosts, Khalsa. The visitors single goal half time advantage looked unassailable, but a spate of substitutions saw the hosts first of all equalise and then run in an unlikely winner! By the end of the contest, they looked worthy victors!
With Graeme Askham, we had earlier visited MK Gallacticos only for the match to be called off less than half an hour before kick-off.

Wednesday 11th April 2018
Eco-Stik Northern Premier League Division 1 South

Corby Town 1

Ryan Bell 87,

Stamford 1

Bradley Fortnam-Tomlinson 31,
Referee:- Robbie Dadley. Attendance:- 437
Admission:- OMGDS£5.00 (£12) Programme:- £2
Didn’t see much of this match as ferocious fog and driving drizzle on a very heavy pitch contrived to limit viewing opportunities! Stamford looked the better side and lead for over an hour, but The Steelmen had a penalty saved, and eventually equalised in the 87th minute. Son, Mike and grandson, Freddie were also there with Gary Miller.

Like grandfather, like grandson, keeping a record of the game!

Thursday 12th April 2018
Eco-Stik Southern League Premier Division

Banbury United 4

Elliot Sandy 16,

Ricky Johnson 45+1

Liam Howards 47,

Amer Awadh 74,

Stratford Town 0
Referee:- Ian Tallis. Attendance:- 302
Admission:- £5.00. Programme:- £2.00
The match hinged on the early sending off of the visiting goalkeeper who was suspiciously dispossessed in the area and attempted to retrieve the situation by grabbing his opponents ankle. The penalty was converted. Ten man Stratford strived valiantly to keep in touch, but The Puritans ploughed into them and the final result was a four goal thrashing! With sons, Jim and Mike and grandson, Freddie.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Welsh Spring ‘Hop’ 2018

Friday 13th April 2018
Nathaniel Cars Welsh League Division 1

Goytre 1

Kris Leek 17,

Llanelli Town 4

James Loveridge 14, 45+3, 90

Chris Jones 39,
Referee:- Jordan Harman. Attendance:- 151
Admission:- £5.00. Programme:- £1
Hard by Goytre’s neat little football ground is the Mad Dog Brewing company. It would have been churlish not to take a peak – and enjoy a couple of pints of fine ale! Llanelli are runaway leaders of the league and former Chorley giant, Lee Trundle has helped himself to 45 goals this season. He was not to score tonight, but young Jamie Loveridge helped himself to three in an emphatic away victory – and that was despite playing most of the second half with ten men!

Saturday 14th April 2018
Premier League U-18

Swansea City 0

Leicester City. 0
Referee:- Darren Wilding. Attendance:- 113
Admission:- F.O.C. Programme:- NONE -free teamsheet
An 11.00am kick-off at the lavish Swansea City Academy at Landore within a stones throw of The Liberty Stadium. Sadly an insipid encounter failed to produce a goal! Arnor Gudjohnsen, brother of former Bolton Wanderers and Chelsea striker, Eidur Gudjohnsen, came on as a Swansea substitute!

Saturday 14th April 2018
Nathaniel Cars Welsh League Division 2

Pontardawe Town 1

Josh Roberts 90+1

Aberdare Town. 2

Seb Haggett 48 (pen), 50,
Referee:- Tim Drean. Attendance:- 109
Admission:- £4.00. Programme:- £1.00
Lovely afternoon at Park Ynysderw, home of Pontardawe Town. The sun shone and it was seriously warm. Sadly, the home arena couldn’t quite match the weather. For a team at the third level of Welsh football, NOT to have running water in the changing rooms seems a tad remiss! The game was pretty dire, too, enlivened only by two strikes for the visitors in the first five minutes of the second half. The hosts retrieved a goal – but only in the dying moments!

Saturday 14th April 2018
Highadmit Projects South Wales Alliance Division 2

Cardiff Hibernian 2

Chris James 32,

Calvin Refill 90+1

AFC Bargoed 2

Aaron Williams 14,

Jordan Thomas 28,
Referee:- Mark Poucher. Attendance:- 197
Admission:- £3.00. Programme:- £1.00
The hosts have moved to a new ground since our last visit a couple of years ago. They now play on a pitch at the former site of Ely Racecourse in Cardiff – a racecourse no longer since 1937! Third bottom of the league, they found themselves two down to bottom club, Bargoed, in a tasty, feisty encounter and it took them until the first minute of added time to drag themselves level against spirited opponents!

Sunday 15th April 2018
Bridgend & District Sunday League Division 1

Wicked 4

Jack Picton 11,

Graham Davies 48, 56,

Kyle Griffiths 87,

Garth Vader 3

Tom Evans 25,

Kurt Vincent 47,

Richard Boydell 76,
Referee:- Goodman Maddox. Attendance:- 47
Admission:- (by programme) £2.00
When you get this low down the pyramid on a filthy, rainswept Sunday morning with a very heavy pitch, the football is definitely of the thud and blunder variety. The hosts are curiously named after The Wicked Lady hostelry in Bridgend. The visitors, despite this defeat, are promoted to the premier division.

Sunday 15th April 2018
South Wales Alliance Division 1

AFC Butetown 1

Ibrahim Farah 80 (pen),

Tonyrefail BGC 1

Jordan Cicigoi 49
Referee:- Graham Evans. Attendance:- 120
Admission (by programme):- £2.00
There was a vast chasm between this arena and the Millennium Stadium just visible amongst the high rise flats at one end of the ground!! No TLC had been spared here! The grass was too long and the pitch too bumpy for any decent football. The area felt like Tiger Bay of the 1950s. Neither of these teams were pulling up trees in the league this season and the hosts were in some danger of relegation! A draw was probably a fair result, although the visitors looked the better side.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday 17th April 2018
Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League Premier Division

Saffron Walden Town 0

Ely City 0
Referee:- – Aaron Farmer. Attendance:- 142
Admission:- £6.00. Programme:- £1.00
It is a long time since my last visit to The Bloods (2nd January 2008:- Jewsons Eastern Counties League Division 1: Saffron Walden Town 1 Long Melford 0 Attendance:- 151) and there have been several improvements to the stadium with substantial cover on all four sides and seating on three sides of the ground.

A warm welcome and a fine refreshment area, not to mention a large bar suggested that such a club could easily have aspirations to play at a higher level, but they have tried that and the club fell back – and even out of existence for a short while!

Tonight’s encounter came on the back of 1-5 home thrashing at the weekend by Stowmarket Town. This time there was a steely determination from both sides to wrest the victory, but they cancelled each other out in a fine contest and settled for a point apiece!

Even after dark, the parish church is lit up with the contest carrying on in the foreground!

Wednesday 18th April 2018
North Bucks League Premier Division

Silverstone 2

Niall Duffy 22,

Robert Kirby 45,

Potterpury 1

Adam Kelly 38,

Referee:- Chris Ball. Attendance:- 24
Admission:- F.O.C. Programme:- NONE
On a fine, cloudless Spring evening with vapour trails chasing across the sky, these two well placed teams fought out an entertaining contest at the village which is the home of British motor racing. A vicious culvert ran down one side of the pitch, a couple of metres wide and two feet of water dared the intrepid player – or spectator to retrieve the ball. 52 year old Jamie Cunningham, who numbers Kettering Town and Kings Lynn amongst his former clubs, led the home attack, but it was the trickery and speed of the diminutive Niall Duffy that brought the goals – one scored and one assist that won the game for the hosts!

Friday 20th April 2018
Chromasport & Trophies United Counties League
Premier Division

ON Chenecks 0

Cogenhoe 2

Ryan Ansell 51,

Ryan Dove 56,
Referee:- Shaun Barry. Attendance:- 146
Admission:- £5.00. Programme:- £1.00
There was a good crowd for this local derby – supplemented by the prawn sandwich brigade from the rugby club veranda overlooking the ground. I hadn’t realised that the hosts had been promoted to The Premier Division last season. Two earlier championship wins had seen them denied promotion on ground grading issues. Tonight, there were decidedly second best to their rivals and the frustration broke through when a truly shocking tackle late in the game was only punished with a yellow card. Good to see Tony Morehead taking in the match en route to a visit to Needham Market on the morrow!

You can just about see the balcony of the rugby club to the right of the picture, from whence spectators could watch with impunity!

Saturday 21st April 2018
Southern Counties East League Premier Division

Sevenoaks Town 2

Frankie Sawyer 8 (pen), 67 (pen),

Sheppey United 5

Dan Bradshaw 4, 14, 35, 79,

Demell Davis 73,
Referee:- Joseph Dann-Pye. Attendance:- 364
Admission:- £7.00. Programme:- £1.00
Champions elect, Sevenoaks Town suffered a rare, heavy and deserved defeat at the hands of mid-table Sheppey United. The weather was sunny and very warm and John and I enjoyed a fine repast at The King’s Head, a hostelry on the outskirts of the town.

The pitch is 3G and the ground is a mish-mash of Meccano stands and portakabins, with a garden summerhouse as the directors board room! The large crowd came to claim the championship. The hosts may have much to do in their last three games – all away- to make certain of the title!

A fine repast at a hostelry of some repute!

Spectators could watch for free from the embankment behind the far goal!

Tuesday 24th April 2018
Chromasport & Trophies United Counties League
Premier Division

Eynesbury Rovers 3

James Tricks 39,

Dan Quigley 48 (og),

Luis Vieira 58

ON Chenecks 2

Sam Watkins 44,

Brandon Williams 90+2,
Referee:- Andrew Hitchcock. Attendance:- 40
Admission:- pay what you like (£3) Programme:- £1
On a cold, rainswept evening in Huntingdonshire, these two teams served up a cracker of a match which belied the end of season, meaningless encounter that this contest could have become!

The hosts are evidently sprucing up their arena to meet the ground grading requirements of the FA with a new stand being erected behind one goal and hard standing around the perimeter, but they are not happy about the expense involved and tonight’s attendance put that into sharp perspective!

Wednesday 25th April 2018
Vanarama National League North

Brackley Town 1

James Armson 18 (pen)

Chorley 2

Marcus Carver 25,

Dale Whitham 51,
Referee:- Dean Hulme. Attendance:- 275
Admission:- OMGDS£6.00 (£12) Programme:- £2
A fine rainbow at the start of the match did little to dissuade the precipitation – or to aid the hosts in their quest for victory! They did score first, but The Magpies equalised midway through the first half and took the lead early in the second period. Thereafter, despite strong pressure, the visitors comfortably hung on for the win which cemented sixth place in the league (and a place in the play-offs) with but one game to go!

Saturday 28th April 2918
Sky-Bet EFL Championship

Burton Albion 2

Hope Akpan 28,

Lucas Akins 36,

Bolton Wanderers 0
Referee:- Graham Scott. Attendance:- 6,535
Admission:- OMGDS£18 (£20) Programme:- £3
Not a good day for Notlob, they look doomed. Under grey skies and rain, they were dismantled by two first half strikes and though they showed more spirit in the second half, they had neither the skill nor the ability to disturb The Brewers equilibrium. First time this season that the hosts had a crowd of over six thousand and the away end was sold out! With son Mike, and grandson Freddie (who has already got eighteen league grounds to his name!).

Grandson, Freddie

Our view from behind the goal at the opposite end to the away supporters.

Monday 30th April 2018
Evo-Stik Southern League Division 1 South & West

North Leigh 0

Cinderford Town 3

Richard Greaves 6, 90+3,

James Harding 45,
Referee:- Martyn Gospel. Attendance:- 50
Admission:- £8.00. Programme:- £1.00
Contrary to reports, North Leigh are NOT resigning from The Southern League! We parked the car beside the cricket field adjacent to the ground where arrows were flying around in archery practice! The hosts were well beaten on the evening and were lucky to lose by only three goals.