Saturday, November 19, 2016
Wadham dis-lodged
Wadham Lodge 0 Ely City 3
Had a mate’s 50th birthday party in the evening, sci-fi themed and I was going dressed as a clanger. Had to stay fairly local then and I decided that Wadham Lodge nicely fitted the bill.
Needless to say, there were signal problems and the trains were running late. Beyond packed on the trip to London, people were actually unable to get on at the next two steps. Simply shocking service with absolutely no thought of the health and safety of customer’s.
Fortunately the Victoria line was fine and it was then a 5 minute overground train to Wood Street station.
I love discovering new parts of London and was delighted to be greeted by a selection of eating establishments. I chose one of those no thrills cafes that does a huge selection of meals at very reasonable prices. I selected spaghetti Bolognese with chips. In my ignorance, I expected chips to be covered by the bolognese sauce. But no, I got a complete portion of Spag. Bol. with chips to the side. Won’t win any awards for fine dining, but very nice on a miserable day.
An enjoyable walk through the High Street taking in the shops and generally having a nose around, the ground is about a 20 minute walk from the station but very easy to find.
Quite a useful complex with a handful of 5-a-side courts that I’m sure bring some revenue in. It really had been a miserable day, heavy rain in the morning and although it had eased off, it was still like somebody had left a tap dripping and there was a constant fine drizzle.
There is a good amount of cover at the ground with a seated stand on the near side and most of the far end and near end covered. The clubhouse is up a flight of stairs and looks out over the pitch. I have to say, the pitch was immaculate despite the rotten weather, the club had tweeted earlier in the day that the game was definitely on and to be fair, there was never a doubt.
Not a bad game, end to end from the start and lots of endeavour and effort. Ely won this by blitzing Wadham Lodge in a 10 minute spell just after the half hour.
A header from a corner, an angled shot and an unfortunate own goal did the damage. Wadham Lodge never quit to their credit and had the better of the second period. But it was not to be their day and luck wasn’t on their side.
Had a mate’s 50th birthday party in the evening, sci-fi themed and I was going dressed as a clanger. Had to stay fairly local then and I decided that Wadham Lodge nicely fitted the bill.
Needless to say, there were signal problems and the trains were running late. Beyond packed on the trip to London, people were actually unable to get on at the next two steps. Simply shocking service with absolutely no thought of the health and safety of customer’s.
Fortunately the Victoria line was fine and it was then a 5 minute overground train to Wood Street station.
I love discovering new parts of London and was delighted to be greeted by a selection of eating establishments. I chose one of those no thrills cafes that does a huge selection of meals at very reasonable prices. I selected spaghetti Bolognese with chips. In my ignorance, I expected chips to be covered by the bolognese sauce. But no, I got a complete portion of Spag. Bol. with chips to the side. Won’t win any awards for fine dining, but very nice on a miserable day.
An enjoyable walk through the High Street taking in the shops and generally having a nose around, the ground is about a 20 minute walk from the station but very easy to find.
Quite a useful complex with a handful of 5-a-side courts that I’m sure bring some revenue in. It really had been a miserable day, heavy rain in the morning and although it had eased off, it was still like somebody had left a tap dripping and there was a constant fine drizzle.
There is a good amount of cover at the ground with a seated stand on the near side and most of the far end and near end covered. The clubhouse is up a flight of stairs and looks out over the pitch. I have to say, the pitch was immaculate despite the rotten weather, the club had tweeted earlier in the day that the game was definitely on and to be fair, there was never a doubt.
Not a bad game, end to end from the start and lots of endeavour and effort. Ely won this by blitzing Wadham Lodge in a 10 minute spell just after the half hour.
A header from a corner, an angled shot and an unfortunate own goal did the damage. Wadham Lodge never quit to their credit and had the better of the second period. But it was not to be their day and luck wasn’t on their side.
Friday, November 04, 2016
Calne off 'point
Calne 0 Torpoint 2
It's always a long trek to this league and I don't visit as much as I should. But I decided to throw caution to the wind on a nice day and off I set.
My first train was actually a minute early, that happens about once a year if you're lucky. Thankfully, normal service was resumed with chaos at Kings Cross station due to various lines being closed on the Tube due to engineering works.
A distraught European lady rushed up to me looking for how she could now reach St Paul's. I walked her over to a tube map and plotted out a route. The look of concern in her face as she went on her way put me a little on edge, why are there never any staff about to help people like this?
Having reached Paddington, I made my way to the platform as it was indicated on the board and took my designated seat. I was one of the first on board, the next thing I know, frantic cleaning staff were rushing up and down the carriage yelling "You shouldn't have been let on, the train isn't clean."
In their World, this was probably their equivalent to a stock market crash, I did resist the temptation to point out that I'd never seen a clean train in 40 years and actually felt a little sorry for them.
The journey to Chippenham went without incident and I then had a pleasant 10 minute wait for the bus to Calne in warm sunshine. The bus journey only took about 25 minutes, it probably would have been 15 but the bus driver seemed to know every single passenger and insisted on having a little chat with every one of them.
I then proceeded to get horribly lost in Calne, I normally have a good sense of direction but I just couldn't get my bearings. I walked about five minutes down one road before realising that it was definitely the wrong way. I ended up staring at a map I found on five different occasions until I finally worked out the way to go.
It was actually a very simple ten minute walk along a straight road.
I quite liked the ground which had a small stand on the far side and was railed off. I soon met a fellow ground hopper and had an enjoyable five minute chat about places that we had both recently visited.
There was a strange bobble on the far touchline that on a couple of occasions, kept the ball in when it looked certain to go out of play.
The game itself was not bad although Torpoint were always the better side and looked most likely to score, Calne just seemed to be a bit flat throughout.
Torpoint scored on 29 mins when a forward stole in front of his defender to toe in a cross from the left.
The second came on 62 mins as a Calne substitute had a horrendous 15 minutes. First he put through his own net from the edge of the six yard area, then he was booked for dissent and finally, got a second yellow after starting a scuffle and was sent off. The own goal would be excused by his team mates, the two yellow cards were just plain foolish.
An enjoyable trip and always nice to get a Western league team ticked off.
It's always a long trek to this league and I don't visit as much as I should. But I decided to throw caution to the wind on a nice day and off I set.
My first train was actually a minute early, that happens about once a year if you're lucky. Thankfully, normal service was resumed with chaos at Kings Cross station due to various lines being closed on the Tube due to engineering works.
A distraught European lady rushed up to me looking for how she could now reach St Paul's. I walked her over to a tube map and plotted out a route. The look of concern in her face as she went on her way put me a little on edge, why are there never any staff about to help people like this?
Having reached Paddington, I made my way to the platform as it was indicated on the board and took my designated seat. I was one of the first on board, the next thing I know, frantic cleaning staff were rushing up and down the carriage yelling "You shouldn't have been let on, the train isn't clean."
In their World, this was probably their equivalent to a stock market crash, I did resist the temptation to point out that I'd never seen a clean train in 40 years and actually felt a little sorry for them.
The journey to Chippenham went without incident and I then had a pleasant 10 minute wait for the bus to Calne in warm sunshine. The bus journey only took about 25 minutes, it probably would have been 15 but the bus driver seemed to know every single passenger and insisted on having a little chat with every one of them.
I then proceeded to get horribly lost in Calne, I normally have a good sense of direction but I just couldn't get my bearings. I walked about five minutes down one road before realising that it was definitely the wrong way. I ended up staring at a map I found on five different occasions until I finally worked out the way to go.
It was actually a very simple ten minute walk along a straight road.
I quite liked the ground which had a small stand on the far side and was railed off. I soon met a fellow ground hopper and had an enjoyable five minute chat about places that we had both recently visited.
There was a strange bobble on the far touchline that on a couple of occasions, kept the ball in when it looked certain to go out of play.
The game itself was not bad although Torpoint were always the better side and looked most likely to score, Calne just seemed to be a bit flat throughout.
Torpoint scored on 29 mins when a forward stole in front of his defender to toe in a cross from the left.
The second came on 62 mins as a Calne substitute had a horrendous 15 minutes. First he put through his own net from the edge of the six yard area, then he was booked for dissent and finally, got a second yellow after starting a scuffle and was sent off. The own goal would be excused by his team mates, the two yellow cards were just plain foolish.
An enjoyable trip and always nice to get a Western league team ticked off.
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