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.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Glebe must Deal again
Glebe 1 Deal Town 1
I had originally planned to visit Harefield but hadn’t realised they had been relegated. For reasons I won’t bore you with, I looked at the draw again and decided to visit Glebe from the Kent Invicta league.
No more than five minutes from my house and a lady rushed over to me seemingly in a great flap, only to ask me when the grey bins were collected. I politely replied and also pointed out that the bin was actually black but to be fair, had seen better days and went on my way.
The train in to London was made more entertaining by the guy sitting opposite me playing games with an 8 year old lad he was travelling with.
“Okay, he said. I’ll say a word and you then have to say another word that starts with the last letter of my word.” The boy nodded his head.
“Sunny” Said the man
“Bummy” replied the boy.
I actually laughed out loud and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of their games.
I caught the tube to London Bridge which has suddenly been changed beyond recognition. I found myself outside, was directed up an escalator and eventually found what appears to be a new station entrance. Being in good time, I sat on a wall only to be immediately approached by a European gentleman.
“Do you know the way to Tower Bridge?” he asked.
“I’m not the best person to ask, it’s taken me 10 minutes to find platform 7” I replied.
He took a second to compute, smiled kindly at me and went off to ask someone else. I’m not sure our British sense of humour always translates.
It was a short journey to Chiselhurst station and for once I had remembered to do a street view before I left so knew exactly where I was going.
What I didn’t know was that the pavement had been dug up for at least half a mile. I had to walk on compacted mud with bits of concrete at odd angles, loose stones, assorted cones and trip hazard twigs. It’s not the worst walk to a ground I’ve ever had (Yes, Milton United, I’m talking about you), but it was less than pleasant. The A222 was horrendous, nose to tail for the entire mile and a bit I walked along and hardly seemed to be moving at all.
I eventually turned off on to Foxbury Avenue which was like a tranquil paradise after the main road, it’s a reasonably long path that takes a few minutes until I turned a corner and reached the ground. I was about 90 minutes early and was delighted to bump into another match on an alternate pitch.
It’s fair to say that the players were at the later end of their playing lives, in the 35 minutes I watched, the goalkeeper went off with a calf strain, there were various other substitutions and players were constantly grabbing runs and sprays from the touchline. When the referee blew his whistle, I was shocked to see that it was only half time. I couldn’t bare to watch the second half, it would almost have been a case of last man standing.
The clubhouse at Glebe is really nice, loads of TV screens showing the midday match and a nice bar. I never spotted any hot food but having had a cooked breakfast, I settled for a pack of Roast Ox crisps.
The ground itself is in great nick. I well prepared, flat pitch, a small stand on the near side and a very new looking fence surrounding three quarters of the ground. You could not walk behind the far end or on the far side was my only quibble, I guess it’s because it has no hardstanding. The club are making real efforts to continually improve the ground and they should be commended, it’s a really neat little set-up.
The game itself was no classic, Deal were from a step higher and when they scored on 24 minutes, I expected them to pull away and win comfortably. But Glebe equalised out of the blue on 37 minutes and it was deadlock after this with very few chances.
Extra time came and only exploded into life in the last 5 minutes. Glebe should surely have been awarded a penalty when the Deal keeper flattened a striker but neither a penalty or a booking for simulation was given, it had to be one or the other! Then Deal hit the underside of the bar and claimed that the ball had bounced over the line, didn’t look like it to me!
A draw was a fair result.
It really is worth a visit to Glebe, a club on the up with some really nice, hard-working people driving the club forward.
I wish them well!
I had originally planned to visit Harefield but hadn’t realised they had been relegated. For reasons I won’t bore you with, I looked at the draw again and decided to visit Glebe from the Kent Invicta league.
No more than five minutes from my house and a lady rushed over to me seemingly in a great flap, only to ask me when the grey bins were collected. I politely replied and also pointed out that the bin was actually black but to be fair, had seen better days and went on my way.
The train in to London was made more entertaining by the guy sitting opposite me playing games with an 8 year old lad he was travelling with.
“Okay, he said. I’ll say a word and you then have to say another word that starts with the last letter of my word.” The boy nodded his head.
“Sunny” Said the man
“Bummy” replied the boy.
I actually laughed out loud and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of their games.
I caught the tube to London Bridge which has suddenly been changed beyond recognition. I found myself outside, was directed up an escalator and eventually found what appears to be a new station entrance. Being in good time, I sat on a wall only to be immediately approached by a European gentleman.
“Do you know the way to Tower Bridge?” he asked.
“I’m not the best person to ask, it’s taken me 10 minutes to find platform 7” I replied.
He took a second to compute, smiled kindly at me and went off to ask someone else. I’m not sure our British sense of humour always translates.
It was a short journey to Chiselhurst station and for once I had remembered to do a street view before I left so knew exactly where I was going.
What I didn’t know was that the pavement had been dug up for at least half a mile. I had to walk on compacted mud with bits of concrete at odd angles, loose stones, assorted cones and trip hazard twigs. It’s not the worst walk to a ground I’ve ever had (Yes, Milton United, I’m talking about you), but it was less than pleasant. The A222 was horrendous, nose to tail for the entire mile and a bit I walked along and hardly seemed to be moving at all.
I eventually turned off on to Foxbury Avenue which was like a tranquil paradise after the main road, it’s a reasonably long path that takes a few minutes until I turned a corner and reached the ground. I was about 90 minutes early and was delighted to bump into another match on an alternate pitch.
It’s fair to say that the players were at the later end of their playing lives, in the 35 minutes I watched, the goalkeeper went off with a calf strain, there were various other substitutions and players were constantly grabbing runs and sprays from the touchline. When the referee blew his whistle, I was shocked to see that it was only half time. I couldn’t bare to watch the second half, it would almost have been a case of last man standing.
The clubhouse at Glebe is really nice, loads of TV screens showing the midday match and a nice bar. I never spotted any hot food but having had a cooked breakfast, I settled for a pack of Roast Ox crisps.
The ground itself is in great nick. I well prepared, flat pitch, a small stand on the near side and a very new looking fence surrounding three quarters of the ground. You could not walk behind the far end or on the far side was my only quibble, I guess it’s because it has no hardstanding. The club are making real efforts to continually improve the ground and they should be commended, it’s a really neat little set-up.
The game itself was no classic, Deal were from a step higher and when they scored on 24 minutes, I expected them to pull away and win comfortably. But Glebe equalised out of the blue on 37 minutes and it was deadlock after this with very few chances.
Extra time came and only exploded into life in the last 5 minutes. Glebe should surely have been awarded a penalty when the Deal keeper flattened a striker but neither a penalty or a booking for simulation was given, it had to be one or the other! Then Deal hit the underside of the bar and claimed that the ball had bounced over the line, didn’t look like it to me!
A draw was a fair result.
It really is worth a visit to Glebe, a club on the up with some really nice, hard-working people driving the club forward.
I wish them well!
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Hartley WINtney
Hartley Wintney 3 Bradford Town 1
I’ve had literally three months with either heavy rain, fierce 40mph winds or games postponed due to waterlogged pitches. Finally, a lovely sunny day with no wind and although cold, a perfect day for football.
Apart from the train stopping for 5 minutes just beyond Clapham Junction, with the only information being the driver saying “We don’t normally stop here”, I had an incident free journey and got off the train at Fleet with close to a spring in my step.
That was soon knocked out of me as I discovered that the Internet had been incorrect and the bus that I needed to take to get from Fleet to Hartley Wintney didn’t run on a Saturday. I guess I could have walked from Winchfield station but the bus from Fleet seemed to be the easier route. But I was damned if I was going to be stopped on a lovely day and I decided to cut my losses and take a taxi. I was in good time so I watched a few taxis pull into the station, wrote down their numbers and then gave them a call. The first company had no availability but my next call got a positive result from Hart cabs. I have to say I was hugely impressed with them. Both there and pack I only had to wait about five minutes and I even got a football enthusiast driver on the return journey who was fascinated with the whole groundhopping concept.
Hartley Wintney is a nice little village with plenty of green areas and a variety of shops, it seems particularly big on barbers. Three red and white barber signs on a High street only about 100 yards long. No apparent chippy was the only downer for me.
Whilst mooching about, I needed to use the public convenience. Whilst doing my thing, a workman came in, unzipped and did his thing, all the time continuing a conversation on a mobile phone. Is it just me, but who would do that?? I attempted to piss really loudly to make my point, I discovered that this isn’t really possible!
The ground is a simple five minute walk from the village. A small stand on the far side and a large clubhouse with the lunchtime game being projected for all to see.
I had my lunch here. Cheeseburger and chips served by a very nice lady. Halfway through serving me, she announced that the price was wrong on the blackboard and should be 50p higher than shown. She still charged me the original price which made me feel like I was getting a bit of a bargain. She toasted a burger bun, put half of it in front of me and then about 30 seconds later, came and through it in the bin. Not sure why as it looked perfectly okay to me. Anyway the burger and chips was actually very nice.
I sat outside for 30 minutes, in the sun it was really pleasant and enjoyed watching the ballboys kicking a ball around. I love the way that they accept a newcomer immediately and within minutes, this new lad was rushing around as if he’d known these boys all his life.
Bowie tunes were being proudly played from the P.A system, absolutely right in the week that the great man died.
Both the Bradford fans and the Hartley Wintney officials I spoke to were really friendly with a good sense of humour. Everything that attracts me to non-league football was on show at this game.
A really enjoyable game, Bradford scored on about 10 minutes and Hartley Wintney equalised just over 5 minutes later. Really even after this, the game could have gone either way until Hartley Winteney scored twice in the last 15 minutes with a suspiciously offside looking goal and an injury time bonus.
A most enjoyable day, a lovely club who now have Hereford in the next round. I will be looking on with interest.
I’ve had literally three months with either heavy rain, fierce 40mph winds or games postponed due to waterlogged pitches. Finally, a lovely sunny day with no wind and although cold, a perfect day for football.
Apart from the train stopping for 5 minutes just beyond Clapham Junction, with the only information being the driver saying “We don’t normally stop here”, I had an incident free journey and got off the train at Fleet with close to a spring in my step.
That was soon knocked out of me as I discovered that the Internet had been incorrect and the bus that I needed to take to get from Fleet to Hartley Wintney didn’t run on a Saturday. I guess I could have walked from Winchfield station but the bus from Fleet seemed to be the easier route. But I was damned if I was going to be stopped on a lovely day and I decided to cut my losses and take a taxi. I was in good time so I watched a few taxis pull into the station, wrote down their numbers and then gave them a call. The first company had no availability but my next call got a positive result from Hart cabs. I have to say I was hugely impressed with them. Both there and pack I only had to wait about five minutes and I even got a football enthusiast driver on the return journey who was fascinated with the whole groundhopping concept.
Hartley Wintney is a nice little village with plenty of green areas and a variety of shops, it seems particularly big on barbers. Three red and white barber signs on a High street only about 100 yards long. No apparent chippy was the only downer for me.
Whilst mooching about, I needed to use the public convenience. Whilst doing my thing, a workman came in, unzipped and did his thing, all the time continuing a conversation on a mobile phone. Is it just me, but who would do that?? I attempted to piss really loudly to make my point, I discovered that this isn’t really possible!
The ground is a simple five minute walk from the village. A small stand on the far side and a large clubhouse with the lunchtime game being projected for all to see.
I had my lunch here. Cheeseburger and chips served by a very nice lady. Halfway through serving me, she announced that the price was wrong on the blackboard and should be 50p higher than shown. She still charged me the original price which made me feel like I was getting a bit of a bargain. She toasted a burger bun, put half of it in front of me and then about 30 seconds later, came and through it in the bin. Not sure why as it looked perfectly okay to me. Anyway the burger and chips was actually very nice.
I sat outside for 30 minutes, in the sun it was really pleasant and enjoyed watching the ballboys kicking a ball around. I love the way that they accept a newcomer immediately and within minutes, this new lad was rushing around as if he’d known these boys all his life.
Bowie tunes were being proudly played from the P.A system, absolutely right in the week that the great man died.
Both the Bradford fans and the Hartley Wintney officials I spoke to were really friendly with a good sense of humour. Everything that attracts me to non-league football was on show at this game.
A really enjoyable game, Bradford scored on about 10 minutes and Hartley Wintney equalised just over 5 minutes later. Really even after this, the game could have gone either way until Hartley Winteney scored twice in the last 15 minutes with a suspiciously offside looking goal and an injury time bonus.
A most enjoyable day, a lovely club who now have Hereford in the next round. I will be looking on with interest.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)