Peterborough slayed by Northern stars in extra time classic

Peterborough Northern Star 3 Dunston UTS 4 aet

Always nice to have a ground within reasonably easy reach that I haven't visited before for the Vase quarter finals. 

The train journey to Peterborough passed without incident and I had 90 mins to find the ground. The hardest part was finding my way over the main road after exiting the station. After standing scratching my head for a couple of minutes, I suddenly noticed a covered footbridge about 200 yards away - Doh!!

I decided to walk to the ground and I'm not sure that I took the most direct route. But I always new where I was according to the map I had printed off, it would have helped however if Peterborough council could be bothered to put up road names to actually confirm where you are walking.  It was quite a long walk though and took me about 45 mins. I have to say that Peterborough is not the nicest of areas. Youths hanging around every 100 yards or so, gangs of hoodies everywhere, people yelling obscenities from cars and you take your life in your hands every time to try to cross a road. Can't say I'll be any hurry to return.

The ground is quite neat when you enter although fairly basic. Two small covered seating areas on the far side. Strangely, fans stood in front of the far seated area during the came so most people under the cover also stood up. I felt a bit sorry for a couple of old timers sitting there as they couldn't have been able to see too much. There is also a small covered area on the near side and the quite large pitch is also railed off.

A red kite hovered overhead on my arrival which is always a pleasant sight. 

Having had a large cooked breakfast, I wasn't too hungry. Earlier in the week, I was charged 60 pence for a two bar Kit-Kat which I considered outrageous. The £1 for a good pile of chips at the ground was more than good value.

The £6 admission including a good programme was also very fair value.

A large number of Dunston fans were at the game, some of whom had made a weekend of their trip. They were all in good humour, were very good company and extremely sporting towards the opposition whenever they did anything well. The whole came was played in a competitive but fair spirit which was a credit to both teams, I don't remember a bad tackle.

The game got off to a very slow start with seemingly nothing but throw-in's for the first ten  minutes although the strong wind did make things difficult for the fans. Peterborough scored after 19 mins and Dunston equalised 10 mins later. The rest of the 90 mins was fairly mundane, Dunston had the better of the second half but italways looked like ending in a draw.

I didn't expect much from extra time & certainly didn't expect the drama that unfolded. Peterborough scored just a minute in only for Dunston to equalise again just before the break. Dunston then took the lead just into the second period but this time Peterborough came straight back to equalise. Almost inevitably, there was awinner right at the death and it came from Dunston, a soft shot that I'm not quite sure how it beat the keeper.

A marvelous finale, I celebrated by taking the bus back to the station.

Bournemouth FC

Bournemouth 2 Royston Town 1

Dug outs on the far side

Poppies left standing after battle with Royston

Bournemouth 2 Royston Town 1

After canceling my previous trip to Bornemouth due to rail closure, I was delighted to see that they were drawn at home again & off I set. As usual, I found myself sitting in front of a father with two noisy children. But for once, instead of being annoyed by them, I found myself silently joining in with his impromptu Railway children quiz. My moment of glory arrived as neither of the two young children or the father could remember the name of the station master. As I left the train, I leant over and casually announced that I thought it was Mr Potts. "Of course" replied the father, "Thank you". I happily strutted off. Only when I got home & checked on google, did I realise that it was actually Mr Perks. That's the last time that I butt in to a children' quiz.

The trip from Bournemouth station to my destination I made on one the town's yellow busses. Very cool they are to. A TV screen inside the bus showing live camera shots of the bus in motion & also shots of the passengers sitting in the bus. Very high tech!

On walking to the ground, I had two dogs come yapping around my ankles as their flustered owner shuffled over and exclaimed "Whatever next"?I wasn't quite sure how to reply to this, so just smiled and muttered something about having a face that made dogs bark and left her trying to untangle her leads.

The clubhouse at the ground was packed even from 2pm when I arrived. I passed no shops after leaving the bus, so purchased one of the clubs hot dogs. A small submarine roll, a few onions & a sausage from a tin. But I was so hungry, that it tasted as good as fine dining and the lady serving was as pleasant as can be.

I actually quite like the Wessex league for its grounds and this one was not a disappointment. A fair sized stand with seating right next to the clubhouse. The rest of the pitch is railed off with netting and advertising boards and hard standing.

The wind throughout the afternoon was ferocious and exactly came close to ruining the contest. Both sets of players also spent most of the afternoon complaining like crazy and sprinting towards the referee when a decision went against their team. As I discussed with a photographer sitting just inside the hoarding, "If they played football like they whinged, they would be World class.

But this game turned into a battle ground and I can't remember a game with so many late and bad tackles. Bournemouth got off to a terrific start, winning a penalty as the keeper took out a man that went past him even though the ball was never going to stay in play. The penalty was easily converted. A second came on 16 minutes. A break down the left resulted in the right back failing to win a tackle just inside the area, The ball fell kindly to the attacker who beat the keeper comfortably. Other some full blooded challenges and a couple of 20 man melees, Bournemouth were reduced to 10 men just before half time after a man got a deserved second yellow card for a late tackle. The second half was therefore always likely to be all Royston what with the extra man and the wind with them. They had loads of the ball but didn’t create as many chances as I expected. They did pull one back on 67 mins. A ball through the left saw an attacker let it run brilliantly, taking the keeper out of the game. He cut it back from the dead ball line and a substitute who had been on for no more than 30 seconds, stroked it in. After this Bournemouth had one hairy goalmouth scramble, but actually had the better of the chances and were probably worthy winners.

Racing club Warwick FC

Racing club Warwick 0 Wisbech Town 1

I thought the officials looked young :-)

The clubhouse

The far side of the ground

Wisbech go racing to next round

Racing club Warwick 0 Wisbech Town 1

Glorious! An incident free journey with no delays, even the 30 deep queues for the ticket barriers at Kings Cross were for an area where I wasn't going. Before you get too excited, the reason I was in Warwick at all was because there was a replacement bus service between Southampton & Bournemouth. Bournemouth was my original choice of came & I quite frankly, couldn't be bothered with the hassle.

I had a sausage and chips at a chippy near Warwick station. Eatable, but not the greatest I've ever eaten. I was looking forward to seeing Warwick castle and imagined it would stand majestically at the top of a hill. Despite passing the entrance to the castle grounds, I never laid eyes on it. Some interesting arches and architecture throughout the town made up for this and every other shop seemed to be selling castle souvenirs. 

Racing club Warwick's ground is unsurprisingly, right next to the racecourse. On a race day, the thunder of hooves are right behind you if you stand at the far side of the pitch. A model plane was buzzing around the sky, it's operator somewhere in the middle of the course. It's funny how a simple thing like that reminds you of something that you hadn't thought about for over 30 years. I went to school with a friend who built and flew model planes. He spent months and months getting one ready to fly. He went to the local playing fields and 10 minutes in to its maiden flight, flew it into a rugby post and the plane shattered into about 20 pieces. How I didn't laugh at the time, I'll never know!

A bit of a ramshackle ground with a boxing club backing on to it. The sea cadets and scouts also seem to have a presence. Cover along part of both sides with bits and pieces of seating within. The clubhouse was not at all bad with one of the better quality giant screens I've seen on my travels. There seems to be an ongoing dispute between the club and the council which is putting the future of the club in doubt - A sad but ever more common occurrence.

The programmes arrived about 2:30pm & the Wisbech fans were absolutely up in arm about a spelling error on the cover of the prograame calling them Wisbeach. A simple typo I suspect and not really worth all the clubhouse hysteria.

Wisbech started the stronger and the first half hour was reasonably entertaining. The goal came on 25 mins. A long kick down the left was collected, the cross reached the far post and was thumped into the roof of the net. The game deteriorated in the second half with several stoppages and the ball seeming to take an eternity to return when kicked out of play. Warwick were arguably on top during this period although Wisbech still had the better chances. No more goals or near misses and Wisbech just about deserved to win.

Ashton & Backwell FC

Ashton & Backwell 0 Fairford Town 1

The clubhouse

Not Fair on Ashton

Ashton & Backwell 0 Fairford Town 1

I had originally planned to visit Hengrove. But on closer examination of the draw, I noticed this club that I didn't know. On looking them up, I discovered that they were in the Somerset county league and this seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I tend to visit county league grounds at the fag end of the season & although they serve a purpose, it was nice to get in a competitive game at a small club.

My initial train was 13 minutes late this week with overhead cables the problem of the day. I probably take a train into London on about 30 occasions throughout the year. I think it probably leaves on time about 3 or 4 times. Every week you get an electronic voice apologising for the late running and hoping it doesn't cause an inconvenience. What's the point of apologising if you're then not ever going to improve things?

The journey from London to Bristol was fairly quiet until a pack of brownies got on at Swindon. They were full of beans and it was amazing listening to other women around me who wall started recounting memories of when they were in the Brownies themselves. I actually think that Brownies should run the country! The Governement decrees that mobile phones should not be used in cars and yet every day, you see several people blatantly ignoring this law. One Brownie suggests playing eye-spy and the whole carriage decides this is a great idea and about 20 different games were on the go within minutes.

I travelled to Nailsea station where it is about a 20 minute walk to the ground along a couple of straight, busy roads. 

I stopped at a chippy where I luckily arrived about 5 minutes before they closed. The pie and chips were spot on and they even gave you a plastic fork to make it easier to eat. Nice touch!

The football ground can be found off the main high street next to a recreation ground. On a glorious day, this was a nice spot and I had a quick walk round before entering the ground.

I was offered a pleasant welcome and also purchased a programme which was basically just a photocopied sheet. I never mind this as I know clubs like this cannot afford a huge expense and at least they went to the effort of creating something at all. 

The ground itself was okay. Nice clubhouse buildings and the pitch is surrounded by hard blue wired fencing. A lot of foliage lying on the hard standing made it quite tricky to walk round.

Ashton were two levels below Fairford but rally took the game to them. They had an excellent, contrasting pair of forwards who both caused numerous problems and they were easily the better first half team without quite causing the chances that their play deserved. The second half became more even as Fairford’s strength and experience started to come through. In the last 15 mins, Fairford were right on top and the Ashton keeper made three superb saves. No breakthrough and extra time yet again for me in the vase. The first half of extra was a bit messy with tiredness and a couple of injury stoppages.  Fairford made what was eventually an inevitable breakthrough with 7 minutes remaining.

A bold effort by a club that I hope climbs the ladder and an enjoyable day out.

Highgate United FC

Highgate United 3 Bewdley Town 1

Beautifully cared for pitch

Dugouts At Highgate

The High life

Highgate United 3 Bewdley Town 1

This early round is where I ask my wife to select the club of her choice & off I go. Her choice was Crook Town, about as far away as you can get. On doing some preliminary research in July, this was actually feasible. But being intrinsically lazy, I put off buying the train tickets in July and when I got around to it in August, the cost had gone through the roof.  So I chose this ground instead. Breaking the journey town and getting advance tickets on specific trains from Euston to Birmingham actually made this extremely affordable although the journey hme seemed never-ending.

On arrival at Euston, an announcement was coming over the loud speaker. 'Will inspecter Sands please report to the station control room'. Either Inspector Sands is the slowest inspector in history, or there was a fault with the P.A system. The announcement repeated itself for at least 15 minutes and I don't no how long it had been going before I got there. Not at all annoying!

I arrived at Birmingham New street and had to walk the 400 yards to Moor street for my connection. The amount of people milling around central Birmingham made London earlier in the day seemed deserted. There was a real buzz including an amusing beatbox busker who was actually very good, if you like that sort of thing.

The 20 minute journey took me to the Birmingham suburbs and the attractively named Whitlocks end FC. I had a quick nosy up the road on arrival in vane search of a chippy. Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be areas growing Christmas trees. Obviously big business here!

There was a small cabin on arrival labeled a cafe. The extremely pleasant lady quickly knocked me up a bacon & tomato sandwich. Grilled bacon, micro-waved tinned tomatoes all placed between 2 slices of bread. Fabulous comfort food that didn't touch the sides.

My walk to the ground from the station took only 5 minutes and incredibly, I passed two other football grounds. Shirley Town which looked in good order and Leafield FC which although locked up, still looked okay.

Highgate have a very neat and quite reasonably sized clubhouse with a well stocked bar and giant TV screen. There is a minutes walk from the clubhouse to the pitch. The whole of the nearside touchline is covered, half of this area having seated. The rest of the pitch is surrounded by a white rail. The groundsman was loving caring for is pitch on my arrival. It's only his second year in the job and he was as keen as mustard. His pitch looked immaculate and I hope his planned works to include drainage etc. pay off.

Ground-hops often have little trends in my experience. This was my second week running where the game I was watching had a rugby field over the hedge with a game in progress. That also looked a nice facility and I love the cheers they give the opposition at the end of the game. For all the hand-shaking before each game that we see, these rugby boys genuinely show respect to their opponents and football could learn a lot from them.

A neat little programme and on reading, I learned the tragedy that hit this club many years ago when lightening struck down during a game, knocked several players over and one of these never regained consciousness. A local cup competition is named after him & still played.

This was an excellent game from beginning to end. Very even, well refereed with no cards shown. Not a trainer in  sight and no histrionics from players. A little dissent only, this was a breath of fresh air. Highgate scored on 16 minutes following a lovely 1-2. Bewdley equalised on 43 mins only for Highgate to re-take the lead almost immediately with a 20 yard bullet. The final goal came 3 minutes from time with an outrageous 40 yard chip, wind assisted, that the back-pedalling keeper could only finger-tip in to the net.

A visit is highly recommended if you get the chance.