Monday, March 06, 2017
Easy Cleesy
Southall 2 Cleethorpes Town 5
18/2/17
Southall groundshare at Hanwell Town FC. I had planned to visit Hanwell on two previous occasiona and both times it was rained off. Absolutely no danger of this on the loveliest of February days with it almost feeling spring like as clouds parted and the sun came out. So easy to reach, train to London and then about half an hour on the tube to Perivale.
Needless to say, the one group of noisy guys on the entire train sat opposite me and just didn't stop all chattering at the same time until finally alighting two steps before mine.
My map told me to turn right down a road that I never did find and I found myself confronted with the horrendously busy A40. Fortunately, there is a massive footbridge, so I was easily able to cross over the road. I was presented with a small parade of shops, but none of them presented anything that looked like edible food.
I popped down a little side road to avoid the motorway like A40 and then had a short, tranquil walk to the ground that took under five minutes to reach.
In good time and with a surprisingly small crowd on my arrival, I went in the clubhouse and found a very nice lady offering burgers and chips. I waited a few minutes for the chips to cook and then sat at a table to eat. The burger was very nice, the chips not too bad although a couple more minutes in the fryer would have helped.
I then watched one of the most enjoyable 45 minutes of football on the TV I've seen in a long time as Lincoln turned over Burnley in the FA Cup. Oddly, the club were showing the game on Fox sports, meaning there was an American analyst at half time. There was also a two minute delay from actual proceedings and a guy watching the game on his phone announced that Lincoln had scored and won two minutes before we all saw it happen.
A reasonable ground with a small stand, cover at the near end and bizarrely, an electronic scoreboard.
The crowd never did really turn up and at about 350, was really disappointing for this stage of the competition.
Cleethorpes were four up at just after half time and close to embarrassing Southall. Southall then out of nowhere, started to play, scored twice and if they'd only played like that from the start, would have made a good game of it.
Still, on a glorius afternoon for football, you pretty much forgive the teams anything.
18/2/17
Southall groundshare at Hanwell Town FC. I had planned to visit Hanwell on two previous occasiona and both times it was rained off. Absolutely no danger of this on the loveliest of February days with it almost feeling spring like as clouds parted and the sun came out. So easy to reach, train to London and then about half an hour on the tube to Perivale.
Needless to say, the one group of noisy guys on the entire train sat opposite me and just didn't stop all chattering at the same time until finally alighting two steps before mine.
My map told me to turn right down a road that I never did find and I found myself confronted with the horrendously busy A40. Fortunately, there is a massive footbridge, so I was easily able to cross over the road. I was presented with a small parade of shops, but none of them presented anything that looked like edible food.
I popped down a little side road to avoid the motorway like A40 and then had a short, tranquil walk to the ground that took under five minutes to reach.
In good time and with a surprisingly small crowd on my arrival, I went in the clubhouse and found a very nice lady offering burgers and chips. I waited a few minutes for the chips to cook and then sat at a table to eat. The burger was very nice, the chips not too bad although a couple more minutes in the fryer would have helped.
I then watched one of the most enjoyable 45 minutes of football on the TV I've seen in a long time as Lincoln turned over Burnley in the FA Cup. Oddly, the club were showing the game on Fox sports, meaning there was an American analyst at half time. There was also a two minute delay from actual proceedings and a guy watching the game on his phone announced that Lincoln had scored and won two minutes before we all saw it happen.
A reasonable ground with a small stand, cover at the near end and bizarrely, an electronic scoreboard.
The crowd never did really turn up and at about 350, was really disappointing for this stage of the competition.
Cleethorpes were four up at just after half time and close to embarrassing Southall. Southall then out of nowhere, started to play, scored twice and if they'd only played like that from the start, would have made a good game of it.
Still, on a glorius afternoon for football, you pretty much forgive the teams anything.
Friday, February 03, 2017
Farm handled
Bromsgrove Sporting 2 Bristol Manor Farm 1
With the weather set surprisingly fair for January, I decided there was no risk in a fairly lengthy trip to Bromsgrove.
The train from London to Birmingham was really busy. There was the usual chaos of people sitting in other people’s reserved seats and then pleading ignorance and in one case, claiming they had reserved the same sets online but did not have the confirmation Email any more - Yeah right!
After everyone settled down, it became apparent that once again, I was sitting just across the aisle from the noisiest group in my carriage. Why does this always happen? I was completely unable to read due to the incessant, loud chatter. A group of four students, three guys and one girl. The girl was particularly irritating with a loud, whiney voice. If she said that one of the group had brought along a photocopy of their passport for i.d purposes once, she said it a dozen times. Needless to say, they stayed on the train for the whole journey.
The transfer to Bromsgrove was very simple and just two stops.
Bromsgrove station is in a sleepy little area with just a few taxis milling around, I got my bearings and set off on what turned out to be a 25 minute walk.
You soon hit traffic and the majority of the walk is alongside a reasonably busy road.
I stumbled across Bromsgrove town centre which had a fair array of shops and so I set me eye roving for lunch options.
The usual High Street suspects were available, but my eye was drawn to one of the outdoor market tents. On sale were pork pies, 50p for a small or £1 for a large. I bought a large and it turned out to be quite the most magnificent pork pie I’ve eaten in a very long time. Perfect pastry and a great meaty filling with only a little jelly. It was fantastic and quite frankly, made my afternoon.
Bromsgrove’s ground is quite an old fashioned looking place but had bags of character. A large stand, a whole end with covered terracing and also some cover on the near side. The largest amount of food outlets I’ve seen at this level for quite a while and lots of nooks and crannies.
The place was packed! Almost 1500 people were crammed in and it seemed like more. A great atmosphere.
This turned into a bit of a cup shock with Bromsgrove turning over Bristol Manor Farm who play in a step higher.
The first half was decidedly average with only a goal right on half time from Bromsgrove saving it from being a complete non-event.
The second half was excellent. Bromsgrove doubled their lead and were holding on comfortably until Bristol scored 7 minutes from time after a goalkeeper error. The rest of the game was nail-biting stuff with the ‘kitchen sink’ being thrown at Bromsgrove. They held on despite a disallowed goal for offside to reach the Vase quarter finals.
With the weather set surprisingly fair for January, I decided there was no risk in a fairly lengthy trip to Bromsgrove.
The train from London to Birmingham was really busy. There was the usual chaos of people sitting in other people’s reserved seats and then pleading ignorance and in one case, claiming they had reserved the same sets online but did not have the confirmation Email any more - Yeah right!
After everyone settled down, it became apparent that once again, I was sitting just across the aisle from the noisiest group in my carriage. Why does this always happen? I was completely unable to read due to the incessant, loud chatter. A group of four students, three guys and one girl. The girl was particularly irritating with a loud, whiney voice. If she said that one of the group had brought along a photocopy of their passport for i.d purposes once, she said it a dozen times. Needless to say, they stayed on the train for the whole journey.
The transfer to Bromsgrove was very simple and just two stops.
Bromsgrove station is in a sleepy little area with just a few taxis milling around, I got my bearings and set off on what turned out to be a 25 minute walk.
You soon hit traffic and the majority of the walk is alongside a reasonably busy road.
I stumbled across Bromsgrove town centre which had a fair array of shops and so I set me eye roving for lunch options.
The usual High Street suspects were available, but my eye was drawn to one of the outdoor market tents. On sale were pork pies, 50p for a small or £1 for a large. I bought a large and it turned out to be quite the most magnificent pork pie I’ve eaten in a very long time. Perfect pastry and a great meaty filling with only a little jelly. It was fantastic and quite frankly, made my afternoon.
Bromsgrove’s ground is quite an old fashioned looking place but had bags of character. A large stand, a whole end with covered terracing and also some cover on the near side. The largest amount of food outlets I’ve seen at this level for quite a while and lots of nooks and crannies.
The place was packed! Almost 1500 people were crammed in and it seemed like more. A great atmosphere.
This turned into a bit of a cup shock with Bromsgrove turning over Bristol Manor Farm who play in a step higher.
The first half was decidedly average with only a goal right on half time from Bromsgrove saving it from being a complete non-event.
The second half was excellent. Bromsgrove doubled their lead and were holding on comfortably until Bristol scored 7 minutes from time after a goalkeeper error. The rest of the game was nail-biting stuff with the ‘kitchen sink’ being thrown at Bromsgrove. They held on despite a disallowed goal for offside to reach the Vase quarter finals.
Monday, January 09, 2017
Athletic Buck their ideas up
Chichester City 1 Buckland Athletic 3
I wasn't at all sure this was a wise idea. Undertaking a route which involves travelling on Southern Trains is never going to be an easy, comfortable experience. Their trains were running which is a minor miracle in itself, needless to say, planned engineering works made the journey more tricky than it needed to be.
I had to change at Barnham and there was an interesting moment when trains were on adjoining platforms, both going to Bognor and neither of two station staff knew which train was leaving first. Cue a member of public to unleash large amounts of sarcasm towards one of these staff members including thanking him for all his help over the last few months. Hard to have any sympathy for him when the public are continually held to ransom and are unable to earn a living for their families. Enough said!
I was in Chichester in good time, quite a large town centre or is it City centre? I decided to kill some time in a bookmakers and placed a bet on the 13:30 Wincanton, at least that's what I was told. I never actually saw the race due to an absurd amount of fog. The horses appeared on screen only three times and I heard my horse mentioned once. Not the greatest viewing experience I've ever had.
I bought a chicken and bacon pastie from The West Country Pastie Company, the server did warn me that it had just come out of the oven but dear God ,was it hot! I ended up with what felt like third degree burns on both my fingers and in my mouth. A nice pastie but way, way too hot.
This didn't turn out to be a ground that I loved, it is situated at the edge of a large City car park which gave it a bit of a soulless feel. There is a clubhouse with a little bar and this is situated on a building above the changing rooms. There is a small stand on the far side and a couple of covered standing areas, one on each side.
The game itself was played in front of a reasonable sized crowd and was pretty good. Buckland were always on top and had a 2-0 half time lead including a 25 yard outside of the foot rocket that was as good a finish as you will see at any level. Chichester good one back through their impressive centre forward and despite giving it a good go, couldn't get back on terms and the final goal wrapped the game up with 12 minutes to go.
Enjoyable contest in an interesting town.
I wasn't at all sure this was a wise idea. Undertaking a route which involves travelling on Southern Trains is never going to be an easy, comfortable experience. Their trains were running which is a minor miracle in itself, needless to say, planned engineering works made the journey more tricky than it needed to be.
I had to change at Barnham and there was an interesting moment when trains were on adjoining platforms, both going to Bognor and neither of two station staff knew which train was leaving first. Cue a member of public to unleash large amounts of sarcasm towards one of these staff members including thanking him for all his help over the last few months. Hard to have any sympathy for him when the public are continually held to ransom and are unable to earn a living for their families. Enough said!
I was in Chichester in good time, quite a large town centre or is it City centre? I decided to kill some time in a bookmakers and placed a bet on the 13:30 Wincanton, at least that's what I was told. I never actually saw the race due to an absurd amount of fog. The horses appeared on screen only three times and I heard my horse mentioned once. Not the greatest viewing experience I've ever had.
I bought a chicken and bacon pastie from The West Country Pastie Company, the server did warn me that it had just come out of the oven but dear God ,was it hot! I ended up with what felt like third degree burns on both my fingers and in my mouth. A nice pastie but way, way too hot.
This didn't turn out to be a ground that I loved, it is situated at the edge of a large City car park which gave it a bit of a soulless feel. There is a clubhouse with a little bar and this is situated on a building above the changing rooms. There is a small stand on the far side and a couple of covered standing areas, one on each side.
The game itself was played in front of a reasonable sized crowd and was pretty good. Buckland were always on top and had a 2-0 half time lead including a 25 yard outside of the foot rocket that was as good a finish as you will see at any level. Chichester good one back through their impressive centre forward and despite giving it a good go, couldn't get back on terms and the final goal wrapped the game up with 12 minutes to go.
Enjoyable contest in an interesting town.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
London's calling!
Newport Pagnell Town 3 London Colney 1
The more ticks that I get, the harder it becomes to find a suitable tie to visit. Fortunately this fitted the bill and a not too difficult journey is always a bonus.
The Mrs was singing with her Rock Choir at St Pancras station, this gave me the opportunity to be chief coat holder for half an hour and to watch the 20 minute set. I have to say that they were really good, certainly drew a crowd and it seemed to be well received all round.
I kind of new where I was going with this ground. I'd actually been past it a few years ago when I think I was traveling to Olney, made a mental note that it was easy to reach by bus from Milton Keynes station and parked it in the 'to be done' section of my brain.
I walked to Euston Station from St Pancras and the journey to Milton Keynes went without incident.
I only had 10 minutes until my bus was due and not knowing what I'd find food wise, I decided to buy a Coronation chicken sandwich from a supermarket next to the station. Big mistake, it was truly, truly horrible and will never be purchased again.
I had buckets of time and decided to stay on the bus to have a nose around the town of Newport Pagnell. I quite liked it really, a reasonable size and yet not too busy, I guess everyone shops in MK. I dropped into a Corals, placed a small each way bet on a 7/1 shot at Sandown and came out of the shop 15 minutes later, 40p better off. I bumped into a chippy and decided to buy a portion of chips to take away the taste of the sandwich, an excellent decision, they were fab!
The ground is only a 5-10 minute walk from the town and I found my way again with absolutely no trouble.
A small clubhouse was showing the Premiership game and I watched the last 25 minutes before venturing into the ground.
In the ground, there are two small stands, one on each side and a small tea bar.
I really liked the feel of this place, it came across as a family club and very good humoured. A lady went around the clubhouse individually selling programmes, there was banter galore amongst the locals and all very good humoured, at the end of the game, another lady went round the ground asking everyone individually who they thought their man of the match was, not sure I've ever had that before.
A kids penalty shoot-out on the pitch at half time is always an enjoyable edition and certainly passed that dead time quickly.
As for the game, Newport Pagnell scored early, but when London Colney equalised on 27 mins, you felt they would go forward and win comfortably. But they completely lost their way in the second half and Newport Pagnell were excellent in taking the game to them and won it with goals in the 73rd and 90th minutes.
A club that I had been 'waiting to do' and did not disappoint.
The more ticks that I get, the harder it becomes to find a suitable tie to visit. Fortunately this fitted the bill and a not too difficult journey is always a bonus.
The Mrs was singing with her Rock Choir at St Pancras station, this gave me the opportunity to be chief coat holder for half an hour and to watch the 20 minute set. I have to say that they were really good, certainly drew a crowd and it seemed to be well received all round.
I kind of new where I was going with this ground. I'd actually been past it a few years ago when I think I was traveling to Olney, made a mental note that it was easy to reach by bus from Milton Keynes station and parked it in the 'to be done' section of my brain.
I walked to Euston Station from St Pancras and the journey to Milton Keynes went without incident.
I only had 10 minutes until my bus was due and not knowing what I'd find food wise, I decided to buy a Coronation chicken sandwich from a supermarket next to the station. Big mistake, it was truly, truly horrible and will never be purchased again.
I had buckets of time and decided to stay on the bus to have a nose around the town of Newport Pagnell. I quite liked it really, a reasonable size and yet not too busy, I guess everyone shops in MK. I dropped into a Corals, placed a small each way bet on a 7/1 shot at Sandown and came out of the shop 15 minutes later, 40p better off. I bumped into a chippy and decided to buy a portion of chips to take away the taste of the sandwich, an excellent decision, they were fab!
The ground is only a 5-10 minute walk from the town and I found my way again with absolutely no trouble.
A small clubhouse was showing the Premiership game and I watched the last 25 minutes before venturing into the ground.
In the ground, there are two small stands, one on each side and a small tea bar.
I really liked the feel of this place, it came across as a family club and very good humoured. A lady went around the clubhouse individually selling programmes, there was banter galore amongst the locals and all very good humoured, at the end of the game, another lady went round the ground asking everyone individually who they thought their man of the match was, not sure I've ever had that before.
A kids penalty shoot-out on the pitch at half time is always an enjoyable edition and certainly passed that dead time quickly.
As for the game, Newport Pagnell scored early, but when London Colney equalised on 27 mins, you felt they would go forward and win comfortably. But they completely lost their way in the second half and Newport Pagnell were excellent in taking the game to them and won it with goals in the 73rd and 90th minutes.
A club that I had been 'waiting to do' and did not disappoint.
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.
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