Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Barking un Dun in last quarter
Barking 0 Dunstable Town 3
I had originally planned to visit Rye in Sussex for this round. But then one of the amateur dramatic clubs that I belong to organised an evening that I really wanted to attend, so I found a game nearer to home. I would be able to make it back in time, unless there's extra time.....
I took pleasure in passing the olympic stadium at Stratford. Just a passing glimpse brought back happy memories. As it fades into history, it's almost as if it wasn't real. There's something about the Liverpool Street line to Shenfield. At two consecutive stations, we had been sitting there for about 15 seconds, when a passenger suddenly realised it was his stop, leapt from his seat and flew out the carriage just as the doors were closing. At Ilford station, a couple of kids got off the train and walked along the platform with balloon animals. People who create these things make it look so easy. I tried once, the balloon burst in my hands and I took a slap of deflated balloon on the cheek that left a red blotch for about a week. I tried a couple more times and just ended up with strange squeaking noises followed by a balloon that unravelled as quickly as I had folded it up.
Due to rail replacement on the District line, I took he train to Goodmayes. I was pleased to see a Tesco extra as we pulled in and I felt lunch coming on. But their cafe was a huge let down. A few sorry looking chips, one lonesome pie that sat at an odd angle and a few pathetic looking pease. Rather disappointed, I headed off to scour the local shops for alternative food.
I can't remember the last time it took this long to get my sense of direction. I strolled up and down the high street several times trying to find a landmark on my map. I finally spotted the road that I was standing on in my map although it was kind of not facing the way I was expecting - maybe I'm losing my touch as I usually figure out my roue almost immediately.
After almost slelecting a dodgy pizza place and a Southern fried chicken joint, I selected a chippy just as I entered Lodge lane. I had a saveloy and chips. Surprise, surprise, the second I left the shop it started raining and uite hard. I ended up eating my food whilst sheltering under a tree as the rain belted down with the odd drop of rain water landing square on my meal. Oh, the glamerous life we hoppers sometimes lead.
The ground itself wasn't too bad. A covered standing and seating area up one side and cover behind the near goal.
The nicest touch was a bunch of kids and some ladies who were selling homemade cakes at half time for the Macmillan charity. apparently they were down to their last 25 plates of cakes having started with several hundred. The cakes were great and how nice to see a local football club encouraging charity work like this. A little thing like this made me feel good about the whole day.
The game was a real contrast in styles. Dunstable passed the ball really nicely and were incredibly patient, but particularly in the first half, they wouldn't put the ball into the box for love nor money. Barking played a more direct game but had a couple of lively strikers. For 70 minutes we were at stalemate and I was staring to get quite agitated as extra time was the last thing I wanted. Fortunately for me Dunstable scored three in the last 20 minutes as they finally wore a stubborn Barking team town. The last minute saw one of the most incredible double open goal misses I've ever seen. Because it was right at the end of the game & the result was not in doubt, it was kind of shrugged off but I'm not sure I'll ever know how Dunstable didn't score a fourth goal.
Hopefully it will be Sussex in the next round, but Barking was a nice venue to find when I was short of time.
I had originally planned to visit Rye in Sussex for this round. But then one of the amateur dramatic clubs that I belong to organised an evening that I really wanted to attend, so I found a game nearer to home. I would be able to make it back in time, unless there's extra time.....
I took pleasure in passing the olympic stadium at Stratford. Just a passing glimpse brought back happy memories. As it fades into history, it's almost as if it wasn't real. There's something about the Liverpool Street line to Shenfield. At two consecutive stations, we had been sitting there for about 15 seconds, when a passenger suddenly realised it was his stop, leapt from his seat and flew out the carriage just as the doors were closing. At Ilford station, a couple of kids got off the train and walked along the platform with balloon animals. People who create these things make it look so easy. I tried once, the balloon burst in my hands and I took a slap of deflated balloon on the cheek that left a red blotch for about a week. I tried a couple more times and just ended up with strange squeaking noises followed by a balloon that unravelled as quickly as I had folded it up.
Due to rail replacement on the District line, I took he train to Goodmayes. I was pleased to see a Tesco extra as we pulled in and I felt lunch coming on. But their cafe was a huge let down. A few sorry looking chips, one lonesome pie that sat at an odd angle and a few pathetic looking pease. Rather disappointed, I headed off to scour the local shops for alternative food.
I can't remember the last time it took this long to get my sense of direction. I strolled up and down the high street several times trying to find a landmark on my map. I finally spotted the road that I was standing on in my map although it was kind of not facing the way I was expecting - maybe I'm losing my touch as I usually figure out my roue almost immediately.
After almost slelecting a dodgy pizza place and a Southern fried chicken joint, I selected a chippy just as I entered Lodge lane. I had a saveloy and chips. Surprise, surprise, the second I left the shop it started raining and uite hard. I ended up eating my food whilst sheltering under a tree as the rain belted down with the odd drop of rain water landing square on my meal. Oh, the glamerous life we hoppers sometimes lead.
The ground itself wasn't too bad. A covered standing and seating area up one side and cover behind the near goal.
The nicest touch was a bunch of kids and some ladies who were selling homemade cakes at half time for the Macmillan charity. apparently they were down to their last 25 plates of cakes having started with several hundred. The cakes were great and how nice to see a local football club encouraging charity work like this. A little thing like this made me feel good about the whole day.
The game was a real contrast in styles. Dunstable passed the ball really nicely and were incredibly patient, but particularly in the first half, they wouldn't put the ball into the box for love nor money. Barking played a more direct game but had a couple of lively strikers. For 70 minutes we were at stalemate and I was staring to get quite agitated as extra time was the last thing I wanted. Fortunately for me Dunstable scored three in the last 20 minutes as they finally wore a stubborn Barking team town. The last minute saw one of the most incredible double open goal misses I've ever seen. Because it was right at the end of the game & the result was not in doubt, it was kind of shrugged off but I'm not sure I'll ever know how Dunstable didn't score a fourth goal.
Hopefully it will be Sussex in the next round, but Barking was a nice venue to find when I was short of time.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Keeping errors see Spencer home
Downham Town 0 Northampton Spencer 2
I decided that it was time to the Eastern league division 1 and Downham Market fitted the brief. I always have a spring in my step when I have a journey that avoids London and with a glorious early autumn day, all was set fair. Cambridge station has been re-vamped, two new platforms have been created. There's now less of a wait for trains to have an avaiable platform, but before everything was up and down once are, now you have to go up stairs, across a walkway, down stairs and then find which platform your connection is coming in to. All a little stressful when you have a tight connection for time, but I found where I was going with a couple of minutes to spare.
At Ely, a handful of schoolboys got on the train. Although they looked cheerful enough, I always feel terribly sorry for kids that have to go to school on a Saturday and I'm never exactly sure what the purpose is other than possibly enabling teachers to have longer holidays!
As well as Twitter, I've now been talked into joining facebook. It has to be said that most of the journey now consists of reading Email, reading texts, answering tweets, BBM's, Whatsapp messages and facebook messages. It sure makes the journey go quicker - What did we ever do before having these devices?
On leaving Downham Market station, I had to wait for a level crossing barrier to lift, I think that may be a groundhop first for me, but with loads of time, I actually quite enjoyed the little wait.
First job was finding lunch. I bypassed a couple of pubs that didn't look up to much, almost went into a sit down fish and chip shop but was distracted by a sign that said 'Downham cafe'. Just my type of place! I love cafe's that do English food with no frills. Affectionally known as 'greasy spoons', this was a classic case. It was really busy which is always a good sign. Sure, it didn't do fine dining, but the service was polite, the food came quickly and was piping hot and it was reasonably priced. I selected a burger, egg, chips and beans and for a quick bite to eat, I couldn't fault it. Others around me were having shepherds pie, fish and chips, omlettes, sausage sandwiches and the guy next to me just had scrambled egg on toast that looked great. The sort of place tha I find all too infrequently.
I wandered up to the ground which was easy to find. I generally find Eastern grounds really nicely set up. No fault of the club, but this was a little disappointing. It's actually set in a recreation ground and the club had erected temporary fences so that they could charge admission. On first glance, I actually thought it was a training pitch. As I say, it's no criticism as you can only work with the facilities you have and the money you have available. There is cover on the far side and a few benches to sit on. A good clubhouse with a tea point and bar. A tennis court and cricket nets or on the same complex. It's actually quite a short pitch and has an end to end slope. Leaves are starting to fall which also doesn't help the pitch look its best.
Northampton Spencer are a level above Downham. Thhey took the initiative on 8 mins when the Downham keeper collided with a defender and the attacker literally walked the ball in. This keeper had a bad day, he had two shocking kick-outs that could easily have led to other goals and was also lucky to get away with it when he was caught in posession outside the box. He was actually substituted later in the half, I think because he picked up a knock when this first goal was scored. Downham should have equalised soon after this goal but when clean through, shot tamely at the keeper.
The second goal came on 40 mins. It was direct from a 25 yard free kick that the substitute keeper could only turn onto the post and it went in, he probably should have kept it out!
The second half was quite frenetic but there were not a lot of clear cut chances apart from one Downham effort that the keeper saved which again probably should have been scored.
Not a bad crowd and good to see quite a few young people including quite a surprising number of young ladies.
Not my favourite ever place to visit, but nobody could complain about being outside on such a glorious afternoon.
I decided that it was time to the Eastern league division 1 and Downham Market fitted the brief. I always have a spring in my step when I have a journey that avoids London and with a glorious early autumn day, all was set fair. Cambridge station has been re-vamped, two new platforms have been created. There's now less of a wait for trains to have an avaiable platform, but before everything was up and down once are, now you have to go up stairs, across a walkway, down stairs and then find which platform your connection is coming in to. All a little stressful when you have a tight connection for time, but I found where I was going with a couple of minutes to spare.
At Ely, a handful of schoolboys got on the train. Although they looked cheerful enough, I always feel terribly sorry for kids that have to go to school on a Saturday and I'm never exactly sure what the purpose is other than possibly enabling teachers to have longer holidays!
As well as Twitter, I've now been talked into joining facebook. It has to be said that most of the journey now consists of reading Email, reading texts, answering tweets, BBM's, Whatsapp messages and facebook messages. It sure makes the journey go quicker - What did we ever do before having these devices?
On leaving Downham Market station, I had to wait for a level crossing barrier to lift, I think that may be a groundhop first for me, but with loads of time, I actually quite enjoyed the little wait.
First job was finding lunch. I bypassed a couple of pubs that didn't look up to much, almost went into a sit down fish and chip shop but was distracted by a sign that said 'Downham cafe'. Just my type of place! I love cafe's that do English food with no frills. Affectionally known as 'greasy spoons', this was a classic case. It was really busy which is always a good sign. Sure, it didn't do fine dining, but the service was polite, the food came quickly and was piping hot and it was reasonably priced. I selected a burger, egg, chips and beans and for a quick bite to eat, I couldn't fault it. Others around me were having shepherds pie, fish and chips, omlettes, sausage sandwiches and the guy next to me just had scrambled egg on toast that looked great. The sort of place tha I find all too infrequently.
I wandered up to the ground which was easy to find. I generally find Eastern grounds really nicely set up. No fault of the club, but this was a little disappointing. It's actually set in a recreation ground and the club had erected temporary fences so that they could charge admission. On first glance, I actually thought it was a training pitch. As I say, it's no criticism as you can only work with the facilities you have and the money you have available. There is cover on the far side and a few benches to sit on. A good clubhouse with a tea point and bar. A tennis court and cricket nets or on the same complex. It's actually quite a short pitch and has an end to end slope. Leaves are starting to fall which also doesn't help the pitch look its best.
Northampton Spencer are a level above Downham. Thhey took the initiative on 8 mins when the Downham keeper collided with a defender and the attacker literally walked the ball in. This keeper had a bad day, he had two shocking kick-outs that could easily have led to other goals and was also lucky to get away with it when he was caught in posession outside the box. He was actually substituted later in the half, I think because he picked up a knock when this first goal was scored. Downham should have equalised soon after this goal but when clean through, shot tamely at the keeper.
The second goal came on 40 mins. It was direct from a 25 yard free kick that the substitute keeper could only turn onto the post and it went in, he probably should have kept it out!
The second half was quite frenetic but there were not a lot of clear cut chances apart from one Downham effort that the keeper saved which again probably should have been scored.
Not a bad crowd and good to see quite a few young people including quite a surprising number of young ladies.
Not my favourite ever place to visit, but nobody could complain about being outside on such a glorious afternoon.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Bride brings good luck to Romans
Laverstock & Ford 0 Roman Glass St George 1
When the draws for the early rounds of the FA competitons are published, I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop. So many weird and wonderful names that I've never visited, what to choose?
I narrowed it down by deciding to visit the Wessex league division 1 as I hadn't seen a game in this league for a while. I decided on AFC Porchester and that's how things stood for a couple of months. That is, until I realised that Porchester had been promoted last season, so being the anal person that I am, I changed venues. After some deliberation, I decided on Laverstock and Ford.
The paralympics were in full swing that made London even busier than usual, but just like the Olympics themselves, there was a lovely buzz in the city which was full of excited, happy faces, all kinds of nationalities and helpful volunteers around every corner. If only it was always like this.
On travelling the escolater up to Waterloo station, I saw a couple of girls coming down eating ice lollies. Slightly unusual I thought but shrugged it off. About 4 people later, somebody else was eating an ice lolly, then another, then another....When I reached the concourse, people far and wide were all eating ice lollies. I though I'd walked in on some kind of weird flash mob. Having 30 minutes to spare, I decided to investigate. I soon bumped into some volunteers with boxes galore, handing out these strawberry split lollies, with Virgin's name on the otherwise plain wrapper. I guess it was something to do with the olympics as well. What was nice to see is how this kind of brought everyone together. Young children, OAP's, policemen, businessmen, hoodies,everyone just standing around eating an ice lolly.
I've been to Salisbury 4 times in just over a year for various reasons and therefore knew where I was going once I arrived. What I wasn't sure of was which stop to stand at once I reached the bus station. I called into the information office to ask. A woman behind the desk was counting money and there was a look of despair in her face when she thought I wwas going to interrupt her and put her off. "Just a minute sir" she almost shrieked. I patiently waited a couple of minutes for her to finish, the desire to randomly ay numbers out loud almost overwhelming.
The bus journey to Laverstock was so quick, I almost missed my stop. I walked up the road towards the ground and found a one-stop convenience store opposite the entrance. I bought a slightly ropey ham and mustard sandwhich which was okay but I fancied something more substantial.
I gentleman at the gate gave me a very warm welcome and was full of good humour, apparently there was a wedding on also in the function room, people kept asking him where to park even though there was a cardboard sign right next to him with the word parking on it and an arrow pointing towards an adjacent field.
I have to say, the ground verged on the charming. Lovely views, an unusual little stand dressed around the nea corner flag, nearby rivers and bridges, it really is a delight. I visited the tea hut and again the lady serving was delightful. I ordered sausage and chips which weere cooked fresh. When they arrived, I was presented with two perfectly cooked, plump pork sausages and piping hot chips that you could tell were cooked in fresh oil, the nicest food I've eaten at a non-league ground for a long time. A gentleman official from the club then came and chatted to me for 10 mens, very knowledgable and passionate about non-league football, he turned out to be the husband of the lady in the tea hut and again was extremely good company.
I took a stroll around the ground to the sound of chiming church bells and the sight of four parachutists dropping from the sky in the near distance.
The grass was perhaps a little long on the pitch but it played well enough.
Laverstock had put a completely fresh team together following their relegation last season and you could see that there was still a bit of gelling that needed to take place. Roman Glass had the best first half chances with the Laverstock keeper making a handful of useful stops.
at half-time Roman Glass stayed out on the pitch for their team talk. It was a lovely afternoon but this was still quite unusual. What was more unusual was the bride from the forementioned wedding strolling along the car park and asking to have her picture taken with the team. They happily obliged and annoyingly I didn't get there in time to capture that moment. Still, another first at a non-league game for me.
The second half was more of a scrappy affair. Roman Glass scored on 68 minutes with a far post header from a free kick. Lots of complaints from Laverstock but I didn't see anything wrong.
Laverstock threw not exactly the kitchen sink, more like a few taps and a soap dispenser at Roman Glass in the last 15 minutes. There were a few scarea and Laverstock did have one effort disallowed for offside, but Roman Glass just about deserved the win.
After my disspiriting experience in my last Vase game at Herne Bay, this totally restored my faith in the competition.
A terrific club full of the nicest people I've met on the circuit for a long time. My only sadness is that I'm unlikely to return.
Give them a visit if you can.
When the draws for the early rounds of the FA competitons are published, I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop. So many weird and wonderful names that I've never visited, what to choose?
I narrowed it down by deciding to visit the Wessex league division 1 as I hadn't seen a game in this league for a while. I decided on AFC Porchester and that's how things stood for a couple of months. That is, until I realised that Porchester had been promoted last season, so being the anal person that I am, I changed venues. After some deliberation, I decided on Laverstock and Ford.
The paralympics were in full swing that made London even busier than usual, but just like the Olympics themselves, there was a lovely buzz in the city which was full of excited, happy faces, all kinds of nationalities and helpful volunteers around every corner. If only it was always like this.
On travelling the escolater up to Waterloo station, I saw a couple of girls coming down eating ice lollies. Slightly unusual I thought but shrugged it off. About 4 people later, somebody else was eating an ice lolly, then another, then another....When I reached the concourse, people far and wide were all eating ice lollies. I though I'd walked in on some kind of weird flash mob. Having 30 minutes to spare, I decided to investigate. I soon bumped into some volunteers with boxes galore, handing out these strawberry split lollies, with Virgin's name on the otherwise plain wrapper. I guess it was something to do with the olympics as well. What was nice to see is how this kind of brought everyone together. Young children, OAP's, policemen, businessmen, hoodies,everyone just standing around eating an ice lolly.
I've been to Salisbury 4 times in just over a year for various reasons and therefore knew where I was going once I arrived. What I wasn't sure of was which stop to stand at once I reached the bus station. I called into the information office to ask. A woman behind the desk was counting money and there was a look of despair in her face when she thought I wwas going to interrupt her and put her off. "Just a minute sir" she almost shrieked. I patiently waited a couple of minutes for her to finish, the desire to randomly ay numbers out loud almost overwhelming.
The bus journey to Laverstock was so quick, I almost missed my stop. I walked up the road towards the ground and found a one-stop convenience store opposite the entrance. I bought a slightly ropey ham and mustard sandwhich which was okay but I fancied something more substantial.
I gentleman at the gate gave me a very warm welcome and was full of good humour, apparently there was a wedding on also in the function room, people kept asking him where to park even though there was a cardboard sign right next to him with the word parking on it and an arrow pointing towards an adjacent field.
I have to say, the ground verged on the charming. Lovely views, an unusual little stand dressed around the nea corner flag, nearby rivers and bridges, it really is a delight. I visited the tea hut and again the lady serving was delightful. I ordered sausage and chips which weere cooked fresh. When they arrived, I was presented with two perfectly cooked, plump pork sausages and piping hot chips that you could tell were cooked in fresh oil, the nicest food I've eaten at a non-league ground for a long time. A gentleman official from the club then came and chatted to me for 10 mens, very knowledgable and passionate about non-league football, he turned out to be the husband of the lady in the tea hut and again was extremely good company.
I took a stroll around the ground to the sound of chiming church bells and the sight of four parachutists dropping from the sky in the near distance.
The grass was perhaps a little long on the pitch but it played well enough.
Laverstock had put a completely fresh team together following their relegation last season and you could see that there was still a bit of gelling that needed to take place. Roman Glass had the best first half chances with the Laverstock keeper making a handful of useful stops.
at half-time Roman Glass stayed out on the pitch for their team talk. It was a lovely afternoon but this was still quite unusual. What was more unusual was the bride from the forementioned wedding strolling along the car park and asking to have her picture taken with the team. They happily obliged and annoyingly I didn't get there in time to capture that moment. Still, another first at a non-league game for me.
The second half was more of a scrappy affair. Roman Glass scored on 68 minutes with a far post header from a free kick. Lots of complaints from Laverstock but I didn't see anything wrong.
Laverstock threw not exactly the kitchen sink, more like a few taps and a soap dispenser at Roman Glass in the last 15 minutes. There were a few scarea and Laverstock did have one effort disallowed for offside, but Roman Glass just about deserved the win.
After my disspiriting experience in my last Vase game at Herne Bay, this totally restored my faith in the competition.
A terrific club full of the nicest people I've met on the circuit for a long time. My only sadness is that I'm unlikely to return.
Give them a visit if you can.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Congratulations Dunston UTS
Dunston UTS 2 West Auckland Town 0
Irritatingly, I picked up a nasty bug and didn't feel up to attending the Vase final.
Makes me even more eager to find out the opening draw for next seasons tournament.
Congratulations to Dunston UTS. Pleasant, humorous fans and worthy winners.
Irritatingly, I picked up a nasty bug and didn't feel up to attending the Vase final.
Makes me even more eager to find out the opening draw for next seasons tournament.
Congratulations to Dunston UTS. Pleasant, humorous fans and worthy winners.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Auckland keep Herne at Bay
Herne Bay 2 West Auckland 2
After attending the superbly organised and thoroughly enjoyable Central Midlands league hop the previous weekend, I had fully intended to make the long trawl up to Dunston. But at short notice, I couldn't find a reasonably cheap rail ticket and in this present climate, could not justify the expenses. So it was off to Herne Bay who funnily enough, I had visited in pre-season for the first time. I got my first view of the new concourse at Kings Cross station and what an excellent improvement it is. Nice shops, plenty of standing room with clear information on train departures adn queues for the photo opportunity with a shopping trolley disappearing into the wall at platform 9 & 3/4. The journey out to the north Kent coast doesn't look to be far when you look at a map, but seems to take a long time on the train considering that there's only a handful of stops. But the journey went without incident and I was in the happy position on arriving in Herne Bay of knowing exactly where I was going. Things were well Marshalled on arrival and I was soon in the ground. Small covered areas are on wither side and behind the far goal. There were four different places where you could buy food and this helped to keep the queues down. The cheeseburger was not at all bad but not a patch on the fabulous offering at Dronfield a week earlier. I also had a cold, hot cross bun which was on sale and thoroughly enjoyed this early Easter offering. Due to threats of 18-20 degree temperatures and not a cloud in the sky, I went without a coat. Idiotically, I forgotten that we would be right next to the coast and as pleasant as the sun was, it was remarkably chilly.
Sadly, this game will be remembered for the pathetic behaviour by a group of Herne Bay fans. They had assembled at least an hour before the game and immediately started hurling deeply unpleasant, homophobic chants at the West Auckland fans. After a long journey from the North, these followers deserved a warm welcome. The chanting continued all afternoon and there was a real tension around when a group of Auckland fans, probably sick of the abuse they'd been taking for the last hour, went and stood in the same covered area. The chanting was deeply unpleasant all afternoon, completely lacking in any humour or support for their team and purely based on insulting and winding up the opposing fans. It's such a shame that the biggest day in a clubs history should be hijacked by this pathetic, hooligan element. The stewards did a brilliant job under severe provocation and I'll never understand why the police did not enter the ground.
The game itself was excellent. Both teams played the game hard but fair. Respect was shown all around and it was expertly refereed. Auckland scored after only 5 mins. A nervy attempt at control by the Herne Bay centre half went wrong and Auckland broke clear to slot home. On 15 mins the lead was doubled with a well hit finish from just outside the box and it was all looking a bit one-sided. But Herne Bay fought back with the best goal of the afternoon as their nippy cwntre forward blasted a finish into the far corner after a run down the left. The equaliser came 5 mins into the second half as a 25 yard shot went in after catching a deflection of a defender. Herne Bay came closest to sealing a first league advantage, but the Auckland keeper made a great save at the death.
The game was very enjoyable but this is the second year running where I've encountered crowd incidents at the semi-final stage. I've got to the stage now where if this happens again, I'm going to go elsewhere on semi-final days and let the idiots spoil someone elses day.
No second leg for me as my wife is singing in a choir at Wembley stadium next Saturday and I'm off to watch.
I know - no cpmment!
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