January 2025

Remember, the time of year
when the future appears
like a blank sheet of paper
a clean calendar, a new chance.
On thick white snow
You vow fresh footprints
then watch them go
with the wind’s hearty gust.
Fill your glass. Here’s tae us. Promises
made to be broken, made to last.

by Jackie Kay (1961 – )

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Saturday 4th January 2025

EFL Championship

Norwich City 2

Amankwah Forson 90+1, 90+5,

Coventry City 1

Milan Van Ewijk 24,

Referee: James Bell.                                                     Attendance: 26,682

Admission: OAP £21.00 (£31).                                 Programme: £4.00

Smash and grab! Only my sixth visit since 1968 when Blackpool were the winners and, as a student in Liverpool, I drove down overnight for the match. For long periods in this match, after Coventry’s 24th minute opener, this game drifted into infinity and …. suddenly woke up in added time right at the very end when The Canaries grabbed two goals (91 & 95 minutes) to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. With sons, Jim and Mike and grandson, Freddie.

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Pre match lunch in The Gunn Club – from left: Mike, Ed, Jim and Freddie

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Grandson, Freddie and Grandad, Ed

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Ed at the front with Freddie next to him and Jim and Mike beyond!

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Brilliant day out! Jim drove us all to Peterborough and we caught the 10.40 train to Norwich, arriving at 12.11. It was only a ten minute walk to the stadium and we were booked into The Gunn Club for lunch at 12.30pm. Excellent meal, good seats in the stand, Coventry City should have won! Norwich after a lacklustre performance for ALL of normal time, redeemed themselves with two goals in added time at the end of the match. Then it was the 17.50 back to Peterborough, Jim drove us back to Corby and got himself home to Banbury before the snows arrived!

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Tuesday 7th January 2025

Spartan South Midlands League

Division 1 Cup Quarter-final

Moulton 1

Matty Long 20,

Desborough Town 5

Will Russell 25, 44, 46, Iain Blake 70, Kai Magee 83,

Referee: Jakub Gierczyk.                                            Attendance: 71

Admission: oAP £4.00 (£7).                                      Programme: FREE

It wasn’t a chit billy, it was absolutely Baltic. I had to scrape the ice off my car after the match! Good game, though, on Moulton’s state of the art plastic pitch. These two teams are seriously challenging for promotion and it was the hosts who took the lead after 20 minutes. Back came Ar Tarn with two goals of their own to take the lead at the interval and three second half strikes completed a comprehensive dismantling of the home side!

There was an incident in the thirty second minute when the referee awarded a free kick to the home side but the away team player remained on the ground. I couldn’t see very well from the other side of the pitch, but a visiting side substitute came onto the pitch and shoved (the referee allegedly said: “head-butted”) a player from the home side. The substitute was sent off without ever kicking the ball! On his way off the pitch, he told me that one of the home players had stamped on the head of the player lying on the ground. The incident added ten minutes to the first half.

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Saturday 11th January 2024

Jewson Western League Division 1

Sturminster Newton United 2

Buddy O’Shea 45+2, 84,

Mendip Broadwalk 1

Rhys Hickery 1,

Referee: David Kemnery. Official Attendance: 133

Admission: OAP £4.00 (£7). Programme: £2.00

This is the first season in The Western League for both of these clubs. The Cherries, mind you, can trace their history back to the 1870s and an FA Cup encounter with the legendary ‘Wanderers’. The ground is spartan, with hard standing on two sides and a small covered standing area on one side. The concrete base for a seated stand is further along the same side. There is a large club house with catering facilities and a bar. The match began explosively with a goal after only 40 seconds to the visitors. They hung onto this lead until added time at the end of the first half, when the hosts equalised. A second goal to the hosts six minutes from time gave them the victory, but not before a sending off for the visitors in the eighth minute of added time and tense contretemps between player and spectators on his way to the dressing room! With John Main.

Monday 13th January 2025

Walsall Senior Cup Quarter-final

Coleshill Town 0

Rushall Olympic 0

Referee: Alex Rolfe. Official Attendance: 101

Admission: oAP £8.00 (£10). Programme: £2.00

Coleshill Town won 4-2 on penalties after 90 minutes

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Tuesday 14th January 2025

Northern Premier League Midlands Division 1

Rugby Town 1

Harrison Nee 24,

Loughborough Students 1

Hussein Issa 63,

Referee: Jason Porter. Official Attendance: 143

Admission: OAP £5.00 (£10). Programme: £2.00

Butlin Road is an impressive stadium with hard standing throughout, cover on all four sides, crash barriers and substantial terracing behind each goal. It was a pity that only a smattering of spectators were there to witness the encounter. Rugby Town’s average attendance this season is 288, but less than half of that turned up tonight. Relegation threatened Rugby, under new management, enjoyed the better of the first half and took a 1-0 lead into the interval. The students responded well in the second period and struck on the hour mark to level the score … and a draw was probably the right result! With John Main.

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Wednesday 15th January 2025

West Herts St Mary’s Challenge Cup Quarter-final

Tring Athletic 2

George Carbery 56, 80 (pen),

Tring Corinthians 1

Harry Robertson 67,

Referee: Robert Poole. Attendance: 141

Admission: OAP £5.00 (£9). Programme: NONE

Both of these teams grace The Spartan South Midlands League, but there are two divisions between them, with hosts, Athletic in mid-table in the premier division and Corinthians in mid table in division 2. It should have been a massacre, but the hosts were woefully profligate and the visitors plugged away doggedly. After a goalless first half, Athletic took the lead just before the hour mark, Corinthians equalised some ten minutes later with an outrageous free kick and, out of nowhere, the hosts won it with a penalty five minutes from time! Heavy fog rolled in midway through the second half!

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Saturday 18th January 2025

Southern Combination League Division 1

Billingshurst 0

Worthing United 2

Danny Kingston 15, Dan Hills,

Referee: Oliver Westgate. Official Attendance: 102

Admission: OAP £4.00 (£7). Programme: ON LINE

I do hate unnecessary tautology. Surely a “league” is a “ combination”! No need to say it twice! Jubilee Fields is a good walk from Billingshurst Station – even when the postcode is correct! The ground is very basic. A grass pitch with hard standing on three sides and a seated stand with around 75 seats. There is a wire fence surrounding the arena and there were spectators who watched for free on the outside of it. The club house is shared with the cricket club. These two sides are aiming for the play-off places and fifth placed Worthing were deserved victors with a goal in each half against the seventh placed hosts.

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