May 2023

Tall Nettles
Tall nettles cover up, as they have done
These many springs, the rusty harrow, the plough
Long worn out, and the roller made of stone:
Only the elm butt tops the nettles now.
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This corner of the farmyard I like most:
As well as any bloom upon a flower
I like the dust on the nettles, never lost
Except to prove the sweetness of a shower.

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Edward Thomas 1878 – 1917

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Monday 1st May 2023
Midland League Division 3
Wake Green 1
Ryan Percival 30,
Coventrians 2
Nathan McGarrity 60 (pen), 63,
Referee: Mark Chester.                             Attendance: 90
Admission: £3.00.
Programme: NONE
A drive up to Shirley and a reasonable repast at The Drawbridge Inn and then, straight across the road (taking a peek at the ducks on the canal), to The Holloway, home (rented for £18,000 per year!) of Wake Green Amateurs. They sit in fifth place in the table, but champions elect, Coventrians, were the visitors and the superior side, despite being a goal down at the interval. Two goals (the first, a penalty), around the hour mark from skipper, Nathan McGarrity sealed the victory. There was a goodly smattering of hoppers in attendance!

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Wednesday 3rd May 2023
Cambridgeshire County League Senior A
Milton 5
Toby Swann 15,77, Elliott Bamforth 57, Adam Attwater 64, Ashley Shipp 82,
Thaxted Rangers 1
Mitchell Day 79,
Referee: David Burch.                                 Attendance: 27
Admission: F.O.C.                                       Programme: NONE
Already promoted Milton thrashed mid-table Thaxted with four of their goals coming in the second half. The Sycamores Recreation Ground in Milton, which is just off the A14 past Cambridge, has a small club house serving drinks and snacks and the cricket pitch is between the pavilion and the football pitch which is surrounded by woods. Very helpful officials, who ensured that I had the team sheets ….. and then, I realised that I had been here before! In fact, it was earlier this season, last August, when Milton beat Tottenham by 2-1. How could I have forgotten it?
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Thursday 4th May 2023
Coventry Alliance Premier Division
Whitnash Town 4
Tommy Clarke 42, 47, Aaron Whitmore 43, Ryan Butler 89,
Coundon Court OB 1
Connor Haynes 83,
Referee: Michael Kalisz.                                    Attendance:- 42
Admission: F.O.C.                                              Programme: NONE
Nothing happening at The Heathcote in Whitnash, when I met up with John Main. Eventually, we discovered that the match had been switched to Ajax Park, home of Central Ajax of Midland League Division 3, some five miles away in Warwick. We got there with minutes to spare. Top of the table Whitnash swatted away second placed Coundon, as if despatching a troublesome bluebottle and took the points and the League title.
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Wednesday 10th May 2023
Nottinghamshire Senior League Division 3
Trent Vineyard 1
Rory Lewis 90+5,
The Rossoneri 3
Tizi Maninga 78, Adam Ahmed 86, Michel Locko 90+7,
Referee: Chris Jackson.                                 Attendance: 12
Admission: F.O.C.                                          Programme: NONE
Down by The river Trent in Beeston, Nottingham, even the changing rooms,adjacent to the pitch are on stilts in case the river floods right by the weir. Indeed, for much of this match, watching the river would have been far more exciting than following the football. Despite a myriad of opportunities, it took the visitors 78 minute to open the scoring. A second arrived after 86 minutes followed by a goal to each side, deep into added time at the end. With John Main and Dave Wooding.
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Thursday 18th May 2023
Coventry Alliance Division 1
Fillongley 0
Bedworth Liberal 4
Adam Woods 16, 21, 77, Ryan Jones 59,
Referee: Dave Gibbons.                      Attendance: 15
Admission: F.O.C.                               Programme: NONE
These two clubs are maybe five miles apart in North Warwickshire and almost within spitting distance of the M6 motorway. Nigel Winterburn, the Arsenal and England defender, started his football career here and his mother, Mavis, takes care of the club’s kit and has done so for the last seventy-three years! Paul Cashmore, club Secretary, is part of a small, hardworking committee who ensure that football continues in this tiny village, but none of the players are actually from here. Tonight, with nothing at stake, the visitors dominated with two goals in each half and scored a resounding victory.
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The church of St Mary peeps through the trees and overlooks the children play area adjacent to the pitch
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Saturday 20th May 2023
Herts Senior County League Division 3
Croxley Green 4
Harry West 22, Alex Hilton 27, Alex Morgan 54, Henry Hindley 71,
Sun Sports 1
Stephen Such 79
Referee: Les Moody.                                                      Attendance: 39
Admission: F.O.C.                                                         Programme: NONE
Fine repast with Phil Evans at The Harvester close by The Croxley Danes School, where the match was supposed to be played, but, of course, it wasn’t and it was Phil, a native of the metropolis, who tracked it down via knowledgeable grandson to St Joan of Arc School in Rickmansworth. It was a pretty new 3G pitch inside a cage! The hosts had an eight point advantage at the top of the table, the visitors were in second place and comprehensively dismantled by the rampant champions elect.
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Tuesday 23rd May 2023
Herts Senior County League Premier Division
Belstone 3
Joel Bell 12, Louis Lobjoit 88, Ryan Hope 90 (pen),
Cuffley Seniors 1
Dan Jones 43,
Referee:- Robert Poole.                                   Attendance: 60
Admission: F.O.C.                                           Programme: Not today! However, there usually is a programme on match day, and previous match programmes were available, free of charge.
Medburn Sports Ground, just outside Radlett, is pretty impressive with hard standing on three sides, a small covered stand and a pitch you could play bowls on! The hosts lie third in the league, started impressively, scored and then, just before the interval, gave away a howler of a goal. The second half looked particularly frustrating for the hosts, but two goals in the 88th and 90th minutes gave them the victory and the points. A goodly gathering of hoppers included Andy English, Andy Smith, Martin Hayden, Alan Pople, Russell Cox and John Main amongst others.
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John Main outside the small stand at Belstone, prior to the match
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My train to Radlett at Corby Station!
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Wednesday 24th May 2023
Herts Senior County League Premier Division
Ware Sports 0
Michael Appiah s/o 26,
Bush Hill Rangers 5
Rocheim Stewart 26 (pen), 60, Michael Akin 39, Jordan mcKenzie 43, Hamza Abdulle 67.
Referee: Andy O’Brien.                                               Attendance:- 65
Admission: F.O.C.                                                       Programme: NONE
We had hoped that this evening might have brought the third of Wodson Sport Centre’s pitches into action, but it was not to be and instead, it was a revisit to the ground where Wodson Park used to play. With this victory, Bush Hill took the Herts Senior County League Premier Division championship. It sounds a thumping victory – and it was – but it all started with a penalty after 26 minutes and a home player dismissed. 0-3 at half-time and the hosts suffered a further loss when their goalkeeper went off injured and there were no substitutes left. The Rangers Ultras kept up a vibrant support for their team, and they were not disappointed. With Martin Hayden and a host of hoppers!
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26th minute penalty scored by Rocheim Stewart.
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One of the many aeroplanes coming into land at Luton airport.
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Wednesday 31st May 2023
Herts Senior County league Division 3
Allenburys Sports 4
Chris Wells 45, Jordan Gill 50 (pen), 89 (pen), George Lacey 90+5,
Harpenden Colts 1
Charlie Ashard-Weldon 26,
Referee: Phil Gardner.                                         Attendance: 15
Admission: F.O.C.                                                Programme: NONE
On a chilly evening at Allenburys Sports & Social Club in Ware, these two teams played out the last fixture in this season’s Herts Senior County League. It was cold and miserable in the shadow of the thunderous A10, but the hosts could conceivably gain promotion if they won by five clear goals. The final score flattered them. 1-1 at the interval and 2-1 going into the final minute, the hosts grabbed two extra time goals, but it wasn’t enough to complete a successful promotion challenge! With Brian Buck and Chris Collins.
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Other Matches:

Tuesday 9th May 2023

Leicestershire & Rutland FA Saturday Trophy FINAL at Holmes Park

Community FA 1 Rogue Elite 1 (Rogue Elite won 4-2 on penalties) Attendance: 202

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Cricket

Saturday 6th May 2023
Northamptonshire Cricket League Division 2 (at Kettering 11.00am start)
St Crispins & Ryelands (won toss) 183 all out (48.2 overs)
Kettering 185 for 7 (34.4 overs)
Kettering won by 7 wickets
Umpire: Eddie McGeown
It was a pretty wet day and we completed the match only with great difficulty. Both captains and players were very positive throughout! Three weeks later St Crispin & Rylands pulled their first team out of Division 2 of The Northants Cricket League and consequently, the result of this match was expunged!
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Sunday 7th May 2023
Rutland League Division 1 (at Barnack 12.30pm start)
Peterborough Town 66 all out (22 overs)
lost to:
Barnack (won toss) 69 for 3 (14.5 overs)
by seven wickets
Umpires: Andy Watson and Eddie McGeown
It was a pity that the weather was so lovely this afternoon, this match deserved to go the distance, but it was not to be, a combination of penetrating bowling and some curious batting lapses led to an early Peterborough demise and the hosts cleaned up in less than fifteen overs!
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Saturday 13th May 2023
Northamptonshire Cricket League Division 1
at Loddington Playing Fields 11.00am start
Thrapston 200 all out in 45.3 overs
defeated
Loddington & Mawsley 151 all out in 49.3 overs
by 49 runs.
Umpires: Pankaj Gurruani & Eddie McGeown
The wicket was damp and soft, especially down my end, but it played quite well with no uneven bounce and not an awful lot in the way of spin or turn. The hosts rather threw the game away, Thrapston’s modest total should have been overhauled, but by the time they were 64 for 5 and then 87 for 7, they decided to try and shut up shop and played for the draw, but even that they couldn’t achieve.
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Sunday 14th May 2023
Rutland & District League Division 1
(at Burghley Park 12.30pm start)
Burghley Park 214 for 8 (45 overs)
lost to
Barnack (won toss) 215 for 9 (43.4 overs)
Umpires: Simon Clark & Eddie McGeown
A titanic struggle in the grounds of Burghley House, home of the famous Burghley Horse Trials, and a cracking game of cricket in Stamford. It was a shame that there had to be a loser!
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Burghley House in the background built by William Cecil, Lord Burghley in the 1570s
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Wednesday 17th May 2023
National U15 Girls T20 Competition
at Stamford School 1.30pm start
Abbotsholme School (won toss) 179 for 0 (20 overs)
defeated
Stamford School 111 all out (18 overs)
by 68 runs
Umpires: Martyn Dobbs & Eddie McGeown
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Wednesday 17th May 2023
Northants Women’s Midweek League
at Geddington 6.00pm start
Geddington 104 for 1 (18 overs)
lost to
Kettering (won toss) 105 for 4 (16.1 overs)
by six wickets
Umpires: Eddie McGeown & Simon Clark
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Sunday 21st May 2023
East Midlands Women’s Cricket League Division 1
at Thrapston 1.00pm start
Kettering Women 163 all out in 36.2 overs
defeated
Thrapston Women 136 all out in 33.0 overs
by 27 runs
Umpires: Kate Marshall & Eddie McGeown
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Saturday 27th May 2023
Northants Cricket League Division 2
at Weekly & Warkton 11.00am start.
Weekly & Warkton 221 for 4 (50 overs)
defeated
Wellingborough Indians 151 all out (44.1 overs)
by 70 runs
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Thursday 25th May 2023
Down the right hand arm of “The Dusty”, crossing Corby Road, and the field opposite, to enter the gloom of The Plantation, emerging into an avenue of hawthorn, flanked by brackish pools of water before espying a birdwatch (or maybe a deer watch) shelter ……. and, there, in the distance, a small muntjac unawares, about to beetle off into the undergrowth. More brackish pools and a “pepperpot”, a tower taking air into the railway tunnel 150 feet below. Up on the escarpment, a wonderful view across the valley to Caldecott and then, emerging halfway down Rockingham hill, a castle entrance, whilst next door, the church of St Leonard points it’s tower heavenwards, with the battlements of Rockingham Castle behind it. Onwards, briefly skirting Great Easton, to the church of St John the Evangelist in Caldecott (always open) and then back across the verdant fields, rich with sheep and buttercups, towards Gretton Weir, running quite low and then, the climb back up into Gretton, passing the parish church of St James. Eight stiles and 10.33 miles.
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Caldecott
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St John the Evangelist, Caldecott
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April 2023

Pippa’s Song

The year’s at the spring,

And day’s at the morn,

Morning’s at seven,

The hillside’s dew-pearl’d,

The lark’s on the wing,

The snail’s on the thorn,

God’s in His heaven  –

All’s right with the world.

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

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Saturday 1st April 2023
Southern Combination Premier Division
Steyning Town 1
Jack Barnes 90+2 (pen)
Little Common 1
Sam Ellis 25, Paul Feakins s/o 52,
Referee:- Darren Eaton.                                 Attendance: 73
Admission:- FREE.                                         Programme:- NONE
The Shooting Field at Steyning has a 3G pitch, a couple of seated stands for maybe a hundred spectators, a covered standing area along the same side but no cover elsewhere, although there was hard standing all round. Little Common, becalmed in the lower reaches of the table, scored first against play-off hopefuls, Steyning, and then, despite the dismissal of one of their defenders, held on until the second minute of added time at the end of the match, when a somewhat fortuitous penalty was awarded to the hosts, who gratefully grabbed the lifeline! Free entry, it was said, because they had no-one to man the gate! With John Main and several other hoppers!
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Sunday 2nd April 2023
Papa Johns Trophy FINAL at Wembley Stadium
Bolton Wanderers 4
Kyle Dempsey 4, Dion Charles 10, Elias Kachunga 49, Gethin Jones 63,
Plymouth Argyle 0
Referee: Ben Toner.                                         Attendance:- 79,389
Admission: OMGDS £16.50 (£30.50)         Programme: £10.00
All the sons and grandsons (and Gary Miller!) came to see grandad’s team playing – and winning – at Wembley. Long before the final whistle, the vast majority of Argyle’s faithful had left the stadium and were well on their way home as the Wanderers decisively and comprehensively dismantled the opposition in this one sided encounter with the biggest ever result in EFL Cup Final history. Lovely day, tremendous atmosphere and we all went home happy!
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Liam, Gary and Mike with Sonny to the right at the front, in the Brazilian / Argentinian cafe before the match.
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Jim, with Sonny (top) and Kingsley
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We had lunch in the shadow of the great arc of Wembley, a Brazilian/Argentinian style lunch, very enjoyable
From left:  (rear): Liam, Gary Miller, Jim, Mike, Ed (front): Kingsley, Freddie and Sonny
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The view from our excellent seats (absolute pain getting into the ground – we had to queue for twenty-five minutes!
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Basking in the sunlight, the Bolton Wanderers faithful enjoying their moment of triumph.
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By the end of the match, the vast majority of Plymouth Argyle supporters had left the ground and only the congratulations to Bolton Wanderers sign remained!
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Monday 3rd April 2023
Spartan South Midlands League Division 2
AFC Caddington 1
Callum Moore 6,
Sarratt 2
Dan Ormsby 31, Richard Vercesi 77 (pen)
Referee:- Connor MacKay.                                 Attendance:- 59
Admission : F.O.C.                                              Programme: NONE
On a chilly evening, just outside Luton in the Bedfordshire village of Caddington, with aeroplanes, low flying overhead, coming in to land at Luton airport, and a goodly gathering of hoppers, these two sides from the lower echelons of the division, played out a fairly feisty encounter on a cow field of a football pitch. The hosts, newly arrived back in The SSML this season, scored first, but were pegged back before the interval and then undone by a 77th minute penalty.
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Tuesday 4th April 2023
Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 2 South
Letcombe 3
Josh Fowler 18, 78, Jordan Davies 52,
Farringdon Town 0
Referee: Michael Cofie.                                Attendance: 41
Admission: F.O.C.                                        Programme: NONE
Letcombe Regis in darkest, deepest Oxfordshire (population: 578), hosts a quite scenic recreation arena with cricket and tennis and far out at the back, a football ground with a fifty seater stand, hard standing and access to the rustic club house with a couple of excellent real ales available. Tonight, top of the table Letcombe, were taking on local rivals, Faringdon Town, who were themselves occupying third place with a game in hand, but it was no contest. Farringdon never really looked like scoring, whilst the hosts bagged a couple of second half strikes to add to their eighteenth minute opener. It was pretty dark at the end!
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Thursday 6th April 2023
Spartan South Midlands League Division 2
Sarratt 4
Connor Wagner 66, 76, 81, Richard Vercesi 80 (pen),
Buckingham United 3
Ashley Urquhart 39, 56, Matt Cruse 70,
Referee:- Mark Bowring.                                   Attendance: 23
Admission: F.O.C.                                              Programme: NONE
The King George V playing Field (Sarratt) was drenched by heavy rain prior to this encounter, but the pitch, whilst greasy remained bumpy and uneven. The hosts, becalmed in mid-table were lacklustre for much of this match. They went into the interval a goal down and wih ten minutes remaining, were 1-3 down and third from bottom Buckingham had hopes of a rare victory. Three goals in a rousing final five minutes retrieved the situation and consigned the visitors to yet another defeat.
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Germany April 2023

Another foreign visit and the second to Germany this year! Son Mike and grandson Freddie were joined by Mike’s brother-in-law, Alan Eathorne and his son, Albie, and  Gary Miller, perennial and brilliant organiser of these German trips. Me? I just tag along for the ride and enjoy getting to as many grounds as possible!. Our flight left Stansted at 07.25 and we were in Cologne for 9.30am (CET). The first day was split up. We were all staying at The Mercure Hotel in Dusseldorf, but the rest of them were going to see Bayer Leverkusen. As I had already been there, I chose to go, instead, to Duisburg, despite the fact that the match in Liga 3 was against Borussia Dortmund seconds! So, when they got off the train at Dusseldorf to go to the hotel, they took my bag with them, but I stayed on the train to Duisburg.

Saturday 8th April 2023
Deutsche Bundesliga 3
MSV Duisburg 0
Borussia Dortmund II 5
Antonio Papadopoulos 25, Nijnmah 57, Michael Eberwein 67, Marvin Senger (og) 70,Franz Pfanne 75, 
Referee:- Jonas Brombacher.                                 Attendance:- 11,073
Admission:- €27.00.                                                Programme:- NONE
Quite an impressive stadium, though barely a third full and only a small gathering of away fans, maybe a little over a hundred. Lots of BVB fans at Duisburg station going to their home match with Union Berlin! Neither of these two teams are proving successful, this season, though the hosts are higher in the table. However it was the visitors who stole the show, started slowly, a single goal to the good at the break, but a stunning second half saw them strike four more times and, at the end, they ran to their fans in the away end, ecstatic and pretty well pleased with themselves. Many of the home fans did stay, but many also left before the end!
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The away contingent at MSV Duisburg
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Sunday 9th April 2023
Deutsche Bundesliga
Borussia Monchengladbach 2
Nathan Ngoumou 34, Marcus Thuram 63,
VfL Wolfsburg 0
Referee:- T Gerach.                             Attendance:- 51,127
Admission:- €31.90 (re-sale).           Programme:- NONE
The usual German efficiency, free bus service to and from the Hauptbanhof to the stadium. However, after the match, whilst I enquired which bus went back to Hauptbanhof, the rest just jumped onto the first available bus and it WAS NOT GOING to Hauptbanhof! They had a merry ride before being dropped off somewhere nearer the station, whilst I was already back in Dusseldorf! Magnificent arena, plenty of legroom in this ground, less than 20 years old and a victory for” Die Fohlen” – the foals, named after the very successful young team of the seventies.
I was sat next to Joachim Gnatzky, who was from Monchengladbach. He to was a football hopper, though perhaps not on the grand scale, but he was knowledgeable and he mentioned an U-19 tournament taking place in Dusseldorf over Easter, and suggested that I might go and see one of the matches.
Today’s game was cat and mouse. The visitors had by far the better possession, but went in a goal adrift at the interval. The hosts, who rarely squandered more than three players in attack, stole another breakaway goal midway through the second half and strode away with an unlikely victory!
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From the left: Albie, Freddie, Gary, Mike and Alan
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Freddie treated himself;f to a “Bucket Hat’, courtesy of his Dad!
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Monday 10th April 2023
Das Osterturnier U-19 Championship
Second Semi-final
Borussia Monchengladbach U19 1
Tony Reitz 47,
Red Bull Salzburg U-19 1
Gabriel Zaic 20,
Referee:- Erich Leichy.                          Attendance: 446
Admission: OMGDS €10 (€12).           Tournament Programme: €10
Neat little ground, impossible to find on Futbolog, but sporting a 500 seater stand down one side with terracing adjacent. This tournament is reaching its climax, but I had another match in Dusseldorf, so I didn’t stay for the final. Gladbach, much the weaker side, equalised three minutes from time, but Salzburg won the penalty shoot out by 6-5.
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Monday 10th April 2023
Oberliga Nuderrhein
Turu Düsseldorf 0
SF Baumberg 2
Robin Homig 29 (pen), Milan Burovac 33,
Referee:- Thibaut Scheer.                              Attendance:- 215
Admission: OMGDS €6.00 (€10).              Programme: FREE
Lovely little ground nestling in the lee of the main line railway to Dusseldorf and with a large seated stand down one side (space for 800?) and terracing down the opposite side. Poor old Turu are third bottom of this league and it looks like five to be relegated. Their mid-table opponents had secured the victory with both goals by half-time and simply played out the second half for a comprehensive victory.
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from left: Gary Miller, Alan Eathorne, Mike McGeown, Albie Eathorne, Freddie McGeown with the Steelmen on Tour flag!
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And that was the last game. I was the only hopper to do all four games, and the rest of the gang went to see Beyer Leverkusen whilst I was at Duisburg. It was a superb weekend, staying for two nights at The Mercure Hotel in Dusseldorf and even finding time to take in some of the pleasant sights of Dusseldorf itself, including coffee on the banks of the Rhine! After the last match, the train back to Cologne Bonn airport was, uncharacteristically, 35 minutes late and then, due to French air traffic controllers’ industrial action, our flight back to Stansted was delayed by an hour, but none of that detracted from the weekend!
from left, Mike McGeown, Freddie McGeown, Albie Eathorne, and dad, Alan outside the Beyer Stadium in Leverkusen
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Freddie, feeding his face!
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Deutsche Bundesliga: Beyer Leverkusen 3 Eintracht Frankfurt 1 attendance: 30,210
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Sightseeing in Dusseldorf: Freddie and Dad Mike McGeown
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Sightseeing in Dusseldorf, Grandad, Ed and Grand son Freddie McGeown (a rare picture of the author!)
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Famous German poets and writers!
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The banks of The Rhine in Dusseldorf.
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Wednesday 12th April 2023
Spartan South Midlands League Division 2
The 61FC (Luton) 2
Wayne Polson 23, Rayvon Bintuuka 25
Tring Corinthians 0
Referee: Jonathan Brown.                                  Attendance: 16
Admission: F.O.C.                                                Programme: NONE
A railed pitch in a public park with a small stand in one corner of the pitch, now bereft of its seating, and a clubhouse behind the near goal, is all there is to The 61FC. This season has been disastrous for them. They sit bottom of the league, fifteen points adrift and this evening was only their second victory of the season (their first came quite recently in the revsrse fixture!). This evening, they grabbed two early goals for a half-time advantage and clung on for dear life, after the break, for a rare success!
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Thursday 13th April 2023
Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 2 West
Meadow Park 0
Feckenham 1
Ben Cox 17,
Referee: Ben Goode.                                        Attendance:- 53
Admission: F.O.C.                                            Programme: NONE
The hoats play at The Harris Brush Works in Stoke Prior, near Bromsgrove. Their ground is a field with a rope fence and a club house with changing rooms and a small refreshment facility. Tonight, they faced the team immediately (and five points) above them in fourth place and it was the visitors, with an early goal who took the victory and the points, and John took a vicious ball in the face whilst spectating. Very dark towards the end of the match. With John Main and Martin Hayden.
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Saturday 15th April 2023
Wessex League Division 1
Fawley 1
Kyle Joryeff 63,
Petersfield Town 1
Connor Hoare 45+2 (pen)
Receree:- Stephen Fall.                              Attendance:- 127
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£6).            Programme: NONE
A ramshackle ground largely made up of former lorry containers (players changing rooms, club house, toilets and refreshments), but with a sizeable stand by the near side goal, with seating for around 100 souls and two covered standing areas on the opposite side of the ground. It was quite quirky and appealing. Petersfield (the Rams) and in the play-off spots, should have won this game handsomely. After spurning several gilt edged first half chances, they scored with a penalty in the second minute of added time. Fawley, (the Oilers), who rent their ground from Esso for £1.00 per year, equalised spectacularly in the 66th minute, It wasn‘t the best of games, but, in the end a draw seemed about right.
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The main stand at Fawley, on the left hand side of the near goal.
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Tuesday 18th April 2023
Northern Premier League Midland Division
Daventry Town 0
Corby Town 7 (seven)
Tristan Thompson-Matthews 27, Toby Hillard 34,Daniel Gordon 41 (pen), 56 (pen), 74 (pen), Michael Jacklin 43, Tsaguim Florian 77,
Referee:- Ryan Williams.                                            Attendance: 135
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£10).                            Programme: on line
Elderstubbs was not looking at its best this evening. The pitch would have benefitted from a mowing and the whole ground had a sense of faded glory. The hosts look likely to be departing the NPL for pastures new, and tonight’s thrashing did them no favours in that regard. The visitors forlorn hopes of a play off place were fanned by a match where they took full advantage, 4-0 to the good by the interval and taking the foot off the accelerator in the second period, they still managed to claim a three further strikes.
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Thursday 20th April 2023
FA Women’s Northern Premier League
Loughborough Lightning 1
Georgia Stevens 44,
West Bromwich Albion Women 2
Mikayla Wildgoose 28 (og), Phoebe Warner 48,
Referee:- Lee Markwick.                                  Attendance:- 150
Admission:- OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                 Programme: on line
The last home game of a miserable season for Lightning who are rooted to the foot of the table without a win in the league all season. An own goal in the first half didn’t help matters, but an equaliser before the break was richly deserved. However, an early second half strike by Albion drained away all the home sides confidence and they sank to an eighteenth league defeat out of twenty-one games.
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Wednesday 26th April 2023
Spartan South Midlands League
Division 1 play-off Ssmi-final
Rugby Borough 4
Robbie Parsons 24, 44, Halim Halim 56, Sam Lockley 81,
Amersham Town 0
Referee: Zach Cunningham.                                       Attendance: 261
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                              Programme: £1.00
Just a few short weeks ago, a rampant Amersham Town visited Kilsby Lane and gave Borough a 4-1 thrashing. Tonight, the boot was firmly on the other foot as Borough overwhelmed their opponents with two goals in each half, to advance to the play off final at Northampton ON Cheneks.
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Thursday 27th April 2023
Hellenic League Division 2 West
Feckenham 4
Kian Davies 37, 45+2, Aaron Bunn 78, Ben Cox 85,
Shipston Excelsior 2
Ashley Bunn 34 (og), Joe Godson,
Referee: Stuart Parker.                                  Attendance: 22
Admission F.O.C.                                           Programme: NONE
There was one minutes silence before the match to commemorate three Shipston sixth form students killed in a car crash on their way home from school last Friday. The match, at Feckenham’s tight little ground, was a celebration of the host’s championship win and Shipston gave them a good contest in persistent precipitation. The hosts from a tiny village (pop: 670), had an early goal disallowed because the ball, having crossed the line, bounced out off a low stantion and back into play. The referee thought it had hit the post! The contest was decided by two goals in the final ten minutes, both in the host’s favour which gave them the win and the points.
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Other Matches

Monday 17th April 2023
FA U21 Premier League 2 Division 1
Leicester City U21 3  Manchester United U21 2           attendance: 316
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Wednesday 19th April 2023
Northants Combination Division 3
Woodford Wolves 3 Corby S&L Reserves 2                  attendance: 26
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Monday 24th april 2023
FA U21 Premier League 2 Division 1
Leicester City U21 1 Everton U21 4                               attendance 291
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Cricket:

Saturday 22nd April

Friendly at Stamford School:

Oundle II 184 for 7 (40 overs)

defeated

Stamford II 113 all out (31.1 overs)

Umpires: Henry Roberts & Eddie McGeown

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Saturday 29th April 2023
Cricket at Stamford School
Felsted School 1st XI 163 for 9 (50 overs)
lost to
Stamford School 1st XI 166 for 3 (25.3 overs)
by 7 wickets
Umpires: Henry Roberts & Eddie McGeown.
A beautiful setting and an easy victory for the hosts!
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__________________________________________________________________

 

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March 2023

To March

by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Dear March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat —
You must have walked —
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,
I have so much to tell!

I got your letter, and the birds’;
The maples never knew
That you were coming, — I declare,
How red their faces grew!
But, March, forgive me —
And all those hills
You left for me to hue;
There was no purple suitable,
You took it all with you.

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Wednesday 1st March 2023
Uhlsport United Counties League Division 1
Saffron Dynamo 0
Blackstones 2
Luke Hunnings 24, Ryan Lennon 85 (pen), Jack Wilson s/o 28,
Referee: Stefan Calarasu.                                    Attendance: 52
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5)                       Programme: £1.00
On a cold , bleak evening at King Park in Leicestershire, Blackstones, from Stamford in Lincolnshire, comfortably took the spoils, despite the 28th minute dismissal of one of their forwards. At that point, they were already a goal to the good and despite continual pressure from the hosts, they never really looked like scoring and the visitors stamped their superiority with a penalty scored five minutes from the end of the match. With John Main.
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Thursday 2nd March 2023
Spartan South Midlands League
Gladwish Trophy Quarter Final
Stotfold 1
Mason Spence 55 (pen), penalty saved 90+1,
Leighton Town 1
Daniel Griffiths 74
Referee:- Sam Laidler. Attendance: 161
Admission: OMGDS £3.50 (£7). Programme: £1.50
Stotfold won 5-4 on penalties
These two heavyweights of the Spartan South Midlands League are likely to fight it out for the championship, with Leighton Town the slight favourites. Tonight’s finely balanced encounter saw a goal to each side in the second half and a penalty saved by the visiting custodian in the 91st minute. In the penalty shoot out, each side missed one of their first five penalties, but then the visitors also missed the sixth and exited the competition on a brutally cold evening in Bedfordshire.
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Saturday 4th March 2023
Wessex League Premier Division
Cowes Sports 1
Mark Taylor 14, 
Bemerton Heath Harlequins 2
Oscar Johnston 48, Greg Peel 55,
Referee: Neil Hussey.                                              Attendance: 109
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£8).                         Programme: £1.50
John Main and I had long discussed visiting The Isle of Wight for a match and today, we met up at Blisworth for the 130 mile trip to Southampton, to catch a ferry across to West Cowes.
Twenty minutes on the ferry and a steep-ish fifteen minute walk up to Westwood Park, the neat and well-kept home of Cowes Sports. There is a substantial stand (maybe 200 seats) alomg one side with a raised, covered terrace adjacent to it and a good sized bar and food outlet, on the opposite side of the stand. Neither of these sides are achieving much this season and the first half was comfortable for the hosts, who led at the interval. Whatever was imparted to the visitors in their half time team talk produced the desired effect. They were level within three minutes of the restart and ahead, two minutes later, courtesy of a rather dubious penalty decision. Thereafter, they fended off the hosts and garnered the victory and the points.
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John Main, outside the main entrance to the ground.
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Main stand
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Tuesday 7th March 2023
North West Counties League Division 1 North
Atherton Laburnum Rovers 1
Danny Warburton 23,
Bacup Borough 2
Toby Wright 13 (pen), Michael German 40,
Referee: Lewis Atkinson.                            Attendance: 91
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).             Programme: £2.00
A quite tidy ground with a very impressive main stand and a covered area on the far side of the pitch. The welcome was warm and free printed teamsheets were available in the bar. Both these sides were in the lower half of the table, but both were on good winning sequences and it was the five match winning sequence of the hosts that was broken. Playing down the slope in the first half as the trains trundled past behind the goal, the visitors took a decisive lead into half time and defended it comfortably in a goalless second half! With John Main, and good to see Johnny Holland there, too!
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The club was founded in 1956, as an under 14s side, by Joe Riley. The side then entered senior competition in The Bolton Combination. Jack Crilly succeeded Joe Riley as club chairman and oversaw promotions to The Cheshire League in 1980 and then to the newly formed North West Counties League in 1982. In 1991/92, they were NWCL champions for a second time and were promoted to The Unibond Northern Premier League. Financial problems meant that the club were relegated back into The NWCL.
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Saturday 11th March 2023
Southern League Premier Division South
Poole Town 1
Wesley Fogden 90+3
Metropolitan Police 1
Conor Lee 64,
Referee: Iain Parsons.                                  Attendance: 337
Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£12).            Programme: £3.00
The BlackGold Stadium must be the least attractive arena in the Southern League Premier Division! There is metal terracing (some of it covered) behind one goal and seating for, maybe, 300 souls down one side, but the whole gives the impression of a mishmashed hotchpotch and car parking is provided by a local school. The team are riding high in the play off places for promotion to National League South, but today, they underperformed against a determined Police side, who took the lead just after the hour mark and then conceded an equaliser in the fourth minute of added time at the end of the contest. It was a dour struggle in murky, drizzly conditions.
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Monday 13th March 2023
Friendly
Hitchin Town 1
Finley Wilkinson 41,
Luton Town u21 1
Millar Matthews-Lewis 52,
Referee: T. Hood.                                              Attendance: 232
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£8).                  Programme: NONE
Teamsheet: £0.20
Only managed to catch this match after consulting Brian Buck’s A1 corridor fixture list. Brian issues a newsletter each Sunday which has reports – and, more importantly, – a fixture list for the coming week of matches on the A1 corridor up from London to Stamford. Entry to the ground at Hitchin has to be paid for, on line, prior to the match and that was the case, even for this friendly. The hosts posted ten substitute and used eight of them, including four at the start of the second half, when they were deservedly a goal to the good! It didn’t help them much. The visitors equalised after 52 minutes and looked by far the better side after that. Good game!
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Tuesday 14th March 2023
Hunts FA Junior Cup FINAL
Peterborough Rangers 1
Dwayne Rankin 36,
Fenstanton 0
(@ Warboys Town FC)
Referee: Mark Simmons.                                   Attendance: 140
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                     Programme: FREE
Huntingdonshire ceased to exist as an English county more than fifty years ago, but the football authorities survive and administer several cup competitions in the area. Warboys Town (where tonight’s match was played), used to play Eastern League Premier Division football, but now grace The Peterborough & District League, where today’s winners also play. The runners up come from the Kershaws Cambridgeshire County League. In a noisy, raucous atmosphere, Rangers just squeezed through in a game littered with missed chances. With John Main.
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Scottish Hop

This year, the Scottish ‘hop’ took place over the weekend of 17 – 19th March 2023. John Main and I went up to Scotland in his car on the Friday morning – a fairly leisurely trip – and arrived at Bathgate Premier Inn for 4.00pm. En-route, we had a meal at Gretna Services, just over a hundred miles from our destination. The Ground hop coach apparently, started its journey in Cardiff at 05.00 and arrived at the Meggetland Stadium, the home of Tynecastle FC (and Boroughmuir RUFC) around an hour before kick-off. There was beer in the bar but it was ice-cold (I like my beer at room temperature), and Chilli and rice was my choice from the food menu (I should have had stovies!).

Friday 17th March 2023
East of Scotland League Premier Division
Tynecastle 2
Gary Hamilton 45+3, 74,  Jack Blaney s/o 12,
Sauchie Juniors 3
Ross Hutchison 1, Sam Columbine 60, Brian Morgan 67, Ross Hutchison s/o 4,
Referee: Mark Harris.                                   Attendance: 448
Admission: £8.00.                                        Programme: £2.00
Meggetland Stadium and sports complex is a pretty impressive venue, with a five hundred seater, space age stand, down one side and terracing down the opposite length and behind one goal. The match was a cracker, too, with two sendings off in the first twelve minutes (one to each side), and the early bath candidate in the fourth minute had already opened the scoring (after a mere 23 seconds) for the visitors. The hosts equalised before the break, but conceded a couple more strikes in the second period before pulling one back with around 15 minutes to go. Excellent entertainment for the first match of the Scottish ‘hop’.
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After the match we were surprised, when we got back to the hotel to find that The Toby Carvery next door to our Premier Inn, was closing at 10.00pm! We were unable to get a drink. Fortunately, I had come prepared. I had a half of whisky amongst my luggage! The next morning, we drove the fifty odd miles to Dunbar on the coast, east of Edinburgh. Before the match, we took a stroll down to the waters edge……
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Saturday 18th March 2023
East of Scotland League Division 1 11.15am
Dunbar United 0
Michael McFarlane s/o 25, Willis Hare s/o 90
Coldstream 1
Stuart Briggs 73,
Referee: Lewis Hogarth.                                          Attendance: 553
Admission £7.00.                                                     Programme: £2.00
Dunbar United’s New Countess Park, in the shadow of the main line express railway route from Scotland to England, is a neat, compact arena bordered on three sides by a solid brick wall and with a community sponsored stand along one side of the stadium.  Runaway leaders, Dunbar, had their wings clipped by relegation threatened Coldstream. The hosts had a man sent off after 25 minutes and thereafter, the visitors fended them off pretty effectively. Then with barely fifteen minutes left, Coldstream struck to win the match and the points and that, despite a penalty chance for the hosts, brilliantly saved by the visiting custodian!
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Excellent headgear available as modestly modelled by Lord Squires!
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Saturday 18th March 2023
East of Scotland Premier Division  2.00pm
Haddington Athletic 1
Guy McGarry 75,
Dundonald Bluebell 3
Keiron Hall 11, Scot Cameron 32, Regan Lumsden 87 (pen), Regan Lumsden s/0 90+3
Referee:- Will Pare.                                   Attendance: 462
Admission: £7.00.                                    Programme:- £2.00
Considering that they are gracing the premier division of this league, this is a pretty basic stadium. Most of the perimeter is of grass with a minimal amount of hard standing at the entrance and in the covered terrace, but there is virtually no seating. A small chimney overlooks the ground on the far side. These two sides are becalmed in mid-table and it fell to the visitors to make the early running with two first half strikes. The hosts huffed and puffed and eventually retrieved a goal before Bluebell finished them off with a penalty at the death, followed by a melee resulting in a dismissal (Bluebell) and a caution (Athletic).
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Saturday 18th March 2023
Scottish Lowland League 5.00pm
Tranent Juniors 1
Nicholas Reid 90,
Bo’ness United 1
Lennon Walker 49,
Referee:- Andy Gamble.                                  Attendance: 607
Admission:- £9.00.                                          Programme:- £2.00
Not the greatest stadium for viewing, especially if you try to use one of the thirty or so seats, a largely innocuous arena painted in maroon with minimal facilities and large queues. The game itself, was pretty dour and occasionally frenetic. The visitors opened the scoring immediately after half-time and the hosts equalused, somewhat fortuitously, in the ninetieth minute! Considering that this was the highest placed team from the Scottish Pyramid on this trip, the ground and the facilities were very disappointing. I know that many other hoppers felt the same way.
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Saturday 18th March 2023
East of Scotland League Premier Division 7.45pm
Musselburgh Athletic 0
Broxburn Athletic 4
Jordan Wright 14, Errol Douglas 45, 67, Gary Brass 69,
Referee:- Brent Falconer.                         Attendance:- 557
Admission:- £8.00.                                   Programme:- £2.00
The Oliverbank Stadium in the coastal town of Musselburgh, is an impressive arena with a covered standing area down the far side and terracing on the opposite length – and, indeed, the only club today with a bar! Despite being far superior in terms of League position, the hosts were not at the races today and two goals in each half saw the visitors deservedly and decisively, take the match and the points.
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Sunday 19th March 2023
East of Scotland League Premier Division 12.15pm
Penicuik Athletic 0
Andy Mair s/o 39,
Lothian Thistle HV 1
Joe Viola 80,
Referee:- Andrew Strang.                        Attendance:- 398
Admission: £8.00.                                   Programme: £2.00
A ground with plenty of cover against the elements, but precious little seating, except for scattered individual chairs, but there was hardstanding on the two sides with cover. This was a poor match, not helped by the 39th minute dismissal of the home side no.16 for a second bookable offence.. Thistle gained the upper hand, but seemed unable to clinch a winner. Then, ten minutes from time, the pressure, eventually, paid off and the visitors struck to win the encounter by the narrowest of margins.
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The very impressive Penicuik Athletic programme.
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Thus ended the Scottish Hop 2023 and, interestingly enough, there was not a single home win amongst the six matches! The long journey home started immediately after the final match and I was back in Gretton for 8.30pm. Excellent weekend!
Tuesday 21st March 2023
North-West Counties League Division 1 North
FC St Helens 2
Liam Houghton 35 (pen), Jack Ball 90,
Atherton Laburnum Rovers 2
Danny Warburton 4, Connor Ikin 83,
Referee: Ryan Bostock.                              Official Attendance: 98
Admission: OMGDS £2.00 (£5).            Programme: £2.00
Windlesham Park is a fairly basic ground with hard standing all round the pitch, a small, maybe 50 seater, Meccano stand along one side and some covered standing behind the far goal. There was also a substantial club house and bar where free team sheets were handed out and the official attendance, whilst not announced, was readily available. The match was played in very wet conditions in the first half, but the precipitation relented after the break and the game vastly improved. Promotion chasing FC St Helens were shocked by an early Rovers strike, level by half time, but, towards the end of a rumbustious second period, they conceded again and it took an accurate, edge of the area, 90th minute free kick to save their blushes an rescue a point.
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Wednesday 22nd March 2023
Northern Premier League Midlands Division
Corby Town 1
Cain Noble 83, Toby Hilliard s/o 89
Spalding United 0
Referee: Lee Hartley.                                   Attendance: 659
Admission: OMGDS £6.00 (£12).            Programme: £2.00
Always have a soft spot for Corby Town. I have visited all three of their stadia and I was a Corby Councillor when the present arena was sanctioned by the borough. Tonight’s encounter was a dour affair with little between the teams, but an 83rd minute strike from the hosts, won the match and propelled them into the play-off places.
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Saturday 25th March 2023
Wessex League Premier Division
Brockenhurst 3
Harvey Woods 5, 11, Silvano Obeng 58 (pen)
Pagham 2
Stan Bridgman 50, Connoe Geoghegan 53,
Referee:- Lewis Ward.                                      Attendance: 144
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                   Programme: £2.00
The tiny Hampshire village of Brockenhurst (population: 3,552), hosts a pretty impressive football arena, with hardstanding all round and a fine stand for maybe 100 souls.  Before the match, John and I dined in The Commoners Wine bar in the town centre. Visitors, Pagham, transferred from the Southern Combination this season, and are struggling in the relegation zone, but only two points behind the hosts, whom they demolished 5-0 a few weeks ago in the reverse fixture. Brockenhurst dominated the first half and took a 2-0 lead into the interval, but this was wiped out within ten minutes of the restart, only for them to regain the lead with a soft penalty decision before the hour mark. There was no further scoring and the hosts recorded their first victory in fifteen games. Good match! With John Main.
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Tuesday 28th March 2023
North West Counties League Division 1 South
Ashville 2
Rocester 0
Referee:- David Copper. Attendance:- 87
Admission: OMGDS £2.00 (£5). Programme: £2.00
Right at the tip of the Wirral peninsular, with St Hilary’s church brooding on the skyline and even a lighthouse peeping around the clubhouse, Villa Park – no, not THAT Villa Park, but the home of Ashville, newly promoted to The North West Counties League – sits in the grounds of Wallasey RUFC. There is viewing on two sides; behind the near goal and along one side which has a cantilever stand to house around 100 spectators. There is also a substantial clubhouse. The visitors are rock bottom of the league and keen, apparently, to get back to the Midland League. Tonight, they were always second best to the hosts, who scored twice in the first half, but despite several promising opportunities, were unable to add to their total, even after the dismissal of a Rocester forward after 75 minutes. With John Main.
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Thursday 20th March 2023
Spartan South Midlands League Division 1
@North Kilworth FC
Lutterworth Athletic 0
Burton Park Wanderers 2
Match abandoned at half-time – floodlight failure.
Referee:- Liam Jackson.                                   Attendance: 28
Admission: OMGDS £2.00 (£5).                   Programme: £1.00
The game started twenty minutes late when an errant floodlight eventually agreed to shine at half-power, but at half-time the power in a different pylon failed and that was the end of the match, even though many of us felt that there was adequate lighting to complete the game. This encounter was played at North Kilworth’s ground because Athletic are having problems with their 3G pitch. New railings around the ground since my last visit came courtesy of Athletic, but on the night, they were decidedly second best and were lucky to be only 0-2 down when the encounter was curtailed at the end of the opening period.
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The players standing around waiting to see if the floodlight can be repaired and the game can commence!
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The offending floodlight pylon at the top of the picture
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Other Matches:

Monday 6th March 2023

U-21 Premier League 2 Division 1

Leicester City U21 0 Blackburn Rovers U21 1                     Attendance: 158

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February 2023

Saint Valentines Day Massacre
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What did I ever do to Dorothy Prewitt?
She sent me a heart with an arrow right through it!
So … if she wants war (well I didn’t begin it)
I’ll draw her a heart with an axe buried in it!

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by Philip Waddell

 

Wednesday 1st February 2023
Northamptonshire Senior (Hillier) Cup Semi-final
Corby Town 0
Peterborough Sports 4
Abduraugne Sana-Sani 1, Joshua McCammon 10, 29, 50, 
Referee: Joe Woolmer.                          Attendance: 334
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£8).       Programme: NONE
This Northamptonshire County Cup semi[final pitted Northern Premier League Midland Division, Corby Town, against National League North, Peterborough Sports. Five or six  years ago, the visitors were a couple of steps below the hosts, but this evening they are a couple of steps above them! This game was barely ten seconds old before the first goal materialised and the visitors helped themselves to two more before the interval. The hosts were shell shocked, and conceded a fourth strike in the second half. Peterborough Sports, themselves reeling from the withdrawal of financial support, booked their passage emphatically into the final!
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Saturday 4th February 2023
Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division
Sileby Town 3
Stan Logan 19, Shaun Smith 39, Lennon Stephenson 84,
Friar Lane & Epworth 0
Referee: Martyn Jarvis.                              Attendance: 53
Admission: OMGDS £2.00 (£3).             Programme: NONE
“Best ground in the league!” according to the locals! They have a lovely club house and bar, the ground is completely enclosed, fully and substantially railed and with hardstanding on three sides, with covered seating for around 80 or 90 spectators. Whilst today’s hosts are midtable, the visitors are rock bottom with only one win and fifteen defeats from their sixteen games this season. Only one player on the visiting Teamsheet had the correct number and the score line was definitely in their favour. Sileby let them off lightly and really should have scored more goals!
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The German Expedition

There were twelve of us in the party at various points during the weekend, flying out from Stansted to Leipzig on 10th February and staying for two nights at The Premier Inn Leipzig City Oper Hotel, hard by Leipzig Hauptbanhof, the largest railway station in Europe, they tell me. It can be very cold in East Germany, with temperatures dropping to as low as  -30 degrees Celsius, but this weekend, it was a relatively balmy 5 – 9 degrees Celsius! There was time for a snooze before embarking on another short train ride to the outskirts of the city.
Friday 10th February 2023
Deutsch Regionaliga Nordost
BSG Chemie Leipzig 1
Manasse Eshele 63,
FSV 63 Luckenwalde 2
Phil Butendeich 30, Christian Flath 35 (pen),
Referee: Florian Butterich.                                 Attendance:- 3,321
Admission: OMGDS €13.20 (€15).                   Programme: €2.00
A vast sprawling mass of a ground with soft earth underfoot and high fencing around the pitch, this eccentric stadium had a real charm and the fervid home fans behind the goal kept up the noise and chant all the way through the match. The home side started brightly and looked nailed on certainties for victory until two quick strikes, on the break, around the half hour mark, seriously jolted their ambitions. In the second period, they attempted to redeem the mess, but only managed a consolation, just after the hour mark. It didn’t, however, dampen the enthusiasm of the faithful. With sons, Jim, Mike and Liam in a party of twelve hoppers on a weekend in Germany.
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Hallescher is a away to the west of Leipzig, perhaps an hour by train, followed by a tram ride to the ground. Once again, the train tickets and transport were co-ordinated, which made it a cheap journey to The Leuna Chemie Stadion. Interestingly, I got talking to a woman seated next to me and I asked her about the re-unification of Germany. She said that she had been born and brought up in Cologne and came out to live in the former East Germany long after the re-unification. She said that she didn’t feel any difference between east and west, which was in sharp contrast to the woman I spoke to this evening at RB Leipzig, who hated the unification and wished she was back in the old DDR (German Democratic Republic). The other issue that both raised was the perception of Red Bull Leipzig. At the afternoon match, RB Leipzig was a hated team (and equally so last night at BSG Chemie Leipzig). They were the only team in Germany who were run by an outside company (Red Bull), all the other teams in Bundesliga are run by the supporters. In sharp contrast, the woman at the evening match argued that RB Leipzig were the ONLY eastern team in The Bundesliga. Other great names from before re-unification, like Karl Zeiss Jena and Dresden or Magdeburg, were down in Bundesliga 3 or lower. She felt that West Germany only accepted the east on sufferance and resented the huge amounts of federal monies that had been used to bring it up to West German standards.
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Saturday 11th February 2023
Deutsch Bundesliga 3
Hallescher 1
Jonas Nielfeld 28,
SC Frieburg II  3
Andi Hoti 35, Vincent Vereij 55, Lars Kehl 72,
Referee: Patrick Alt.                                              Attendance: 5,067
Admission: (seated) OMGDS €25.00 (€30)    Programme: free newspaper and teamsheet.
The Leuna Chemie Stadion is a smart, neat, new arena (built 2012 on the footprint of the old ground) and holds 15,000. It was just over a third full today, but, unsurprisingly, not a single away supporter – see photo. The hosts (second from bottom) opened the scoring, but were always second best to third placed Freiburg II, who equalised by half-time and popped in two more in the second half for a convincing victory. Once again, the defeat failed to deter the ultra faithful behind the home goal. Good game for the travelling English contingent, including sons, Jim, Mike and Liam.
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The away end at Hallescher, with not a single supporter in it, not surprising, really, when the SC Frieburg first team were at home the same afternoon. They won 2-1 after going a goal down to VFB Stuttgart in the first half.
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The Red Bull Arena was a fifteen minute tram ride from Leipzig Hauptbanhof (railway station), once again, free of charge with your football ticket. This was the biggest crowd of the weekend, but well marshalled and organised so that there was relatively little queuing either before or after the match. Compared to our country, Germany is light years ahead in transport organisation and infrastructure. Trams, buses and trains are co-ordinated and all of them are fast, cheap, clean and punctual – all the things lacking in our own transport system. It made me ashamed to be British.
Saturday 11th February 2023
Deutsch Bundesliga
RB Leipzig 1
Benjamin Heinrichs 25,
FC Union Berlin 2
Jannik Habegär 61, Robin Knochen 72 (pen),
Referee: Daniel Schlager.                              Attendance: 47,069
Admission: OMGDS €35.00 (€40)            Programme: NONE
The ”wow” factor at The Red Bull Arena is massive. As soon as the tram stops, it fills the horizon, and it continues to impress all through the match. These two clubs are locked in 4th and 3rd place respectively and Red Bull could overtake Union with a victory. In the first half, a thunderblaster from the hosts put them comfortably in front. The second half was a different kettle of fish. Firstly, another shot from outside the area equalised for Union. Then, VAR handed Union a penalty which they converted and finally, an RB equaliser was ruled out by VAR for offside and Union hung on, deservedly, in my opinion, for a significant victory. Jammed like sardines in a tin on the tram back to Leipzig Hauptbanhof. A fine bottle of red wine to round off the evening.
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The roving camera scoured the pitch capturing every possible angle and suspended on four wires high (and low) above the playing area
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A lunch time “ICE” train (the German High Speed train), took us from Leipzig to Berlin Hauptbanhof in just under two hours and we had time to decant our bags at The Hotel Amano, just outside the station, before catching the tram (once again, free with your football ticket) to Olympiastadion, the massive amphitheatre that Adolph Hitler built for the 1936 Olympic games. Nearly one hundred years later, it is still a very impressive stadium, a little tired and in need of some TLC, but, nonetheless, a fine arena. There were drinks stops on the (short) way from the tram station to the ground, but with Hertha not enjoying a particularly good season, the ground was just over half full (official capacity just under 75,000). Despite their lack of success this season, the crowd was in full voice and blue and white were the dominant colours.
Sunday 12th February 2023
Deutsch Bundesliga
Hertha Berlin 4
Borussia Monchengladbach 1
Referee: Christian Dingbert.                                Attendance: 40,973
Admission: €25.00.                                               Programme: NONE
The vast, sprawling , but still very impressive Olympiastadion, built for the 1936 Olympic Games, is a vast cauldron of waving flags and scarves despite being dated and weary. Today, the hosts, next to bottom in the league conceded an early goal to mid table Gladbach, equalised after half an hour, took the lead with a classic thunderblaster on 51 minutes and finished strongly with two more goals in added time at the end of the match. Brilliant atmosphere, especially under floodlights, and no hurry to get the tram back to Hauptbanhof!!!
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Large swathes of the stadium were empty!
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Our party consisted of Gary Miller, Jim McGeown, Mike McGeown, Liam McGeown, Matt Miller, Phil Miller, Adam Valance, Kevin Nolan, Alan Eathorne, Rory Clarke, Daz Bibby and yours truly, Eddie McGeown
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I enjoyed a lovely Italian meal at a restaurant in Friedrichstrasse in the evening, washed done with a fine bottle of Italian white wine. Friedrichstrasse is only one stop down from the hotel at Berlin Hauptbanhof. The following day, we took the train to Berlin Airport and the 14.10 flight back to Stansted. Brilliant weekend! Thoroughly enjoyed it … and here’s to the next time!
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Thursday 16th February 2023
Spartan South Midlands League
Gladwish Trophy 3rd Round
Potton United 0
Arlesey Town 0
Referee: Sophie Dennington.                                     Attendance: 95
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£8).                              Programme: NONE
Arlesey won 5-4 on penalties.
This was my seventh visit to The Hollow, but the first since December 2018. There is a large car park at the ground and a fine clubhouse, but there was no hot food, this evening, and Potton United no longer produce programmes. They were playing Arlesey Town from maybe six or seven miles away and there was a considerable Arlesey supporter presence. Arlesey might be considered a larger club, having previously grace The Southern League, but on this evening’s showing, they were less effective than the hosts, who really ought to have won the tie. In afractious, niggly match with frequent stoppages for minor injuries and a couple of handbag melees very little was achieved. Add to that some atrocious finishing and eventually the match, thankfully, drew to a close with nothing on the scoreboard. Arlesey won the penalty shoot out, despite having been behind through most of it  and advanced, somewhat fortuitously,  to the next round.
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Saturday 18th February 2023
Sky-Bet EFL league One

Wycombe Wanderers v Bolton Wanderers

Today’s match is sponsored by footballhopper.com and the visitors are appearing in their 5,002nd match since The Football League started. This is only my second visit to Adams Park since a Johnston Paints Trophy 2nd Round match on 8th October 2013, when Wycombe (Billy Knott and Matt Bloomfield) defeated Bristol City (Brendan Moloney) 2-1 in front of a mere 1,279 spectators. I have made a previous visit to Loakes Park on 17th December 1988 to see Wycombe draw 1-1 with Chorley in The GM Vauxhall Conference (what is now The National League). That day, the attendance was: 1,577. Durham scored for Wycombe and Brady for Chorley.
Saturday 18th February 2018
Sky/Bet EFL League One
Wycombe Wanderers 1
Lewis Wing 45+8,
Bolton Wanderers 0
Referee: Andy Woolmer.                               Attendance: 6,544
Admission: Hospitality.                                Programme: NONE
footballhopper.com sponsored this match and our party was splendidly looked after in a private hospitality suite. All my sons and grandchildren were there and the only downside was the result! Bolton and Wycombe were evenly matched, and it took a wonder strike from Lewis Wing eight minutes into added time at the end of the first half to win the match. Bolton huffed and puffed mightily in the second half, but couldn’t find the equaliser.
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Lydia, Freddie and Tess
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Chris Berezai, Eddie McGeown, John Main
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Freddie McGeown
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Daz Bibby with daughter, Lydia and niece, Tess
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John Main & Eddie McGeown
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from left: Rob Hardcastle, Ian Widdowson, Mike McGeown, Alan Eathorne, Gary Miller, Ed, Lewis Wing (man of the match and winning goalscorer, Jim McGeown, Daz Bibby, Aman Singh, Liam McGeownJohn, Main, Chris Berezai, Jonny Crane. in front, the children, left to right: Sonny McGeown, Freddie McGeown, Tess McGeown, Kingsley McGeown, Lydia Bibby-McGeown
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Tuesday 21st February 2023
Northern Counties East League Division 1
Wakefield 1
Jake Morrison 90 (pen)
Nostell Miners Welfare 2
Joe Wood 3, Nicky Laloulis 9, Rhys Westcarr-Toft GK, s/o 88,
Referee: Joshua Drake.                                     Attendance: 242
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                    Programme: £2.00
Wakefield may not be staying much longer at Featherstone Rover’s Millennium Stadium, so it was an opportunity to take in the match and the ground. In a disastrous start for the highly placed hosts, they conceded two goals in the first nine minutes and for the rest of the half, they looked distinctly second best to their lowly opponents. They were better in the second period, but it was not until the visiting custodian conceded a penalty, two minutes from full time – and got himself sent off – that the hosts found some hope, but it was too little, too late.
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Wednesday 22nd February 2023
Central Midlands League Premier Division North
Retford United 1
Jon Froggatt 69,
Kiveton Miners Welfare 3
Ben Harriot 4, Connor Chapell 34, Alex Moth 39,
Referee: Lee Clarke.                                     Attendance: 134
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).              Programme: £1.00
This was a seismic result! Seventeen victories and one draw in their eighteen league matches this season, with opposition from the bottom three in the table, the hosts were stunned by a fourth minute opener and two further clinical strikes in the first half. After the break, they did, at least, provide more sustained pressure, but their only consolation was a strike on 69 minutes. They were comprehensively dismantled by a determined Kiveton side who thoroughly relished their unexpected victory!
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Saturday 25th February 2023
Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 1
Stonehouse Town 2
Nick Humphreys 6, Finley Fowler 15, 
Clanfield 85. 0
Dylan John GK, s/o 45+1
Referee: Roger Smith.                                Attendance: 54
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).            Programme: £1.50
This was a pretty well equipped ground for this level of football, there was a seated stand down one side and a substantial covered terrace behind one goal. Next to the seated stand was a small clubhouse with bar and refreshments. The hosts scored two first half goals playing up the slight incline and, on the stroke of half time, the opposition had their custodian dismissed for handling the ball outside the area. The second half was a non-event and the ten man visitors, now playing up the slope, had the better of the exchanges with nothing to show for it!
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Tuesday 28th February 2023
Emirates FA Cup 5th Round
Leicester City 1
Kelechi Iheanacho 67,
Blackburn Rovers 2
Tyrhys Dolan 33, Sammie Szmodics 52
Referee: Tim Robinson.                          Attendance: 23,379
Admission: £20.00.                                Programme: £3.50
There was a good atmosphere inside The King Power Stadium for tonight’s FA Cup 5th Round tie. The hosts had rested half of their team, but the visitors had also given opportunities to fringe players. It was a fine match and the visitors deserved their victory and a first visit to the 6th round in eight years. The hosts were woeful, outplayed for long periods and missing the spark that could have given them some inspiration. A goal in each half for the visitors, with the hosts only response just after the hour mark and even a late introduction of mainstream players could not make any impression on the Rovers well drilled defence!
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January 2023

How like a winter hath my absence been

From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!

What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!

What old December’s bareness everywhere!

And yet this time remov’d was summer’s time,

The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,

Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime,

Like widow’d wombs after their lords’ decease:

Yet this abundant issue seem’d to me

But hope of orphans and unfather’d fruit;

For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,

And thou away, the very birds are mute;

Or if they sing, ’tis with so dull a cheer

That leaves look pale, dreading the winter’s near.

 

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

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Sunday 1st January 2023
Sky-Bet EFL League 2
Walsall 2
Douglas James-Taylor 43, Liam Kinsella 47,
Mansfield Town 1
Rhys Oates 82,
Referee: Charles Breakspear.                            Attendance: 6,199
Admission: (hosp) £56.00.                               Programme: £4.00
Brilliant day out with the family at The Bescot Stadium. The hospitality was good value and the match improved significantly as it wore on. The hosts doubled a half-time lead only two minutes into the second period. Once the visitors pulled a goal back, however, the final twenty minutes were pretty hectic, but at the death, it was Walsall who prevailed! With sons, Jim, Mike and Liam and grandsons, Freddie, Sonny and Kingsley and also, Gary Miller!
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From left:- Liam, Jim, Gary Miller and Mike
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From left:- Sonny, Kingsley and Freddie with The Walsall FC mascot
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From Left:- Jim, Mike, Gary Miller, (Sonny in front), Freddie, Kingsley, Ed and Liam
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With Man of the match, Oisin McEntee, Kingsley (left) and Freddie
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With Man of the Match, Oisin McEntee, Sonny (left) and Kingsley
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Tuesday 3rd January 2023
FA Premier League
Leicester City 0
Fulham 1
Aleksandar Mitrovic 17,
Referee: Darren Bond.                                Attendance: 30,814
Admission: OMGDS £35.00 (£40).         Programme: £3.50
The Foxes weren’t at the races tonight. In the early exchanges, Fulham were sharper and more incisive and scored through Mitrovic after 17 minutes. Thereafter, Leicester huffed and puffed, but never really looked liked scoring. A disappointing result.
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Saturday 7th January 2023
United Counties League Division 1
Hucknall Town 3
Harrowby United 2
Referee: Wayne Mason.                                              Attendance: 392
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£6).                             Programme: £2.00
This was the first official, competitive match on Hucknall’s idiosyncratic, new ground. There was cover behind one goal, adjacent to a containerised hospitality box and cover and seats down the near side, although acces was eccentrically controlled! Despite their relative League placements (Hucknall were in the play-off places and Harrowby flirting with relegation), this was a pretty even contest. The visitors led at the interval, conceded three goals in a home purple patch in the second half and scored the final goal three minutes from the end. There was a visitation of hoppers including John Main, John McClure, Craig Dabbs and Chris Berezai!
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Photograph courtesy of John Main
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Photograph courtesy of John Main
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Photograph courtesy of John Main
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Monday 23rd January 2023
Northern Premier League Midland Division
Coleshill Town 0
Corby Town 0
Referee: Alan Cox.                                 Official Attendance: 148
Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£10).     Programme: £2.00
Coleshill sits at the junction of The M6, The M42 and The M6 Toll. Its ground, with a 3G pitch is also home to Chelmsley Town of The Midland League. Tonight’s clash pitched together two teams just outside the play-off spots and separated only by goal difference. In a dour match, neither side was able to put their stamp on the encounter, though I suspect that the visitors went home more happy with their point than the hosts! With sons, Jim and Mike and grandsons, Freddie, Sonny and Kingsley.Gary Miller and John Main also there.
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Belgium 2023

Jon Crane, Mark Sumner and Jim and me travelled to Brussels on the 13.01 Eurostar on Friday 27th January for a weekend of Belgian football. Train from Brussels to Liege, a pretty dirty city with a coal mining history and a pretty bog standard stadium. Jon had hired an apartment for the overnight stay. I am not a fan of Belgian food but I had one of the giant hot dogs (€7.50) before the match outside the stadium on a very cold evening. To get to the stadium from our apartment, we had to cross The River Meuse. The following morning, Saturday, we got a bus to the train station and entrained for Heist-op-den-Bergen. I had booked the accommodation for this evening, but unfortunately it was near five miles outside the town and there were very few taxis available. It cost us €60 to go there and back just to drop our bags off before catching the bus to Westerlo.

Friday 27th January 2023
Jupiler League Erste Klasse A
Standard Liege 3
William Balikwisha 30, Philip Zinckernagel 35, Stipe Perica 59,
KAS Eupen 1
Regan Charles-Cook 11,
Referee: Nathan Verboomen.             Attendance: 16,623
Admission: €23.00.                             Programme: free teamsheet
The Stade Maurice Dufrasne is a pretty impressive arena, so I was surprised to find that it held a mere 30,000 spectators. Three tiers behind each goal and two ties along each side, all steeply banked, with plenty of food outlets, but no programmes, although free teamsheets were available if you asked nicely! The game was very open, with highly placed Liège going a goal down early on, but pulling back to lead 2-1 at the interval, adding a third, midway during the second preiod. Eupen fought well, but it was Liège who deservedly took the spoils. With Son, Jim and Jonny Crane and Mark Sumner.
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From left: Jim, Jon and Mark
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Saturday 28th January 2023
Jupiler League Erste Klasse A
KVC Westerlo 2
Kyan Vaesen 23, 56,
KV Mechelen 0
Referee: Brent Staessens.                            Attendance: 8,035
Admission: €20.                                           Programme: free teamsheet
Such a small town seems unlikely to support a top League side, but there was a healthy attendance for this encounter, probably one of the highest of the season. The ground was out in the country and the faithful crowded in, mostly by car. Mechelen brought a strong cachet of support, but, in an entertaining game, it was the hosts, with a goal in each half, who deservedly took the spoils. With son, Jim and Jonny Crane and Mark Sumner. It was a chit billy, so I bought a Westerlo hat! After the match we caught the bus back to Heist-op-den-Berg, had a drink in a bar, and sauntered down to the ground.
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The author transcribing teams from the teamsheet prior to the match
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From left: Eddie, Mark and Jim
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From left: Mark and Eddie
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Jimbo, stuffing his face!
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The Westerlo mascot
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Mark Sumner
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Saturday 28th January 2023
Erste Nationale
KSK Heist 1
Nicholas Orye 67,
RFC De Liège 1
Jesse Mputu 45,
Referee: Ruben Calluy. Attendance: c750
Admission (seated) €20 (€15). Free teamsheet.
Quite why this match was categorised as high risk, with a substantial police escort for the 350 or so visiting supporters, was something of a mystery. We were initially barred from entering because we didn’t have tickets for this all ticket match, but were eventually given clearance and by the end of the match we had been invited into the supporters club and plied with drink and, late in the evening were given a lift back to our hotel by the club physio. It was another good match in a stadium, capacity 10,000, which was virtually empty! The visitors scored first on the stroke of half time and the hosts equalised just after the hour mark in the second period. After that, in a feisty encounter, either side could have grabbed the victory, but, on a very cold evening, a draw was the fair result. With son, Jim, Jon Crane and Mark Sumner.
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Jim (sitting) and Mark Sumner
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The B&B Hullebrug was probably the best accommodation of the weekend, but it was awkwardly situated and it was a lift from the proprietor’s brother-in-law, the next morning that enabled us to catch the train fromHeist-Op-Den-Berg, the following morning, for the train back to Brussels.
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Sunday 29th January 2023
Jupiler League Erste Klasse A
RSC Anderlecht 0
Royal Antwerp FC 0
Referee: Eric Lambrechts.                        Attendance: 18,000
Admission: €45.00.                                   Free Teamsheet.
Lotto Park, the mauve home of RSC Anderlecht is well hidden in plain sight. Indeed if the mauve daubed home fans had not been there sipping Jupiler, you could have been forgiven for overlooking the stadium. This was a pretty poor advertisement for Belgian football, the visitors in 3rd place easily fending off the eleventh placed hosts. The only highlight of the first half was a sonic boom which severely tested my eardrums and emitted a black cloud of smoke. In the second half, there was a melee around the hour mark which resulted in a sending off for Antwerp and two yellow cards and the hosts, too, had a player dismissed fifteen minutes from the end, but goalscoring opportunities where at a premium and the result clear, well before the final whistle! With son, Jim, Jon Crane and Mark Sumner.
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A very grumpy looking author and Jon Crane on the right at The Anderlecht match
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Sunday 29th January 2023
Jupiler League Erste Klasse A
KRC Genk 4
Paul Onouachu 7 (pen), 60, Mike Tresor 14, Joseph Paintsil 64,
RFC Seraing 0
Referee: Wesli de Cremer.                            Attendance: 13,267
Admission: €24.00.                                       Free Teamsheet.
On a very cold evening, top of the table, Genk, demolished bottom club Seraing quite comfortably and should probably have scored more than the four they harvested. The ground is fully seated, holds around 20,000 spectators and was barely half full this evening. The locals blamed the late kick-off at 9.00pm CET, live television and the visitors were hardly a top attraction. Nonetheless a couple of their players, one, who rejoices in the name: Junior Marconi Sambu Mansoni, was a quick and tricky winger, the other, Mustapha Mbow was a sound central defender. The home mascot was a coal miner! With son, Jim, Jon Crane and Mark Sumner. The hotel we stayed in, is run by a former Belgium goalkeeping international, Ronnie Gaspercic!
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From left: Jim, Jon and Mark
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From left: Mark and Jim
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From left: Eddie and son, Jim
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From left: Mark, Eddie and Jon
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from left: Jim and Jon
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We were staying at the Hotel De Venne, and, on the following morning, the other three had to shower in my room because there was no hot water in their room. The manager discounted the cost of their room and we all four shared the cost of my room! Then it was a taxi down to Genk railway station for the train to Brussels Midi and a transfer to the Eurostar hub for the 12.56 to London (ten minutes late leaving). At St Pancras … we dispersed and I caught the 14.45 East Midlands Train to Corby, where Charlotte collected me after an exhausting weekend!

Other Matches:

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Monday 9th January 2023
FA U21 Premier League 2 Division 1
Leicester City U21 0 Chelsea U21 2        attendance: 228
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Friday 20th January 2023
FA U21 Premier League 2 Division 1
Leicester City U21 0 Manchester City U21 0  attendance: 333
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Wednesday 25th January 2023
Premier League U21 International Cup Group A
Leicester City U21 2 Celtic Colts U21 2      attendance: 290
_________________________________________

 

 

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December 2022

In the bleak midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

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Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

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Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

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Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
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What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

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by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
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Saturday 3rd December 2022
The Isuzu FA Vase 3rd Round
Shaftesbury 1
Bailey Rowe 80,
Brixham 1
Charlie Johansen 74,
Referee:- Carl Peters. Official                       Attendance: 115
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£7).                 Programme: £1.00
Cold and dry in the small town of Shaftesbury (pop.: c9,000), the ground has a 3G pitch, a 220 seater stand down one side and a covered terrace opposite but a club house in the car park outside the arena. Today, the hosts faced opposition one step below them, from The SWPL, but in truth the two sides were evenly matched and largely cancelled each other out. A goal to each side in the last fifteen minutes and one penalty miss by the hosts, gave the match and a tie in Round 4 to the visitors. With John Main and good to see Avril Lancaster.
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Programme produced by Avril Lancaster – a maiden effort at programme production!
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Tuesday 6th December 2022
United Counties League Premier Division North
Quorn 2
Karl Demidh 41, Paddy Webb 48,
Deeping Rangers 0
Referee:- Tom Bingley.                                  Attendance:- 81
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£7).                 Programme:- £2.00
On a bitterly cold evening, with World Cup football on the tv, it was hardly surprising that this encounter was sparsely attended. Those who came to Farley Way were treated to a regulation home victory with goals either side of the interval to the hosts and the dismissal of a visiting defender on the hour mark. With John Main.
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Saturday 10th December 2022
Sky Bet EFL League One
Lincoln City 0
Wycombe Wanderers 0
Referee: Thomas Kirk.                                         Attendance: 7,513
Admission: OMGDS £18.00 (£24).                  Programme: £3.00
It was very cold, today, great swathes of the countryside carpeted in white hoar frost and the roads were slippery – as were the footpaths. We all met up at Peterborough Station for the train journey to Lincoln Central and then, eventually, we found a Toby Carvery for a meal before the match. It was great to have all the boys together – sons and grand sons – but the match was woeful. There was never so much as a sniff of a goal on a cold, sharp afternoon and 44 years since my first visit to Sincil Bank! We returned the way we came and on the way back from Peterborough, the World Cup quarter-final between France and England was on the radio. But, I got home before England were knocked out!
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Lincoln Cathedral from the football ground
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Before the match on the way out of the railway station, I caught this snap of the party, left to right: Liam, Mike, Freddie, Kingsley, Jim and Sonny. The shadow is mine!
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Tuesday 13th December 2022
Vanarama National League
Notts County 2
Ed Francis 42, Ruben Rodrigues 61,
Gateshead 0
Referee: Aaron Bannister.                             Attendance: 5,549
Admission: OMGDS £16.00 (£20).            Programme: £3.00
It was a chit billy!!!! Feet like blocks of ice and chilled to the bone, but a surprisingly good attendance in such freezing conditions and in the festive season, and with a World Cup semifinal on TV! Underimpressive top of the table, County, made hard work of relegation threatened Gateshead, but the result was never in doubt and a goal in each half brought home the victory and the points! With John Main.
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Thursday 15th December 2022
The sun shone fiercely, but the temperature was sub-zero on the playing field with a thick coating of ice all around, and, also,on Fullen Lane (“The Dusty”), all the way down to Kirby Hall, silent in majestic splendour. The deer gate to the Weldon footpath was locked and the now largely redundant Rockingham Motor Speedway stand, shone bare with ice in the sunlight. The information plates were still in place along the path, but also frost coated, as was the track up to the farm. Back on Corby Road, the putative site of the new crematorium had made no progress and, atop Westhills escarpment, the villages of Great Easton, Lyddington and Barrowden, (in that order) were easily visible across The Welland Valley. Down below, Corby Tunnel opened its jaws across the track, whilst back on the path, a footbridge crossed the babbling Brook. The pond in the pocket park had survived the attack on its thick coating of ice, the new estate,adjacent the village hall, nears completion and then a return across the frosty playing field. Eight stiles and 8.85 miles.
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The humped ridge for cyclists on the Gretton Plating Area
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Fullen Lane – “The Dusty”
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Kirby Hall
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Kirby Hall
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Kirby Hall
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The Deer Gate  – locked!!!!!
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Rockingham Motor Speedway
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One of a set of information tablets along the path to Gretton Brook Road from Kirby Hall
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A new Crematorium?
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Atop Westhills
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Great Easton
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Lyddington
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Barrowden
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Pocket Park Pond
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Saturday 17th December 2022
Wessex League Premier Division
AFC Portchester 3
Brett Pitman 19, 86, 89,
Blackfield & Langley 0
Referee: Stephen Jansen.                                     Attendance: 257
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£7).                       Programme: on line
On a chilly, but sunny afternoon, this game was in doubt until fifteen minutes before kick-off. Ambitious Portchester we’re not at their best, today against relegation threatened Langley. Chairman, Paul Kelly, invited us into the boardroom and discussed his plans and hopes for the further expansion of the club – including a covered terrace behind the far goal – but the ground is already compliant with Southern League requirements. The hosts scored midway through the first period, but it took two goals in the final three minutes to add some reality to the score line.
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Tuesday 20th December 2022
Isuzu FA Trophy 3rd Round
Notts County 2
Sam Austin 32, Scott Leather 45+2 (og)
Chorley 1
Connor Hall 18,
Referee: Paul Marsden.                                 Attendance: 2,040
Admission: Hospitality £30.00.                 Programme: included (£2.50)
Excellent hospitality! A three course meal and padded seats with armrests right on the half-way line, and all for a very reasonable price. The crowd was less than half of last Tuesday’s League encounter and three sides of the ground were closed, but the match was better! Determined opposition opened the scoring and after an equaliser, all but held on until half-time, but for an unfortunate own goal, and that proved to be the end of the scoring, but not the end of a finely balanced match. With son, Mike and grandson, Freddie.
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Wednesday 21st December 2022
Midland League Division 1
Ingles 2
Ben Tansley 50, Benn Minnshull 85
Chelmsley Town 1
Adam Woods 90+2,
Referee:- Harry Organ.                                              Attendance: 74
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                            Programme:- £1.00
Thringstone in Leicestershire is where Ingles play their home matches after moving from a ground share with Shepshed Dynamo. There is a good clubhouse and the ground is securely fenced with a small fifty seater stand. However, the pitch is a bit of a mess and in need of serious refurbishment, with bare patches and churned up areas. The match was fairly average. 0-0 at the end of a poor first half and then the relegation threatened hosts took a two goal lead, midst some niggling incidents, only to concede deep into added time at the end. With John Main and a goodly posse of hoppers, including Chris Berezai, Laurence Reade, Chris Garner, and Martin from the railways in Kent (now retired), to name but a few!
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Boxing Day Monday 26th December2022
Isthmian League South East Division
Hythe Town 0
Ramsgate 1
Jack Paxman 40,
Referee: Kane Dempster.                                          Attendance: 320
Admission: OMGDS £7.00 (£10).                          Programme: £2.00
The Reachfields Stadium has cover on three sides and seating half-way down one side. There is a clubhouse reached by a steep metal staircase and a club shop behind the near goal. It is a neat ground, but the playing surface is in need of some considerable improvement. Free teamsheets were available. The match was tense and dour and the only goal came at the end of the first period courtesy of a mistake by the home custodian. This win takes Ramsgate to the top of the table, but coming up next week, is a home match against second placed Chatham!
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Wednesday 28th December 2022
North West Counties League Division 1 North
South Liverpool 5
Alex Griffiths 4, Mason Nevitt 15, 45 (pen), Rio Merrifield 24, Cameron Glennon 42,
Runcorn Town 0
Referee: Jack Austin.                                            Attendance: 157
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                        Programme: £1.50
Hard by The River Mersey with the lights of Birkenhead twinkling on the far side, Otterspool Park is a soulless cage with a plastic pitch and seated cover directly behind the near goal and covered standing down the near side. There was a cosy little tea bar and the welcome was warm, cheerful and helpful. The hosts pummelled the visitors In the first half and scored five times without reply. The second period was frustrating with each side determined to hang onto what they already had. With John Main, Graeme Holmes, Andy English, and several other “hoppers”.
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Other Matches:-

Wednesday 7th December 2022
Spartan South Midlands League Division 1  
Rugby Borough 0 Eaton Socon 2            Attendance: 26
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Monday 12th December 2022
Midland Floodlit Youth League Joel Richards Cup Quarter Final
Rugby Borough U18  2 Coventry Sphinx U18  4           Attendance: 33
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Monday 19th December 2022
Premier League U21 International Cup Group A
Leicester City U21 0 FC Porto U21 0             Attendance:309
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November 2022

                                                           Ozymandias

                                    I met a traveller from an antique land
                                    Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
                                    Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
                                    Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
                                    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
                                    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
                                    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
                                    The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
                                    And on the pedestal these words appear:
                                    "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
                                    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
                                    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
                                    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
                                    The lone and level sands stretch far away.

by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
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Tuesday 1st November 2022
Cheshire Senior Cup 1st Round
Stockport Georgians 2
Adam Dahou 54, Paul Connor 90,
Winsford United 2
Gabriel Mooney-Munoz, Richard Peters 85,
Referee: Ronan Anand.                                               Attendance: 123
Admission: OMGDS £2.50 (£5).                              Programme: £2.00
This is Georgians first season in The North West Counties League. Their ground is very basic with standing cover behind each goal, but no spectator seating. Tonight was only the second match under their new floodlights and despite the heavy rain throughout the day, the pitch held up remarkably well. Winsford United, a division higher, were given a stern examination by the new boys who produced a ninetieth minute equaliser to take the tie to penalties. Even then, it took sixteen penalties before the visitors squeezed through. With John Main. Special gratitude to the club, who looked after me after I fell and bashed my head on the way in. Their care was much appreciated!
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Saturday 5th November 2022
Wessex League Division 1
Fleet Spurs 0
Downton 1
Shaun Prentice 74,
Referee: Lucas Bomela.                                                       Attendance: 45
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£6).                                      Programme: on line
We travelled in the monsoon conditions, more in hope than anticipation, and were pleasantly surprised to find the match ON and the pitch in pretty good nick. There is a substantial club house and changing rooms, several additional pitches behind the clubhouse, hard standing on all four sides and seating for maybe fifty to the front of the club house. Apart from that, it was pretty bleak. This was the host’s fourteenth consecutive home defeat (7 from last season)and fourteenth consecutive defeat (home and away) this season. Bottom of the league and twelve points adrift of safety, whilst Downton are in second place, but it was pretty difficult to tell which was the better team! The visitors got a lucky strike fifteen minutes from time in a drab game and that was that! Basic and very expensive refreshment on offer! With John Main.
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Thursday 10th November 2022
Dry and overcast with a stiff breeze meandering past the almost finished new housing where horses used to roam and then, out along the farm track, catching up with the crumbling boundary wall leading to Harringworth Lodge ( the house, and not the lake, where, today, the heron was about). On the way to Spanhoe, a magnificent specimen of horned cattle was, fortunately, separated by secure barbed wire fencing and down in the valley, the viaduct dominated the landscape. On the downward slope the viaduct loomed closer as Turtle Bridge hove into view, and closer still as the track negotiated the parish church of St John the Baptist in Harringworth, itself. Next, along the route, was the village of Thorpe-by-Water and then across the river and the gentle climb to the railway line and, at last, the welcoming tower of St James’ Church. Nearly there, the Baptist Church was understatedly, yet tastefully, adorned for Remembrance. Five stiles and 12.06 miles.
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Saturday 12th November2022
Isuzu FA Vase 2nd Round
Laverstock & Ford 2
Russell Jones 52,Chae Sykes 90,
Falmouth Town 1
Jack Bray-Evans 76,
Referee: Nicholas Whittington.                                       Attendance: 268
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£7).                                  Programme: £2.00
A beautiful day in Salisbury under an azure sky and the hosts had organised a special menu for this encounter between two teams from parallel leagues (Wessex Premier v Western Premier). The visitors brought flags and drums and a Karaoke player and in truth, they should have won, but they missed so many nailed on chances, and were killed off with a late winner in the 90th minute!
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Monday 14th November 2022
Southern League Premier Division Central
Hitchin Town 2
Diogo Freitas Gouveia 51, Bradley Bell 80,
Coalville Town 2
Timothy Berridge 7, Eliot Putman 74 (pen),
Referee: A Cresswell.                                                           Attendance: 293
Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£13).                                    Programme: £2.00
Teamsheet: 20p
On a dank, misty evening with a heavy shower of rain at the end of the first half, these two sides served up some rattling good entertainment at Top Field. The ground has been substantially refurbished without losing its olde worlde character, but you can’t get in without buying your ticket in advance, on line. Coalville struck first and were good value for their half-time lead. The hosts came from behind twice in the second half and just about deserved a share of the spoils.
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Tuesday 15th November 2022
United Counties League Division 1
Barrow Town 4
Tom Mangan 62, 88, Callum Parsley 80, Wade Ball 82,
Dunkirk 2
George Harrison 76, McKenna Parton 83, Jake Want s/o 27
Referee: Paul-Valentin Mihalache.                                Attendance: 40
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                                   Programme: F.O.C.
It is always wet when I visit Riverside Park and this evening was no exception. The ground is basic. A substantial clubhouse and changing rooms, but very little in the way of pitch side furniture – but it does have the extended high level footbridge behind the far goal! Tonight, Dunkirk must have travelled with high expectations considering the relative League positions of the two clubs. The 27th minute dismissal of their custodian for handling the ball outside the area, considerably evened things up. The hosts scored first after an hour, but then five more goals were scored in the final fifteen minutes, with Barrow taking three of them for victory and three points! Good to see Chis Berezai and Dan.
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Wednesday 16th November 2022
Lincolnshire Senior Trophy Quarter Final
Blackstones 2
Ryan Lennon 55, Jordan Niell 74,     Louie Venni s/o 85
Deeping Rangers 3
Will Bird 5, Spencer Tinkler 58, Sam Fielding 90+5
Referee: Peter Brothwell.                                          Attendance:- 123
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                            Programme: £2.00
Lincoln Road, home of Blackstones is an atmospheric ground best seen in Autumn and at night, but perhaps not with the increasingly intense downpour that occurred this evening! These two local rivals (the visitors are a step higher at step 5), entertained a sizeable crowd and the match was only won with a strike five minutes into added time at the end of the second half. In the first half, the visitors should have been four or five goals to the good, but managed only one. The second half was much more even until the 85th minute dismissal of the home number 11, after a melee. Deeping deserved their victory, but the hosts gave them a fright!
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Until 1991/92, the club were known as Mirrlees Blackstone, after the former engineering company in the town
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Saturday 19th November 2022
Wessex League Premier Division
United Services Portsmouth 5
Luke Richards 15, Lamin Jatta31, Danny Burroughs 69, Dan Sibley 80, Cam Quirke 90+2,
Alresford Town 0
Referee: Ethan Grainger (whose father and grand father-in-law were both there to see him officiate)
Attendance:- 46.      Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5)       Programme: £1.00).      Car parking: £5.00.
Very heavy traffic meant slow progress through Portsmouth, then there was no parking at the ground! It was a pretty impressive ground for step 5, just across the road from the former Hampshire CCC headquarters, (before they moved to The Rose Bowl). Neither of these teams are setting off fireworks this season and, predictably, 16th placed USP thrashed bottom of the table, Alresford, but it wasn’t a classic on a mild, autumnal, sunny afternoon after the recent persistent rain.
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Tuesday 22nd November 2022
United Counties League Premier Division North
Loughborough Students 5
Anthony Lynn 8, Ethan O’Toole 22, 28, Matty Bowman 58, Dylan Edwards 86
Heanor Town 1
Jack Dando 46,
Referee: Daniel Haywood.                                      Attendance: 138
Admission OMGDS £2.50 (£5).                            Programme: £2.00
Another visit (my 34th) to the very impressive Holywell Sports Stadium at Loughborough University and an equally impressive display by the unbeaten leaders of the division who thrashed visitors, Heanor Town in very entertaining encounter and really should have added to their score! With John Main and Martin Hayden.
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Saturday 26th November 2022
Vanarama National League North
Banbury United 3
Jack Stevens 46, Alex Babos 82,  Giorgio Rasulo 86,
Chorley 0
Referee:- Jonathan Maskrey.                                Attendance:- 803
Admission: OMGDS £11.00 (£15).                      Programme: £2.00
The Spencer’s Stadium now has fan segregation following some idiotic ‘hooligan’ incidents earlier this season. There was also a WW2 bomb discovered in a waterway close by the ground! After a very even first period, the hosts scored immediately after the break and the goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors, who subsided tamely to a pretty emphatic defeat. With son, Jim and grandsons, Sonny and Kingsley.
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Grand son, Kingsley enjoying the match AND the result against Grandad’s team!
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Monday 28th November 2022
The early morning was misty, dank and dreary. The village hall was closed and still, the pathway pitted with puddles all the way down to the Harringworth Road, where the monument to Fanny Blaydes, the vicar’s wife, killed when thrown from her carriage 138 years ago, with a smaller stone – “hic obit – here died” – alongside, whilst further down the road are the remains of a burnt out vehicle, before crossing the fields with the colossus of the Harringworth Viaduct disappearing into the hazy mist. The Welland was close to bursting its banks and two stately swans glided where the path across the field ought to be. In Seaton, the church of All Hallows loomed out of the mist, the steps took the path to Bisbrooke, crossing the former spur railway line to Uppingham and past the church of St John the Baptist and, further on, two roses in bloom in late November. Uppingham at last, where a group of school children were being given a lesson in the esoteric intricacies of religious edifices in the church of St Peter and St Paul. Beautiful golden leaves adorned the path out of the town, before the greedy pig, nuzzling amongst the grass and UCC, where my grandson enjoys his education. Onwards to Lyddington and the church of St Andrew, with the remains of the monks Friday fish ponds en route. Gretton Weir was riding high and the sight of St James’ Church, asserting itself above the Autumn branches, was welcome, indeed. 12.25 miles and only one stile
           

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All Hallows, Seaton.

The steps in Seaton leading to the path to Bisbrooke.

The site of the railed of the former Uppingham Spur.

I have actually walked the length of the spur line,

but it is difficult to negotiate in parts,

very overgrown and there is no official pathway!

St John the Baptist, Bisbrooke.

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Church of St Peter & St Paul, Uppingham.

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Uppingham Community College.

St Andrew’s Church, Lyddington (and, below the former monks’ fishponds.

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Gretton Weir.

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Monday 28th November 2022
Pitching-in Southern League Premier Division Central

Hitchin Town 2

Jack Snelus 30, Ashley Hay 67,

Redditch United 1

Ryan Woollacott 44,

Referee: J. Perry                                         Attendance:- 276

Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£13)          Programme: £2.00

On a pretty dank, miserable evening I travelled down to Top Field and met up with Mark Sumner who had travelled up from London on the train. This was my fiftieth visit to the ground – and I hadn’t realised it! Hitchin are in the middle of a good run and this was an excellent victory against a team only two places above them in the table. Drove Mark back to Hitchin Station after the match.

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Wednesday 30th November 2022
Spartan South Midlands League Division 1
Rugby Borough 0
Moulton 3
Joey Evans 45+2, George Wingrove 70, JJ Macarthy 73,
Referee: Zach Cunningham. Attendance: 119 (the official attendance was an unlikely 205)
Admission: OMGDS £2.00 (£5).             Programme: £1.00
On a chilly evening at The Kilsby Lane complex, two teams who have 3G pitches were in action and highly placed Borough were given a roasting by mid-table Moulton. Both these teams are recent additions to the SSML and it would appear that the hosts are the more ambitious. They started positively, missed a couple of chances and were gradually and relentlessly worn down by a very determined opposition, who opened the scoring at the end of the first session and struck twice more after the break for a deserved and decisive victory. There was a large contingent of hoppers in attendance, too many to name …. John Main, Lee West, Robert Campion, Tony Morehead, Jack Warner, and Mark, were but a few).
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OTHER MATCHES:-

Sunday 6th November 2022
Barclays FA Women’s Super League
Leicester City 0 Arsenal 4                               Attendance:: 3,590
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Monday  7th November 2022
Midland League Division 1
Chelmsley Town 3 Paget Rangers 2              Attendance:- 78
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Tuesday 8th November 2022
Carabao EFL Cup 3rd Round
Leicester City 3 Newport County 0                   Attendance:- 15,081
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Wednesday 9th November 2022
Premier League U21 International Cup Group A
Leicester City 0 Valencia CF 2                        Attendance:- 242
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Monday 21st November 2022
Pitching-in Southern League Premier Division Central
Hitchin Town 2 AFC Rushden & Diamonds 1               Attendance:- 240
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October 2022

Football is my favorite game
I love to watch them play –
Those tightly muscled butts and legs
On an awesome autumn day;
How fluidly and gracefully
They dance across the green –
Such elegant contenders play
The best I’ve ever seen;
Some people think I’m crazy
The way I love the game –
But I’d rather be watching football
Than anything I can name;
Of course I may be prejudiced
I love my maise and blue –
That BIG 10 team that rules the league………….
You rock the Big House – BLUE! ! !

by Linda Ori
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Saturday 1st October 2022
North West Counties League Premier Division
Burscough 2
Mosopeoluwo Awe 29, Edward Servuts 90+2 (pen),
Irlam 3
John J.A. Main 40, 69 (pen), Luke Nicholls 72,
Referee: Sam Orritt.                                        Official Attendance:- 50
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£6).                 Programme: £2.00
Five previous visits, all to Victoria Park in the golden days of The Lancashire Combination and The Cheshire League. This new arena is featureless and soulless, one seated stand down the side of a 3G pitch. Minimal facilities and little beyond coffee and crisps for sustenance. Helpful and pleasant stewards, one of whom made a special point of obtaining a teamsheet for me. On the pitch, the hosts are struggling in the relegation spots with eleven defeats from thirteen matches played. They took a first half lead, but it was cancelled out before half time and a further two goals were shipped before a late penalty gave the score line a more respectable appearance!
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Monday 3rd October 2022
Hertfordshire Senior Cup 1st Round
Hitchin Town 1
Ashley Hay 13,
Welwyn Garden City 0
Referee:- S Bryan.                                               Attendance:- 231
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£8).                    Programme:- £2.00
Top Field is the place to be on a mild, balmy, autumnal evening, with the leaves turning bronze behind the home goal. There was little at stake in a low key county cup tie, but both teams fielded pretty strong sides and this was a contest of determination and will power and not a little skill. The only goal came midway through the first half, an excellent header from the edge of the box and the hosts just about deserved to progress!
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Tuesday 4th October 2022
Eastern Counties League Challenge Cup 1st Round
Stanway Pegasus 1
Reece Keating 77,
Burnham Ramblers 0
Referee: Matt Rowling.                               Attendance: 99
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).              Programme:- £2.00
Newcomers to the Eastern League and fresh from an unbeaten season in The Essex & Suffolk Border League and managed by Rosie Webb who not only became the only female coach to take a team unbeaten through her league, but also played for the unbeaten Stanway Pegasus Women’s team, too! Tonight, it was second placed Pegasus against first placed Ramblers in a dour struggle which yielded a single strike a scant ten minutes from time. With John Main.
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Wednesday 5th October 2022
Spartan South Midlands League Division 1
Eaton Socon 5
Jake Anderson 5, Callan Irvine 10, Andre Reece-Brown 52,Ryan Baxter 64, Dean Parratt 88,
Langford 2
Frankie Adio 47, Owen Dixon (og) 87,
Referee:- Neil Angus.                                   Official Attendance: 137
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).               Programme: £1.00
Seven years since my last visit to River Road and in that time, the pitch has been moved through 90 degrees and, this evening, for the first time in their 155 year history, the hosts had floodlights switched on for an evening match. There was a good gathering of hoppers amongst the much higher than usual turnout (seven years ago, the attendance was 36). Unbeaten and riding high, the hosts eventually prevailed after Langford staged a comeback from their two goal half-time deficit. The final score was probably a fair reflection of the evening’s encounter! With John Main.
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Friday 7th October 2022
Southern Counties East Premier Division
Punjab United 1
Paul Vines 70,
Stansfield 1
Lee Friend 68,
Referee:- Kehinde Agboola.                              Attendance: 347
Admission: £8.00.                                              Programme: £2.00
The Steve Cook Stadium ( named after a former groundsman, who died aged only 58 in 2020), was heaving with hoppers this evening for the inaugural SCEL hop’s first match. It would have been difficult to tell which team sat proudly in third place and which team lay next to bottom of the league from the performance on the pitch. It could be argued that all the excitement was condensed into two minutes around the beginning of the last quarter of the game. Firstly, the visitors scored and within a minute, the hosts were level from a vicious Paul Vines volley! Thereafter, the hosts made most of the running, but a draw was probably a fair result. There were posters of Sidhu Moose Wala (1993-2022), The Indian Rapper, who was recently shot dead in Punjab. He was a famous rapper who had turned (unsuccessfully) to politics. Many of his lyrics were in a social context, but it was also said that his songs challenged religious establishments and promoted gun culture. It was said that after he lost the election, his bodyguards were withdrawn and he went out without his own two bodyguards.
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Saturday 8th October 2022
Southern Counties East League Division 1
Staplehurst Monarchs 1
John Osagie 73,
Rochester United 0
Referee:- David Lambert.                                        Attendance: 331
Admission: £8.00.                                                    Programme:- £2.00
Not far from Maidstone on a lovely and bright, sunny morning, these two teams contrived to bore a healthy audience with a plethora of back passes to the home goalkeeper (well over sixty in the match) and some pretty innocuous passing until, at last, the deadlock was broken by substitute, John Osagie, who had been on the pitch for less than seven minutes. It was the only bright moment in a very average match!
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Saturday 8th October 2022
Southern Counties East League Premier Division
Bearsted 2
Ollie Freeman 18, 58,
Fisher 1
Allí Adawumni 57,
Referee: Samuel Hall.                                   Attendance:- 229
Admission:- £8.00.                                       Programme: £2.00
The tiny village of Bearsted supports a team in Kent football’s premier division – maybe struggling a little, but nowhere near as badly as the visitors, who prop up the table. This was a fine match of flow and counter flow and the visitors were in no way overawed. The hosts enjoyed a single goal advantage at the interval, but this was cancelled out ten minutes after the re-start. A bare minute later, the hosts re-took the lead and despite some strong assaults by the visitors, held on for a narrow victory!
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Saturday 8th October 2022 k.o. 5.00pm
Southern Counties East League Division 1
Larkfield & New Hythe 2
Luke Burdon 13, Stuart West (c) 30,
Greenways 1
Oscar Saxton 48,
Referee:- Stephen Gorman.                           Attendance: 243
Admission: £5.00.                                          Programme: £2.00
Two teams in the higher echelons of mid-table, with the hosts in fifth place and the visitors in eighth, took part in a vigorous and at times petulant contest, not helped by a fussy official. Two first half strikes put the hosts firmly in the driving seat, but after the interval, the visitors pulled a goal back and nearly had a second following a defender’s exquisite header which needed an agile touch from the home keeper to put it over the bar. A beautiful red sunset accompanied the final moments of the match.
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Tuesday 11th October 2022
East Riding Senior Cup 1st Round
Beverley Town 1
Craig Muirhead 89,
Cherry Burton 0
Referee: Matthew Wright.                                   Attendance:- 227
Admission: £3.50.                                                Programme:- £1.50
Newcomers to the NCEL, Beverley Town have floodlights, a small 56 seater stand and standing down half of each side and behind one goal (a lot to do with sharing with the local cricket club!). There was a healthy turnout for this local derby, not least because, in a former incarnation, Cherry Burton were the academy team of Beverley Town! This was a match of pride, whigh neither side wanted to lose and it took a goal in the 89th minute to decide the contest, perhaps a little fortuitously, in favour of the hosts.
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Wednesday 12th October 2022
Midland League Division 1
Ingles 2
Ben Minshull 75, Josh warren 89,
Wednesfield 2
Kevin Nickles 6, Ashley Bellingham 84,
Referee: James Henderson.                            Attendance:- 115
Admission: OMGDS£3.00 (£5).                    Programme: £1.00
Having spent the last couple of seasons at Shepshed, Ingles have moved to Thringstone and made some improvements. Tarmac around three sides of the ground, sturdy fencing and seating in the stand, cover behind one goal and, tonight, was their first league match,at this venue, under floodlights. There was a goodly cheer of hoppers for this match, which was played on a pitch with plenty of bare patches. Neither side was setting the league alight and for much of this rumbustious tussle, the visitors held the upper hand. They led at the interval, regained the lead with a scant five minutes left, but the hosts scored with one minute of normal time remaining and we had to endure ten inexplicable minutes of added time.
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Saturday 15th October 2022
Isthmian League Division 1 South Central
Basingstoke Town 0
Northwood 1
Sydney Ibie 50 (pen)
Referee: Steve Hawkes.                                    Attendance: 470
Admission: OMGDS £7.00 (£10).                 Programme: £2.00
The last time I saw the hosts playing a home match, it was at lovely Camrose, “stolen”, by a heartless owner. In 2019, the club was forced to re-locate to the ground of Winchester City, as former Chairman Rafi Razzak attempted to sell The Camrose ground for development. It should be illegal to divide a football club from its home ground! Now they play at the featureless HQ of the Hampshire FA at Winklebury Park, a 3G cage with some redeeming points in a fine stand and very helpful stewards – plus free team sheets and a tour of the ground beforehand, because the train (and bus) got me there early! They moved to Winklebury Sports Complex in October 2020. Both these teams occupy top four spots in the division, but the hosts were defeated rather more easily than the score might suggest.
Vestigia Nulla Restrorsum – Never a backward step!
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Monday 17th October 2022
Birmingham County FA Midweek Floodlit Cup 1st Round
Chelmsley Town 1
Dudley Athletic 0
Referee: Julia Kings.                                               Attendance:- 51
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                         Programme: £1.00
On an increasingly chilly evening at Coleshill on the 3G surface, these two evenly matched sides officiated by a very competent female referee, slugged it out for almost the entire match and just as we were getting ready for penalties, right at the death, the hosts scored and took the tie, perhaps a little fortuitously. With John Main and Lee West.
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Julia Kings, tonight’s very efficient referee!
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Tuesday 18th October 2022
EFL Papa John Trophy Southern Group D
Stevenage 1
Tottenham Hotspur U21 0
Referee: Samuel Barrott.                                  Attendance:- 1,449 (140)
Admission: OMGDS £10.00 (£12).                Programme: NONE
Grandson, Freddie (12) is on half-term holiday and keen to increase his haul of League grounds visited (this was his 34th). Two sides of The Lamex were empty with 140 Spurs supporters occupying the area behind one goal. The bulk of the crowd filled the fourth side quite comfortably! I do NOT like seeing U21 sides in this tournament. It is obviously a premier League subterfuge for the benefit of their players and real spectators are ignored! Stevenage lead the table and Spurs bring up the rear. But they shouldn’t even be in it!
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Wednesday 19th October 2022
Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division
Glenfield United 3
Desford & Caterpillar 2
Referee: Martyn Jarvis.                                  Attendance: 34
Admission: F.O.C.                                           Programme: NONE
Not a lot to say about this 3G pitch inside a cage at South Charnwood School with viewing down one side only. The game was pretty ordinary, too, the only mystery being how the visitors contrived to lose the encounter having squandered so many gilt edged chances! On a very cold and blustery evening, there was a cheer of hoppers in attendance, swelling the meagre crowd. With John Main, Lee West and Jack Warner.
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Jack Warner, Lee West and John Main
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Thursday 20th October 2022
FA Premier League
Leicester City 2
Leeds United 0
Referee:- Peter Bankes.                                     Attendance: 30,814
Admission: £37.50.                                            Programme:- £3.50
First visit of the season to The King Power Stadium and, (67 matches in), my first visit to a premier league match this season! There were plenty of empty seats as Leicester started tentatively against their Yorkshire opponents. A Leeds own goal after 17 minutes helped to calm the nerves and a second ten minutes before the break put Leicester on top. The match ended with Leicester winning 2-0 despite having only one shot on target!
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ITALY

I did promise Freddie that I would take him to The San Siro for his birthday this year and so, early this morning (Saturday 22nd October), Freddie and his Dad, Mike, and I caught the Turin flight from Stansted. This was really the earliest we could go because Mike had been in school until late last night. We got there and took a bus down into the city of Turin (passing several “shanty towns” en route) and at Porto Nuova station, we caught the Milan train, travelling at speeds up to 300kph (190 mph), it took us barely an hour to get there and my sister Maggie was waiting for us when we arrived!. She quickly whisked us off for lunch at a restaurant called “The Fish’, where Freddie had a burger and Mike a steak and I had fish and mushrooms and potatoes boiled in oil. We met up with Luigi, Maggie’s partner and enjoyed the meal, but, for me, there was no alcohol, which Maggie found hard to understand. “Why don’t you just have the weekend off? Nobody would know!” Aaah ………. but I would! We saw The Duomo, which impressed Freddie and Mike and then caught the Metro on the red line to Lotto from Duomo and walked from there to The San Siro, which, we understand is being pulled down and replaced with a brand spanking new stadium in around five years …… what a waste!

Saturday 22nd October 2022
Serie A
AC Milan 4
Brahim Diaz 16, 40, Divock Origi 65, Rafael Leao 84,
AC Monza 1
Filippo Rannocchia 70,
Admission: €50.00.                          Programme : NONE
Referee:- Livio Marinelli                 Attendance:- 72,938
The San Siro was heaving with noise and flags for my 4th visit. Servio Berlusconi, the former Milan – and Italian – President, and now hoping to raise Monza from obscurity, was here with his team. The hosts, strangely, chose to play in Khaki – shirts, shorts and socks, with matching yellow additions to front and back. The match was a good one and, eventually, the hosts stuffed Monza, but it might have been very different if the visitors had taken a gift of a free header into an empty net midway through the opening period. Divock Origi, powerfully built and very quick, scored the third, the ex-Liverpool player lashing it into the top corner from the edge of the area. Good matvh but what happened to the smoke and the flares! With son Mike and grand son Freddie.
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Dad, Mike and son, Freddie outside The San Siro Stadium!
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Mike gets a beer from a passing seller … it cost him €10.00
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Grand dad, Ed, grand son, Freddie and son, Mike!
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The Rossonari lit their telephones at half time and an eerie light descended on the stadium!
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After the game, Mike and Freddie soaked in the last dregs of atmosphere.
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The Duomo, the cathedral of Milan.
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Freddie with great Aunt, Maggie and dad, Mike. Behind them, the block of flats with trees growing out of it!
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Atalanta, second in Serie A at the time of our visit, play in the beautiful medieval city of Bergamo, about an hour and a half by train from Milan. There is a funicular railway which transports people 85 metres up to the top of the town, which was heavily fortified, besieged and sacked during Medieval times, with France and Venice the main culprits! There is evidence on the lovely walk down from the top of the strength of the city defences. We dined in a cafe at the top. It was very busy all across the town and we were lucky to get a table. I have to say that Italian food does not agree with me. I don’t like the idea of melting cheese and then smearing it on the hard Italian bread (I am not a pizza man!). I don’t think either Mike or Freddie were too impressed, either. However, each morning, we had a superb breakfast of scrambled (or poached) egg on toast and coffee (or orange juice, in Freddie’s case!) at a cafe near where Maggie lived on Via Piero Calvi (2109, Milano). On the walk down from the top of the city, we could see the football ground!
Sunday 23rd October 2022
Italy Serie A
Atalanta BC 0
Luis Muriel s/o 90 (2 x yellow cards)
SS Lazio 2
Mattia Zaccagni 10, Felipe Anderson 52,
Referee: Rosario Abissa.                             Attendance: 18,988
Admission:- €35.00.                                   Programme: NONE
What a magnificent city Bergamo is! An hour by train from Milan, it has its own funicular railway for getting from bottom to top of the town, magnificent views all around – including of The Stadio Atleti Azurri d’Italia (now named, commercially, as The Gewiss Stadium). The ground may have been smaller than yesterday, but Atalanta, in second place in Serie A were hosting fourth placed, Lazio. Sadly for them, they were well beaten. The never got going and found themselves penned in their own half for long stretches. A goal in each half for the confident visitors sent their “ultras” home in raptures of delight. Lazio steal above them into third place and Atalanta drop to fourth after their first league defeat of the season. With son, Mike and grand son, Freddie.
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A view of the Atalanta Stadium on our way down from the top of the city.
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Son, Freddie and Dad, Mike.
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The funicular railway in Bergamo. It rises 85 metres and takes around three minutes to make the ascent.
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Initially, we were unimpressed with Cremona, for all that it is the home of the violin and some of the world’s greatest Stradivarii are housed there. The Museum was closed today and after a one and a half hour train journey from Milan, we did not find the city very prepossessing, until we wandered into the interior after a coffee at a wine bar where we met a woman from, believe it or not … Corby! Once in the centre of Cremona, there were piazzas and palazzos and a pretty impressive cathedral. After the match, the last train back to Milan was due to leave at 9.30pm, so we had roughly an hour to walk the mile and a bit back to the station … and then the train was late!
Monday 24th August 2022
Italy Serie A
Cremonese 0
Sampdoria 1
Omar Colley 78,
Referee: Fabio Maresca.                                       Attendance: 13,021
Admission: OMGDS €35.00 (€50).                  Programme: F.O.C.
Sadly the Museum of Violins was closed today, but the cathedral was open and a fine example of Renaissance murder was on display there! The tickets for the game were poor. They would have been described as restricted view in England (see below). Then, I was surrounded by fifty or sixty screaming primary school children who couldn’t sit still! Yet for all that, this game was a cracker. Both sets of supporters contributed with non-stop singing, flares, sonic booms and boisterous flag waving. Bottom placed Sampdoria swapped places with Cremonese with this victory and the hosts, for all their opportunities – including a penalty – went home empty handed in their first season back in the top flight this century. With son, Mike and grandson, Freddie.
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The impressive gateway to Cremonese’s stadium
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The cathedral of Cremona
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This murderous painting adorns one of the walls of the cathedral.
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Saturday 29th October 2022
Isthmian League South Eastern Division
Chatham Town 6
Emmanuel Oloyede 5, Dan Bradshaw 24, 62, Jack Evans 35, Daniel Thompson 73, Callum Peck 87,
Hythe Town 1
Jovan Caney-Bryan 48,
Referee:- Michael Scott.                                               Attendance: 717
Admission: OMGDS £6.00 (£10).                             Programme: £2.00
Lovely ground with substantial covered standing behind one goal, a seated stand down both sides … but on the far side, the seats were useless because you couldn’t see much of the game from them. Fine club house and free team sheets, but my heart sank when I saw that it was a 3G pitch! Tables and chairs at pitch side for your drinks and eats during the match! With this thumping victory, the hosts claimed top spot in the league and on this display it will be hard to dislodge them. Three goals in each half and there should have been more. The visitors were comprehensively dismantled!
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Sunday 30th October 2022
On a dull, overcast morning in East Carlton, the hall dominates the skyline – originally built in 1778 and modified to a French chateau design some 90 years later – it is now uninhabited, but surrounded by the luscious colours of Autumn. Out of the grounds, a village pump with evidence of Hallowe’en in the background and, higher up, a very modern detached residence looks out across the Welland Valley. Through narrow trails and sheep filled fields and a long downward stretch to the C13 Cottingham Parish church of St Mary Magdalene. Even higher, the tiny building that Charlotte always envied as a painter’s loft! Alpacas at rest and still further, is The Wesleyan (Methodist) Chapel, built in 1878 to host 200 worshippers and now mostly derelict. A yellow bench adorns the wall of the stables in Middleton and an interesting example of a sheep upon entering the park once more, on the leaf carpeted path with fruit bushes lining the route. The cows – and the reindeer – looked to be settling in for wet weather as the circuit is completed back in the park. No stiles and 3.48 miles.
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Monday 31st October 2022
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom friend of the maturing sun,
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
The fruit that round the thatch-eves run.”
John Keats had a way with words and his opening lines reflect this morning’s amble. Perhaps, had he been born two hundred years later, he might have commented further on the lead up to Remembrance Sunday as part of his ode. The solitary street lamp at the top of Station Road, the curtain of poppies at The War Memorial, the individually knitted poppies adorning street rails, the bough of poppies at the church gate ….. all lain in remembrance of thousands whose lives were lost on our behalf. Onwards down Church Gap, over the railway line, through the hidden bridge, by the sluggish River Welland, underneath the old railway line and bypassing Thorpe-by-Water to Lyddington, with the stubby spire of St Andrews Church, a horse gently nuzzles the grass in the farmyard, whilst much further on across the fields, a group of frisky cows took an unwanted interest, before reaching Caldecott and the church of St John the Evangelist, where the proud mushroom grows in the graveyard and the proud fallen are commemorated in the church (though not an officer in sight!). Across more fields, where only a mound now remains of the former Rugby to Peterborough railway and scum covers the overflow stream from the River Welland. At Gretton Weir, the water level is low. At the bottom of Station Road, another poppy reminds the traveller whilst posters in windows announce the events of Remembrance Sunday itself. Keats, I feel, would have had something to say! Nine stiles and 9.04 miles.
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The War Memorial in Gretton
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St James’ Church, Gretton.
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The hidden bridge and (right) The River Welland
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Thorpe-by-Water from The Lyddington Road.
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Lyddington (St Andrew’s Church in background).
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                   The frisky cows at the end of the fields on the way to Caldecott.
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           The Parish Church of St John The Evangelist in Caldecott.
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Other Matches

Monday 10th October 2022

FA U-21 Premier League 2 Division 1

Leicester City u21 0 Fulham u21 7                              attendance: 260

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Monday 31st October 2022

Midland League Division 1

Hinckley AFC 1 Shawbury United 2                         attendance: 138

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September 2022

I won’t be watching

the World Cup this year, Because,

Well it’s obvious ~

Qatar 2022

Haiku by Paul H Tubb

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Saturday 3rd September 2022
FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round
Eastbourne Town 0
Hanwell Town 2
Matthew MacKenzie 69, Kain Adam 90+2,
Referee:- Chris Wilks.                                  Attendance: 284
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£7)               Programne: £1.50
On a lovely sunny afternoon and in the shadow of Eastbourne College, these two teams, who had never met before, battled out a tense cup-tie. The visitors, some two steps higher in the pyramid had most of the play. The hosts defended, doggedly. It wasn’t until seventy minutes had passed that the deadlock was broken and the, deep into added time, the visitors added a second! With Phil Evans.
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Tuesday 6th September 2022
Cherry Red Records premier Challenge Cup
1st Round
Penn & Tyler’s Green 0
Gary Lines s/o 37, serious foul play
Spartans Youth 1
Kyran Kellman-Fisher  28 (pen),
Referee: Anjah Merza.                                                Attendance:- 44
Admission: OMGDS £3.50 (£7).                             Programme: on line
Well hidden in deepest Buckinghamshire, the ground is Spartan, with only one small covered area, but a beautifully manicured pitch and a very modern club house. This was a bruising encounter with no quarter asked or given. One sending off and four bookings in a game where the referee just about kept control. The only goal came just before the half hour mark … from the penalty spot!
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Wednesday 7th September 2022
Northern Premier League Division 1 Midlands
Corby Town 4
Daniel Collins 35, Hilton Arthur 67, 83, Curtis Burrows 76,
Yaxley 1
Ethan Johnston 59
Referee: Ian Jackson.                                        Attendance: 480
Admission: OMGDS £6.00 (£10).                 Programme: £2.00
Corby Town under new management are unbeaten this season in the league. Yaxley have yet to find a win in their first six games, five of which have been lost! Tonight, the visitors matched their opponents for over an hour, equalising the hosts first half strike in the 59th minute. Three more goals for Corby in the final twenty minutes, were, perhaps, a little flattering!
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Tuesday 13th September 2022
South West Peninsular League Premier Division West
Launceston 3
Ben Harrison  29, Mark Elvridge 67, Tom Bullock 87,
Bodmin Town 3
Levi Landricembe 2, 59, 72,
Referee: Aiden Madden.                                                  Attendance: 44
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                                  Programme: F.O.C.
Hidden away in the middle of an industrial estate and overshadowed by a huge wind turbine, Pennygillam Way, home of Launceston,is not immediately prepossessing. There is cover on one side, with about 200 seats and a huge club house and refreshment kiosk and the officials were more than friendly and helpful. The game was a cracker. The hosts gleaned only their second point of the season (in their ninth league game), but they fell behind three times to the more impressive visitors and it took a goal three minutes from time to garner a point!
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Wednesday 14th September 2022
South West Peninsular League Premier Division East
Torrington 0
Oakhampton Argyle 2
Luke Mortimore 80, 85,
Referee:- Liam Chick.                                             Official Attendance: 78
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                         Programme: NONE
Torrington’s ground has a fine stand down one side, but also, al fresco seating on the opposite side. There was no programme, but team sheets were freely available at the bar … sadly, no numbers were attached! The parish church of St Michael and All the Angels overshadows the ground. In 1645 following an English Civil War Roundhead victory, the captured prisoners were locked in the church. Sadly, the Royalists had left 80 barrels of gunpowder in the church, which exploded, damaging church and killing prisoners. Tonight, the fourth placed visitors eventually secured the victory against fourth from bottom hosts, who were using their new changing rooms for the first time. It was a tough tussle. The hosts fought well, but two goals in the last ten minutes won the match for Argyle.
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This was the team sheet for the match, but the players on the team sheet had no numbers!
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The Church of St Michael & All the Angels, blown up in the English Civil War in 1645.
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Note the ‘al fresco’ seating in this picture on the far side of the pitch!
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The new changing rooms … but only for the home team!
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Saturday 17th September 2022
FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
Gosport Borough 1
Dan Wooden 82, 
Paulton Rovers 1
Will Harvey 90+1,
Referee: Iain Parsons.                                          Official Attendance: 419
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£10).                     Programme: £2.00
Down in deepest Hampshire, high flying Gosport were expected to defeat opponents from a division below them at their well appointed stadium. Seating along each side of the ground and a fine club house and refreshments with team sheets available and football wall to wall in the bar! The match was feisty and entertaining, but goals were at a premium. The hosts scored first, eight minutes from time, but plucky Paulton equalised, direct from a corner, in the second minute of added time at the end! In the replay, the following Tuesday, Paulton Rovers triumphed by 2-1.
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Tuesday 20th September
Kershaws Cambridgeshire County League Division 4A
FC Kennett 4
Will Earl 23, Connor Adams 60, Robert Haydon 51, 65, 
Sawston United Reserves 2
Edward Carter 68 (own goal), Vito D’Ambrosia 83,
Referee: Paul Norman.                                 Attendance: 36
Admission : F.O.C.                                       Programme: NONE
FC Kennett, mainly teenagers with a couple of older players, are enjoying their first season in the league – and their first win this season – They play at The Sporting Pavilion on Station Road in Kennett, and the ground, little more than a field with very worn patches, is floodlit. There was a cheering of seasoned hoppers in attendance, Martin Hayden, Peter Miles, Lee West, Laurence Reade and John Main, to name but a few. The game was a good one and Kennett deserved their first success!
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Notice how worn the pitch is!
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Not the easiest team sheet to read!
Fortunately I had downloaded the team squads from “Full Time The FA”
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Wednesday 21st September 2022
Spartan South Midlands League Division 1
Rugby Borough 7
Ethan Flaig 6, Asam Shaw 19, Dale Linton 38, Gez McGahey 42, 83,Ash Piper 60, Ryan Palmer 79,
Wellingborough Whitworth 1
Remy Brittain 55,
Referee:- Angus Neil                                          Attendance:- 95
Admission: £5.00.                                             Programme: £1.00
These two teams are new to the Spartan South Midlands League, having transferred from The United Counties League (Wellingborough Whitworth) and been promoted from The Leicestershire Senior League (Rugby Borough). The ground is 3G but there have been quite a few improvements made – new seated stand, access along the far side of the pitch, to mention but two!. Both teams are languishing, but it was the hosts who looked more likely to rise up the table as they thrashed Whitworth. Four unanswered strikes before the break and three more in the second period in a scintillating Borough performance with a solitary reply in the 55th minute. With John Main.
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This magnificent photograph is the centre piece of a display at the entrance to the club house.
Behind the cups is the club house area, and the second pitch, right at the top is considered a different arena by Futbulog!
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Saturday 24th September 2022
Witney & District League Division 2 k.o.: 11.00am
Brize Norton 0 
Cassington Rangers 1
Jason Blackman 3,
Referee: Callum Jordan.                                      Attendance:- 168
Admission: £4.00.                                               Programme: included
A fine Indian Sumner’s morning, and the volunteers were out in force for the groundhoppers’ visit to Brize Norton. Breakfast baps of all shapes and sizes, ice creams and sumptuous slices of a wide variety of cake. Would that I could wax so lyrically about the match, but no, it was settled in the away team’s favour after a 4th minute penalty award. Having said that, a free kick was awarded to the home side in the 93rd minute for an offence clearly committed inside the penalty area! John was driving today and we missed the rest of the ‘hop’ games and travelled to ……
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Saturday 24th September 2022
Isuzu FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round k.o.: 3.00pm
Hartpury University 0
Clanfield 85 FC 0
Hartpury won 4-2 on penalties
Referee: Liam Brace.                                       Attendance: 86
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                 Programme: on line
A newish (2017) university, specialising in agricultural and equine studies, but also with a very good sporting record, Hartpury, near Gloucester, play in The Hellenic League Division 1, as do today’s opponents. The ground is a railed off pitch with floodlights and standing cover for about 50 spectators. The contest was moribund from the first minute, chances were few as both defences dominated, but at the end it was the hosts who took the penalty shoot-out decisively. No programme (on line), but free team sheets. With John Main.
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A solitary John Main at half-time by the only covered portion of the ground!
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Monday 26th September 2022
Pitching-in Southern League Premier Division Central
Hitchin Town 1
St Ives Town 1
Referee:- T. Whay.                                               Attendance: 303
Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£13).                   Programme: £2.00
Team sheet: £0.20
I love the timelessness of Top Field, even though the old wooden terracing has recently disappeared, the ground has lost none of its charm. It really is a lovely setting for a game of football! Tonight, both teams had enjoyed mixed fortunes at the beginning of the season, with the visitors the better placed in the table. Two first half strikes were the only bright spots in an otherwise fairly tepid encounter, and a draw was the fairest outcome.
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Tuesday 26th September 2022
United Counties League Premier Division South
Lutterworth Town 2
Long Buckby 1
Referee: Aaron Lloyd.                                                Attendance: 66
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                            Programme:,£2.00
It was cold this evening and for the first time this season, I was glad of my coat! Struggling Lutterworth Town with only one win this season, battled hard for this victory against another lower echelon side. They were ahead at half-time, pegged back with twenty minutes remaining, lost their goalkeeping captain to injury and still managed a deserved late winne. With John Main.
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Thursday 29th September 2022
FA Women’s Super League
Everton 1
Kirsty Levell (og) 90+3,
Leicester City 0
Referee: Cheryl Foster.                        Attendance: 1,900
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£8).      Programme: F.O.C.
Teamsheet: F.O.C.
Walton Hall Park, the headquarters of The Liverpool County FA, has been used by Everton Women for the last two seasons, since their first match there in February 2020. This evening, despite the early (6.30pm) kick-off, there was a good crowd to welcome the teams. Everton were the better of two poor teams in the first half, and, indeed, continued their dominance after the break. The visitors, however, stuck to their task with gritty determination and it took an own goal in the third,and final, minute of added time at the end of the match, to, finally, clinch victory for the hosts and thoroughly dampen Leicester’s spirited and determined rearguard action!

OTHER MATCHES.

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OTHER MATCHES:

 

Friday 2nd September 2022

FA Youth Cup Preliminary Round

Aylestone Park U18 1 St Andrews U18 1

St Andrews won 4-3 on penalties.             Attendance: 352

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Thursday 22nd September 2022

U21 Premier League 2 League Cup Group Stage

Peterborough United 2 Blackburn Rovers 3            attendance: 102

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August 2022

Ode to Everton

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When at Thy call my weary feet I turn
The gates of paradise are opened wide
At Goodison I know a man can learn
Rapture more rich than Anfield can provide.
In Coulter’s skill and Geldard’s subtle speed
I see displayed in all its matchless bounty
The power of which the heavens decreed
The fall of Sunderland and Derby County.
The hands of Sagar, Dixie’s priceless head
Made smooth the path to Wembley till that day
When Bolton came. Now hopes are fled
And all is sunk in bottomless dismay.
And so I watch with heart and temper cool
God’s lesser breed of men at Liverpool.

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Michael Foot (1913-2010), himself a famous Plymouth Argyle fan, sent this poem into The Liverpool Daily Post in January 1935 following an FA Cup tie he witnessed at Goodison Park, where Everton, the hosts, defeated Sunderland 6-4 after extra time. It was said to be one of the greatest  games ever staged at Goodison Park, and Michael Foot  – lucky enough to have been there – called his poem “Ode to Everton” (Courtesy of “The Guardian”).

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Trent Bridge 2nd August 2022
Brilliant day’s cricket in The Royal London One Day Cup, where Nottinghamshire Outlaws defeated Sussex Sharks by 65 runs, with sons, Jim, Mike and Liam and grandsons, Freddie, Sonny and Kingsley, and, the icing on the cake, was a chance meeting with …. Joe Root. Great day Out.
Nottinghamshire Outlaws (won toss) 290 for 6 (50 overs) defeated Sussex Sharks 217 all out (43 overs) by 73 runs
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Grandsons, Sonny and Kingsley with Joe Root, former England Cricket Captain.
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Grandson, Freddie, with Joe Root. 
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Wednesday 3rd August 2022
Pre-Season Friendly
Milton 2
Tom Blake 10, Ethan Collett 24,
Cottenham 1
Jack Leeks 70,
Referee: Richard May.                                 Attendance:- 47
Admission: F.O.C.                                        Programme:- NONE
A pleasant evening in Cambridgeshire, a flaxen coloured pitch, hard as concrete, the home team looked the better side, but could have been undone at the end! With John Main, Peter Miles and Brian Buck.
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Friday 5th August 2022
EFL Championship
Birmingham City 2
Scott Hogan 5, Przemyslaw Placheta 45,
Huddersfield Town 1
Danny Ward 61,
Referee: Gavin Ward.                                     Attendance: 17,065
Admission: OMGDS £10.00 (£15)               programme: NONE
A rare visit (and a first in seven years) to St Andrews Stadium for a meeting between the hosts and Yorkshire rivals, Huddersfield Town. Much of the stadium – the lower tier on three sides – was out of commission and the arena looked in need of a healthy dose of improvement. Birmingham bossed the opening period and deserved their two goal interval advantage, but they had to dig deep to hold out against a spirited second half riposte from the visitors.
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The lower tier of accommodation out of use!
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Saturday 6th August 2022
Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Abbey Hey 0
Congleton Town 4
Daniel Needham 21, 45+2, Darren Chadwick 49, Thomas Pope 57, Paul Taylor s/o 40,
Referee: Daniel Sims.                                Official Attendance: 131
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£6).            Programme: £2.00
A first visit to The Abbey Stadium in East Manchester, a neat arena with cover and minimal seating and an upstairs bar and downstairs refreshments (tea/coffee and cheese and ham rolls). Today, the visitors were Congleton Town, a division higher and the gulf in class showed. The visitors went into the interval with a one goal lead and one man short, the player having been dismissed for violent conduct. It made no difference, the ten men struck three more times in the second period for an emphatic victory. With John Main and Chris Berezai.
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Sunday 7th August 2022
East Midlands Women’s Cricket League
Division 2 South (at Houghton & Thurnby)
Houghton & Thurnby (won toss) 283 for 1 (40 overs)
defeated
Bowden 56 all out (15.3 overs) by 227 runs.
Umpires: Simon Clark & Eddie McGeown
This was a battle of the basement teams and the hosts made the most of it, posting a challenging total with Elizabeth Page notching an unbeaten century (102no). She then proceeded to demolish the visitors batting, taking five wickets and playing a hugely influential part in her team’s emphatic victory!
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Tuesday 9th August 2022
United Counties League Division 1
Aylestone Park 3
Matt Langham 26 (pen), Louis Samuels 30, 53,
Saffron Dynamo 0
Referee: Matthew Basterfield.                              Attendance: 180
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£6).                         Programme: incl.
Aylestone continued their impressive start to the season with a regulation victory over their mid-table rivals, and this, despite the dismissal of defender, Justin Peace, just after half-time! Good to see Rose Askham and her daughter Kate and grand daughter, Nova. With John Main and Jack Warner.
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Saturday 14th August 2022
Eastern Counties League Division 1 North.
Heachem 3
Nathan Davies 24, 49, 59, 
Great Yarmouth Town 1
George Couzens 81,
Referee: Andy Wilson.                            attendance: 141
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£6).         Programme: £2.00
A strong Heacham team started their home campaign with the visit of once mighty Great Yarmouth Town. The ground is a work in progress, but lacks floodlights and any seating of note. On the pitch, the newcomers easily dominated the match with a hat trick from Nathan Davies, seeing off The Bloaters, whose only response came from an 81st minute George Couzens strike. With John Main and Cliff and Margaret.
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John Main, trying out the Heacham dug-outs!
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Sunday 14th August 2022
Rutland League Division 2. (at Market Deeping)
Werrington (won toss) 322 all out (45 overs)
defeated
Market Deeping 181 all out (34.3 overs)
by 141 runs
Umpires: Pete Burrell & Eddie McGeown
On a boiling hot day in Lincolnshire with a flaxen playing surface, this top of the table clash saw a decisive victory for second placed Werrington over table topping Market Derping. The visitors won the toss and smote their way to a formidable total which included a last wicket stand of 62. The hosts were never in the hunt, losing wickets regularly, and fell far short of the required target!
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Monday 15th August 2022
Northern Premier League Division 1 Midlands
Coleshill Town 2
Liam Molesworth 45, Kai Tonge 49,
Gresley Rovers 0
Referee:- Richard Walker.                                  Attendance: 206
Admission: OMGDS £8.00 (£10).                    Programme: £2.00
A plastic pitch, an early season match, that got better as the game wore on, and the hosts came out comfortably on top after two defeats to their opponents in their last two encounters. With John Main.
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Tuesday 16th August 2022
Midland League Division 1
Droitwich Spa 3
Connor Collins24, 70, Haydn Morris 88,
Cradley Town 1
Jake Crackett 19,
Referee: Alex Shaw.                                   Attendance:- 510
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).            Programme: £1.00
Nobody in the large shirt-sleeved crowd, who had come to welcome back their home team after a four year absence, could have expected the monsoon conditions which dominated much of this match. Unrelenting, heavy precipitation from early in the first period right through until the final whistle and after, made for difficult conditions for players – and spectators, for whom there was very little cover! The hosts fell behind, but equalised by the interval and dominated proceedings in the second period, with Haydn Morris rounding off the scoring in the 88th minute.
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Saturday 20th August 2022
Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counries League premier Division
Harleston Town 1
Nathan Stone 13,
Ely City 1
Jordan Foster 59,
Referee: James Ludlam.                                      Attendance: 107
Admission: £5.00.                                                Programme: £1.00
On a warm sunny afternoon in Norfolk, the hosts, who had opened the season with four victories (three away from home), lost their 100% record in a tense dual with mid-table Ely City, who came from a half time deficit to garner a well deserved draw and, maybe should have taken all three points. Heather Hughson, an artist from British Colombia was at the match. Her father, Ken Dean, played for Harleston Town in the 1960s, but then emigrated to Canada with his family. This was Heather’s first visit to Harleston in almost sixty years!
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Sunday 21st August 2022
East Midlands Women’s Cricket League Division 2
at Houghton & Thurnby
Kettering (won toss) 162 all out (39.1 overs)
Houghton & Thurnby 74 all out (24.3 overs)
Kettering win by 88 runs
Umpires: Alan Pearce & Eddie McGeown
Hard by the A47 Leicester to Peterborough main road lies the host’s cricket ground screened by a high fence to keep the cricket balls in! Champions elect, Kettering won the toss and posted a relatively challenging total, that was eventually beyond the host’s batting capabilities. Competitive match played in a good spirit.
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Monday 222nd August 2022
Midland League Division 1
Hinckley AFC 2
Joe McNulty 50, James Reid 54,
Paget Rangers 1
Harry Jackson 90+3,
Referee: Harry Organ.                                 Official Attendance: 196
Admission: OMGDS £4.00 (£6).              Programme: £1.50
Sadly, Hinckley are reduced to playing their home matches on the 3G surface at Barwell’s ground after the major upheavals of recent years. Tonight, however, both teams put on an entertaining encounter which the hosts won, narrowly, after seemingly cruising at 2-0. There was raucous comment in the stand and the referee bore the brunt of it. It was unnecessary but didn’t spoil a good game! With John Main.
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Wednesday 24th August 2022
Northern Premier League Division 1 Midlands
Corby Town 1
Daniel Collins 70, 
Cambridge City 1
Ryan Sharman 52,
Referee: Matthew Jackson.                              Attendance: 548
Admission: OMGDS £6.00 (£10).                  Programme: £2.00
A balmy evening in Northamptonshire and these two teams were unbeaten in the league this season. The hosts dropped their first points, whilst the visitors manage a third draw in a row! It was a run of the mill match and Cambridge were marginally the superior team. They opened the scoring via a penalty, shortly after half time and the hosts equalised with twenty minutes remaining. With son, Mike and grandson, Freddie, Gary Miller and Paul Beatty.
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Welsh Hop 2022

This year marks the twentieth year of ‘hopping’ in Wales and once again, we were staying at The University of South Wales at the students accommodation in Treforest, with its steep climb up the hill and the excellent beer at the bottom in The Otley Arms. John Main and I had decided to go “off piste” for three games, so that we could take in three games in The JD Cymru South, which is the second tier of football in Wales. Each morning, we left the student accommodation and had breakfast at ‘The Hollybush”, some five miles away! The first of the matches was ………..

Friday 26th August 2022
JD Cymru South k.o.: 7.45pm
Cambrian & Clydach Vale 3
Liam Eason 17, Josh Bull 63, Ryan Prosser 70,
Ammanford AFC 1
Matthew Fisher 83,
Referee: Jordan Harman.                         Attendance:- 221
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).            Programme: on line
Lee Trundle, who started his career at Chorley and went on to become a star player for Swansea City, captained the visitors this evening at the ripe old age of forty-five! Nestling in a valley with hills all round, the hosts play on a 3G surface with substantial cover and seating, although not all of it is in use! Tonight, they were too strong for their opponents and garnered three strikes before an Ammanford consolation on 83 minutes from … not Lee Trundle, but Matthew Fisher! With John Main.
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Saturday 27th August 2022
Highadmit South Wales Alliance Division 2 k.o.:11.00am
Fairwater 2
Jack Coles 31, Jonathan Jeffries 68,
Penygraig 3
Keiran Tann 14, 63 Ashley Langford 25,
Referee: Charles Thomas.                            Attendance: 201
Admission :- £3.00.                                      Programme: £1.00
On a very warm morning, these two teams served up an entertaining encounter which the hosts were a tad unfortunate to lose. There was not much by way of furniture, and out of the shade, the sun beat down mercilessly. Round the corner at the back was a club house with food, drinks and even second hand books! Good game of football!and A minute’s silence before the match to remember club players, staff and supporters who died due to COVID-19.
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Saturday 26th August 2022
JD Cymru Premier League k.o.: 2.30pm
Pontypridd United 2
Owain Jones 26, Benjamin Ahmun 74,
Aberystwyth Town 1
Alexander Darlington 85,
Referee: Thomas Owen.                                  Official Attendance: 311
Admission: OMGDS £5.00 (£8).                  Programme: £3.00
Newly promoted Pontypridd play at the University of South Wales Sports Centre, a soulless cage with a 4G pitch and a couple of hastily erected Meccano stands. The game was almost as bleak as the stadium, but it picked up in the final quarter of an hour, when the hosts added a second and then Aberystwyth pulled one back. Interesting colour scheme for the officials! With John Main.
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The officials were bedecked in a rather fetching purple for this match!
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Saturday 26th August 2022
Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier Division k.o.:5.00pm
Bridgend Street 1
Callum Taylor 90+8 (pen)
Cardiff Corinthians 1
Aaron Davies 80,
Referee: Andrew Wallen.                       Attendance: 264
Admission: £3.00.                                  Programme: £1.00
Formed in 1889, the club have long outlasted the street in Cardiff that they were named after! Today, they endured a bruising encounter with Cardiff Corinthians, seemingly heading towards 0-0, until the visitors snatched the lead with a scant ten minutes remaining! It took until the eighth minute of added time for the hosts to grasp an equaliser from the penalty spot!
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Sunday 27th August 2022
Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier Division k.o.: 11.00am
Merthyr Saints 1
Andre Maia 38 (pen)
Aber Valley 5
Nathan Radzimierski 3, 45+1, 63, Jacob James 22, Tom Neville 81,
Referee: Mark Boucher.                            Attendance:- 302
Admission: £3.00.                                     Programme: £1.00
The beautifully appointed ICI Rifle Ground is enjoying its first full season, having moved across the field from the former stadium which is still extant. Sadly, The Saints are enduring a tough start to the season and this was their fifth consecutive league defeat. It could have been much worse, but Valley spurned several acceptable opportunities.
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Sunday 27th August 2022
Highadmit South Wales Alliance Division 1 k.o.: 2.00pm
Aberdare Town 6
Kian Johnson 12 (pen),Owen Jones 15, 62, Evan Olsen 19, Cory Thomas 22, Shay Welch 68,
AFC Penrhiwceiber 0
Referee: Graham Evans.                          Attendance: 305
Admission: £3.00.                                   Programme: £1.00
Seven devastating minutes from the fifteenth to the twenty second minute decided this contest. In that time the hosts scored four times without reply. Two further strikes around the hour mark were academic, the match was already won and several further straightforward opportunities were spurned by the hosts in a match somewhat eccentrically officiated.
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Sunday 27th August 2022
Highadmit South Wales Alliance Division 2 k.o.: 5.00pm
Nelson Cavaliers 0
Cwmbach Royal Stars 3
Matthew Jones 19, Jenson Price 43, Liam Price 50,
Referee: Daryl Jenkins.                               Attendance: 254
Admission: £3.00.                                       Programme: £1.00
Top of the table Royal Stars won this game at a canter at Wern Field, the site of a former coal mine and now a country park near Treharris. There was little to see in the way of football furniture, a field with a metal rail round it, set in a natural bowl and a couple of plastic “dug-outs”. The visitors were impressive and quickly established a two goal advantage. A third strike early in the second period was the icing on the cake!
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Monday 29th August 2022
Highadmit South Wales Alliance Division 1
Maesteg Park 2
Lewis Kingdon 26, Paul Evans 42,
Vale United 2
Daniel Hanson 39, Arran Jeffries 67, Steven Gauci s/o 53,
Referee:- Keith Redford.                                      Attendance: 302
Admission: £3.00.                                                Programme: £1.00
A lovely morning with a cooling breeze at Tudor Park, where memories of the host’s former glories are somewhat scarce and (in the case of the stand), roofless following a mini tornado! Vale looked the better side early on, but then conceded a bizarre goal and found themselves 1-2 down at the interval. Early in the second half, they were a man down, too following a DOGSO offence. They recovered to equalise and a draw was probably a fair result.
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Monday 29th August 2022
JD Cymru South
Taffs Well 0
Swansea University 0
Referee: Michael Ford.                                  Attendance:- 161
Admission: OMGDS £3.00 (£5).                Programme: on line
A very pleasant rural ground, with a couple of raised, seated stands, one to each side of the pitch. Today’s match saw two sides cancel each other out in a dour encounter which had little to recommend it! it was all the more surprising, because the hosts were joint top of the league and the visitors were one place off the bottom!
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Monday 29th August 2022
Highadmit South Wales Alliance Division 1
Clwb Cymric 4
Rhys Withers 18, Aled Hughes 61, Thomas Roberts 77, 90+2,
Grange Albion 0
Referee: Michael Ford.                                Attendance: 226
Admission: £3.00.                                       Programme: £1.00
A metal cage painted green, a 3G pitch, with viewing behind one goal and along one side with two seated Meccano stands. Despite the unappetising surroundings, the welcome was warm and this from a club organised for Welsh speakers in Cardiff. The hosts started slowly, but grew into the game scoring three goals after the interval to add to an initial strike in the first period. The last match of a very successful “hop”!!!
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Other Matches:

Monday 1st August

U11 Girls T20 Matches at Kettering CC

Umpires: Alan Pearce & Eddie McGeown

Leicestershire 68 all out (17 overs)

Northamptonshire 71 for 4 (12.2 overs)

——————————————-

Northamptonshire 99 for 7 (20 overs)

Leicestershire 98 for 9 (20 overs)

___________________________________________________

Monday 8th August 2022

FA U21 Premier League 2 Division 1

Leicester City 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2              attendance: 310

___________________________________________________

Wednesday 10th August

Under 18 Girls “Hundred” Tournament at Northampton Saints

Umpires: Steve Dickinson & Eddie McGeown

Worcestershire 99 for 4 (100 balls)

Warwickshire 96 for 8 (100 balls)

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Northamptonshire 125 for 4 (100 balls)

Worcestershire 126 for 5 (97 balls)

__________________________________________________

Thursday 11th August 2022

County U-14s match at Oundle School

Umpires: Alan Pearce & Eddie McGeown

Northamptonshire (won toss) 189 all-out (35.2 overs)

Middlesex 190 for 5 (42.5 overs)

__________________________________________________

Friday 12th August 2022

County Girls U-15 match at Oundle School

Umpires: Colin Megennis & Eddie McGeown

Middlesex (won toss) 182 all out (38 overs)

Northamptonshire 162 all out (30.4 overs)

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Thursday 18th August 2022

U-11 District Development Match at Wellingborough Old Grammarians

Umpires: Roger Barker & Eddie McGeown

Kettering & District (won toss) 42 all out (22.2 overs)

East Northants 44 for 3 (11 overs)

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Friday 19th August 2022

FA U21 Premier League 2 Division 1

Leicester City 3 West Ham United 1        attendance:- 338

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Tuesday 23rd August 2022

U15 Girls T20 Matches at Oundle School

Umpires: Martyn Dobbs & Eddie McGeown

Northamptonshire 74 for 9 (20 overs)

Middlesex 76 for 1 (9.1 overs)

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Middlesex 106 for 7 (20 overs)

Northamptonshire 107 for 8 (19.3 overs)

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Wednesday 31st August 2022

Northants U-11 Development T20 at Burton Latimer CC

Kettering & District U-11 123 for 4 (20 overs)

Northampton & South U-11 101 for 7 (20 overs)

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Kettering & District U-11 98 for 3 (16 overs)

East Northants U-11 87 all out (13.4 overs)

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