Saturday entertainment
After last night’s drubbing at London Road I’m looking forward to having a free week-end on Sat/Sun! There are plenty of local matches on to whet the appetite including important promotion games at Wealdstone, Chesham & Berkhamsted. Here’s a selection of what’s on offer locally on Saturday:
NATIONAL LEAGUE:
Maidenhead United v Eastleigh
NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH:
Brackley Town v Guiseley
NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH:
Hemel Hempstead Town v Welling United
Wealdstone v Bath City
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH:
Chesham United v Taunton Town
SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE CENTRAL:
Berkhamsted v Wantage Town
Thame United v Welwyn Garden City
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE SOUTH CENTRAL DIVISION:
Chalfont St Peter v Hanwell Town
HELLENIC LEAGUE DIVISION ONE EAST:
Marlow United v Thame Rangers
Penn & Tylers Green v Woodley United
SPARTAN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVSION:
Tring Athletic v Newport Parnell Town
As ever, if you go to one of these games please post a very short match report on here afterwards. Good to stay in touch with local football.
Comments
I wonder if Gareth will be in action at Penn and TG.?
A little further afield for me, ground 903 will be Peckham Town v Stansfeld, Kent County League which is step 7 of Non-League or level 11 of English footy.
Nice little train trip into London, £3 entry into a ground with a few stands, very good for the level. 2PM KO due to lack of floodlights, good for me as I have to be back for a family gathering.
I was planning to go to Romford v Maldon & Tiptree, but they have moved to Friday night because of a Carp show. (I kid you not)
Can you see what’s happening with the OBC club at Stansfeld? Not heard much recently
@Fit2drop There is a time and a plaice for these things
Taking in Coventry v Birmingham.
Chesham United 1 Taunton Town 1
Chesham failed to capitalise on top spot as they failed to put away 10-man Taunton at the Meadow. Chesham took an early lead on 14 mins but were pegged back 10 mins later. In fairness the first-half was a pretty turgid affair with neither side dominating.
After the break Chesham put on some consistent pressure & were rewarded when the Taunton right-back handled a cross in his own penalty area and was promptly red-carded. David Pearce sent the keeper the wrong way but smacked the penalty against the post.
From then onwards Chesham dominated but couldn’t break down Taunton’s resolute defence. A point gained for the visitors but 2 points lost for Chesham. Att: 551
A good crowd for Chesham Andy, i heard a rumour via a General season ticket holder that the new stadium is being earmarked towards Ashley Green and not Chesham itself ????
Barwell 0 - 3 Lowestoft Town.
Entertaining match in which Lowestoft started the better and went ahead from a well taken free kick, after which the rest of the first half was pretty even. Lowestoft doubled their lead with a stunning goal two minutes into the second half. A cross was whipped in hard from wide and forward Jacek Zielonka rose and twisted to strike a superb overhead volley straight into the top centre of the goal, giving the Barwell keeper no chance.
Barwell made a couple of attacking substitutions and really came into the game, creating a couple of good one-on-one chances with only the keeper to beat, but in each case the attacking player chose to try to square the ball to a team mate instead of having a shot and the Lowestoft defence got the ball clear. Clumsiness in the Barwell penalty area then lead to a penalty and Lowestoft's third goal, which removed any lingering doubt about who the winners were going to be. The last action of note occurred in time added on when Lowestoft forward Jake Reed was sent off for elbowing a Barwell defender in the face. It looked as though the referee gave him a second yellow then showed the red, although I felt it warranted a straight red on its own.
Horsham 3-3 Bishops Stortford.
A fantastic game that really kicked into life in the second half. First half Horsham dominated and deservedly took the lead and had chances to increase before Stortford equalised against the run of play right on half time.
Second half was the complete opposite with Stortford dominating and were awarded 2 pens (second was very dubious) which they dispatched to lead 3-1. They were comfortable for the next 20 mins before Horsham pulled one back with a worldwide strike on 85 mins. They then laid siege on BS goal and missed 2 golden opportunities before being awarded a pen themselves deep into injury time which they scored.
Entertaining game and a fair result.
Most notable fact though was the Stortford striker who scored a hat trick today. He was none other than Jamie Cureton who still has the baby face looks of a 15yr old but is now 44. Still looks very fit and didn’t look out of place in the Isthmian Prem and took his first goal very well.
Tavistock 3 Cribbs 0
It’s an exciting title race down in the Western League with northerners Bradford three points ahead of Devon sides Exmouth and Plymouth Parkway having played a game more. Five points behind neighbours Parkway the Sexy Lambs of Tavistock remain on the edge of the title race.
An early slightly soft penalty gave Tavi the lead against the competitive but toothless up front Bristolians. A spectacular overhead kick doubled the lead on the half hour and a third just before halftime sealed the contest.
Lambs spurned a few second half chances as the game rather petered out before a senseless elbow late on reduced Cribbs to ten (a Lamb chop perhaps?).
The dream of Southern League football lives on. Have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this level of football this season and hope to take in a few more games before May.
@ChasHarps That’s the word on the street. But why would you sell your ground for housing in the town & near the tube station & move 3 miles away to a ground with no public transport or chimney pots? Answers on a postcard please.
This has been rumbling on for a couple of years @A_Worboys
https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/16047897.chesham-united-look-towards-a-move-away-from-the-meadow-with-the-current-ground-due-to-be-sold-for-funding-a-new-stadium/
Like WWFC did Andy?
And like Maidenhead are planning?
They should've moved the hospital.
It’s an interesting dilemma. To develop an existing ground significantly or build a new ground entirely costs a lot of money. For clubs without major financial backers but In the middle of a town or city one answer is to sell the existing, highly sought after patch of land and use the profits to build a new ground on a much less desirable, considerably cheaper patch of land. (The Wimbledon crowd funded move will be an interesting anomaly).
Much as I loved Loakes Park (and it’s location) I do wonder whether we would have had the success we have had since moving. It must have been easier to attract new players to what at the time was probably the best non-league facilities in the country.
Easy to get wrong though (Aylesbury Utd for example)
I’m too young (just) to remember, but something like AP locates where Loakes Park was would have been amazing.
Sunday entertainment, Shrewsbury v Liverpool a good watch and all the better a spectacle without the dreaded presence of VAR
footygrounds.blogspot.com/2020/01/peckham-town-menace-arena.html
My game ended Peckham Town 1-2 Stansfeld O&B
Well worth a visit, thoughts and pics in my blog above - never did find out why Stansfeld left their home ground, share at Metrogas now
The ironic thing is if this had been played at Anfield the award of Shrewsbury's "penalty" would have been overturned by VAR.
Not sure this is relevant and what you meant, but it looks like prior to the move to share with Metrogas they had only an agreement to play at Foxbury Avenue for 3 years:
https://kentishfootball.co.uk/news/stanselt140716
That's a different club (ish) - they merged with Eltham Palace in 2017, but I'm guessing the reserve team opted to play on as they've continued in the Kent County League, the merged club a division higher in the SCEFL. Been to both teams.
Much needed win for OBC. Think they’ve been evicted now from the Webb Street clubhouse.
https://www.theobc.co.uk/about
And the tie would have been already dead after pierre's handball. No doubt dev would have found the award of 'correct' decisions far more entertaining than a 2-2 draw. I suspect the shrews will be well and truly klopped at anfield though.
With Klopp saying that he and none of the 1st team squad will be involved in the replay, I suspect Shrewsbury could end up winning fairly comfortably.
Neither of these extremes will happen.
Chances are, even Liverpool's youth team can squeeze past Shrewsbury.
Klopp seems to totally get away with purposely trying to get knocked out of the FA Cup.
Great report - even recognised the girl who sits by the ATM near my office
I did not get that impression @Malone had he total contempt and no desire to win he would not have put Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Firmino in harm's way in my opinion. I think he was actually pissed off that they could not kill the game even at 0 - 2.
Make no mistake, he'll have been gutted he had to use them, and only in panic at the worst outcome in his eyes - a replay.
I get the feeling with Klopp that his intense style will lead to an absolute burn out at some point not too far in the future. Not Jose style perhaps, but he'll explode.