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Wednesday 16 April 2008

Coast 2 Cove

Cove 1-0 Banstead Athletic
Tuesday 15th April 2008
Combined Counties League Premier Division
Oak Farm
As mentioned in the previous post I now work nights having Monday and Tuesday off. This has given me another chance to have a day out with Mrs Rambler (who generally has Tuesday's off from work as well) and also the bonus of taking in a game. Looking at the fixtures in Sunday's non league paper I decided that we should head to the coast, and as the geographically aware people among you will know Leicester is in the middle of the country and at least 80 miles from any seaside town. Skegness is the nearest at 84.4 miles using MS Autoroute's shortest option. Having been Skeggy many times and also no football being played in the vicinity I originally looked at Cromer on the north Norfolk coast - a mere 120 miles away and also had the advantage of somewhere that neither of us had been before. That was sorted until I saw the weather report which in a nutshell said that anywhere south the M4 would have no rain. Bingo we'll head down south. Had another look at the Non League Paper and saw that both the Wessex and Combined Counties league had fixtures being played. Didn't matter who and did not plan to decide until Tuesday afternoon. So we decided on visiting Bognor Regis (a mere 177 miles away using the sat nav route) and left about 8.30am. The journey took us down the M1 towards the M25 which we got caught in the traffic problems caused by the road works south of Luton Airport which delayed us by about 20 minutes. We were then onto the M25 which was generally trouble free, only the volume of traffic slowing us down slightly as we headed towards the A3 exit. Again no problems apart from more road works, this time at Hindhead half way between Guildford and Petersfield. Passing through Hindhead we noticed a pub with an unusual name - the Devil's Punchbowl - mental note made. Eventually we arrived at Bognor at 12.40pm (- a mere four hours since we left off, though we did stop for breakfast and refuelling on the M1 for half an hour) and parked up 350 yards from the seafront. I found Bognor to be smaller than I had envisaged but pleasant enough all the same. The pier is at one end of the promenade and the Butlins resort the other. With the season not yet in full swing and also being a weekday the place was fairly quiet and as forecast the weather was lovely - not a cloud in the sky. First port of call was the have some chips and eat them on the beach, you have to really! Four hours passed and we decided to call it a day and made our way back to the carpark. After a look at the map and another at the fixtures I decided that we should head back the way we came and stop off for a drink at the previously mentioned Devil's Punchbowl. A pint of Kronenburg was what the doctor ordered and went down very easily. From here the decision was made to head to Farnborough and more specifically Cove Football Club - only 35 minutes from our rest stop and within two hours drive of home.
Cove play on Squirrel Lane with the ground being at the bottom end of a narrow lane. There is parking both inside the club gates and in front of the clubhouse. We chose the latter due to not realising the about the former until going into the ground. We were charged £6 each which included a programme and also managed to get hold of a badge for £2. The clubhouse has recently been refurbished and houses a pool table and darts board. Inside the ground all the accommodation is on the far side with a (covered) seated stand being straddled by two sections of (covered) standing. More than enough for the 30 people (head count) in attendance. Mention must be made to the person who was on the gate - he made us feel very welcome and went out of his way to look for the badges at half time. I didn't get his name but it is people like him that give non league football the reputation it deserves.
To be fair to Cove the pitch was not in the best condition but considering the unpredictable nature of the weather we have had over the past few months it is a credit that clubs like themselves keep them playable all season long. At the start of play Cove were occupying fifth place, though some 35 points behind leaders Merstham while Banstead were in 18th place in the 22 team division. The home side started off brighter and playing the better football but the first chance of note came on the half hour when Cove's no. 11 blasted the ball over the bar from 8 yards or so. The visiting keeper was the busier and on 38 minutes got down well to save from the home no. 10. Two minutes later the home side deservedly took the lead when the no. 10 scored following up from a good save by the Banstead keeper from the no. 11.
The second half started in a similar vain to the first with Cove playing the better football and looking more likely to score. Their first clear cut chance of the half was on the hour mark when their no. 5 had a free header from 10 yards but put it over the goal. Five minutes later another chance for Cove, this time the no. 9 was put through from the half way line, managed to hold of the advancing defender and slid his shot past the keeper only for the ball to hit the upright. The visiting keeper was keeping his side in the game as with ten minutes left made another good save to deny the no. 11 again.
Final score: 1-0
A deserved win by Cove who on another day would have won by three or four goals. To be fair to Banstead they never gave up but didn't create enough to worry the home side. An enjoyable day out on the coast with a visit to a club that is a credit to this level. The journey home took around two hours and we were back in Leicester at around midnight.

Woedby Town (Game 535)

Oadby Town 0-1 Coalville Town
Tuesday 8th April 2008
Midland Football Alliance
Topps Park



A week after the game I thought it about time I typed up my notes from this game so here goes.

A rareity this season - a midweek game! This sees me back at my spiritual home in non-league football circles, Oadby Town for only the third time this season. If anyone reading this is does not know me, I used to programme edit for the club and then helped out on the gate when required. Due to recently changing jobs and working hours Tuesday night game will probably become the norm, expecially next season as I will be working Wednesday through Sunday nights.

Admission to Topps Park is £5 / £3 and £1 for a programme. The ground is situation on the Wigston Road in Oadby which though is a seperate town is basically a suburb of Leicester. There are two entrances at either side of the ground - the one at the clubhouse side is pay on foot while the one on Washbrook Lane side hosts the main spectator car park. The club have a covered seated stand which holds around 220 - most of which is in bench seated form. At the start of play both teams are languishing in the bottom half of the Midland Alliance table, though neither are in danger of relegation. Possession early on in the game is even with the visitors having the better chances and force home keeper Laurie Pearson to make a couple of saves, albeit relatively easily. All Oadby had to show for their efforts were wayward long range shots from Steve Fenton and David Fisher. To be honest the first half is poor but the home side should have scored in the dying seconds when Carl Adams slotted the ball past the visiting keeper only for the ball the hit the post and was cleared. The home team protested that the ball was over the line but the referee was having non of it. One question though - why didn't Matt Moore who was nearest the ball as it went past the keeper make sure it hit the back of the net only he can answer.



Coalville got the only goal of the game on 53 minutes when their no. 10 scored into the right hand corner following a free kick from 10 yards. The rest of the game was uneventful between two poor sides which Coalville only slightly the better of the two. On this performance it is not hard to see why Oadby are where they are in the MFA table. On the plus side they have two cup finals to look forward too in May - they play Hinckley United in the Rolleston Charity Cup and Friar Lane & Epworth in the "Westerby" County Challenge Cup.

Monday 7 April 2008

The Welbeckian (Game 534)

Welbeck Welfare 0-2 Ollerton Town
Saturday 5th April 2008
Central Midlands League Premier Division
Elkesley Road Ground




I had two games planned for this afternoon and neither were this one. I made my what is now customary change of plan at 1pm and decided on this fixture - mainly due to the fact that Welbeck had scored 91 and conceded 99 goals this season so far. And no it is not a misprint!
At the start of play Ollerton are leading the division with the home side occupying 11th place in a twenty team division.


According to the trusty (?) sat nav it should take around 75 minutes to get to Meden Vale which is the village in which the club are located - take note do no follow any direction signs to Welbeck itself. The trusty (?) sat nav took me up the M1 to junction 27 then across through Mansfield and out the other end - wrong choice there me thinks Mr Tom Tom. Getting through Mansfield was shall we say a pain in the backside without resorting to swear words, a different route home is a definate. The weather throughout the day was very hit and miss - at times glorious sunshine but also equally cold wintery showers - lovely!!!!!! I arrived at the ground about fifteen minutes before kick off and parked on the road outside the ground. The ground has the backdrop of a working colliery - hence the name of the club, and added to the atmosphere of the place. It is something that will live long in the memory of my groundhopping. By complete coincidence I met up with "Mr Central Midlands League" Rob Hornby for the third time this season - we better stop doing this Rob or both of our better halves will start getting suspicious! I managed to buy a copy of a wonderful programme for £1 and then paid £2 to watch the game. There is no cover at the ground and only hard standing on one side of the pitch nearest the colliery. It does have a large grass bank on the far side which gave an excellent vantage point of both the pitch and it's backdrop. Also at the game while talking to Rob we met another groundhopper, Stickypalms who also has his own blog "The Groundhopper" - see link on right hand side of page, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with someone who you only know by a pseudonym and talking football about places that either of us had been - I recommended some clubs in Leicestershire and likewise was recommended clubs in Nottinghamshire that I have not yet visited. I should also add thanks for Mr Stickpalms for buying me a coffee - cheers, much appreciated.

Now to the game itself...Ollerton got off to a flyer when they were awarded a penalty inside three minutes which was duly despatched - still no nil-nil for me this season...hooray :-) No further goals were added but in reality the visitors should have been several goals to the good at half time which can be attributed to three (normally the case) factors - poor finishing, good goalkeeping and poor control. Though to be fair to Ollerton two early forced substitutions due ton injuries didn't help their cause and disrupted the flow and momentum. Inside two minutes of the restart Ollerton should have killed the game off but their no. 10, having forced the keeper to make a good save blasted the follow up over the bar when it seemed more easier to score. This then saw Ollerton begin to get frustrated and Welbeck get back into the game and looking likely to get an equaliser, but on 72 minutes the crucial second goal game when some excellent work on the left hand side by the full back saw him put in a low cross for 'a player' to make it 2-0 and game over. Further goals were hoped for but alas were not forthcoming and the final score remained at 2-0 to Ollerton and with it their place at the top of the Premier Division.
Another Central Midlands League club ticked off this season - for the record six and third in succession.