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Thursday 26 February 2009

A casual affair

Wolverhampton Casuals 1-2 Shawbury United
Tuesday 24th February 2009
West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division
Brinsford Lane

After much deliberation for what was to be my first midweek games since early December I decided to make a first venture (for this season) into the West Midlands (Regional) League. Wolverhampton Casuals were to be my destination, which for some reason had been on my hit list as it were for a few years now. The WMRL is not a league I venture into very often having only seen five previous games in the league over the years, only two of which still ply their trade. The clubs being Pelsall Villa and Warstones Wanderers.

The journey across the Midlands saw me leave home in south-west Leicester at around 6pm for the sixty odd mile drive west, mostly along motorways (M69, M6 and M54). As a percentage of travel I can’t recall spending as much time on the motorway network to get to a ground as this one. For me it was a case of joining the M69 where it meets the M1, travel its entire length to the M6, then take the M54 exit and finally leave the motorways at junction 2 of the 54. When leaving the M54 you turn right (or left if coming from the Telford direction) onto the A449 and the ground is about 400 yards on the right hand side. With the A449 being a dual carriageway you have to go to the first island and go back on yourself before turning into Brinsford Lane. The ground is in the Coven Heath area and has a rural feel about it. The only cover is a bench seated stand which runs along half the length of the clubhouse side of the ground. I was welcomed at the entrance to the ground and was charged £3 and a further £1 for a 20 page programme.

The game itself was very enjoyable with some good football being played on an excellent surface for this time of year. The visitors from Shropshire started brightly and were awarded a couple of corners in the first few minutes, only for the home side to break and were awarded a penalty, The penalty was saved and the rebound struck the post. Not to be deterred the home side took the lead on 16 minutes when Aaron Broomfield headed home following a right wing cross. No further goals ensued in the remainder of the half but the game was a fascinating contest – the pace and movement of the home side versus the more physical presence of the visitors. The second half was much the same as the first with both teams creating chances, but the home side seemed disrupted by the injury of their number 10 (the best player on the night) and a couple of other substitutions and it was no surprise to see Shawbury equalise with only two minutes remaining through Chris Henry. This was not the end of the drama as the visitors stole all three points with another goal from the previously mentioned Henry who headed home in the first minute of injury time. As a neutral who had to feel sorry for the Casuals who deserved something from an entertaining game. It is just a shame that only twenty people were in attendance - maybe had something to do with a certain Champions League match on the tv.

Tuesday 17 February 2009

A review so far...

With a bit of time to kill on a nondescript Tuesday lunchtime I started looking back at my previous posts this season and noticed a particular post entitled "The New Season" dating August 10th. In it I state some clubs that I would like to visit during the course of the season. Well with the season now six months old I thought i'd look and see if any of my plans materialised.

Tipton Town - did not materialise due to missing the fixture with Oadby Town
Sleaford Town - hopeful still, though will have to be on a Tuesday night
Eynesbury Rovers - no plans now
Boston Town - see above
Olney Town - dependant on a midweek fixture
Rushden & Higham United - will leave till next season now
Shirebrook Town - visited in October
Castle Vale - would have gone if played midweek on Tuesdays
Continental Star - you never know. Will visit in April if anytime
Loughborough University - saw county cup with Oadby Town in November
Meir KA - doubtful now
Uppingham Town - only if they have a midweek game at end of season
Bolsover Town - folded. Missed chance.
Pinxton - still hopeful
Nettleham - again only if they have a midweek game on a Tuesday night.
Romulus - still plan to visit.
Malvern Town - probably will not bother now.

Also visited all Leicestershire Senior Clubs needed excluding the reserves of Friar Lane & Epworth and do not plan to visit them. As far as I am concerned I have completed the LSL now. For this season anyhow.

The 14 new clubs (and 11 new grounds) that I have visited this season have been spread across 7 different leagues. The breakdown being:

Central Midlands League: Bulwell Town and Parkhouse
Hellenic League: Witney United
Leicester & District League: Glenfield Town and Kingsway Rangers
Leicestershire Senior League: Ashby Ivanhoe, Evington*, FC Dynamo*
Midland Combination: Loughborough University*
Northern Counties East League: Shirebrook Town
Spartan South Midlands League: Aylesbury Vale, Buckingham Athletic, Langford and New Bradwell St Peter

Also seen Oadby Town once at home and Leicester City twice. Also have tickets for the Leicester - Cheltenham game on March 7th.

The plans for the rest of the season are to visiti a few more local clubs that ply their trade in the three feeder leagues for the Leicestershire Senior League. These include:

County Hall, Desford and Soar Media.