Ivan-ho-ho-hoe

Ashby Ivanhoe 9-0 Asfordby Amateurs
Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division

Saturday 23rd August 2008

Hood Park

A decision was made Friday afternoon that I would get up early for the second Saturday in succession to go and watch a game of football. The choice was an easy one this time as Ashby are a club I have been meaning to visit for a while, in fact I went their last season only for it to be when FC Braunstone Victoria did one of their two no-shows.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch is a small market town in north-west Leicestershire (population 12,758 - Wikipedia) between Coalville and Burton-upon-Trent. It's most well known landmark is it's ruined castle. Ashby Ivanhoe the team play on Hood Park which is on the edge of the town centre, the centrance to which is next door to Ivanhoe College. The club were promoted to Division 1 of the Leicestershire Senior League from the North Leicestershire League in 2005. In their first season they finished a creditable 3rd place, 7th place followed the next season while last season saw them finish runners-up to today's opponents Asfordby Amateurs. Asfordby joined the Leicestershire Senior League in 1991 and have spent most of their time in the lower division, only a three year stint in the mid-nineties has been in the Premier Division. The close season saw contrasting fortunes for both teams with Ashby progressing off the field with the installation of floodlights, things down at Asfordby have not gone so well with the resignation of their manager and (I believe) all of last season's squad not re-signing. They actually resigned from the LSL twice but have been persuaded to carry on.

Ashby started their campaign last week at Thurmaston Town with a 4-3 victory, and this was followed up with a League Cup tie against the same opponents. The result: 12-2. Asfordby were at home last weekend to one of the favourites, Blaby & Whetstone Athletic and were hammered 9-0. A trip to Ravenstone followed in midweek in the League Cup and they came away with a
2-0 defeat. There was technally no admission as the club play on a public park but charge £2.50 for a programme. The club do have plans to enclose the ground and progress from the Leicestershire Senior League - watch this space as it were.

Now to the game itself...

The first goal came on 17 minutes when Richard Hanslow made it 1-0 when he lobbed the ball over the visiting keeper, this was after the home sided created three excellent chances in the first fifteen minutes. Ten minutes later and it was 2-0 when Phil Gibson tapped the ball in from six yards after a 20 yard shot crashed against the bar. Phil Gibson got his second on 39 minutes to make it 3-0 when he turned in a low drilled free kick from the left hand side. Either side of the goals Ashby had chances come and go with a combination of poor finishing and good defending / goalkeeping keeping the score down.

Half Time: 3-0

The second half was barely two minutes old when Richard Hanslow got his second of the game to make it 4-0 when he turned between three Asfordby defenders and placed the ball into the corner of the goal. The fifth came fifteen minutes later when Hanslow completed his hat-trick after being put through on the right hand side, he drilled an angled shot into the far corner of the goal. It became 6-0 on 70 minutes when Hanslow scored again, this time from a ball played over the top of the defence and he finished with aplom. Phil Gibson completed his hat-trick on 79 minutes when he turned the ball home after a scramble in the penalty area to make it 7-0. The scoring was still not finished as on 82 minutes Hanslow got his fith of the game, turning the full back inside out before placing the ball into the far corner. Cue comments from bench "you're being greedy". The best of the goals was the last as James Fisher hit a screamer from fully 25 - 30 yards after a corner was not cleared properly. The second half also saw Ashby create many more chances than the ones they scored and on another day it could have been well into double figures.

Final score: 9-0


websites:
Ashby Ivanhoe: http://www.ashbyivanhoefc.com/
Asfordby Amateurs: http://www.asfordbyamateurs.co.uk/

A game on a Saturday...You must be joking!!!

Buckingham Athletic 0-1 Sport London e Benfica
Spartan South Midlands League Division 1Saturday 16th August 2008
Stratford Fields

This was my first Saturday game since April 5th, the day before I started working nights at a well known supermarket. I made a conscious effort to get up early so I could get to a game and rose at 1pm. This comparing to the previous Saturday when I didn’t get out of bed till 5pm! A quick look at some fixtures and I decided on Buckingham Athletic in the Spartan South Midlands League Division 1. This is not a league that I have frequented very often in the past yet here I am about to attend my second game in a row in this division. As the previous post states I attended the New Bradwell – Ampthill game on the Tuesday and thoroughly enjoyed the game. Buckingham are one of two teams in the town, the other - `Town ply their trade in the United Counties League Division 1 which is the same level in the non-league pyramid as ‘Athletic’. I visited `Town last October in a match that ended in a 1-1 draw against Huntingdon. `Athletic play on the Stratford Road (A422) that goes south east towards Milton Keynes. The drive down was easy and uneventful with the sat-nav taking us down the M1 to junction 15, then onto the A508 towards Stony Stratford and then finally onto the A422 which led us into Buckingham. The time / distance given on Google maps UK is 1 hour 8 minutes / 54 miles. The ground is slightly hidden by large conifer trees on the left hand side before you reach the town centre. Despite being my second visit to watch football I have yet to have a look round the town centre so I cannot tell you much about the place. Below is a few links on the town and district itself:

Buckingham University - www.buckingham.ac.uk

Visit Buckinghamshire - www.visitbuckinghamshire.org

Buckingham Rugby Club - www.buckinghamrugby.co.uk

The ground has an open feel about it, despite being on the edge of town, with a stand on the Stratford Road side of the ground. Luckily the rain that was forecast never materialised in this part of the country so we didn't need the raincoat and / or umbrella! The only goal of the game came on the 2nd minute when the visitors were awarded a free kick on their left hand side and from the resulting kick the ball was headed home by Albert de Matos. The homesters didn't let their heads drop and felt they should have been awarded a penalty a few minutes later, the referee though waved away their claims. Personally I thought it should have been awarded having an excellent view of the incident. A lucky escape for Benfica came on the 13th minute when the keeper gave away possession when just outside the penalty area, only for a first time shot to come back off the post. Six minutes later it was role reversal when Buckingham had their own escape as the visiting no. 10 hit the keeper's left hand post with an angled shot after being put through. The remainder of the half was competitive with the visitors being given very little room and time to play their short passing game I saw at Bedford last year. A credit must go to Buckingham as they had obviously done their homework. The second half was again competitve with both sides evenly matched. Chances were created at either end with both keepers making saves, the visitors through probably created the more clear cut ones and should have made the game safe on 71 minutes when the previously mentioned no. 10 missed a sitter from what seemed no more than eight yards.

Overall an enjoyable couple of hours, though the game deserved more goals. Still no 0-0 since Easter Monday 2006 so can't complain.

Attendance: 29 (football mitoo)

club websites:

Buckingham Athletic: www.buckinghamathletic.co.uk

Sport London e Benfica: http://www.sportlondonebenficafc.co.uk/

Withdrawal symptoms over...

New Bradwell St. Peter 3-1 Ampthill Town

Spartan South Midlands League Division 1

Bradwell Recreation Ground

Tuesday 12th August 2008

My first game of the season saw me and my dad end up in Milton Keynes, and more specifically New Bradwell St Peter Football Club. This is one club that I has been on my hit list as it were for a few years, especially as Milton Keynes is within easy reach of Leicester. I have only previously visited five clubs in the Spartan South Midlands League, three of the clubs currently ply their trade in the same division as New Bradwell and two clubs in the MK area - Newport Pagnell and Stony Stratford. The day started out with a trip to the Northamptonshire Records Office on the edge of Northampton to do some family research with the intention of trying to take the "Campion" name beyond the mid / late 1700's by looking at old parish records. Having spent around 2 and a half hours in the records office we did not manage to take the name further back but found out that the surname changed from "Camping" to "Campion" in the late 18th century. After leaving the records office the plan was to grab some lunch and then look at some of the villages and towns in Northamptonshire where our relatives came from. First up was Rushden, and more specifically Duck Street. Duck Street in 2008 is pretty non-descript, an average street on the edge of Rushden town centre. From there is was to Finedon and more specifically the church where a Campion was married in 1814. The final stop of the day was the village of Stanwick near Raunds. A lot of Campions / Campings in the late 18th century were christened here but strangely the father, an Edward Camping was neither born or buried in the village. Brick wall time!

After leaving Stanwick we decided to head to Milton Keynes itself and made the relatively short journey down the A509 and pulled into Willen Lake for a drink before heading to New Bradwell. Note - there are two Bradwell Roads. The one with the football ground on is in the postcode district of MK13. A phone call was made to the club to confirm location and we arrived with around 15 minutes before kick-off. No admission was taken, programmes had to be collected from a club official's house and I managed to get hold of one during the first half for £1. The club also had badges for sale from their centenary year six years ago which were sold for a bargain £1 each.


Despite arriving at the ground before kick-off we managed to miss the first ten minutes (and first goal for the home side) due to us talking in the bar and losing track of time. Shit happens I suppose!!! A couple of minutes after arriving at pitch side the home side were awarded a free-kick. Lee White stepped up and scored direct from the kick from fully 35 yards to make it 2-0 against a side that won 4-1 at the weekend. I'm not sure if it was intentional but the keeper was expecting a cross and was caught out position wise, added to the fact that the ball seemed to catch the wind. The home side continued to play the better football during the first half and should have been further ahead at the interval. The visitors came out with more intent and purpose in the second half (probably after a rollocking from their manager), but did not cause the home side too many problems. Both sides continued to create chances until Ampthill got a goal back on 77 minutes through Needleman. A free kick was spilled by the home keeper and the afore mentioned player reacted first to stab the ball home from a few yards out. The old saying in football that you are at your most vulnerable after you've just scored couldn't have rang truer, as just a minute later the home side restored their two goal cushion when the ball was diverted into his home net by a visiting defender from a right wing cross. No further scoring ensued and the home side were deserved winners. An enjoyable game hosted by a nice friendly club.

Trying to recall what happened without taking notes is difficult, even after less than 24 hours after the game ended. Hopefully the next time I attend a game I will remember to take my note book!

Distance / time (according to Google maps UK): 52.1 miles / 1 hour 7 minutes

Websites:

www.newbradwellstpeter.co.uk
www.ampthilltownfc.co.uk