Warsop

CHURCH WARSOP SPORTS & SOCIAL 2-1 CALVERTON MINERS WELFARE

Saturday 30th April 2011

Central Midlands League Supreme Division

The Alley

The season is coming to a close for yours truly with after today only two or three games left. I had a short list of three, all of which were in the Central Midlands League (CML) with the others being Pinxton and Whatton United. My dad had agreed to come along today a few weeks ago, but events this week made me unsure as to whether he would be up for it as it were as my grandad died in his sleep on Tuesday morning after being ill for a long time. I was not going to mention the football but it was dad that asked if I was still going and we agreed that I would head over to his house around 12.45pm before setting off to north Nottinghamshire.

St. Peter and Paul Parish Church (source: Wikipedia)

Church Warsop is a small village in north Nottinghamshire and is located three miles west of Shirebrook and five and a half miles north of Mansfield. It was built in 1930 by the Staveley Coal and Iron Company to house workers (and their families) at the Warsop Main Colliery at nearby Warsop Vale.

There football club are surrounded by a number of other clubs that play at CML level and above, with these including Clipstone Welfare, Ollerton Town and Shirebrook Town. The club play at The Alley which is on Wood Lane in the village and like most clubs that play at CML level, they go onto my "to visit" list. The reason I chose them today was that I had heard a rumour that they are to fold in the summer and the ground is to be used by fellow CML side Nottingham United next season. Church Warsop were formed in the summer of 2008 as Church Warsop Miners Welfare and were elected into the premier division of the CML. An eight place finish in their debut season was followed by the division title last season and with it promotion to the Supreme Division. I believe the club offered their resignation in the close season after a dispute with the Miners Welfare who own the land, but after sorting out the issues they agreed to carry on and changed their name in the process to Church Warsop Sports & Social. This season they and their opponents Calverton Miners Welfare have struggled and both find themselves in the bottom four of the Supreme Division table. They have both recorded just five wins apiece and are separated by three points in the favour of Church Warsop.

I picked up my dad and we took around 1 hour 15 minutes to make the 49 mile journey. On arriving at the ground we parked in the small car park behind the Sports & Social Club and then made our way to the pitch. The ground is fully enclosed by a wall though no admission was charged or programme issued. Apparently they are a 1 man band and have not issued all season and the rumours are true - they are to fold at the end of the season. On the near side there is a small section of cover which would keep maybe ten people dry.

The game was played on a rock hard dusty pitch and wasn't the best I have seen this season. The first half was by some way the worst of the two periods of 45 minutes with very little being created. The second half was much better in terms of the quality of football and entertainment and we did not have to wait long for the opening goal. Just four minutes into the half and the home side took the lead when the ball was drilled past the Calverton keeper from 15 yards out. The lead lasted five minutes when Calverton were awarded a penalty. To be honest I have no idea what it was for as I was standing behind the other goal, but their number 9 stepped up and confidently sent the Church Warsop keeper the wrong way. On the hour mark and Church Warsop were back in front when their number 11 beautifully flicked the ball over the keeper with the outside of his boot. This proved to be the winner but both sides (especially Church Warsop) had chances to increase to number of goals and in the end the home side deservedly took all three points.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 21 (head count)

Match rating: 2 out of 5 (1 for the first half and 3 for the second)

There are now just two games left for Church Warsop, both of which are at home:

Monday 2nd May v Pinxton (1pm ko)

Saturday 7th May v Kirkby Town (3pm ko)

A slideshow of photos taken can be viewed below:

A different sport

EUROPEAN TRUCK GRAND PRIX

Donington Park

Sunday 24th April 2011

A first today for "All Roads Lead Somewhere" - photos and other information on a first ever visit to Donington Park for the European Truck Grand Prix. It was an advert in the Leicester Mercury newspaper about a 25% discount on tickets that caught my attention, and having asked the wife if she was interested and organised a dog sitter - thanks Mum! the tickets were booked at a cost of £25.50 including fee for both of us. Prior to leaving home we made the (excellent) decision to take our own food and chairs. We arrived at the circuit early as we had no idea what to expect in terms of, well everything. On entry we were told that there was full access to the inside of the track and paddock area and getting there early allowed us to get a good position inside @ Hollywood. The racing on offer consisted of four different categories:

1) FIA European Truck Racing Championship

2) Formula Renault BARC Championship

3) Legends Cars UK Championship

4) Pickup Truck Championship

Catering

The food and drink stalls located at the circuit are the usual fast food variety consisting of burgers, jacket potatoes, baguettes etc. An example of the prices are as follows:

Hot Drinks: £2

Jacket Potato & two fillings: £5

Potato Wedges: £3

Baguettes: between £5 and £6

Burgers: around £5

The first action on the track started around 9am with the trucks doing a 15 minute warm up and the first race itself @ 9.50am with the 14 lap Formula Renault BARC Championship. Between this and the next race (Legends Cars) at 11.20am was the qualifying for the trucks. Two more races then followed before a break for lunch. At the lunch break we decided to ditch our baggage back at the car and have a walk round looking at the trade stalls and paddock area. Opening the paddock area to the fans was a superb idea in my opinion and as well as a chance for the fans to meet the drivers there was also plenty of freebies on offer from Renault and the various teams. After lunch was the first of the two main events of the day with round 3 of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship and not surprisingly it was this that drew the most crowds track side. Three more races followed before the last race of the day @ 5pm - round 4 of truck racing. We decided to miss one of minor races to have another look round the paddock and this was excellent timing as the truck drivers were just coming into the area and signing posters etc for the fans - naturally as the saying goes "when in Rome". 

Results: (FIA European Truck Racing Championship)

Round 3

1st: 3 Jochen Hahn (Germany) 

2nd: 9 Uwe Nittel (Germany)

3rd: 4 Markus Ostreich (Germany)

Round 4

1st: 4 Markus Ostreich (Germany)

2nd: 3 Jochen Hahn (Germany)

3rd: 5 David Vrsecky (Czech Republic)

Admission: £25.50 (two adults + fee)

Programme: £5

Slideshows of the various categories of racing plus general ones of the circuit and paddock area are all below:

Legends Cars:

Formula Renault:

Pickup Trucks:

FIA European Trucks:

Junior Cup Final

CK DONS 0-3 HECKINGTON MILLERS

Saturday 23^rd April 2011

Grantham & District League Junior Cup Final

Ermine Street, Ancaster

My second game of the day sees me head across country to Lincolnshire for this tea time kick-off in the final of the Grantham & District League Junior Cup sponsored by HIT Consulatancy. The 13 teams in division 1 compete in the Junior Cup, while the Senior Cup is competed for by the teams in the premier division.

The drive took around 80 minutes and included a stop for petrol. My route was simple taking me along the A6006, then onto the A46 to the island with the A52 and then headed towards Grantham. Going through Grantham I then turned onto the B6403 towards Ancaster. The drive along the 52 was very light in terms of traffic, with the smell of the rape seed crop to my left and the impressive Belvoir Castle sitting majestically to the south.  

The Grantham & District League as the name suggests is centred around the Grantham area and includes clubs from three different counties: Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Leicestershire is represented by Bottesford (+ reserves), Buckminster United and Croxton Kerrial sides Croxton AFC and CK Dons.

Mr Bill Hannigan (tournament sponsor) with the trophies

The final this year is to be played at Ermine Street, Ancaster which is home to premier division side Ancaster Rovers. The venue is roughly equi-distance between the two teams with it being 15 miles north east of Croxton Kerrial and 13 miles west of Heckington.

This season’s competition:

Round 1

Baston             4-1 Baston Athletic

Cranmer Arms       4-8 Bottesford Reserves

Morton             5-3 Rippingale & Folkingham

Newark Flowserve       Harrowby Athletic

Home win awarded

Skillington        3-4 Heckington Millers

Round 2

Heckington Millers 2-1 Baston

Lord Harrowby      4-6 Caythorpe

Morton             3-2 Newark Flowserve

Quarter Final

CK Dons            5-2 Bottesford Reserves

Semi Finals

Caythorpe          1-8 Heckington Millers

Morton             2-3 CK Dons

Recent finals:

2008: RHP Newark     3-0 Balderton Old Boys

2009: Bottesford Res 5-3 Caythorpe

2010: Beehive United 5-1 Grantham United

The following information on the two sides is taken from the programme:

CK Dons

Based in Croxton Kerrial, CK Dons were established in 2009 and managed a respectable sixth position finish in their maiden season. This season saw a slow start in the league but a recent upturn in results should see a similar top six finish, the same as last season. Having failed to make any semi-finals last season, a cup final and at least another cup semi-final represents a successful season of development at The Dons.

Top (L to R): Martyn Hallam, Kevin Hibbins, John Sheppard, Neil Bukavs, Rob Walters, Michael Hallam, Aaron Samways, Kiel Stewart, Steve Kirkham, James Frost
Bot (L to R): Jez Hill, Lee Waters, Kieran Hand, Dave Scott, Matt Keightley, Euan Burrows, Mark Cadman 

Heckington Millers

Heckington Millers Football Club, more commonly known as ‘Millers’, started in 2006 and in their first season won the League Cup. Since the teams inception three players have represented the club every season: Jay Carrington, Chris Doherty and Sean Jenkinson. Sean is also the clubs oldest player at 44 years old and the clubs youngest is Luke Townsend at 19.

On arriving at the ground around 45 minutes I made acquaintance with the CK Dons secretary Jeremy Hill who I had exchanged e-mails with prior to the game. The ground is a basic affair with the facilities shared with Ancaster Cricket Club. The pitch was roped off along the two touchlines and there is (along with changing rooms) a clubhouse / social club.

The game was very competitive and in the end the score line was harsh on the Dons. It was they who started better creating several chances in the opening couple of minutes and generally had the better of things in the opening ten minutes or so. The opening goal for the Millers came from a corner when the ball was bundled home on 14 minutes. This inability to defend at corners ultimately cost the Dons dearly. The goal knocked the Dons back a bit as for the next five or ten minutes Heckington had their best spell of the half. The Dons then got back in control and dominated the proceedings for the remainder of the half putting pressure on the Millers defence. Several good chances  came in the last five minutes of the half: 1) a good move on the left saw the ball struck the side netting, 2) a header from a corner was headed over and 3) the ball being cleared from underside of the bar from another corner. At this moment in time the last thing that the Dons wanted was the half to end. Two goals in the space of three minutes around the hour mark ended the game as a contest. Both came from set pieces with the second of the two coming from the Millers number 14 who headed home unmarked from three yards out. Both sides continued to go forward with the Dons trying to salvage some pride but alas to no avail.

Overall a good game of football and I was impressed with the standard on offer with this being my first ever Grantham League game. Like previously stated it was the Dons inability to defend at corners along with them not taking the numerous chances that came their way that was their undoing. This is not meant to take anything away from Heckington and congratulations go out to them.

Admission: £1 including 4 page programme

Raffle tickets: £1

Attendance: 110 (official) - seemed nearer 150

Match rating: 3 out of 5

A slideshow of photos taken during the game can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Five minutes after getting in my car the rain came to this part of Lincolnshire – good timing eh!!!

After a 75 minute journey I was back home at around 9pm seven and a half hours after leaving home.

Another busy today tomorrow (Easter Sunday) with a first visit to Donington Park for the British Truck Grand Prix.

Squeaky Bum Time

SUTTON BONINGTON ACADEMICALS 4–3 GREENHILL YC

Saturday 23^rd April 2011

North Leicestershire League Division 2

University of Nottingham (Sutton Bonington Campus)

My first game of the day sees me head into South Nottinghamshire for a potential title decider in the third tier of the North Leicestershire League (NLL). The two teams are currently separated by goal difference though Greenhill will still have one game to play.

                      Pl W  D  L GD Pts

1 Greenhill      18 14 4  0 73 46

2 S Bonington    19 15 1  3 55 46

Sutton Bonington is a small village (population 1,600 approx) some five miles north of Loughborough and twelve miles south of Nottingham. It is home to two football teams (Sutton Bonington FC and Sutton Bonington Academicals) that both play in the NLL. Despite the village being located in Nottinghamshire both teams are registered with the Leicestershire & Rutland County FA and play in that county’s cup competitions.

The University of Nottingham has a 4.2km²site to the north of the village and is home to the School of Biosciences and School of Veterinary Medicine and Science – this opened in 2006 and was the first veterinary school to open in the UK for 50 years. The campus was originally the Midlands Agricultural & Dairy College before it merged with the University of Nottingham in 1947. The campus is also home to (among others) research buildings and teaching facilities. The hall of residence accommodates 650 students.

More information on the site can be found on its Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Bonington_Campus#Sutton_Bonington_Campus

This is the fifth season that the Academicals have competed in the NLL, joining division two in 2006. They finished their debut season in 3^rd place and achieved promotion to division 1. The next three seasons spent in division 1 saw them finish in 5^th, 9^th and 10^th place respectively. Unfortunately though the 10^th place finish last season saw them relegated to division 2. Their stay in division 2 will be short lived as they have already secured promotion back to division 1 at the first attempt. This season they also reached the final of the Leicestershire Trophy but came up short losing 2-1 to Leicester & District League side Kingsway Celtic. Opponents Greenhill YC come from Coalville and joined the NLL at the same time as their hosts today but were placed in division 4. The two teams have played each other twice this season, once in the league and other in the 2^nd round of the Leicestershire Trophy. Both games were played at Greenhill’s ground and they have one win apiece. Greenhill won the league encounter on the 16^th October 5-2 but the outcome reversed just two weeks later when the Academicals recorded a 4-3 victory.

The drive up to Sutton Bonington was made in glorious sunshine and took around 30 minutes and I arrived with about ten minutes to kick-off, with the temperature on my car thermometer was hovering around the 26 degree Celsius mark. The home of the Accies is set in a very pleasant setting and along with the grass football pitch (which was neither railed nor roped off),  there is a floodlit artificial pitch, tennis courts and brand new sports centre. (Note: Google maps is currently out of date and only shows the football pitch and tennis courts). Behind the far goal is the main Midland (Railway) Line that runs between London and Yorkshire.

SBA did what they had to do to give themselves a chance of winning the division title, and came out on top by the odd goal in seven in an entertaining and enjoyable game of football to watch. The home side settled quicker and had the better of the opening exchanges but on ten minutes conceded a penalty. James Armstrong stepped up and gave Greenhill the lead. The lead only lasted a couple of minutes before SBA were level. A free kick could only be parried by the Greenhill keeper into the path Vio Matei who finished at the far post from a few yards out. Midway through the half and the home side deservedly took the lead when (in my opinion) man of the match Matt Anderson lobbed the ball over the advancing keeper. The third (and what could be crucial) third goal came around the forty minute mark when the ball came off the knee of Dean Hawkridge following a free kick.

Greenhill started the second half with more purpose and within seven minutes of the restart got a goal back when a cross field ball was controlled and finished well by Danny Morris. SBA then took control again and following two near misses and a goal disallowed for offside, Greenhill equalised against the run of play when Brett Morris bundled the ball home on 63 minutes. With around twenty minutes to go the referee made a very sensible decision when he allowed the players a couple of minutes break to take on fluids. This was brought about because the awarding of a free kick to SBA resulted in a break in play. The winner came on 72 minutes when Matt Anderson got his second when he hit a superb and unstoppable free kick into the top left hand corner – beat that David Beckham!!!! Just five minutes later and Greenhill came so close to equalising but a volley smashed against the corner of the crossbar and post with the keeper stranded. In the end that was their best chance and they now have to win their final game of the season @ home to Castle Donington on April 30^th to win the title ahead of SBA.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 27 (head count)

Match rating: 4 out of 5

Game 1 over and now an 80 minute drive to Ancaster for my second game of the day.

* -  the scorers of the game were taken from the official North Leicestershire League website.

A slideshow of photos taken from the game can be viewed below:

The Devonian

BIDEFORD 1–2 WIMBORNE TOWN

Saturday 9^th April 2011

Southern League Division 1 South & West

The Sports Ground

A slideshow of photos of the ground and game is below:

An offer of a trip down to North Devon was too good an offer to turn down. There are a couple of reasons for accepting the offer: 1) I have not been to Bideford before and 2) I am going on holiday to the village of Hartland (which is 15 miles west of Bideford) in mid-June and this would give me the chance to do a reccy on the road between the M5 motorway and Bideford itself.

Bideford is a small port town on the west bank of the River Torridge in North West Devon. It is the principle town of the Torridge local government district. The river is spanned by the 13^th century Long Bridge. This was originally made of wood but was replaced by a stone one in the 15^th century and consists of 24 arches, all of which are different in size. Author Charles Kingsley lived in the town and based his novel Westwood Ho! in this part of north Devon. In the 16^th century Bideford was one of Britain’s largest ports while today the town is a thriving shopping centre with numerous antique shops along the narrow streets from the quay and river. The quay itself is still bustling with fishing and cargo vessels and pleasure boats.

Sources:

http://www.devonguide.com/Bideford/

Bideford Town Council

A history on the club below is taken from their official website:

"Founded in 1946, the club played three seasons in the Exeter & East Devon League before joining the Western League in 1949. Bideford had a request to be elected to the Second Division denied, and had to play in the Third Division instead. This was the only season the Western League ran a Third Division, and Bideford won it without losing a game. Two seasons later they also won Division Two, and so took their place in Division One.

Bideford won the Western League three times before joining the Southern League in 1972. The club spent three seasons at that level before the expense involved and increased travelling took its toll, and they had to drop down back to the Western League. During their Southern League days, the club set an all-time FA Cup record, when in 1974-75 they played thirteen FA Cup games in a single season - they faced numerous replays in qualifying rounds including needing five games to beat Falmouth Town and four more to beat Trowbridge Town in the next round. With the subsequent abandonment of second and further replays, this record is likely to stand for a very long time. Two more Western League titles followed in the early 1980s.

Several players from the club have progressed to Football League status, the most recent of them being Tony Dennis and Shaun Taylor. Two former internationals have played for the club at the end of their career, Welshman Leighton Phillips, and Dermot Curtis from the Republic of Ireland.

Bideford have won the Toolstation Western Premier League 9 times over the years, as well as lifting silverware in the Devon St Lukes Bowl, Devon Professional Cup, and Western League Cup.

In FA competitions, Bideford AFC’s record is quite impressive, reaching the First Round Proper of the FA Cup on four occasions, and reaching the Semi-Final of the FA Vase in 2003/04. Last seasons FA Vase campaign saw Bideford reach the quarter-final stages, where they were knocked out by an impressive Lowestoft. 

Bideford AFC gained promotion from the Toolstation Western Premier League at the end of a fantastic 2009/10 season, in which they did the double winning the League and the Westinsure Devon St Lukes Bowl where they beat Exeter City 2-1 in the Final. Bideford AFC were promoted to the Zamaretto Southern League in May 2010, the first time they have played in the Southern League in 35 years.

Manager Sean Joyce is an ex-professional footballer, who spent his career playing for Doncaster Rovers, Exeter City and Torquay Utd. He has managed Bideford since 1998, bringing much success to the Club during his time here."

The journey down to Bideford was made in glorious sunshine which firstly involved a stop at Nuneaton train station to pick up Pete who had travelled down from Liverpool, then after joining the M6 between Coventry and Bedworth we then made our way to the Pit Stop Cafe on the A38 south of Bromsgrove for the now customary breakfast. A footnote is that this will be the second Saturday in succession that I will have visited this excellent little cafe. Overall without stopping (according to Google maps) it takes around 4 hours to make the 225 miles between my house and Bideford. Taking into account the stops to change drivers we arrived in the town at around 1.15pm. This gave us a chance to have a walk round to quay side and have an ice cream at a local farmers market. We made our way to the ground which is just a short walk from the quay at around 2pm and parked inside the ground and were then charged £7 for admission and £1.50 for a 32 page programme.

You enter the ground in a corner and had a very open feel about it with the changing rooms, catering hut and stand immediately ahead of you. The clubhouse is just inside the entrance on the right with a stand consisting of seating and standing accommodation on the far side of the ground.

This was a close, hard fought encounter that could have gone either way. It was the visitors who started the brightest and it came as no surprise when they opened the scoring on nine minutes. Following a break down the left Scott Joyce pounced on a loose ball and smashed the ball into the net. Bideford then came into game more as the half wore on and looked more likely the score next. In fact they would have done but for Wimborne keeper Jakub Malara who made three saves in the space of about five seconds! The second half was a lot more open with both sides pushing forward before Wimborne doubled their tally. It came on 55 minutes from Jamie Davidson who picked the ball up on the left and then proceeded to beat Bideford defenders at will before slotting the ball past the keeper. Five minutes later and Bideford were back into the game when a looping header from Matt Andrews caught Malara flat footed to make it 1-2. For the final half hour Bideford had more possession with Wimborne looking to hit them on the counter attack. In the final stages Malara made another couple of saves and the Wimborne defence held out and secure the three points.

The journey home was via Stafford to allow Pete to get back to Liverpool and allowing for this we were back in Leicester by 9.15pm.

Admission: £7

Programme: £1.50

Badge: £3

Match rating: 2 ½ out of 5

Attendance:  ???

Broken Glass

ROMAN GLASS ST. GEORGE 1–2 CHARD TOWN

Saturday 2^nd April 2011

Western League Division 1

Bell Hill, Bristol

some photos of the game are below in the slideshow below:

After last week’s non report as such it is back to normal. Today sees me meet up again with a friend of mine Colin Buchanan who is a Cheltenham Town supporter and lives in the town. This day like most other when we meet up is when Cheltenham have an away game. It takes around 1 hour 40 minutes to make the 90 mile journey along the motorway network. There is though a more scenic route which takes you through the picturesque Cotswold Hills and I have travelled between Leicester and Cheltenham this way on numerous occasions, and the Cotswolds are one of my favourite places I have visited in the UK.

Having a look at the fixtures within an hour’s drive of Colin’s house there were a few options that stood out. These included Monmouth Town, Cinderford Town and various games in the Gloucestershire County League, but one stood head and shoulders above all others. This was not due to the importance of the game etc but because Roman Glass are moving into Oaklands Park, Almondsbury next season with Winterbourne United. Regular readers will know that we visited Winterbourne in September for the same reason as our visit to Roman Glass today.

The traffic was light and I encountered on problems all the way down to Cheltenham and then to Bristol itself. We found our way to the ground with the help of the sat-nav but as we had plenty of time on our hands we went looking for somewhere to have a drink. We eventually ended up at the Fleur de Lis pub in the village of Pucklechurch (which was about a fifteen minute drive from the ground) and due to driving only had the one drink – a pint of Doom Bar by the Sharp’s Brewery in Cornwall. Not a bad drink at all. Not my favourite but certainly drinkable on a pleasant spring afternoon.

The club are based in the St. George suburb of Bristol and were formed in 1995 through a merger between Bristol St George FC and Roman Glass FC. Bristol St George were formed in 1885, became founder members of the Gloucestershire FA in 1886 and joined the Bristol & District League (BDL) in 1892. In 1895 the BDL became known as the Western League (WL) and they remained in the WL until 1899. Between 1897 and 1899 they also competed in the Birmingham & District League. In 1901 they rejoined the WL for two more seasons before dropping back to play in local competitions. In 1928 they joined the WL again for a third time but left in 1935 for the Bristol & District League. In the 1957 they were founder members of the Bristol Premier Combination (BPC) and won the division 1 title five years in succession between 1963 and 1968. The Gloucestershire County League (GCL) was founded in 1968 with St. George being one of the founder members. They were runners-up in the inaugural season and one year later crowned champions. They remained in the GCL until 1987 when they were expelled due to the deterioration of the facilities at their ground and rejoined the BPC. The BPC title was won in the 1992/93 season but with no promotion the club nosedived and were in serious danger of folding until Roman Glass stepped in.

                Roman Glass were formed in 1960 as a street team called Wyndham Wanderers and competed in the Bristol Church of England League. In 1974 they joined the Bristol & District League before changing their name to Roman Glass FC in 1980. After the merger in 1995 which resulted in the present name being adopted, they won promotion to the premier division of the BPC at the first attempt. In 1999 they won the BPC title and with it promotion to the GCL. The GCL title was won twice in 2002 and 2007, the latter resulting in promotion to division 1 of the WL. The three seasons spent in the WL have seen them finish in 10^th, 16^th and 18^th place respectively. This season the club are struggling again and currently find themselves in 18^th place in the 19 team division. They have won just six games from 28 matches played and recorded just 23 points. They are currently seven points above bottom placed Elmore. Opponents today Chard Town are also in the lower half of the table and are only five points better off having played four games more.

Roman Glass currently play their home games at Bell Hill on Whiteway Road which is located down a narrow drive between houses 168 and 170. There are no floodlights, hard standing is on one side of the ground only and a stand straddles the half way line behind the two dugouts. There is also a social club on site and along with alcoholic beverages the club were selling tea and coffee plus a selection of baps.

The game was reasonably entertaining with both sides looking to go forward at every opportunity, though very few clear cut opportunities were created. The game was played at a fast pace throughout, the approach play from both teams was decent but the two things that let themselves down was the final ball and / or the end product.

Chard took the lead after four minutes when following some good work in the middle of the field by Sam Clark, he then fed the ball out wide left and the subsequent cross gave Sam Spurway a simple finish who was unmarked in the six yard box. Like previously stated there were few clear cut chances and I can’t recall either keeper making a save of note. The hosts nearly equalised midway through the half when a free kick was headed just wide of the post, while Chard could have doubled their lead when a cross was put wide. The second half saw Roman Glass have the better of things in terms of chances and possession and the closest they came to an equaliser came just after the hour mark when a volley from outside the area crashed against the top of the bar. Chard struggled to make an impact though with around twenty minutes left Sam Clark had his shot saved by the legs of the Roman Glass keeper. The equaliser which was thoroughly deserved came in the 74^th minute when a shot looped over the back peddling Chard keeper into the net. The game then appeared to be petering out into a 1-1 draw but with Chard’s best spell of the second half coming in the final five minutes, they won it with a goal about two minutes from time. Roman Glass could not clear a corner and the ball was bundled home by Max Westlake from about three yards to give them all three points.

Admission: £4

Programme: £1

Attendance: 40 (official)

Match rating: 3/5

Overall Roman Glass are another very friendly and welcoming club that I visited this season. This was a first taste of Western League football for me and, if this is what I have to look forward to then hopefully it won’t be too long before I am back for more. Good luck also goes to Roman Glass in their application to get their Bell Hill ground up to the required standard for Step 6 football and their move to Oaklands Park, Almondsbury is only a temporary one.