5,000 robins descend on North London

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3–0 CHELTENHAM TOWN

Saturday 7^th January 2012

FA Cup 3^rd Round

White Hart Lane

Sometimes in football cup draws fall the way you like and prior to the draw for the 3^rd round of this seasons FA Cup I said to the wife that I hope Cheltenham get Chelsea, Manchester City or Spurs away. Well this prediction and wish came true and as regular readers of the blog know one of my closest friends is a season ticket holder @ Cheltenham. This made getting one of the 5,000 tickets that  Spurs released for the visitors section straight forward as season ticket holders were allowed to purchase two tickets each. An added bonus was that Spurs reduced the admission price to a respectable £20, with the cheapest adult tickets at White Hart Lane this season for league games costing £31 for the lowest category games. 

Useless fact alert: This will be the 26th FA Cup that I have seen, yet only the second in the competition proper. This came in the 2005/06 season when I saw Cheltenham host Newcastle United in the 4th round. The rest of the ties  were in the qualifying rounds.

My original plan was to drive down to north London and then get the tube and bus to the stadium, but for some unknown reason decided to check how much I could get to the capital and back on the train. I was quoted £31 return but the stipulation was that I had to get a specific train there and back – the train tickets were duly purchased and I was booked on the 1057 from Leicester which got me into St. Pancras International @ 1220. With Colin also arriving in London on the train via Paddington we arranged to meet @ St. Pancras itself at 12.30pm and make our way to White Hart Lane from there. Firstly there was a tube ride to Seven Sisters which is only three stops away on the Victoria Line and then a mile and a half walk to the ground itself. According to the excellent Transport for London website it should cost £5.20 return using an Oyster card. This was fortunate as I have £7.20 left on my card from my last visit to London at the end of July.


The area between the tube station and the stadium along Tottenham High Road is a cosmopolitan and multi-cultural mix. The High Road consists of plenty of small businesses which range from fast food takeaways to computer repair specialists, as well as two branches of the biggest supermarket chains. Also for anyone wanting a pre-match drink there are numerous pubs in the vicinity, though a lot of them near the stadium are for home fans only.

The club

As is the case when I went down to fellow North London rivals Arsenal I will just give a list of the club’s first team honours and records for Spurs. A full detailed history including reserve and youth team honours can be found on their official website @ http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/index.html.

The club were formed in 1882 as Hotspur FC before changing their name to the current title two years later. Their first league competition competed in was the Southern Alliance for the 1892/93 season, before joining the Southern League three years later in 1896. I have no idea if they played in any league competition between 1893 and 1896. While in the Southern League before they were elected to the Football League in 1908 they also competed in the United League, London League and Western League.

Football League champions (2) 1950/51; 1960/61

Football League Division 2 winners (2) 1919/20; 1949/50

FA Cup winners (8) 1900/01; 1920/21; 1960/61; 1961/62; 1966/67; 1980/81; 1981/82; 1990/91

Football League Cup winners (4) 1970/71; 1972/73; 1998/99; 2007/08

European Cup-winners Cup winners (1) 1962/63

UEFA Cup winners (2) 1971/72; 1983/84

FA Charity Shield winners (4 + 3 shared) 1920/21; 1951/52; 1961/62; 1962/63; 1967/68 (shared); 1981/82 (shared); 1991/92 (shared)

Western League champions (1) 1903/04

London League champions (1) 1902/03

Record victory: 13-2 v Crewe Alexandra (H) 03-02-1960 (FA Cup)

Record defeat: 0-8 v 1. FC Koln (A) 22-07-1995 (UEFA Intertoto Cup)

Most appearances: 854 – Steve Perryman

Top goalscorer: 266 – Jimmy Greaves

Record attendance: 75,038 v Sunderland (05-03-1938)

Highest transfer fee paid: £16.75m for Luke Modric (Dinamo Zagreb) – June 2008

Highest transfer fee received: £30.75m for Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) – September 2008

The Stadium

Stating the obvious here but Spurs play their home games @ White Hart Lane in north London and currently has a capacity of 36,310. When the club were first formed they played their home games on Tottenham Marshes before moving to Northumberland Park in 1898. The move only lasted a year before they converted a disused nursery owned by brewery chain Charringtons at the present site.  The first game on White Hart Lane saw Spurs beat Notts County 4-1 in front of approximately 5,000 spectators.


My impressions of the stadium were just ok. It did not give you the "wow factor" like their north London rivals Arsenal, though I do admit comparing the two is unfair. Also I felt it did not have an aura about it, like for example Anfield where you know you are somewhere special and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I am struggling to sum up anything else that could be constructive or descriptive to describe the place...maybe "an average medium sized football stadium". 


One thing that I was not impressed with was how narrow the concourse was. There was only one entrance and exit for the away fans, which I presume was due to the larger than normal away contingent. This meant that it felt like an awful long time to get out of the stadium and back on to Tottenham High Road. 


The food and drink inside and outside the ground consisted of the usual fare - pie, hot dog, burger, beer (Carlsberg only) etc etc. There were four meal deal options which varied in price between £5 and £7. We ate at one of the many food outlets outside the ground and paid £3 for a hot dog.

The game

This tie pits two teams doing well in their respective league campaigns although they sit three divisions apart. Spurs are third in the Premier League with only the Manchester clubs, United and City above them in the table. Their last game on Tuesday saw them beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 with the goal coming from Jermaine Defoe.   Cheltenham are second in League 2, just one point behind leaders Crawley Town. They are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions, recording a 2-1 victory @ Port Vale in their last match on Monday. Their two FA Cup games so far have both been away from home and recorded victories @ Tranmere Rovers (1-0) and Luton Town (4-2).


What we had was in effect a Spurs 2nd XI that had a comfortable victory against their league two opponents. It should be said that the team that Spurs put out did consist of players that were / are full internationals. For example Jermaine Defoe, Aaron Lennon, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Niko Kranjcar.


To be honest I feel that the report on the BBC website is a fair reflection and without copying it word for word it can be viewed by clicking here: report

Admission: £20
Programme: £3.50
Badge: £3
Stadium postcard: £1
Attendance: 35,672


To sum up - well it is nice to visit the bigger stadiums in the country but I could not watch football in that environment every week. It is not because I did not enjoy the football on offer but because of the restrictions you have compared to watching the game at grass roots level. 


This was only my fourth ever game of football I have seen in London and the second time this season. As it happens I am back in London and meeting up with Colin in six weeks time (February 18th) for Cheltenham's visit to Dagenham & Redbridge for a League 2 encounter.   

Despite it taking longer than we (and most of the Cheltenham fans) would have liked getting out of the stadium I got back to St. Pancras without any problems for the 1825 train back to Leicester. Following a detour in Leicester to pick up some theatre tickets which are a 60th birthday present for my dad I arrived back home in Leicester at 8pm. 

Other Websites / sources:

Tottenham Hotspur – Wikipedia – Wikipedia (history)

White Hart Lane Stadium – Wikipedia


I did take some photos of the ground both externally and internally and these can be viewed below:

Quorn

QUORN 0-0 OADBY TOWN

Saturday 3rd September 2011

FA Cup Preliminary Round

Farley Way Stadium

Today sees me head to Quorn FC for the first time since 16th August 2005 when I watched Oadby Town record a 2-0 victory in a Midland Alliance encounter. I had not originally planned this fixture but intended to watch a North Leicestershire League match between Castle Donington and ATI Garryson. Following on from Oadby's emphatic victory over Northampton Spencer in the last round two weeks ago I changed my plans very quickly.

club logo (source: official website)

The formation of Quorn Football Club can be traced back to 1924 when a group of lads from the village Wesleyan Chapel formed a football team. In 1937 under the name of Quorn Methodists they joined the Leicestershire Senior League (LSL) and finished in 6th place in their debut season. A year later they recorded the first of three Leicestershire Senior Cup victories. After the end of World War 2 hostilities the LSL division 2 title was won in the 1949/50 season and a year later became LSL champions for the 1st time - a feat that would not be repeated for fifty years. In the 1951/52 and 1953/54 seasons they won a second and third Leicestershire Senior Cup crowns. During the summer of 1952 they changed their name to the current title, dropping the "Methodists" suffix. From 1954 until the present day honours were very few and far between - in fact you could say they were as rare as rocking horse shit!!!! Two LSL division 1 titles were won in 1987/88 and 1995/96 - both of which saw Quorn remain unbeaten during the two league campaigns. The first full season after the turn of the century saw Quorn claim their second LSL title and with it secured promotion to the Midland Alliance. Six seasons were spent in the Alliance before a 3rd place finish secured promotion to the Northern Premier League Division 1 South. The club have finished no higher than 12th place in the four seasons spent in the NPL-1S. The 2010/11 season finished on a high when they beat favourites Hinckley United 5-4 in the final of the "Westerby" Leicestershire Challenge Cup @ the Walkers Stadium for the first and only time. This season the club have struggled on the field and find themselves bottom of the table after six matches. Manager Dougie Keast resigned last Saturday following a 5-0 reverse at home to Grantham Town.

Quorn itself is a village in Leicestershire (population in 2001: 4,961), located a couple of miles south of Loughborough and nine miles north of Leicester. The village is probably best associated with fox hunting and the Quorn Hunt is probably the UK's most well known. The hunt was founded in 1696 but moved to Quorn in 1753 by the second master Hugo Meynell. Between 1973 and 1904 hounds were kennelled at Quorndon Hall, but now are housed at Kirby Bellars near Melton Mowbray.

Quorn Parish Church (photo by Thomas Willson)

The ground, Farley Way Stadium is located on the northern edge of the village just of the main A6 dual carriageway. The entrance to the ground is behind the near goal which houses a three or four step covered terrace that runs along the whole length. Along the far side is a shallow 320 seater stand that straddles the half way line. The changing rooms and clubhouse are housed in one large building along the near side of the ground. One thing final note about the ground is the quality of the pitch - every time I have attended a game here it has always been in immaculate condition. Credit to the ground staff.

Well to be honest there is not much to say about the game in a positive note. It was a hard fought but drab encounter. Neither side could take the game by the scruff of the neck and they will have to replay on Tuesday night (6th September) to see who will host Loughborough University in the next round. Looking back some twelve hours after the game has ended Quorn probably created a greater number of chances but James Flinders in the Oadby goal was never seriously troubled. The few chances that Oadby created should have won them the game - firstly Quorn goalkeeper Matt Nurse pulled off a superb save from Matt Piper at his near post and then with just two minutes remaining a Michael Reeve effort was cleared off the line. 

Admission: £7

Programme: £1.50

Attendance: 155

Match rating: 1 out of 5

Websites:

Quorn FC (official)

Evo-stik Northern Premier League

35 photos taken of the ground and game can be viewed below:

St Helens Town

ST HELENS TOWN 1-1 GLOSSOP NORTH END
Saturday 28th August 2010

FA Cup Preliminary Round

Knowsley Road

After much deliberation and changing of plans we (myself and Gary) finally came to an agreement and opt for plan ‘C` today. Plan ‘A` was all three games on the Mid-Wales League hop, plan ‘B` was Airbus UK followed by Llanidloes Town and so we arrive at Knowsley Road, St Helens for the first part of plan ‘C` for their FA Cup preliminary round tie against fellow North West Counties League side Glossop North End. I would say the only reason for choosing this game is that the ground in which they share with their more illustrious neighbours St Helens RFC is to be shortly demolished and a new ground is being built for the use of both clubs.

St Helens is a large town with a population of around 100,000 and is located between Liverpool (11 miles to the west) and Manchester (23 miles to the east). The area became significant in the 18th and 19th centuries for coal mining and glass making. The town is still home to Pilkington glass which was founded in 1826 and they produce all the UK’s output of flat glass.

The two clubs currently share the Knowsley Road ground which currently has a capacity of 17,500. St Helens RFC moved into the ground in 1890 while ‘Town have used the ground since 2002. The record attendance for the ground was recorded on 26th December 1949 for a Saints game against their biggest rivals Wigan. The new (as yet unnamed) stadium is being built on derelict land of the former United Glass site and will have a capacity of 18,000 when completed and is due to open in Autumn 2011.

St Helens Town Football Club were formed in 1946 and joined division two of the Lancashire Combination in 1949. Two years later and they won the division two title and with it secured promotion to division one. Just one season was spent in the Combination’s top division before relegation back to division two. Thirteen years were spent back in the second division when in 1965 they achieved promotion back to division one and they had to wait until 1972 for their one and only Lancashire Combination title. In 1975 they switched to the Cheshire County League and remained in the league until 1982 when it merged with the Lancashire Combination to become the North West Counties Football League (NWC). St. Helens Town have remained ever present in the NWC and have recorded a best ever finish of 3rd place on three occasions. The club have entered the FA Cup since 1946 and the furthest they have gone in the competition was in the 1985/86 season when they knocked out Colwyn Bay, Eastwood Hanley and Leek Town before succumbing to Morecambe in the 4th qualifying round after a replay. Both teams today needed a replay to secure victories in the extra-preliminary round – St Helens beating Yorkshire side Nostell Miners Welfare 5-4 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw and Glossop 1-0 over Wigan Robin Park.

A fair result in the end at Knowsley Road which started well for the home side. Dave Garnell scrambled the ball home from a corner after sixteen minutes, and for the first quarter of the game were in control against a Glossop side devoid of ideas and skill. The game then appeared to turn in the visitors favour when the home side were down to ten men as their number three took out Glossop’s number ten with a two footed lunge. The visitors did not have time to make their numerical advantage count as they themselves were down to ten men on thirty-seven minutes when their number seven was very harshly given a second booking for a foul on St Helens captain Luke Faulkner. My own opinion was that it was not deserved and Faulkner made a meal of the challenge and thus contrived to get the player sent off. The remainder of the half petered out and ended 1-0. The second half was a turgid affair and of very poor quality. Daley Woods missed a couple of good chances for the home side before Glossop deservedly got an equaliser with around fifteen minutes from the penalty spot through David Morris. The best effort of the half came ten minutes from time when a Glossop shot from fully thirty yards was tipped over the by St Helens goalkeeper.

Game over and when then made the twenty minute drive to Ashton Town Football Club for their North West Counties League encounter with Runcorn Town.

Admission: £5

Programme: £1.20 – excellent effort

Attendance: 113 (official)

Match rating: 2*

Links:

Wikipedia (St Helens): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Helens,_Merseyside

Saints New Stadium: http://www.saintsnewstadium.com/main

Wikipedia (New Stadium): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_St_Helens_Stadium

The road to Wembley

TIVIDALE 1-2 OADBY TOWN
Saturday 14th August 2010
FA Cup Extra-Preliminary Round
The Beeches

The second week of the English domestic season and it is FA Cup time already. The draw was made in early July and (despite not watching them very much now days) the fixture I always look out for first is that of Oadby Town’s, and this year they have got drawn at West Midlands (Regional) League side Tividale.

Sam Young (Oadby Town)

Tividale first played in the FA Cup in the 1975/76 season beating Midland League side Heanor Town 6-2 in their opening tie. They ended up getting to the 4th qualifying round before losing 3-2 @ Southern League AP Leamington which is the furthest they have gone in the competition. Oadby meanwhile first entered in the 1999/00 season and won 4-2 @ Southern League side Bilston Town in the preliminary round. Like Tividale their best run came in their opening campaign reaching the 3rd qualifying round before losing 3-0 @ Northern Premier League side Eastwood Town.

The club were founded as the senior branch of Tividale Hall Youth Club FC playing in the Handsworth & District League from 1953 to 1968. Tividale FC competed in the league between 1956 and 1960. Two years without any league football followed before joining the Warwickshire & West Midlands Alliance in 1962. Four years were spent in the Alliance before they joined the West Midlands (Regional) League (WML) in 1966. The 1972/73 season saw them win the division 1 title and promotion to the premier division. Eighteen seasons were spent in the top division before relegation to division 1 in 1991. Just three seasons were spent back in division 1 before a 3rd place finish in 1994 secured promotion to the premier division again and they have remained there to this day. A best finish of 2nd place was achieved in 2001/02, while last season saw them secure 7th place in the twenty-one team division.

Tividale have started their campaign with a win and a defeat. The defeat came last Saturday @ Goodrich when they went down 2-1, but they bounced back with a 3-1 victory at home to Dudley Sports midweek. Oadby meanwhile have suffered two straight defeats, firstly 3-2 at home to Bridgnorth Town last Saturday and 3-0 @ Loughborough University on Tuesday.

Tividale’s ground is called “The Beeches” and is around two miles from junction 2 of the M5. To get there come off the motorway and take the fourth exit onto the A4123 following signs for Dudley. Turn left onto Trafalgar Road, then right onto Birch Crescent and then finally right onto Packwood Road – the ground is at the end of the cul-de-sac.

Michael Osbourne (Oadby Town)

Going into the game despite Oadby playing at one level higher than their hosts I predicted that Tividale would win the game 2-1 or 3-1. Sometimes you are glad to be proven wrong!!!! The early exchanges looked like I was to be correct as ‘Dale scored after only six minutes when Chris Russell got behind the Oadby defence to round keeper Wayne Connolly and finished comfortably. Tividale continued to dominate and could have been further ahead with Connolly pulling off a good save on thirteen minutes when Anthony Cox tried to chip him. The visitors gradually got into the game and played some pretty decent football but it lacked a cutting edge. Their best chance of the half came around the thirty minute mark when a shot was blocked by Tividale keeper James Trevalen. Just six minutes into the second half and Oadby stunned their hosts with the equaliser from Ben Laxton, who latched onto a through ball, held off a challenge and slotted the ball past Trevalen. Tividale nearly caught Oadby napping and went straight up the other end but was scrambled away for a corner. The next twenty minutes Oadby probably had the better of the exchanges and deservedly took the lead on seventy three minutes. Sam Taylor put a low cross into the box to Michael Osbourne who turned and put the ball into the top corner. The final fifteen minutes saw Tividale throw everything at Oadby but the visitors held out for a morale boosting victory. The sides go at it again in three weeks time as they have been paired together in the 1st qualifying round of the FA Vase. Oadby now play fellow Midland Alliance side Malvern Town in the preliminary round following their 3-2 victory at Cradley Town.

Man of the match: Ben Laxton (Oadby Town)

Admission: £5
Programme: £1
Attendance: 40 (official) 53 (head count)
Match rating: 3*

Teams:

Tividale: 1) James Trevalen; 2) Mark Turton; 3) Jason Chilton; 4) Andy Parsons; 5) Derek Cole; 6) Adam Hill; 7) Todd Warner; 8) Rich Taylor; 9) Chris Russell; 10) Anthony Cox; 11) Matt Salmon
Subs: 12) Nick Turton; 14) Brett Clarke; 15) Ben Hughes; 16) Kyle Hill; 17) Kieran Gadd; 18) Luke Stevens; 19) Matt Hearsey

Oadby Town: 1) Wayne Connolly; 2) Adam Smith; 3) Sam Young; 4) Adam Parry; 5) Thomas Hodson; 6) Jamie March; 7) Ben Laxton; 8) Andy Tiday; 9) San Taylor; 10) Michael Osbourne; 11) Andy Gunderlach
Subs: 12) Andy Cayless; 14) Rueben Joseph Walker; 15) Elliot Pacy; 16) Leon Cole: 17) J Tishibangu; 18) Hayden Loach

Additional photos of the game can be found here: FGIF
Links:
Tividale FC: http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/tividalefootballclub/

Green Army

Sleaford Town 1-2 Matlock Town

Tuesday 15th September 2009

FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round Replay

Eslaforde Park

Sleaford is a town of around 15,000 inhabitants in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, some 14 miles north east of Grantham and 17 miles west of Boston. The name of Sleaford comes from the Old English “esla-forde” – meaning ford over a muddy stream. Why the ground is named as such becomes apparent.

Sleaford spent 35 years in the Lincolnshire League before joining the United Counties League in 2004. The club were champions of the Lincolnshire League on two occasions, the first coming in 1981 and the last in their final season in the league. In their second season in the United Counties League their won the division 1 title and finished runners-up the following season and promotion to the premier division. On the cup front Sleaford have won the Lincolnshire Senior ‘B’ Cup on six occasions, the last being in 2006 and the Lincolnshire Junior Cup once in 1969. The club up until 2004 played in the town which did not meet United Counties League grading requirements and spent three seasons at nearby RAF Cranwell. In 2007 they moved into the purpose built Eslaforde Park on the outskirts of town on the Boston Road. The main pitch is fully enclosed with a seated stand on the far side and a small section of covered standing behind the goal on the Boston Road side. One large single storey building houses the changing rooms, clubhouse, catering facilities and toilets. Behind the main pitch are a series of pitches that are home to the clubs junior teams.

The journey to Sleaford is around 50 miles each way and takes around 90 minutes from Leicester going through Melton Mowbray and Grantham. I got a list from a fellow grounhopper and parked my car at my workplace on the edge of Leicester, close to junction 21 of the M1 at 5pm and arrived back at 11.

Admission for tonight’s game was £4 with a further £1 for a programme and the club were rewarded with an attendance of over 400 for their biggest game in their history. The first game at Matlock, who currently play two divisions higher than Sleaford in the premier division of the Northern Premier League ended in a 1-1 draw, with Sleaford unlucky not to come away with the victory when, with four minutes remaining Tom Siddons lobbed goalkeeper Adam Sollitt only for the ball to rebound off the crossbar.

The first half was an even affair with Sleaford creating the early chances through a succession of corners, from which one chance was cleared off the line. Matlock got a foothold in the game and opened the scoring on 23 minutes when James Lukic was unmarked in the area and headed past keeper Andrew Scott. Sleaford’s equaliser came twelve minutes later against the run of play when Adam Sollitt fumbled the ball in the area from which Miles Hunter scored with a simple side footer into an empty net. Two minutes later and Sleaford were close to taking the lead when Ryan Hunter headed against the bar from a corner. Matlock scored the decisive second goal from the penalty spot on 55 minutes which was dispatched by Ross Hannah. This seemed to deflate the home side and they never really threatened the Matlock goal and in the end the visitors were deserved winners. A home time against Southern League Bury Town is up next for Matlock, while Sleaford will have to concentrate on the league and FA Vase.

This was a club that had been on my hit list for several seasons now and one in a league that I am close to completing. Four clubs and three grounds is all that I need to visit in the United Counties League – Boston Town, Eynesbury Rovers, Olney Town and Rushden & Higham United.

Game 509

TEVERSAL 2-2 COVENTRY SPHINX

Caernarvon Street, Teversal

F.A. Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Saturday 18th August 2007

One word that sums up the day - rain! I'm sure the seasons have got mixed up because this is definately not weather for August - more like November.

Teversal's ground is situated in the Teversal Grange site in the village west of Mansfield, and is a tidy compact affair. You enter the ground behind one of the goals with the majority of the cover to left hand side in the form of both a seated stand and standing area. There are also two small bus shelter type structures behind the far goal. The club house is small and contains a bar (which was showing Sky) and a kitchen area which served hot food and drinks which is on the right hand side. A portakabin houses the board room and is located next to the club house.

It cost £4 to get in with £1 for a programme (though they were sold out when I got there - a club official offered to get one re-printed for me and forward it in the post) and badges were on sale at the game for £2.50.

The game itself was an even match throughout with the visitors causing problems early on for the home side. Teversal gradually got more and more into the game and took the lead through an Andy Woodcock header on 32 minutes. Few clear cut chances were create by either side with defences dominating.
Half Time: 1-0
The second half started with Teversal having the better of the proceedings and increased their lead further on 57 minute when Dean Short scored - how I don't know as I was ordering a burger at the time. Coventry hit back inside two minutes when Craig Martin scored from a penalty kick - I missed the offence happening as I was waiting for the afore mentioned burger! This goal seemed to galvanise the visitors and they found another gear and equalised on 74 minutes through Wayne Pulford. A couple of good saves from the home keeper followed and the home woodwork was also struck but further goals never materialised.
Final Score: 2-2 (Attendance: 104 - from Midland Alliance website)