Houghton into the semi-finals

HOUGHTON RANGERS 4-0 MEDBOURNE

Saturday 12th January 2013

Leicestershire Intermediate Cup Quarter Final

Weir Lane, Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire

After last weekend watching two games, which firstly saw Oadby Town put five past AFC Rushden & Diamonds in the United Counties League and Oscars overcome FC Hoskins 4-2 in the Alliance Football League Bill Walton Cup, it is county cup action for me today. Of the eight teams left in the Leicestershire Intermediate Cup Houghton Rangers' ground on Weir Lane was the only one that I had not previously visited, and as luck would have it they got drawn at home to Medbourne of the Northants Combination.

I don't know when the original Houghton Rangers Football Club was formed, but I do know that they joined the Leicestershire Senior League (LSL) Division 2 in 1976 and spent twenty one years in the league before finishing bottom in 1997, with all but two years (1991-93) being spent in the lower division. Relegation to the Leicester & District League (L&D) occurred in at the end of the 1996/97 season, but the club only last one season before folding. The current club bearing the same name was formed in 2005 and they have spent all their existence in the L&D, with their playing record as follows...

2005/06	Div 2	24	9	7	8	49	43	34	7TH
2006/07	Div 2	22	13	5	4	68	35	44	3RD
2007/08	Div 1	20	13	3	4	62	28	42	2ND
2008/09	Prem	26	18	4	4	82	30	58	2ND
2009/10	Prem	24	10	6	8	41	33	36	5TH
2010/11	Prem	20	13	3	4	49	26	42	3RD
2011/12	Prem	22	15	3	4	74	28	48	3RD

This season Houghton have made an impressive start to the league campaign with only one defeat in nine matches, while in the Intermediate Cup they have progressed through three rounds to get to the quarter finals:

Round 1: Huncote (H) won 3-1

Round 2: Anstey Town (H) won 2-0

Round 3: Greenhill YC (A) won 3-1

Opponents Medbourne, as previously stated ply their trade in the Northants Combination and currently sit in mid-table of division 1. With the Leicestershire FA not publishing the results of the third round I have been unable to find out who they played, but what I do know is that they had a bye in round 1 and a walkover in round 2 following the withdrawal of Butler Court.

Houghton on the Hill is a commuter village six miles east of Leicester and has a population of around 1,500 inhabitants. The village was the birthplace of the famed landscape artist John Glover who was born in 1767 and died in 1849 in Launceston, Tasmania.

In December 2007 the Houghton made the national headlines when it was dubbed "the village of the scammed" when a large number of fraudulent credit card charges in the Far East were linked to the JET filling station. In August 2008 Sri Lankan born Abdul Samad Mohamed Raik was jailed for two years and eight months, after he admitted to the charge of obtaining property by deception. A total of £175,000 was stolen in the scam which affected almost every house in the village.

Weir Lane is located on the eastern edge of the village and is off Main Street opposite the Co-op, with the football pitches and changing rooms / club room at the end of Weir Lane itself. The main pitch is railed off on the majority of the four sides, though there are no dugouts but some hard standing in front of the club room.

I took my camera with me but was not hopeful I would get any decent photos I could put online, this was due to my camera equipment and the poor light. I did look up at the sky at times wishing that the sun would break through the clouds but alas this was not granted!!!! 

I recognised the referee Imran Khan who I had seen officiate a game on Braunstone Park at the back end of last year and had a chat with him before the game. Going onto the game itself and it wasn't bad considering the pitch was very heavy - hardly surprising really!!! Medbourne got out of the blocks quicker and put pressure on the Houghton back line but without testing keeper Jimmy Greasley. As the half worn on the home side got into the game more and more with brothers Harry and Andy Almond causing problems. With the first half coming to a close Andy Almond found space in the penalty area and beat confidently beat the Medbourne keeper to give the lower ranked side the lead. Six minutes into the second half and Almond brother Andy had made 2-0. The game then had a scrappy period from the Houghton point of view with Medbourne looking to get back into the game, but were hit on the counter attack and Barber made it 3-0 on 73 minutes. With just a couple of minutes remaining and Barber turned in a low cross from the right to make it 4-0 and Houghton join three Leicestershire Senior League sides (Allexton & New Parks, Friar Lane & Epworth and Melton Mowbray) in the semi-finals.

In the few days before the game I had been communicating with Houghton via their twitter feed (@HoughtonRangers) and a warm welcome was had, even giving me a free coffee and half time.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: around 30 

30 photos of the ground and game can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Loughborough double - part 2

GENESIS 1-1 HOUGHTON RANGERS

(after extra time; Genesis won 9-8 on penalty kicks)
Saturday 29th October 2011
Leicestershire Intermediate Cup 2^nd Round

Lodge Farm, Oakley Drive, Loughborough

The drive from the University to Oakley Drive is less than a mile but with having some time to kill between the games I went and had some lunch before arriving at the venue about ten minutes before kick off. The venue is basic with three pitches and a wooden changing room block on site. Genesis use the back pitch with Loughborough United the front one. The third one which could be described as the "top" pitch with it being set above the other was not in use. Also at home today was Loughborough United Reserves Saturday Vase 2nd round match with Knighton EFC. There is nothing to distinguish each pitch from one another as none of them had dugouts or were railed or roped off. 

Despite watching a poor game in the last round of this competition, this did not deter me in any shape or form to stop me watching a game in the next round. The draw was finally released to the public just three weeks before the game itself – good planning and organisation from the County FA!!!! There are 16 ties in the second round with Genesis thrashing fellow North Leicestershire League side Markfield 8-2 in the 1^st round while District Leaguers Houghton received a bye. I did state in the report on the 1^st round tie between Asfordby and Glenfield that the competition was competed for by teams in only three divisions. Well I was almost right as there are two teams from other leagues – Ketton who play in division 1 of the Peterborough & District League and Witherley United who play in division 2 of the Coventry Alliance.

Houghton keeper Jimmy Greasley saving in the shoot out.

One thing that attracted me to this tie was that both sides are top of their respective leagues and are also unbeaten. Genesis have recorded seven wins from their eight league outings and last week beat Birstall Old Boys 5-1 @ Lodge Farm. Houghton meanwhile have five wins from their six league games and least week beat Mounsorrel Amateurs 3-2 at the Weir Lane ground.

Who are Genesis FC?

Taken from their official website and written by Jez Cromie:

“Genesis FC started in a pub in Loughborough by five guys who used to play football together in the Christian Union team at Uni. The five of us Si Brown, Adrian Holland, Stu Arnold, Steve Straker and myself Jez Crombie had stayed around in Loughborough to live and work. We were reminiscing at some of our glory days when someone suggested the idea of starting our own club. After much amusement the idea gained momentum and became a serious possibility. So in May 2002 we decided to go for it. We had a squad of five but that wasn’t going to stop us. Over the coming months many different mates joined us and we had a squad of 15 for our opening game in the North Leicestershire League Division 2.

The name Genesis was chosen as Si Brown was a huge Phil Collins fan, not really. We knew we wanted to set up a club that was a bit different to your average club. Some  of the guys were Christians and we wanted the club to reflect some of the Christian values in the way it was run and the way we played our football. So Genesis was chosen as it reflected our Christian influence and also because in the bible Genesis is known as the book of the Beginnings, and it was the beginning of Genesis F.C.”

Their playing since joining the NLL is as follows:

SEASON	COMPETITION	PL	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	POS
2002/03	N LEIC-2	18	10	2	6	64	38	32	4TH
2003/04	N LEIC-2	20	12	5	3	56	35	41	2ND
2004/05	N LEIC-1	18	10	2	6	59	37	32	3RD
2005/06	N LEIC-1	20	15	2	3	63	27	47	1ST
2006/07	N LEIC-P	22	5	3	14	39	61	18	10TH
2007/08	N LEIC-P	22	8	6	8	58	55	30	6TH
2008/09	N LEIC-P	18	6	4	8	43	44	22	7TH
2009/10	N LEIC-P	26	18	2	6	73	48	56	4TH
2010/11	N LEIC-P	26	16	4	6	80	41	52	2ND

On arriving at the venue the weather turned and the glorious sunshine from the morning game had turned into rain - thankfully it did abate during the game and also thankfully I managed to shelter from the rain under some trees. This was a game that could have gone either way - two inform teams producing an open, entertaining game or two inform teams cancelling each other out. Unfortunately it was the latter of the two that I witnessed. The first half was especially turgid with neither side seemingly up for it. Or it could have been the case that both sides were affraid to lose. The hosts only effort were a couple from long range that did not trouble Jimmy Greasley in the Houghton goal. 

The second half started as the first ended though as it wore on the game became more open. Genesis had three good chances midway through the second period in the space of five minutes, but two went wide and the other saved by Greasley. Houghton then stepped up a gear themselves but could not break the deadlock and the game went into extra time. Not something I was looking forward to following the previous ninety minutes!!! 

The first period of extra time was the most entertaining of the game. Genesis took the lead midway through it when their #6 was found unmarked in the penalty area and he side footed it past Greasley. The lead lasted just two minutes as Andy Almond headed home the equaliser following an excellent cross from the left. Almond should have give Houghton the lead on 114 minutes but somehow put the ball over from a couple of yards out when it was easier to score. The final fifteen minutes saw neither keeper tested and it invariably the game would be decided by kicks from the penalty spot. Both sides missed two from their first five kicks and on it went until it got round to the keepers having to take one. As always in penalty shoot outs there is a hero and a fall guy. Unfortunately for Houghton Greasley had his kick saved by the Genesis keeper and the game ended some two and three quarter hours after it had started!

Penalty shoot out sequence:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
GEN	O	O	X	X	O	O	O	O	O	O	O
HOU	O	X	X	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	X

Admission / programme: none
Attendance: 9
Match rating: 2 out of 10

Websites / sources:

Official Genesis FC

North Leicestershire League


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