local re-completion

Saturday 21st March 2015

OAKHAM UNITED 2-3 THORNEY

Peterborough & District League Premier Divisin

Rutland County College, Main Road, Barleythorpe, Rutland

Last season I managed for the first time to visit the last remaining grounds down to level 12 (step 8) in Leicestershire & Rutland. From then on one of my modest aims regarding my football watching is to keep on top of this. At the start of the 2014/15 season three new completely new venues began being in use - two in Leicester and the one visited today. The other two in question were GNG's new ground on Braunstone Lane East in Leicester, The Riverside Football Ground, and the other the home of Thurnby Nirvana's youth and reserve teams, Hamilton Park on the north east side of the city. The first was visited before Christmas and the latter in early February.

I wasn't originally planning to go to a game this weekend as I was scheduled in to work both the Friday and Saturday nights, but having booked the last few days holiday up I took the Saturday as an unpaid day off, but this was due to having a function in the evening and not the football!!!

After having a few hours sleep after work Saturday morning I left my home just after midday and firstly headed to Oadby Town FC to pick up my travelling companion Kev Zupp. The traffic was very light heading east and we arrived at the ground around half an hour before the scheduled 2pm kick-off. The ground is very easy to find with it being signposted off the main road through the small village of Barleythorpe. The village is located no more than a mile north of Oakham station. 

The ground which is located within the grounds of Rutland County College is currently a work in progress. Floodlights, wooden dugouts and a small wooden stand are all in place, while some hard standing and perimeter railing are partially done. The club have also been awarded a grant to erect fencing and enclose the ground in properly. This will allow them to charge an admission should they are successful in getting promotion to the United Counties League. 

Oakham United are a club that I have seen play at two previous venues. Firstly the Vale of Catmose College in Oakham itself, and the second when the hired the 3G pitch at Uppingham Community College last February due to their own pitch being unplayable. This season saw them move into their new facility in the neighbouring village of Barleythorpe which is located a mile north west of the town. On the field of play Oakham sit top of the Peterborough & District League Premier Division amassing fifty-eight points from their twenty five games played so far. They currently are a point ahead of their nearest challengers, Coates Athletic but have played two games less. Opponents Thorney were promoted to the Premier Division in the Summer and at present find themselves in mid-table.

The game was entertaining for the neutral and saw the visitors put a dent in Oakham's promotion charge. After a cagey start from both teams Thorney took the lead, but going into the final stages of the first half Oakham had deservedly equalised. Between the two goals the referee missed an off the ball incident which should have resulted in the Oakham #2 being shown a red card. With a few minutes remaining of the half the Oakham #5 got in front of a Thorney player in the penalty area and shielded the ball back to his keeper. The referee then awarded a penalty kick to the visitors and showed a red card to the Oakham player. This was in my opinion very harsh, and despite his frustrations the player was politely asking why but the referee refused to answer. Anyhow the penalty kick was converted and the visitors went in front at the half time interval 2-1 up.

The second half saw Oakham deservedly equalise and despite a man disadvantage looked likely winners for a good part. It was the visitors who ended up taking the three points as they hit Oakham on the counter attack late on in the game.

Overall Oakham are a welcoming club and it we (myself and Kev) had a chat with their secretary and chairman before the game. Also at the game were a couple of ground hoppers from Crewe and one of them like myself posts on the Non-League Matter forum under the tag of rivington. 

Admission: none

Programme: none

Attendance: 29 (h/c)

Social Media / websites:

Peterborough & District League - twitter - FA Full Time site

Oakham United - twitter

Thorney - twitter

Ground / game stats:

40th new ground / venue visited this season

48th game of football this season

162nd ground / venue visited in Leicestershire & Rutland

917th game of football watched

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

football in a cage

OAKHAM UNITED 0-3 NETHERTON UNITED

Saturday 1st February 2014

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

Uppingham Community College, London Road, Uppingham, Rutland

For a second consecutive Saturday my football game of choice is in the Peterborough & District League (PDL). I had no plans for watching football today, but for some reason I checked the fixtures during the middle of the week, and noticed a change of venue for this fixture. Oakham United currently play their home games at the Vale of Catmose College in Oakham itself, but with all the wet weather they have hired out the 3G pitch at Uppingham Community College. I knew of the establishment but was not aware they had installed an artificial playing surface in the grounds, and as far as I am aware this venue has not been used for any open-age football before, and unless it is hired out by any of the local non-league clubs, will probably be never used again. With this in mind it would be foolish of me to miss this opportunity of "ticking" this venue to watch a game of football, especially as one of my aims is to watch football at two hundred different venues in Leicestershire & Rutland.

Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, located approximately half way between Leicester and Peterborough and six miles south of the county town of Oakham. The journey from my home on the other side of Leicester took around an hour, though about half of that was trying to find a way across the city due to several routes being gridlocked. Once I crossed to the other side of the city centre, traffic was light and I arrived in Uppingham twenty minutes before kick off. The community college is located on the southern edge of the town, and as I later found out is also home to Stoneygate RFC who have moved here from Covert Lane in Scraptoft. 

On paper this game had away win written all over it with Oakham in the lower reaches of the Premier Division table, while their opponents from Peterborough sit top of the pile and are in a battle with King's Lynn Town Reserves for the league title. I have seen both these teams before at their respective home grounds - Netherton in May 2012 when they beat Uppingham Town and Oakham in February last year. In snowy conditions they beat Leverington Sports. 

Arriving at the college there was noticeable factor that would make the game interesting as it were, and that was the wind which was heading in an easterly direction towards the far goal. The first two goal kicks from the Netherton keeper didn't reach the half way line and flew outside of the cage. Despite playing into the wind Oakham didn't take advantage and it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the dying seconds of the half. The opening few seconds of the second half made the trip worthwhile as those who were there witnessed probably their goal of the season. At the kick off the ball was touched to the visitors #4 who hit a superb strike into the wind that dipped over the Oakham keeper and into the net. Having watched over 800 games of football over the years this was the first time that I have seen that happen. From then I expected Netherton to push on and add a few more goals, but the game became sterile and it wasn't until the latter stages that they added a third. 

The game attracted a decent attendance of around 40 with a few number of them being hoppers. Also in attendance were SRSN (Stamford & Rutland Sports Network).   

websites / social media:

Oakham United - official website - twitter
Netherton United - twitter
Peterborough & District League - FA Full Time site - twitter

29 photos can be viewed in the slideshow online below:

Cleansing the Soul

EYE SPORTS 4-0 OAKHAM UNITED
Saturday 14th January 2012
Peterborough & District League Premier Division
Lindisfarne Road, PE6 7XH

After last weeks trip to the land of Satan that is a "premier league" football ground, I need to cleanse my soul as it were and get back to watching the grass roots form of the game. The main stipulation for us today was that we wanted a 2pm kick-off and with dad living in the eastern suburbs of Leicester, we headed across eastwards for a very rare venture into the Peterborough & District League (PDL). I had only previously seen one game in the PDL and that was nearly two years ago when I saw Uppingham Town record a 2-0 victory over Leverington Sports.

With an overnight frost covering much of England doubt set in as to whether any particular game would still go ahead. Armed with about a dozen fixtures and club secretaries I set off about 11am. First port of call was to pick my dad and then make the one hour drive along the A47 to Eye. We pulled into a petrol station on the edge of the village and made several calls, all of which went unanswered - very helpful indeed!!! With the sun being high in the sky and the temperature about four or five degrees above freezing we were reasonably confident that the game would go ahead, added to this was that Eye's ground was south facing which allowed enough time for the sun to thaw out the frost. After a quick visit to the ground which confirmed that the game was going ahead we made our way to the Blue Boar, one of the two pubs in the village for some lunch.We both had the same - a ham, egg and chip lunch washed down with a pint of Elgood's Feelgood Festive which is a 3.7% seasonal ale.

The footprint of the PDL covers an area that goes from Rutland in the west to Wisbech in the each, with Spalding at its northerly perimeter and Alconbury to the south. It was founded in 1902 and Fletton United were the first champions. Currently there are six division and they all contain a mixture of 1st, reserve and 'a' teams.

Eye is a large village in the unitary authority area of Peterborough and has a population in the region of 4,000 inhabitants. Until 1963 Eye was part of Northamptonshire  as the county diocese is focused upon Peterborough Cathedral. However Peterborough had its own county council since 1888 and in 1965 was merged with neighbouring Huntingdonshire. Under the Local Government Act 1972 Eye along with Peterborough and Huntingdonshire became part of Cambridgeshire.

I believe the club were founded in 2002 and joined the Peterborough & District League the same year. A full playing record is as follows:

SEASON	COMPETITION	PL	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	POS
2002/03	PETER-5	26	18	3	5	100	40	57	2ND
2003/04	PETER-4	24	17	2	5	83	32	53	3RD
2004/05	PETER-3	26	15	3	8	66	39	48	5TH
2005/06	PETER-2	26	3	0	23	30	124	9	14TH
2006/07	PETER-2	26	4	6	16	44	86	18	12TH
2007/08	PETER-2	24	20	1	3	87	32	61	2ND
2008/09	PETER-1	22	17	4	1	69	20	55	2ND
2009/10	PETER-1	22	16	4	2	83	28	52	1ST
2010/11	PETER-P	30	16	4	10	59	44	52	6TH

This season Eye currently sit in fifth place in the Premier Division, recording eight wins from their fourteen games played. They are currently on a five match unbeaten run recording a 6-2 victory against Uppingham Town a week ago. The last time they tasted defeat was in November when title favourites Pinchbeck United left Lindisfarne Road with a 1-0 victory. The reverse fixture against today's opponents was on the 26th November that saw Eye record a 2-0 victory.

Oakham United were only formed in the summer of 2011 when two local clubs Rutland Rangers (Peterborough League) and Oakham Imperial (Leicester & District League) merged. Oakham themselves come into this game on a decent run of form recording three successive victories.

The ground on Lindisfarne Road is on the southern edge of the village and the entrance is between two houses. It opens up and there is a small car park to the right and a breeze block building to the left which houses the changing rooms and club room. The pitch is railed off along the two sides and there are dug outs on the far side. 

My thoughts before the game were that this could be an entertaining match between two in-form sides and this proved to be the case. Don't let the score at the top of the report mislead you as this was not was one sided as it suggests. It was an end to end game in which the visitors from Rutland more than matched their hosts at times. To put it another way - Eye took their chances and Oakham did not. The opening goal came with five minutes before the half time interval as Ryan Francis created some space for himself inside the Oakham penalty area and slotted the ball across the keeper into the far corner of the goal. Two goals in the space of five minutes around the hour mark put the outcome of the game to bed. The second goal of the afternoon came on fifty-eight minutes when Steve Shore finished with aplomb following excellent work down the left. The third and killer goal of the game came just five minutes later when Francis got his second of the afternoon. The ball fell kindly to him inside the Oakham penalty area and his first time shot found the back of the net. With around fifteen minutes remaining Francis completed his hat-trick in some style. Oakham were caught on the counter attack and from around thirty yards out Francis let fly with a shot that beat the Oakham keeper all ends up. 

An enjoyable but chilly afternoon with some good football being played. When I will be back for another game in the PDL is another matter but it won't be due to the football on offer.  

Admission: None

Programme: None

Attendance: mid 20's

Entertainment rating: 7 out of 10

websites / sources:

Eye - wikipedia page

Eye village website

Peterborough & District League - official website

Around fifty photos took of the ground and game can viewed in the slideshow below: