Recent games...

With no reports from the three games since my decision to call All Roads Lead Somewhere a day at the end of the season, below are slideshows of the photos I took at them:

1) Saturday 14th April 2012
Castor & Ailsworth 3-2 Sutton Bridge United
Peterborough & District League Division 2



2) Sunday 15th April 2012
Syston Midland Railway 4-0 Groby Memorial
Leicester Sunday League Premier Cup Semi-Final (@ Ratby Sports FC)




3) Saturday 21st April 2012
Buckminster United 1-0 Greyhounders
Grantham & District League Senior Cup Semi-Final

...and finally

A difficult decision has been made that come then end of this season when All Roads Lead Somewhere will reach its 5th birthday, there will be no more posts.  Everything has its life cycle and I feel that the time is right for this blog to end. 


I would like to thank all the people that have visited the site, whether it be just the once or regularly over the past five years. I do know the names of some of the readers (past and present), and have also had the pleasure of meeting some of them, but out of respect will not name names. I also never envisaged that this site would have had as many visitors from as many different counties as it has. It completely took me by surprise and to be honest  when I first set up a visitor log found it a bit overwhelming.


I will continue to watch football, take my camera with me, and continue to update the @allroads1 twitter feed with links to the flickr album.


Thanks again


Rob Campion
aka The Rambler.
allroadsleadsomewhere@googlemail.com

Treble Paston

LUTTERWORTH TOWN 4-0 SHEPSHED DYNAMO RESERVES
Saturday 7th April 2012
Leicestershire Senior League Division 1
Coventry Road Recreation Ground

With the season coming to a close, and despite Oadby Town having a top of the table clash with Borrowash Victoria I thought it bout time I paid a visit to Lutterworth Towns' home for this season, the Coventry Road Recreation Ground. You might be wondering why I am in a rush to visit what in effect is a public park? Well Town were only going to play at this venue this season, and from what I have been told will be returning to their original home on Dunley Way next season. This also following a recent visit to Sileby Saints means I will have seen football at all the venues in the lower division of the Leicestershire Senior League. That means that come next season I will still have at least one venue to pay a visit to. The only definite is Aylestone Park FC's Linwood Playing Fields ground on Saffron Lane in Leicester. I have heard that Ashby Ivanhoe are moving to a new ground ready for the start of next season, and then it is a case of waiting to see who gets promoted from the two feeder leagues: the North Leicestershire League and the Leicester & District League.

Market Street

Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish within the Harborough District of Leicestershire. It has a population around the 8,500 mark. It lies some 15 miles south of Leicester, 7 miles north of Rugby and 13 miles west of Market Harborough. The town does have excellent access to the road network with it being adjacent to junction 20 of the M1. The A5, M6 and A14 are also only a few miles away as well. The nearest railway station to Lutterworth is Rugby. 

The name Lutterworth possibly comes from the Old Norse  "Lutter's Vordig", meaning Luthers Farm. The town is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In 1214 the town was granted its Market Charter by King John, and it still holds a market today.

The town is also associated with Frank Whittle who invented the jet engine. He developed some of the worlds first jet engines at the British Thomson-Houston works in Lutterworth and Rugby during the late 1930's and 1940's. The engine for the UK's first jet aeroplane, the Gloster E.28/39 was produced in Lutterworth. A statue of the plane stands in the middle of a roundabout just south of the town centre as a memorial.

Sir Frank Whittle

The Whittle Memorial, Lutterworth

The football club have been in existence for over 100 years and have been members of the Leicestershire Senior League since 1955. Only two clubs, Sileby Town and Earl Shilton Albion have members for longer and they both joined the LSL in 1953. Town have had very few honours in the LSL having won the division 2 title once in 1981 and ten years later became league champions for the one and only time. Last season they finished bottom of the division one table. This season they have again struggled, and at the time of writing with three games remaining sit in 14th place in the league table. Only Asfordby Amateurs are below them. Town's last game was two weeks ago when they recorded a 2-1 home victory against the afore mentioned Amateurs. Opponents Shepshed Dynamo Reserves also find themselves at the wrong end of the table and are currently just one point and one place above their hosts this afternoon, though they have played two games less.

Martin Paston scoring the opening goal

The Coventry Road Recreation Ground is a basic affair as Town rope off the pitch and set up portable dugouts. After today's game they have two home games left before their affore mentioned apparent move back to Dunley Way.

To be fair to both teams my expectations for this game were low, but in the end it was an enjoyable game of football that I witnessed. Two goals in each half gave the hosts a comfortable victory, but despite having no substitutes Shepshed made a game of it, especially in the second half. 

The game was only six minutes old when following a mistake from the visiting keeper Martin Paston slid the ball home for opening goal. Twenty minutes later and it became 2-0. A mistake in the Shepshed defence saw Paston unmarked some twenty yards out from goal and he chipped the ball over the keeper. With no further goals the half ended 2-0. Following the restart Shepshed took the game to Lutterworth and had the majority of the possession and territory. With around 3/4 of the game gone and Town had a three goal cushion. Danny Toone took advantage of a weak punch from the keeper and his shot on the turn found the far corner of the goal. The fourth and final goal of the afternoon came with around fifteen minutes remaining and was a well worked effort. Town hit Shepshed on the counter attack, and after a superb cross field diagonal ball, Paston was found unmarked in the penalty area and finished with a first time effort to complete his hat-trick.

Admission: none

Programme: none 

Attendance: 10

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

Oundle Town

OUNDLE TOWN 1-3 CROWLAND TOWN

Saturday 31st March 2012

Peterborough & District League Premier Division

Station Road, Oundle, PE8 4BZ

Today was a case of using up a get out of jail free card as Oundle got us (Dave and myself) out the proverbial shitter. It had been planned to watch Corby Khalsa v Welford Victoria in the Northants Combination (NC) Premier Division, which we thought was being played at Corby Rugby Club. Well following a pre-match drink in the nearby JD Weatherspoon outlet, The Samuel Lloyd we arrived at Corby Rugby Club to find no sign of Khalsa or Welford. When I enquired about this I was told that Khalsa had moved to CTC. I was given directions but with it already 2.30pm decided to check the Peterborough League website on my phone and as luck would have it Oundle were at home with a 3pm kick-off. I suppose we could have stayed where we were and watched Corby United v Ferrers FC in the NC division 4 but it did not appeal in the slightest.

Following the ten mile drive eastwards we arrived at their ground on Station Road with around ten minutes to kick-off. There is a small car park on site with additional parking on the grass behind the near goal and a social club. The pitch was railed off on three sides with brick dugouts on the right hand side. It is a pleasant setting though it would have been nice to escape the biting wind.

Oundle itself is a small town located in north-east Northamptonshire and sits on the River Nene. The population is around the 5,500 mark. When driving through the town centre it reminded me of the quaint towns you see in the Cotswolds.  

The football club were formed in 1883 and since 1910 have competed in the Peterborough & District League. Their debut season saw them finish in 4th place in divison 1. The first divisional title came in the 1954/55 season when the division 3 south was won following the runners-up position a year earlier. The PDL league title has been won just once and that came fourteen years ago in the 1997/98 season. The last five years have seen Oundle struggle and have finished in the lower half of the league table. This season at the start of play they find themselves in 11th place with 28 points from 23 league games. Opponents Crowland Town are three places and eight points worse off, but have played two games less.

The game was one in which both teams predominately cancelled each other out, certainly during the first half. The opening goal came for Crowland on 22 minutes with a volley from Simon Ingram, who turned in a cross from the right. After escaping from the wind at half time in the social club Crowland doubled their lead on 52 minutes. A through ball was slid past the oncoming keeper by Sean Treagus. Crowland took a grip of the game and it was no surprise when they got a third. It came on 69 minutes from Simon Ingram but to be honest I could not tell you anything about it as my attention was caught my a bought of handbags at the other end. Oundle then decided to get their arse in gear and show a bit of pride and deservedly got one back with fifteen minutes remaining. Darren Paling side-footed a volley home from eight yards or so out. Both teams then created a few half chances each in the final throws of the game and Crowland comfortably saw out the game.

Not the best game and not the worst either. If anyone knows where Corby Khalsa now call their home then please let me know. Also if anyone from the Northants Combination is reading this please update the details on the official website and mitoo.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 14 (h/c)

A slideshow of 30 photos taken can be viewed below:

Fosse City

FOSSE CITY 3-1 WEBBYS WANDERERS
Sunday 25th March 2012
Alliance Football League Division 2
Knighton Park [pitch 1], Leicester, LE18 1EF

With this being the last Sunday shift for the wife today for a while, and with Leicester, like a lot of the country bathed in glorious sunshine I decided to taken in another Sunday League game. I did have one stipulation in that it must be in or close to Wigston due to family reasons. With there not being a great deal that stood out in this part of Leicester in either the Alliance Football League or Leicester Sunday League my choice was fairly easy. The pitches on Knighton Park is as close as you get get to the city and county boundary, located just inside the City of Leicester limits. The pitches are bordered to the west by the Welford Road Recreation Ground and houses on Brighton Avenue to the south. The boundary between Knighton Park and the Welford Road pitches is not that obvious, and looking at maps is just a pathway that seperates them. 

Fosse City were formed in 2004 and have two honours to their name which both came in the 2009/10 season. They achieved the double of the division 4 title and the Stokes Cup.

This season Fosse sit in third place with five games to play, though in reality the best they can hope for is the runners-up position. Their opponents who play their games on Horsewell Lane in Wigston sit one place and three points behind Fosse but have played three games more. Below is the division 2 table at the start of play:

POS		PLYD	WON	DRW	LOST	FOR	AGA	PTS
1	Leicester Foxes Old Boys	13	12	0	1	63	23	36
2	Guthlaxton Old Boys	13	8	4	1	35	18	28
3	Fosse City	11	7	1	3	27	22	22
4	Webbys Wanderers	14	4	7	3	27	19	19
5	KS Leicester Polska	14	5	4	5	31	31	19
6	Fleckney Athletic Sunday	16	4	4	8	39	42	16
7	FC Tumar (-1)	13	3	4	6	28	40	12
8	Wigston United	15	3	3	9	23	35	12
9	Trinderbox	15	1	3	11	20	63	6

The game was due to be played on pitch 2 of the Welford Road setup but due to a double booking this game was moved to pitch 1 on Knighton Park.  

A map showing the location of the Welford Road and Knighton Park pitches, which is taken from the Leicester Sunday League website can be viewed by clicking on the link:

http://tlsfl.com/downloads/WelfordRoad.pdf

The game was fairly entertaining with both teams trying to play football. Former Oadby Town midfielder Danny Poultney is the main player for the visitors but it was the home side who had the better of things, and should have been a couple of goals up at half time. The second half was Webbys come out with an outfield substitute taking over in goal due to the recurrence of an injury to their main goalkeeper. Fosse took advantage of this and scored two goals in the space of a couple of minutes, both of which came through Nathan Williams. The first saw the keeper parry a tame shot, and following a cut back Williams slid the ball home. The second saw him hit a low shot from twenty yards that gave the Webbys keeper little chance. The two goal cushion was halved inside three minutes when Danny Hull clipped the ball over the oncoming Fosse keeper. Fosse completed the scoring towards the end of the game when their #15 rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net. This was after the Fosse keeper pulled off the save of the match when he just got a hand to a 30 yarder that was heading just inside the top left hand corner. 

Overall another enjoyable Sunday League game in perfect weather conditions. 

A slideshow of 60 photos taken at the game can be viewed below:

Oadby v Gedling MW

OADBY TOWN 1-2 GEDLING MINERS WELFARE
Saturday 24th March 2012
East Midlands Counties League
Greene King Park


No report today but photos of the game can be viewed below:

Self promoting...

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Belper United v Newark Town match in the Central Midlands League, and during the week after the game Newark's press officer and programme editor Richard Lane got in touch asking if he could use a couple of photos in a forthcoming issue of their programme. I had no problem with this and Richard kindly sent me a copy. Below is a scan of the cover and the page with the two photos used.