Corries in the box at Coronation Park: Weekend Matchgoing

[ingoldale]

Grange Albion v Brecon Corries 2.30pm kick off.

The beginning of Albion's epic April as, from Saturday, they have 11 games between then and 30th April.

[Snake Plissken]

To the Turf for the visit of Wolves. Desperately hoping that the visitors have both eyes on the FA Cup. Lose this one and we're pretty much fucked.

[Uros Predic]

We've got the 99th issue of popular STAND fanzine out, so that means a trip north for Doncaster Rovers vs Walsall to sell it.
Hoping the same Rovers side that waltzed through Bristol Rovers in midweek turns up, rather than the one that looked flat at Wimbledon.

[Ray de Galles]

My Mum and Dad are up for the weekend for the latter's 79th birthday on Saturday so I'm taking them both to London Welsh v Cheshunt that afternoon.

Welsh are already promoted having romped away with London North West 3 this season (including a 0-113 win away to bottom side Verulamians last week that was stopped over ten minutes early to try and preserve the hosts' dignity a little, apparently) and need a point from this game to be confirmed as champions.

We're doing the supporters lunch prior where the club's male voice choir will be performing. Given that my parents are coming up from Wales itself you may think it's a bit 'selling sand to Arabs' but then you don't know my parents.

[nmrfox]

At the KP marvelling at the size of Eddie Howe's head to face ratio (thanks BDG, thats an image that will never leave me) as Leicester and Bournemouth indulge in a meaningless mid-table end-of-season confrontation.

[RobW]

Up to Sincil Bank for the Keith Alexander/Richard Butcher Appreciation match against Macc. Beginning to think i've seen City play Macclesfield the most. As much as i'd like them to stay up, I hope we bag another 3 points at home.

[Southport Zeb]

It's the East of Scotland League groundhop this weekend, so I'm doing that on Friday (Dunipace) and Saturday (Camelon, Inverkeithing, Blackburn and Linlithgow). On Sunday the groundhop goes to Peebles, but as I've been there before I'm going to do Whitehaven v Rochdale in the Challenge Cup.

[Third rate Leszno]

My most local away game of the season, but not one that I usually enjoy as we generally get beaten (and recent form suggests this visit will be no different). However it's been a couple of years since I've had the opportunity, so I'm quite looking forward to a visit to Prenton Park for Tranmere v Carlisle.

[Patrick Thistle]

TNS v Barry Town in the Welsh Cup semi final at Latham Park in Newtown. I was meant to be going with my dad but going with brother in law instead.

[Sash]

Fulham-City
Liverpool-Spurs
Then some podcasting and some broadcasting.

[elguapo4]

Bohemians v St Patrick's Athletic tonight, I should be confident because Pats are having a shit season so far but they've bought a lot of good players that are bound to click at some stage, and I'm worried it could be this week.

[CY_Boaby]

Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory in 4 hours time. Glory's previous home match was back on 16 February and since then it's been 3 away games, a split round & an international break, so a big crowd is expected. Looking forward to seeing Honda strut his stuff for Victory, especially as he's probably off at the end of the season.

Glory head into this round of fixtures 9 points clear at the top with only 5 fixtures remaining. A win over 3rd-placed Victory will certainly knock them out of the running to become minor premiers.

[Third rate Leszno]

Tranmere 3-0 Carlisle

Took the train over to the Wirral for a change, hoping that a couple of pints would take the edge off the pain of the inevitable defeat.

Really impressed with the Supporters Trust marquee bar in the car park, Brimstage - Trappers Hat on draught and some old salvaged turnstiles used as tables along the back. Every club should have something like this.

After a couple of pints in there I met up with a Tranmere supporting former workmate and went in the Legends lounge behind the home Kop for a crack with him, then joined the hordes of extremely drunk Cumbrians at the opposite, Cowshed end and welcomed the teams out. Not quite sure why Pressley had gone with 5 at the back, which meant leading scorer Hallam Hope was benched and we were treated to the unusual sight of Tom Parkes playing wing back. However, it kind of worked for the first 45 minutes, we had a great chance to lead when a shot came back off the underside of the bar and generally looked solid - until stoppage time when Tranmere took the lead with a close range effort after it looked very much like Norwood had handled in the build up.

Second half was all downhill. Hope came on for right back Gary Miller, we lost our shape and Norwood bundled in a second (off his arse I think). Pressley then subbed our only creative player off for a defensive midfielder and the booing began, followed by repeated chants of "We want Pressley out". An unmarked header from a corner made it 3-0, and I fucked off before the end to make an earlier train home.

One win in 9, how the fuck we're only 3 points outside the playoffs I have no idea.

[Paul S]

Concord Rangers 3-0 Weston-super-Mud
Conference South

Dire.

That's the main stand on the left.

[Baptiste]

Carlisle were the better team in the first half for sure. But we scored at just the right time and the way we came out second half was a joy to watch. For a 36 year old Perkins has some engineer.
7 wins in a row is nothing I’ve known in the past 25 years.
Run in is like something Sky would come up with though, so plenty of time for things to go wrong.
Glad you enjoyed the tent, it’s been brilliant, and the mural that’s been put up this week just adds to the feel good factor around Prenton Park right now.

[Snake Plissken]

Due to living away from home during the week, trips to Turf Moor have been at a premium. Since Boxing Day I'm now 3 wins from 3. Clearly what has been missing from Clarets this year has been... me.

Given the situation at the bottom of the table, I'd have taken a terrible performance as long as we got three points, and hated to have played well and drawn or lost. Thankfully, Clarets decided they would turn up for this one. No sooner had I finished saying hello to my fellow season ticket holders than we were celebrating the opener. A cute training ground move past a static visiting defence and Woods shot off the post bounces in off the unfortunate Coady. I thought we really needed a lead to calm the nerves so this was the perfect start.

Both sides settled in for a game of few chances. Wolves formation seemed all wrong to be honest and the field was certainly tilted towards the Clarets left wing with Hendrick not getting much of the ball on the opposite flank. The visitors clearly were looking to use Traore who is bloody lightning quick, but Dyche countered this by telling Charlie Taylor to concentrate on intercepting long balls as the visitors weren't looking to knock it into space to run on to. There were a couple of penalty shouts either way - Barnes was clearly dragged down by the neck at a free kick and then had the ball smashed into him at distance. It definitely hit his arm, but it was right down by his side so I'm not sure what else could be done. Aside from them, a lot of visiting whinging at the ref who seemed to be trying to let the two teams play if they wanted to. Half time, no official shots on goals and we're statistically shithousing our way to a 1-0 lead.

A formation change for Wolves for the second half gave them more possession but everything was still going through Traore. Which was good because a couple of times Wolves had a man over on the other side and never spotted him. I think only one cross hit its target - a weak header for Heaton to save. Traore did spring through and pulled back for Cabellero who from twelve yards rather impressively went for distance over accuracy and made the extra point conversion. He got yanked after that for Jimenez who didn't do much.

Despite the pressure and possession, going into the last twenty it felt that both sides had a goal in them - if Clarets could get it then Wolves would fold the tents. An interception in midfield sprang the ball to McNeill and he ran at Saiss (?), dummied and put the ball in the far corner. A goal of incredible calmness - I'm not seeing him as the finished article by any stretch but I've rarely seen any striker who has finished so coolly from that position in that situation. He looks sometimes laboured and lethargic on the pitch (just his gait means he looks knackered after five minutes) but throughout that entire situation it seemed like he was just on the training pitch. If he was at a top six team the press would be fawning over him.

Summarising thoughts.

Bit rich of the Wolves fans to greet long balls with a "hoof". It's like Mick McCarthy never died.

Charlie Taylor MOM. He was raw as hell earlier in the season but he's matured brilliantly. Stuck to his task and kept Traore quiet. Him and McNeill means the Clarets left hand side is looking in good shape for a good few years to come.

I've written before about my love of quality defending and watching Willy Boly today was an absolute pleasure. He schooled Ashley Barnes physically and that is no mean feat. Best central defensive performance from an opposing defender that I've seen since Virgil Van Dyck was the singlehanded bright spot for Southampton in the Joey Barton game two years ago.

Obviously the elephant in the room was whether Wolves were concentrating on the Cup. Personally it reminded me of the performance West Ham put in at the end of December, as in Cup or no Cup, they just didn't look like they fancied it.

I still can't believe that we got Ashley Westwood out of Villa (reserves?) for five million quid. He's Joey Barton without the baggage. I mean that as a complement.

I hope the four visiting supporters who were trying to goad people into a fight had a lovely trip home contemplating the result.

[elguapo4]

Bohemians 1 Saint Patrick's 0
Typical Dublin derby fare here in front of 3,660, Pats started strongly, closing us down at every chance and for the first 20 minutes bossed the game. However they only had one real chance, Bohs keeper making a good save from Mc Cabe. Bohs finally got going and had one taken off the line and a free kick off the post with the keeper helpless. The only goal came after 43 minutes, Keith Buckley firing into the top corner after a goalmouth scramble.
Pats came out fighting in the second half but Bohs again had the better chances including another one off the line.
The win keeps us third and in the European places, I'm still keeping an eye on the gap to the relegation places but this team seems to have a lot of self belief and, providing we don't get raided during the summer there's no reason we can't challenge all season.

[Arturo]

Middlesbrough 0 Norwich 1

A really hard fought but deserved win for us. In truth, we should have wrapped the game up long before what turned out to be a really nervy finish. Much is rightly made of our attack, but defensively we have become a lot tighter, especially with the outstanding Christoph Zimmerman at centre back.

Four wins should do it. Maybe three. Nobody is being complacent even though we have a sizeable gap, but it would take a monumental fuck up not to finish in the top two now.

[Patrick Thistle]

TNS 2 v 0 Barry Town
Welsh Cup semi final

The Barry boys colonised a stand at Latham Park and sang throughout. There were a few TNS fans there, including one guy in a bizarre printed tracksuit that looked like pyjamas. Otherwise it was as if it was a Barry home game.

TNS took the lead 10 minutes into the second half after a first half that ran at full tempo throughout. Barry had hit the bar in the first half. They hit the post in the second looking for an equaliser. TNS got their flattering second goal in the 91st minute. There weren't two goals between the sides at all.

Barry exited the pitch last to applause and chanting from the fans, as if they were winners.

[ingoldale]

Grange Albion 0-4 Brecon Corries

Grange got battered by a well drilled Corries team. Despite the scoreline is pretty end to end throughout 2 goals in the last ten truly finished the Albion off.

[CY_Boaby]

Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory in 4 hours time. Glory's previous home match was back on 16 February and since then it's been 3 away games, a split round & an international break, so a big crowd is expected. Looking forward to seeing Honda strut his stuff for Victory, especially as he's probably off at the end of the season.

Glory head into this round of fixtures 9 points clear at the top with only 5 fixtures remaining. A win over 3rd-placed Victory will certainly knock them out of the running to become minor premiers.

Glory 0 - Victory 2.
Two set-pieces saw Glory lose for only the second time this season. Glory wasted many chances to take the lead and were hit by the suckerpunch when Victory scored with a free kick from just outside the box.

In the 2nd half Glory hit the bar with a free kick from a similar position to how Victory scored theirs, then VAR got involved, awarding Victory a penalty for a handball that none of their players appealed for. Up stepped Honda, who sent the keeper the wrong way. Glory huffed & puffed and won a series of corners, but the big crowd of 17,856 (Glory's highest ever A-League home crowd) went home disappointed.

Victory now 7 points adrift of Glory in 3rd place, whilst Sydney stay in 2nd place and cut Glory's lead to 6 points.

[Bored Of Education]

Bath City 1 Woking 1.

Another big match at Twerton as second placed Woking came to town. We have beaten leaders Torquay 3-2 at home in front of 3500 so were feeling reasonably confident albeit we are down to the bare bones of the squad presently. In the end it was 1700 with 270 coming from Woking not being quite the Johnny Big Bollocks that Torquay supporters were (although the "What's it like to see a crowd?" chant must have been ironic with those numbers). Woking are the most massive team I have seen at Twerton Park for a long time. We have, for a long time, been quite a small team but have recently got a couple of taller defenders. However, even they were dwarfed by the giant Woking attackers and our tiny attackers were like ants scurrying around their centre-halves' feet. As such, we tried to play it on the floor and, to be fair, Woking weren't the long ball specialists that I assumed form their collective height. For ten minutes, we were easily the better side but Woking really came back into it. Indeed, I would say they are the opposing team that has impressed me most at Twerton Park. Their goal was actually from a howler of a clearance from our keeper but they could have had 3 or 4 more if it had not been for the aforementioned keeper absolving himself with some great saves in the second half. Having said that, their keeper made a fantastic save as well and, while saying we deserved a draw was possibly a bit overly positive, we did pull one back and were happy with the draw in the end.

[Southport Zeb]

Last year's East of Scotland League groundhop appeared likely to be the last in the league, as almost all the grounds had been visited. However over the summer a large number of sides joined the league, mostly from the Junior ranks, meaning that there are likely to be a few more years of hops in the league.

The league has an unusual structure this season, with the 39 clubs split into three (non-geographical) conferences. The three conference winners will playoff for the league title with places in next season's Premier Divison being awarded to the top five of each conference. On Friday I saw the Conference B title decided as Bonnyrigg Rose had a very easy 4-0 win at Dunipace. The match was played almost entirely in the Dunipace half, and you felt like Bonnyrigg could have scored double figures if they were a bit more bothered. Dunipace's ground has recently had a big redevelopment to install an artificial pitch, but there is little in terms of spectator facilities.

I started Saturday with Falkirk Parkrun and then went for the morning game at Camelon. I had previously visited this ground but it is certainly worth a revisit with lots of terracing and a couple of areas of cover. Again there was a four goal margin, as Camelon won 5-1, but visitors Edinburgh United put up much more of a fight than Dunipace had the night before.

Next up was Inverkeithing, at the north end of the Forth bridges. Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts have moved up from amateur football this season, and have a basic ground which is just a railed off pitch surrounded by a shale running track. Visitors Heriot Watt were the better side in the first half and were 3-0 up when Inverkeithing had a player got sent off. He must have been holding his side back, as fairly quickly the home side had closed the gap to one goal. However Swifts then collapsed utterly, having two more players sent off and conceding a fourth from the penalty spot.

It was then south of the river for what appeared to be a Lancashire derby, as Blackburn United hosted Preston Athletic. New Murrayfield Park is a fairly new ground built around a 3G pitch, but it is much better than some of the "cage" grounds that have popped up in similar circumstances elsewhere. There is a large area of cover which came from the original Murrayfield Park, a few metres away. Blackburn scored twice in the first five minutes after which it was fairly humdrum. The second half perked up a bit, as Preston played a little better, with Blackburn winning 4-1 in the end.

The final match of the day was at Linlithgow. This is a very good ground, with a double decker stand and trees surrounding. It hosted Livingston's League Cup ties last summer as their own ground was having work done. The match was the best of the day with both sides holding the lead at different times. Visitors Jeanfield Swifts opened the scoring but saw Linlithgow Rose equalise and then pull ahead. Jeanfield found an equaliser of their own but lost after Rose scored a late penalty.

On Sunday I stopped off at Whitehaven on the away home to watch the Challenge Cup tie against Rochdale. For much of the game it looked like Whitehaven would pull off a minor upset (they are amongst the leaders of League One whilst Rochdale are struggling in the Championship). A two point lead at half time was extended to nine through a number of penalties and a drop goal, and it looked like the home defence were going to hold the visitors scoreless in the second half. The clock on the scoreboard showed 79 minutes as Rochdale finally scored a try and turned to eighty as the conversion was missed. However it seemed there were actually three minutes left, which gave Rochdale just enough time to score another try and this time add the goal to win by a point.

[imp]

Eintracht 3 Stuttgart 0. Glory, glory. Easy, easy. Lincoln and Frankfurt both still undefeated this year bar Lincoln's FA Cup loss at Everton. This will last forever - neither side will ever lose again until they meet up in the Champions League final in 2022 (Lincoln will obviously win the FA Cup next season, and the Europa League the season after). It will go to penalties, and I can't predict how long they will last. The world will possibly end at that moment in time.

[Capybara]

I'm a bit late here, but I've been travelling.

1. FC Nürnberg 3-0 FC Augsburg

Nürnberg hadn't won since September and when they missed three good chances in the first 15 minutes it had the air of inevitability about it that anyone who's followed a struggling team will recognise. But they kept plugging away and early in the second half took the lead. Augsburg were poor, as they were when I saw them last month, but they had to give it a go and this led to a fine breakaway goal for the home side in the 88^th minute. A further goal in stoppage time and the home supporters were celebrating like they had won the league rather than the reality, which was climbing out of bottom place.

SpVgg Greuther Fürth 2-2 DSC Arminia Bielefeld

To Fürth on Sunday for an entertaining game. The opening goal for the home side had an tinge of comedy as the 'keeper judged that the ball was going wide only for it to hit the post, then the 'keeper and into the net. It was an own goal for me, but it was credited to Julian Green. Fürth added a second and were good value for their half-time lead. Bielefeld started the second half strongly with a headed goal from Klos, and an almost identical goal twenty minutes later brought the scores level. I hadn't realised until I saw some highlights on the telly the next day that the Fürth coach had been sent to the stands at half-time for having a go at the referee, but I'm not sure what he had a problem with.

I can't find a midweek thread, so ..

Heracles 3-4 Willem II

I was staying in Enschede and my four-train journey consisted of two-hourly services for the first and third legs with tight connections, so if anything went wrong there would be at least a two-hour delay in reaching my destination. So it transpired and instead of a mid-afternoon arrival it was tea-time before I was booked into my hotel. I toyed with not going as I'd been unable to acquire a ticket through their website, but then asked myself the question, "What would Ray do?" and was on the next train to Almelo. The very friendly ticket office staff sorted me a ticket with a nice age-related discount and I was in 15 minutes before the start. Heracles started well enough with lots of nice passing but little in the way of penetration. In fact the first shot came from Willem II after twelve minutes but when they missed an open goal from a metre out I decided this was a likely 0-0 and perhaps I should have stayed in Enschede after all. As it was, they made it 1-0 with the last kick of the first half. The second half was everything the first wasn't. Willem II made it 2-0 and then 3-0 after 64 minutes. That would have emptied most English stadiums but most of the locals stayed on and Heracles pulled one back after 72 minutes. A second goal after 81 minutes and it looked like Heracles might get something, but Willem II made it 4-2 after 87 minutes. That should have been it but Heracles scored again as the board went up for 5 minutes added time. The 'keeper came up for a late corner but Willem II cleared and it was all over. I should really have looked at the league table when I was expecting 0-0. Both teams are in the top half with negative goal differences.

A note on programmes:

Nürnberg: A3 sheet folded to A6 size and advertised as widely-available though I only saw two distributors ad a small pile was on the counter in the shop. Clearly not much in the way of content other than squad list and a few other bits and pieces. Free.
Fürth: A2 folded to A5 size. Covered this week's three matches - I heard the phrase 'englische Woche' more than once. Basically pictures and lists of squads. Free and widely available.
Heracles: 24-page A5 effort. Free and widely available.