Come to Milton Keynes - Weekend Matchgoing

[Gangster Octopus]

First Scab chant on 33 minutes. Who won the Golden Scab competition?

[jameswba]

Trinec 1 Vitkovice 1

Honours even in the Silesia/North Moravia steel derby. Vitkovice took the lead early on with a simple header from a routine cross, and controlled the remainder of the first-half. Trinec sent on tall striker Rene Dedic as a half-time sub, started knocking long balls up to him, and came back into the game. A perfectly struck free-kick from Richard Vanek brought them their equaliser on 57minutes. At that point, Trinec would have had thoughts of going on to win, but they were stalled by a red card for their other striker, Matej Schwendt. Vitkovice put plenty of pressure on in the last 20 minutes or so, but Trinec 'keeper Jiri Adamuska made three superb saves, the last from a penalty.

A fair number of visiting fans in the 486 crowd, several of whom joined the home fans in enjoying an early morning Radegast or two. No segregation, and a very convivial atmosphere.

[Gangster Octopus]

Yes!

[Gangster Octopus]

Bloody hell, they're bringing Pele on. Is that fair?

[Paul S]

Lost 37-14 playing in a charity rugby match

We were up against a Wooden Spoons side and although the score was 17-14 at halftime, their superior pace showed in the second half. As it was a charity game, the ref said each captain had three jokers that could get played whenever the captains like. On querying what this meant, the referee explained that on those occasions a joker was played he was open to payment and the decision would be changed, depending on how much was pledged to the Wooden Spoons. We only played our joker once and that was in the first half when we nearly got a try in the far corner. £30 got us awarded the try and another tenner thrown in ensured we got the points from the kick as well! All played in a tremendous spirit as you might expect with a charity match. The only problem was the 11am kick off so the old farts having a Presidents dinner (all 133 of them) had something to watch before the first team game.

[Gangster Octopus]

I'm torn. I want us to win, but if we do I will die.

[Gangster Octopus]

I'm going to die and I'm happy!

[Southport Zeb]

Bloody hell, they're bringing Pele on. Is that fair?

Funnily enough I was watching Santos this afternoon. They could have done with Pele as they lost 5-2 at Urmston Town, despite Urmston playing the first quarter of an hour with eight players and never having more than ten.

Edit: upon further research it appears that the Santos I watched were from Oldham rather than Brazil.

[nmrfox]

Huddersfield 1 Leicester 4

Entertaining game and entertaining crowd; esp the chants around champions, times won and those around at the time to see the trophy lifted ...

On the pitch the Terriers looked what they are, a division 2 team punching above their weight. Leicester, despite missing Maguire and Evans were much to quick, intelligent and thoughtful for the hosts. Puel, despite his many many obvious faults as an actual manager, did sign James Madison and for that City should be eternally grateful . A fun day out and no living being died as a consequence of the entertainment - unlike events at Aintree .

[Simon G]

Cheltenham 1-1 Exeter

A fantastic advert for 4th division football at Whaddon Road yesterday.

Exeter played well in the first half and arguably deserved the lead at half-time - their player playing the most wonderful disguised pass I've ever seen (shaping to cross then passing to the scorer on the edge of the box no more than 5 yards away).

Second half we bossed the game and, whilst the penalty decision was harsh, we more than deserved our goal and point.

The game had a bit of everything, including their keeper being sent off in injury for a second yellow card offence - I honestly can't remember seeing a keeper get two yellow cards before.

[Uros Predic]

Sporting Club Thamesmead 2-1 Lewisham Borough

Bayliss Avenue is a decent ground to watch football in, if you can find your way in. All visible turnstiles were closed and the only sign for 'ground entrance' pointed in the wrong direction. Entry for spectators it turned out, was into the sports centre building, up some stairs and then through the bar. "It's pretty straight forward," said the woman in the bar when I eventually fathomed this out. The five minutes I'd missed suggested otherwise. Still the view of the pitch from the raised main stand is great, and I can't understand why the now defunct Thamesmead Town left the place to go and play in Dartford.

Good game too. Lewisham had the better chances first half, but failed to take them and went in 1-0 down at the break. Borough rattled the bar, then their keeper made a miraculous stop, before Thamesmead scored a brilliant goal to go 2-0 up. Borough's heads dropped at this point, and they conceded a penalty soon after. But the spot-kick was saved and a Lewisham goal set up a frantic final ten minutes.

As expected I was the sole person there, not tied to the club, supporting Borough, earning an earnest genuinely gleeful handshake from their chairman at half-time for my troubles.

[Ray de Galles]

Molesey 3 Marlow 4

Isthmian South Central

Saw my local side last night for only the third time this season where they have had a near continuous battle against relegation from the redrawn second level of the Isthmian.

It was actually the best I've seen them play in a couple of years, taking the lead three times against a side third in the table. This meant that, in these days of live tables, they were in and out of the relegation zone all evening and after making it 3-2 in the 84th minute looked like they'd take something from the game. I should have known it wasn't to be (especially as their former manager who seems to be persisting in some coaching role was sat in front of me muttering "Don't throw it away this time, not this time") and sure enought they conceded two injury time goals while under intense pressure, particularly from long throws.

Marlow are some of the worst whiners I've seen at this level and if the ref had been minded to issue yellow cards for dissent they wouldn't have finished with eleven men or any coaching staff on the bench. I think if Molesey can continue to perform like last night in the remaining games they may just haul themselves out of trouble in the remaining games but I worry the manner of this defeat may knock the stuffing out of them. Even if they stay up they have major problems with average crowds hovering around the 50 mark all season which it pitiful even at this level.

[longeared]

Worksop Town 3-1 Hall Road Rangers

Worksop could have clinched the NCEL Premier last night - they needed to win and hope Penistone failed to do the same at Eccleshill. They predictably got the points with their eighteenth consecutive victory, but Penistone failed to play ball as they won 7-3! It was rather a scrappy affair in general, lots of hoofball on display from both sides - Worksop will fit right into the NPL playing like that, then - a bumpy pitch and a fussy referee who kept stopping play endlessly. Worksop's third goal was particularly good, a 25 yard thunderbolt after a run from midfield.

Shout out to Hall Road for being sponsored by "East Park Chippy" and their number four wearing glasses.

[Sash]

Southampton - Liverpool
Not a huge fan of St.Mary's but it's close and convenient after work & I ended up with a free ticket in the away end.

Southampton 1 Liverpool 3

Worth a mention, actually. Rarely experienced at a match anything like those last 10 minutes. Henderson* arrived to slam home the third just as the delirium after the Salah goal started to die down a litte. So, off it went again, beyond the final whistle, beyond the first couple of polite requests to leave. We eventually reluctantly rolled out about 15 minutes after the final whistle to leg it for the 10:30 to Waterloo...

*some impact as a sub. The first time he thundered forward, you could literally feel Liverpool's shift up a couple of gears. Brilliant.