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Do you feel the power of the Gladiators? - weekend matchgoing

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    #26
    Originally posted by CY_Boaby View Post
    Perth Glory v Newcastle Jets,Sunday 5pm.

    The Sydney derby has just finished 1-1, so that means Glory will be crowned Premiers if they win tomorrow afternoon. It'll be Glory's first silverware since the A-League began 14 years ago, which is quite amazing considering Glory were back-to-back champions of the old NSL before its demise in 2004.
    Glory 1 Jets 0.

    It was always going to be a nervy one, and so it turned out to be. Lots of mis-placed passes and the home crowd getting increasingly frustrated with the Premiers Plate so tantalisingly close. In the 1st half the Jets hit the bar and had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR. Glory thought VAR was going to award them a penalty, but the ref had a look and stuck with his original decision. Glory came out all guns blazing in the 2nd half and pegged the Jets back. They had the ball in the net twice but offside on both occasions, before captain Diego Castro, who was having a poor game by his usual high standards, showed his class with a lovely through ball which the right-back Ivan Franjic slotted home beautifully. Cue a massive roar of relief from the home crowd. Glory couldn't get a 2nd, so a nervy end with Jets pushing for a goal and the Glory keeper pulling off a couple of good saves.

    Afterwards Glory got presented with the Premiers Plate, which I thought they would have held off until their last home fixture in a fortnight's time. Only 11,350 turned up which is rather disappointing considering what was at stake, especially as over 17,000 were there only a fortnight ago. That game 2 weeks ago was at 7pm on a Saturday night which is considered the prime time kick-off, and with the Easter school holidays having just started I can see why the crowd was down, but I can't help feel that the rain today turned quite a few of the Perth folk off, which is bloody pathetic.

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      #27
      Hastings United 1 Hythe Town 1

      Isthmian South East


      The Pilot Field is indeed a lovely spot to watch football and it's very impressive how it suddenly appears with the town rolling below it to the sea.

      There's a proper old stand down one side and a really nice bar with a large viewing platform on one corner. The defining characteristic is a huge natural bank facing the stand on the opposite side which gives a great view even if it's a little far from the pitch :




      Even from the top of the bank you could hear the huge visiting keeper George Kamurasi bellow across the whole ground. I've genuinely never heard a louder player at a football match. He had a voice like Fat Harry White from the Mark & Lard show and a bit of the look and manner of the old karate-obsessed ref Uriah Rennie.

      He performed remarkably well, both in organising the team from the back and making some excellent saves. Hythe took the lead with a breakaway goal 26 minutes in and were always dangerous on the counter with Hastings piling pressure on trying to secure a play-off place. In the end after peppering the visiting goal and keeper they finally managed to equalise in the 69th minute when an acrobatic overhead kick was turned away but the rebound slotted home from a narrow angle.

      They pushed for the winner for the rest of the game but to no avail, indeed Hythe broke away twice needing excellent saves from the home goalie to prevent them nicking all three points.
      Last edited by Ray de Galles; 14-04-2019, 15:45.

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        #28
        Matlock Town 1-2 Witton Albion

        Hoof! Not a lot of football played on a pretty dry Causeway Lane surface. Witton's key tactic was getting the ball downfield and out of play for either a throw-in, which their full-back could lob into the middle, or a corner. They scored from one of each to be 2-0 up with forty minutes to play. Matlock failed to string more than three passes together all afternoon, but could've got more out of the game. They managed to have a penalty saved and somehow not score in a twenty second goal-line scramble in a cloud of dust at the cricket ground end, before their consolation. That was well taken by a substitute who stayed on his feet and held off two defenders to dink the 'keeper, but they did little to deserve a draw.

        Though it's a beautiful location to watch football I can see why my mum hasn't been down much this season. A lot of talent in the Town team, but absolutely no desire to play anything approaching coherent football.

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          #29
          In the shadow of the Sparta stadium is Sportpark Nieuw Vreelust. It translates as Sport Park Free Love* and today was hosting GLZ Delfshaven v Groeneweg.



          At one end is the Rotterdam - Den Haag main line.



          Whilst at the other end, the Rotterdam Metro has a less than sympathetic presence, as it makes its way to a place called Penis**.



          *it doesn’t, but it should.

          **it was actually Pernis, but was hard to tell when the train is on a 40ft high flyover.

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            #30
            I forgot to mention that yesterday’s pre-match entertainment was watching a dog rip apart a live pigeon that had been feeding on the goal mouth grass seed. Eventually, the owner was interrupted from their phone conversation, and they retrieved the animal, whilst showing all the social conscious and consideration for others you’d expect from a dog owner, by half heartedly kicking the dismembers body of the bird towards the advertising hoardings.

            All this took place to the background PA blaring out Haddaway’s ‘What is Love’, which forever taints this song for me.

            Anyway, here is the aftermath, as the teams emerge amidst a debris of feathers, bones and avian limbs.



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              #31
              Epic reporting, as ever BB&F!!!

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                #32
                Wigan 1-1 Norwich

                Regrets, I've had a few, not putting my thermals on today being one. Jeez it was cold! Wigan more than deserved giving their impressive fans the opportunity to sing, "1-0 to the empty seats" at an increasingly frustrated away end as the first half drew to a close. My daughter deserved her chance to celebrate the equaliser with a burst of, "Timo Pucci baby" for braving the arctic wind stoically but the point flattered a srangely out of sorts Norwich. It's going to be a nervy last few games for them on this showing. Wigan on the other hand look solid enough to stay up.

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                  #33
                  Pukki of course.

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                    #34
                    Watched the bottom of the table clash in the Lancashire & Cheshire Premier yesterday. Old Ashtonians entered the game with only two draws to their name but looked like they could get a first win of the season as they went two goals up. However visitors Old Stretfordians pulled one back in the first half and equalised early in the second half. They looked the more likely to get a third but in the end a point a piece was about the right result. Game was played at Ashton Sixth Form College, with the Ashton being of the under Lyne variety. It's just the school field but the two pitches are on different levels so it feels a bit more than just a field.

                    This morning I went to Prescot Soccer Centre to watch the Liverpool Business Houses League match between Huyton Cons and Lobster. Cons looked like they were headed for relegation at the end of March when they were five points behind Canada. However today they got a third straight win to secure their place in the top division. They went two goals up in the first half and withheld a comeback from Lobster to win 2-1. The Prescot Soccer Centre is a complex of artificial pitches - one full size and half a dozen five a side pitches.

                    I then headed to Thatto Heath where the local rugby team were hosting Dewsbury in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup. As is typical with amateur rugby league grounds there is a decent bar but little in terms of spectator facilities. A decent crowd of perhaps five to six hundred ringed the pitch. It looked like it could be a tough afternoon for the amateurs as Dewsbury scored after only a couple of minutes but Crusaders soon levelled, and then did so again after the visitors got a second try. It was 10-10 at the break and I suspect the Rams coach had a few words with them in the interval. They certainly came out strongly and were two tries ahead within a short time and had extended the lead to sixteen points by the seventy minute mark. There was then a break of around thirty minutes after a nasty tackle left a player from both side needing extended medical attention (both are apparently okay). The remaining time was unsurprisingly a little lacklustre, although Dewsbury did score a sixth try of the afternoon.

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                      #35
                      Bath City 0 St Alban's City 3

                      What, apparently, Danny Baker called the Roman derby. If someone had asked how we had played straight after the game, I would have said shit but, to be fair, first half, we could have been 3-0 up at one point but for a great double save from their keeper and some clearances off the line. We were certainly the better side. However, there were no two ways about it, we didn't and haven't been taking our chances. As someone said about one of our shot-shy midfielders, "He'd pass if he had a penalty" and that is somewhat the story for the whole team presently. We play good patient football in the build-up but without a recognised striker to put it in the net, it just looks diffident. We conceded the first goal from an unmarked - if excellent - header from the brilliantly-named Clovis Kamdjo. Indeed, a Barnet-supporting friend came to the match just to see Clovis as, he said, he was one of his favourite players due to his name and his being rubbish when he played for the Bees. It was fairly obvious he would score against us then with their first shot on goal. St Alban's City's second goal just after half-time was their next shot on goal and another unmarked header that bounced off the inside of the post and was judged to have crossed the line. To be honest, we didn't really look in it after that and St Alban's got a third with their third shot on goal late in the game. No offence to the players we played today but no way are any of them first team strikers and that has been our issue. We have got a good defence - usually - but we haven't got a 20+ a season striker - the players we signed thinking they are, aren't. Our top scorer has 12 and doesn't start anywhere near regularly. We haven't won in 5 games, this was our heaviest home defeat of the season by a team sneaking into the play-offs. As it goes, in this league, we aren't the worst in form side with Woking being on an equally horrendous run and Dartford just dropped out of the players with a bad run while Billericay, with all their issues, have just brought a winless streak to an end this week. However, we don't want to drop any more points otherwise we will drop down the play-offs making it an extra game we have to play or even out of them together which would be terribly unfair on the team and supporters. Obviously, as we all know, football isn't fair.

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                        #36
                        Wigan Athletic 1 Norwich City 1

                        A fair result and a point I was happy to take at the end, given that it was one of our weaker performances this season and a match that Wigan could easily have won. Over 5000 Norwich fans there, but the atmosphere felt a bit more subdued than other away matches where we have taken far less. We still badly miss Buendia and I hadn't realised until now that we have never won a game that he hasn't played in. He won't be back for our match on Good Friday either.

                        Six points still needed for promotion, but it will not be easy. And yes AH, it was bloody cold!

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                          #37
                          Originally posted by Arturo View Post
                          We still badly miss Buendia and I hadn't realised until now that we have never won a game that he hasn't played in. He won't be back for our match on Good Friday either.
                          Then I suspect that odd statistic will come to an end

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                            #38
                            Liverpool 2 Chelsea 0

                            My word, when Salah hit that ball... Compared to the finale against Spurs, this was a very different type of Anfield going nuts. No relief, just sheer riotous joy. And it went on and on to the extent that the crowd seemed to barely the Hazard chances. Anyway, that Annie Road goal has a spell on it this season, so he had not chance. 2014 finally put to bed.

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                              #39
                              Originally posted by Bordeaux Education View Post
                              Bath City 0 St Alban's City 3

                              What, apparently, Danny Baker called the Roman derby.
                              It wasn't Baker himself, it was a St Albans supporter who was a contestant on The Sausage Sandwich Game.

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                                #40
                                Originally posted by CY_Boaby View Post
                                Only 11,350 turned up which is rather disappointing considering what was at stake, especially as over 17,000 were there only a fortnight ago. That game 2 weeks ago was at 7pm on a Saturday night which is considered the prime time kick-off, and with the Easter school holidays having just started I can see why the crowd was down, but I can't help feel that the rain today turned quite a few of the Perth folk off, which is bloody pathetic.
                                On an NRL forum I used to follow, by far the biggest and busiest thread was a rolling discussion on crowd figures and the level of analysis and anecdotal evidence which went into explaining why particular crowds were up or down from what they should have been was phenomenal.

                                Anyway...

                                Stevenage 3 Carlisle 0

                                This was absolute shite (from a Carlisle point of view of course). They announced the team on Twitter while I was still in the pub and I was tempted to stay there while the inevitable defeat unfolded up the road. However it was a 'tick' and there's no way I was ever going to make the effort to go to Stevenage again, so we went. Awful disjointed performance from an awfully disjointed team, as ever too many loan players and short termers. It was far colder than it had any right to be, and there was no alcohol available. Still, ticked it off and was back in London in good time for the next stop on what was a hectic weekend away.

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                                  #41
                                  Aber Town 0-0 Cefn Druids

                                  A game of few chances interrupted by a floodlight failure after about 75 minutes. Only £5 to get in too.

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                                    #42
                                    Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post

                                    It wasn't Baker himself, it was a St Albans supporter who was a contestant on The Sausage Sandwich Game.
                                    Correction, it was on the tedious, unfunny, completely drawn out and unfunny Sausage Sandwich Game.

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                                      #43
                                      Workington 0-2 Gainsborough Trinity.

                                      Penultimate opportunity to visit Borough Park as it's expected to meet the bulldozers at the end of the season.

                                      Lovely old style ground with a top quality playing surface. Defeat meant relegation for Workington.

                                      A fair few groundhoppers were present including one chap who'd visited there twice before only to find the game had been called off on each occasion.

                                      Can any Cumbrians help me out here and tell me if Workington has a Town Centre?

                                      Comment


                                        #44
                                        Originally posted by torres View Post
                                        Workington 0-2 Gainsborough Trinity.

                                        Penultimate opportunity to visit Borough Park as it's expected to meet the bulldozers at the end of the season.

                                        Lovely old style ground with a top quality playing surface. Defeat meant relegation for Workington.

                                        A fair few groundhoppers were present including one chap who'd visited there twice before only to find the game had been called off on each occasion.

                                        Can any Cumbrians help me out here and tell me if Workington has a Town Centre?
                                        It does, but it's not between the station and the ground (if you did indeed go by train). There is a shopping centre of sorts, and a Wetherspoons.

                                        I wouldn't bet on the bulldozers knocking it down just yet, there is quite a saga around the proposed new stadium and it's been aborted once or twice before.

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                                          #45
                                          Allerdale chiefs have been forced to look again at the new Workington stadium plans after an 11th-hour bid by opposition councillors to halt the…

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                                            #46
                                            Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post



                                            Stevenage 3 Carlisle 0

                                            It was far colder than it had any right to be, and there was no alcohol available.
                                            A few seasons ago I attended a Stevenage v Wimbledon game in the company of a former Dons player (from their Premier League era but not a big name) as a mutual friend drove a carload of us up for the match.

                                            The ex-player managed three pints in the twenty minutes we had in the supporters club pre-match while the rest of us had one each. At half time while I was queuing up for a cup of tea I saw him literally banging on the inside of the gates of the away end and remonstrating with stewards only to return to disconsolately tell me "Can you believe it, they won't let me get out to have a drink before the second half?!"


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                                              #47
                                              Originally posted by Paul S View Post

                                              Correction, it was on the tedious, unfunny, completely drawn out and unfunny Sausage Sandwich Game.
                                              How "No sauce at all" of you.

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                                                #48
                                                KRC Genk Reserves v Royal Antwerp Reserves

                                                Europe’s dullest place, and there new out of town stadium. However, the game isn’t being played on the training ground as advertised, but instead on the warming up pitch.



                                                This is basically a roof and tier of seating bolted to the back of the main stadium, which gives the ground the architectural merit of Loftus Road, ie none at all.



                                                The home team have a player called Arthur Theatre, so I’m going to spend most of the game coming up with puns for him.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Techincally tonight's OTF derby, me v El Guapo (Dundalk v Bohemians) match is a midweek match as most League of Ireland matches take place on a Friday night. Buggered if I'm gonna be the one to come up with a pithy title for a midweek matchgoing thread though.

                                                  Given the shitty weather Dundalk's much maligned artificial pitch is a blessing tonight. Dundalk need to get their collective arse in gear after miserable back-to-back defeats left us 13 points off the top (with 2 games in hand) after just 9 games. Bohs are going well with their modest budget. This one has 0-0 written all over it

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                                                    #50
                                                    It was only when I was halfway down the article shared by Walt Flanagan's Dog that I realised that the 'Allerdale Chiefs' wasn't a rebrand of the Rugby League team.
                                                    Last edited by Uros Predic; 15-04-2019, 14:47. Reason: quote function not working

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