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Frattonising without a bell - matchgoing 16-21 October

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    #26
    You big bugger, you're going to our first game at our new stadium, and I can't. I hate you.

    I've read that the players like it (who gives a shit what the players like?) so they will be keeping it.

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      #27
      Bury AFC 6 AFC Darwen 2

      Another thoroughly enjoyable afternoon at the Neuven. Like after the first game versus Steeton, my face ached from smiling so much when I got home. Smiling at the standard of football played, smiling at the fact we're playing football at all and smiling at the people who used to go to Gigg and who now have this club in their lives. I was accosted by my former colleague Ian Cheeseman for his vlog as he attended the game:

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        #28
        Walthamstow 7-0 Sawbridgeworth Town
        Essex Senior League


        Boosted by the return of Dwade James (64 goals in 60 games for us) from Hendon, Stow hammered a pretty awful Sawbo.

        Jumbo McGinnis, I've now got even less clue how Sawbo beat Romford. They were lucky to get away with conceding just seven on Saturday, and have now conceded 31 in their last seven games.

        Another big crowd (250ish) compared to our average of 79 last season. I'm a bit concerned that people seem to forget about social distancing as soon as they walk into the ground - even more so when someone scores - but it does make for a good photo. As a club, we do what we can, but it's still up to individuals - about half spread themselves out, but most still choose to congregate behind the goal.

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          #29
          Off to Ware v Barking tonight with my brother. It means I will complete the Isthmian South Central, that most gangsta of divisions.

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            #30
            East Thurrock Utd v Horsham for me this evening and after 20 minutes ETU are winning 1-0.

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              #31
              Hanwell Town 1 Northwood 1 Isthmian League South Central division

              I was going to go watch Ware v Barking, but as I?m in tier 2 and Hertfordshire is tier 1 I thought better of it and so traipsed across London to watch this game. A 7:30 kick-off to get a bit more beer money for the club after the game meant that it would be tight to get there for the start. All would have been fine if I hadn?t crossed over the 25 lane A40 and then wandered off down a country lane instead of turning right. As it was I got there a sweaty mess a minute after kick-off (I hate having the COVID temperature check when I?m in such a state).

              The ground was quirky, with the bar and changing rooms in a large former house near the pitch. One main stand a quarter the length of the pitch, a shallow two-step covered terrace behind one goal and the rest open, although with an excellent electronic scoreboard on one side.

              The game itself was entertaining without being spectacular, with a goal in each half and a final ten minutes of incessant Hanwell pressure that lead to them only being able to hit the side netting. A good point for struggling Northwood and Hanwell go third in the league, although they`ll feel it's two points dropped.

              Two points of interest for Northwood: firstly their creative number 8 Marcelo Graca is the smallest player I've seen on a football pitch and secondly a number of their players are Brazilian or Portuguese and came over here initially to play futsal. They also have a forward called Excellence Muhemba, which is a splendid name but also a lot to live up to.

              All in all an fun evening on a mild and dry night.


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                #32
                I love that clubhouse/house/pub (I've always thought it was the latter for some reason - perhaps because it reminds me of the pub I grew up in, I now realise) at Hanwell Town.

                I also love the fact that their nickname is the Geordies as they were set up by Newcastle fans exiled in London and their first kit is black and white stripes for that reason - though they have had Sunderland colours as chance kit apparently - even though that wouldn't really be an effective alternative.

                I saw Northwood the other week and clocked the exotic-sounding team sheet but not the reason why, their ground is very nice if you haven't been there.

                Decent game at Ware last night, it's a pretty good set-up, especially for the "wedged behind a local leisure centre" ground that is common at their level nowadays.

                A scrappy even first half hour enlivened by a goal each before the break before the home side made use of the slope (why do some 3/4G grounds pitches still have one? Shouldn't levelling it be part of the process?) to go 3-1 up and Barking blew a chance of a comeback by having a 70th minute penalty saved after the most predictably unsuccessful stupidarse stuttering run up from the taker.

                Anyone know what these trees are? I got asked on social media ;

                Last edited by Ray de Galles; 21-10-2020, 11:20.

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                  #33
                  Ashford United 2 Whyteleafe 0

                  After my Saturday with iFollow, I was gagging for some live football. A trip to the Homelands is not particularly exciting but I enjoyed Ashford's first half performance which was enough to see off Whyteleafe. The last Ashford game I saw, a miserable home defeat to East Grinstead must have been an aberration as they are really quite a good side.

                  I don't know about exotic but for long names Whyteleafe right-back Oluwadamilola Olurunnisomo must be pretty hard to beat.

                  Last edited by cantagalo; 21-10-2020, 16:14.

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                    #34
                    Winsford United 1-1 Warrington Rylands
                    NWCFL Premier Division

                    My last chance to escape Greater Manchester for however long so I headed down into leafy Cheshire to St Luke's Barton Stadium, age uncertain but said to be only a few years younger than that claimed by the club themselves albeit the original Winsford club, Over Wanderers, founded in 1883, folded and were later reformed under the current name just before WW1

                    I absolutely love this ground. Obviously the area of covered terracing which runs down one side of the ground isn't Victorian but it was definitely erected at a time when your average football fan was somewhat shorter than today, hence the need for the 'Mind Your Head' warnings. It isn't just the rickety old structures that lend this ground its charm though, nor even the bizarre modern one, a covered enclosure with room enough for 3 people but only if they're members of a support bubble. It isn't even the vegetable patch off to one side at the far end of the ground (it was too dark to work out what they were growing) or the row of potting sheds at the other. From the early 70's until the late 90's the Barton Stadium hosted greyhound racing with a grass 'flapping' track running around the pitch at a slight incline from the level of the playing surface. The effect now is of a bowl-like arena with sweeping curves neatly framed by the obligatory whitewashed perimeter fencing giving a unique sense of space to the ground which my camera phone has singularly failed to do justice to.

                    The game itself, between two teams going into it with 100% records, was watchable if hardly memorable and would have benefitted from a referee with at least a passing familiarity with the advantage rule. Winsford deservedly led at half time with a goal I know nothing about as my orbit around the ground had taken me as far as I could possibly have been from the visitors' goal at the time. I had a better view of Rylands' equaliser than the linesman who let it stand in spite of patently having not a clue whether the scuffed effort from a right wing cross had crossed the line or not. It had, by a good foot or so. The second half was largely all Rylands though either side could have snatched it at the death - quite how Rylands didn't from an almighty scramble will remain a mystery.

                    No names worthy of note. Winsford have a Perry Bircumshaw in their squad but he didn't make an appearance.

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