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The Season Starts Here! : Matchgoing July 30th - August 5th

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    The Season Starts Here! : Matchgoing July 30th - August 5th

    Well, it actually starts with the midweek games as some league fixtures low down the pyramid commence on Tues/Weds.

    I saw five and a half overs of Surrey v Northants in the One Day Cup at The Oval this lunchtime with my boy. Luckily we had a back-up plan and spent the rest of the day round the corner at the Imperial War Museum.

    Tomorrow we're both going to the final safety test event at Plough Lane before the first league match there in a couple of weeks. It's versus Scunthorpe and just the one main (West) stand will be open and to full capacity to ascertain that everything works OK.

    Tuesday/Wednesday will probably be speedway and/or one of the aforementioned lower non league games, exact fixtures yet to be decided.

    #2
    Already done my matchgoing for the week, a long haul to Scarborough to see Gloucestershire triumph over Durham in the Royal London Cup (fuck The Hundred). 16 required off the last over, a dot ball followed by 6, 4, 6 and we celebrated with what passes for limbs at the cricket.

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      #3
      British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park tomorrow, looking forward to getting into some regular football going from next weekend though.

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        #4
        Completing the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East tomorrow, with a trip to Bottesford v Hemsworth.

        If the weather is reasonable I might go to the cricket at Darwen on Sunday.

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          #5
          Back in London for the friendly against West Ham and only my second visit to the Brentford Community Stadium. Said Benrahma should get a very good reception. Hope it's as good a game as the one at Old Trafford last Wednesday.

          I'm all over the place at the moment but I'm planning a couple of surprises for Tuesday and Wednesday providing the logistics work out.

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            #6
            Might be South Wales Alliance Premier action on Tuesday and Europa Conference League action on Thursday. Need to chat this through with Mrs Thistle

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              #7
              Pleased to see that Wembley had a home friendly tomorrow before finding out that the clubhouse wasn't going to be open, so bugger that...

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                #8
                An early start for me as I leave E17 to head up to watch Raith Rovers v Hamilton. Train up and coach back overnight as I've got stuff to do on Sunday. First game of the season, first since King's Lynn last December in fact and my third Scottish ground. I'm very excited. I probably shouldn't have any more Bunnahabhain tonight if I intend to wake early tomorrow morning...

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                  #9
                  Is there a railway station in Raith?

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                    #10
                    It is often closed due to all of the dancing

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                      #11
                      Kirkcaldy Station is about half a mile from the ground

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                        Is there a railway station in Raith?
                        Kirkcaldy station is a 15 minute walk from Starks Park and the weather forecast is kind.

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                          #13
                          Ilkley v Bury for me, don’t do friendlies so my first game of the season.

                          If you’d have told me when I lived 3 miles from Ilkley Town (not in Ilkley!) 3 years ago they’d be playing Bury, I’d have offered to crawl there. Obviously events have taken an unfortunate turn since then, but Ilkley appear to be on the up.

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                            #14
                            Don't forget to wear a hat.

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                              #15
                              Where the ducks play football...

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                                #16
                                Elgin v Stranraer today in my attempt to tick off a few of the more northern grounds.

                                I did pop into Forres Mechanics during the week.

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                                  #17
                                  A family get together planned for today has just been cancelled due to illness. It shows how much I've missed live footy when my first thought was "Great. I can go to our pre season friendly against Blackburn now"

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                                    #18
                                    Some friends at Deal v Chatham, apparently match abandoned due to weather.

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                                      #19
                                      Buckingham Athletic 7-0 Pitstone & Ivinghoe, my twelfth and last pre-season friendly of the summer and an extremely comfortable win for the Step 6 hosts against Step 7 visitors. Most of the divisions I follow begin their league seasons this coming midweek and there's quite a choice of fixtures to consider; that's for another thread, of course.

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                                        #20
                                        Furtho how's the place looking? Can you still watch Athletic for free from the riverside path?

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                                          #21
                                          Skalica 0 Banska Bystrica 0 (Slovak II Liga)

                                          I am spending the weekend in Skalica, a photogenic town in wine-making country near the Slovak/Czech border. It wasn't a trip made with football in mind, but the penzion is near the ground, and the 6pm K.O. allowed for sightseeing during the day, so why not?

                                          It was a promising enough fixture between two sides who were close to promotion in the previous two seasons. And both had beaten sides newly-promoted to the 2nd tier in their opening- day games last weekend. Bystrica put seven goals past poor old Namestovo.

                                          But there's little to say about what happened today (or, more to the point, what didn't happen). Both sides looked happy not to lose, especially as the minutes ticked away and players tired in the heat. It has been really hot and apocalyptic storms are forecast for tomorrow.

                                          Pleasant ground in the middle of a housing-estate. It has an athletics track around it and other sports facilities (ice-hockey stadium, tennis courts etc) very close by. Only €3 entry, and that only for men. Women get in for free. 545 tried their best not to fall asleep in the sun.

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                                            #22
                                            Sounds like a very pleasant weekend.

                                            I don't know Skalica at all, but it looks lovely.

                                            I also hadn't realised that Banska Bystrica had been relegated. I think of them as a semi-regular entrant in European competition, but that has obviously changed.

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                                              #23
                                              Scottish Championship
                                              Raith Rovers 4 Hamilton Academical 4
                                              Attendance 1,569

                                              My first jaunt to Kirkcaldy on what started out as a grey day. The ground has some interest in the form of an L-shaped old main stand with a gable that doesn't reach the halfway line due the proximity of the road behind. Two good-size functional single tier modern stands behind each goal with interesting floodlights and then a half-finished smaller stand on the railway side. Famous fans include someone called Gordon Brown and the writer Val McDermid (who I'd never heard of), who has a stand named after her.

                                              Raith started well with a penalty on 13 minutes and then a beautiful goal by Canadian man-of-the-match Zanatta on 25 minutes. Hamilton had totally forgotten how to football and at that point would have been lucky to get nil. In the second half a third and fourth followed and seven-nil would have been a fair score, but then Raith got complacent, missing chance after chance.

                                              Pity (but not too much) the fair few Hamilton fans who left when they conceded the fourth. On 68 minutes the Accies scored against the run of play, then got a second, third and finally a fourth in the second minute of injury time, whilst Rovers could no longer hit the proverbial barn door with a bloody big banjo.

                                              Eight goals for twenty quid and the sun shining as I walked to the train station. Just finishing off a curry in Edinburgh before I have to get on an overnight coach home. God I've missed doing this. Another Cobra please, Sir!

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                                                #24
                                                delicatemoth Yes, you can. The place looks smart and the amiably long-suffering Colin does a tremendous job on the pitch considering how vulnerable the location is to flooding. I sense the club have struggled with the lack of income and they're facing the new season with a very small committee, which is a tough position to be in. On the playing side it looks like Ath will or ought to be top half - they've got some good attacking players, but the defence may be where they have a harder time.

                                                Meanwhile the former Robins, now known as MK Irish and based at the Irish club in Fenny Stratford (commonly known as Manor Fields), moved up via the FA reorganisation of the pyramid into the SSML Premier Division, at Step 5. The game in Milton Keynes has long struggled with facilities and if any ground has the potential to stage football in the higher levels of non league, it's there - so in many respects seeing a club make use of Manor Fields and looking to make a go of it is great. There are a few buts to be added at this point, but that's more for DMs.
                                                Last edited by Furtho; 31-07-2021, 20:08.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Thanks. Yes, both Buckingham clubs are/were hostages to fortune regarding their locations. Years ago Ford Meadow used to flood loads, indeed the waters would often go halfway up the garden of someone I knew in Chandos Road, as well as cutting off my usual route to Well Street school.

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