Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends. Matchgoing 28 July - 3 August

[Southport Zeb]

Tuesday - Lymm Rovers 1-0 Mersey Valley (Cheshire League Two)
Wednesday - AFC Knowsley 3-0 Garswood United (Cheshire League Premier Division)

Two games in the Cheshire League for me this midweek. Last night was my first visit to Lymm High School, where Rovers play on a cage 3G. It was a fairly competitive game but with both sides let down by poor decision making up front - both sets of forwards seemed to think that a player with a load of defenders around them was best shooting over the bar instead of passing to an unmarked team mate. Probably not a surprise that the only goal came from a player going on an individual run through the defence. The latter stages of the match saw several players from both sides going down with cramp - the referee seemed determined to play the full game and ended up playing over ten minutes of stoppage time.

Better finishing tonight, at least from Knowsley, with the second goal in particular being an excellent finish into the top corner from the edge of the box. Garswood had a couple of chances, with the home keeper making an excellent save just before half time. Nice to see some goals here, having only seen one in my previous two visits.

[George C.]

£18 for a pre season friendly is outrageous!

It was £30 & £60 for that Man. U. 'friendly' a few weeks back at Murray field, bizarrely a crowd largely of 'locals' apparently.

And that was from one of their fans, er, from Basildon...

[The Mighty Trin]

Southport Zeb has already seen more matches than I'll see until about March. Fair play, Sir, fair play.

[Felicity, I guess so]

[Felicity, I guess so]

Melvyn Bragg! Wainwright! Helen Skelton! Walt Flanagan's Dog! Melvyn Bragg's dog!

Your boys took one helluva beating.

I didn't recognise many of the Carlisle starters, so 'your reserves lost to a surprisingly competent team in a meaningless friendly' would be more accurate

[Felicity, I guess so]

[Third rate Leszno]

Melvyn Bragg! Wainwright! Helen Skelton! Walt Flanagan's Dog! Melvyn Bragg's dog!

Your boys took one helluva beating.

I didn't recognise many of the Carlisle starters, so 'your reserves lost to a surprisingly competent team in a meaningless friendly' would be more accurate

That was pretty much our first choice XI that started, given that a couple of new signings weren't fully match fit.

[Artificial Hipster]

Eagle Sports 2-1 Parklands
Cheshire League Premier Division

A 98th minute winner saw Warrington edge out Widnes in what was a pretty decent game for an hour or so.

The Gulls (why a team named for one of nature's great hunters would choose that of an opportunistic scavenger for a nickname, I have no idea) took the lead shortly after the break when a midfielder running with the ball down the right wing cut back onto his left foot and whipped in a cross which no.9 met with the perfect header. Within a minute the scores were level. A fast break involving a lovely one-two in the centre circle was capped by a neat side foot finish from just inside the box.

Ten minutes of end to end football followed which only served to drain the last drops of energy from most pairs of legs. As at Zeb's game the final third of the match was notable only for one player after another going down with cramp. A winner seemed unlikely until a loose back pass went out for a corner from which a second header of the evening flew past Parklands' keeper, with almost the entire Eagle team joining in the celebrations in the back of his goal.

A crowd well over 3 figures were there to see it. Thornton Road itself is little to write home about and will have even less to recommend it once Fiddler's Ferry power station - visible through the trees beyond the far touchline - is knocked down. Kath's Cafe is clearly an attraction though: there can't be many clubs at this level serving cans of their own beer.

[Capybara]

The Gulls (why a team named for one of nature's great hunters would choose that of an opportunistic scavenger for a nickname, I have no idea)

Local pronunciation? (Ea-gulls)

[Artificial Hipster]

Yes I assumed that was the derivation, it's just that given the choice I imagine most people would rather be associated with eagles than gulls.

[cantagalo]

Olaria 1 Gonçalense 2
Campeonato Carioca Série A2

Back to Olaria for the 11th and final game in the league stage of the State Championship's second division. Before the game Olaria were in first place and Gonçalense in third but neither were certain of qualifying for the four team knockout stage which will determine which team is promoted to play with the big boys in the 2024 Carioca.

It was a closely fought game with the visitors taking the lead shortly before the interval but Olaria could have equalised when a shot bounced off the post into the arms of a grateful keeper. They increased their lead with a header from a corner and survived the last ten minutes after Olaria pulled one back.

So Gonçalense end up as league winners and Olaria scrape into the play-offs in fourth place. If they'd conceded one more goal, they'd have been eliminated. Still, it's the play-offs that really matter and they now face a two leg semi-final against.....Gonçalense.

Some of the Olaria ultras.

[cantagalo]

Botafogo 2 Guaraní 1
Copa Sul-Americana - last 16
Att: 23,916

A short trip to the Éstadio Nilton Santos for the evening kick-off. It is clear that Botafogo's priority this year is the Brasileirão and this was reflected in the relatively low crowd (half that of Sunday's league game) and in them resting three of their top players.

The visitors took the lead in the third minute and could have had more before Botafogo settled into the game. They were fairly dominant after that but took until the 65th minute to equalise. It game from an unlikely source, the full back Hugo, but it was a really good swerving shot from outside the area. They continued to press and eventually won it with a last minute penalty from top scorer Tiquinho Soares.

The one goal advantage may well be enough to see them through in Paraguay, but if it isn't I don't think they'll be too bothered.

[Patrick Thistle]

Haverfordwest County 1-1 B36 Thorshavn (AET. Thorshavn win 3-2 on aggregate.)
Europa Conference League Qualifying Round 2
Cardiff City Stadium
Attendance: 2,119


Bah. Haverfordwest were 1-0 up at full time to level the tie. A harsh, debatable penalty for Thorshavn in the first period of extra time won them the tie.

Havvy have the honour of being the last Cyrmu Leagues club to exit European competition this season. (TNS crashed out on Tuesday) They were also the only team ro win a tie.

[super furry dice]

1.8.23
Western League Premier (Level 9)
Welton 1 Clevedon 1
Admission £7, est crowd at 100 (30 away), 2 dogs

A fair result, Clevedon shading it till they took the lead on 49, but Clevedon responded really well to going behind and deserved their equaliser from the spot, on 90+8. Welton is one of my favourite grounds in the Western League and it was nice to catch-up with mates who support them and among the away support. We got an atmospheric sunset as well, completely skewed the light on the pitch but it looked great.