FENIX from the Flames: Matchgoing 16th - 22nd Feb

[Patrick Thistle]

I've got a ticket for this tomorrow. I love oddball cups and I've not seen a FENIX trophy match before.

https://twitter.com/LlantwitMajorFC/status/1756598957805805725?t=S7M6Z-u7KWJ3LUZZzG_QdQ&s=19


I just hope the game is on. There's been a lot of rain in south Wales this week.

[Patrick Thistle]

This feels like its worth sharing too

https://twitter.com/LlantwitMajorFC/status/1757122311457538532?t=QlEYB99exvcCDrLgCGRHFg&s=19

[Southport Zeb]

I'm in Northern Ireland for the weekend. Portadown v Ballyclare tonight, Glentoran v Newry tomorrow.

[Simon G]

Cheltenham at home to Port Vale tomorrow. By a distance the biggest game of our season so far.

[Greenlander]

Tough week ahead with Leeds, Leeds, Leeds tomorrow and then West Brom on the Tuesday. No expectations of much for us from either game.

[Snake Plissken]

Arsenal at Turf Moor. Always interesting to see which new innovations Arteta has come up with to bend the rules. Though to be frank, he's hardly likely to need any of them tomorrow.

[Jobi1]

Double Legodome action (sigh), making it three visits in the space of a week. Dagenham and, unsportingly, also Redbridge visit tomorrow, with Oldham popping over on Tuesday.

[JoeysToe]

At the end of last season I realised I could be as few as three grounds away from completing league one / division 3. Unfortunately it then turned out to be five as promotion and relegation didn't go the optimum way.

I've ticked off four of them, all Oxford wins, including being lucky to get a spare ticket for Orient and a hugely complicated and slow journey to Stevenage and back during a train strike.

Only Adams Park remains, so that's where I'm going tomorrow. Planning on meeting a friend in West Wycombe, where two of the three pubs are apparently extremely old fashioned and unfriendly (will report back), and then walking over the hill to the ground.

[The Mighty Trin]

Chatham Town v Hythe Town in the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday night. I only do these competitions if I really want to tick off a ground, and I´ll complete the Isthmian Premier next Saturday with a visit to Hastings, so this is a sacrifice I´m willing to make.

[Ray de Galles]

Two Wimbledon home games for me, Morecambe visiting Plough Lane on Saturday and Crawley on Tuesday.

I've got Llantwit's fixture at Enfield Town in the Fenix Trophy next month on my list.

[Capybara]

I had a rare Football League tick lined up but fell foul of them requiring previous buying history to be able to purchase a ticket. So I've switched to a secondary aim of getting to as many grounds that have staged League football as possible and I'm off to Kidderminster v Dorking in the National league. Beer options look good and it's half-term so the Severn Valley Railway is running.

[Artificial Hipster]

Weather permitting I'll be in Heywood tomorrow for the big derby game, Avenue v Heywood St James in Manchester League Division One.

Nothing particularly stands out on Tuesday. Probably Ramsbottom v Wythenshawe in the NWCL or maybe Stone Old Alleynians v Stoke City's kids in the Staffs Senior Cup for a new tick at another former NWCL ground if I feel up for a longer drive.

[My Name Is Ian]

I'm dad-minding once a month for the foreseeable from now on starting from next weekend, so I'm getting in a coastal trip this weekend. Eastbourne Borough vs Chelmsford City in the National League South. Plastic pitch, so it should be on. It's yet another ground that I have done before, but not for years and years.

It's a very similar journey to the one I made last week, as it goes, just a bit closer to home than Hastings. It's a pretty walk through a village to get to their ground. Last time we went there, we went to a flower show in the village hall on the way through. Eastbourne are in the relegation places, which is a bit of a surprise, considering that they finished 6th and 8th in the last two seasons. They've been at this level - with three years in the National League - for twenty-odd years. Chelmsford are third, though they've got no chance of catching Yeovil, who are pretty much nailed on to go up now. I'm expecting a comfortable away win.

[JoeysToe]

It's a pretty walk through a village to get to their ground. Last time went went, we went to a flower show in the village hall on the way through.

I'm mystified by this as the direct walking routes from any of the nearest villages are far from pretty and don't pass any village halls!

[My Name Is Ian]

We went to Pevensey & Westham on the train because that's much closer to their ground than Eastbourne station (it's a good three or four miles from the town centre), so we did have to walk part-way across a field, so I don't know if that's anything to do with it. My plan this time is to go to Eastbourne, have a nose round the town, then back up to the station to get the train the one further stop, though I could abandon this if I'm running late for any reason.

[Uros Predic]

If I could drive there'd be a great quarter final double-header on offer tomorrow at either end of Llyn Tegid; Bala Town v Flint Mountain in the Welsh Cup, followed by Llanuwchllyn v Cefn Cribwr in the Welsh Trophy. But I can't, so I'll be cursing rail replacement buses and shit connections at Shotton to get to the cup quarter-final between Buckley Town and Connah's Quay Nomads instead

[JoeysToe]

We went to Pevensey & Westham on the train because that's much closer to their ground than Eastbourne station (it's a good three or four miles from the town centre), so we did have to walk part-way across a field, so I don't know if that's anything to do with it. My plan this time is to go to Eastbourne, have a nose round the town, then back up to the station to get the train the one further stop, though I could abandon this if I'm running late for any reason.

Oh okay, I think you walked the long way across the salt marsh, which is lovely until you get to the main road. The B road directly from P&W station goes past an industrial estate and is horrible to walk along (and even worse to cycle).

[seand]

League of Ireland is back tonight, so with some trepidation I'll be watching a rag-tag Dundalk travel to 5-in-a-row chasing Shamrock Rovers. Wish me luck. The kids both have matches scheduled so I should manage three 11-a-sides in a weekend for the first time in a while.

[My Name Is Ian]

I do remember - this was back in the days when I was a boozer - that we had to jump over a stream covered in duckweed and that I was reasonably concerned that a, I might fall in and end up covered in duckweed and b, we might emerge still nowhere near the ground, but we came out almost opposite the entrance. It really is like the edge of the earth there, one thing I do remember about it is that on a sunny day it's dificult to see what's going on from the opposite side of the pitch.

By my calculations I've been there, so far as I can remember, four times before - Weymouth in the FA Cup first round, Wimbledon in the league, Enfield in the FA Cup and St Albans in the league - and every other time I made the schoolboy error of getting off at Eastbourne and having a ridiculously long walk. But the last time was in about 2012, so it'll feel like a newish ground, even though it isn't one.

[The Mighty Trin]

We went to Pevensey & Westham on the train because that's much closer to their ground than Eastbourne station (it's a good three or four miles from the town centre), so we did have to walk part-way across a field, so I don't know if that's anything to do with it. My plan this time is to go to Eastbourne, have a nose round the town, then back up to the station to get the train the one further stop, though I could abandon this if I'm running late for any reason.

I walked from Eastbourne to Pevensey one Saturday morning, had excellent fish and chips, visited the castle for a second time and then realised that I was quite a hefty distance from the ground and was running out of time. Cue a major yomp, making it into the ground just in time for kick-off. Got a bus back to Eastbourne after the game, which was the sensible thing to do to get to the ground, but I would have missed several Martello Towers.

[My Name Is Ian]

This sounds a bit like me in Hastings last week. There was a point when I wasn't 100% sure how far I was from the ground and it was twenty to three, but it turned out I was only about ten minutes away. I don't mind a bit of a walk - my stag weekend involved going out at eight in the morning, walking from Shoreham, stopping for breakfast in Hove and Brighton town centre, and them continuing the walk to Falmer, only to see Brighton get beaten by Norwich - but I'm not sure I can manage that sort of distance nowadays.

[George C.]

I walked from Eastbourne to Pevensey one Saturday morning, had excellent fish and chips, visited the castle for a second time and then realised that I was quite a hefty distance from the ground and was running out of time. Cue a major yomp, making it into the ground just in time for kick-off. Got a bus back to Eastbourne after the game, which was the sensible thing to do to get to the ground, but I would have missed several Martello Towers.

I would definitely recommend a bus there and back, unless you allow an extra 90 mins to do the walk out there.

Plus the Italian? chipper opposite the station...

[cantagalo]

Chatham Town v Hythe Town in the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday night. I only do these competitions if I really want to tick off a ground, and I´ll complete the Isthmian Premier next Saturday with a visit to Hastings, so this is a sacrifice I´m willing to make.

You've saved two of the best ILP grounds till last.

[cantagalo]

Liverpool at home in the early Saturday fixture followed by Man City away on Tuesday.

Six points for Brentford should ease those relegation worries.

Back down to earth on Wednesday with some 10th tier action - either Southwell City v Selston or Asfordby v Radford.

[Bored Of Education]

After our now customary cup exit - this time from the Somerset Cup to a Weston-Super-Mud team with a whole load of ex-Romans, we are back to the middle section of 5 home league matches in a row. We are playing St Albans tomorrow who we could leapfrog with a win and 18th placed Truro on Tuesday. St Albans are one of the form teams presently being unbeaten in 8 so a 1-0 win like the last 3 league games would be more than welcome