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

[Capybara]

Dorking were in all white at Dagenham a few weeks' ago as well. There was a spate of teams turning up in away kits that clashed with the D&R red kit last season, Yeovil in pink and Eastleigh in orange being particular offenders, and as someone with red/green colourblindness I found those quite hard viewing, but that Kiddy-Dorking clash looks even worse.

One reason I posted that particular photo (apart from the others being even worse) was to see if anyone would comment on the colours. I was quite surprised when the teams came out. If Dorking have an all-white kit then that should have been used on Saturday and I don't know why it wasn't.

[HeavyDracula]

Was a penalty given? Assuming that isn’t the keeper making a foray into the opposition’s penalty area?

VAR still deciding

[Foot of Astaire's]

If it makes you feel any better, there was a point at which Daggers did the classic thing of getting the keeper to sit down and insist that he receive urgent medical attention simply so that the manager could gather the rest of the team for a quick tactical briefing. Given that absolutely every team seems to do this now and it's borderline become accepted as part of the game, somewhat depressingly, it barely seems to register as shithousery these days.

We were discussing what could possibly be done to stop it, and couldn't come up with anything better than making the keeper go off for 30 seconds after receiving treatment just like everybody else. Completely impractical of course, although it would potentially liven up some dull games.

Similar happened in the Bolton Charlton game on Saturday. At 3-3 with Bolton pressing for a winner, the Addicks keeper missed a cross and while the ball was still in play, he lay on the floor holding his head. It was clear to us in the stand behind that he was faking but Ref immediately stops the game, as he should. He still gets pelters from the crowd, mind.

Keeper is 'treated', momentum is lost, said keeper turns and winks to the home fans, the absolute rotter! I'd have loved to have seen him have to go off for 30 seconds or substituted due to concerns re concussion.

[Patrick Thistle]

The ref could say, you know what, I'm not taking any chances. Best do a concussion sub here. Bench, get your reserve keeper on. Oh, sorry, your reserve is the kid from the youth team who's never played a competitive match before? Well congrats young man on your debut. Now excuse me, I've just got to talk to your oppo number to reassure them I'm adding 3 minutes on for all this kerfuffle.

[Kowalski]

Was a penalty given? Assuming that isn’t the keeper making a foray into the opposition’s penalty area?

The keeper was sent off, a free kick was awarded just outside of the area and they scored from it.

[Southport Zeb]

Friday
Portadown 2-2 Ballyclare Comrades (NIFL Championship)

The first thing you see upon entry to Shamrock Park is the now closed former grandstand, with the slogan "Life Without Jesus Makes No Sense" running the length of the roof. Should they be able to secure the funding, Portadown plan for this stand to be demolished before a new one takes its place. For now spectators are all seated in a modern stand opposite this (there is further seating behind one goal, but this is only used when segregation is required - something that was not necessary for the handful of fans Ballyclare brought with them).

Portadown were relegated from the Premiership last season and are in contention for a return back this season, although they are a few points adrift of Dundela. Going into this game they would have been hoping for a win, but ended up needing a last minute equaliser to take a point, having allowed Ballyclare to take a two goal lead. The hosts had had enough chances to win the game before this but their finishing let them down on occasion.

Saturday
Harland and Wolff U21 5-1 PSNI Olympic (NIFL Championship/ PIL Development League)
Glentoran 8-2 Newry City (NIFL Premiership)

Started the day with Belfast Victoria Parkrun, which I suspect may be the closest to an international airport, the start being a couple of hundred yards from the end of the runway at George Best Airport. After that I walked to the Blanchflower Stadium, home of Harland and Wolff. This has been greatly developed in the last few years, including a 3G pitch and a large main stand behind one goal, with smaller stands on the other sides. The artificial surface meant that the under 21s were able to play their game at the stadium at lunchtime, before the first team played Bangor in the afternoon. The game itself was very one sided, with the biggest surprise being that the hosts scored just five. It didn't help that the police side struggled to keep eleven on the pitch - one of their players went down with injury several times, before eventually being replaced by their one sub who seemed reluctant to join in.

After a newly built ground in the morning, I went to a throwback ground in the afternoon. The Oval is a fantastic place to watch a game (at least for the occasional visitor- I believe there are plans in place to bring it up to more modern standards, which will presumably be easier to maintain). I watched the first half from high in the main stand, accessed via a very long staircase, from which there were great views of the pitch as well as the Harland and Wolff dockyard behind. For the second half I stood on the terrace behind one goal. This game made the morning's look competitive, with Glentoran scoring on just about every opportunity they had. A lot of this may have had to do with how poor Newry were - it was apparent why they are well adrift at the bottom of the table. Despite this result, some of the home fans were still not happy due to being far out of the title race - this was the first time I can remember hearing fans calling for a manager's head as his team went into the break 5-1 up.

[seand]

Friday.... Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Dundalk, att 7610, maybe 800 away. A surprisingly good performance from Dundalk with 5 debutants in the starting XI
Saturday.... Maynooth Town U14 3-6 Dunboyne, att 30ish. Missing a couple of key players, the lads never got going then conceded 3 in 5 minutes before half time to go in 0-4. Made a bit of a stab at a comeback by taking out big lump of an athlete out of centre back where he duly scored a hat-trick but we just don't have the ability or attitude to cope with missing our better players
Sunday.... Beechwood 0-7 Ballyoulster United U16, att 25. Bit of a weird game played in the grounds of an all-girls private school which looks like a modern university campus- quite the contrast to playing in some of the rougher parks in the rougher parts of Dublin. The title charge continues

[The Mighty Trin]

Chatham Town 7 Hythe Town 2
Kent Senior Cup quarter final
Att: 302. Two dogs, one of them being top fan Ralph, below.

Ahoy Chatham and another merger team! Formed in 1882 as Chatham United following a merger between Rochester Invicta and those crazy Sappers the Royal Engineers Band (I'm a former E flat bass brass band tootler myself, although the only thing currently sapped is my work ethic), in the 1888-89 season they reached the FA Cup quarter-finals, beating Notts Forest at home in a replay before losing 10-1 away to West Brom. They played on an Army owned pitch called The Lines and, due to Army regulations, no entrance fee could be charged. Soon after they moved to Maidstone Road, where an enclosed ground could be built per the new FA regulations so that visiting clubs for FA Cup ties could receive a share of the gate money. As an aside, the Royal Engineers AFC, FA Cup runners up in in three finals and winners in 1875, were based in Chatham, still exist, are now members of the Army FA and still play at The Lines, although games are now organised by regiment as opposed to a single team.

The Chats were founder members of the Southern League in 1894 and apparently both Pompey and West Ham played their first competitive matches against them. They eventually dropped down to the Kent league due to financial difficulties and at one point they also played in the splendidly named but short-lived Aetolian League. In 1947 there was another merger, this time with Shorts Sports FC and they settled on the name Chatham Town. Between 1974 and 1979 they became Medway FC at the request of the local council. I'd have told them to bugger off.

Famous Chatham types include Zandra Rhodes and of course that young scamp Charles Dickens spent a happy five years of childhood here whilst his Dad built up substantial debts that would come back to bite him.

The historic dockyard (closed in 1984) would be visited on a different day. This was all about seeing a game at The Maidstone Road Ground, now known for sponsorship reasons as The Bauvill. It's a steep walk uphill from the train station, but the ground is a corker. The main stand is set a good twenty feet back from the perimeter fence and consists of five rows of new red seats and twelve substantial red supports, which is plenty for a stand only covering half the pitch, although not too inconvenient as it's set so far back. To the left is a raised cantilevered terrace of five steps, with a roof that reminded me a teeny bit of the old Don Valley Stadium roof. This side also houses the bar, hospitality and changing rooms. Opposite the main stand are dugouts again so far back from the pitch that you can stand a good six feet in front of them as the perimeter fence is angled around them and there's a shallow cover behind for rainy days that at one time contained red seats. Behind the final goal appear to be half built club offices running almost the length of the goal line. Six thin floodlights amd plenty of club badges complete the scene. It's a beauty.

Four times Kent Senior Cup winners Chatham (five including one for Shorts Sports) are currently second in the Isthmian Premier and one time winners Hythe tenth in the Isthmian South East division below, so goals and a likely home victory were anticipated.

The first was a tap-in on five minutes as I was munching on an M&S sausage roll dinner from the nearby petrol station and the second was a belter from outside the box moments later. The third was a mazey run that Hythe failed to deal with. Game over. But no! Soon after the away team scored out of nothing. That made it 3-1 on thirteen minutes as the wind whipped around the ground. More football ensued and then on thirty minutes Hyde were gifted a penalty following a clear push, which they smashed in. The Chats' fourth I missed as I was looking at images of the Old Don Valley Stadium. I think the fifth was forced in from a cross as I was on the phone to my Mum and not paying attention (they had a lovely duck stir fry tonight). 5-2 at the break.

The second half opened with a goal as I was still deciding where to stand. Christmas then came early when he replaced Evans for Chatham on 66 minutes. More football happened and then the seventh was on the cusp of full-time with a great ball over the defence and a well placed shot that the poor away keeper got a glove to, but couldn't keep out. It could and should have been more.

As one shouty home fan sang,
'Who put the ball in Hythe's net?
Who put the ball in Hythe's net?
Who put the ball in Hythe's net?
Half the fucking team did'.

Tremendous fayre for the neutral. Ralph delighted.

[Patrick Thistle]

Ralph gets a like

[Jobi1]

York City 1 Oldham Athletic 1
National League

A very prosaic journey to and from the match, so tonight's observation is actually going to have to be about matters on the field (lucky you!). The subject is York's Alex Woodyard, an all-action midfielder with mesmerisingly beautiful hair. Dear Alex, I really noticed tonight, is a magnificent stage presence. Everything he does has an element of performance. When a decision goes against him or something doesn't come off, he turns and flicks those luscious locks and then does this big, strong arm gesture, like he's conducting the famous bit of Beethoven's fifth. There was one moment in the first half where he had fallen quite awkwardly on his back in a challenge, lay there for a while, eventually rolled over and half got up, but then twisted and swooned back to the deck like a 1940s heroine of the silver screen. He's also handy enough at football, but some things are more important, and I want to be entertained, dammit.

And good grief, entertainment has been in short supply in this seemingly endless run of home games this last week. City changed formation (again) and at least tried to play a bit more, but the ball did still spend a significant amount of time just being battered back and forth between the two teams. At least there was a bit more of a sense of occasion than usual with an away following that was impressive in both numbers and decibels. Chances, once again, we're at an absolute premium for both teams, but Oldham finally took the lead when our keeper ambitiously came out to around the penalty spot to go for a high, hanging cross that he inevitably got nowhere near, beaten to the punch by Oldham's Fondop, whose header bounced slowly and apologetically into the empty net. City equalised 10 minutes later in a tale of two Wills – Smith's goalward header from a corner turned in by Davies. Once again, the draw a completely fair reflection, making it a paltry and concerning 2 points from 9 in this compacted run of home ties.

A friend I bumped into afterwards had been sat next to Guy Mowbray, who apparently pretty much full-on commentated on the match even though nobody beyond the adjacent seats was listening. Regrettably, I'd been sat next to some crushing bore who babbled away non-stop to himself and/or his teenage son, hashing out every cliché you can imagine and all inaccurate and unfair narratives that currently swirl around certain City players. I tend not to drink at midweek games these days, but nights like this make me think I should start again. Football needs more Woodyards and fewer clichés.

[Fearful Symmetry]

North Ferriby 1 Pontefract Collieries 0
Northern Premier League East

List every cliche you can think of around 'gutsy performance', and apply it to Ferriby's display in this match. A proper game of association football, by the end of which most of the crowd were kicking and heading every ball.

To be fair, it took a while to ignite as both teams felt each other out in a slightly disjointed 1st half, but the home side started the second 45 by pinning their opponents back in their own half, and the pressure eventually paid dividends when substitute Danny Earl muscled his way around the left back and slipped the ball in at the near post.

Our opponents, 3rd in the table and with only 1 away defeat all season, weren't going to lie down, and laid siege to the Ferriby penalty box for the last 20 minutes, and it all got a bit feisty as well (zoom in on the picture and you'll see striker Tom Corner indulging in a spot of Greco-Roman Wrestling), but the team got themselves in the way of everything the away side could muster, and the final whistle was greeted with a level of fervour that defied the attendance figure of 313.

The win keeps the Villagers in touch with the play off places, and although the teams immediately above them all have games in hand, it could still be an exciting end to the season.

[ChrisJ]

Ralph delighted.

Ralph is wonderful.

Looks like he was checking to see if any subs are warming up.

[longeared]

Parkgate 2-0 Harrogate Railway Athletic
Northern Counties East League Division One

An hard fought win, and stop me if you've heard this before - Parkgate won when their superior fitness kicked in during the second half. Harrogate had some pace in the centre, they carved through the midfield several times but didn't have any end product, if they had a striker and a keeper who could distribute they'd be higher up the table. Gate responded to this by hoofing a lot, a style of play which generally doesn't work for us.

The game had a frenetic start, Harrogate hit the post in the first minute and got a pelanty in the third, though the spot kick was scuffed and the keeper saved easily. Gate then hit the bar from a header when it were easier to score and had a mass scramble which didn't produce a goal either, and we'd still had less than quarter of an hour. Harrogate hit the post again in the opening minute of the second half, then Gate gradually grasped control, got the ball down a bit through making substitutions and scored with a pelanty of their own on the hour. The same bloke headed in from a corner ten later and that were that. There was a briefly scary incident towards the end where a Rail player went down heavily and both physios rushed on immediately, which is never a good sign. Anyway he was alert and conscious when he was helped off the pitch, and as they'd used all their subs by then Harrogate played out the closing minutes with ten men. Gate's win closes the gap to three points behind leaders Wakefield, although our seven games in hand should ensure that to be overhauled.

Attendance 140, three dogs.

[Capybara]

Fulham U21 2-1 Middlesbrough U21
Premier League Cup
Att: 107

To Motspur Park for the oddly-named Premier League Cup (it’s a competition for U21 sides playing in the equally oddly-named Premier League 2, not just the U21 sides of Premier League clubs). The PL says the intention is to enhance the competitiveness at this level by adopting the Champions League format consisting of a group stage followed by a knockout competition. And then makes fixtures as difficult to find as possible. Up until Sunday teatime I was contemplating being The Mighty Trin‘s stalker for the evening in Chatham but then this fixture appeared. We are into the first knockout stage which Boro reached a couple of weeks ago following an unlikely series of results which propelled them into second place in their group in the last round of matches. Boro always seem to play Fulham; this was my fourth visit to Motspur Park which, before becoming Fulham’s training ground was an athletics track where, amongst other things, a world mile record was once set. It’s an attractive ground with a lovely old main stand on one side which has wooden tip-up seats though this is set a long way back from the touchline because this is where the running track used to be. There’s some covered standing behind one goal and the dugouts are on the side opposite to the stand.

The short notice probably affected the attendance; on previous visits the stand has been almost full and there were one or two absences last night from Boro fans who normally get to these games. It’s difficult to know how strong teams are at this level. Only one Middlesbrough player in the starting XI had been anywhere near the first team this year but three of the better ones were returning from long-term injuries. I had really no idea about Fulham. Boro started the better without really challenging the home team’s goal before Fulham came back into it with the first attempt on target, a header after 22 minutes which was comfortably saved by the Middlesbrough ‘keeper. After 26 minutes a close-range shot was well-saved and Fulham went close again a minute later. The opening goal came just after half-time when the Boro defence allowed a Fulham player too much time and he was able to pass to a colleague who struck the ball into the net. Halfway through the second half, Boro brought on Sonny Finch and Pharrell Willis who were returning from injury. This had an immediate effect in increasing urgency. A shot on target was saved and then, after 72 minutes, the referee awarded a penalty for a foul. This was despatched by Finch for the equaliser and Boro went close again on two occasions with shots that were well saved by the Fulham ‘keeper. The winner came for Fulham after 82 minutes with another penalty, this time for handball. At least one Fulham player (other than the taker) was well inside the penalty area when the kick was taken and given the care the referee took in ensuring the players were in the right place before the kick I thought there might be a retake, but there wasn’t and the goal was allowed to stand. Despite nine minutes of added time, Boro were unable to get back on terms and Fulham are through, probably deservedly on the balance of play, to the next round.

[Botswana Meat Commission]

Haringey Borough won a game of football last night. They beat Whitehawk (I didn’t go). Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the league, it was in the wonderfully named Velocity Trophy. They’re now in the semi-final. What European competition do you get in for winning that?

[Snake Plissken]

Famous Chatham types include Zandra Rhodes and of course that young scamp Charles Dickens

Christ, what more do I have to do to get on this list?

[The Mighty Trin]

Christ, what more do I have to do to get on this list?

Well, you´d make the list if you are really Janet Ellis. I´ve discovered that Blue Peter's finest is also from Chatham, although I have no idea what her feelings towards Blackburn Rovers are.

[Ray de Galles]

Wimbledon 0 Crawley Town 1
Division Four
Plough Lane

A humdrum performance from The Dons all too typical of their form since the turn of the year and what would have been a forgettable game but for one of the worst set of substitutions I have ever seen in decades of watching football.

Johnnie Jackson reverted to a 4-3-1-2 formation that had worked relatively effectively earlier in the season with different personnel and for an hour Wimbledon were the better side against a very limited Crawley. On sixty-six minutes, Jackson made a triple change with the front two of Davison and Kelly being replaced by wide men Curtis and Gordon as well as key midfielder and captain Reeves coming on after a few games injured.

Clearly the former two changes would necessitate a change in formation, most likely a switch to 4-4-2 with Bugiel moving from a deep position behind the front two to his usual target man role and one of the wide subs, probably Curtis, playing off him? Er...no. Both wide players go up front and Bugiel stays where he is.

The Wombles literally don't touch the ball for over three minutes in which time it's clear that the changes haven't worked and the team needs reorganising. We carry on with the ball not sticking up front (because the players up there don't know how to make that happen) and the whole team falling apart with Crawley exploiting the chaos to dominate possession. Rather than admit his mistake and correct it Jackson indulges in histrionics on the bench but actually does nothing.

Very predictably Crawley score a scrappy goal after a huge period of pressure and Jackson reacts by taking off the only recognised forward on the pitch, Bugiel, and replaces him with chaos magnet midfielder Pell and we then spend the remainder of the game gormlessly hammering the ball up the pitch to the misfit three man excuse for a front line. The fans justifiably scream blue murder at everyone involved in such an amateurish shambles and nobody can fathom how any football coach can mindlessly plough on with such an obviously disastrous, self-defeating mess,

My photo is of my highlight of the night - a pork, cider and mustard pie, peas and mash with an accompanying fruit sour beer,

G Mush is now my new hip-hop MC name.

[cantagalo]

Clipstone 1 Basford United 2
Notts Senior Cup Semi Final
Att: 330

Having seen both Liverpool and Man City over the last four days, it was good to get back to grass roots again

The wet weather saved me the trouble of choosing between four local fixtures as only this one remained. With a crowd of 330, three times Clipstone's normal attendance, Notts Senior Cup fever had taken hold of this ex-mining village and they were hoping for a giant-killing by their heroes against opposition three tiers higher in the non-league food chain. Nonetheless, Clipstone have had a good season, lying in second place in UCL Division 1 while Basford are struggling and on Saturday parted company with their second manager of the season.

Though they had a bunch of kids on the bench, Basford fielded 7 or 8 first team regulars but they seemed to have trouble adapting from their 3G pitch to a much more uneven surface. It took a brilliant strike into the top corner by Leicester loanee Jack Lewis to give them the lead and they only confirmed their place in the final with a late second by Remaye Campbell. Clipstone did well to stay in the game for that long and were rewarded with a late consolation goal.

[imp]

Eintracht Frankfurt 1 Union St. Gilloise 2 (aggregate: 3-4)
Europa Conference League, Round of Purgatory, 2nd. leg
Ticket: €61 (yep, six.tee.one)
Food: Currywurst mit Pommes, €7.50 (outside the stadium)
Crowd: 57,300

What the fuck is a conference league anyway? Aren't you either a conference or a league? This competition probably wants to be both, but it's neither. It's a trophy no sane club wants to be bothered with, unless they've won fuck all for decades (Roma, West Ham etc.). Definitely not Eintracht, who lost three of their group games, including one to Aberdeen, a Scottish club for fuck's sake, but still easily managed second place to limp into this half-round of nothing in the middle of winter, against a team we'd have eaten for breakfast on our way to the Europa League title less than two years ago. This time last year, we were in the knockout stages of the Champions League, woo-hoo. And now, this shit. The fucking Conference or the fucking League, except it's in fact a cup, because you can get knocked out of cups, and that's exactly what happens when you run out and pass the ball around in backward triangles or knock it aimlessly long even though your big fella you took on loan from Wolves is crocked for the rest of the season, and soon enough you give it away, and your opponent gets lots of chances and ends up scoring more goals than you because they look like they actually give a fucking shit.

Sixty-one Euros. I got exactly what I deserved for paying so much to watch this absolute bucket of bollocks. Got home after midnight, tired and bored and wondering if I even like going to matches at all any more.

[super furry dice]

Bath City 3 St Albans City 1

Well, I said that I’d be pleased with a 1-0 win and I would’ve been. Bath City started as the meant to go go in by pressuring the St Albans defence, the more aggressive Tom Smith up in his old number 10 position. St Albans showed the class that had given them 8 games undefeated with assured possession around the back.

However, as time went on, they started making mistakes which were especially picked up on by our wingers, Chin and Clarke. The latter swooped on a slip by their defender and crossed the ball sensibly to Tom Smith who calmly put it away just before the end of the first half.

As we have been fairly tight in defence, I was feeling reasonably confident that we could keep to 1-0 but was also conscious that they were going to have to come out a bit more and leave spaces. Sure enough, we had to ride out a first 15!minutes where they threw everything at us but didn’t really have a shot in goal. We started getting back into it and then were gifted a goal by the goalkeeper having what can only be described as a brainfart and letting the excellent Richard Chin for his debut and easiest goal he’ll score. A couple of substitutions and one of those, Alabi, scored the sort of goal he’d been promising to score since he joined, powering through after a long ball forward, taking a, it has to said, crap shot but nearly heading in the return. He had another chance later with a wonderful flying header that flew wide. St Albans then got a consolation with what was probably the best goal of the game but it was too late.

I’ve been critical of Jerry Gill and didn’t think that we should’ve extended his contract but the players he has brought and, especially yesterday, his tactics are presently proving me wrong.

Another bonus was bumping into and having a lovely chat with super furry dice who seemed to enjoy the match and ground and will hopefully come again.

Great to meet you and I will be back and back again. The charm of Twerton as a traditional ground always helps but its noticeable how now, its got a lovely buzz around the club and its not just down to having a decent season, it really feels like a club doing all the right things and a 1400 attendance shows that.

Some of the pics I took feature in this great write-up on it from Tom Reed of Terrace Edition: https://www.terraceedition.com/home-...-groundhopping

And here's a pic of the third goal:

[Kowalski]

Nice Photo of the third goal there

[Bored Of Education]

Indeed, lovely write up and photos