Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

[E10 Rifle]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Congrats Giggler. You have to feel for Southend though. Well, you don't have to.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Well that was shit. At least we didn't lose.

[Southport Zeb]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

TNS won the Welsh Cup fairly comfortably, 2-0 in the end. The most entertaining part of the afternoon was watching various FAW odd jobs men taking an age to construct the podium for the trophy presentation, and then the person compering the presentation forgetting that the runners up are awarded medals.

[Crystal Staples]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Folkestone Invicta 0-3 Merstham, Isthmian D1(S) play-off final, Att 1465.

Merstham created very little, but made their few chances count, and did a good job of keeping men behind the ball in the second half and timewasting. Very disappointing for the Folk after finishing second and losing the final on penalties last season, losing their best player to Hull, and bouncing back to amass 98 points and stay down again.

I'm sure they're not nicknamed the Folk but they should be.

[tuckwat]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Barking 4 Clapton 2 Attendance 360
Barking bossed it from start to finish. Probably the biggest ever attendance for this final.

[Boris Carpark]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Crystal Staples wrote: Folkestone Invicta 0-3 Merstham, Isthmian D1(S) play-off final, Att 1465.

Merstham created very little, but made their few chances count, and did a good job of keeping men behind the ball in the second half and timewasting. Very disappointing for the Folk after finishing second and losing the final on penalties last season, losing their best player to Hull, and bouncing back to amass 98 points and stay down again.

I'm sure they're not nicknamed the Folk but they should be.

We are somewhat unoriginally known as Seasiders.
Work commitments meant meant I missed this & the semi final but I'm actually a bit relieved to miss out on promotion. The step up is one we've struggled with before, best players getting cherry picked by clubs with bigger budgets & getting gubbed every week was bloody miserable.
Happy to stay & push others around in Ryman south.
Burgess Hill were an excellent side & it'll be interesting to see how they get on.

[laverte]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

I'm heading to deepest Waterlooville to watch Portsmouth Ladies against QPR.

Leadership of the Premier League South has changed a few times since Christmas, but with two games to go the title race is down to two teams. Portsmouth lead Brighton by three points, but have an inferior goal difference. Brighton's last two games are both against bottom club Keynsham, who have one league win and one drawn game over the entire season. Portsmouth's games are both at home against mid-table opponents. They can afford to draw one but not to lose.

The league winner strengthens their case for promotion to the Super League next summer, which will be decided by that most sporting of processes, a closed-doors nomination by the FA.

[Janik]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Erm, I thought there was a play-off between the Premier North and South winners? But maybe that is just a step on the way, and the winners of that then go to the committee room.
Any side promoted will have a long wait to play again, as they can't enter WSL 2 until March 2016 at the earliest, what with the WSL playing a summer season and the rest of Women's Football still on a traditional winter arrangement.

[François dan un fez]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Spurs v man City

Hopefully City won't be shredding our defence again but it's hard to be optimistic with our selection of centre backs.

Overall we've done way better than we could have hoped this year most due to a 4 month period of playing good football inspired by Kane, Lloris and Eriksen. Mason and Bentalib are looking a bit tired but are the other major plus of the season.

[François dan un fez]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

E10 that Orient game at Oxford was about as good as it gets.

[Big Boobs and FIRE!]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

South Western Peninsula League Division 1 East

Appledore 0 v Crediton United 1

First off was the Preserved Locomotive Enthusiasts Group/Branch Line Society tour of Plymouth Laira Depot carriage wash plant. A pair of gronks wrapped around a full HST set did Plymouth Station – Friary – Laira Junction (via running sidings) – Plymouth station.


Bus up to Appledore, taking in Bideford and some more professional imagery of football grounds from passing buses.


And on to the main event. Appledore were top of the league, three points clear of Tavistock with both teams having two games to play. Tavistock had the much better goal difference.


Ground is on top of a hill just outside the town. It was fairly clear and you could see across to Saunton Sands and then further on to the Gower.


When I lived in Plymouth, I visited the place quite a few times as the shipyard used to do re-fits on the Cal Mac ferries, so a lot of the Clyde fleet was cleared for sight without leaving Devon. At the time, Appledore were in the Devon County League and the ground was quite Spartan. Revisiting 25 years later and it seems little had changed; still no floodlights or stands, railed on three sides with the side of a house enclosing the far end.


The training ground seems to have become an in-shore marina, with various boats dumped behind the corner flag.


A couple of signs that you probably don’t see in the Premier League. Firstly a warning about retrieving wayward shots….


….and a high value sponsor. Incidentally, this is the second game I’ve been to this season where the match sponsor has been a live bait supplier.


Kicking off at the unexplained time of 1511, Appledore absolutely dominated the game, which was of fair standard, but couldn’t score, but Crediton did manage to early in the second half. With Tavistock tanking Plymstock 5-0, it means they are top going into the last game.

Trip home was via the Appledore – Instow ferry.






The reason for getting the ferry was the Instow annual scarecrow competition; I managed to clear 14 of the 27 in the two hours before I had to get the bus back to Barnstaple.


Apart from Plymouth – Okehampton, buses had been solid Stagecoach Scania N230UD with ADL Enviro 400 bodies. This was steed on to Barnstaple, 15895, which is named Winston Coltrane, who apparently is a local juvenile bus spotter.


From Barney down to Exeter, one of the hybrid three-car Sprinters had escaped from Bristol. These were formed by inserting into an existing two car, a spare vehicle whose partner had been written off due to crash damage. Barnstaple has been kitted out in retro Southern Railways signage and colour scheme.


From Exeter, HST back to the metropolis. Cheese from the stall in Butcher’s row; Whalesborough – Cornish Smuggler, Stansfield - Cornish Blue, and a Swiss washed rind who’s name I can’t remember but have e-mailed a request so I can update my records.Not pictured are some Chevre blue and Sparkenhoe which didn’t last the train journey to Exter. Meat was a black olive Salami from Delabole. Also, a mixed chocolate Appledore surfboard. Ale was a selection from St Ives Brewery.


Today was a B-, most memorable for 8 of the Appledore players wearing black boots.

[Furtho]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Omiya Ardija scrapped out a 1-0 win over Ehime FC in Japan's second tier on Sunday afternoon. The stadium's location is very pleasant, in a large public park close to the centre of Omiya, the playing surface outstanding, the weather was superb and the crowd at just over 8000 more than decent. The game was a shocker, though. The first half felt like a training exercise, lots of tidy passing but absolutely no urgency from either side. The goal came just before half time, when an Ehime defender stood on the ball allowing Omiya winger Jun Izumisawa to pounce, advancing on goal and slotting neatly inside the post. After the restart Ehime dominated possession but didn't have enough guile to make the breakthrough, a couple of half chances being well saved by Omiya's excellent keeper, Nobuhiro Kato. The win puts Omiya fourth, although God alone knows how on this showing.

[Uncle Ethan]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

To whoever started these match-going threads and those who post in them. Thank you.

[Furtho]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Brief highlights of Omiya 1-0 Ehime are here.

[Ray de Galles]

Mayday! Weekend Matchgoing

Every week BB&F! forces me to take a long hard look at my life, assess it and realise I have done nothing with it.