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    #26
    Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

    I'm reading this thread thinking back to 50p for kids v Manchester United in the 70s and feeling (a) old and (b) angry with the people who've priced football out of the reach of proper fans.

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      #27
      Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

      nmrfox wrote: Wembley on Sunday for the Community Shield. Free ticket courtesy of the son-in-law "winning" some kind of competiton on Facebook. Have seen the tickets and they are genuine and better still, in the Leicester part of the ground.

      Luckily we had decided not to prostitute ourselves to East Midlands Trains even before the landslip at Barrow and are going via coach instead from Sheffield, which means an early start and a late end to the day.
      Two popular ex-Chelsea managers in charge of the teams. What are the odds of John Terry donning the winning team's kit at the end for the presentation?

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        #28
        Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

        London Bari v Clapton in the FA Cup.

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          #29
          Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

          Up to Musselburgh for Athletic v Bo'ness.

          Comment


            #30
            Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

            steveeeeeeeee wrote: London Bari v Clapton in the FA Cup.
            Very good game and 1-3 win for Clapton. Clapton took an early lead, but Bari always looked menacing and got a deserved equaliser in the second half. But Clapton got one back immediately from a corner then scored an excellent third by pressuring the Bari defence.

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              #31
              Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

              The Ginsters Pasty Stadium.

              Comment


                #32
                Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                I went to watch:

                East Thurrock United 0-1 Hungerford Town

                The match wasn't a cracker. Played in front of about 150 of us. The burger was good, the pint before the game was okay and the test match in the clubhouse was even better.

                Comment


                  #33
                  Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                  Day out in the glorious sunshine in Altrincham.

                  Decent result, good day out had by all.

                  Comment


                    #34
                    Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                    Callington Town v Helston

                    Saltash United v Witheridge


                    This was one of those quickly re-arranged days out. Originally it was a Friday game at Cullompton, followed by an overnight in Hele and then an early game in the South West. However, an overrunning meeting on the Friday went I couldn't get there in time so it was a self-contained day out on the Saturday.

                    A trip to Cornwall was chosen, as the additional Summer Saturday trains make it a lot easier to get to and from in August. So it was the 0711 off Swindon. Uber train cranks may notice the Train information screen has white writing, the only one in the UK to do so, all the rest having yellow writing.

                    Through the Vale of the White Horse and the morning haze starting to clear.

                    Into Reading, with the new viaduct disappearing into the distance. It would s the UK's longest concrete viaduct and was opened a couple of years ago to take the main lines over the freight lines that come up from the south and were causing congestion due to the huge increase in freight liner traffic from Southampton docks to the north. The unseen consequences of Mancs wanting dishwashers.

                    With 20 minutes to spare and a four hour train journey ahead, it was a chance to get some sustenance, but what a quandary. Today I was rolling with the East Cornwall massif, but the only hot food was West Cornwall.

                    I compromised by using the West Side, but not getting a pasty, as that is what the turf wars are really about.

                    And so it was, the 0804 summer Saturday's only, Great Western service to Newquay.

                    Soon out of Reading, and passing bridge works at Ufton. This is just down the hill from where I grew up and I spent many happy hours of childhood here, fishing in the adjacent River Kennet, whilst checking on the trains at the level crossing. However, in 2004, it was scene of a tragic accident when a well known local sex case, killed himself by parking his car on the crossing. It got hit by an HST, with grave consequences as the train then derailed on the points just after the crossing. The ensuing pile up killed nine people, including the train driver, who was buried alive by ballast that entered the cab as the train slid along on its side. There have since been a series of copycat suicides at the crossing, so Network Rail are in the process of replacing it with a bridge.

                    Now I've got that feel good factor into the report. The line follows the Kennet and Avon Canal for much of its initial length. Although this is considered the direct route to the West of England, it was intact a late build of connections between other lines, meaning it is far from straight. It is just as quick to go via Bristol.

                    Obviously, it would be impossible to do this route without a picture of a hillside white horse, so here you are. The photo was taken from the Westbury avoiding line. During the economic downturn of the 1930s, the government funded local job creation schemes to stimulate the economy and get people away from poverty. The original GWR took advantage of this with a number of schemes on this route, to straighten it out, divert around congested stations, or create flyovers at junctions. This is one of them. Of course, if you are a real finance genius, you could just descimate welfare payments to the most needy whilst giving tax breaks to high earners and wealthy pensioners, and cut public services. This will of course lead to an instant balance of payments, and make your chancellors job secure, even if your PM mate is booted out.

                    Into Taunton, and the iconic start to the West Country, the Taunton freight concentration yard water tower, still with its original British Railways signage, previously isolated since the goods yard shut many years ago, has found itself surrounded by hideous new build flats. The equivalent for the north is on departure from Sheffield, where you get to see what letters have fallen off the British Pewter Company building.

                    Heading along to Exeter, and the railway parallels the M5. On summer Saturday's, this used to be at a standstill. It is perhaps a sign of the times that these days it is relatively deserted on such days.

                    Any trip to the West Country has to include a sea wall shot at Teignmouth.

                    All too soon we were into Plymouth, marked by the trip along the Plym estuary.

                    I left the HST for its journey onto Newquay.

                    My move onward was the Gunnislake branch unit.

                    The branch starts by carrying along the main line, but stops at the wayside shacks, with their local names. Firstly Devonport.....

                    ....then Dockyard.

                    Then alongside Devonport Dockyard.

                    The branch itself starts at St Budueaux, with the driver obtaining the token which permits access onto the single line. There are two stations here, this is Victoria Road, the mainline station of Ferry Road is up on the left.

                    The line gives an unusual view of the Tamar bridges, going underneath them.

                    Looking back down the estuary, with the road and rail bridges across into Cornwall.

                    The line continues to Bere Alston. Since it left the main line, the branch has been on the old Southern Railways main line to the west, which went overland across Dartmoor, but currently terminates here. There is pressure to re-open the line throughout, as the coastal Great Western route is prone to being shut due to damage from the sea.

                    The train reverses here, it has arrived from Plymouth on the left hand line, and heads into Cornwall on the right hand line.

                    The line starts dropping down, as it has to cross the Tamar. This is done on this spectacular viaduct.

                    The Tamar below….

                    ….with the village of Calstock alongside.

                    This stretch of line is very much a branch line. It was built to 'light railway' principles, whereby the line could be steeper, have tight curves and less robust track, which meant a great reduction in building costs, but restrictions on speeds and weights of trains. The distance between Calstock and Gunnislake is a mile direct, but the meandering railway does it in three. It also does it at a leisurely 10 miles an hour.

                    The level crossings have neither barriers nor warning lights. Instead, the train comes to a halt, sounds his horn, the driver has a look around, and if all is good, on he goes.

                    Despite the switchback route, there is still a very challenging 1 in 38 gradient, which takes the line high above the Tamar Valley.

                    Into Gunnislake, the current terminus of the line. Road wise, this area is very challenging, being mostly country lanes and no crossings over the Tamar. This is why the branch survived, as buses could not fit down the lanes. The line did use to carry on to Callington, but the line was closed from here onwards.

                    I was at University in Plymouth. One year we played against a team in Gunnislake. Before the game we were advised by the opposition that the pitch was on the remains of a slag heap from an 18th century arsenic mine, and we were playing on it at our own risk. Whether this was true or just mind games, I don't know.

                    As there isn't much in Gunnislake, and there was an hour until the bus, I headed back on the train….

                    …approaching Calstock with another view of the viaduct.

                    Into the station, where I alighted.

                    The train departs across the viaduct, on its way back to Plymouth.

                    Calstock is a quiet little village that nestles by the river, although dominated by the viaduct (last picture, I promise).

                    I headed down to the football club to see if, on the off chance, they might be having an early season friendly. I found the ground ok....

                    ....but it was apparent that there wasn't a game on.

                    Instead, it was a bikers festival. I’m shore they only chose this place so they didn’t have to suffix another place with ‘stock’, as all festivals seem to do.

                    My view of bikers is pretty much based on the gangs from Every Which Way but Loose, Police Accademy, and the Simpsons. So I was expecting a bunch of violent, witless, simpletons who end up the victims of a series of comedy scrapes, but end up on the side of good. Well, these lot weren't violent. They mostly sat around at the village short mat bowls club...

                    ...ate ice cream....

                    ....or fed ducks.

                    …or revved their motorbikes. Which they did. A lot. My place is next to Swindon is next to a long, low, bridge under the railway. My place up north is next to a narrow, uphill street. This means I have to listen to these inconsiderate pricks revving their bikes at all times of day and night, just in case they forgot what it sounds like since they last revved it three seconds previous. Everytime I see some garage forecourt flowers sellotaped to a lamp post, I take some small comfort that there is one less of these arses out there, keeping myself and the neighbourhood awake.

                    Just when I thought revving hell couldn’t get any worse, the noisiest form of marine transport arrived in the form of a mini hovercraft.

                    Eventually my bus to freedom arrived.

                    This took us down various country lanes, up on to the main road. 200 years ago, the area saw a mining boom, with silver being the main target.

                    We now looked down the Tamar Valley, down onto the Hamoze and Plymouth Sound.

                    Passing the world's least successful car boot sale. 'Spread out, it will make it look busier'.

                    I alighted the bus on the outskirts of Callington.

                    I was heading for this.

                    Ginsters were a local baking family who in the 1960s, switched to the mass production of pasties, firstly selling them around the town, before branching out and selling them around the South West. In the late 1970s, the family sold out to the owners of Pork Farm sausages. Over the next couple of decades, these bunch of bastards really branched out, taking the soggy mess to every garage forecourt in Britain. They have tried to move production from Callington, but the Cornish Pasty now has designated origin status, and this is as far east in the county as you can go, so it's future looks secure. Pork Farms are privately owned by some bastard who goes to 50k Tory fundraisers, and who when the minimum wage came in, immediately ended premium hours for Sunday work, and sacked anyone who wanted Union involvement.

                    On trips out, I often stumble across interesting factories. I will often chance my arm to see if they will give you a tour. It is usually about 80/20 in favour of getting turned down, especially food producers (except pork scratching manufacturers where I have had 100% success). A highlight of an FA Vase game at Brandon was a tour around the adjacent largest toilet paper mill in the UK. But back to here, and I enquired with the security, who seemed to downplay the interest of the place, describing it as a large bakery. He did extol the virtues of the product development area, but this was shut at weekends. Instead, he compromised and let me visit the staff canteen, which is where new products are first sold.

                    Mid-shift, it was rather deserted, but I chose this soon to be launched limited edition.

                    It was then off into Callington itself. The town, along with most in Cornwall, claims to be the place where King Arthur's knights met. I think it probably was round about the 6th century when the town was in its prime, this shop being a good benchmark for the rest of the town.

                    It can’t be often that a signed advertising Canine Hydrotherapy isn’t the strangest one in the shot. Am I the only one for whom Equine Gastric Ulcer Awareness Month has passed them by? Fair play for them for going straight to production on the banner without any regard to spell check.

                    Obviously the previously mentioned pasty wars have made the town a no go zone for ‘da gavvas’.

                    I headed to the football ground, which is located in the college.

                    There were tempting alternatives within the campus; the beauty college, tennis dome and especially the space centre, all enticing.

                    But soon we were at the ground.


                    Callington Town 2 v Helston Athletic 0, South West Peninsula, Premier Division.


                    Callington Town are a relatively young club, only being formed in 1989. They played in the East Cornwall league before moving up to the South West league in the late nineties. Two years ago, after 14 years trying, they won their first promotion up to the premier league.

                    Helston Athletic have been going since 1896. In the 1950s they joined the South Western league but struggled and had dropped back down to the Cornwall Combination by the 1970s. However, in 2011 they returned to the South West Peninsula as it now was, doing strongly in the first division and are now in the premier.

                    I visited the ground here when I was living in Plymouth. At the time Callington were in the East Cornwall league, and the ground was nothing more than a railed off pitch with changing rooms. I was interested in seeing how the ground had developed. The answer was, not a lot.

                    You here about paint still being wet on ground improvements when the season kicks off, but the far side took this to a new level. I arrived half an hour before kick off and a large digger and dumper truck were hard at work building something or other.

                    This area had been shut off from spectators…,

                    … but the benches still had to endure the dust and noise from the work. Good job they don't say anything meaningful.

                    The main development was a large wooden cabin has been built on the grass banking on the far side of the pitch.

                    Also on the far side, it appears hard standing had been installed in the close season, though it had an unexplained jaunty diversion at one end.

                    Two sides of the ground are shallow grass banking.

                    The ground is officially called the Ginsters Pasties Stadium. It is adorned with these pasty/football chant banners.


                    The agricultural clutter had been reclaimed by its foe, to the extent that I didn’t notice it and when arse over tit over a furrow.

                    The game was pretty even, but Callington took the lead just before half time….

                    ….and added another in the second half to win 2-0.

                    I headed back in the centre for my onward bus journey.

                    This was the main A388 road between Callington and Plymouth, so was devoid of the chicanery of the earlier journey.

                    Passing the ornate but dysfunctional entrance to St Mellion golf club. A triumph for administration over hope for retrospective planning permission.

                    One of our lecturers at University used to come in from here. I always thought it sounded like the medical name for anal septacemia.

                    I jumped off the bus in Saltash, the brutal concrete fencing marking my second game of the day.

                    Heading down to the ground, through the suspiciously large police station car park.


                    Saltash United 6 v Witheridge 0, South West Peninsula, Premier Division.


                    After a series of other clubs in the town folded, Saltash United are another relatively young club, being formed in 1946. They joined the South Western league, where they were a strong force. This came to the fore in the 1970s, when they won the league and moved up to the Western League. They continued to be strong in this league, winning it three times in five years in the 1980s. However, come the mid nineties and travelling and finance had come too much (the Western League is predominantly Bristol clubs) and they dropped back to the South Western (which in those days, was Cornwall and West Devon clubs). They returned briefly to the Western in 2004, but have since been in the South West Peninsula (which is the old South Western League plus the Devon and Exeter League), where they have had strong finishes without challenging for the title.

                    Witheridge is a Devon village between Barnstaple and Tiverton. They were formed in 1920, originally with a married team and a singles team. They progressed through the North Devon and Tiverton leagues, reaching the Devon and Exeter league. They were a strong team in this league, eventually getting promotion to the Devon County, which in turn came the South West Peninsula. I first visited them in the early nineties. My abiding memory bas that they had brothers with them who’s names were Apple and Slug Suliaskas. Names not beaten on the Devon scene until the recent arrival of Exmouth’s Ace High.

                    Kimberley Park was opened in the early 1950s. I used to be a regular visitor for evening games as it was convenient when I lived in Plymouth. I always thought it was very basic for a Western League ground, and it hasn't changed since.

                    There is a main stand on one side, which is the only cover in the ground.

                    Two other sides are grass banking, which are great on a day like today, not so good in the depths of winter.

                    The club were quite keen to remind you of that.

                    The best view is from the raised warming up area behind the dugouts.

                    Non-league pitch surrounds never fail to amaze me with their differing innovation. This is a new one for me, being a thin steel wire inside a rubber hose.

                    At some time over the last couple of years, there seems to be an addition to ground grading criteria, that rubbish bins must be placed at the narrowest and most inconvenient part of the pitch side path.

                    The far end seems to have been given up with completely, being fenced off without any noticeable development underway.

                    The only development at the ground has been the creation of a second turn style, but the budget appears to have been blown on a ventilation system to rival the most advance office block.

                    This manager has over 450 league appearances and 12 England U21 caps.

                    Another short sleeved training top vice a proper keepers shirt, the Hayle keeper being similarly clad at the previous game. Is there a national shortage?

                    Saltash had all the play and scored consistently through the game.

                    This one made it four nil and they added a couple more.

                    It time for me to head off for my train, which was on the other side of town. The town is perched high up on the Cornish bank of the Tamar.

                    The Main Street gives a great view of both the famous bridges that link Devon and Cornwall.

                    In Saltash, everything seems to include a picture of the bridge...

                    ....or Brunel....

                    ...or some are just greedy.

                    Hardly any trains stop at Saltash, only occasional local ones between Penzance and Plymouth. However, when this one appeared, it was being worked by an HST.

                    This causes havoc as only one coach fits on the platform, the driver getting out to shut the doors.

                    Soon we were on our way, across the bridge.

                    This is the opposite view than earlier in the day, with the Gunnislake branch heading away alongside the estuary.

                    The branch passing under the bridges.

                    We arrived into Plymouth.

                    My onward move was a cross country service to Bristol, but this was only 4 car and was rammed full of jubilant Luton fans on their way home, so I flagged it for a unit over the hills.

                    Into Totnes with the old signal box preserved on the platform....

                    ....for a London bound HST, with Totnes castle in the background. On the train up to London, the whole coach got to share the experience of nasal-voiced, west country pigmy Josh Widecombe, trying to get a pizza delivered to the train. After failing miserably at Tiverton Parkway, eventually he succeeded at Westbury, getting some sustenance to keep alive his luscious ginger afro.

                    I dodged the ongoing pizza shenanigans at Westbury, by making a plus three onto a unit to the hellhole Armageddon that is Bath station on a Saturday evening, though a platform full of tourists is still vastly preferable to obnoxious, self-righteous, inebriated rugby supporters. Fortunately, a ten minute connection found me heading back to Swindon.


                    Pastry times.

                    Comment


                      #35
                      Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                      Wee bit of history with East Stirlingshire's first ever game in the Lowland League against Vale of Leithen.

                      Classic game of two halves: Shire should have had four or five by half-time, but only got one, then Vale equalised right on the whistle and scored again soon after the restart. Shire managed to equalise, but Vale were well on top for the rest of the game and only didn't win because of some excellent saves from the Shire reserve keeper, including a penalty.

                      2-2, honours even, crowd about 150.

                      Comment


                        #36
                        Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                        Sat down with a cup of tea after putting the kids to bed to read BB&F's latest opus. Wonderful stuff again.

                        Comment


                          #37
                          Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                          Gangster Octopus wrote:
                          Originally posted by JVL
                          Kaiserslautern v. Hannover 96 in the 2. Liga curtain-raiser this evening.
                          Hoping to get to the new ground at any time this season?
                          If plans come together, should make it back for a game in September. Still doesn't seem quite real, even though we had the friendly against Hendon there last week and it really, finally does look like H&Y will be back playing in Hayes.

                          As for the weekend's football - Kaiserslautern got humped 4-0 by Hannover in front of over 40,000 fans, who didn't really seem to surprised and took it all in pretty good humour. A combination of waiting for bloody ever to get the deposit charges for beer glasses paid back to the bloody idiotic stadium payment card, and the effects of said beer, means that we missed the last direct train home, spent nearly an hour waiting for a cab from Neustadt and didn't make it back until about 2:30am.

                          Pushed on through all day Saturday as it was the village Weinfest this weekend and we had friends coming to visit for that, and then wound down by taking VL jnr. to watch Weingarten lose 2-0 to Rödersheim (one league above them) in the Kreispokal Rhein-Mittelhaardt this afternoon.

                          Comment


                            #38
                            Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                            A number of things on BB&F's post but one of the things mentioned brings me back to one of the worst moments I have ever had at work. Namely this:

                            However, in 2004, it was scene of a tragic accident when a well known local sex case, killed himself by parking his car on the crossing. It got hit by an HST, with grave consequences as the train then derailed on the points just after the crossing. The ensuing pile up killed nine people, including the train driver, who was buried alive by ballast that entered the cab as the train slid along on its side.
                            I worked in the control room that dealt with it and although I wasn't on shift at the time I went in the next day to help deal with it. They didn't need any help having passed on responsibility to those on the ground, but I sat there for a few hours helping to cancel off trains and put in new schedules. Monday at work was weird as I was on an early turn and there was a meeting in the canteen about it. At the meeting the head of the GW area stood up and told us exactly what had happened and how the driver had died. It stopped any rumours and gave us all the facts. There were a few tears but it was the best thing that happened.

                            The driver of the train that died wasn't rostered to work. He was on call and the original driver called in sick and the roster clerk had two names to call to cover the train and picked one and that was the driver that died. The roster clerk was in tears. It's difficult to get over to people the effect things like this have on you.

                            Other things:

                            I was also at Plymouth Uni from 1996 - 2000. What degree did you do?

                            Also, you aren't the first OTF'er to visit Saltash United. I visited it in 1999 (I think) when Man Utd were playing in the champions league final and I went to watch Saltash Utd instead. When I posted this on OTF someone awarded me 200 WSC cool points for doing so. I still retain those points with pride!

                            Comment


                              #39
                              Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                              I was first line on-call when it happened and by chance was at my parents so heard the incident.

                              I was third on site, with one railway manager and one policemen who was there when it happened.

                              We wandered down to the train, dealing with the mortally injured, the owner of the adjacent hotel who was desperate for us to commandeer the place for a command centre as he had inadvertently booked a gypsy wedding reception which wanted any excuse to cancel, and people who wanted to know why we hadn't yet ordered replacement taxis, about ten minutes after the crash happened.

                              We got to the front of the train and there were smashed windows with human entrails on them, as passengers had been thrown through them on impact. Scattered around were a couple of bodies. We got to the cab and the TM was trying to dig the driver out.

                              Still, it must have been exceedingly traumatic for you to have to work a VSTP shift, 40 miles away, two days later.

                              Comment


                                #40
                                Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                                Still, it must have been exceedingly traumatic for you to have to work a VSTP shift, 40 miles away, two days later.
                                I'm going to leave it there and say nothing more.

                                Good luck to you BB&F I wish you all the best in the world, but I am not going to go any further any more on this.

                                Comment


                                  #41
                                  Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                                  Yes, that was a really unpleasant dig.

                                  Saturday: Bundesliga 3
                                  FSV Frankfurt 0 Rot-Weiss Erfurt 1
                                  Completely new Frankfurt team after last season's horror show. Only Shawn Barry on the bench is left over. New players, same old shite, Erfurt winning with a messy, late goal. Frankfurt then had their best chance of the game, a free header from six yards out from a perfect cross that was placed comically wide of the rectangular target.

                                  It's hard to identify with a team when they change the entire squad lock, stock and barrel. This bunch were so bad that I started to yearn for some of last season's losers, who at least looked like football players now and again. The drop in standard and pace between divisions 2 and 3 is huge if this game is anything to go by.

                                  Sunday: this, which I'm aiming to make a regular and hopefully half-way entertaining thing.

                                  Comment


                                    #42
                                    Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                                    imp wrote:
                                    It's hard to identify with a team when they change the entire squad lock, stock and barrel. This bunch were so bad that I started to yearn for some of last season's losers, who at least looked like football players now and again. The drop in standard and pace between divisions 2 and 3 is huge if this game is anything to go by.
                                    I think it depends on how the previous season's squad have gone. You won't find many York fans who wanted to see a single one of last season's rabble in a City shirt ever again, and we've almost got our wish (12 debuts at Maidstone on Saturday, plus a 'second debut' for the returning Richard Brodie). Added to which, this new squad contains a number of players who've come from part-time football, and having chatted to them they have none of the airs and graces of long-standing Big Time Charlie pros - they are delighted to be with us and thrilled/grateful at the opportunity. Our new captain is even a York lad but somehow previously slipped through our local scouting net. Even if they turn out to be not that great, I think we'll find them a lot easier to identify with than last year's workshy wage thieves.

                                    Back on the thread... weekend matchgoing these days almost feels inadequate when you know how your day/trip will stack up against BB&F's! Genuinely makes me want to get out and discover more of this island's hidden corners. Chapeau, sir.

                                    Comment


                                      #43
                                      Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                                      It was telling that when new signing Yannick Stark came one (on a year's loan from Darmstadt), that he got a good welcome - he'd been at the club from 2011-13. The rest are no-names apart from ex-Eintracht defender Patrick Ochs, who's been retired for a year and is now the experienced pro they're building a team around. He's been pretty much retired for a year and looked knackered.

                                      On Sunday they signed an international striker, a Luxembourg international, Maurice Deville, on loan from Kaiserslautern for a year - 20th. signing of the summer (26 players have left).

                                      I forgot the funniest bit. They always announce the coach's name after reading out the team line-ups, but instead of announcing the correct name (Roland Vrabec), they had a picture of Hans-Juergen Boysen, who was at the club from 2009 to 2011. The announcer duly read out his first name, and the few fans that bother playing along yelled out his surname. "Oh, wait, that's the goalkeeper trainer, isn't it?" said the announcer (also wrong), and then apologized several times, but the actual trainer's name was never read out. Giving the general impression that the arse and the elbow at FSV have not yet formally met.

                                      Comment


                                        #44
                                        Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                                        Ascot United 2 Milton United 0

                                        FA Cup Extra-Preliminary Round


                                        I want to say that Ascot won at a canter but in fact Milton had many more chances but their finishing was woeful. Ascot made the most of defensive chaos at a corner and slack marking of their front three respectively to get their goals.

                                        Milton had a lovely Macron claret and blue trim nicer than most I've seen higher up the leagues (heavy on the claret, mind):





                                        Photos courtesy of their site.

                                        Comment


                                          #45
                                          Chances with Wolves: Weekend matchgoing

                                          Confiança 1 Cuiabá 1

                                          The Batistão is a very pleasant stadium in the heart of downtown Aracajú. Confiança went behind to a penalty but were denied first by two incredible saves and then an offside flag. At this point, someone chucked a bottle at the linesman which a ballboy retrieved and tried to hide from the officials. Objects thrown on the pitch usually lead to an automatic ground closure for a couple of matches. The offender was identified and handed over to officials.

                                          Confiança got their equaliser early in the second half, after which, disappointingly, both teams seemed to settle for the draw.

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