Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

[Ray de Galles]

No thread yet? The FA Cup Preliminary Round is starting and I am off to my second game of the tournament - Molesey v Godalming Town.

Weather permitting, I'm then shooting across/around London to Essex for Lakeside Hammers v Coventry Bees in Elite League Speedway.

.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

FA Cup prelim - Sporting Bengal v Clapton

[Southport Zeb]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

I've been to see City of Liverpool play Stockport Town in the North West Counties this evening. City of Liverpool are a new club set up on the spurious grounds that there isn't a non league side within the boundaries of Liverpool, so obviously they are playing home games at Bootle's ground which is in Sefton. About 200 there tonight watching Liverpool take a 4-0 lead before Stockport scored a couple in the last few minutes. It will be interesting to see whether this level of interest is retained as the season continues.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Peak District for Whaley Bridge v Greenalls Padgate St Oswalds in the Cheshire League.

[Ray de Galles]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Whatever happened to AFC Liverpool?

[Southport Zeb]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Still around, been grounds haring at Marine for the last couple of years. Think crowds are between one and two hundred.

[sw2borshch]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Sunderland away. We're meeting our coach at a pub, then the coach has to report to the Riverside to meet its police escort, but it's not a derby. Oh no.

[Paul S]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Ray de Galles wrote: Whatever happened to AFC Liverpool?

What about South Liverpool? Didn't they reform?

[My Name Is Ian]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

I might take the boy to his first football match this afternoon. He's eleven months old, after all. Worthing are at home against Harlow Town, so it's only about a ten minute walk from my house, and I have a thing that allows me to wear him as a backpack.

[Snake Plissken]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Burnley vs Liverpool. This is not going to be pretty.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

My Name Is Ian wrote: I might take the boy to his first football match this afternoon. He's eleven months old, after all. Worthing are at home against Harlow Town, so it's only about a ten minute walk from my house, and I have a thing that allows me to wear him as a backpack.

He doesn't have a chance does he? Before he knows it, he'll be doing the same thing, and he won't know why.

[Southport Zeb]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Paul S wrote:

Whatever happened to AFC Liverpool?

What about South Liverpool? Didn't they reform?

They merged with Cheshire Lines for a couple of years in the early 90s before clubs decided to go their separate ways again. Souths now play in the West Cheshire League and have won the title the last two seasons. Unfortunately it's unlikely that they can go any higher as their pitch is basically a slightly tarted up parks pitch.

[Gangster Octopus]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

We're at home to Brentford in the first of our forty-three must-win matches...

[Gangster Octopus]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Small crowd, no 1 to 11 and it's raining...

[Gangster Octopus]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Danny Ward 1-0!

[ad hoc]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Snake Plissken wrote: Burnley vs Liverpool. This is not going to be pretty.

Seems to be going alright. You're on TV in Romania - wave at the camera

[Gangster Octopus]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

My flat cap is simultaneously keeping the sun out of my eyes and the rain off my hair...

[Paul S]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

I spent the afternoon in the betting shop. I bet on 13 races and won 4. Winnings were £36, losses £15 leaving me with a nice profit of £21 which I will be putting into the tins of charities at the Southend carnival this evening.

[Patrick Thistle]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Snake Plissken wrote: Burnley vs Liverpool. This is not going to be pretty.

Well, not for Liverpool anyway

[steveeeeeeeee]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Sporting Bengal 2 - 0 Clapton FC. Much deserved win for the home side, who were better throughout. Poor game, Clapton were shambolic and apparently their manager handed his notice in after the game.

Best moment of the game was a stadium announcement on the tannoy about 20 minutes into the second half, informing attendees that the chicken biryani was being sold at half-price.

[Gangster Octopus]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

A glorious one-nil victory. Outplayed...

[KGR]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

New ground for me. North Ferriby 1-0 Torquay.

Didn't expect a pretty village with lots of expensive-looking houses.

Did expect a friendly welcome via car park attendants, stewards, bar staff and club shop staff. Which I got.

Also expected a hard game, which Torquay were given. Only when NFU scored after 69 minutes did Torquay wake up. Too little, too late as they chased the game.

Att: 505.

The Football League has never seemed so far away for Torquay United.

[ChrisJ]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Shrewsbury v Chesterfield for me.

A decent game, at times, first win of the season and more good corners/consecutive passes than in the second half of last term. Spireites will consider themselves unlucky.

Points of interest for me:

1. I think having an ex-Barca player starting is a first for Salop.*

2. Adam El-Abd, who will be remembered 'fondly' by Bristol C followers, has now managed 3 yellows and should have been booked for his goal celebration (running about 5 rows into the stand). I don't want to Google what the sanction is for 5 yellows before the end of August because I want it to be a surprise.

3. Evans got pretty much consistent rape-related abuse from the feminazi harpies in Block 19.

*Yeah, ok, actually on loan from Stoke.

[Snake Plissken]

Preliminary Findings - Weekend Matchgoing

Genuinely one of the most memorable games seen at t'Turf for a long time. There was some moaning on Football Weekly about Dyche's comments about other managers last week, but he comprehensively did Klopp up like a kipper today. Definitely one of those matches where the stats don't tell the story at all - Burnley were happy to give Liverpool (dressed like a group who had just come off shift from repairing the M6) the ball, collapse around the penalty box and wait. Liverpool put everything through Coutinho but Marney and Defour were stopping him moving onto his right foot to curl a shot into the top corner. So he was left to pass to Milner, playing left back and unable to cross the ball with speed or his left foot. Sturridge (IMO, the most overrated striker in the Premier League) was happily left to shoot from distance, which isn't his forte.

From memory, despite 80.6% possession, most of it within 30 yards of the Burnley goal, they did not give away a single free kick in what might be called Coutinho territory. Out wide, fine. In the centre, the defence and midfield were incredibly controlled. This wasn't a lucky "stick 11 behind the ball and hope for a break", this was a planned "stick 9 behind the ball, clear it up to Vokes and Gray and watch the neon green defence shit itself". Gray was good but Vokes was magnificent. In the second half, he won the ball in the air, beat Clyne to a rebound and waltzed by three defenders. I love Sam to bits, but he is a traditional centre forward, so if Vokes is beating your defence with his pace and dribbling, you're in trouble.

Heaton made a couple of good saves from long range shots, but most of the time the ball was flying high and wide. Coutinho managed to put a woman in hospital with a wayward shot, compounded by Firminho putting the ball through the windscreen of the ambulance with one of his.* It was one of those lucky yet completely deserved yet quite literally unbelievable wins. One where you are reduced to giggles because you know that your team has thoroughly rope-a-doped a side put together for ten times the cost and they can't do anything about it.

Oh, and when they brought on Moreno... the home fans were cheering. You could feel the entire home section of the ground begin to relax.

I work in the Liver Building. I'm going to walk into the office on Monday as a God.

*This is a joke.