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No floodlights till half-time? Midweek matchgoing

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    No floodlights till half-time? Midweek matchgoing

    Wealdstone v Havant & Waterlooville tonight. I get to pick up my season ticket before the game.

    #2
    I'll be attending my first competitive fixture of the season tomorrow night. Hinckley AFC vs Walsall Wood in the Midland Football League Division One. These two are among the favourites to win the title (only the champions are promoted to the Premier Division) and both won their openers away from home.

    Hinckley finished second last year and have made some good-looking signings to replace their Barwell-bound star striker (who, incidentally, netted Barwell's winner against Whitby on Saturday afternoon) whilst Wood were surprisingly relegated from the Premier Division despite having sat in the top six midway through the campaign.

    There's a little bit of history between the two. They faced one another in the reformed - and community-owned -Hinckley's first ever FA Cup match a couple of years ago. It finished goalless (still Hinckley's only nil nil finish) in the initial tie before Hinckley when on to win the replay at Walsall Wood; securing, obviously, their first ever FA Cup victory.

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      #3
      Enjoy your match and welcome to the board.

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        #4
        Welcome, Corieltauvian.

        Am I reading that right and Hinckley have only had one nil-nil draw in their two year history? If so, that seems quite impressive.

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          #5
          Burscough Dynamo v Marshalls Reserves in the West Cheshire League tonight, probably Springhead v Dukinfield Town in the Manchester League tomorrow, then Middlewich Town v Daten on Wednesday night. Finally on Thursday night it's St Helens Town v Abbey Hulton United, which is St Helens first competitive game in St Helens for seven years.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
            Welcome, Corieltauvian.

            Am I reading that right and Hinckley have only had one nil-nil draw in their two year history? If so, that seems quite impressive.
            Three year history. I suppose it depends how you look at it. They've been a good attacking side ever since they reformed, but have also been defensively poor. There are a lot of poor defences at their level but Hinckley set up to score goals without too much concern about what happens at the other end. It's great to watch, but difficult to shake the feeling the they'd have got closer to promotion with better organisation.

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              #7
              New ground for Swallownest v Campion in NCEL Division 1 tomorrow night. Winners go into the play off places.

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                #8
                Sitting in the new seats at the top of the hill, it's most pleasant. The floodlights are already on...

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                  #9
                  Bollocks. We go behind. Cue massive bar exodus; obviously those idiots who forgot about order their halftime pint...

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                    #10
                    The Hawks are wearing squad numbers.

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                      #11
                      Much unhappiness in the bar and beer garden at halftime...

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                        #12
                        A frustrating second half as The Stones play well, but just can't find that extra spark.

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                          #13
                          Bugger. And there are some grim faces about.

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                            #14
                            I got soaked watching Burscough Dynamo lose 5-1 at home to Marshalls Reserves tonight. Things weren't helped by deciding to cycle to the game. Dynamo have just moved up to the West Cheshire League from the lower divisions of the Wigan League and they didn't look particularly good. Their ground is just playing fields on the edge of the village. Hopefully something drier tomorrow.

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                              #15
                              I went to Windsor races last night. Six flat races which I didn't win anything on followed by a Queen tribute band which, given the location, I thought was rather appropriate. I stayed the night in a Travelodge in Slough and, do know something, Slough seems okay to me. Seriously, I can't see that Slough is any better - or any worse - than any other town in that area. Yes the name is rather dour, but there's some interesting local architecture and the place seems quite nice.

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                                #16
                                Looking at making a second attempt at the FA Cup replay between Waltham Forest vs FC Romania... it's a fair trek from their back to my base in South East London though so stick your money on extra-time and an incredibly long penalty shoot-out.

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                                  #17
                                  Hinckley 1-4 Walsall Wood

                                  Pah. Hinckley paid the price for starting both halves slowly. Actually, they ended the second half pretty badly too. An all round rubbish performance, with the suspension of their best centre back to follow after a daft tackle from behind late on. First home game down, promotion optimism terminally damaged.

                                  Floodlight status: On before halftime. Autumn's a-comin'. I'll have to take a jacket next Tuesday as well.

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                                    #18
                                    Barnsley 2-1 Nottingham Forest

                                    I won't see a better match all season. Forest are fantastic moving the ball around and going forward. They were only let down by some poor finishing and a great performance by Adam Davies in our nets. They just can't defend for toffee though.

                                    We also looked good going forward today (but not close to Forest's performance) and continue to look shaky at the back. End to end football for the full ninety minutes, however a draw would have been a fairer result.

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                                      #19
                                      Swallownest 0-4 Campion

                                      Rude awakening for Swallownest, Campion were bigger, stronger and sharper. Swallownest were quickly reduced to lumping long balls up to a lone striker, Campion scored some nice goals, the last being a chest trap and volley, then they slacked off in the final quarter and allowed Swallownest to create a few chances.

                                      Zeb described the ground well last week, not much there, though unlike many clubs with basic facilities there is room to expand, apparently there's plans for an Atcost. Some splendid groundsman's clutter should BB&F be lurking.

                                      Decent crowd including a lot of hoppers. A couple had big cameras. Another pair were stood reviewing Wisbech Town teamsheets from a folder.

                                      Floodlights; came on at half time, nice sunset.

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                                        #20
                                        I agree. Against Millwall we were pretty awful and would havelost if they had a decent striker. Against you're lot we played really well, best of the season so far and yet we lost. Poor defending and not being ruthless enough. Still promising display and bodes well for the season ahead. As ever, result apart, always a good trip to Oakwell.

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                                          #21
                                          Cray Valley Paper Mills 2-1 Sevenoaks Town

                                          I sacked off Waltham Forest v FC Romania on Tuesday on the basis and went to the increasingly Greenwich Borough branded Badgers Sports Ground last night instead. Was rewarded with a good game that was a bit frantic and hoofy in the first half, but turned into a belter in the second after CVPM went 2-0 up. Sevenoaks switched to three at the back, which opened up much more space and made for an end to end game on the deck rather than in the air. Sevenoaks' keeper, who'd cocked up under a high ball for the first goal then been booked for dissent as he deemed he'd been fouled rather than just inept, kept them in it with two brilliant saves and they pulled a goal back with 20 minutes to go to make it even more interesting, but couldn't quite find the equaliser. Credit to the ref - was a bit yellow card happy on fouls in the second half - but the two he dished out in the first half for dissent and timewasting, ensured the rest of the game wasn't blighted by both those things.

                                          Made a nice change to see this pitch with grass on it, as it's been a late season dustbowl whenever I've been before. Floodlights on at a very cautious 8.05pm, crap sunset, under 18s doing shooting drills on an adjacent pitch until it went pitch black, which may've dented their goalkeeper's confidence somewhat.

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                                            #22
                                            Went to Middlewich Town v Daten on Wednesday. Middlewich have a nice ground which, aside from the lack of floodlights, is better than a number at higher levels. Good game which in which the home side took a two goal lead and managed to throw it away in the last few minutes; it ended 2-2. Incidentally Daten started out as a works team for a site involved in producing nuclear weapons.

                                            Last night was the long awaited return of St Helens Town to St Helens - they played at Knowsley Road until August 2010 but had to move out when it shut. They had initially hoped to continue their groundshare arrangement at the new rugby ground but that didn't happen. Instead they played home games in Ashton-in-Makerfield and Prescot until a suitable ground was built back in the town. This is part of the Ruskin Drive complex, formerly the sports facilities of Pilkington glass. The football ground is shared with Cheshire League team Pilkington and I saw them play here earlier in the year,must after they had moved in. However a lot more was required to get it up to North West Counties standard and approval for this game wasn't given until the start of the week.

                                            The long awaited return ended up being longer awaited than expected, as visitors Abbey Hulton United (from Stoke) had got caught in traffic on the M6 and didn't get to there until about twenty to eight. Kickoff ended up being delayed until 8:10 and eventually the match produced a watchable contest, only lacking the presence of players who could get a decent touch in the penalty area. A goalless draw looked set to be the result, until, deep in injury time the referee awarded Abbey Hulton a penalty. Their forward prepared to take the kick..... and the lights went out. It appeared that a timer switched them off automatically at 10:00 and nobody could switch them back on. The referee had no option but to blow for full time, leaving a lot of frustrated players and spectators, and a difficult decision for the league management committee.

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