Match 11. Shrivenham v Binfield

Saturday 27th October 2012 @3pm
Hellenic League Premier Division
SHRIVENHAM 2-4 BINFIELD
Barrington Park, Highworth Road, Shrivenham

Admission: £5 including programme (A5, 32pp)
Attendance: 62
FOOD: My own Cheese & Tomato rolls
DRINK: Guinness Can: £3


I set off today with the intention of watching Cirencester.  However, with M25 at a standstill between Junctions 9-11, I thought of Reading Town and I took my now familiar detour through Cobham and took the A331 and A327 to Reading.  Having an hour to spare, I carried on the M4 aiming for Swindon Supermarine.  Turning the Sat Nav on when approaching Swindon, it failed to provide me with the location, choosing to send me to a supermarket and industrial estate???  With kick off fast approaching, I remembered looking at Shrivenham on T'net during the week so at 2.45, I headed for Barrington Park and arrived with 2 minutes to spare.


The ground is set back from Highworth Road and parking is available in Martens Road.  The facilities are situated behind the top goal, with Sky Sports News in the clubhouse and a separate tea bar selling hotdogs and chips as well as hot drinks. A warming shelter is in front of the clubhouse where half the crowd gathered afforded some protection from the biting wind.  The only other cover is on the dugout touchline corner in the form of a small Atcost seated stand.


With Binfield and Shrivenham at opposite ends of the table, I was not surprised to see Binfield take control throughout the game, but Shrivenham put in a spirited performance in front of their new manager.  Surprisingly, it took 23 minutes for the first goal, a delightful 25 yard free kick by the young left back Jordan Rowland, scoring his first goal with his mother sat just in front of me, more than delighted.  Shrivenham drew level about 5 minutes before half time, when a cross deep in from the left was flicked on by Leighfield in front of the keeper to level  for half time.


The match turned early in the 2nd half, firstly from a corner early in the second half was headed in from Binfields Gary Sargeant.  Then, when Jack Goodenough, the Home keeper, misjudged his positioning and caught the ball outside his area.  An inevitable but unfortunate red card later meant a non specialist substitute went in goal.  A gutsy 10 man performance kept the score at 1-2 until the last 20 minutes, when a speculative strike was fumbled by the replacement goalkeeper, who obviously wasn't Goodenough, allowing Johnson to tap in at close range.  Shrivenham didn't give up and reduced the arrears with 10 minutes left as a corner to the far post was volleyed in by Rivers.  A last 10 minute onslaught by Binfield was rewarded by a 4th goal, scored by Bowerman, a substitute for some reason but he is a skillful forward with a super touch and shot into the corner from 12 yards.

A tough first fixture for new manager Les Gill but he has instilled some team spirit.  Binfield again look a decent side in this league.  A friendly club and worth a visit for those who haven't been to Barrington Park.

Match 10. Guildford City v Leighton Town

Saturday 20th October 2012 @3pm
Southern League Central Division
GUILDFORD CITY 1-0 LEIGHTON TOWN
The Spectrum, Parkway, Guildford

Admission: £8
Programme: £2 (A5, 44pp)
Attendance: 86
FOOD: Bacon Roll: £2.30
DRINK: Guinness Can £2.20, Coffee £1

A trouble free journey to Guildford, and ample parking available at the Leisure Centre, where I probably could have watched the game from my parking space.  Anyway, I paid my £8 at the entrance and walked down the slope towards the main facilities.Spectators are allowed on 3 sides of the railed pitch, with the hammer/shot/discus area not accessible behind one goal.  In reality, everyone uses the main touchline area, where there is a mix of standing and seating at pitch level and elevated above the club building.  A basic clubhouse has no draught but a flat looking ale and cans in a fridge.  There is also no TV, so I had to use my iPhone for score updates elsewhere.  My bacon roll was dry and plastic so half of it went in the bin.  I hope the burgers were better.

Leighton stormed out of the blocks and should have gone 1-0 in the first minute, but the linesman got the decision wrong in my opinion, flagging offside when the midfielders run was made.  It took Guildford quite a way through the 1st half to get involved.  Luckily the beefy keeper was on good form, blocking 2 shots and handling really well.  Guildford gradually got control of the game in the second half, and deserved  their lead in the 68th minute when no8 Guilford scored from a cross.  A second goal was scrambled in but again, disallowed.  Leighton can take credit for putting in a challenging performance.

Match 9. Biggleswade United v Harefield United

Saturday 13^th October 2012 @3pm

SSML Premier Division

BIGGLESWADE UNITED 1-1 HAREFIELD UNITED

Second Meadow, Fairfield Road, Biggleswade

Admission: £5 including Programme (A5, 24pp)

Attendance: 58

FOOD: Cheese & Tomato rolls by my wifes fair hand.

DRINK: Becks Shandy £2 (Non League Day offer). Coffee £1

 

Having been dropped off in the outside car park along the track of Fairfield Road, I entered the clubhouse which is situated right outside the ground. Biggleswade were trying to get into Non League Day by allowing League fans who wore their club shirt in for £3 (I didn’t see anyone).  Also all draught was £2 in the clubhouse.  Unfortunately the Guinness is no longer sold due to lack of custom, and the bitter was off, I assume for the same reason.  All food, drink and toilet facilities are outside the ground so once inside the turnstile, there is a covered standing area situated along the right touchline by the half way line.  I decided to sit in the Main seated stand opposite.  The rest of the ground is railed and hard standing.

In the first half, James Peters put the home side ahead after 15 minutes as an excellent cross by Freeman on the right allowed Peters an easy header in front of the keeper.  Biggleswade should have scored at least 2 more in the first half, although their solid keeper went off with a broken nose, and his replacement did not look as assured.

Biggleswade came out in the second half a completely different side.  They lost conviction in their passing which rarely found a team member and the defence were time and again stretched to the limit.  Inevitably, Harefield finally converted an equaliser with 12 minutes left through Kanani, who had earlier escaped a red card for a dangerous looking foul, which led to the captain being taken off injured.

Match 8. Sutton Athletic v Fisher

 

Saturday 6^th October 2012 @3pm

Kent Senior Trophy Round 1

SUTTON ATHLETIC 2-4 FISHER

London Hire Services Ground, Lower Road, Hextable

Admission: £5 including programme (A5, 28pp)

Attendance: 55

FOOD: Bacon & Egg in French Stick £2.70

DRINK: Bottle Coors Light, £2.50

With family duties meaning a local new ground to visit, Sutton Athletic were ideal, having moved to Hextable this season as part of their attempts to progress to the Kent Premier League.  Their new ground has bags of potential, being situated about a mile along Lower Road, not where the Postcode indicates on Google Maps.  There is enough space for about 50 cars, alongside the main touchline where the dugouts are situated, which was full by kick off.  There is no cover so it was lucky that the Friday rain had moved on. There is a stony surround around the perimeter railed pitch; again this will fall foul of the Ground grading at Step 4.  There is the club building, located by the corner flag and a mobile van offers a cholesterol filled extravaganza of grilled fillings.  The clubhouse is in its infancy, with lager pop on tap and no Guinness.  A can of Spitfire the nearest to beer you’ll see.  The chairman was chatting to visitors before kickoff, with sponsorship getting off the ground and plans for development, it’ll be worth a re-visit in a couple of years if plans come to fruition.

 

I spent the match chatting to a regular who has adopted Sutton as his non league side, after following West Ham for 40+ years, another Premier fan disillusioned with League football.  2 grumpy (old) men were in reminiscing mood.

The match actually turned out to be a fascinating game of football.  It began in a scrappy, error filled manor, but came to life halfway through the 1^st half.  Sutton was a match for their former Surrey Docks, Southern League visitors, and took the lead on 25 minutes through Sean Heather.  Fishers’ best player was their no9, Mohammed Baldur who levelled just 10 minutes before half time. Richie Monan gave the lead to the visitors just after the restart then Mohammed added the third and then scored a penalty for his hat-trick.  A late attempted comeback by Sutton was not enough even though a late penalty reduced the arrears.

Match 7. Frimley Green v Farleigh Rovers

Saturday 29^th September 2012 @3pm

Combined Counties League Division One

FRIMLEY GREEN 5-0 FARLEIGH ROVERS

Frimley Green Recreation Ground

Admission: £5

Programme: £1 (A5, 24pp)

Attendance: 42

FOOD: Corned Beef & Tomato, Cheese & Tomato Roll, £1 each

DRINK: Can of Guinness, £3.20!

The original plan was for the family to visit Witney and I watch the North Leigh v Sholing FA Trophy game.  Setting off at 1100 with a planned stop at Cobham Services (my eldest “ticks” them, what a weird idea ;-b) my plan was scuppered by an oil spill at Jct 10, resulting in a 2 hour wait between Junctions 8 & 9.  I decided to exit Jct 9 and progress to Frimley Green rather than stick it out.  This was a good choice as a suicide from Jct 11 bridge at about 2pm held up traffic for up to 3 hours.  I arrived at 2.55pm, in time to see the teams come out.  The Rec is fairly basic with a green six foot fenced surround offering little protection from the dozen freeloaders on the hill next to the pitch.  The only area of note is the club building on the near touchline after going through the turnstile.  Even the dugouts are so close to this that there is not through path around the perimeter railed pitch.  There was no obvious cover anywhere in the ground, which makes me wonder what the Step 6 ground grading police make of it.

Considering there was only 1 place in the league table between the sides, the chasm in the quality of the 2 teams was huge.  Frimley Green took the lead after 18 minutes when a cross from the left found no9 Mepham unmarked 10 yards out and half volleyed into the net.  It was all Green as the Farleigh keeper made a fantastic double save soon after, then on the half hour a rocket 30 yard free kick bounced off the crossbar.  The inevitable 2^nd came towards the break when a similar cross from the left found Mepham again inside the box who had time to control the ball before firing past the keeper from close range.

Mepham got his hat-trick early in the 2^nd half when the visiting no6 claimed he was held and Farleigh stopped as no9 stepped up and poked the ball into the empty net.  The skilful no10 then scored when no4 made an excellent dummy run, taking 2 defenders with him, and the space created for him to shoot into the corner.  The discipline began to wane from the obviously outclassed Rovers and a ruck with 15 minutes left took over 5 minutes for the ref to restore order and send off no11 for the original studs up challenge.  The home no2 was lucky to get away with a yellow, along with a few others.  A second goal from no10 didn’t flatter the home side who look a useful outfit this season.

Funniest moment in the game was when the referee, who was vocally loud throughout the game, earned his equity card by animatedly counting his ten yards at a free kick, to then stop at eight count to line up the wall.