Enfield 0 v 5 Chelmsford CIty

Saturday 26th September 2009

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

Goffs Lane, Cheshunt

Admission: £7.00

Programme: £1.50

Attendance: 406

Match Rating: 4

So, on paper, a predictable result. The plucky county league team had done very well to get this far in this competition having already won three ties to get this far, but were then outclassed by superior oppostion once "the big boys" from the Blue Square South came into the competition. Don't you believe it. For the first half, this game was very even and at half time, the outcome was in real doubt with it difficult to see which team was three leagues above the other. However, as can happen all too often in potential giantkilling games, once the underdogs fell behind, they imploded and ended up with a very harsh scoreline against them.

On FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round day, I decided to treavel to North London for this game which pitted Enfield, of the Essex Senior League, against Chelmsford City, of the Blue Square South. After several years playng at such distant locations from their home borough as Boreham Wood and Ware, Enfield are now back playing just over a mile from their old Southbury Road ground, sharing the home of Broxbourne Borough between Cheshunt and Enfield, about a half hour walk from Cheshunt rail station.

The ground itself is typically county league standard, the highlight of which is an attractive low wooden stand covering one corner of the ground with seating and standing areas. Along one side is a seating stand with no cover at all. On a day like this, that was perfect, with the sun blazing down on the backs of the spectators. Whether it would be such a pleasant experience on a wintry January day/evening is very debatable. With Enfield usually struggling to attract 100 spectators these days, this was a big day out for the home team, welcoming a side from the Blue Square South who are always well supported and duly swelled the crowd to 403. As has been the case whenever I have visited Enfield, the programme was excellent and a very interesting read, providing comprehensive information on home and visiting players, interesting articles about the FA Cup, photos from recent Enfield games and full information about all of Enfield's games so far this season.

As for the game itself, the first half was extremely even, probably due more to Chelmsford lowering their standard of play to the County League level of their opponents, with stray pass after stray pass and rash shots at goal. However Enfield also played some excellent, composed football and had several golden chances to score, including fluffing a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. On the stroke of half time, Chelmsford looked to have taken the lead but a late flag from the linesman ruled the goal out for offside. That would have been harsh on Enfield, who instead thoroughly deserved to go into half time on level terms.

After the break, the game continued to be open with Enfield still threatening. However, nine minutes after the break, Chelmsford took the lead after a tap in from close range, and from this point on the game completely changed. Chelmsford started to play some excellent football befitting their status, keeping the ball on the ground with good movement and pace, and their substitutest certainly had a huge influence on a rejuventated Chelmsford performance. Enfield were simply blown away in the second half by some clinical finshing, although they were also helped by an often comical goalkeeping display by the Enfield keeper, which culminated with Chelmsford's second goal, when he misjudged a ball played forward, let it bounce over him, for the Chelmsford forward to run on and score. A final five goal scoreline was certainly harsh on Enfield, and one wonders what would have happened had Enfield taken one of their chances to take the lead in this game, as Chelmsford only seemed to really up their game once they had taken the lead.

Norwich City 2 v 2 Charlton Athletic

Saturday 19th September 2009
Football League 1
Carrow Road, Norwich
Attendance: 24,018
Admission: £22.00 (away end)
Programme: £3.00

As away days go in the Football League, a trip to Norwich certainly rates as one of the better, with the city as well as the stadium itself very pleasant. After arriving in Norwich a couple of hours early to tour around the many historic buildings and lanes of the city, not least the splendid Norwich Cathedral which is well worth a visit, I made my way to Carrow Road (which is located about 10 minutes walk away from the train station) to support my team, Charlton. As away areas go, this is certainly one of the better ones, with an unobstructed view from the side of the pitch (albeit to one end) in the newest stand in the stadium.

Given their previous catastrophic season where they finished bottom by a distance, Charlton had somewhat surprisingly made an electric start to the season, piling up 19 points from a possible 21 and sitting proudly at the top of the table, whereas Norwich had a mixed start to the season and lay firmly in mid-table. Norwich is usually a tough place to visit (forgetting the 1-7 thrashing that Colchester handed out to them at the start of the season) and so a close game which could go either way was anticipated. It turned out to be very much a game of two halves, with Charlton looking every bit the league leaders as they cruised into a two goal lead with 40 minutes on the clock after good headers from Deon Burton and Jonjo Shelvey. At this stage, it looked like a comfortable stroll for Charlton to maintain their lead at the top of League 1, however Norwich got a goal back on the stroke of half time when a quick Norwich throw in caught Charlton napping for Wes Hoolahan to beat Robbie Elliott at his near post.

The second half was all Norwich, who had most of the possession and goal scoring opportunities and confined Charlton to the odd chance on the break. It looked like Charlton would hold out until the third minute of added time with a controversial goal when Grant Holt barged into the Charlton keeper Robbie Elliott and the ball spun up and in to the empty net. Week in week out the referee would blow up for a foul in favour of the keeper but it was not to be, but the draw was definitely a fair reflection of the game, although at the final whistle, rarely has a home team been celebrating a draw so much, which also sadly provoked some crowd violence with Norwich fans goading the away fans both inside and outside of the ground.

H&W Welders 1 v 0 Queen's University

Tillysburn Park, East Belfast

Saturday 12th September 2009

IFA Championship 2

Admission: £5.00

Programme: None

This was a game that made possible as a day trip by Ryanair's incredibly cheap flights. Ryanair has its fair share of critics, quite justified a lot of the time, but I've yet to find another means of getting from Essex to Northern Ireland and back for a tenner, and the current flight schedules from Stansted make this a very comfortable day out - touching down at Belfast City airport at 1pm and leaving at 6.30. There are many other possibilities to take in a game in Belfast on a day trip - Glentoran and Dundela (also of the IFA Championship 2) are within easy walking distance of Belfast City Airport, and Linfield and Bangor are comfortably within range using public transport. Cliftonville and Crusaders are also possibilities, although getting back to the airport for when the gate closes at 6pm would be tight and reliant on favourable traffic conditions.

Tillysburn Park is the closest football ground to the airport- almost literally a stone's throw away - all that separates the main terminal building and the ground is a dual carriageway. The ground itself is very neat, tidy and well maintained, and with reasonably pleasant surroundings, surrounded as it is by trees and with mountains in the background. No programmes were issued which was slightly disappointing. This game, in the third tier of Northern Irish football, pitted H&W Welders, last season's Champions, against the students of Queen's University, comfortably the largest university in Northern Ireland. This season, H&W Welders had won both of their opening games, whereas Queen's University had lost both of their opening games, so everything pointed to a comfortable home win. This was not how it panned out, however. In glorious autumnal sunshine, the game was very even, although the Welders certainly edged possessions and shots on goals, but it wasn't too suprising that the game was goalless at half time. The second half continued in a similar vein, although Queen's University barely had a shot on goal in the second half. Mid way through the second half, the Welders scored what proved to be the winner, after a corner was whipped in and headed home at the far post through a crowd of players, indeed there may have been a deflection decieiving the keeper.

On the whole, the 1-0 home win a very fair reflection on the game, with the Welders always slightly the better team, and although Queen's had planty of possession, they never really looked like scoring.

Taunton Town 0 v 1 Yate Town

Wordsworth Drive, Taunton

Saturday 5th September 2009

Zamaretto (Southern) League Division 1 South and West

Admission: £7.00

Programme: £1.50

Attendance: 225

Only one word can descrbe this game...dismal. Which was all the more disappointing after making a round trip of about 9 hours and 400 miles to watch it. In fairness, there wasn't anything particularly appealing about this game to start with - I simply decided to take advantage of National Express' £10 return funfare for a day out and to watch a game in a different part of the country. Taunton is a very pleasant town, the county town of Somerset, and the walk westwards from the bus station to the ground took just under half an hour. Wordsowrth Ground is quite an unremarkable ground, although one unsual feature is a very long clubhouse which stretches two thirds of the way along one of the touchlines, and in front of it a tiny litltle stand. The programme is more impressive, with good quality card cover, and with comprehensive information about the home and away sides.

Both sides had made solid starts to the season with a couple of wins out of 4 games each and both progressing in the FA Cup the previous week. As this game was relatively a local derby (with Yate being based close to Bristol, and relatively considering teams from this league are based as far away as London and Oxfordshire), a competitive game was expected. However, Taunton were really dreadful today, hardly able to string passes together and conitnually putting the ball out of play. Yate always looked the better side without themselves looking much cop, and they had several chances to score in the first half.

At half time, enduring one of the weakest, most horrible hot chocolates imagineable (at £1 a go at that), I was thinking that if ever there was a banker for a goalless draw, this is it. However, four minutes into the second half, Yate did manage to score, appropriately after a scrap in the penalty area. Midway through the second half, Taunton were reduced to ten men, which said everything about the ineptness of the officials, giving out a second yellow card for the player's second very mild foul, as did 9 yellow cards despite this not being a dirty game at all and hardly a bad foul to be seen, also as did the referee miss a blatant backpass which the goalkeeper picked up yet play was allowed to continue. As Taunton didn't look a threat with 11 men, there was little prospect of this improving, and so it proved, not having a shot on goal until the last 5 minutes, when they did have a couple of half chances.

So a deserved win for Yate, although a goalless draw would have been a fairer reflection on a dreadfully poor game. After wondering around the pleasant surroundings of historic Taunton, I boarded the 1800 coach back to London for the long journey home.