Chichester City 2 v 0 Three Bridges (Second Half Only)

Saturday 28th November 2009
Sussex County League Division 1
Oaklands Park, Chichester
Admission: N/A
Attendance: 70

At the conclusion of the Midhurst game, I made a swift exit and then drove the twelve mile journey down to Chichester, to catch the second half of the Sussex County League Division 1 game between Chichester City and Three Bridges. Having recently been redeveloped, the facilities at Oaklands Park are now very good, with two small covered standing areas and an all-seated stand with cushioned seating, not dissimilar to that found at the Emirates Stadium. The ground improvements are still ongoing, with a new clubhouse and changing rooms in the process of being built and due to be completed next summer.

Soon after I arrived, Chichester scored the first goal of the game, with an excellently directed header floating over the keeper and into the net. For most of the second half, the match was a scrappy affair in conditions that were made increasingly difficult and slippery by heavy, consistent rain, with Chichester having the better of the few chances they fashioned for themselves. A 1-0 home win looked a fair outcome of the second half, however Chichester won the game with the last movement of the game, James Temple scoring his second with a glancing header from a corner. And so Chichester stay in third place in the league, but are now within 5 points of the league leaders, Whitehawk. As for Three Bridges, they remain deep inside the lower half of the table, although it would be surprising if they were to become involved in a real relegation scrap by the end of the season.

Midhurst & Easebourne 2 v 0 Rustington

Saturday 28th November 2009
Sussex County League Division 2
The Rotherfield, Easebourne
Admission: £3.50 (including programme)
Attendance: 51
Match Rating: 4

This game did not appear to have the makings of a classic. Having lost most of their players and their management team over the summer, it's fair to say that Midhurst has been a club in turmoil this season, and that has been reflected in their results so far this season, with the unenviable record of having lost every one of the 11 league games so far, having scored just six goals and conceding 53, and exiting all four cup competitions they entered at the first hurdle. There would have been a hint of optimism given today's opponents, Rustington, were fifth bottom having played more games than all teams below them, but still it was hard to look beyond an away win from this game.

The Rotherfield is a ground I've wanted to visit for some time, given that is situated amongst some beautiful Sussex countryside, and with the old-fashioned and peaceful local towns and villages a real joy to spend time in. The ground is situated in Easebourne, about a half a mile north of Midhurst, although it not one that is easily accessed by public transport - the nearest train station being seven miles away in Haslemere. The Rotherfield is a pleasant, old-fashioned ground with a small stand providing covered seating and standing, and a new wooden clubhouse is situated some way from the pitch, with the old changing rooms laying derelict much closer to the pitch. Another noteworthy feature is the undulating nature of the pitch. No floodlights are in place, meaning that Midhurst's future in senior football would appear to be in fairly imminent danger even if they were a remarkable on the pitch transformation to avoid the relegation places this season. A programme is included with the £3.50 entrance fee, although it was just a 4 page insert of information inside a glossy publication of adverts.

The game itself was very different from what would have been expected, as Midhurst took an early lead with an excellent strike from outside the box on 7 minutes. For the rest of the half, it was quite remarkable what a strong, cohesive unit Midhurst looked, carving out a number of good chances, and allowing Rustington only a very occasional sniff at goal. The second half was much the same, although with just a one goal lead, there was always a chance that Midhurst could have been denied a thoroughly deserved first win of the season. However, finally Midhurst did make sure of the victory with a very well taken goal on the break five minutes from time, a second goal of the game by Ashley Holloway, as he sprinted clear of the last defender and cooly slotted the ball under the onrushing goalkeeper. On the evidence of this game, things are surely looking brighter for Midhurst, although they are still in a desperate position, some 7 points behind the next team in the table. It also looks like being a tough battle against relegation to intermediate football for Rustington, who offered very, very little today and were outplayed by a team who had previously lots every game they have played in the last four months.

US Marignane 1 v 0 SC Bastia

Sunday 22nd November 2009
Coupe de France 7th Round
Stade St Exupery, Marignane
Admission: €10
Programme: None
Attendance: 1000

The original plan on my travel itinerary to Marseille was a visit to the home of Olympique Marseille, the Stade Velodrome, a vast and unique sports arena which is the home of arguably the biggest club and the most passionate supporters in France. However a late rearrangement of fixtures by the French league meant this was not possible and so instead I made my way to the rather more modest surroundings of the Stade St Exupery in Marignane, home of US Marignane, who ply their trade in the CFA (fourth regional tier of French football) and with a capacity of just over 1000. This was Marignane's day in the spotlight in the 7th round of the French Cup, as they were hosting the Corsican club SC Bastia, of the French Second Division and previous winners of the Coupe de France and the UEFA Cup. However, all the ingredients were in place for a potential giantkilling today - the minnows at home against a team struggling two leagues above them, marooned at the bottom with just 9 points from their opening 14 games.

The Saint Exupery stadium is located in the town centre of Marignane, which lies adjacent to Marseille Provence airport, and although it is a neat and tidy stadium, has very limited facilities, with only one side of the pitch open to spectators which has a covered stand without seats. Admission was €10 for this game, which was presumably raised from what would be charged for a CFA league encounter, and as is common in France, no programmes or the like are issued. The stadium was packed to capacity for this match, with a sprinkling of fans making their way over from Corsica for the game.

The game was an entertaining affair, with Marignane always looking the better side in spite of some slightly panic defending at times, which was understable on such a big day for them. It was of little surprise when Marignane took the lead on 27 minutes with a wonderful goal that would have graced any game in Europe, when the ball was played across from a wide position, and Florian Raspentino hit a superb volley from just inside the penalty area past the keeper. Bastia barely threatened for the rest of the half as Marignane looked comfortable in the lead at half time and a shock looked very much on the cards. This continued throughout much of the second half, until finally Bastia seemed to spring into life in the final quarter of an hour, and Marignane had to rely on some great saves from their goalkeeper to preserve their lead and to eventually claim a famous giantkilling victory and to become the sole representative from Provence to make it through to the 8th Round.

No matter where you are in the world, nothing quite beats witnessing a giantkilling and to see the joy on the faces of the victorious underdogs, although it is true that, for some reason, giantkillings do appear more common in France. In this round alone, two clubs from the league below Marignane also claimed the scalps of Second Division clubs, and lower division clubs make it to the Cup Final fairly frequently in France - most famously Calais as a fourth tier club back in 2000.

Wales 3 v 0 Scotland

Saturday 14th November 2009
International Friendly
Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
Admission: £20.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 13,844
Match Rating: 4

International football for me today and a trip to the newly opened Cardiff City Stadium for this international friendly between two home nations who have fallen on hard times in recent years. Having taken the National Express coach from London to Cardiff, I arrived a couple of hours early to wander around the very pleasant and charming streets of central Cardiff. As a Swansea boy at heart, that is praise indeed for the other major city in Wales.

The weather today ahead of kick off was some of the worst I can remember in a long time, with frequent heavy downpours mixed in with violent gale force winds making it difficult to walk in a straight line. Despite the conditions, I made the 20 minute walk from the city centre to the new Cardiff City Stadium, which is located over the road from Ninian Park, the former home stadium of Ninian Park, which currently stands half demolished. Now, I very much mourn the old-fashioned atmospheric stadia being consigned to history in favour of the new soulless identikit stadia popping up across the country, however Ninian Park is probably one stadium that I was quite happy to see the back of. But then, football is a game of opinions...having been a regular at the Vetch Field in my distant student days, it still disappoints me now that (in my opinion) the most atmospheric and passionate stadium no longer is the home stadium of Swansea City. More so that it is still standing and becoming ever more overgrown over four years since Swansea moved to the unremarkable Liberty Stadium. It is true though that many other people were glad to see the back of the Vetch, too!

Returning to the new Cardiff City Stadium, whilst it is very spacious, well laid out and with comfortable seats, it has very little character or anything to set it apart from the other new stadia that have recently been built. Programmes were a bargain £2 for this match for a very decent 40 page glossy publication full of interesting facts and information. For the first half, I took my seat next to the dugouts in the grandstand, and considering that Wales had lost most of their top players thanks to the usual dodgy friendly international withdrawals and Scotland was a team that, despite that their obvious limitations against the better nations, were packed with experienced players, I fancied Scotland to win this game quite comfortably. Indeed, that's exactly how this game looked like heading in the first ten minutes, as Scotland dominated the open exchanges and had a couple of glorious chances to take the lead. However, Wales took the lead on 17 minutes with an excellent finish from David Edwards after excellent approach play by Aaron Ramsey. From that point on, Wales completely dominated the game, inspired by the Arsenal youngster Ramsey who went on to set up another goal and score a wonderful solo goal to put the game beyond Scotland's reach with just 35 minutes on the clock. Wales were playing superbly well, although it was quite shocking how poor Scotland were, who seemingly couldn't defend for their lives and looked impotent going forward. The second half was unsurprisingly an anti-climax with the inevitable many substitutions spoiling the flow of the game, although Scotland improved in the second half and had a few good chances to reduce the arrears. It must also be said that Wales could also have scored a couple more themselves though.

So, Wales were comprehensive winners although it was surprising that this home nations match did not capture the imagination of the Welsh more though, with a crowd of just 13844 being supplemented by over 4000 passionate Scottish supporters who deserved much more from their sluggish, seemingly disinterested team.

AC Horsens 4 v 0 FC Vestsjælland

Sunday 8th November 2009
Danish First Division (2nd tier)
CASA Arena, Horsens
Admission: 120 DKK
Attendance: 2316
Match Rating: 4

For the second game of my weekend in Denmark, I took the 45 minute train ride south from Aarhus to the small town of Horsens, located on the eastern coast of Jutland for this first division (2nd tier of Danish football). The CASA Arena has recently been fully refurbished and is now an impressive area with a capacity of over 10,000. The stadium has a couple of very interesting features, with an interesting and slightly unusual design. The stadium is fully enclosed, with the lower roofs at each end of the stadium joined to the higher grandstands running along the touchlines with a wave type design. The design of the floodlights is also very unusual, and one end of the stadium is designed so that, where capacity of up to 30,000 is required for events such as pop concerts, the stand can be dismantled and the parts can be reassembled to extend the lengths of both sides of the pitch.

As for the game, it promised to be an entertaining affair, with the home team, AC Horsens, top of the table having been relegated from the Superliga the previous season against FC Vestsjælland, newly promoted into this division and were sitting in fourth place in the table. Indeed, the opening exchanges were even, with both sides looking dangerous in attack. However, a couple of minutes turned the game Horsens way, taking the lead on 20 minutes, and then just a minute later, were awarded a penalty which was emphatically hit home to suddenly give the home side a comfortable advantage. For the rest of the half, Horsens completely dominated and really should have scored more than the further one goal they scored on the stroke of half time to go into the break with a 3-0 advantage. Predictably, the second half was a relative damp squib as Horsens eased off, although to Vestsjælland's credit, they kept battling and had a few chances to reduce the arrears. 6 minutes from time, Horsens scored their fourth to ensure a very comfortable, if slightly flattering scoreline.

 

Similar to the game at Silkeborg yesterday, the fans generated a passionate but always friendly and good spirited atmosphere. The football played was also of good quality, played at a high tempo with a fair amount of skill. Therefore, Denmark certainly comes recommended as a weekend destination, although whilst it can be cheap to get there by flying with a budget airline such Ryanair, as with all Scandinavian countries, be prepared for everything being expensive out there - happily with the exception of the football!

Silkeborg IF 0 v 1 Odense BK

Saturday 7th November 2009

Danish Superliga

Silkeborg Stadion, Silkeborg

Score: 0-1

Admission: 120 Danish Kroner 

Programme: Free

Attendance: 3702

Match Rating: 3

Having arrived in Aarhus in the morning thanks to another bargain Ryanair flight, I made the very pleasant train journey through the Danish Lake District to the small town of Silkeborg, in central Jutland on the Danish mainland, for this top flight Danish league match between Silkeborg and Odense.

The Silkeborg Stadion is about a half hour walk from the train station, and although you can buy tickets in advance from the club website, I bought my ticket at the gate, for 120 Danish Kroner (about £15). On entering the stadium, matchday programmes (in a newspaper format) are handed out free of charge, and I took my seat behind one of the goals. The Silkeborg Stadion is a typical Scandinavian stadium, fairly small with a capacity of 8,500, but is very well maintained. There are covered all-seater stands on three sides of the stadium, with one end of the ground providing uncovered standing for away fans. The trees in the background at this end of the ground give the stadium an attractive rural feel to it. 

The game promised to be an intriguing affair, with the home team, newly promoted to the Superliga and lying in 5th place up against the league leaders who had only lost one game so far this season...away to Silkeborg back in August. For an English football fan, it was interesting to see Henrik Pedersen (ex Bolton Wanderers) line up for Silkeborg, and Eric Djemba-Djemba and Roy Carroll line up for Odense.

On a wet and windy night, the game was a cagey affair, very even with reasonable chances for both sides, but in the end, Odense scored the winning goal on 73 minutes with a somewhat fortunate goal. The ball was crossed low from the left, with no Odense forwards lurking to tuck the ball away. Unfortunately for Silkeborg, their defender Jim Larsen did the job for them, inexplicably slicing the ball past his own keeper and into the corner of the net. Silkeborg had some good chances to equalise, particularly in the dying minutes of the game, but Odense held on to claim the win. 

Crowborough Athletic 1 v 4 East Grinstead Town

Crowborough Athletic 1 v 4 East Grinstead Town
Tuesday 3rd November 2009
Sussex County League Division 1
Crowborough Community Stadium, Crowborough
Admission: £6.00 (inc programme)
Attendance: 100
Match Rating: 3

A rare midweek outing took me to the Crowborough Community Stadium (known previous to the recent extensive ground improvements as the Alderbrook Recreation Ground) for this Sussex County League Division 1 match. Crowborough have certainly had a rollercoaster ride in recent seasons. Just six seasons ago they were languishing at intermediate level in Division 3 of the Sussex County League, but after a remarkable rise through the divisions were promoted two seasons ago to the Ryman League for the first time in their history. However, as can happen, chasing the dream turned into a nightmare as their main benefactor pulled out, finished bottom of the Ryman League and now a second successive relegation is looking increasingly inevitable for a team of youngsters who, however talented they may be, desperately require a few experienced players with the necessary nous to survive in this competitive league. Considering Crowborough are currently unable to pay their players, indeed, players are having to pay to play, that looks extremely unlikely.

The Crowborough Community Stadium has certainly improved beyond all recognition in the past couple years, being transformed from an open ground with just a small stand to being fully fenced off, three stands (two of them seated, the old stand now having seats installed within) and one end providing cover as well as a bar and refreshments.The ground is located about a 20 minute uphill walk from Crowborough train station, alternatively a bus from Tunbridge Wells stops outside the ground for afternoon fixtures. A programme is included with the £6 admission and looks better than it is. It's a glossy programme printed in colour on hardened paper, and full stats from every game played so far was a positive, however there was little interesting reading otherwise.

Going into this local derby game, Crowborough were bottom of the table with just 8 points collected from their opening 14 games and conceding 42 goals in the process, however their chances of adding to their tally looked reasonable against an East Grinstead side only 2 points better off, although from just 11 games. After a lively opening to this game, Crowborough took the lead on 23 minutes slightly against the run of play. However, East Grinstead hit back within 4 minutes and led 2-1 at the break. At half time, the feeling was this game could have gone either way, with both sides looking shaky at the back. However, the game was effectively put to bed within a minute of the restart when East Grinstead scored their third goal, and from that moment on, the youthful Crowborough side barely threatened foe the rest of the game. East Grinstead scored a fourth on 63 minutes as they took complete control of the game, and really should have scored two or three more as they missed several golden chances to score.