Horsham 1 v 1 Hastings United

Saturday 26th March 2011
Ryman League Premier Division
Gorings Mead, Horsham
Admission: £10.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 251
Match Rating: 2

The ridiculous timing of England's match against Wales in Cardiff at 3pm on Saturday did not remotely tempt me into missing a non-league game, although where I ended up was not even on my radar when setting out. Severe disruption to trains meant my original plan to visit Fareham Town or one of the Littlehampton clubs was scuppered, leaving a Sussex derby in the Ryman League as the best of the remaining options.

Horsham currently play at Gorings Mead, home of Horsham YMCA, after leaving their delightfully traditional Queen's Street ground and a season at Worthing's Woodside Road ground. Horsham have been lucky to be able to play at a ground almost adjacent to their old ground - although the sight of new houses where their ground was located was sad to see - but presumably things will get tricky next season as the landlords of Gorings Mead, Horsham YMCA, are almost certain of relegation to the Sussex County League, a league which does not allow groundshares and which meant that Horsham had to play at Worthing when YMCA were last in the Sussex League a couple of years ago. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the traditionally lowly status of Horsham YMCA, Gorings Mead, which is located on the outskirts of Horsham and about a 20 minute walk from the train station, is very basic with a strong County League standard feel to the place, although it does have a nice rural, unpretentious feel. Along one side of the ground is a small all-seater stand, with two very small portable type stands, one offering seating, the other standing, On the opposite side is a small, old fashioned stand offering terrace steps set some way back from the pitch. The rest of the ground just has hard standing.  The 64 page programme was of a very good standard, plenty to read and digest, printed on good quality paper, attractively designed with lots of colour - including recent match photos, the only downside would be the high proportion of adverts - 31 pages exclusively containing adverts, not including player sponsorship..

When the two teams met earlier this season in Hastings, Horsham had three players sent off but still somehow managed to hold on to win 3-2. This was just about the only factor pointing away from a drab tussle between two struggling teams, in 17th and 18h place in the 22 team league, both having played the same number of games and with Horsham a point better off. With four teams relegated, both teams are in real danger, Hastings five points clear of fourth from bottom and six points clear of third bottom Folkestone Invicta, but both of these teams have two games in hand. After a calamitous middle third of the season which saw Hastings part company with their manager and many of their players and went on a run of 10 straight league defeats - and one point from 13 games - around Chrismas, their form has picked up recently with three wins in their last five games, but Horsham have been in poor form, picking us just three points from draws from their last six games and haven't won in the league since late January.

On a rather misty and muggy afternoon on what was an awful pitch - hard, bobbly with unpredictable bounce - the first half of this game was a rather forgettable affair, with Hastings in particular lacking any cohesion and playing far too many stray passes. Horsham looked the stronger team and they took the lead on 11 minutes when a long ball was flicked on and Ashley Robinson showed good composure to lob the ball past the keeper and into the net from just outside the penalty area. The rest of the half was a drab affair, except for Horsham's Ben Andrews forcing a wonderful point-blank save from the Hastings keeper, Seb Barton.

In the second half, Hastings showed much more urgency and application than they had in the first, although they still seemed to lack the quality needed to get back into the game as Horsham looked quite comforable. However, the game changed midway through the second half when Horsham's captain Ben Andrews, who was playing his first game in six weeks due to injury, was shown a yellow card for handball just outside the penalty area. Excessive verbals to the assistant referee earnt Andrews an early bath, the fourth Horsham to be sent off against Hastings this season, and from this point on, Hastings took total control of the match. After a couple of gilt-edged chances, Hastings did get back on level terms on 75 minutes when Ross Sutton played in a superbly judged cross deep into the box and Ollie Rowe firmly headed home from 8 yards out. From looking desperately poor in the first half, Hastings really should have claimed the win with several more excellent chances to score, but in the end, it was a point apiece, which became a better result on learning that both Aveley and Folkestone had lost today.

Tunbridge Wells 3 v 0 Holmesdale

Tuesday 22nd March 2011
Kent League Premier Division
Culverden Stadium, Tunbridge Wells
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 87
Match Rating: 3

Rare enthusiasm during the working day to go to a football match that evening - probably buoyed by the dry, sunny weather - encouraged me to head to the Culverden Stadium for the first time this season for this Kent League game between Tunbridge Wells and Holmesdale.

Description and photos of Culverden Stadium - during daytime - can be found from one of my previous visits to the ground . As for this season's programme, a very reasonable effort with plenty to read and plenty of stats - as it needs to have, with an excessive price of £1.50.

This was yet another game where there is now little left to play for for either team this season, with Tunbridge Wells in eighth place in the 16 team league, but with Holmesdale down in 13th place, only three points ahead of bottom place Sporting Bengal - but as there is no relegation from the Kent League, the only motivating factor left for Holmesdale is to finish as high as possible in the league. Surprisingly, considering this is late March, tonight was the first time the two teams had met in the league this season, although earlier in the month, they met at the Culverden Stadium in the Kent Senior Trophy, with Tunbridge Wells edging a tense semi-final by 1-0, so tonight was the chance for revenge for Holmesdale..

The first half was, for the most part, a forgettable affair, a midfield battle with neither goalkeeper having a shot to save until a couple of minutes before half time, when Tunbridge Wells really should have scored, having three shots blocked in quick succession. The second half continued in a similar vein until, out of nowhere, Tunbridge Wells scored three times in the space of just six minutes to win the game. First, on 61 minutes, Keelan Mooney scored a brilliant individual goal, bustling his way from far out, brushing off several defenders before cooly sidefooting and slotting the ball past the keeper. Number two came just two minutes when Andy Boyle hooked home through a crowd of players after a corner, and the third came on 66 minutes when Drew Crush met a corner ball with a backward looping header from 10 yards out over the keeper. This ended the game as a contest as the visitors looked shell-shocked although to their credit they did battle gamely on. As the second half wore on, the game more and more petered out, and Tunbridge Wells claimed a win they just about deserved although the scorelne hugely flattered them.

Sheffield 4 v 3 Leek Town

Saturday 19th March 2011
Evo Stik League Division 1 South
Coach and Horses Ground, Dronfield
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 335
Match Rating: 4

Since purchasing my bargain £2 return coach ticket from London to Sheffield a couple of months in advance, my original plan of visiting Chesterfield's new stadium was scuppered when their game was brought forward to the Friday night. An alternative under serious consideration was to watch the stand-out team and runaway leaders in the Championship, Queen's Park Rangers, at Doncaster Rovers, a reduced admission charge of £15 making it even more worthy of consideration.However, ultimately the prospect of visiting another dull, characterless identikit stadium at the Keepmoat didn't appeal sufficiently, and instead I chose to pay a visit to the world's oldest football club, Sheffield FC.Upon learning that QPR claimed a routine 1-0 win at Doncaster, it turned out to be absolutely the right decision.

Considering that Sheffield is as famous a Yorkshire town as there is, it does seem slightly strange to head over into Derbyshire to visit Sheffield FC's home stadium, the Coach and Horses Ground, also slightly surprising is that this is the first ground the world's oldest football club has ever owned, and only since 2001. The ground is located on the outskirts of the small and very sleepy town of Dronfield, roughly half way between Sheffield and Chesterfield, with the ground about a ten minute walk from the train station. The Coach and Horses is ground is pleasant and has plenty of character. The stadium's name (if one ignores the current sponsored title) is taken from the adjoining pub, the rear of which backs onto the ground and its stone wall adds some nice character to the ground. Between the back wall of the pub and the turnstiles is a stand offering covered standing, and behind one of the goals is a modern all-seater stand - the only seats on offer at the ground. The rest of the ground just has hard standing, Trees lining much of the ground and countryside in the near distance gives the ground a nice rural feel, as well as it being neat and very well maintained. All in all, one of the better grounds at this level. The admission charge certainly came as a pleasant surprise to me, a Southerner used to paying £8.00 or even more for matches in the equivalent Ryman League Division 1, The programme was a very good effort if slightly loaded with adverts. The cover is very attractive and reflects the club's heritage, and the contents offers an abundance of information on the two teams and the league, and full respect should go to the programme editor of Sheffield FC for producing such an interesting and informative programme, considering today was Sheffield's fourth home game game in just nine days.

After reaching the play-offs last season, this season has been rather more difficult for Sheffield, having lost their manager and many of their players before Christmas and now find themselves down in 16th place in the 22 team league. Leek Town are two place below them, although both teams have no real fear of a relegation scrap thanks to the two teams currently occupying the relegation places, Shepshed Dynamo and Spalding United, cast well adrift at the foot of the table. I noted from the programme a truly bizarre sequence of games for Sheffield earlier in the season, when twelve out of thirteen games played were in cup competitions! When the two teams met earlier in the season, Sheffield triumphed by two goals to nil in Staffordshire.

On a pleasant sunny although occasionally cloudy afternoon, the match turned out to be a real roller-coaster, with the lead swinging between both teams, all of the goals coming in rapid clusters before a last gasp winner sealed the points. Leek took the lead on 14 minutes through Dan Cope with a quick shot on the turn from just inside the area that the keeper really should have done better, and celebrated with an extravagant backward somersault. Sheffield were soon back on level terms though, Ant Lynam scoring on 17 minutes, and just two minutes later, the home side took the lead through James Gregory, a lead they held onto fairly comfortably at half time.

For much of the second half, the home side looked to be cruising to a home victory as the game was played out at a fairly pedestrian pace, but on 76 minutes, Leek equalised through Anthony Malbon with a firm header from a free kick floated into the box, and the game was turned on its head again with ten minutes remaining when Dan Cope scored his second of the game.with a cool lob after the keeper inexplicably rushed off of his line to give Leek's pocket of support, who had been commendably vociferous throughout, something to really shout about. However, just as it was looking like the points would go back to Staffordshire, in the 89th minute, Sheffield scored an equaliser with a bullet header from a corner by Andrew Gascoigne. The drama wasn't finished there however, as deep into stoppage time at the end of the match, another corner spilled out to Gascoigne near the edge of the box, and he drove home powerfully into the bottom corner to give Sheffield a remarkable victory. This was a strange game that for long periods was rather dull, yet had seven goals and a dramatic finish, witnessed by Sheffield's highest league attendance of the season.

Arundel 2 v 3 Hailsham Town

Saturday 12th March 2011
Sussex County League Division 1
Mill Road, Arundel
Admission with Programme: £5.00
Attendance: 59
Match Rating: 4

Considering that I have visited all but a handful of grounds across the three divisions of the Sussex County League, looking back, it is rather inexplicable how come I have never visited a ground with the reputation of being one of the most picturesque at this level - Mill Road, home of Arundel FC. The historic and beautifully situated village of Arundel - well worth spending some time in before the football - is surely one of the most attractive villages in Sussex and today I finally decided to pay a visit to Mill Road, potentially having saved one of the best Sussex League grounds to last.

Mill Road is located about a ten minute walk from Arundel train station. The imposing Arundel Castle is perched above the ground in close proximity, which makes for a most attractive and spectacular backdrop to the ground. There is a moderately charming, old-fashioned and green coloured small stand offering three rows of seating - but with several obstructing pillars to get in the way of one's view of the action. On the opposite side, in one corner, there is a small rather flimsy looking stand offering seating but is used primarily for covered standing. Hard standing surrounds the rest of the ground, and the ground does have a neat and tidy as well as rural feel to it, although despite the castle overlooking the ground, it does still have a "bog standard" county league ground feel about the place - I have certainly encountered several more appealing grounds in the Sussex League.. Whilst the programme, it has to be said, was poor, eight pages with the absolute minimum of essential information - league tables, predicted line-ups, today's league fixtures and midweek results, it is included with the moderately priced admission charge of £5, and so becomes hard to criticise too harshly.My opinion with the quality of programmes at this level is that I don't have a problem with programmes lacking in quality or substance, as long as the price reflects it. So I have no real issue with Arundel's publication.

This was another game of also-rans, with both teams seemingly having absolutely nothing left to play for in the closing weeks of the season. Arundel are in tenth place in the twenty team league, and although they have games in hand against most teams above them, a top six finish would appear to be the most they could hope for - which they are six points shy of. Hailsham Town are struggling at the wrong end of the table, down in 16th place, but would appear to be safe from any relegation fears, six points clear of a bottom three and potential relegation place but have five games in hand on third bottom Shoreham. The two games these sides have played out so far this season have been rather one-sided affairs, Arundel triumphing at Mill Road in the FA Cup by four goals to one, whilst in the league, Hailsham won 4-0 at home in the league.

On a disappointingly overcast, occasionally drizzly afternoon, this turned out to be an entertaining game, and Arundel could easily have taken an early lead, the Hailsham keeper forced into his first of several fine acrobatic saves in the opening minutes. Hailsham took the lead on the half hour with a powerful shot on the turn by Tristan Jarvis from the edge of the box which the keeper might have done better with. Arundel soon got back on level terms with a rather fortunate goal on 34 minutes, a long range shot by Howard Neighbour taking a huge deflection from a defender, wrong-footing the keeper as the ball looped into the net. Hailsham then went back in front on 40 minutes with an excellently placed shot into the top corner by Jarvis for his and his team's second.

After scoring two very well taken goals, Hailsham's third on 51 minutes was scrappy and rather fortunate, when Shane Saunders failed to properly coonect with a long punt forward, although he did enough for the ball to squirm past the onrushing keeper and had the easy task of tapping into an empty net. Arundel's play had been somewhat flat all afternoon, but their player's heads seemed to drop completely after conceding the third goal and they seemed to lose discipline as well, with a flurry of reckless challenges.They did force a couple of excellent saves from the Hailsham keeper Ross Tanner, but on the whole, Hailsham cantered towards a fairly comfortable victory. However, as the game entered stoppage time, Arundel were awarded a stone-wall penalty, which Scott Tipper, the league's top scorer on 25 goals before today, struck firmly down the middle to give Arundel a sniff of an underserved point. Despite a sudden intensity in their play that was lacking previously, there wasn't enough time for Arundel to score an equalising goal and Hailsham claimed a deserved victory.

London 1-14 v 1-15 Wicklow

Sunday 6th March 2011
Allianz National Hurling League Division 3a
Emerald Grounds, Ruislip
Admission: £5.00
Programme: Donation
Match Rating: 3

On my way home from Clacton-on-Sea, I decided to divert to Ruislip on arrival at Liverpool Street Station via the Central Line tube to South Ruislip, from where the Emerald Grounds is about a 15 minute walk, to catch my first hurling action of the season - and my first at London for a couple of seasons - to watch two of the pace-setters in Division 3A of the hurling league, with Wicklow coming over the Irish Sea to take on London.

Both teams had won their opening two games in the league this season, London beating Armagh by a goal and six points (3-16 to 2-10) last time out in Northern Ireland, and Meath by firve points in their opening game (1-13 to 1-8). Wicklow had a narrower victory against Meath in their last game, winning by a goal (1-11 to 1-10), and beat Kilkenny by three points in their opening game (2-14 to 1-17).

Today was a surprisingly sunny day although the pitch - unsurprisingly considering the extensive rainfall that has fallen in south-east England in recent weeks - was in a pretty poor condition - bumpy and with sand laid down in patches, and this certainly played a part in the game, with players unable to rely on the roll and bounce of the ball. Wicklow started the game strongly, scoring two early unanswered points as well as scoring an early goal, but after that, London completely took control of proceedings for the rest of the first half and by the time the referee blew his whistle for half-time, London had opened up a commanding 1-12 to 1-4 lead.

The second half saw a much more even game, for the most part a midfield battle with little scoring taking place and with Wicklow doing little more than chip away at London's large lead. However, with a quarter of an hour of the game remaining, Wicklow were suddenly within range of London and an excellent turnaround to claim the victory looked on the cards for the first time in the afternoon, and indeed, they went on to completely dominate the final stages, as London could barely mount an attack, and with just three minutes remaining, Wicklow went back into the lead, which they held onto fairly comfortably to claim a one point win. Full credit to Wicklow who kept battling away to the end even when they were quite far in arrears and got their rewards. London will wonder how on earth they managed to lose this match, having looked so commanding in the first half, but just could not get going in the second half, as their haul of just two points testifies.

FC Clacton 3 v 0 Kirkley & Pakefield

Saturday 5th March 2011
Eastern Counties League Premier Division
Rush Green Bowl, Clacton-on-Sea
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.20
Attendance: 87
Match Rating: 3

Continuing my recent unintentional trend of visiting seaside towns which would be far more pleasant during the summer months than on the dank, drizzly early Spring days I chose, during my weekend's stay in Clacton-on-Sea I took in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division match between FC Clacton and Lowestoft based Kirkley and Pakefield - the first ever match between the two clubs in Clacton.

The Rush Green Bowl is located about a half hour walk west of Clacton rail station, and is a surprisingly pleasant venue - surprising in that it's not a scenic ground nor has any particular traditional charm, but it is spacious, located in a bowl with grass banks around two thirds of the pitch and has some unique character about the place. It was slightly surprising to note the roadside board advertising the match still states Clacton Town - FC Clacton's predecessor club which ceased to exist in 2007 - as do various other signs around the ground including the entrance sign to the clubhouse. As one enters the ground from a corner behind one of the goals, there is a modern bricked clubhouse to the right set beneath the pitch. Between the clubhouse and the pitch, there is just hard standing. Behind the other goal is a modern metallic stand covering flat standing area, along one side of the pitch is a stand offering three wooden steps for seating. Along the other length of the pitch is mostly hard standing, except for an interesting little stand called the Bus Shelter - needless to say, that's what the stand resembles - and the authentic bus stop sign attached to the stand is a nice little touch. Just the unique bit of character which can make County League grounds interesting to visit. This stand is also where the passionate fans of FC Clacton congregate, and indeed, their regular vociferous chanting support of the team was mightly impressive for a County League game. The grass banks also make for a good, elevated view of the action. FC Clacton won the Eastern Counties League Programme of the Year award last season, and they certainly seem to have maintained those standards this season. At £1.20, it costs more than the average County League programme, but with a minimum of advertising and all the information you could want - penpics of both teams, extensive current news and history of the club, plenty of interesting articles to read and all of the required stats and facts, this was a very good programme which was excellent value for money, both for regular and occasional spectators.

It's fair to say there's not much left to play for either side this season, with FC Clacton in 13th place in the 22 team league, with Kirkley and Pakefield five places better off, but by only five points and with Clacton having played a game less, so these were two seemingly evenly matched teams. FC Clacton were in pretty poor form though, having only claimed a win and a draw from their last six league games. Today's visitors had won their last two games, but lost their two previous games. Coincidentally, both FC Clacton and Kirkley & Pakefield had both lost away to Leiston in their last league game - although there's no shame in that, considering Leiston are running away with the Eastern Counties League this season. When the two teams met in Suffolk in the league back in November, FC Clacton secured a 2-0 win.

On a cold, overcast day with occasional misty rain, with this match attracting FC Clacton's second lowest attendance this season, the home side started the game very much on the front foot and fully deserved to take an early lead on three minutes when a cross was headed towards goal by Ray Turner and Luke Coleman headed past the keeper with his back to goal from 8 yards. The home side continued to look the more threatening throughout the first half and missed some glorious chances to extend their lead, whilst the visitors barely posed a threat, and it was something of a surprise that FC Clacton went into the interval with just a one goal lead. In the second half, the game was much more even, and although FC Clacton started off the second half quite strongly - fluffing two one-on-one situations in quick succession, one screwed horribly wide and the other unluckily hitting the post, Kirkley and Pakefield then became the more dominant force for about 20 minutes, for the most part without really looking like scoring although Clacton's keeper needed to stay alert with several routine saves, and they were left to rue not being able to create chances when Clacton scored a second goal on 85 minutes when Luke Coleman calmly lifted the ball over the keeper in a one-on-one situation for his second goal on his home debut after being put through by Lee Peacock after he drove forward from deep inside his own half. A couple of minutes later and the visitors had an excellent chance to pull a goal back but an excellent strike by Toby Kerslake from outside the penalty area struck the crossbar, and then with just about the last kick of the game, Clacton secured a hugely flattering 3-0 scoreline as well as the league double over Kirkley and Pakefield when Martin Calver displayed good composure to control the ball and then loop it over the keeper and into the net from the edge of the penalty area.