Bosham 0 v 2 Rottingdean Village

Saturday 24th March 2012
Sussex County League Division Three
Walton Lane, Bosham
Admission: None
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 50
Match Rating: 4

With glorious warm sunshine putting in an appearance today, I fancied a trip to the countryside for a grassroots game at a peaceful, village setting, and so I considered it an ideal opportunity to tick off one of the three remaining grounds I had yet to visit in the Sussex County League Division Three (and indeed, in the whole of the Sussex County League) with a trip to the western extremity of West Sussex.

Walton Lane is located about a twenty minute walk south from Bosham rail station, and facilities are basic, which will prevent the team from getting promoted back into senior football. Indeed, it has frustrated them recently, as they were Champions the season before last but were denied promotion, when apparently their facilities did not meet the criteria for the league they were in, let alone Division Two. The football pitch is part of a recreation ground, and one walks through a play area to get to the pitch - indeed, the play area comes up close to the pitch along one half of the length of the pitch. On the other length, tucked towards the corner, is the very old fashioned but extremely welcoming clubhouse and tea bar, with cover stretching from the clubhouse to the pitchside railing, providing the only cover at the ground.This is the only length of pitch that is railed, spectators are seemingly not intended to watch the game around the rest of the pitch, and there is no hard standing. There are also no floodlights here. The ground and the setting are not hugely memorable in all honesty, although a friendlier welcome and atmosphere would be very hard to find. Programmes were available from the tea bar, and was very good for the level of football, containing all the essentials to inform oneself of the background to the game ahead.

In truth, there is little left to play for both today's teams this season. Bosham went into today's game in twelth place in the sixteen team league, disappointing after their recent successful seasons, but are 14 points clear of a potential relegation place having place less games than the teams currently occupying those berths. Their recent form has not been good, having picked up just two points from their last four games, all at home, although before that run they did beat leaders Newhaven away. Rottingdean Vllage were in seventh place, but six points adrift of sixth placed Barnham and eighteen points behind leaders Newhaven (their lack of facilities also means promotion is not a consideration for them). Their recent results have also not been the best, winning one and losing three of their last four games. When the two teams met earlier in the season Rottingdean emphatically won 7-1 - after Bosham had taken the lead with less than a minute on the clock.

On a warm, sunny but hazy afternoon, the first half was an entertaining affair, with both sides doing plenty of attacking, first of all the Bosham keeper pulled off a couple of excellent point blank reflex saves to keep Rottingdean at bay, then Bosham had a couple of excellent chances, firstly when a forward drew the keeper wide of goal but his delicate lob hit the crossbar, then a one on one was saved by the keeper's legs. On 39 minutes, it was Rottingdean Village who took the lead when a low cross was played into the box and Michael Damario just beat the keeper to flick the ball home. Rottingdean kept their slender lead at the interval, which was deserved as their forward line looked dangerous throughout the first half with their pace often too much for the Bosham back line.

Bosham came out in the second half on the front foot, yet on 53 minutes, Rottingdean doubled their lead when a Bosham defender dallied on the ball and was dispossessed, and Rickie Mitchell strode forward before powering a shot across the keeper and into the net. Soon after, Bosham had a great chance to equalise when their forward broke clear for a one on one with the keeper but he blazed over the bar when he could have passed to his fellow forward. They had a couple of other reasonable chances to get back in the game, although with ten minutes left on the clock, Rottingdean hit the post. In the closing minutes, Bosham had a couple of fierce drives at goal saved by the keeper, but in the end, it was the away team who claimed a victory which they deserved for looking the more convincing and composed team, although the game really could have gone either way. Both teams remained where they were in the table.

Ross County 2 v 1 Falkirk

Saturday 17th March 2012
Scottish League First Division
Victoria Park, Dingwall
Admission: £14.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 4.302
Match Rating: 3



















When Easyjet had their 20% off sale a few months back, a flight to Inverness was the most attractive. I had already visited the home of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, so the target would be a trip north from Inverness to the small town of Dingwall, to visit the home of Ross County. At the time of booking, Ross County looked well placed to push on for the fabulous achievement of belatedly following their near neighbours Inverness from the Highland League into the Scottish Premier League, with this game against their main rivals for the title, Falkirk. Fast forward a couple of months and the scenario still remains now, although Ross had by now carved out an even more commanding lead above Falkirk. It would be a game Falkirk would simply have to win to have any realistic small chance of denying Ross County the title.

Having arrived at Inverness airport in the morning, a zone two bus ticket for £5.50 enabled me to get to Inverness city centre and catch a connecting bus for the 15 mile trip north west to Dingwall. On arrival in the town, it was hard to imagine that such a small, sleepy, old fashioned market town is on the brink of becoming home to a Scottish Premier League outfit - to emphasise the point, the town of Dingwall has less inhabitants than the small 5,800 capacity of Victoria Park. Located a five minute walk from the town's train station, just slightly more from the town centre, Victoria Park has quite a new feel about it. Along one touchline is an all-seater stand, while another all-seater stand is situated on the other touch line, this one only straddling the middle third though. Behind one goal is covered terracing, and there is a section of uncovered terracing between the covered terrace and the smaller stand. Behind the other goal is uncovered terracing, where the away fans are located. I chose to stand on the covered terrace behind the goal, as this would be where the passionate support would be, but also because the terrace will soon be consigned to history, as Ross County will be converting Victoria Park to an all-seater stadium in order to comply with Scottish Premier League regulations in the close season. The 32 page programme was a very good read and sensibly priced.

There was surely little prospect of Ross County challenging for promotion at the start of this season, having finished one place above the relegation places last season, and opening this season with a goalless draw and a 1-5 drubbing at Hamilton Academical. Remarkably, that was the last time Ross County have been defeated in the league, and they have now gone 25 games without defeat, and have been top of the table since mid October. Falkirk have been their closest challengers since October, only for one week dropping below second since, and they have lost just once of their last twelve league games. Too many of those games have draws though, which has meant that Falkirk found themselves twelve points behind Ross coming into this game. In the three previous encounters between the two teams this season, both games at Falkirk were drawn 1-1, whilst Ross won 3-1 in Dingwall.

On a bright, sunny afternoon, played in front of a packed and vociferous home support, it was the home side who dominated the opening exchanges with a confidence one would expect from a team in their position. On fifteen minutes, Falkirk made a tough task all the more tough when defender Stephen Kingsley played a poor back-pass to his keeper Michael McGovern, who tripped the Ross forward Colin McMenamin as he raced for the ball. A penalty was awarded and McGovern, who had moved from Ross to Falkirk last summer, was shown the red card, with youth team keeper Graham Bowman coming on for his league debut. Richard Brittain smashed the penalty home to give the home side, which provoked a streaker from the Falkirk end. Ten minutes later and Ross doubled their lead, when a cross was only half cleared and Rocco Quinn blasted home from 15 yards from a fairly narrow angle. The only surprise for the rest of the first half was that Ross did not increase their lead further, as they completed dominated proceedings, and Falkirk looked a surprisingly poor side, not managing a single effort on goal throughout the first half.

At half time, it looked game over, perhaps not just for today but for the title race too, and the second half started off in a similar vein. However on the hour mark, Falkirk were suddenly back in the game, as Michael Millar hit a glorious 30 yard free kick into the top corner. Inexplicably, Ross seemed to go into their shells after they conceded, and one had the strong feeling that sooner or later, Falkirk would score an equaliser. However, eight minutes from time, they shot themselves in the foot again, when their top scorer Farid El Alagui was sent off for a second yellow card. Even down to nine men, Falkirk still looked capable of snatching an equaliser as Ross looked nervous, but it was Ross who held on to claim the three points, to extend their lead over Falkirk and Dundee to 15 points. With only 27 points left to play for for now second placed Dundee, it would take a monumental collapse for Ross County not to be promoted to the Scottish Premier League.

It was somewhat surprising to read the Falkirk manager, Stephen Pressley, claim after the match that his team was the only one trying to play football and criticized Ross County for relying on the long ball game. There was little to support his on today’s showing, as his side were desperately poor in the first half and only came back into the game when Ross seemed to get the jitters following a world-class free-kick to get Falkirk back in the game. Enormous credit instead should go to Ross County, a club that is clearly very well organized on and off the pitch.

Farleigh Rovers 0 v 1 Westfield

Saturday 10th March 2012
Combined Counties League Division 1
Parsonage Field, Warlingham
Admission: None
Programme: Free
Attendance: 11 (h-c)
Match Rating: 2

For today's fare, I quite fancied taking in a game in the northern Surrey area, having not been there for some time. Although Godalming, Sandhurst Town and Ash United came into consideration, in the end I plumped for a visit to Farleigh Rovers, with the weather set fair for the long walk to the rural location of the ground.

Parsonage Field is located about a 45 minute walk north eastwards from Whyteleafe rail station (or Upper Warlingham, the two stations being almost adjacent to each other on different lines). It is not an easy walk however, being steep uphill for about the first half of the three mile walk, although buses do ply the route for those less energetic.The ground is something of a throwback to the very basic grounds that one used to encounter in the County Leagues decades ago, the type that the FA appear determined to elminate from senior football, more's the pity. Indeed, surely Parsonage Field is living very much on borrowed time, with Farleigh Rovers already having played some games at Croydon FC in recent seasons and the ground could certainly not host Combined Counties Premier League football without extensive improvements. Considering the team's current position, that is not likely to be an issue for quite some time. Located down a track, the ground appears to have not received any TLC for many years, and is all the more quaint and charming for that. There are no floodlights, and facilities are very basic, with two buildings housing the clubhouse and the changing rooms, with some corrugated cover stretching between those and the pitchside railings providing the only cover in the ground. For the rest of this length there is hard standing, along the other length is just grass to stand on although there is old-fashioned railings which are collapsing in places, and it is not possible to stand behind either goal. Behind one of the goals is the track to the ground and fields and behind the other are trees closely lining the goal line, all of which provides a nice rural feel to the ground. Ugly strewn junk behind the hard standing area does detract from the appearance of the ground though. Surprisingly, there was nobody to take any admission money (although the attendance only just reaching double figures that may have included club officials probably meant there was little motivation to bother having someone on the gate). The official attendance was published as 20 - surprising, as by my counting, the figure peaked at 11. Programmes were available - free of charge - from the bar, and the 20 page publication was basic but well presented and with enough information of interest to read to fill ten minutes or so.

Farleigh Rovers are battling against relegation, although they deserve credit for it not being a foregone conclusion already, having lost their first eight games of the season and only picking up three wins and three draws from their opening 20 games. However, a 0-6 home defeat to near neighbours Warlingham at the turn of the year seemed to inspire a change in their fortunes, having won three and drawn one of their subsequent five games, the only defeat coming against runaway leaders Guernsey. Going into this game, they were in fifteenth place in the eighteen team league, six points clear of the bottom two and the potential relegation places. Westfield are settled into a season of mid table obscurity, in eighth place, but having played more games than all other teams, there is very little prospect of making up the 12 points to a promotion place. Their recent form has not been good though. Before winning last time out at home to Feltham, they had picked up only one point from their previous six games. When the two teams met earlier in the season, Westfield let a two goal lead slip and the match ended 2-2.

The first half was a rather dull affair, with no real chances being fashioned, although the home side probably showed more of the attacking ambition, particularly in the early stages. A goalless scoreline at half time was not surprising.

As the bright warm sunshine gave way to overcast skies for the second half, within eight minutes of the restart, Westfield were awarded penalty when a fierce shot towards goal was blocked by a defender's hands. Shane Cheeseman placed the ball excellently low into the bottom left corner with the keeper going the other way. This did spark the game into life a little more, and 64 minutes, a lovely curling shot from a Farleigh's Thomas Nyarko from fully 25 yards hit the crossbar. As the second half wore on, Farleigh Rovers put more and more pressure on the Westfield goal, although they rarely convinced that they could find an equaliser. Three minutes from time and Westfield could have put the game to bed when a jinking run into the box resulted in a placed shot that was deflected just wide. Deep into injury time, and Farleigh Rovers had their best chance of the game when a corner, which their keeper came up for, was headed over the keeper to the back post, but the ball was stabbed just wide, and so it was Westfield who kept their first clean sheet away from home since August to earn the three points.

Bournemouth 0 v 2 West Auckland Town

Saturday 3rd March 2012
FA Vase Quarter Final
Victoria Park, Winton
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 414
Match Rating: 2

When I booked a weekend stay in Bournemouth well before Christmas, it was with the intention of watching Charlton's League One visit to Dean Court, home of AFC Bournemouth.. However, tickets in the away end were surprisingly sold out very quickly, and my season ticket history at Charlton would have fallen foul of AFC Bournemouth's stringent checks on ticket purchases in the home areas. In any case, I have never found it a pleasant experience to be in "the wrong end" for a Charlton match. It looked like a game in the Wessex League would have to suffice instead, until the other club in Bournemouth, Bournemouth (Poppies) FC, set up an intriguing looking FA Vase quarter final match, arguably the biggest occasion in the club's history at their home ground. The match would also send the most northerly club left in the competition and 5-2 favourites to lift the cup to the home of the most southerly club remaining in the competition, who are stuck firmly in mid-table in their league and are rank outsiders at 25-1 to lift the Vase.

Victoria Park is located in the suburb of Winton and around two and a half miles north of Bournemouth town centre, slightly less from the town's train station. The walk took around 40 minutes, although regular buses are available. The Wessex League has many gems of grounds to visit - Victoria Park is not one of them, indeed, there is precious little reason to recommend a visit to Victoria Park in its own right, with it hard to imagine a ground lacking more in character and charm. There is a stand straddling the half way line, two thirds of which offers wooden bench seating, the remainder housing a rather cramped clubhouse - admittedly, it probably felt more cramped with a much larger than usual attendance today, Around the rest of the ground is just hard standing behind a metal perimeter rail. Behind one length and a goal is housing, and behind the other goal is a busy road which produced a constant backdrop of loud traffic noise. Enormous credit though should be given for an excellent 44 page programme, containing much interesting and relevant information about both clubs and hardly any advertising. It made for a very pleasant change from the over priced publications that are little more than a local business directory that one finds more and more at this level of football.

A glance at the Wessex League makes it most surprising and augments the feeling of considerable achievement that Bournemouth have managed to reach the last eight of the FA Vase, the last remaining Wessex League club to do so, as they are in eleventh place in the 22 team league. This is also by far the furthest Bournemouth have ever reached in the competition, only getting as far as the Third Round previously, and since setting out on their FA Vase journey back in September, they have dispatched AFC Portchester, Hartley Wintney, Torpoint Athletic, Barnstaple Town, Royston Town and most recently Billingham Synthonia after a replay last weekend. Their recent league form has not been good though, picking up just one point from their last four games. It is much easier to understand West Auckland Town's presence in the FA Vase Quarter Finals, as they are second placed in the Northern League - one point behind the leaders, Sunderland RCA, but with three games in hand, and are unbeaten in their last nine league games. To reach this stage, they have beaten Cleator Moor Celtic, Marske United, Shildon, Bacup Borough, Askern Villa, Bitton and finally they knocked out the holders, Whitley Bay, previously unbeaten in four years in the competition, away from home. This would also be West Auckland Town's first appearance in the FA Vase Quarter Finals.

On a day of blue skies, bright sunshine but with a strong wind, the game started quite evenly, but with Bournemouth using the wind behind them to do most of the attacking in the early stages. They hardly fashioned out any golden chances and the visitors, supported by an impressive contingent of travelling fans, assumed superiority as the first half wore on and they had the best chances although a bobbly pitch was proving a good leveller, making playing good football - which presumably West Auckland Town would be the more capable of - difficult.

A goalless half time scoreline was not surprising, but in the second half, although the game remained something of a stalemate with little to set one's pulse racing, it was West Auckland who looked in control of proceedings, and having several golden chances to score, it looked like it would be just a matter of time before they opened the scoring - the Bournemouth keeper, Max Frampton, was by far Bournemouth's best player with numerous wonderful saves to keep his side in the game. Bournemouth still occasionally threatened, but it was really surprising that the whole club, from the players, coaches, officials, right through to the supporters, did not really seem to be that "up" for one of biggest days the club has had or are ever likely to have, as they put in a solid but uninspiring performance. Bourmemouth's task became harder with the daft sending off eight minutes from time of Fawzi Saadi, hero of the last round after scoring the winning goal against Billingham Synthonia, after pushing an opponent to the floor who had prevented a free kick from being taken quickly. As extra time was looking more and more an inevitability, immediately after the fourth official indicated four minutes of added on time, Michael Rae forced yet another fabulous save from Frampton, but the rebound fell back at the feet of Rae, who slotted home to provoke joy unconfined amongst the West Auckland players, who rushed over to their coaches and supporters to celebrate. It was a devastating blow for the home side, but there was still time for another goal in the remaining minutes of added on time. A Bournemouth player lost possession in his own half to Mattie Moffat who strode forward and unleashed a fabulous swerving shot into the top corner beyond the reach of Frampton. The celebrations were just as wild as after the first goal, and it really was game over now, as the favourites deservedly progressed to the semi-finals, whilst Bournemouth have just a Wessex League Cup semi final in 11 days time to keep their season interesting.