Grantham Town 4 v 1 Barwell

Saturday 24th March 2018
Northern Premier League Premier Division
South Kesteven Sports Stadium, Grantham
Admission: £10.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 319
Match Rating: 3

 

For today, I took advantage of a Virgin Trains East Coast ticket sale for a cheap, straightforward and quick trip to Lincolnshire, with a return ticket from London costing just £12.00.

The South Kesteven Sports Stadium is about a half hour walk westwards from Grantham train station, and whilst there are two features which can instantly turn a groundhopping off – an early nineties new-build located far away from the town centre amongst industrial units, and there is a running track around the pitch, there is more than enough compensatory factors to actually make it a good place to watch football. The ground has a rather grand main entrance, with turnstile blocks either side if ever there is a need to segregate fans – today just one turnstile was open. Straddling the half way line is the main stand, which is quite an impressive building, two tiered and offers excellent unobstructed and elevated views of the action from the top tier, and also of the surrounding countryside and Grantham’s skyline. The club bar is located to the rear. Either side of the stand are steep banks of uncovered terracing, the top of which provides ample elevation to get a good view of the action despite being distant from the pitch. Hot and cold refreshments are available from a wooden hut to one side of the terrace closest to the entrance. On the opposite side, a stand covers quite steep terrace steps, again with adequate elevation at the top although the dugouts do obstruct views slightly. Behind both goals there is hard standing around the athletics track, and three shallow steps beneath grass banks, but views are very distant. The 28 page programme was printed in colour and was not bad, with interesting reading material and the necessary stats and facts.

This promised to be an interesting match between two teams pushing hard for a play-off berth. After picking up just two points from their previous four games, Grantham won at Shaw Lane on Thursday to swap places into fifth position and the final play-off berth. They had won 17 and drawn seven of their 34 league games so far, with games in hand on the teams immediately above them, although Shaw Lane, now immediately below them, had two games in hand on Grantham, trailing by just a point. Barwell were in eighth place, following 14 wins and eleven draws, and were five points adrift of Grantham and the final play-off berth, but had played two games more than Grantham. Therefore, today’s match was a real must-win game for the visitors to maintain any realistic hope of reaching the play-offs. And they came into this game in better form, picking up 10 points from their last five games, compared with just five for Grantham. They would also be hoping they may be able to take advantage of their opponents playing their second game in less than 48 hours. When the two teams met in January in Leicestershire, the match finished 1-1.

On a grey, overcast afternoon, the opening half hour or so was fairly even but was a rather scrappy affair, not helped by a referee who erratically blew for fouls frequently. The visitors had slightly the better of things and had the first real chance, a free kick from 25 yards was heading for the top corner but the keeper just managed to tip the ball over, and from the resultant corner, the keeper made a smart save low to his right. But on 38 minutes, Grantham took the lead. The ball was passed low across the penalty area to the feet of Zayn Hakeem, on loan from Mansfield, and despite having his shirt pulled by a defender, he turned and fired low past the keeper. Not much else happened for the remainder of the half.

Grantham really upped their game after the break, playing at a high temp and doing most of the attacking, as the visitors barely threatened. On 50 minutes, Danny Meadows saw his first time shot from outside the area come back off the post, but they doubled their lead three minutes later. Hakeem ran down the left wing and cross the ball into the danger area and the keeper couldn't deal with it, with the ball falling at the feet of Meadows to tap the ball home. Grantham comfortably held on to their lead for the next half hour, before adding a third on 84 minutes. A ball over the top sent sub Sam Osborne through and although he struggled to get the ball out from under his feet as he ran towards goal, he eventually did manage to poke it beyond the keeper. Barwell pulled a goal back on 88 minutes when Matt Stenson kept running with the ball from deep before eventually bundling the ball past the keeper, but a minute into added on time, Grantham restored their three goal lead when the ball was worked around the penalty area before Meadows fired low from an angle and the ball went in via a deflection off the keeper.

So a very convincing and, in the end, deserved win for Grantham and full credit to them for that, playing their second game in 3 days, and results elsewhere meant they climbed to fourth place in the table, with a four point cushion inside the play-offs. Barwell dropped a place to ninth, and will probably need something of a miracle to reach the play-offs now, being seven points adrift with nine games to play.

Bedworth United 2 v 0 Chasetown

Saturday 17th March 2018

Northern Premier League Division One South

The Oval, Bedworth

Admission: £9.00

Programme: £2.00

Attendance: 193

Match Rating: 3

 

Having booked a National Express ticket from London to Coventry for today, I originally had the choice of four non-league clubs around the city, all playing at home. However, after yet again weather conditions were to wreak havoc on fixture list, the games at Coventry United, Coventry Sphinx and Coventry Copsewood (in order of my preference) were all postponed due to unfit pitches, leaving Coventry Alvis as the only game on, but a long walk from the city centre combined with the club being nine points adrift in their Step 6 division did not sufficiently appeal. So I decided to take a short train ride north, passing close by Coventry United's home ground Butts Park Arena and then Coventry City's Ricoh Arena en route, to watch a match between two teams chasing down a play-off berth, for what would be my first game at a new ground for four weeks – which was also at a Northern Premier League ground in the West Midlands.

The Oval is about a ten minute walk from Bedworth train station, quite close to the town centre and is set on the edge of the Miners Welfare Park. There are two entrances to the ground, via turnstile blocks behind two corners of the ground, both leading to the length where the clubhouse is located, inside a long brick building which would not win any design awards. Along the front, overhang provided cover for standing and a slightly raised path, below which it is possible to stand pitchside. A hot food outlet is positioned on one side of the building. Straddling the half way line on the opposite side is a tall all-seater stand, which offers elevated views but has supporting pillars along the front to obstruct views. To one side of the stand there is a small wooden hut, serving as a tea bar and a as a club shop. Around the rest of the ground there is just hard standing. Generally, it’s a pleasant enough ground, well kept, tall trees provide a nice background to the main stand and there are enough quirks about the place to make it interesting, although the ground does have a rather caged in feel, with high mesh fencing all around the ground, although this is fairly standard at grounds with a plastic pitch. The 32 page programme was rather disappointing, not even including a league table and 14 pages devoted to advertising.

Bedworth came into this game in third place, following 17 wins and six draws from their 33 league games, well on course for a play-off berth and although they have little prospect of overhauling the top two teams, third place may be enough for an automatic promotion berth this season due to yet more league restructuring. Chasetown were in seventh place, following 16 wins and four draws from their 30 league games, but with games in hand on the four teams immediately above them, third place was still very much in their sights.

The Beast from the East's little brother delivered perishingly cold and wintry conditions, with the actual temperature around freezing and wind chill making it feel around -8C, and ahead of kick-off, the weather alternated between blue skies with sunshine and heavy snow storms driven by a strong gusty winds. As the teams came out, they were greeted by a snow storm, making visibility difficult and leaving the pitch covered in snow for about 15 minutes, but the snow stayed away for the remainder of the match. Both teams struggled with the conditions in the early stages, although gradually Bedworth stamped their authority on the game, and they were awarded a penalty on 24 minutes. Luke Rowe ran into a ball down the left wing, drove sideways into the box before being tripped. After plenty of delaying tactics by the keeper, Alex Troje sent the keeper the wrong way, shooting the ball into the right side of the net. The match continued with much the same pattern, the home team on top but with goalscoring chances at a premium and Bedworth retained their slender lead at the break.

After most of the crowd sought refuge in the clubhouse from the freezing temperatures outside at half time, still Bedworth were on top as the visitors surprisingly barely threatened, and after Bedworth did manage to create some more chances, they did double their lead on 73 minutes. Following a corner, the ball was delivered into the area and the ball bounced off a couple of players before Jamie McAteer poked the ball home from very close range. That felt like it would be more than enough to claim the three points, and so it proved as the visitors' first shot on target only came three minutes from time, when a powerful shot was gathered comfortably by the keeper.

So a comfortable home win, with the visitors putting in a disappointing performance, but not too much harm was done to their play-off aspirations and no doubt this was a tricky day to play football with the poor weather conditions throughout.

Hailsham Town 1 v 2 St Francis Rangers

Tuesday 13th March 2018
Southern Combination League Division One
The Beaconsfield, Hailsham
Admission: £5.00
Programme: 50p
Attendance: 47
Match Rating: 3

 

This evening, I had intended to take in the very attractive looking Southern Combination League Division Two cup final between the division’s top two teams, Little Common and Langney Wanderers, who had scored almost 200 goals between them this season. However, despite a dry and sunny day today, the pitch at Eastbourne Town’s home ground The Saffrons surprisingly failed a pitch inspection following persistent rain on Monday. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the pitch at Hailsham Town – notoriously prone to waterlogging – did survive an early afternoon pitch inspection, and so I decided to head for there for my second visit of 2018.

Hailsham have been in good form recently, winning their last four games and scoring 18 goals in the process, and came into this game in ninth place, following 12 wins and two draws from their 25 league games. St Francis Rangers 13th place, having won seven and drawn four of their 23 league games, nine points clear of a possible relegation berth in the bottom two, but they had lost their last 3 games in all competitions. When the two teams met in October, Hailsham claimed a 1-2 away win.

On a slightly chilly evening, a pitch that was squelchy and muddy underfoot and cut up readily was never likely to be conducive to good football being played, and so it proved as the bounce and run of the ball was inconsistent and players struggled to keep their footing as they ran along the surface. The first half was competitive but both side struggled to mount attacks on the surface, and it was no surprise that the scoreline was goalless at the break.

However, two minutes after the break and the deadlock was broken by the visitors. A long range shot from outside the area saw the keeper scrambling above his head but the ball bounced back off the crossbar, landing at the feet of Oluwaseun Olabiyi, who took a couple of touches before firing the ball home. Hailsham then did force some smart saves from the keeper, but St Francis doubled their lead on 63 minutes. After the keeper parried the ball wide of his goal, the ball was dinked in from the byline into a more central position, for Olabiyi to bundle the ball in from close range. Hailsham struggled to mount threatening attacks, and unfortunately it was not until the 90th minute that they pulled a goal back. A defender failed to cut out a long ball low through the middle, allowing Danny Leach to run into the ball and take it forward, before slotting it calmly past the keeper. There was not enough time to seriously push for an equaliser and so it was the visitors who headed back to Haywards Heath with the three points.

Whilst this was not the best of games as a spectacle, both teams deserved great credit for battling hard on a very tricky pitch.