Horsham 4 v 1 Langney Wanderers

Saturday 14th July 2018
Pre-Season Friendly
Culver Road, Lancing
Admission and Programme: None
Attendance: 60 (rough head count)
Match Rating: 3

Having arranged to meet up with some work colleagues for the 3pm game at Eastbourne Borough, I chose to double up with this game earlier in the day, taking advantage of its 11am kick-off along the south coast. Although this would represent a revisit for me, my only previous visit was back in 2009, and the offer of free entry for this game sealed the deal for me.

Culver Road is about a five minute walk from Lancing train station, and serves as the headquarters for the Sussex County Football Association. So no surprise to see plenty of their signage around what is a very smart facility. Lancing, of the Southern Combination League, are the long standing resident club side here, as well as Horsham temporarily. Apart from the installation of a plastic pitch, there have been no noticeable changes since my last visit. A brick stand stretches along two thirds of one length, from the entrance turnstile block to the far corner flag. There is a tea bar window and clubhouse closest to the entrance, then several rows of seating sectioned off by a couple of walls, and then a flat area by the corner flag. There is just hard standing around the rest of the pitch, with quite a nice views of the South Downs behind the length opposite the stand. No programmes nor team sheets were produced for this fixture.

After some pretty lean years for Horsham since they vacated their home ground Queen Street in 2008, during which time they have lived a nomadic experience playing at Worthing, Horsham YMCA and, since the start of last season, here at Lancing some 22 miles from their home town, as well as suffering a relegation to Step 5 football, it would seem that the club are on an upward curve now. They finished in 15th place in the Isthmian League Division One South last season, and are hoping that they will be able to return to their home town this season, as their new ground is in the process of being constructed. Langney Wanderers are a relatively new club, formed in 2010, making terrific strides, having just been promoted to the Southern Combination League Premier Division after just their third season in senior football, finishing runners up last season. They currently ground share at Eastbourne Borough's home ground at Priory Lane.

On a warm, sunny afternoon, this game looked like being horribly one sided, as Horsham opened up a three goal lead inside the opening twenty minutes. With just two minutes on the clock, new signing from South Park Chris Smith saw his shot from the edge of the area hit the post, but they did take the lead on 7 minutes, Shelley diverting the ball into the net following a free kick by the outer corner of the penalty area. They doubled their lead on 15 minutes when a low cross evaded the keeper but not O'Toole, who just bundled the ball home from close range despite the attentions of a defender diving in, and it was 3-0 on 19 minutes, when the keeper was drawn out to the by line by O'Toole, who pulled the ball back for Hoare to strike the ball home. Langney then slowly came back into the game and had a couple of good chances to pull a goal back, although so did Horsham to further extend their lead.

Into the second half, after the customary wholesale changes occurred at half time, the game continued to be more even than the opening twenty minutes, although it remained Horsham doing most of the attacking and creating chances, while Langney Wanderers struggled to get in the opposition half.  But it was Langney who got the next goal on 81 minutes when their striker picked the ball up by the edge of the area before thumping the ball home past the keeper's dive. But Horsham restored their three goal lead six minutes later. Following a good dribble sideways into the penalty area, the ball spilt to Hartley, who hit the ball first time into the top corner of the net, and 4-1 was how it finished.

This was an enjoyable game to watch as friendlies go, played at good tempo, and was far from a disinterested kick about, and surely both management teams will have learnt plenty about their respective teams.

Westfield 0 v 6 Hastings United

Tuesday 10th July 2018
Pre-season Friendly
Parish Field, Westfield
Admission and Programme: None
Attendance: 60 (estimate)
Match Rating: 3

Being off work this week, I had contemplated driving a long distance to take in a new ground this evening. However, this attractive looking game was sufficiently appealing for me to stay local, with Hastings United announcing that they would be fielding their first team squad for the fixture, and Westfield always being a pleasant place to watch football at.

There have been no changes to the ground since my last visit 2 years ago, and there will most likely not be until the club moves to their new ground in the future, something that has been on the cards for several seasons but seems no closer to becoming reality. With no floodlights nor ground perimeter fencing at the Parish Field, they must content themselves with Step 7, intermediate football in the Southern Combination League Division Two during their stay at the Parish Field, in which they finished in eighth place last season. The Parish Field remains a pleasant place to watch football though, closely surrounded by tall trees on all four sides, railed along both lengths and with hard standing for the most part. Dark green portakabins are situated to one side along one of the lengths, with a windowless clubhouse bar area inside, and a tea bar window to one side. There is an air of optimism about Hastings United approaching the new season in the Isthmian League South East Division, with a young, local and talented squad playing under a good young manager in Chris Agutter. Unsurprisingly, no programme was produced for this fixture, nor perhaps more surprisingly, was any admission fee taken, maybe something of a missed opportunity to raise some much needed funds for the club.

On a mainly cloudless evening, but that was chillier than of late, Westfield put in a good performance, and the game was quite even during the first half, and it was not until the 36th minute when Hastings took the lead. A low diagonal ball into the box found the run of a striker, who took a touch before firing the ball low across the keeper and into the net. Then, right on the stroke of half time, Hastings doubled their lead. Their striker chased a ball to the right side of the penalty area, the keeper came out to meet him, and the ball was poked past him and rolled into the empty net from quite a tight angle.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the second half was a much more one-sided affair, as Westfield struggled to retain possession of the ball and had less and less energy to chase the ball. Six minutes after the break, a Hastings shot on the run forced a good finger tip save from the keeper, and on 58 minutes, Hastings scored their third, a cross from the left was met with a glanced header which went into the net past the keeper's clutches. The visitors scored their fourth four minutes later. A clever low pass found a team mate in plenty of space inside the area, and he shot the ball into the roof of the net. Hastings were awarded a penalty on 76 minutes for a trip towards the edge of the area, and was despatched into the bottom left corner, and they completed the scoring on 85 minutes when the keeper failed to get a meaningful punch to the ball following a high looping cross into the area, and the loose ball was drilled home from 12 yards.

This was quite an entertaining game to watch, and was surely a useful exercise for all concerned, in terms of getting valuable minutes into the players' legs against competitive but clean opponents, whilst Westfield should feel happy to have contained their higher grade opponents for decent portions of the game, but will be glad that they will not face opposition of such quality in their season of intermediate football to come.

Weymouth 0 v 6 AFC Bournemouth Under 23

Saturday 7th July 2018
Pre-season Friendly
Bob Lucas Stadium, Weymouth
Admission: £8.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 164
Match Rating: 3

Following my last game, the Final of the marvellously entertaining and quirky ConIFA World Football Cup tournament, I have rather enjoyed the break from groundhopping for the past three weekends and the associated extensive travelling on trains. That said, it came as a relief that I would embark on another long and winding groundhopping season today. My choice was fairly limited with wanting to tick off a new ground, as not all clubs were starting their friendlies today, and I was left with a shortlist of two, between Hayes & Yeading against QPR Under 23, and this game. With temperatures expected to reach the 30’s in West London today, but only the low 20’s on the Dorset coast, I chose the latter as a more comfortable prospect for watching football.

The Bob Lucas Stadium – previously known as the Wessex Stadium – is about a 40 minute walk north westwards from Weymouth train station, and is very much an out of town ground. The stadium was completely rebuilt to host football in 1986, but it has the feel of an older, more traditional stadium. Although there are several turnstile blocks, behind a goal and either side of the main stand, they were not open today, instead spectators entered through the main reception, past stairs to the main bar, through a corridor, to reach pitchside by the half way line. The large and imposing stand offers offers an excellent elevated and unobstructed view of the action, with the seating area accessed by climbing a staircase. There is a tea bar window at ground level, with a small club shop building to one side. Around the rest of the ground there is about a dozen terrace steps, with both ends having cover, as does the middle third of the remaining length. Breeze blocks provide the perimeter boundary above the terracing, and claret and blue paint adds finishing touches to this and the stands. There are large old-fashioned floodlight pylons in each corner of the ground, and all in all, it is a ground which is looking rather tired, but that helps add to the character of the place. No programme was produced for this fixture, and mention must be made of some pretty eye-watering prices for refreshments - £3.00 for a portion of chips - unfortunately I had little choice, being a vegetarian these days and having not eaten beforehand - and £2.40 for a bottle of water.

There was an air of hope that this could be the start of a good season for Weymouth. They reached the play-offs of the Southern League Premier Division last season following a fifth placed finish, but after losing in the semi-finals, will ply their trade in the newly regionalised Southern League Premier Division South. AFC Bournemouth sent their Under 23 squad for this fixture and indeed, there were no instantly recognisable names on their team sheet from their Premier League squad.

With the recent heatwave showing no signs of abating, this game was played in very warm, sunny conditions, kicking off at 1pm to avoid clashing with the 3pm kick off for England’s World Cup Quarter Final against Sweden. This game was every bit as one-sided as the final scoreline suggests, with the visitors looking fitter, brighter and with much more cohesion in their play, unsurprisingly as part-timers Weymouth were only a week into their pre-season, and were fielding several triallists. The visitors took the lead on 9 minutes, when the ball was struck low diagonally into the penalty area and Sam Surridge, who had a loan spell at Weymouth a couple of seasons ago and spent last season on loan at League Two outfit Yeovil Town, scoring 10 goals in 53 appearances in all competitions, diverted the ball past the keeper. He doubled Bournemouth's lead on 13 minutes, running onto a low ball forward by the outer corner of the penalty area before striking the ball low through the keeper’s legs, and it bounced against the far post before rolling just behind the line. Bournemouth dominated the rest of the half without getting any further goals, whilst in the last few minutes of the half, Weymouth finally managed to get a couple of decent sights of goal.

After pretty much all players of both teams were switched at the break, Bournemouth extended their lead on 48 minutes. After an initial shot came back off the bar, James Boote poked the loose ball home. They scored their fourth on 65 minutes following a quick attack, the ball eventually being pulled back from the byline for Boote to drill the ball low past the wrong-footed keeper. It became 0-5 on 77 minutes, when a cross hit defender Callum Buckley and the ball looped high over the keeper and inside the far post. Bournemouth made it six on 84 minutes, when Corey Jordan drilled in a shot from the edge of the area which went in despite the keeper getting fingertips to the ball on its way.

So a convincing victory for the youngsters from Bournemouth, although results obviously mean very little this early in pre-season, with it more about being running the rule over fringe and triallist players, and getting fitness levels up. Following the final whistle, most of the crowd then made their way to the clubhouse to watch the England game, where there was cracking atmosphere as England put in a commanding, assured display to win 2-0. Indeed, the feel good factor really was in abundance throughout my journey home walking back to the station, on the trains and at my interchange stations, with plenty of chanting of "Football's Coming Home".

Northern Cyprus 0 v 0 Kárpátalya

Kárpátalya won 3-2 on penalties
Saturday 9th June 2018
ConIFA World Football Cup Final
Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, Enfield
Admission: £10.00 online (plus mandatory £1 donation for ConIFA member association of one's choice)
Programme: £5.00 (covering entire tournament)
Attendance: 2673
Match Rating: 3

After taking in the second half of the placement game at Haringey, I quickly made my way to the bus stop to take the 217 bus northwards along Great Cambridge Road, exactly as I had done last Saturday, for the kick off which was sensibly put back from 6 to 6.30, to cater for the anticipated bumper crowd, and to allow the fans, players and officials from games at other grounds in earlier kick-offs sufficient time to make this showpiece event. Although this fixture would mean a second visit for me within a week, and watching one of the teams again, if this fixture had just half of the atmosphere and excitement of last Saturday’s fixture, I knew I would be in for a treat.

These two teams actually met at this very same ground on the opening day of the tournament, with that game ending in a 1-1 draw. Northern Cyprus then went onto beat Tibet 3-1 (the game I watched), and then drew 2-2 against reigning champions Abkhazia, which was enough to seal progression and eliminate Abkhazia. They then went on to beat “hosts” Barawa 8-0 in the quarter finals, and then Padania 3-2, coming back from 1-2 down with ten minutes to go. Kárpátalya, who were only invited to participate in this tournament as replacements for fellow Hungarian ethnic region Felvidek last month, beat Abkhazia 2-0 and Tibet 5-1 in the group stage, before beating Cascadia 3-1 in the quarter finals and then fellow ethnic Hungarian outfit Székely Land 4-2 in the semi-finalists.

With a large Turkish Cypriot population in North London, as well as a fair sized Hungarian one, this fixture was expected to draw a large crowd, and so it proved, as the ground was packed to the rafters all around, with over 2500 spectators present. One had to question the wisdom of playing the fixture at this stadium though, with views distant along both lengths at best and poor at worst, but at least it was roomy enough to present no safety issues, with fans also able to stand on the grass bank just outside the ground. The build up to kick off saw flares let off from the Hungarian end, plenty of music from the Cypriot fans, a display of traditional dance from Northern Cyprus, and some eccentric firing up of the crowd from the Cypriot kitman in his pink died hair, before former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg led the teams out.

Unfortunately, the game itself was a disappointment, unsurprisingly a cagey affair, and in the first half Northern Cyprus had the upper hand for long periods, but Kárpátalya had the better of the few chances created to open the scoring. On 10 minutes, a cross was whipped in and flicked off a defender's head and went just wide of his own goal, whilst on 35 minutes, a corner flashed across the goal and was deflected behind for a corner.

It was Northern Cyprus who had the opening chance of the second half, when a far post header from a corner forced a flying finger tip save from the keeper, while three minutes later, it was Kárpátalya who forced a good flying catch from the keeper following a shot from the edge of the area. As rain started to fall with about 15 minutes remaining, Northern Cyprus suddenly pushed hard for a winner and missed some decent chances to win the title - on 82 minutes, an unmarked far post header saw the ball come back off the crossbar, and a minute from time, another header from a cross went just over the bar, and with the last action of the game, a throw in was flicked on, and a far post header went over the bar. And with no extra time to be played in this tournament, the full-time whistle heralded penalty kicks to decide who would lift the trophy.

Northern Cyprus would have been very pleased that the penalties would take place in front of their own fans, but it was all going horribly wrong for them when Kárpátalya scored their first two penalties, but Northern Cyprus saw their first two saved. But the sequence was reversed with the next two penalties - Kárpátalya seeing their third penalty hit the post and their fourth one saved, while Northern Cyprus scored their third and fourth, to mean sudden death on the fifth round of penalties. Kárpátalya scored theirs, but Northern Cyprus saw theirs saved, as the Kárpátalya ran the length of the pitch in celebration and leave the majority of the crowd disappointed. With the rain continuing and a tricky journey home in store with local trains not running today, I decided to leave before the trophies were presented and the closing ceremony, which was a shame.

I was feeling quite sad that the ConIFA World Football Cup was now over, but it had been a thoroughly enjoyable experience, learning more about regions around the world I mostly knew next to nothing about before the tournament, watching teams I would never usually encounter, enjoying the contrasting support of the various teams, and there was a lovely combination of competitive but good natured spirit between the players. It was also refreshing to see players clearly keen to make the most of the experience and playing for their "nation". Enormous credit should go to the organisers, a small team of volunteers, who despite the odd hiccup, put on a fabulous celebration of international football for the non FIFA recognised "nations. Hopefully the competition will return to London some time in the not too distant future, with the multi-cultural nature of the city ensuring that most teams are well supported, although presumably - and rightly - it will be taken around the world

for the next few editions at least. But my next summer tournament football will probably come in the form of the Inter Island games in Anglesey next June, also a competition I have very much enjoyed when I experienced it on Jersey and the Isle of Wight.

Highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here.