Crowborough Athletic 2 v 3 Peacehaven and Telscombe

Saturday 8th October 2011
Sussex County League Division 1
Alderbrook, Crowborough
Admission and Programme: £6.00
Attendance: 92
Match Rating: 4

At the conclusion of the game at Jarvis Brook, I speedily made my way on foot westwards across the south side of Crowborough, and arrived at the Alderbrook just as the whistle blew at the end of the first half, with Peacehaven holding a 0-1 lead thanks to a penalty scored by Carl Dunk on 10 minutes.

By all accounts, the first half was a pretty tepid affair, however the game burst into life with three goals in ten minutes after the restart. First Crowborough equalised on 51 minutes when a long range shot by Harry Thompson took a wicked deflection off Tom Saunders which wrong-footed the goalkeeper and nestled into the net. Crowborough then took the lead within three minutes when a handball in the box saw a penalty awarded, which was converted by Tom Saunders for his second of the game, sending the keeper the wrong way by shooting into the bottom left corner. Having done the hard work in turning around a half time deficit into a lead, Crowborough then threw their advantage away by presenting Peacehaven with an equaliser almost straight from the kick off. The ball was pumped forwards and the Crowborough keeper Ben Head came racing to the corner of the penalty area, got in a complete mix-up with a couple of defenders, one of whom nodded the ball over Head, presenting Dan Smith with an open goal and an easy tap-in. On 68 minutes, Peacehaven went back into the lead with another messy goal from Crowborough's point of view, when a free-kick from just outside the corner of the penalty area was curled in low and took several deflections before trickling into the net just inside the post, for what will go down as an own goal, with Crowborough's Tom Boddy getting the final touch. A pattern clearly developed of Crowborough doing most of the attacking but with little quality, whilst Peacehaven did not threaten so often, but looked much more dangerous when they did. In the end, there was no further scoring and so Peacehaven held on for a narrow away win, which keeps them flying high in third place in the league, whilst Crowborough fall one place to thirteenth.

A description of the ground can be found on my earlier visit here, with no changes to the ground since then. The programme could be described similarly to my previous visit, looking very good and professional and all in colour, but with little interesting to read. It does however contain all the necessary stats and facts, including full team line-ups for every game played so far this season.

Jarvis Brook 0 v 1 Willingdon Athletic

Saturday 8th October 2011
Sussex Intermediate Cup, Round 2
Limekiln Playing Field, Jarvis Brook
Admission and Programme: N/A
Attendance: 19 (head count)
Match Rating: 2

After many consecutive weeks of travelling far and wide for my football games, today I decided to stay relatively local for a grassroots game. Several games in the second round of the Sussex Intermediate Cup appealed, eventually the ability to combine a game at Jarvis Brook, with its 1.30pm kick-off, with the second half of the game at Crowborough Athletic in the Sussex County League made my mind up for a visit to the Limekiln, a venue that has been in my radar for some time.

The Limekiln Playing Field is about half a mile away from Jarvis Brook village and Crowborough railway station, and enjoys a completely rural and remote location, located down a hardly used country lane and surrounded by trees and fields. As one enters the car park, there is a modern, not particularly attractive clubhouse. Typically for a club in the Mid Sussex League, there are no spectator facilities and the pitch, which is bobbly, has a pronounced slope and undulates considerably, is not roped or railed off. With its rural location, the ground is pleasant although there are far more attractive locations in this part of the world. As is almost always the case with clubs in the Mid Sussex League, no programmes were produced.

Today's cup fixture would be between two clubs from the same league and division, the Mid Sussex League Premier Division. They have made similar starts to the season, Jarvis Brook winning two and losing the other of their three games played so far, whilst Willingdon Athletic have an identical record apart from playing and losing one game more. Last season, they finished at opposite ends of the table, Jarvis Brook finishing third, whilst Willingdon finished third bottom and just one point clear of a relegation place. Both games between the two clubs in the league ended in a draw last season.

On an afternoon that started off sunny but sooner clouded over, the first half started off evenly, the visitors probably slightly having the edge, and they took the lead with 25 minutes on the clock, when the ball was laid off well just outside the penalty area, allowing Joe Horton to run unchallenged towards goal, and he showed good composure in firing into the top corner of the net across the keeper. Within a couple of minutes, Jarvis Brook thought they had equalised when a low cross evaded the keeper who was being challenged by a forward, allowing an easy tap in at the far post. The goal was ruled out for offside, a hugely controversial decision as the ball appeared to have been played backwards.

The visitors held on to their narrow 0-1 lead at the break, which they probably just about deserved, all the more so considering they were playing up the considerable slope in the first half. The second half was quite a dull affair, with a reasonable amount of endeavour from both sides but very little quality (even considering the level of football), and the home side did not look like getting back on level terms until about twenty minutes from time. Then they did manage to mount more frequent attacks without carving out any clear chances, and in the end, Willingdon saw out a victory as comfortable as a 0-1 away win can be.

IFK Gothenburg 0 v 1 Mjällby AIF

Saturday 1st October 2011
Swedish Allsvenskan
Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg
Admission: 130 SEK
Programme:Free
Attendance: 7,407
Match Rating: 2

With Gothenburg currently being one of the bargain Ryanair destinations, this was my second visit to the city of the year, and to Sweden inside two weeks, for a top tier, Allsvenskan game, at the home of one of the biggest names and most successful teams in Swedish football. Despite buying my tickets in advance, it did look like I might not make this game, as my destination airport, Gothenburg City, was closed due to fog. An alternative airport of Skavsta, near Stockholm, was mentioned, but happily the plane was able to land at the alternative Landvetter airport the other side of Gothenburg, happily with minimal disruption to my plans.

The Gamla Ullevi, which is located just a five minute walk northwards from the city centre and very close to the much larger and impressive looking Ullevi stadium, is a rather interesting stadium despite its rather bland modern appearance. The name translates to "Old Ullevi", which is rather misleading, as the current stadium was only opened in 2008, built on the site of the stadium it replaced - which was also called Gamla Ullevi. There cannot be many stadia in the world that host as many as four different teams, with club sides IFK Gothenburg, GAIS and Örgryte IS all calling the Gamla Ullevi home, as do the Swedish national women's football team. The stadium has a nice uniform, continuous look about it, with seating along both lengths of the pitch and in all four corners. Behind both goals, there is a small area of terracing in the lower tier, and in the upper tier  is a "dual purpose" area, with seating installed but handrails installed along each row for those who prefer to stand - as most do in this area. One of these areas - where I was located - is where the hard-core support of IFK Gothenburg gathers. Views are excellent and unobstructed from everywhere in the stadium, and with the whole stadium wrapped closely to the pitch, it is a very good arena to watch football in. A small sized 12 page programme was given out free of charge around the stadium - indeed, the distributors almost chased people to give them a programme, even persons cycling or driving past clearly not going to the match. It had squad lists but that was about the limit of interest to a non-Swedish speaker, no results list nor league table.

For the home side, there was little left to play for with just three games left of the season, as they cannot qualify for European football. They were in sixth place in the league, and they will have to settle for a mid-table finish - following on from last year's seventh place, which surely cannot be considered acceptable considering the club's status. Things are a litle more interesting for Mjällby as the Allsvenskan season draws to a close, in twelth place in the sixteen league, six points clear of the relegation zone and only three points clear of the relegation play-off position. When the two teams met at Mjällby earlier in the season, IFK triumphed 2-0.

Although this was a match played at a higher tempo than the average Scandinavian game, it was desperately short on quality and ideas, as both teams looked exactly what they are - a "big" club going through the motions against a limited team battling against relegation. Although the home side looked slightly the better side, neither side really looked like scoring, and the scoreline remained goalless at half time. I just had a feeling throughout that things were building up to the visitors claiming a scrappy win, and that is pretty how much how it panned out. Mjällby started to carve out the few half chances that there were, most notably on the hour mark when a long kick from the goalkeeper presented a one-on-one, which Erton Fejzullahu completely fluffed having down all the hard work holding off a defender when he miskicked tamely straight to the keeper from close range. However, they did score what turned out to be the winner when David Löfquist worked some space before unleashing a 25 yard screamer into the top corner which gave the keeper no chance. A wonderful goal not in keeping with a mostly dull game and to which one could say, "take a bow, son", and Löfquist duly obliged in his celebrations in front of the IFK hard core support. The home side could not muster a threat of an equaliser in the few minutes that remained and so Mjällby secured a vital three points to almost certainly guarantee survival in the Allsvenskan - only a freak swing in goal difference could see them slip into the relegation play-off position, with their two remaining games against the bottom two clubs in the league.

Special mention must be made of the IFK Gothenburg fans today, who were absolutely superb in their support, from before kick off when the crowd sang along to the club anthem with scarves aloft, right through the game with singing and chanting despite the fairly dire fare on offer on the pitch. At the final whistle, their boos were deafening - which was exactly how it should be from supporters, superb support of their team during the match, but register their justified discontent with the dreadful performance once the game had ended. English fans at league games could learn a lot from this....

Video highlights of this game can be found at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIqn4SpdZoQ

Doncaster Rovers 1 v 0 Crystal Palace

Saturday 24th September 2011
Football League Championship
Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster
Admission: £15.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 9,362
Match Rating: 3

With a cheap bus ticket to Sheffield aimlessly booked months in advance, my plan was to attend either the Don Valley Stadium - which has surely assumed the Football League's undisputed number 1 status as the most unsuitable and least atmospheric venue since Brighton vacated the Withdean Stadium, or a non-league game. However, a visit to the Keepmoat Stadium suddenly became the stand-out fixture for me to attend, considering tickets were almost at half price for this fixture, and that Doncaster would be playing Crystal Palace, a club who, being a Charlton fan, are the team I "love to hate" in the Football League.

Having caught the train from Sheffield Meadowhall to Doncaster, the Keepmoat Stadium is located about a twenty minute walk south-east of the train station, sandwiched between industrial estates, a retail park and also a small lake. Although most of the usual complaints about a newly built stadium can be applied here - no real character or unique identity - it is one of the better newly built grounds I have encountered. Well designed on the outside and inside, an attractively designed "wrap-around" stadium with excellent views from every seat in the ground, and the size of the ground has been sensibly set so that it has quite an intimate feel which helps for a good atmosphere to be generated. The programme was quite disappointing with little interesting to read but plenty of mundane articles.

Doncaster have made a dreadful start to this season, gaining just one point and scoring two goals in their opening seven matches, leaving them four points adrift at the foot of the table. Events bordered on the farcical at the club in recent days, with the chairman publicly fully backing manager Sean O'Driscoll on Thursday, only to place him on gardening leave on Friday (apparently via tezt message), quickly to be replaced Dean Saunders, surely appointed due to his name rather than experience gained in the Conference. It seemed harsh on O'Driscoll, perhaps a knee-jerk reaction to the club's poor start, considering the club has overachieved massively in their five years under O'Driscoll up to this season. For Crystal Palace, it has been something of a struggle to maintain their Championship status in the last couple of seasons, however they have made a reasonable start to this season, and find themselves firmly in mid-table, in twelth place in the 24 team league, although they have lost their last two league games.

As might have been expected with a new manager at the helm, Doncaster started off the game quite well, although Crystal Palace's young and pacy forward line always looked capable of weaving their way to a shot on goal. As the first half continued, Crystal Palace increasingly dominated proceedings as Doncaster's play deteriorated, probably due to a lack of confidence on the ball, relying on aimless balls forward, and they were probably slightly fortunate to go into the half-time interval with a 0-0 scoreline.

The second half started off with something of a midfield battle, Doncaster certainly improving but rarely looking capable of scoring. However, arguably the game-changing moment came with the introduction of Doncaster's Billy Sharp, the club's top goalscorer in the last two seasons. His introduction lifted the fans, and his all-action display certainly lifted the team. Ten minutes after his introduction, and Doncaster took the lead, with the slice of luck that clubs in a predicament like Doncaster need, when former Crystal Palace midfielder John Oster took possession about 30 yards out and struck at goal, and a large deflection off a defender's leg wrong-footed the goalkeeper and the ball nestled in the corner of the net. From this point, there only looked to be one winner, as Doncaster spurned several wonderful chances to increase their lead and by now Crystal Palace's threat was negligible. And so Doncaster secured a crucial three points and a good start for the new manager, and whilst they remain bottom of the table, hope will have grown that they can move in the right direction. Crystal Palace look destined for a comfortable mid-table season, and they have some excellent tricky youngsters who the club will do well to keep hold of in the long term.

Elite 3000 Helsingør 0 v 4 Brøndby IF

Wednesday 21st September 2011
Danish Cup 3rd Round
Helsingør Stadion, Helsingør
Admission: 100 DKK
Programme: 10 DKK
Attendance: 1,795
Match Rating: 3

For the final game of my stay in the Copenhagen area, it was another game in the Danish Cup, with a romantic cup game between Elite 3000 Helsingør , a club who have only been in existence since 2005 following a merger of five clubs who have never played higher than Division 2 East, against one of the biggest and most famous clubs in Denmark, Brøndby. It would be a game of particular interest for me, as Dennis Rommedahl, the former Charlton player, now plays for Brøndby, and so it would be interesting to see how he would do whilst at the same time giving me nostalgic feelings of the days when Charlton were in a position to sign decent international players.

Helsingør is reached by a 45 minute train journey north from Copenhagen, and from the station one has the choice of catching another train for a five minute journey to Hojstrup station, which is almost adjacent to the ground, or walking to the ground - the option I chose, which took about 20 minutes.Tickets could be bought just outside the main entrance, and one inside the ground, the stadium is very pleasant. Straddling the half way line is a tradtional all-seater stand, with a hill of trees closely hugging the ground along that side. On the other side of the ground is a concrete stand of uncovered terrace steps. For tonight's game, Brøndby supporters had about half of this stand, as well as the area behind one of the goals - behind both goals was just hard standing. Happily, no running track is present at this ground so supporters are close to the pitch. The ground does not usually have floodlights but for tonight's game, temporary ones were installed. Programmes were available, 4 pages of A4 size, which gave good basic information about tonight's game - what I could understand of it.

Elite 3000 made quite a poor start to their season in Division 2 East, gaining just one point from their opening four games, before winnng two of their last three games, and they have comfortably won two games to reach this stage in the competition. Brøndby have not made a good start to this season, gaining just nine points from their opening nine games, and find themselves in ninth place in the twelve team league.

Brøndby's average start to the season would have given Elite 3000 hope of an upset, and they almost got off to a sensational start, putting the ball in the back of the net inside 20 seconds, but the goal was (apparently correctly) ruled out for offside. However on three minutes, Brøndby's two Danish international forwards, Rommedahl and Martin Krohn-Dehli, combined to open the scoring and settle Brøndby's nerves, with Rommedahl's still electric pace breaking clear of the defence, and with the keeper and a defender rushing out to close him down, Rommedahl passed to Krohn-Dehli who had the simple task of tapping into the net on the slide. Brøndby went on to completely dominate proceedings, with Elite 3000 always looking likely to concede, but somehow the scoreline remained just 0-1 at half time.

That soon changed within 3 minutes of the restart though, when Rommedahl whipped in a cross from the right, and the New Zealander Brent McGrath finished excellenty on the volley. That goal really killed the game, although Brøndby could not add a further goal until the 75 minutes, with Rommedahl claiming his third assist, crossing from the right and giving McGrath a simple tap in. On 78 minutes, Brøndby added a fourth following a quick break by Krohn-Dehli with a good individual goal beating the keeper. Romantics might say that the 0-4 final scoreline was unfortunate on the home side, but it did probably adequately reflect the gulf in class between the two side, indeed, the scoreline could have been a few goals worse for Elite 3000.

Hvidovre IF 2 v 2 Aarhus GF

(Aarhus win 9-8 on penalties)
Tuesday 20th September 2011
Danish Cup 3rd Round
Hvidovre Stadion, Copenhagen
Admission: 50 DKK
Programme: Free with admission
Attendance: 1,119
Match Rating: 4

Back in Denmark for this evening's football fix and an interesting looking clash in the Danish Cup, with a David versus Goliath clash, a top tier Superliga team - who, as fate would have it, I had watched win at Koge only three days previously - visiting a third tier team, with the ingredients in place for a potential giantkilling.

The Hvidovre Stadium is certainly one of the easier to find, taking an S-train from central Copenhagen to Friheden station - which takes around 20 minutes, and just as the train pulls into the station, the stadium's floodlights become visible closeby, and the stadium is just a couple of minutes along a straight main road from the station. Apparently unusually in Denmark, admission was simply paid on admission to the ground. I mistakingly found myself having entered the visitor's section, which was not ideal, as a natural supporter of the underdog, and the section was confined to one small part of the ground, the other three quarters of the ground one could freely roam. However, the visitor's large and vocal support persuaded me to retain my place in their section. For a third tier club, the Hvidovre Stadion is rather impresive. It contains a large all-seater stand along one length of the pitch, about a quarter of which was assigned to Aarhus fans tonight, with five rows of uncovered benches circulating around the rest of the ground. Once again, a running track circulated the pitch, ensuring poor views of the action from behind either goal. Surprisingly given the lowly status of the club, the programme produced, which was given out free on admission, was the best throughout my hopping in Denmark, containing 16 pages in colour, with what looked like interesting articles, not that I could understand them.

Tonight's match would be between two teams who met in the league last season, before going in opposite directions - Aarhus upwards to the Superliga as champions, Hvidovre down to Division 2 East, finish last and 10 points adrift of safety in last season's Division 1.Unsurprisingly, Aarhus did the double over Hvidovre last season, winning 3-0 in April in Hvidovre, and 7-1 earlier in the season in Aarhus. Hvidovre have made a good start to this season though, winning six and drawing the other of their seven games so far, and have had comfortable 1-5 away victories in both of their previous Danish Cup ties to get to this round.

One would have predicted a comfortable away win, however the cat was set amongst the pigeons with just seven minutes on the clock, when the ball broke free allowing Jonas Rasmussen a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and he cooly slotted the ball into the net to give the underdogs an unexpected lead. It was quickly becoming apparent that this would be an even contest, and only slowly did Aarhus begin to threaten, and on 17 minutes they came close to scoring when an awful corner broke for a long range shot which the keeper could only block, and then had to make a point blank save to deny the follow up shot. On 27 minutes, Aarhus were back on level terms though, when a player cut in from the right and unleashed a shot which the keeper could only parry to Aron Johansson, who slotted home from about 8 yards. One felt that the chances of a shock were waning and that Aarhus would now control the game, however slighlty against the run of play, Hvidovre amazingly went back into the lead, when a well worked move left Soren Weibel with a one-on-one, and he showed good composure in slotting past the keeper. And so it was Hvidovre who held the advantage after a surprisingly well balanced first half, with no apparent gulf between the two sides.

Aarhus unsurprisingly started to take control of proceedings, although they rarely really threated Hvidovre's goal, although on 53 minutes, they had a shot blocked on the line. On 67 minutes, they equalised for a second time, when a looping cross was headed into the net by Soren Larsen from close range. Although Aarhus by now looked the likely winners, on 77 minutes Hvidovre had a great chance to score when a forward just beat the keeper to a header, but the ball dropped agonisingly just wide of the goal. In the last ten minutes, Hvidovre's goal led quite a charmed life with at least five shots going very narrowly wide or over, but 2-2 was the score after 90 minutes, a terrific achievement for Hvidovre. So the game headed into extra time, and although both sides had fantastic chances to win ihe tie - Hvidovre in particular looking very tired, there was no further scoring throughout extra time and so the game headed to a penalty shoot-out. With Aarhus taking the first penalty, the first 17 penalties were converted, mostly excellently, a couple only just squirming through the keeper's dive, until Hvidovre's Marco Ziegler's penalty struck the crossbar to cause heartbreak for the home side and ensure Aarhus's passage into the nexr round - expected, but boy were they made to work hard for it....