Canvey Island 0 v 3 Hendon

Saturday 16^th February 2013

Isthmian League Premier Division

Park Lane, Canvey Island

Admission: £10.00

Programme: £2.00

Attendance: 321

Match Rating: 3

After weeks of either following Charlton or being hindered by extreme weather, my first new ground visit of 2013 was not decided until lunchtime on the day. I headed through the Dartford Tunnel with the intention of paying a visit to Thurrock, however whilst wandering around the neighbouring Lakeside Shopping Centre, I remembered that their game against Carshalton Athletic would be between the bottom two teams in the Isthmian League Premier Division and so may not have been a particularly attractive game to watch. Therefore, I changed my plans and headed a further 20 miles east along the A13, for a match between two of the in-form teams in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

Canvey Island Football Club is very conveniently signposted all the way from the approach road onto the island, and car really is the best option to get to Canvey Island – the nearest train station is several miles away in Benfleet, from where a bus journey is necessary. The ground is situated on the eastern side of Canvey Island, very close to the Thames Estuary – in fact, the ground is positioned below sea level and behind one goalmouth one sees freighters sail along at regular intervals, with the north Kent coast also clearly visible. Whilst Park Lane is not a ground that exudes historic charm or character, it is a pleasant and fairly appealing arena, with a very neat and tidy feel to it and almost everything being painted in club colours of yellow and sky blue. Along one length of the pitch as one enters the ground is a tea bar, club shop and a long shallow all-seater stand, whilst along the other length are two small stands covering a few terrace steps. Behind one of the goals is possibly the best feature of the ground, a large steep uncovered terrace, whilst behind the other goal – the sea end - are just a couple of terrace steps, and is the one part of the ground that looks a little unsightly, with a small blue metal fence bordering the terrace. The 40 page programme was a colourful, attractive publication with plenty of interest to read particularly for the regular Canvey Island supporter.

Canvey Island came into this game on a great run of form, having won their last three games and five of their last six, and were in third place in the league, although nine points adrift of leaders Whitehawk. After a poor start to their season, Hendon have also been in very good form recently, having lost just once in their last eight league games, picking up 19 points out of the 24 available and were in twelfth place in the league. When the two teams met last month in the league, Canvey Island claimed a 2-1 away win.

On a mostly overcast but surprisingly mild afternoon, it was the home side who had the better of the opening exchanges, with plenty of possession in the final third without ever really looking like they would score. However, on 12 minutes, it was the visitors who opened the scoring with their first attack. The ball was played back in the area by Casey McLaren, and Dean Hacknell rifled the ball home. The rest of the first half was even, with Canvey Island just shading things but still rarely looking like they could get back on level terms.

One imagined that the home team would receive a rollicking from their manager Steve Tilson at half time and show more urgency in the second half, but apart from a brief bright period at the start of the second half, their play became increasingly worse, particularly after they conceded a second goal on 58 minutes, when they lost possession in midfield, and a fast drive towards goal ended with Junior Morais placing the ball powerfully into the corner beyond the keeper’s dive. Canvey Island really seemed to throw in the towel now, as their play became sloppy and aimless. On the stroke of full time, Hendon put some gloss on an excellent away performance when Belal Aite-Ouakrim strode forward before shooting emphatically low into the corner from the edge of the area. So, a scoreline that on paper would have been very surprising, but was a very good reflection on proceedings this afternoon, with Hendon producing a fabulous away performance and Canvey Island producing a surprisingly woeful one.

Crowborough Athletic 2 v 1 Hailsham Town

Tuesday 12th February 2013

Sussex County League Division One

Alderbook Recreation Ground, Crowborough

Admission inc. programme: £6.00

Attendance: 55

Match Rating: 3

After a frustrating few weeks when the poor weather – ranging from sub zero temperatures to excessive rain – claimed many local matches, I finally managed to get in my first County League game of 2013 this evening. Even this evening, many local matches were called off due to waterlogged pitches, however, happily the Alderbrook pitch does drain extremely well, and this game was never in serious danger.

A description of the ground can be found from my previous visit, and the programme, included with admission, appeared to be a shorter than usual edition of 8 pages, understandable considering the ongoing poor weather conditions putting games in doubt currently. But it contained all of the necessary up to date information, in Crowborough’s usual colourful and glossy format.

On paper, this evening’s encounter would be between two evenly matched sides, separated by one place in the league tables, with Crowborough in 14^th place, six points above 15^th placed Hailsham, although Hailsham had played three games fewer. When the two teams met in early October, Hailsham convincingly won 5-1, with striker Danny Leach scoring all five goals.

On a very cold but dry evening, it was Crowborough who had the better of the opening exchanges, although on 8 minutes, Hailsham had a powerful shot hit the crossbar. The rest of the half was entertaining, with Crowborough having several fantastic chances to open the scoring, but failed to do so and so the scoreline remained goalless at half time.

Eight minutes after the restart and the deadlock was broken, deservedly by the home side, as a high cross into the box was headed across goal and stabbed home by Paul Butler. Crowborough doubled their advantage just two minutes later, when Sam Carrington showed good composure and ball retention in dribbling the ball forward, around a couple of half-hearted challenges, before firing low past the keeper.  For the next half hour, Crowborough looked in no danger, as the game descended into a rather dull affair, with Hailsham not really looking like they could get back into the game. However, a couple of minutes from time and they suddenly were right back in it, when a tame shot was deflected high towards the far post, and Shane Saunders finished excellently on the half volley. Unsurprisingly, Hailsham looked a transformed team now, and looked quite likely to force an underserved equaliser, their best chance coming when they hit the post following a header from a free kick. But Crowborough held on for the three points to rise one place in the league standings, whereas Hailsham dropped one place.

Charlton Athletic 1 v 1 Birmingham City

Saturday 9th February 2013
Football League Championship
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Attendance: 17,269
Match Rating: 2

 

Match report can be found here

Crystal Palace 2 v 1 Charlton Athletic

Football League Championship
Selhurst Park, South Norwood
Admission: £32.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 17,945
Match Rating: 4

As a Charlton fan, a visit to Selhurst Park has never been an attractive proposition since the club played there in the late eighties, so much so that the only time I have watched a game there was back in 1995, when Wimbledon hosted Charlton in a League Cup tie. However, as my current partner comes from the Croydon area and wanted to visit Selhurst Park, I was sufficiently tempted to make a return visit.

Selhurst Park is located about a 15 minute walk from Norwood Junction train station (as well as from Selhurst and Thornton Heath stations), and the ground is a curious mixture of old and new. Some of the exterior to the ground is extremely old-fashioned, and as I entered the away end, into the Arthur Wait stand, it really was like going back in time, with the turnstiles and interior before entering the stand almost exactly how I remember it from the eighties, and the stand itself does not seem to have had much improvement either. Running along one length of the pitch, about half of the stand has wooden seats, the remainder plastic seats, and there are a couple of obstructing pillars to obscure one’s vision. If one were seated towards the rear of the stand, the low roof would also impede one’s view somewhat. Along the other length is a similarly archaic and single tiered stand. Behind both goals are much more modern stands, constructed in the nineties. Behind one of the goals is a fairly small seating capacity with only 17 rows, but with a couple of rows of corporate boxes above the seating and a Jumbotron scoreboard placed on the roof. Behind the other goal is the only two tiered stand, an impressive structure towering far above the other stands with steeply banked seating and an attractive curved roof to it. Apparently Crystal Palace’s programme was awarded “Championship Programme of the Season 2012/13”, and indeed it is a very impressive publication, consisting of 80 pages, a minimum of advertising, plenty of interest to read, including very copious information about the visitors.

Coming into this game, although Crystal Palace were in fifth place in the league, their recent form has been poor, having picked up just one point in their last three games and have won once and collected eight points from their last nine games. Charlton went into this game in twelfth place but in good recent form in the league, having won three games in a row before throwing away a goal lead to lose at home to Sheffield Wednesday last time out. Crystal Palace would be looking to complete the double over Charlton today, having already won at The Valley 0-1 back in September.

The match started off surprisingly with Charlton in the ascendancy, and should have taken the lead when Leon Cort glanced a header wide from close range. They did take the lead on 15 minutes, when Ricardo Fuller did well to bring down a ball from Chris Solly, before side stepping a defender and slotting home from a tight angle. Charlton had several chances to increase their lead before half time as Crystal Palace were surprisingly poor and struggled to push towards goal, but Charlton had to make do with a slender one goal lead. The support from the Charlton fans was loud and constant, in contrast the home fans were surprisingly silent throughout, save for some booing of their players at half time.

After half time entertainment from the cheerleaders of NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars – following on from the home club’s Crystal Girls cheerleaders before the match, the second half continued in much the same vein as the first, with Charlton in the ascendancy, and yet another golden chance for Charlton to increase their lead came when Fuller ‘s long range shot was excellently tipped over by the Palace keeper Speroni. One feared that Charlton would be made to pay for not scoring more than once, and so it proved. On 75 minutes, the ball found Glenn Murray, who turned in the box and had all the time and space in the world to place the ball past the keeper and into the net. The turnaround was complete just four minutes later, when the ball found its way to Murray wide of the goal, and he lashed the ball home. Finally the Crystal Palace fans woke up and found their voice, as the tide had turned, and it was only the home side who looked like scoring, as Charlton never looked like getting back on level terms and were left the painful experience of losing both league games to their bitter south London rivals this season, and for the second game in a row, Charlton ended up losing after taking the lead, and fell two places in the league to fourteenth. Crystal Palace stayed in fifth place, but have now built up an eight point gap to the seventh placed team immediately outside of the play-offs.

Charlton Athletic 1 v 2 Sheffield Wednesday

Charlton Athletic 1 v 2 Sheffield Wednesday
Football League Championship
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 20,292
Match Rating: 4




Match report can be found here

Charlton Athletic 2 v 1 Blackpool

Saturday 12th January 2013

Football League Championship

The Valley, Charlton

Admission: Season Ticket

Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 16,846

Match rating: 4

Match report can be found here

Middlesbrough 4 v 1 Hastings United

Saturday 5th January 2013
FA Cup Third Round
Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
Admission: £10.00
Programme: £2.50
Attendance: 12,579
Match rating: 4

Having always had a soft spot for Hastings United, with many family connections in the town and seeing many of their games in my younger days, this was a game I was never going to miss, particularly as I had not previously visited the Riverside Stadium. After the fantastic achievement of a Ryman League Premier Division club reaching the Third Round of the FA Cup, a round trip of almost 700 miles to visit a club outside of the Premiership may not have been a dream draw, but it still promised to be a fabulous day out, to play in a stadium and in front of a crowd beyond their wildest dreams.

With train fares being prohibitively expensive and scheduled coach services not convenient, I booked a seat on one of the eight coaches organised by Hastings United to ferry supporters to the game, leaving the Pilot Field at 6am for the cost of £30, with the journey taking a total of just over seven hours. After driving through some pretty uninspiring scenery through the town, the stadium looks rather out of place as it stand out looking bright, fresh and rather impressive, located on its own about a ten minute walk east of the town's rail station. Nice touches just outside the stadium are two statues of Middlesbrough greats, Wilf Mannion and George Hardwick, placed either side of the entrance gates from the club's previous ground, Ayresome Park. It's a nice touch to have a some tokens of the club's past present close by a fairly unremarkable modern stadium similar to many others. Inside the stadium could be described much as most other newly built stadia - excellent unobstructed views, plenty of legroom and with a neat design. Seating continues all the way around the stadium, and one stand, the West Stand, is slightly taller than the other three. Away fans are located behind one of the goals, in the South Stand. Basic scoreboards are placed on the top of both the North and South stands. For today's game, Middlesbrough produced a different programme to usual. Priced slightly less than usual, at £2.50 for 52 pages, and this was the first edition that they produced a fairly small square sized programme. The content was interesting with little advertising.

To reach this stage, Hastings United have had to play eight games, starting on 6th September, and have beaten Chatham Town 3-1 at home, Staines Town 3-2 away, Hitchin Town 2-1 away after a 2-2 draw at home, Blackfield and Langley 3-0 at home in the qualifying rounds. In the First Round, the draw was not kind, sending Hastings to Bishop's Stortford of the Conference North, but won 2-1 away after falling behind, and the draw was even less kind in the Second Round, sending them to Harrogate Town, and after the match finished 1-1, Hastings won on penalties 5-4 after another 1-1 draw at the Pilot Field. This season's run in the FA Cup has been all the more remarkable considering that Hastings had not won a single tie in the FA Cup for the previous six seasons. In the league, Hastings United are in 17th place in the 22 team division, but are unbeaten in their last seven games - all of which were draws. Middlesbrough have been having a good season so far in the Championship, in fourth place and have won their last four home games, although they did lose their most recent match at Derby. A gulf of five divisions or 131 places in the football pyramid demonstrated just what a tall order it would be for Hastings to extend their remarkable FA Cup adventure yet further.

On a a bright, fairly sunny afternoon, the game took a fairly predictable pattern with Middlesbrough dominating possession and spent most of the time in Hastings' half, with their players showing good touch and ball retention. Although Hastings understandably looked slightly in awe and nervy, they defended well and importantly did not concede an early goal which would have extinguished their dreams early on. On 17 minutes, Middlesbrough were awarded a penalty when Ishmael Miller was fouled by Jamie Crellin. Miller himself took the penalty, an awful one, soft and low which the Hastings' keeper, Jamie O'Brien, comfortably saved to his right, to send the Hastings fans into raptures. The reprieve only lasted five minutes, when Moroccan Merouane Zemama curled a classy shot into the top corner from just outside the area. Happily that did not open the floodights, and indeed Hastings came close to equalising just before half time, but a marginal off-side decision denied a certain goal. Still, a half time scoreline of just 1-0 to Middlesbrough was a fantastic achievement for Hastings, and gave real hope that a shock could still be on the cards.

That hope evaporated just a couple of minutes later, when a corner fell to the feet of Andy Halliday, who poked home from close range. Again Hastings came agonisingly close to scoring, when Lee Carey hit a bullet of a shot from outside the area, but the keeper Jason Steele did excellently to palm the ball onto the post and away. Middlesbrough scored a third on 68 minutes when Zemama hit a speculative shot which took a large deflection to wrong foot the keeper. However, less than a minute later and the Hastings fans got what they dreamt of with the goal of the game, when Bradley Goldberg drove forward and smashed the ball into the roof of the net from fully 25 yards, which sent the Hastings fans into wild celebrations. Hastings did threaten to score again on a couple of occasions, however they looked dead on their feet in the last ten minutes, and Ishmael Miller scored Middlesbrough's fourth five minutes from time when he drove low into the corner.

So predictably comfortable progress for Middlesbrough, but it would certainly be a day no player or fan of Hastings Unted will ever forget. The gulf in class was abundantly clear,  but the Hastings players gave their absolute all throughout the contest and deserve enormous credit for trying to take the game to Middlesbrough and managing to create several chances. They fully deserved the lengthy standing ovation they received from the travelling fans at the final whistle, whilst the fans would embark on the long return journey south feeling very proud of their players, savouring the memory of seeing their team score a glorious goal at a Championship venue.

Match highlights can be viewed by clicking here

Charlton Athletic 1 v 1 Derby County

Saturday 29th December 2012

Football League Championship

The Valley, Charlton

Admission: Season Ticket

Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 17,761

Match rating: 3

Match report can be found here

Charlton Athletic 1 v 2 Ipswich Town

Wednesday 26th December 2012

Football League Championship

The Valley, Charlton

Admission: Season Ticket

Programme: £3.00

Attendance: 18,380

Match rating: 3

Match report can be found here

Langney Wanderers 5 v 1 Hollington United

Saturday 22^nd December 2012

East Sussex League Premier Division

Eastbourne Sports Park, Eastbourne

Admission and programme: N/A

Attendance: 12 (head count)

Match Rating: 4

On a rare occasion in recent months when I had not planned to visit a Football League or Premiership ground, it was rather unfortunate that recent persistent heavy rain severely limited my choice of local non-league games today. Constant torrential rain from the early hours of Saturday morning on already saturated ground put paid to almost every non-league game in the south-east. With the selection further reduced by wanting to avoid a revisit, I headed to the south coast for a game on a synthetic pitch in the East Sussex League.

Langney Wanderers played their early games in their debut season in the East Sussex League at Shinewater Lane in Eastbourne, but have switched their home venue to the Eastbourne Sports Park during the winter months, to make use of the all-weather 3G pitch there. The Eastbourne Sports Park is located on the northern fringes of Eastbourne, about a ten minute walk from Hampden Park train station, and is a large sporting facility consisting of an athletics complex, a tennis centre, eight grass football pitches (several other clubs in the East Sussex League play on these) and the 3G pitch. Although positioned inside a cage, the arena is surprisingly spectator friendly, with plenty of room to stand behind railing along one length of the pitch, and around the rest of the pitch is hard standing albeit without railings. Floodlights are present, although they were not used today. As the pitch is also used for hockey, there is a rather colourful array of coloured lines painted on the turf.

This match would be between two of the stronger teams in the East Sussex League Premier Division. Hollington United have been the dominant force in the league for years. They finished last season with a 100% record, and were unbeaten this season, having won five and drew the other of their six games so far this season, and were in second place in the league, behind St Leonards Social on goal difference but with a game in hand. Langney Wanderers had only played four games of their league season so far, winning three and losing the other.  They were in eighth place in the eleven team league, but with at least two games in hand on all teams above them and seven points behind the top two.

On a truly horrible afternoon of strong winds and persistent rain, together increasing mist, Langney Wanderers were in the ascendancy in the early stages and duly took the lead on 12 minutes, when a cross swirled high above the goalmouth in the wind, before Riki Prodger headed in from close range at the far post. Hollington seemed to be having real difficulty adapting to the difficult conditions and the plastic pitch, and their cause was not helped when their goalkeeper was injured on 35 minutes and had to be replaced by an outfield player. He was beaten within four minutes, when a long low ball was played forward, and Prodger sidefooted the keeper before tapping into the net. On the stroke of half time, Prodger completed his hat=trick with a free-kick from 25 yards which was drilled into the net through the replacement keeper’s hands.

Hollington’s long unbeaten league record was now in serious doubt, but within ten minutes of the restart, they got a goal back with a powerful shot on the turn from just outside the penalty area into the top corner by Jake Stiles. Game on, it seemed, however within two minutes, Langney Wanderers restored their three goal advantage when Paul Rogers hit home from a low cross from 8 yards. Langney Wanderers really should have scored several more, as they adopted a “shoot on sight” policy to test the replacement goalkeeper, their stand-out chances being when the ball was blazed over the bar twice from good positions and struck the post. They finally did add a fifth ten minutes from time when the ball was played neatly around the edge of the box, before Mark Coleman struck the ball powerfully into the net from the edge of the penalty area, beating the keeper at his near post. So a very convincing win for Langney Wanderers, who adapted to the conditions far better than Hollington who, despite putting in plenty of effort, just looked all at sea and increasingly demoralised in the driving rain on the plastic pitch.

Crowborough Athletic 4 v 2 Southwick

Tuesday 18th December 2012
Sussex Senior Cup Second Round
Alderbrook Stadium, Crowborough
Admission: £6.00
Programme: N/A
Attendance: 60 (estimate)
Match rating: 3

Attending local midweek games has recently become easier and more attractive with my recent acquisition of a car, and tonight I took the opportunity of a revisit to the Alderbrook Recreation Ground, a ground I visited on many occasions in my younger days, for a Sussex Senior Cup Second Round tie. The tie was originally drawn to be played at Southwick, however the recent bad weather meant that two previous attempts to play the tie at Southwick were postponed due to a waterlogged and then a frozen pitch, and competition rules dictated that the tie be switched to the away venue on the third attempt.

A description of the Alderbrook can be found here from my previous visit. Unfortunately programmes were not produced for tonight’s game, which was only hastily arranged last Friday. However, back issues of the programme were freely available in the tea room and seemed to follow a familiar recent pattern of programmes here – colour, and quite glossy, but rather light on content.

Surrendering home advantage would surely make an already seemingly tough task even more difficult for Southwick, who play in a division below Crowborough in the Sussex County League. Crowborough were in 14th place in Division One and were in good goalscoring form, having won their last three games, scoring 11 goals in the process, and had lost just once in their last six games. Southwick were in 10th place in Division Two. In the previous round of the Sussex Senior Cup, Southwick beat Wick 2-0 at home, whilst Crowborough won away at Little Common on penalties after a 3-3 draw.

On a chilly, slightly misty evening, the game started in fairly predictable fashion, with Crowborough very much on the front foot and with Southwick looking very limited. The only surprise was that it took Crowborough as long as 18 minutes to open the scoring with a fairly scrappy goal, the ball finally being drilled home by Alex Rich. That did not seem to inspire the home side, whose play seemed to then increasingly sink to the level of their lower league opponents, as the game became rather dull and littered with mistakes. It was still a surprise when Southwick were given the opportunity to equalise when they were awarded a penalty on 35 minutes when their forward was rather clumsily brought down from behind. Idie Adejoda drilled the penalty into the bottom left hand corner of the net. A minute before half time and it was Southwick who took an unexpected lead when Lewis Finny drove forward and lashed home a powerful shot past the keeper from a slight angle.

So a surprising half time scoreline, although within ten minutes of the restart, Crowborough were back on level terms with a penalty of their own, struck high into the net by Josh Biddlecombe. They went on to dominate the second half, although as the half wore on, extra time was looking ever more likely. However, ten minutes from time, Crowborough took the lead when a looping cross from close to the byline was headed home powerfully by Jack Turner, and the tie was wrapped up five minutes from time when Alex Rich scored his second and Crowborough’s fourth when he curled a low free-kick into the net. So it was Crowborough who progressed to the next round as expected, where they will face Ryman League outfit Three Bridges in January, however they were given an almighty scare by their lower league opponents and will certainly need to up their game when they become the lower league underdogs.