Olympique Grande-Synthe 0 v 0 AS Marck

Saturday 10th May 2014
French Championnat de France Amateur 2
Stade Jean Deconinck, Grande-Synthe
Admission: €5.00
Team sheet: Free
Attendance: 150 (estimate)
Match Rating: 2

Having spent the morning exploring the beautiful city of Amiens, I then headed north and caught a further game on my way back to Calais with a game in the regional fifth tier of French football, hoping for another entertaining game after yesterday evening's excellent game at Amiens, with this north coast derby.

The Stade Jean Deconinck is located in the north of the western Dunkirk suburb of Grande-Synthe. Unfortunately, it is a rather sterile athletics arena, with a running track around the pitch meaning spectators are distant from the pitch. Entering in a corner, there is quite a large grandstand along the opposite length, housing the only seating in the stadium in one half of the stand, whilst on the ground floor of the other half has the rather bland clubhouse, selling just drinks and cold snacks. Around the rest of the ground, behind the railed off running track, is just hard standing. A double sided team sheet was provided for this game.

With three games of the league game season to go, both teams are battling against relegation. Grande-Synthe were in seventh place in the 14 team division, with 51 points from 23 games, four points clear of the relegation zone and six points clear of second bottom Marck, who are in grave danger of immediate relegation back to the sixth tier, three points adrift of safety. When the two teams met back in January, the match finished goalless.

On a sunny early evening, gale force winds across the ground made conditions very difficult for football, with the swirling around and being held up whenever it went airborne. Considering their league position, AS Marck were the stronger team in the first half, without ever really looking like they would score, and indeed, it was the home side who had the best chances to open the scoring, just after the half hour mark. On 32 minutes, Dimitri Santrain crossed the ball low from the right and Kevin Chateau drilled the ball just wide of the near post, and three minutes later, some poor Marck defending ended with Chateau running through on goal, but out of nowhere, a covering defender made enough ground to put in a fantastic sliding challenge before Chateau could get a shot away.

Into the second-half and Grande-Synthe had another great chance to open the scoring on 50 minutes but Maxime Carney slashed horribly wide from a central position 10 yards out. That turned out to be the last real opportunity of the game, as the play in the last half hour became ever duller. Marck continued to battle hard but just never looked likely to score, whilst Grande-Synthe always looked the more threatening on the rare occasions they attacked. But a goalless draw, Grande-Synthe's seventh of the season, was a predictable result. A point from today's game extends their cushion to five points from the relegation zone with two games remaining, whilst Marck had clawed to within two points of safety after Saturday's game, however Le Havre's surprise win against leaders Arras on Sunday meant that survival for AS Marck now looks unlikely, 5 points adrift of safety with just two rounds left to play.

Amiens SC 4 v 2 Gazélec Football Club Ajaccio

Friday 9th May 2014

French Championnat National

Stade de la Licorne, Amiens

Admission: €9.00

Programme: None

Attendance: 7,207

Match Rating: 4

With fixtures in England petering out fast, I decided to head for some French action this week during my week off from work. With tickets for Lens never becoming available and having visited US Boulogne a couple of times already, I decided to head a couple of hours south of Calais, to explore a rather unique stadium.

The Stade de la Licorne is situated to the west of Amiens city centre, and as one approaches, one notices from a distance the very distinctive roofs on the stands, consisting of large glass panels stretching high above the seating areas in a slightly curved fashion. It gives the stadium a very attractive and airy feel to it, allowing plenty of natural daylight into the stadium, and a symmetrical look is provided with the roofs matching in height with a small gap between each of the stand roofs. The stadium is all-seater, with the same number of rows of seating in each of the stands, apart from the west stand, which has an additional “balcony” section of seating above a row of corporate boxes along, which is placed above the regular seating. No programmes nor teamsheets seemed to have been produced for this game.

There was not too much riding on this game, with Amiens comfortably in mid table, in eleventh place with 40 points from 31 games, but they are in great form, unbeaten in their last twelve games. This evening's visitors from Corsica were in third place in the division and have all but ensured an immediate return to Ligue 2. They have racked up 54 points from their 31 games, leading fourth placed Colmar by seven points with 3 games to play, and so victory this evening would confirm promotion. They do not travel well though, having not won in their last nine away games, compared with being unbeaten in their last nine home games. When tonight's two teams met in Corsica in December, the home side won 2-0. 

On a sunny evening, the game opened in the usual style of football games in France - slow paced, with lots of sideways and backwards passing, with the occasional penetrating ball forward. However, on 24 minutes, Amiens took the lead with the first of several very good goals this evening. Some uncertain defending allowed Romain Poyet to run diagonally toward goal, eventually dinking the ball over the keeper. Three minutes later and the home side doubled their lead, Yohann Hautcoeur crossing the ball from the right, allowing an unmarked Moussa Marega to head the ball home from a central position. On 33 minutes, Ajaccio pulled a goal back when Florian Fabre scored with a free kick via a deflection off the defensive wall, and they got back on level terms two minutes later from another free-kick, this time an unmarked John Tshibumbu heading in from a central position. However, Amiens went back into the lead on 42 minutes. There didn't seem to be much on as Amiens passed the ball around the edge of the area, until Oumar Pouye suddenly smashed a shot in from 25 yards which went over the keeper and into the net.

It was an excellent first half of football for Amiens, who fully deserved their lead, looking very comfortable in open play. Ajaccio looked a little more threatening in the second half, and the game remained in the balance up until the 75th minute, when Marega scored his second and Amiens fourth of the night. Running onto the ball some distance from goal, he shrugged off a couple of defenders before placing the ball low past the keeper. That put the result beyond doubt, and Amiens looked the likelier to score, but 4-2 was how it finished as Amiens extended their long unbeaten record with an impressive display, looking comfortable at the back and dangerous on the attack. It proved to be a good night all round though, as news came in that Colmar had lost at Boulogne, confirming Ajaccio's promotion to Ligue 2.

Ninfield United 2 v 1 Rock-a-Nore

Ninfield United 2 v 1 Rock-a-Nore

Wednesday 7^th May 2014

Robertsbridge Charity Intermediate Cup Final

The Clappers, Robertsbridge United

Admission and programme: £2.00

Attendance: 76 (head count)

Match Rating: 4

My silly season continued this evening with another cup final, with tonight’s game a local charity cup competition at intermediate level between two clubs from the East Sussex League Premier Division.

The Clappers has not noticeably changed since my last visit three seasons ago. It remains a very basic ground, but is very picturesque, rural and peaceful, with a typical village feel to the place. It is surrounded by trees, is adjacent to a cricket field – which one walks past to get from the entrance and car park to the football pitch - with an attractive pavilion, and countryside views are visible in the distance. One thing that has changed here is that the pitch has now been rotated 90 degrees. A basic 4 page programme was produced for this evening’s game, but was perfectly adequate given the fixture, providing a welcome message, team line-ups, league table and the “road to the final”.

This evening’s game promised to be a close encounter between two evenly matched teams, separated by one position and one place in the league. Rock-a-Nore finished in sixth place in the ten team league with 18 points from 16 games, whilst Ninfield finished in seventh, with 17 points. When the two teams met in the league this season, the match at Ninfield ended 1-1, whilst Rock-a-Nore triumphed 4-1 at home. To reach this evening’s final, Rock-a-Nore defeated Bexhill United II 1-3 away, St Leonards Social 2-1 at home, and Herstmonceux on penalties after a goalless draw in the semi-finals. Ninfield conquered Westfield II at home on penalties after a 1-1 draw, before a comprehensive 5-1 home win against Robertsbridge United in the semi-finals.

On a chilly, overcast evening with occasional sunny spells, Rock-a-Nore dominated the early stages of the game, having a great chance to open the scoring in the second minute, when their forward skewed a shot wide from a good position in front of goal, but they did take the lead on 7 minutes. A free kick from deep on the left seemed to be an easy take for the goalkeeper, but inexplicably he lost control of the ball and fumbled it into his own net. They almost doubled their lead within a minute, with a curling shot that went just wide of the post. A rare attack from Ninfield on 22 minutes saw a good chance go begging, the ball was looped into the box, the defender missed the ball and the striker behind him could only skew his shot high and wide. Indeed, Ninfield did come back into the game much more as the interval approached, but Rock-a-Nore retained their slender advantage.

That advantage was to last just a couple of minutes into the second half, with a quite sensational goal. A corner was headed out towards a Ninfield player at the edge of the area, and he sent in a wonderful shot high on the turn which fizzed into the top far corner. On 52 minutes, it appeared that Ninfield had got their noses in front. A free kick from close to the half way line was played into the box, and was headed across the keeper and into the net, however the goal was ruled out for offside. On 68 minutes, Ninfield were awarded a penalty, when the keeper came out to flatten the forward chasing a long high ball forward to the edge of the area. Perhaps rather fortunately, the keeper escaped with a yellow card, however justice was done when the penalty kick was converted just inside the right hand post despite the keeper going the right way. Ninfield always looked likely to at least hold onto their lead for the rest of the game, as Rock-a-Nore never threatened to repeat their strong opening spell to the game, although they did have a couple of chances to force extra time right at the death, most noticeably when the Ninfield keeper made another hash of collecting a high ball into the box, which was cleared off the line by a covering defender. But it was Ninfield who, on the whole, deservedly lifted the cup pitchside after the final whistle for the first time, although it was disappointing that some of the Rock-a-Nore players walked off before the presentation, showing a distinct lack of class, one of them muttering “not really in the mood to be honest”.

Chagos Islands 1 v 1 Sealand

Chagos Islands win 4-2 on penalties
Monday 5th May 2014
Non FIFA International Friendly
Broadfield Stadium, Crawley
Admission: £3.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 500 (estimate)
Match Rating: 4

For my third and final game of the day, I jumped back on the train and headed north-westwards for a very quirky looking international fixture played at a Football League stadium.

The Broadfield Stadium has not noticeably changed since my last visit in October, although only the main stand was open for this fixture, which was no hardship to me as I had never sat there previously. Half of it was packed full of supporters of the Chagos Islands, whilst the other half was more sparsely populated, with only a handful of people related to their players seeming to support Sealand. No programmes were produced for this game.

This would be a curious match between a group of uninhabited islands (apart from US military personnel, after the population was evicted in the seventies) and the world's smallest (officially unrecognised) microstate - a sea fort on a platform in the North Sea, several miles off of the Suffolk coast. Whilst the Chagos Islands side could be classed as representative of their nation, being descendents of those who had been born there, Sealand's national team would seem to be utterly pointless, apart from being quirky in nature and raising the profile of Sealand, with random players chosen who have no connection to the sea fort.

The two nations have met twice before, with a win apiece. Sealand triumphed 4-2 in February at Godalming Town's ground, whilst in May 2012, the Chagos Islands won 3-1, with the fixture again played at Godalming.

With the skies having become overcast by now but with conditions still warm, the contrast in the two styles of plays was fascinating. The Chagossian players, backed by a loud and excitable following, proved to be quick, tricky and with plenty of skill on show but were a little lightweight, whilst Sealand had a slower, more physical approach, but lacked creativity. Goalscoring chances were at a premium, and it was little surprise that the scoreline was goalless at half-time.

Into the second half and it was more of the same, and a nil-nil seemed more and more inevitable. The game sparked into life in the final ten minutes though, and on 82 minutes a free kick was awarded to the Chagossians right on the edge of the area when a Sealand defender pulled back the striker through on goal, and he would certainly have been sent off had this been an official match as the last man. The free kick was powerfully struck but palmed over by the keeper, whilst a minute later, after the Sealand keeper came out of his area to clear the ball just before the onrushing striker, the ball fell to a Chagossian player about 35 yards out, and he lobbed the ball towards the empty net, only just clearing the crossbar. As the game entered added on time, Sealand had a header from a corner cleared off the line, but in the first minute of added on time, the Chagos Islands took the lead. An outrageous piece of skill in the penalty area saw their forward flick the ball up and over a couple of defenders, driving to the touchline before pulling the ball back for it to be smashed into the roof of the net. That sparked joyous celebrations on and off the field, but in the seventh minute of added on time, Sealand grabbed an equaliser. A free kick from deep on the right sailed over the keeper and was stabbed in at the far post.

1-1 was how it finished, and the result was to be decided by a penalty shoot-out, without any extra time. The Chagossians saw their first penalty saved, but then scored their remaining four, whilst Sealand saw their second and fourth penalties saved to give the Chagos Islands a 4-2 penalty shoot-outs victory, to spark wild celebrations amongst the players and fans. This was an entertaining, slightly surreal game, certainly brought to life with the colourful and enthusiastic support of the Chagossian support, and the pacy, skilful play of their players.