Barnet vs Macclesfield Town (24/09/13)

Match 212

Ground #: 168

Ground: The Hive

Competition: Skrill Premier

Kick Off: 7:45pm

Cost: £21

Programme: £3

Attendance: 1,179

Barnet 1

Vilhete 74’, Mengerink m/pen 9’

Macclesfield Town 2

Jennings 27’, 35’

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Wasn’t planning to do much on this Tuesday evening but when my Macclesfield Town supporting work colleague asks if I want to watch some tinpot football, we all know what that answer is going to be. Amazingly this would be my 4th time watching Macclesfield but this game being right on my doorstep (give or take 5 miles) it was time to see The Hive and of course, fucking Edgar Davids!

Barnet have now moved to Canons Park, which is residential suburb, situated in the north west London Borough of Harrow. "Canons" refers to the canons or monks of the Augustinian priory of St Bartholomew in Smithfield who owned the manor of Stanmore before the Reformation. Canons Park is largely located on the site of Cannons, a magnificent early 18th-century country estate built between 1713–25, by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. Although the original Cannons mansion no longer exists, the later building on the site, erected by the gentleman cabinet-maker William Hallett in 1760, now houses the North London Collegiate School. A large portion of the original gardens of the Cannons estate now form the public pleasure gardens of Canons Park, which are a registered Grade II Historic Landscape and contains several listed buildings.

The Hive has had a difficult and controversial history that I must be careful to discuss as I may end up annoying supporters from other clubs, mainly Wealdstone. Construction at the Prince Edward Playing Fields began in 2003 as a home for the Isthmian League club, however just one year later the construction partners went into liquidation and the construction stopped. Harrow Borough Council then put the site up for tender and in came Barnet. Bit controversial and you can read a far more detailed and informed history here. Today the ground just feels like a temporary venue, a smart one nonetheless, but temporary. With a path through from the opening of the training ground and to the side of a few training pitches, you rock up to the small East Stand which has the strange look of an office building with some seats and a roof attached to it. Behind both goals are some small covered standing areas with the large West Stand dominating the ground and providing a decent view of the action. Sadly away fans were placed in this large stand meaning that it was a nice £21 (TWENTY ONE) to get in and watch non-league football.

Despite Barnet beating Morecambe 4-1 towards the end of last season and giving it the big large, they were still hilariously relegated with a brilliant loss of form at the end of the season. With Edgar D still in charge (sort of, its a coach sharing arrangement going on these days apparently), Barnet had been making decent inroads back in the Conference (or the Skrill Premier) until defeat at FC Halifax Town had saw them lose all form and slumped to 8th in the table. Davids, who has now given himself the #1 shirt as some form of twat badge, hadn’t made his Conference debut, until this game… They were playing a team also completely out of anything, form, money, fans (sorry) as the Macc Attack were in town. Relegation hit them hard and they went for instant promotion, helped by a FA Cup run to the 4th Round, but they fizzled out and finished in 11th. With a new boss and generally new team the Macc Attack were in the relegation coming into this game, trying to emulate near neighbours Stockport in hosting giants like Vauxhall Motors and North Ferriby United. Someone’s form had to improve!

Unsurprisingly the home side went for it early on against a team with a goal difference of –5 as Mark Byrne and Edgar fucking Davids fired shots wide. Davids played the role of everywhere as every pass, throw in and free kick had to come through him. One of these such attacks should have resulted in a goal as Marciano Mengerink was taken out by Paul Turnbull with one of those “what are you playing at?” tackles. Mengerink stepped up but the former SDV Barneveld player had his penalty saved by Rhys Taylor. Barnet kept going but the Macc Attack pulled off the brilliant rope-a-dope tactic on 27 minutes. Winning a free kick from a rare attack Peter Winn’s cross found Connor Jennings all alone and he side-footed the ball past Graham Stack. Macc Attack then produced the unthinkable with a 2nd goal to stun the silent crowd into, silence. Barnet tried playing some total football in their own penalty area instead of clearing the ball away, they lost it and after some misplaced passes, the ball fell to Jennings who fired the ball into the top corner. Those Macc fans who paid £21 to see this were beginning to think it was worth it!

Macc Attack brought on the 41 year old Efe Sodje to tighten the defence up as Davids now took up the role of sweeper as the Bees launched forward. In fact both sides seemed content let the game fizzle out for a wee bit as only long range efforts were being fired at both goals. After 20 minutes of the half, Sodje’s knees couldn’t take it anymore and so he was replaced by Lewis Chalmers as the Macc Attack began to be pushed further and further back. It was already attack v defence when Luisama Villa fed Mauro Vilhete who lashed the ball in. I hadn’t seen a game like the Alamo for some time but for the remaining c.20 minutes, Barnet battered the Macc Attack in trying to find an equaliser. Ex Gretna dwarf John-Paul Kissock came on to run after long balls but Barnet couldn’t offer that much in the last few minutes and the Macc Attack pulled off a famous win. With a 50% win ratio when I see them, I’m clearly a lucky mascot.

With my work colleague Phil a happy man and the rest of the hardy bunch of Macc fans (around 100 of them) off back to Cheshire, it was good to see Barnet lose, I’ll be honest. Macc Attack have woken up since this game and have taken 10 points from the last 12 and a 7-0 win over Vauxhall Motors in the FA Cup. Currently in 15th, their relegation fears have eased somewhat and will now look to chase current 5th place side Braintree for the playoffs. 9 points to catch up. Barnet look like they will be down in the Skrill for quite some time and things have got worse since this game with the large West Stand I sat in, now in trouble with Harrow Borough Council as they have broken planning regulations over the height of the stand and the floodlights. On the pitch, they are still in 8th as Davids has got used to the Skrill Premier but elbowing Wrexham’s X in their recent league game and picking up a suspension. It’s a strange club, currently playing at a strange ground which isn’t really their home in a strange league. Do I feel for them? No.

Photos from Barnet vs Macclesfield Town

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 4/10 (pretty dreadful)

- Value for money: 1/10 (it’s non-league and it’s > £20, really?)

- Ground: 4/10 (it’s always going to be a training ground)

- Atmosphere: 4/10 (Barnet fans just do not sing)

- Food: N/A – after paying £21 was never going to eat here

- Programme: 6/10 (improvement upon last season)

- Referee: Kevin Johnson – 7/10 (quite solid)

Lazio vs Legia Warsaw (19/09/13)

Match 211

Ground #: 167

Ground: Stadio Olimpico

Competition: UEFA Europa League Group Stage

Kick Off: 9:05pm

Cost: €35

Programme: Free

Attendance: 11,769

Lazio 1

Hernanes 53’

Legia Warsaw 0

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It had been decided a while back to head out to Rome for a family holiday. Keen to enjoy the tourist sites and nice weather I also fancied a bit of calcio whilst out to my first visit to Italy. When the dates were confirmed that we were out there I had a look to see and lo and behold, Lazio were playing a Europa League tie on our last full night in the Italian capital. It was almost like I had suggested those dates to see this game…

I could write about 20,000 blog posts on the history of Rome, spanning through the Roman era, Renaissance, the Mussolini reign and recent political turmoil but I’ll just state that it’s a brilliant city to visit. We did most of the major tourist hotspots and while it was extremely busy with hundreds of people around the top top places, the warm weather and friendly nature of (most!) locals, meant it was another capital that I would recommend a visit to. I also did a wee tour of the other 1960 Olympic Games stadia that are still in site today (and will be a future blog post!) just to add a bit of sporting history to the trip!

Società Podistica Lazio (or SS Lazio) was founded in 1900 making it Rome’s oldest football team. Wanting to encompass more than just the city of Rome that they were from, the club's original founding members chose Lazio, the same name as the region of Italy in which the club is located. After some early friendly activity, Lazio officially gave birth to its football section in 1910 and joined official league competition in 1912 as soon as the Italian Football Federation began organising championships in the center and south of Italy. In 1927 Lazio was the only major Roman club which resisted the Fascist regime's attempts to merge all the city's teams into what would become A.S. Roma the same year. This was due to Giorgio Vaccaro, a general in the Fascist regime and influential in the sporting landscape. A true Lazio fan, Vaccaro defended the club's right to keep its identity and Lazio were the sole opposition to the new team in Rome’s new football landscape. The club have never been the most successful in Italy with only 2 Serie A titles (in 1974 and 2000) as well as having to spend some time in Serie B. Mainly due to corruption scandals and subsequent points deductions.

The Stadio Olimpico is part of the still standing infrastructure of Rome’s 1960 Olympic Games (future blog post!) and dominates the northern part of the city. The stadium dates from well before that however with the original ground opening in 1937. Called originally Stadio dei Cipressi it was part of the overall Foro Mussolini (later renamed Foro Italico after the war) and explains the large monument to Mussolini built by the entrance nearest to Duca D’Aosta Bridge. Today, a beautiful venue that takes a lot of ideas from classic Roman architecture but with a modern twist after modernisation work was completed on the ground in 2008. Today, the Olimpico is dominated by 4 main areas, the Curva Nord and Sud (home to the Lazio and Roma ultras respectively) which run behind both goals. While the side of the ground houses the Tribuna Tevere and Monte Mario and provides great views of the ground. Considering the history of the place and some of the matches to take place here, such as 4 Champions League finals or the 1990 World Cup Final, I felt extremely lucky to attend a game here and will remember this for some time to come.

Lazio had only finished 7th in Serie A last season but a famous Coppa Italia win over Roma had put them straight through to the Europa League Group Stage. Drawn in the intriguing Group J alongside Trabzonspor, Apollon Limassol and the opponents for this game Legia Warsaw. Lazio’s Serie A form had been ok up to this point, expected wins over Udinese and Chievo with a 4-1 pasting at Juventus in between them. It left them in 7th position and with the big, big Derby della Capitale (Rome derby) upcoming on the Sunday after this game, the arrival into Rome of the Polish champions was seen as a good warm up. Legia won the Ekstraklasa last season but then proceeded to to crash out of the Champions League in the Play-off Round with an away goals defeat to Steaua Bucharest. Going well in the Polish top flight and with 3 rounds of European football already this season it was a tough one to call.

The Legia fans also need a paragraph to themselves as despite the excellent reputation Lazio’s Curva Nord have, the Legia Ultras were outstanding. Around 3,000 mental Polish fans brought with them flares, constant chanting, clearly rehearsed routines and generally a brilliant atmosphere that fired a football trip to Poland far up my “to-do” list. The pic above was taken just before KO and shows the Legia fans enjoying themselves early on and something I just haven’t experienced before. Fantastic. The Curva Nord were also in good voice with a smaller display during the game (they were warming themselves up for the Sunday) and despite the stadium only being 16% full, it was an atmosphere that sounded like the ground was packed out.

As the game kicked off and the smoke from Legia’s flares died down, it was clearly quite evident that this wouldn’t be a high scoring game. Lazio were saving themselves for the derby and Legia sitting back and trying to hit the home side on the break. Despite this conservative approach, Legia should have taken the lead on 21 minutes when some nice build up play found Jakub Kosecki alone in the area. He controlled the ball well and smashed it towards the roof of the net only to see Federico Marchetti produce an outstanding save to tip it over. Kosecki had the Lazio fans on edge just minutes later when he curled a shot just past the post as the Biancocelesti hadn’t got going. Clearly Lazio boss Vladimir Petković gave them a bollocking at HT as they took the lead within 6 minutes of the restart. Keita Baldé was making his first ever senior start and his cross from the left was met by Hernanes who powered his header past Wojciech Skaba. Hernanes nearly made the game safe soon after when after his mazy run, he fired a shot off the post. In the end, Legia didn’t have anything to answer for that Hernanes goal and Lazio started off the group stage well. The Legia fans though, they were still singing.

Despite the football being naff, this was a brilliant experience. A ground steeped in history (even Psy has played here, no really, he has) with an outstanding atmosphere, it is one I would recommend to everyone. To purchase tickets just don’t forget your passport! Lazio lost that Rome derby 2-0 as Roma ride high in Serie A, but they are steady in Group J with draws against Trabzonspor and Apollon as they are looking good to reach the next stage of the competition. Legia have lost all 3 games so far without scoring a goal so it looks likely they will have just domestic duties to look forward to in 3 games time. I’ll be back in Italy one day to catch some more calcio, but now my Italian team is firmly the boys in blue from Lazio. Forza Lazio!

P.S – Action from the Legia Ultras on the night can be viewed here.

Photos from Lazio vs Legia Warsaw

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 5/10 (never really got going)

- Value for money: 6/10 (about £28, which is fair for European football)

- Ground: 8/10 (brilliant, steeped in history)

- Atmosphere: 9/10 (LEGIA! WARSZAWA! Add some flares and keep going for 90 mins – outstanding)

- Food: N/A – ate from a van on the River opposite the Foro Italico, was good

- Programme: 7.5/10 (was free and worth a read, big newspaper style)

- Referee: Kristinn Jakobsson – 7/10 (was fine)

Linlithgow Rose vs Nairn County (14/09/13)

Match 210

Ground #: 166

Ground: Prestonfield Park

Competition: Scottish Cup 1st Round

Kick Off: 3pm

Cost: £3 (concession)

Programme: £2

Attendance: 850

Linlithgow Rose 2

Mackintosh (O.G) 26’, Meechan 85’

Nairn County 0

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A rare visit to Scotland for the start of a holiday was timed perfectly for the start of another Scottish Cup campaign. A brave 36 clubs entered at the First Round in the Road to Somewhere (Hampden will be undergoing work for the Commonwealth Games in May and so the 2014 Final is likely to take place at Ibrox) and with a low choice of games I could get to from Edinburgh, the only option was thankfully the stand out tie at Linlithgow.

Linlithgow is a Royal Burgh in West Lothian and an ancient town. The chief historic attraction of Linlithgow is the remains of Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of James V and Mary, Queen of Scots. The present Palace was started (on an older site) in 1424 by James I of Scotland. It was burnt in 1746, and, whilst unroofed, it is still largely complete in terms of its apartments (though very few of the original furnishings survived). Linlithgow was also the site of the Battle of Linlithgow Bridge at the western edge of the town although the bridge no longer stands. The roadway to Linlithgow over the River Avon is described by scholars as a lifted road. Besides the Palace, a second attraction, standing adjacent, is 15th century St. Michael's Church, the most complete surviving example of a large late medieval 'burgh kirk' in Scotland. Its western tower originally had a distinctive stone crown spire, of the type seen also on St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, or Newcastle Cathedral, but it was removed in the early 19th century. In 1964 a replacement and controversial spire in aluminium in a modern style by Scots architect Sir Basil Spence, representing Christ's crown of thorns, was added.

The town’s main football team were formed in 1889 so an official organised team could be in the town. They have been in the Junior ranks throughout their history and have won the coveted Junior Cup on 4 occasions, the last being fairly recently in 2010. They have also dominated the East Region leagues at times too with multiple titles including 3 Super League titles since that format was adopted in the mid 2000’s. The Rose are the current East Region Champions with a Super League win last season that was near perfection with 19 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses to leave them 19 points clear of 2nd. Clearly a very good side and managed currently by ex Hearts midfielder Mark Bradley, who played an almighty 2 games for the Jambos before being sold to Doncaster in July 1998.

Prestonfield Park is a reasonable walk away from Linlithgow station through the classic town and is worth the walk being one of the top grounds in Junior football. Down one side of the ground is the large Main Stand that not only features great views from the seats up the top, but has a European style standing area under the Stand to catch the game. Opposite this is a large standing area that includes the all important tea hut. Behind the goals were standing areas, but one (see pic above) was a brilliant grass bank that you were allowed to stand on which offered a fantastic view of the pitch and the whole ground. The other side was a short standing terrace with the flag display to add to the overall feel of Prestonfield Park. A brilliant venue, that could quite easily play host to some SPFL if they wanted to ever move in there. (And the can of worms is open…)

This was an interesting tie as it featured the rare chances in the season for a team in the Juniors to “get one over” the Senior footballing teams. It looked like a home banker really with Linlithgow in brilliant form since winning the East Region in 2012/13. They went into this game top of the East Region Superleague again, being unbeaten this season and a point clear of near rivals Bo’ness United. It was just the 171 miles for Nairn to “pop down” to Linlithgow from the Highlands as the Highland League team looked to make it through to Round 2. They had suffered from inconsistency so far this season with 3 wins and 3 defeats to stick them in midtable. Nairn though, did have a good Scottish Cup run last season with wins over Preston Athletic and Clyde before crashing out to Forfar Athletic in the 3rd Round. With this Cup form and Highland League Player of the Year from last season in Conor Gethins in the team, it could be on for the Wee County.

Despite Linlithgow being the home team, I felt Nairn went for it more early on as the Rose was more than happy to sit back and hit the Highland side on the counter attack. Rose goalie Scott Christie was the busier of the two, having to keep out a couple of low drives from the edge of the area. Once these were cleared, Rose would normally charge forward on the counter but Nairn would just clear their lines. In a fast and frantic game much like the Junior Leagues I had been told about, both sides went for the first goal with Gethins having a one on one saved by Christie before Shaun Webb had a goal disallowed for offside as Nairn really went for it. With the Wee County making all the running, of course the opening goal went in at the other end! A nothing ball into the Nairn box should have been cleared but Wayne Mackintosh managed to divert the ball over Calum Donaldson and in with a brilliant header. Easy early winner of own goal of the season award. Linlithgow then went for it for the remaining of the half as Nairn were stunned that they were actually behind. Donaldson kept the score at one though and so they were still in the game for the second half.

The second half was far less interesting than the first as a midfield battle broke out with Linlithgow still slightly on top. Nairn had a shot cleared off the line as Robbie Duncanson nearly grabbed an equaliser. For the Rose though they continued to hold off Nairn as the long the game went on, it looked more likely that the home side would make it through to Round 2. Luckily, I had the pleasure of standing next to Linlithgow’s unofficial manager for the 2nd half down in the far corner of the ground. Passion doesn’t even remotely describe him as he kicked every ball and made every tackle of the sidelines all whilst looking like he was going to have a heart-attack. Calm down lad, its only a game! Sadly there doesn’t appear to be any YouTube videos of him, but if you go visit Prestonfield Park, have a walk around, he’ll be there! The Rose made it safe with 5 minutes to go as the Nairn County defence went missing at a corner and Steven Meechan was unmarked at the back post to volley it straight in. Rose were hosed and went marching on.

A really enjoyable game north of the Boarder and makes me appreciate that I need to see more Junior football when I next venture up there. Despite the ropey start they made, Linlithgow deserved to go through to the 2nd Round where they were given a tough away game at Deveronvale who are currently 5th in the Highland League. Roles reversed then as the Rose face a 170 mile trip up to Princess Royal Park. They’ve only played 1 more league game since this match due to the huge amount of cup competitions played in the Juniors, but a comprehensive 4-1 win over Musselburgh Athletic suggests they will be right up there again come the end of the season.

Photos from Linlithgow Rose vs Nairn County

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 6/10 (slowed down after frantic start)

- Value for money: 9/10 (can’t argue much with £3)

- Ground: 8/10 (really great ground)

- Atmosphere: 7.5/10 (home fans sang, away fans brought a bagpipe…)

- Food: N/A – ate in Linlithgow town instead.

- Programme: 6/10 (not worth £2, but they rarely issue to good effort)

- Referee: Nick Walsh – 5/10 (tad fussy)

Southend United vs Morecambe (07/09/13)

Match 209

Ground #: 165

Ground: Roots Hall

Competition: English League 2

Kick Off: 3pm

Cost: £14 (concession)

Programme: £3

Attendance: 6,080

Southend United 1

Hurst 30’

Cheltenham Town 1

Fleming 35’, 47’, Sampson 56’, Threlfall s/off 70’

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Despite the 3-0 tonking on the south coast I witnessed when I last went to watch Morecambe, the fixture computer had given the Shrimps another early southern away game. This time at the Shrimpers, on the Essex Coast. Having been unavailable the previous two seasons when Morecambe played here, I wasn’t missing it this time and with Morecambe having never lost to Southend, I was looking forward to seeing that continue.

Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex situated within the Thames Gateway on the north side of the Thames estuary 40 mi east of central London. Originally the "south end" of the village of Prittlewell, became a seaside resort during the Georgian era, attracting many tourists in the summer months to its seven miles of beaches and bathing in the sea. Good rail connections and proximity to London mean that much of the economy has been based on tourism, and that Southend has been a dormitory town for city workers ever since. Southend, like many other British sea-side resorts, went into decline as a holiday destination from the 1960s, since flights and hence holidays abroad became more affordable. Since then, much of the town centre has been developed for commerce and retail, and during the 1960s many original structures were lost to redevelopment. However, about 6.4 million tourists still visit Southend per year, generating estimated revenues of £200 million a year.

Southend United were formed relatively late in 1906 and played Southern League football until 1920 when they co-founded the Football League’s new 3rd Division. The league was regionalised a year later and in the Southern Section of the League, Southend only ever came close to promotion twice when they finished 3rd in 1932 and 1950. When the league was nationalised in 1958, Southend became a yo-yo team as they floated between the 3rd and 4th Divisions between their first relegation in 1966 and winning the 4th Division in 1981. After the dark days of the 1980s when on the pitch, the Shrimpers were struggling back in the 4th Division and off the pitch, the club lost £70k out of the Christmas savings scheme through fraud, the club turned the corner and began on the up. A double promotion in 1990 and 1991 saw Southend in the 2nd Division and New Year’s Day 1992 saw the Shrimpers top of the league. Had they continued their good form, the club could have become founding members of the Premier League, but they tailed off to finish 12th. Again, the club started to decline, but were back in the newly named Championship in 2007 after a revival from Steve Tilson. Their time in the Championship was short as they were relegated after 1 season and were back down in the basement in 2010 following their 23rd place finish in League 1. They only have looked like promotion contenders once in their 3 seasons back at this level, with a 4th place finish in 2011/12 but were beaten by Crewe in the play-offs.

Roots Hall is technically a “ground for concern” as Southend have announced plans to move to a new ground at Fossetts Farm and will hope building work will start soon on an ambitious 14,000 seater stadium. (Average attendance 2012/13: 5,003) Roots Hall’s days are numbered then which is a bit of a shame as it’s a great wee ground, although is starting to show its age. Away fans were housed behind the goal in the North Stand which does provide decent views, although the leg room for the seats is nonexistent so standing is a must. The Main Stand (East) runs the length of the pitch and was originally designed as a section of seating with terracing below, however it was made all seater in the 90s. The South Stand is the strange small two tiered structure behind the other goal which might win the award for smallest two tiered stand in the Football League? With another styled stand of the West Stand, Roots Hall is one of those types of ground which are sadly disappearing over time and will no doubt be replaced by some shite plastic structure on the edge of Southend.

My worries surrounding Morecambe getting going after the Portsmouth defeat were silly as the Shrimps were one of the form teams in the league coming into this game. Sending Exeter and then Plymouth back to Devon with their pasties between the legs was the start and after giving Newcastle a massive scare in the League Cup, we were looking on the up. Being in 13th position, it was a far sight better than the start we had made. The home side had looked to have made a reasonable start in the league with wins over Plymouth, Hartlepool and Northampton before defeats to Chesterfield and Wycombe had brought them back down towards the chasing pack. Still looking good (even though it was early on) in 7th position, a lot of people had this game as a home banker. Yet, in 6 attempts Southend had never beaten Morecambe and I was confident we’d push that and make it 7.

Much like the Portsmouth game, Morecambe started a tad slowly and allowed the fake Shrimpers to come at them. Unlike Portsmouth however, we were playing a system that the side were used to and Barry Roche was in goal leading his defence well. Still, if you aren’t going to start well you need a bit of luck and the Shrimps gained that on 7 minutes when Freddie Eastwood crashed his header off a post with Roche well beaten. Both sides were then stuck in a midfield battle until the 30 minute mark when some awful defending allowed Southend the lead. When Kevan Hurst received the ball on the far side, nothing much looked on. Yet he skipped past two dreadful attempts at a challenge and fired a show low into the bottom corner to give Roche no chance. When it looked like Southend might push on from this, they found themselves pegged back within only 5 minutes. A nothing ball into the box was not cleared properly and Andrew Fleming curled a beauty into the bottom corner from 30 yards. Much like the recent game vs Plymouth, Morecambe had shown great fighting sprits to not be behind for long. With Southend stunned, the game petered out till HT where it looked like anyone’s if they wanted it.

Within 30 seconds of the 2nd half, it was clear who wanted the three points more. A long ball downfield caught Southend out to allow Padraig Amond a clear run at goal but was blocked by Southend goalie Daniel Bentley. However, the ball ran loose after the block and goal hero Fleming was on hand to smash the ball through the people on the line to give Morecambe the lead. It got ever better on 56 minutes when Craig Sampson (who had never scored a professional goal before) crashed home a 25 yard strike to put the away fans in dreamland. Southend, now completely stunned forced a brilliant save from Roche when on loan Fulham youngster Cauley Woodrow fired a header at goal. When it looked like Morecambe would ride out the remaining 20 minutes with ease, Robbie Threlfall stupidly went into a two footed challenge on Anthony Straker and was promptly sent off after only being on for 7 minutes. Now turning into the Essex version of the Alamo, it was a block everything job as defensively Morecambe stood firm with only two Barry Corr chances that were saved by Roche being the difficult moments. 7 times played vs Morecambe, 0 wins for Southend.

I was delighted to finally get a Saturday in the season where I was free to get to Roots Hall, especially as it was a brilliant performance (bar the opening 10 minutes) from Morecambe to make it 3 wins in a row. It got better too, as the 4th straight win was achieved with a hard fought win at Newport, before a 94th minute equaliser denied the Shrimps a 5th straight win vs Dag & Red. Currently in the play-offs, hopefully we can push on and consolidate this place! Who knows! Southend, seem to be going in the opposite direction with a 1-0 defeat at home to Scunthorpe before scraping a 1-1 draw with Bury to leave them without a win in 5 games. The man with the tan, Phil Brown is under pressure otherwise a shiny new 14,000 stadium will be hosting some massive games against Hyde and Braintree rather than the Football League.

Photos from Southend United vs Morecambe

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 7/10 (enjoyed it)

- Value for money: 6/10 (reasonable league pricing)

- Ground: 7.5/10 (great, old school ground)

- Atmosphere: 5/10 (home fans offered nothing)

- Food: N/A – was pre-warned not to eat at ground so was local pub food instead

- Programme: 6/10 (good effort)

- Referee: Charles Breakspear – 7/10 (got on with it)

West Ham United vs Cheltenham Town (27/08/13)

Match 208

Ground #: 164

Ground: Upton Park

Competition: Capital One Cup 2nd Round

Kick Off: 7:45pm

Cost: £10

Programme: £3.50

Attendance: 23,440

West Ham United 2

Vaz Te 42’, Morrison 46’

Cheltenham Town 1

Richards (pen) 56’

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After coming up to 2 years living in London, there were only a few more professional football grounds still to see. Tottenham’s White Hart Lane might be done if they bother to offer tickers below £30 in the foreseeable future, while I might leave Barnet’s new Hive for a wee while. That just left Upton Park, standing in East London, before the Hammers move across to the Olympic Stadium (it seems) in 2016. When West Ham were drawn against Cheltenham Town in the League Cup and offered cheap tickets (you watching Spurs!?) I didn’t need asked.

West Ham is an area in the London Borough of Newsham. A settlement in the area named Ham was first recorded as Hamme in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 958 and then in the 1086 Domesday Book as Hame. The earliest recorded use of West Ham, as distinct from East Ham, is in 1186 as Westhamma. It is formed from Old English 'hamm' and means 'a dry area of land between rivers or marshland', referring the location of the settlement within boundaries formed by the rivers Lea, Thames and Roding and their marshes. West Ham was then formed around a large ancient parish in the Becontree hundred of Essex. Following the opening of Stratford station, the first railway station in the area, in 1839, the focus of activity shifted northwards towards the fast-expanding Stratford, with the original settlement diminishing in significance. In 1840 the parish was included in the Metropolitan Police District and soon after the built-up area of London had encompassed West Ham. The former county borough was merged with the adjacent County Borough of East Ham to form the new London Borough of Newham on 1 April 1965. Today, the area has been one of the most deprived in the country and as part of the New Deal for Communities programme it forms, with neighbouring Plaistow, a regeneration area, helped in part by the 2012 London Olympics which took place on its doorstep.

The earliest generally accepted incarnation of West Ham United was founded in 1895 as the Thames Ironworks team by foreman and local league referee Dave Taylor and owner Arnold Hills. The team played on a strictly amateur basis until 1898 when they entered the Southern League 2nd Division, where they won promotion to the 1st Division on the first attempt. The team initially played in full dark blue kits, as inspired by Mr. Hills, who had been an Oxford University "Blue", but changed in 1899 when they acquired their now traditional home kit combination of claret shirts and sky blue sleeves in a wager involving Aston Villa players, who were League Champions at the time. The club was relaunched in 1900 as West Ham United and moved to their current Boleyn Ground in Upton Park in 1904. After reaching the famous White Horse Final in the FA Cup in 1923 (they lost 2-0 to Bolton), the club settled into a position in the top two leagues, reaching the top flight again in 1958. The club enjoyed their greatest success under Ron Greenwood as they won the FA Cup and Cup Winners Cup during the mid 60’s before a large chunk of West Ham players made up the England 1966 World Cup squad. (I can’t remember how they did) After the glory days ended, the club did start to yo-yo between the two leagues again until 1993/94 when after promotion to the Premier League they appeared to have become a mainstay. Under Harry Redknapp they achieved some impressive league finishes, but when he was replaced in 2001, they started their slump again and have been relegated twice (and bounced back both times) before seemingly being back in the comfortable top flight clubs under current boss Sam Allardyce.

Although it apparently does not have long left, Upton Park is a classic ground. A short walk from Upton Park or East Ham stations (but not West Ham, funnily), the ground is dominated on the outside by the modern Alpari Stand. The largest single football stand in London, it was rebuilt in 2001 and features two large turrets on the outside that give it a grand view while walking past. The other three stands are a lot smaller and despite the recent(ish) modernisation works to the place, it does still feel slightly run down in parts, but this doesn’t detract from the overall feel of the place. The East Stand is the smallest one of the four, with it being only singled tiered and built in 1969 (although it was made all-seater later) and did contact the Hammer’s loud support, however they have now moved over sit near the away fans. The two stands behind the goals are also quite imposing (Bobby Moore and Trevor Brooking Stands) and the compact nature of Upton Park, surrounded by housing right around it, mean it’s a great place to watch football and for the big games, must have a good atmosphere.

The League Cup rarely brings in the “big games” anymore for the top flight clubs as most see it as a nuisance and extra games. For clubs out of the ivory tower though, the chance to play the big boys is one to enjoy and as much like Morecambe did against Newcastle, Cheltenham Town were right up for this one. Not fully packing out the away end, but bringing considerably more than they would for a league game, the Robins hadn’t started particularly well in League 2. Defeats to Chesterfield and Plymouth had been partially resolved with a win over non-league bound Accrington but a team who had been challenging for play-off positions in the past few seasons will want to do better. They had won a bizarre 1st Round tie at home to Crawley Town to set this game up, the furthest they had been in the competition since 2008/09. (When they had lost 3-2 to Stoke) West Ham had only played two league games in the build up to this, with a 2-0 home win against Cardiff City and a goalless draw at Newcastle to set them up nicely for this game. However with Big Sam making a number of changes, you just never knew. (You did, but you can still imagine)

Cheltenham’s tactic was clearly to get in the home side’s faces and disrupt their play. A tough tactic to get right against a side that play 3 leagues higher than you, but credit to the Robins, they got it spot on to begin with. With West Ham being hurried off the ball and playing like a team who rarely played together, the home fans began to get a bit edgy as Cheltenham were right in this. Goalscoring chances were fairly low however as Matt Taylor fired a free kick into Cheltenham’s goalie Scott Brown, while Matt Richards fired a Cheltenham free kick over the bar. As the half went on, the Robins began to push on a bit more as Razvan Rat and Adrian had to work hard at the back to stop them creating a clear cut chance. Sadly though, Cheltenham were undone just before half time. A foul on Ravel Morrison on the edge of the area brought the Hammers a free kick and up stepped Ricardo Vaz Te to smash the ball into the top corner. A shot out of the “you don’t save those” category, gave West Ham a lead a HT that looked very unlikely some 10 minutes earlier.

Clearly unhappy with the performance in the first half, Big Sam brought on Stewart Downing for Joe Cole and the Hammers seemed to have killed the game off instantly. Downing received the ball on the right and slipped it back to Morrison on the edge of the area. He easily skipped past one man before smashing the ball into the bottom corner. Barely a minute into the 2nd half, the Robins could really have been killed off as they let their heads drop and the Hammers looked to score more. Mohamed Diame fired a powerful shot over before both Vaz Te and Downing had headers that were just kept out. It looked like being one way traffic until Cheltenham then pulled one back amazingly. On a rare attack, the Hammers defence completely fell asleep to allow Sam Deering to nip in behind and poke the ball past Adrian. While Deering was then taken out, Rat got back to clear the ball off the line and to safety. However, the referee deemed that there had been no advantage and the penalty was given. I’d argue that Deering was unlikely to get to the ball anyway but I’m not a referee. Up stepped Richards to just stick the ball past Adrian and the Robins were right back in the game. You did expect there to be a big push from the away side now, however West Ham always looked more likely to score the next goal as Jack Collison forced a great save from Brown, while George McCartney hit the crossbar with a header. Cheltenham nearly inflicted an extra 30 minutes of pain on us when Ashley Vincent missed from 4 yards when he connected with a long throw, but they didn’t deserve to take the game to extra time and didn’t as West Ham went through to Round 3.

West Ham’s reward for this victory was a 3rd Round tie at home to Cardiff City which must have delighted the Met Police. This game was far from a classic and clearly not as good as the previous round’s tie I saw at Leyton Orient, but it was nice to finally get to see Upton Park. It hit home how daft some football pricing is now with adverts during the match publicising that I could see their next home game against footballing Gods, Stoke City, for £42. They lost that 1-0 in what sounds a classic to show Big Sam that they should have really signed a striker in the transfer window. Cheltenham carried on their good form too, getting hammered by Bury before holding Portsmouth to a draw as they struggle towards the lower ends of the league. Probably my only visit to Upton Park before they move to the Olympic Stadium and while it was average on the field, off the field it is a great venue and one that will be missed in 2016 when the Hammers decamp.

Photos from West Ham United vs Cheltenham Town

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 5/10 (average for neutral)

- Value for money: 7/10 (good price for League Cup)

- Ground: 7/10 (can feel the history of the place)

- Atmosphere: 6/10 (was ok, away fans made a fair bit)

- Food: N/A – didn’t eat at ground, had classic pie and mash from Nathan’s Pie & Eels

- Programme: 4/10 (for one over £3 you’d think it was good, it wasn’t)

- Referee: Graham Scott – 6.5/10 (disagree on penalty, but sound on everything else)

Rayners Lane vs Wokingham & Emmbrook (24/08/13)

Match 207

Ground #: 163

Ground: Tithe Farm

Competition: Hellenic League Division 1 East (Level 10)

Kick Off: 3pm

Cost: £5

Programme: With Admission

Attendance: 56

Rayners Lane 1

McCarroll (pen) 81’, John s/off 67’

Wokingham & Emmbrook 3

Butler 61’, Rushforth 73’, Sensussi (pen) 90’

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The start of my season had so far featured only professional grounds and clubs so it needed to be brought back down to the proper gritty non-league stuff. Needing to stay local I decided to look around my new area of Middlesex for a game and there was nearby Rayners Lane of the Hellenic League playing at home. I’m not sure why a league for clubs mainly from Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire has a team in London Zone 5, but I was to find out.

Rayners Lane is a suburban district in the London Borough of Harrow in northwest London between Pinner and West Harrow. It built up during the Middle Ages as the Rayners Lane road was used when transporting grain to the mill on Pinner Green. During the first half of the nineteenth century the area was in the hands of the Rayner family, who owned a farm. The area was drastically built up again between 1929 and 1938 by Harrow's biggest interwar housebuilder T.F. Nash, who created a shopping parade on Alexandra Avenue. The area is most widely known as the location of Rayners Lane tube station, first built in 1906, and most of the settlement is built around the tube station. The station links both the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines and therefore has good connections with the rest of London. The other principal point of architectural interest is the former cinema, an Art Deco building featuring a curved projection on the front somewhat resembling an elephant's trunk and is a listed building. It is currently being occupied by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, and is used as a Zoroastrian centre - the only official temple of its type in the UK.

Rayners Lane FC have the fairly modern founding date of 1933 starting out in the Harrow, Wembley and District League. The Tithe Farm Social Club was formed and the football club was absorbed into it where they have played ever since. Their early days saw some success as they picked up three league titles and three league cups as well as the Middlesex Junior Cup in 1943. They moved forward after the war into the Spartan League but found it a struggle and failed to gain re-election in 1970/71. This led them to the Hellenic League which they joined in 1978 and promotion to the Hellenic Premier in 1983 saw them play top flight football in that league until they hit some struggles in 1994/95. With strict standards they were forced to drop back to the Middlesex League before joining the Chiltonian League in 1997/98. When that merged with the Hellenic League, the Lane found themselves in the new Division 1 East where they have normally finished in the top half of the table. Last season saw them win the division by 4 points, however due to failing ground grading rules the Lane were kept at this level while 5th place Bracknell Town went up instead.

For this season then, Rayners Lane are all change as a large chunk of their title winning squad and manager Dene Gardner left for “differing ambitions”. In has come new boss Mick Bradshaw and a whole host of new players as the Lane try to retain their title. They had made an ok start too after 3 games with winning 2 and losing one, to Maidenhead United Reserves. With the team and manager still learning about each other, you can suspect the Lane will improve as the season goes on. Their opponents were also playing in a league lower than they want to this season as Wokingham & Emmbrook had finished 8th (out of 20) in last season’s Hellenic Premier but had taken voluntary demotion to regroup. Having to play all of their early season fixtures away from home, the Sumas had lost their opening 2, conceding 11 and scoring just 4. The Lane were favourites for this game but the Sumas did finish in the top half of a league higher last season so you could never tell.

Tithe Farm is nice little ground that needs only a little bit of work here and there to get it up to Hellenic Premier standards. A short walk away from RL tube station, it has hard standing on at least 3 of the 4 sides (the 4th was just far too muddy for me to walk round to) with a small covered stand with both standing areas and seats across on the far side. Considering this ground is in London (albeit in Zone 5), the trees and quiet nature of the place does make you forget where it is. Considering I only have seen Ascot United in this league for comparison, I am a bit surprised this ground isn’t apparently good enough for Level 9 and FA Competitions, but there you go. A lovely place to spend a Saturday afternoon, even in the rain.

The game kicked off under some drizzle with Rayners Lane looking like the team who hadn’t lost every game they had played this season with some good early pressure against the Wokingham defence. A good counter-attacking opportunity came after just 5 minutes when Julian Smith and Jamel Mattan were both too fast for the away team but Mattan just stuck his shot wide. It was an open game as Rayners Lane did create a few more chances but entertainment was quite low as Wokingham were just trying to hang on in there. Richard John picked up a silly yellow card for kicking the ball away midway through the half but most of the good action came right at the end. Firstly a Paul Leslie free kick missed everyone and just went wide while Wokingham nearly got a nosebleed going up the other end but should have scored from a corner as a free header went wide. Lots of effort in the 1st half but not a lot of quality.

I’ve written this many times before in match reports and I’ll no doubt write it again but when you see a team dominate so much without scoring you can always see what will happen. It doesn’t happen in such spectacular style however. Rayners Lane had a corner pumped in and it was cleared off the line, down went Wokingham on the counter attack and Jake Butler cut into the area before firing past Andy Caesar. Their hardy band of fans went ballistic as they had offered very little for 60 minutes but now had the lead. It got worse for Rayners Lane too as just 6 minutes later they imploded from another corner. After playing a daft short corner, Lane lost the ball and Richard John had to lunge for the ball and caught the Wokingham player. When the ball broke down again, the referee went back and sent off the player to leave Lane right up against it. They even managed to fall asleep again at the back as Wokingham played some nice stuff on the left hand side before whipping a ball in which found Elliot Rushforth all alone to easily divert the ball past Caesar to gave the away side a scarcely believable 2-0 lead. You still thought though that Rayners Lane could still get something out of this and were awarded a way back in the game on 80 minutes. A lucky break in the area saw the ball fall nicely for Mattan and while he fired the shot over the bar, Wokingham goalie Ashley Withers took him out and play was brought back. Even the home fans were laughing at the decision but Lane captain Callum McCarroll stepped up and slotted the penalty into the bottom corner. Expecting now a battering, Lane did step it up but didn’t really create many chances to trouble Withers. In fact as Lane pushed forward Wokingham hit them on the counter attack again as a player was barged over in the area and late in the 6 minutes of injury time Khalid Sensussi scored the penalty to give Wokingham the points.

For my first non-league game of the season this was ok but did take a whole half to get going. At HT I did think Rayners Lane would comfortably see the match out but Wokingham did deserve their victory. Bringing a good following, although they do need to stop appealing for every decision that goes against them, it’s not a conspiracy, they look like they might be up there at the end of the season. Form isn’t on their side currently though as a 4-2 defeat at Burnham Reserves means they are down in 12th. Rayners Lane boss Mick Bradshaw admitted after the match that it could take until Christmas to get his team sorted and their patchy form continued with a 1-1 draw at home to Headington Amateurs. Tithe Farm is a lovely place to go, although with some stories about some shocking Hellenic League grounds out there, I’ll be cautious before jumping in to do more of this league.

Photos from Rayners Lane vs Wokingham & Emmbrook

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 5.5/10 (sort of got going in 2nd half)

- Value for money: 6/10 (standard amount for Level 10)

- Ground: 6/10 (nice location)

- Atmosphere: 5/10 (away fans were a plenty but didn’t half moan)

- Food: 5/10 (unexciting sausage roll)

- Programme: 6.5/10 (no frills but free, can’t ask for too much)

- Referee: L Davis – 5/10 (completely lost it in 2nd half, for both sides)