Oadby v Ampthill

OADBY TOWN 2-1 AMPTHILL TOWN
Saturday 21st January 2012
FA Vase 4th Round
Greene King Park

After what feels like a long time since I saw Oadby in action this is to be the first of two consecutive  Saturday home games for the Poachers. The last time I was down here for a games was on December 3rd when they hosted Tipton Town in the last round of this competition. A combination of the following has seen me miss all home games since - a postponement (10th Dec); midweek matches and two weeks ago I was down in London for the Spurs - Cheltenham FA Cup tie.

This tie pits two sides that compete at Step 6 of the non-league pyramid, with Ampthill playing their football in division 1 of the Spartan South Midlands League. Like Oadby they are having a good season as well and currently sit in second place in their division and have won their last four matches. Also like Oadby they have only lost two out of their twenty five league games played and currently sit in second place though are eleven points behind leaders London Colney. Oadby meanwhile are on a decent run of form themselves having only lost once in the last twelve matches in all competitions, which was against Barwell recently in the Leicestershire Challenge Cup.

On paper this should be a cracking cup tie between two in form sides. 

Both sides also have similar records in this seasons FA Vase so far with them both starting out at the second qualifying round and also they have had one tie that went to a replay. The record for both teams is as follows:

Oadby Town

2nd Qualifying: Huntingdon Town (H) Won 3-2

1st round: Lutterworth Athletic (A) Won 2-1

2nd round: St. Andrews (H) Won 1-0

3rd round: Tipton Town (H) Drew 1-1 aet

replay: Tipton Town (A) Won 2-1 

Ampthill Town

2nd Qualifying: Barkingside (A) Drew 1-1 aet

replay: Barkingside (H) Won 1-0

1st round: Basildon United (A) Won 4-0

2nd round: Haringey & Waltham Development (H) Won 3-2

3rd round: Lancing (A) Won 3-1

The club shop

Oadby progressed to the last 16 of the FA Vase with a victory that should have been more comfortable that it was. After a bout of sparing Oadby settled down and  took the lead on eleven minutes. A Matt Moore shot from twenty five yards out took a slight deflection on its way into the top corner.  The hosts doubled their advantage ten minutes later when Matt Piper converted a Steve Fenton cross to put some daylight between the two sides. A few minutes at it should have been three nil but Piper failed to connect with a cross from the right flank. Ampthill's ploy was to play long balls down the channels and these on the main were dealt with comfortably by Joe Latham and Declan Towers. The visitors best chance of the opening period came around the twenty six minute when a Jake Duffy cleared an effort off the line.   Oadby themselves had an effort cleared off the line and then Matt Moore was unable to beat Tom Kennard in the Ampthill goal. 


The second half saw Oadby take their foot off the gas and allowed the visitors  to come into the game more, though their efforts were on the whole easily dealt with by Oadby keeper Elliot Shilliam. Oadby had three notable chances to put their supporters at ease with both Moore and Jermaine Gordon being a whisker away from converting crosses from Piper, while a Latham header was tipped over by Kennard. With six minutes remaining Ampthill got a lifeline as Chris Lester scrambled the ball home via the post from a couple of yards out. A nervy finish for the home supporters but in the end Oadby deservedly progressed to the next round and as the final whistle blew a chorus of "we're all going to Wembley" rang out.


Admission: £5 / £3 concessions
Programme: £1
Attendance: 417


Other 4th Round Results
Whitley Bay 5-0 South Park
Tunbridge Wells 0-1 St. Ives Town
Willand Rovers 1-3 Staveley Miners Welfare
Shortwood United 1-0 Enfield 1893
Newcastle Benfield 1-2 Herne Bay
Bournemouth 2-1 Royston Town
Old Woodstock Town 0-2 Bethnal Green United
Newport Pagnell Town 2-3 Ashington
Norton United 1-2 Peterborough Northern Star
Wisbech Town 2-2 Dunston UTS (after extra time)
Bitton 1-3 West Auckland Town
Tividale 7-1 Binfield
Gresley 1-1 Three Bridges (after extra time)
Billingham Synthonia 0-0 Runcorn Town (after extra time)
Reading Town 2-3 Larkhall Athletic

Cleansing the Soul

EYE SPORTS 4-0 OAKHAM UNITED
Saturday 14th January 2012
Peterborough & District League Premier Division
Lindisfarne Road, PE6 7XH

After last weeks trip to the land of Satan that is a "premier league" football ground, I need to cleanse my soul as it were and get back to watching the grass roots form of the game. The main stipulation for us today was that we wanted a 2pm kick-off and with dad living in the eastern suburbs of Leicester, we headed across eastwards for a very rare venture into the Peterborough & District League (PDL). I had only previously seen one game in the PDL and that was nearly two years ago when I saw Uppingham Town record a 2-0 victory over Leverington Sports.

With an overnight frost covering much of England doubt set in as to whether any particular game would still go ahead. Armed with about a dozen fixtures and club secretaries I set off about 11am. First port of call was to pick my dad and then make the one hour drive along the A47 to Eye. We pulled into a petrol station on the edge of the village and made several calls, all of which went unanswered - very helpful indeed!!! With the sun being high in the sky and the temperature about four or five degrees above freezing we were reasonably confident that the game would go ahead, added to this was that Eye's ground was south facing which allowed enough time for the sun to thaw out the frost. After a quick visit to the ground which confirmed that the game was going ahead we made our way to the Blue Boar, one of the two pubs in the village for some lunch.We both had the same - a ham, egg and chip lunch washed down with a pint of Elgood's Feelgood Festive which is a 3.7% seasonal ale.

The footprint of the PDL covers an area that goes from Rutland in the west to Wisbech in the each, with Spalding at its northerly perimeter and Alconbury to the south. It was founded in 1902 and Fletton United were the first champions. Currently there are six division and they all contain a mixture of 1st, reserve and 'a' teams.

Eye is a large village in the unitary authority area of Peterborough and has a population in the region of 4,000 inhabitants. Until 1963 Eye was part of Northamptonshire  as the county diocese is focused upon Peterborough Cathedral. However Peterborough had its own county council since 1888 and in 1965 was merged with neighbouring Huntingdonshire. Under the Local Government Act 1972 Eye along with Peterborough and Huntingdonshire became part of Cambridgeshire.

I believe the club were founded in 2002 and joined the Peterborough & District League the same year. A full playing record is as follows:

SEASON	COMPETITION	PL	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	POS
2002/03	PETER-5	26	18	3	5	100	40	57	2ND
2003/04	PETER-4	24	17	2	5	83	32	53	3RD
2004/05	PETER-3	26	15	3	8	66	39	48	5TH
2005/06	PETER-2	26	3	0	23	30	124	9	14TH
2006/07	PETER-2	26	4	6	16	44	86	18	12TH
2007/08	PETER-2	24	20	1	3	87	32	61	2ND
2008/09	PETER-1	22	17	4	1	69	20	55	2ND
2009/10	PETER-1	22	16	4	2	83	28	52	1ST
2010/11	PETER-P	30	16	4	10	59	44	52	6TH

This season Eye currently sit in fifth place in the Premier Division, recording eight wins from their fourteen games played. They are currently on a five match unbeaten run recording a 6-2 victory against Uppingham Town a week ago. The last time they tasted defeat was in November when title favourites Pinchbeck United left Lindisfarne Road with a 1-0 victory. The reverse fixture against today's opponents was on the 26th November that saw Eye record a 2-0 victory.

Oakham United were only formed in the summer of 2011 when two local clubs Rutland Rangers (Peterborough League) and Oakham Imperial (Leicester & District League) merged. Oakham themselves come into this game on a decent run of form recording three successive victories.

The ground on Lindisfarne Road is on the southern edge of the village and the entrance is between two houses. It opens up and there is a small car park to the right and a breeze block building to the left which houses the changing rooms and club room. The pitch is railed off along the two sides and there are dug outs on the far side. 

My thoughts before the game were that this could be an entertaining match between two in-form sides and this proved to be the case. Don't let the score at the top of the report mislead you as this was not was one sided as it suggests. It was an end to end game in which the visitors from Rutland more than matched their hosts at times. To put it another way - Eye took their chances and Oakham did not. The opening goal came with five minutes before the half time interval as Ryan Francis created some space for himself inside the Oakham penalty area and slotted the ball across the keeper into the far corner of the goal. Two goals in the space of five minutes around the hour mark put the outcome of the game to bed. The second goal of the afternoon came on fifty-eight minutes when Steve Shore finished with aplomb following excellent work down the left. The third and killer goal of the game came just five minutes later when Francis got his second of the afternoon. The ball fell kindly to him inside the Oakham penalty area and his first time shot found the back of the net. With around fifteen minutes remaining Francis completed his hat-trick in some style. Oakham were caught on the counter attack and from around thirty yards out Francis let fly with a shot that beat the Oakham keeper all ends up. 

An enjoyable but chilly afternoon with some good football being played. When I will be back for another game in the PDL is another matter but it won't be due to the football on offer.  

Admission: None

Programme: None

Attendance: mid 20's

Entertainment rating: 7 out of 10

websites / sources:

Eye - wikipedia page

Eye village website

Peterborough & District League - official website

Around fifty photos took of the ground and game can viewed in the slideshow below:

5,000 robins descend on North London

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3–0 CHELTENHAM TOWN

Saturday 7^th January 2012

FA Cup 3^rd Round

White Hart Lane

Sometimes in football cup draws fall the way you like and prior to the draw for the 3^rd round of this seasons FA Cup I said to the wife that I hope Cheltenham get Chelsea, Manchester City or Spurs away. Well this prediction and wish came true and as regular readers of the blog know one of my closest friends is a season ticket holder @ Cheltenham. This made getting one of the 5,000 tickets that  Spurs released for the visitors section straight forward as season ticket holders were allowed to purchase two tickets each. An added bonus was that Spurs reduced the admission price to a respectable £20, with the cheapest adult tickets at White Hart Lane this season for league games costing £31 for the lowest category games. 

Useless fact alert: This will be the 26th FA Cup that I have seen, yet only the second in the competition proper. This came in the 2005/06 season when I saw Cheltenham host Newcastle United in the 4th round. The rest of the ties  were in the qualifying rounds.

My original plan was to drive down to north London and then get the tube and bus to the stadium, but for some unknown reason decided to check how much I could get to the capital and back on the train. I was quoted £31 return but the stipulation was that I had to get a specific train there and back – the train tickets were duly purchased and I was booked on the 1057 from Leicester which got me into St. Pancras International @ 1220. With Colin also arriving in London on the train via Paddington we arranged to meet @ St. Pancras itself at 12.30pm and make our way to White Hart Lane from there. Firstly there was a tube ride to Seven Sisters which is only three stops away on the Victoria Line and then a mile and a half walk to the ground itself. According to the excellent Transport for London website it should cost £5.20 return using an Oyster card. This was fortunate as I have £7.20 left on my card from my last visit to London at the end of July.


The area between the tube station and the stadium along Tottenham High Road is a cosmopolitan and multi-cultural mix. The High Road consists of plenty of small businesses which range from fast food takeaways to computer repair specialists, as well as two branches of the biggest supermarket chains. Also for anyone wanting a pre-match drink there are numerous pubs in the vicinity, though a lot of them near the stadium are for home fans only.

The club

As is the case when I went down to fellow North London rivals Arsenal I will just give a list of the club’s first team honours and records for Spurs. A full detailed history including reserve and youth team honours can be found on their official website @ http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/index.html.

The club were formed in 1882 as Hotspur FC before changing their name to the current title two years later. Their first league competition competed in was the Southern Alliance for the 1892/93 season, before joining the Southern League three years later in 1896. I have no idea if they played in any league competition between 1893 and 1896. While in the Southern League before they were elected to the Football League in 1908 they also competed in the United League, London League and Western League.

Football League champions (2) 1950/51; 1960/61

Football League Division 2 winners (2) 1919/20; 1949/50

FA Cup winners (8) 1900/01; 1920/21; 1960/61; 1961/62; 1966/67; 1980/81; 1981/82; 1990/91

Football League Cup winners (4) 1970/71; 1972/73; 1998/99; 2007/08

European Cup-winners Cup winners (1) 1962/63

UEFA Cup winners (2) 1971/72; 1983/84

FA Charity Shield winners (4 + 3 shared) 1920/21; 1951/52; 1961/62; 1962/63; 1967/68 (shared); 1981/82 (shared); 1991/92 (shared)

Western League champions (1) 1903/04

London League champions (1) 1902/03

Record victory: 13-2 v Crewe Alexandra (H) 03-02-1960 (FA Cup)

Record defeat: 0-8 v 1. FC Koln (A) 22-07-1995 (UEFA Intertoto Cup)

Most appearances: 854 – Steve Perryman

Top goalscorer: 266 – Jimmy Greaves

Record attendance: 75,038 v Sunderland (05-03-1938)

Highest transfer fee paid: £16.75m for Luke Modric (Dinamo Zagreb) – June 2008

Highest transfer fee received: £30.75m for Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) – September 2008

The Stadium

Stating the obvious here but Spurs play their home games @ White Hart Lane in north London and currently has a capacity of 36,310. When the club were first formed they played their home games on Tottenham Marshes before moving to Northumberland Park in 1898. The move only lasted a year before they converted a disused nursery owned by brewery chain Charringtons at the present site.  The first game on White Hart Lane saw Spurs beat Notts County 4-1 in front of approximately 5,000 spectators.


My impressions of the stadium were just ok. It did not give you the "wow factor" like their north London rivals Arsenal, though I do admit comparing the two is unfair. Also I felt it did not have an aura about it, like for example Anfield where you know you are somewhere special and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I am struggling to sum up anything else that could be constructive or descriptive to describe the place...maybe "an average medium sized football stadium". 


One thing that I was not impressed with was how narrow the concourse was. There was only one entrance and exit for the away fans, which I presume was due to the larger than normal away contingent. This meant that it felt like an awful long time to get out of the stadium and back on to Tottenham High Road. 


The food and drink inside and outside the ground consisted of the usual fare - pie, hot dog, burger, beer (Carlsberg only) etc etc. There were four meal deal options which varied in price between £5 and £7. We ate at one of the many food outlets outside the ground and paid £3 for a hot dog.

The game

This tie pits two teams doing well in their respective league campaigns although they sit three divisions apart. Spurs are third in the Premier League with only the Manchester clubs, United and City above them in the table. Their last game on Tuesday saw them beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 with the goal coming from Jermaine Defoe.   Cheltenham are second in League 2, just one point behind leaders Crawley Town. They are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions, recording a 2-1 victory @ Port Vale in their last match on Monday. Their two FA Cup games so far have both been away from home and recorded victories @ Tranmere Rovers (1-0) and Luton Town (4-2).


What we had was in effect a Spurs 2nd XI that had a comfortable victory against their league two opponents. It should be said that the team that Spurs put out did consist of players that were / are full internationals. For example Jermaine Defoe, Aaron Lennon, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Niko Kranjcar.


To be honest I feel that the report on the BBC website is a fair reflection and without copying it word for word it can be viewed by clicking here: report

Admission: £20
Programme: £3.50
Badge: £3
Stadium postcard: £1
Attendance: 35,672


To sum up - well it is nice to visit the bigger stadiums in the country but I could not watch football in that environment every week. It is not because I did not enjoy the football on offer but because of the restrictions you have compared to watching the game at grass roots level. 


This was only my fourth ever game of football I have seen in London and the second time this season. As it happens I am back in London and meeting up with Colin in six weeks time (February 18th) for Cheltenham's visit to Dagenham & Redbridge for a League 2 encounter.   

Despite it taking longer than we (and most of the Cheltenham fans) would have liked getting out of the stadium I got back to St. Pancras without any problems for the 1825 train back to Leicester. Following a detour in Leicester to pick up some theatre tickets which are a 60th birthday present for my dad I arrived back home in Leicester at 8pm. 

Other Websites / sources:

Tottenham Hotspur – Wikipedia – Wikipedia (history)

White Hart Lane Stadium – Wikipedia


I did take some photos of the ground both externally and internally and these can be viewed below:

Spratton

SPRATTON 2-4 JAMES KING BLISWORTH
Saturday 31st December 2011
Northants Combination Division 1
Smith Street, NN6 8HW

After a two week break from watching football for Christmas I am in Northamptonshire for my final game of 2011. With Oadby Town not playing until Monday, good friend Kevin Zupp agreed to come with me and I picked him up from his house in Kibworth at lunch time for the forty minute drive south. The drive was very straightforward taking the A6 to Market Harborough before heading onto the A508 to Northampton. We turned off the A508 at Brixworth and headed westwards to Spratton itself,  with Smith Street being on the northern edge of the village. 

Spratton is a small village and civil parish in the Daventry district of Northamptonshire and according to the 2001 census had a population of 1,099 inhabitants. It is located on the A5199 (previously A50) that runs between Leicester (25 miles to the north) and Northampton (7 1/2 miles to the south).

If going by their club badge Spratton Football Club were formed in 1890. There is very little information on the club on the internet, and the only details that I have come across are on the archive section of the Northants Combination website. Their records go back as far as the 1953/54 season and Spratton finished in 5th position in the premier division. It is only from 1973 (apart from the 1990/91 season) that they have a full set of league tables. Apart from three seasons between 1988 and 1991 the club have spent the past thirty eight years in either the premier division or division. The club have been crowned premier division champions on two occassions in 1984/85 and 1986/87.

Last ten years in the Northants Combination:

SEASON	COMPETITION	PL	WON	DRW	LST	FOR	AGA	PTS	POS
2001/02	NHC-1	26	8	7	11	48	56	31	8TH
2002/03	NHC-1	26	7	9	10	42	45	30	8TH
2003/04	NHC-1	26	12	7	7	47	48	43	5TH
2004/05	NHC-1	28	11	6	11	46	46	39	7TH
2005/06	NHC-1	28	12	5	11	58	63	41	6TH
2006/07	NHC-1	28	7	7	14	46	63	28	13TH
2007/08	NHC-1	26	6	2	18	43	69	20	12TH
2008/09	NHC-1	24	7	1	16	37	75	22	12TH
2009/10	NHC-1	24	5	3	16	33	66	20*	12TH
2010/11	NHC-1	22	6	4	12	25	55	22	10TH

When arriving at the venue we found it to be typical for this level with no pitch side facilities but there is a social club on site which appeared to be well used by the local community. On one of the walls there was a few of old team photos with a couple catching my eye in particular. The first was from 1957 when they had silverware on show for winning both the Northants Combination Division 1 title and cup competitions. The second was from the 1929/30 season with the headline "Mid-Northamptonshire Village League winners". It is a shame that information like this is not preserved in either the print form or online. 

On the day the game pitched bottom of the table Spratton against high flying James King Blisworth who lie second in the table. It was played in dry but very blustery conditions with the location being very exposed to the elements. It was one of the most competitive games that either of us had seen with no quarter given from either side. Spratton took the lead within a couple of minutes when a mistake in the visiting defence allowed Adam Lett to poke the ball past the keeper into an empty net. On the half hour mark and they made it 2-0 when Joe Savage took advantage of some indecision in the Blisworth goal and finished from a couple of yards out. Right at the end of the half Blisworth got a goal back from the penalty spot. Chris Cully was fouled, got up and put his side back into the game. The Spratton keeper was very close to turning it round the post but despite getting a hand to it could not turn it round the post. To be honest Spratton should have been three up as their #9 blasted the ball over from eight yards out in what was probably the best chance of the half for either side. After an excellent save from the Blisworth keeper in the opening ten minutes of the half, the visitors took control and scored three goals in the space of fifteen minutes which ultimately resulted in the victory. Firstly a corner was knocked back across goal to allow Steve Hearly draw the teams level just before the hour mark. Blisworth's third goal came on the seventy minute mark when following a corner a Jay Vieira (?) shot from the edge of the area took a couple of deflections before finding the net, and just two minutes later it became 2-4 when a back pass sold the Spratton keeper short which was read by the Blisworth #14 who rounded the stranded keeper and finished into an empty net. The visitors saw out the final fifteen minutes or so to give them a victory in their quest for promotion to the premier division.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: peaked at 23

Entertainment rating: 6 out of 10

A final note should go to the people behind the scenes at Spratton Football Club itself. They made us both feel welcome right from the start and even allowed me to charge up my camera battery for half an hour, as when we arrived I found it dead as a dodo. Fortunately I managed to get some shots off before it died once again. These can be found on the slideshow below:    

  

Ferrari FC

FERRARI 2-4 WHITWICK UNITED

Saturday 17th December 2011

North Leicestershire League Cobbin Trophy 3rd Round

Towles Playing Field, Burton on the Wolds

The original plan was to head down to Cheltenham to catch up with a mate of mine Colin Buchanan and watch a game within an hour’s drive of his house, but Cheltenham Town were handed a plum FA Cup 3^rd Round tie @ Tottenham Hotspur on January 7^th and we have arranged to meet up then. Now it was a case of seeing if any fixtures caught my attention in either the Leicester & District League or North Leicestershire League. To be fair there were numerous ones that did and it was a case of deciding which one to go for.

My mum's other half Dave Todd agreed to come and watch this pre-Christmas cup tie a few miles east of Loughborough and, having picked him up from Thurmaston made the short drive to Burton. When arriving in the village we drove past the playing fields to make sure there were no problems, and with the players putting the nets up we made then headed to the Greyhound Inn in the centre of the village for pre-match liquid refreshment. This was a pub that neither of of us had ever been to before and we were impressed with it. It is part of the Everards chain and had several real ales on tap as well as the usual non-descript lagers. A pint of Sleigh Bell went down very well.

Ferrari FC were formed in 2007 and joined the North Leicestershire League (NLL) the same year. They are a Shepshed based club and originally played at Hind Leys School, but due to an increase in match fees moved out to Burton two seasons ago.  The club's record since joining the NLL is as follows:

SEASON	COMPETITION	PL	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	POS
2007/08	N LEIC-4	22	12	1	9	56	57	37	5TH
2008/09	N LEIC-4	22	13	4	5	68	53	43	3RD
2009/10	N LEIC-3	22	10	2	10	59	69	32	6TH
2010/11	N LEIC-3	20	7	1	12	49	59	22	8TH

The reason this fixture was chosen was due to two reasons. Firstly the 1.30pm kick-off, and secondly yours truly had seen games at Greenhill and Belton Villa in the previous two rounds of this competition and enjoyed them both. This fixture pitted division 3 Ferrari (who went into this game with a 100% league records) against division 1 Whitwick United who sit in a mid-table position. Despite it being the 3rd round the two teams had only played one match between them in the competition so far. Round 1 saw Ferrari have a walkover against Coalville Colliers and Whitwick had a bye. In round 2 Ferrari produced the upset of the round winning 3-2 @ premier division side Sileby Victoria while Whitwick had a walkover against Asfordby Village.

The game was one that saw the visitors have the better of the proceedings for the majority of the game and created more chances in 90 minutes of football than you will see in several other games combined. If they had had their shooting boots on or had a bit more composure they could have hit double figures. To be fair to the home side they stuck at it and took the lead on 25 minutes. A free kick was missed by the home defence and John Bowles  finished into the corner of the goal from twelve yards out. Two goals in the final couple of minutes of the half saw the game turn in the visitors favour. A break down the left saw a perfectly waited low cross to the far post which allowed Graham Hutchinson to beat the Ferrari keeper at his near post. In stoppage time at the end of the half Hutchinson crossed from the right and Jamie Holmes headed in at the far post. The second half was a similar affair to the first with the visitors looking the better side. Again though it was the home side that scored first and levelled up the proceedings. Matt Griffin with the finish following a well worked move and cross from the left. Whitwick only had to wait three minutes to restore their lead as Hutchinson got his second of the afternoon with a twenty five lob over the keeper. Chances kept coming and with seven minutes remaining of the ninety Hutchinson completed his hat-trick. The referee played about ten minutes of stoppage time due to a nasty injury. One of the Ferrari players was on the ground when an stray boot from Hutchinson caught him between his nose and left eye. From my point of view it appeared innocuous with the home players not making an issue of it. Even in stoppage time more chances were wasted by Whitwick.

To sum up - another enjoyable game in this competition that was played on a heavy pitch in dull and at times during the first half wet conditions.

Admission / programme: none

Attendance: 6

Entertainment rating: 8 out of 10

A slideshow of some photos taken during the game can be viewed below:

 

RTJFC

RUGBY TOWN JUNIORS 0–5 LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS

Saturday 10^th December 2011

Midland Combination Under-21 section; East / North Division

Kilsby Lane

The first part of a “double” today, as having been impressed with the Students when I saw them beat Stapenhill 4-1 in October, decided to take in their away fixture at Rugby Town Juniors. The following paragraph on the club is taken from their official website:

“RTJFC has been running for 12 years and currently has approximately 700 members (children under 18 years old). Its general “ Football for All” message means that any one of any ability can play football. In addition it has close working links with and encourages community groups and schools to participate in and enjoy the game of football. The club’s volunteers play a vital role, offering services such as organised structured coaching and running after school clubs. RTJFC members play in approximately 47 teams in five different leagues.”

The club play their home games on Kilsby Lane which is on the south-east side of Rugby. My route is a very simple one taking me down the M1 (junction 21) to junction 18, then along the A428 towards Rugby itself. After approximately 2 ½ miles it was a left turn onto the B4038 Kilsby Lane for just 100 yards before turning right at the ground entrance.  The 24 mile journey took around 35 minutes to make. There are numerous pitches at Kilsby Lane which are set on different levels, with the main pitch and clubhouse / changing room block set at the bottom. The main pitch is fully railed off, dugouts, floodlights and hard standing on one side. There was a tea bar in operation before and for the majority of the game which was most welcome in the cold but sunny weather.

As it stands in this inaugural season of the Under-21 competition Rugby lie third in the table with nineteen points from their eleven league games, sitting six points behind league leaders Loughborough Dynamo. The Students currently sit one place and one point further behind but have only played seven league games so far. Rugby’s last game was three weeks ago (due to last Saturday’s fixture @ Kettering Town postponed) when they suffered a 4-1 defeat at Loughborough Dynamo, while the Students put Woodbourne Sports to the sword in a 6-2 victory at The Paddock.

When arriving at the ground I was informed by Peter Simmons (president of Loughborough Students Football) that the game would kick-off thirty minutes late due to the overnight frost. The game saw two good sides contest an enjoyable first half with good football played and an even number of chances created. The second period saw a more one sided affair and the Students struck five times to move up to second in the East / North division table. Gabriel Ali scored the opener on 49 minutes but as I was on the phone at the time to Kevin Zupp @ Oadby Town FC I missed it and could not tell you anything about it!!!! The second goal came just seven minute later when a swinging volley from Jordan Cocksedge just crossed the goal line. Rugby's best chance came came a couple of minutes later but a volley was well saved by White in the Students goal. The hosts discipline was starting to let them down as they began to argue with the referee. Two of their players were booked for dissent another for persistent fouling. Three goals in the last ten minutes put a more one sided slant on the scoreline. Firstly substitute Worthington got in on the act by hitting a first time shot past the Rugby keeper on 81 minutes. Two minutes later and Humphries finished off a flowing move with a superb strike from the edge of the area. With the game about up it became 5-0. A clever flick from Ali put Worthington away down the left, who then crossed for the unmarked ? to head home from a few yards out.


Admission / programme: none
Attendance: 12 (h/c)
Coffee: £1
Sausage Bap: £2.30


Overall another enjoyable game in this inaugural season of the under-21 competition.

Websites:

Rugby Town Juniors

Loughborough Football

Midland Combination

A slideshow of some photos taken can be viewed below:

After this I should have watched Oadby Town take on Bardon Hill in the East Midlands Counties League at 3pm, but at 12.30 I received a phone call from Kev Zupp @ Oadby who informed me that the game had been postponed. A rash and premature decision as the pitch was playable once the frost had thawed. In the end I went back to Oadby and had a beer in their clubhouse before getting home at 3.30pm.

Stalemate in the Vase

OADBY TOWN 1–1 (aet) TIPTON TOWN

Saturday 3^rd December 2011

FA Vase 3^rd Round

Greene King Park

Another home game for Oadby Town this afternoon, this time against former adversaries in the Midland Football Alliance Tipton Town in the 3^rd round (last 64) of the FA Vase.  This is the first time since the 2004/05 season that Oadby have reached this stage of the competition.  A controversial 1-0 defeat @ Stourbridge ended the hopes of glory then. This time around Oadby have moved quietly into the third round with three one goal victories. First up was Huntingdon Town who were dispatched 3-2 here @ GKP. This was followed up by a trip to Leicestershire Senior League outfit Lutterworth Athletic who were beaten 2-1 and last but not least, just two weeks ago local rivals St. Andrews arrived at GKP and a superb effort from Jon Stevenson was the difference between the two sides. Tipton Town started out in the 1^st round and have had two home ties so far. Fellow MFA side Highgate United were beaten by the odd goal in three and Bardon Hill were on the wrong end of a 5-1 score line in the previous round. With Bardon Hill exiting the competition Oadby are the last Leicestershire club standing. Both clubs had midweek matches to overcome with Oadby putting St. Andrews to the sword once again with a resounding 4-1 success in the 2^nd round of the Leicestershire Senior Cup. Tipton meanwhile were in MFA action and came away from Stratford Town with a 1-1 draw.

I finally got round to watching Oadby @ Tipton Town last season and despite taking the lead were on the wrong end of a 6-1 thrashing. How things have changed? Despite Oadby being relegated the side now is unrecognisable from the one last season and the feel good factor (both on and off the field) is now well and truly back at GKP. 

An intriguing cup tie that ebbed and flowed at times, with neither side able to exert any superiority in the 1st half. Oadby took the lead in the 45th minute when Jermaine Gordon scrambled the ball home from a yard out.

Oadby's lead did not last long as Tipton equalised within five minutes of the restart. Nathan Waite finishing off a good move down the right hand side. The games main talking point came with 12 minutes remaining as Oadby sub James Miller was shown a straight red card. Despite going down to ten men Oadby looked the better side for the remainder of the 90 and had three chances win in the dying moments. Matt Moore had a shot saved, Matt Piper's chip from a tight angle failed to find the target and a Steve Fenton shot that was heading for the top corner was superbly saved by the Tipton keeper in the 4th minute of stoppage time.

Extra time and Oadby played the better football but Gordon had a shot saved and Jon Stevenson volleyed over. Tipton had their chances but the majority of their efforts were off target and Elliot Shilliam was the quieter of the two keepers.

Attendance: 167

Match rating: 7 out of 10

Replay Wednesday night and the tie I'm sure will have a few more twists and turns.

One sour note was that there was some racist chanting by the few Tipton fans that came across, referring to Leicester as Paki Land.

Websites:

Oadby Town: official – facebook – forum

Tipton Town:: official