Over the summer

Since the end of my last game of football at the end of April I have not been to and also had many chances to watch sport of any kind. On only two occasions in June has this occured, one greyhound racing meet and one game of rugby league.

The greyhound racing was at Sittingbourne on Saturday 6th June whilst on holiday at Allhallows-on-Sea in Kent and the game of rugby league saw me take in the Leicester Phoenix - Coventry Bears game the following Saturday. Leicester won this encounter with two late tries to win 34-30.

The pre-season friendlies for me will begin on Tuesday night with a short trip to Rothwell in Northamptonshire for their game against Conference side Rushden & Diamonds. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but the last two times I have seen Rothwell play they have conceded 13 goals and scored none. Other possible fixtures at present are...

Tuesday 14th July: Brixworth All Saints v Wellingborough Town
Tuesday 21st July: Shepshed Dynamo v Kirby Muxloe
Saturday 25th July: Desford v Ibstock United
Tuesday 28th July: Blaby & Whetstone Athletic v Friar Lane & Epworth
Sunday 2nd August: Leicester City v Real Valladolid

End of season report

As it turns out my last game of the season was the Castle Donington v Newmount game at the end of April - my earliest ever finish. It has not been a bad season in terms of watching football, not helped by my shifts at work. I never had any plans to watch any games in the Spartan South Midlands League but ended up taking in four games during the early part of the season. I'm not good at sticking to targets or predictions that I make as this season I only managed one - to complete the Leicestershire Senior League (LSL) in terms of 1st team clubs. This saw me watch home games for Ashby Ivanhoe, Evington and FC Dynamo. Over the coming years there will be less likely that I will watch any more games in the LSL. At present it seems that the only new club in the LSL next season will be Melton Mowbray BS. This is because I have started watching games in one of it's three feeder leagues - the Leicester & District League which is due to time and cost and I hope to watch all remaining clubs in the Premier Division next season, preferably involving Kingsway Rangers. Six games were watched this season, four in the Premier Division and two in Division 1 and all games involved either Desford or the afore mentioned Kingsway Rangers.

The list of new clubs watched is as follows:

Central Midlands League: Bulwell Town, Parkhouse, Thoresby Colliery Welfare

Conference: Histon

Hellenic League: Witney United

Leicester & District League: Broughton Astley, Burbage Old Boys, Desford*, Glenfield Town, Kingsway Rangers, St Patricks

Leicestershire Senior League: Ashby Ivanhoe, Evington*, FC Dynamo*

Midland Combination: Continental Star, Loughborough University*

Midland Regional Alliance: Castle Donington Town

Northern Counties East League: Shirebrook Town

Southern League: Bury Town

Spartan South Midlands League: Aylesbury Vale, Buckingham Athletic, Langford, New Bradwell St Peter

West Midands (Regional) League: Gornal Athletic, Wolverhampton Casuals

* - clubs playing at venues already seen games at

As I have already stated I am no good at making predictions but I always do and this is a list of 25 clubs that I hope to watch next season: (subject to changes during the close season)

Central Midlands League: Church Warsop, Kirkby Town, Nettleham, Pinxton

Leicester & District League: Belgrave, Blaby United, Cosby United, Houghton Rangers, Welby Lane United

Leicestershire Senior League: Melton Mowbray BS - if promoted

Midland Alliance: Tipton Town

Midland Combination: Castle Vale, Fairfield Villa, Meir KA

Southern League: Nuneaton Town, Romulus

Spartan South Midlands League: Ampthill Town, Winslow United

United Counties League: Olney Town, Rushden & Higham United, Sleaford Town

West Midlands (Regional) League: Bloxwich United, Goodrich, Shenstone Pathfinder, Tividale

No doubt this will change as the season progresses.

see you in August.

Monday night mauling

Castle Donington Town 1-6 Newmount
Monday 20th April 2009
Midlands Regional Alliance Premier Division
Moira Dale Recreation Ground

Admission / programme: none
Attendance: 25 (approx)

Football is not something that you associate with the north-west Leicestershire town of Castle Donington but of the Donington Park motor racing circuit and East Midlands Airport.

www.donington-park.co.uk
www.eastmidlandsairport.com

It was decided to take in a first ever fixture in the Midlands Regional Alliance (MRA) due to wanting to meet up with my dad who works at Rolls Royce in nearby Derby, and thus we duly met at the Donington Park services just of junction 23a of the M1. Lunch was had in the Tudor Hotel in Castle Donington itself – no alcohol as I was driving, and we arrived the the recreation ground on Moira Dale with around 15 minutes to kick-off. There is limited off-road parking which was made doubly difficult as the reserve team had a fixture on the second pitch at the same time. No admission was charged or programme issued to the ground which is also home to the town’s cricket club, the main on the left hand side was only roped off on one side nearest to the cricket square. Refreshments were on offer with £1.80 getting us a tea and coffee in proper mugs and two chocolate bars.

With having watched six games in the comparable Leicester & District League (LDL) this season I was interested in the standard of football on offer as both leagues sit at the same level of the non-league pyramid. The MRA is I suppose an unofficial feeder league to the Central Midlands League while the LDL is one of three feeder leagues to the Leicestershire Senior League. At the start of play Castle Donington Town (founded in 1885) sat in mid-table while visitors Newmount, who I later found out are from Derby and play their homes at Mackworth College are in a relegation battle at the bottom of the table. On this basis you would expect a home win – wrong. Play was cagey at the start and it took a while for the game to get going and it was the visitors who went closest on 16 minutes when the woodwork was struck. Newmount struck the first blow when the opened the scoring on 26 minutes with a low drilled shot into the keepers left hand corner. As expected this woke the home side up but 8 minutes later found themselves 2 down when the number 10 prodded the ball home after an excellent cross from the left hand side. Just two minutes later and it was 3-0 when the number 10 found himself one on one with the keeper and finished with aplomb. The hosts got themselves back into game just a minute later through an own goal – game on now. Wrong again. Despite having probably more possession and creating the same number of chances it was the visitors who took theirs, scoring three more goals in the second half on 63, 68 and 88 minutes to wrap up a convincing victory.

Overall I was very impressed with the standard of football on offer and was good as anything I have seen in the LDL this season and will definately making future visits to clibs in this league in future seasons. The club compete in the Leicestershire Junior Cup and this season reached the semi-finals. Their results are as follows:

Round 1: Belgrave (H) Won 7-5
Round 2: Barrow Town Reserves (A) Won 9-2
Round 3: Birstall United Reserves (H) Won 2-1
Semi Finals: Kirby Muxloe Reserves (N) Lost on penalty kicks

http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/castledoningtontownfc/

The town does have another Saturday side in the form of Castle Donington F.C. who are currently in the first season as a senior team, plying their trade in the North Leicestershire League. The club play their home games on Spittal Park Playing Fields in the town.

http://www.castledoningtonfc.co.uk/

On top

St Patricks 0-6 Desford

Thursday 9th April

Leicester & District League Premier Division

The Emerald Centre

In the race for the District League title it is a case of "as you were" as both contenders, Houghton Rangers and Desford both won at the weekend - Houghton 4-1 @ Burbage Old Boys and Desford 5-0 v Birstall RBL. Houghton still lead Desford by one point but having played a game more. Today sees Desford play their game in hand at bottom of the table St Patricks who have only won 2 games all season and conceeding 94 goals in the process. The reverse fixture earlier on in the season saw Desford run out 18-0 winners.

St Patricks play at the Emerald Centre on Gipsy Lane on the north east side of Leicester on the edge of the Northfields estate. (see map link on left hand side for location) The ground was home to former Leicestershire Senior League side Hillcroft who played their last season there. As per normal with the District League no admission was charged or programme issued and the attendance I would guess reached about 10. The pitch do be fair was awful and made playing football of any kind very difficult.

Desford had most of the possession but failed to create many clear cut chances, the play became scrappy and this caused a bit of arguing amongst them. The closest the visitors came was at the end of the half when the number six headed a free kick against the bar. In summarising it was a poor first half and the worst 45 minutes that I have seen Desford play so far this season. It was all change in the second half as Desford took the lead on 48 minutes through Reece Morris who drilled a lot shot into the keepers right hand corner. The second came on 62 minutes when one of the substitutes finished well after a good move on the left hand side with Stewart Smith. Five minutes later and it was 3-0 after the afore mentioned Smith prodded the ball home from six yards from a Simon Goodman free kick. The fourth was added just two minutes later when an attempted cross from Smith sailed over the keeper's head into the net. Two further goals came in the last five minutes - the first was an own goal when a Rocky Greenwood cross was put into his own net by the keeper and the second was a solo effort from Reece Morris.

After this emphatic but expected win Desford find themselves back on top of the table but come Saturday afternoon Houghton should regain top spot with Desford not having a game due to their involvement in the final of the Leicestershire Junior Cup on Bank Holiday Monday.

Finally

Continental Star 2-2 Meir K.A.

Saturday 4th April

Midland Combination Premier Division

Oldbury Leisure Centre

Visting the ground and club has been on my agenda for some time, took long in fact. When I heard recently that they were demolishing the leisure centre and football ground for housing in the autumn this became a priority as it were. The Oldbury Leisure Centre and it's football ground to be fair is a bit of an eyesore, though why it could not have been rebuilt and / or modernised is another matter - the way I see it is that two football clubs will have to find new homes for next season and another sporting facility will be lost. The other club in question by the way is Oldbury Athletic. I overheard a conversation at home time regarding next season and 'Star are hopefully going to be groundsharing at Rushall Olympic while 'Athletic will be moving a mile up the road at West Midlands League outfit Tividale. Obviously both of the these have yet to be confirmed, especially as Tividale currently have a tennant in the form of Midland Football Alliance (MFA) side Oldbury United who were ejected from their home ground at the start of last season after a dispute with the social club. The ground was home to former Southern League and MFA side Sandwell Borough and a sign for former MFA sponsor Interlink Express is still on an outer wall. Getting to the leisure centre is very easy with it being a mile or so from junction 2 of the M5. After exiting the motorway take the A4123 towards Dudley, then turn left into Newbury Lane (5th on left) with the leisure centre on the right after 50 yards or so.

Entrance is via the leisure centre itself and admission was £3 with a further £1 for a pretty poor programme - this I managed to obtain at half time after asking one of their officials. The pitch is surrounded by what could be a running track though with all the moss etc it is difficult to decifer and as such spectators are further away from the pitchside than normal. The only cover is also a seated stand on the left hand side with the dugouts on the opposite side. Refreshments were available at half time in one of the offices.

The opponents for Star today are Potteries side Meir K.A. and languish second bottom in the table, while Star themselves are not having the best of seasons. For the record the K.A. stands for Kings Arms. The home side start brightly and play some nice football at times with a poor final ball and finishing letting them down. One way traffic it isn't and at time Meir bely their lowly position to create chances of their own. Despite this the half remains goalless. The visitors shock their hosts with two well taken goals in the space of four minutes before the hour mark - will this be a fourth consecutive away win without the hosts scoring? Star but this theory to bed when they were awarded a penalty which was duly dispatched, the time of which eludes me as I forgot to take my note book. Doh! With the 90 minutes up a Star shot hit the underside of the bar and the rebound tapped home for a dramatic equaliser. A fair result in the end though not without a tinge of sympathy for the visitors.

Overall an enjoyable game with the second half a lot better than the first watched by 17 people (Midland Combination website), though how many actually paid is another matter. I don't normally visit the same ground twice in a season but I'm think of watching fellow tennant Oldbury Athletic on Tuesday 14th April for their top of the table clash with Southam United.

Closing in on Houghton

Burbage Old Boys 0-2 Desford

Tuesday 31st March

Leicester & District League Premier Division

Britannia Road

A very late decision was made at 5pm to attend this 6pm kick-off. I was planning to visit Tividale in the West Midlands League but didn’t fancy or feel like going that far, and with a quick check on the FA’s Full Time website I noticed this fixture between former Leicestershire Senior League side Burbage Old Boys and Desford who are in a battle with Houghton Rangers for the District League title. Some might say Burbage is a glorified suburb of Hinckley but it is a separate town / village in its own right and has its own identity. I suppose the easiest way geographically of separating the towns is the railway line.

Burbage play their home games on Britannia Road and has a rural feel about it, not surprising as it is on the edge of the village with the M69 and A5 in view. The pitch was not railed nor roped though some of the posts which used to support the rails still surround the pitch side.

At the start of play Desford occupied second place four points behind Houghton but had two games in hand, while hosts Burbage sat in 13th place in the 14 team division. A comfortable away win then?

Both teams tried to play football on a hard and bumpy pitch with Desford (not surprisingly) creating the better chances, and they nearly took the lead on 15 minutes when Simon Goodman volleyed against the left upright. Ten minutes later and Goodman found the target with a lob over the home keeper. Further half chances were created by both sides but it was the visitors who got a vital second when Reece Morris hit a shot on the turn through a crowded penalty area with two minutes remaining in the half. The second period saw a scrappier encounter with both sides having an equal amount of possession but it was Desford who came closest when they struck the woodwork in the final quarter. Not the best performance from Desford but it was a case of job done and move onto the next game, which is a home game against mid-table Birstall RBL on Saturday while leaders Houghton travel to today’s hosts Burbage.

Kingsway crowned

Broughton Astley 0-5 Kingsway Rangers

Leicester & District League Division 1

Saturday 28th March

Frolesworth Road Recreation Ground

The Leicester & District League is a league that I would take an educated guess at does not feature on the radar of many, if any groundhoppers. The clubs vary from having their own grounds to using school or park pitches with admission or programmes non existant. Today’s game saw Broughton Astley who lie second bottom take on unbeaten division leaders Kingsway Rangers who have only dropped two points all season - a draw away @ Queniborough.

Broughton Astley is a large village nine miles south of Leicester and six miles east of Hinckley located between the B4114 and A426. The population is believed to be around the 10,000 mark which comprises of three historic settlements – Broughton Astley itself, Primethorpe and Sutton-in-Elms.

Broughton play at the Frolesworth Road Recreation Ground which also houses a childrens play area, skate park and a cricket pitch. The pitch looked like it had seen better days and in need of a good roll. This along with a swirling wind made conditions difficult. As I found out during the second half Kingsway needed to win today to be crowned division 1 champions. The game started (as expected) with the visitors making the early running and created a few chances in the first five minutes which forced the home keeper to produce comfortable saves. As the half wore on the game became scrappy with few chances being created, though just before half time the visitors had a goal disallowed for offside. The second half saw Kingsway break the deadlock on 52 minutes with a shot from the edge of the area. The second then followed two minutes later when the number 9 scored from the penalty spot, and pretty much straight from kick-off the number 6 went through the visiting defence to slot home number 3. The scoring was not finished as the number 9 scored with a header from eight yards on the hour mark. Four goals in an eight minute spell ended the game as a contest and it was then a question of when Kingsway would score next. The answer came with ten minutes left when (I think) the number 11 scored with a cracking shot from outside the area.

Attendance: around 15 but varied throughout the game

Distance / driving time: 10 miles / 25 minutes