Damage in the Box!

BROMLEY (Hayes Lane)

A cheap train deal took me south and another step nearer to my quest of (hopefully) completing visits to all grounds in the Conference South before the season is over. Hayes Lane, the home of Bromley FC, was the destination today as they took on 'The Seagulls' from Weston-super-Mare.

An early start saw me in Bromley around lunchtime, giving me the opportunity to grab a spot of lunch and quaff a few pints of Shepherd Neames finest (Spitfire, Master Brew & Late Red) in a GBG recommended pub. The ground was a mere 10 minutes walk from the The Bricklayers Arms and soon I found myself in the ground and in the social club, where they must have known I was not driving today as Speckled Hen was on draft!

Both teams came into the game today with differing starts to the season. Bromley, after starting the season with 3 defeats in four, now found themselves on a run of 5 games undefeated and just hovering outside the play off zone. Weston meanwhile were hovering just above the relegation zone with 2 wins and a draw from their opening 9 games.

The game was a largely drab affair, with plenty of perspiration but very little inspiration. Bromley shaded the first half in terms of possession and attempts at goal, but never really troubled Kevin Sawyer in the Weston goal. It was was a long punt from Sawyer that led to the first goal as the ball was flicked on into the path of Ashan Holgate who coolly finished into the top corner. Bromley had a couple of chances to equalise before half time but were guilty of poor finishing.

The equaliser did come early in the second half when another long punt upfield run through to 'keeper Sawyer whose attempted clearance was blocked by Warren McBean and the ball looped into the unguarded net. Bromley upped their game and created a few chances to go in front but again the end product was poor. Weston also had a couple of good chances but again the finishing was poor (can you spot the recurring theme readers?) and the game petered out into the inevitable draw. Robbie Kember was sent off 15 minutes from time for retaliation after being hauled back, but this had no real bearing on the final result.

View from the social club window...hic!

Saturday 12th September 2009

Conference South

Bromley 1-1 Weston-super-Mare

Attendance: 424

TIPTON TOWN (Tipton Sports Academy)

The perils of being a paper chaser!! After setting out with the intention of visiting Bewdley their "problems with the printer" scuppered that idea. It was then to the back up of Gornal Athletic but, lo and behold, they were experiencing similar problems. Being in and around Dudley with the clock ticking towards 2.15 it was Tipton's turn to take a phone call...yes there are programmes...yes we will put them aside for you. Top Banana!

It was to the Tipton Sports Academy we headed. It was an athletics stadium and not the most inspiring place to watch a game of football. There was no atmosphere apart from the cold wind rattling around the ground. Having said that the welcome from the club officials was warm (and they were most helpful prior to our arrival at the ground by giving us the directions).

The game itself was a largely one sided affair as Tipton comfortably seen off a poor Rocester side. The first goal came on 20 minutes when a completley unmarked Richard Huckfield headed home a corner kick. The second goal on 36 minutes had a touch of "the russian linesman" about it. A corner was swung in and, via the head of a Rocester player, the ball was adjudged to have crossed the line before it was headed clear. Very difficult to say from where I was positioned.

The only goal of the second came on 56 minutes and it was a corker. Nicky Pugh turned the defender and the ball sat up nicely to be smashed home from the corner of the 18 yard box. This goal effectively killed the game and the remaining half hour was a virtual non-event. We were sorely tempted to crack open the bottle of wine my mate Bullet won in the raffle, just to numb the pain!!

Saturday 5th September 2009

FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round

Tipton Town 3-0 Rocester

Attendance: 52

BETHESDA ATHLETIC (Meurig Park)

Today was a rare chance to visit one of the few grounds I haven't "ticked" in the Cymru Alliance. I say rare because it is not very often you get a team accepting promotion to the second tier of Welsh football (let alone a team from each of the three feeder leagues, which has happened this season...Berriew and Llangollen are the others) and rare because I wouldn't go to Bethesda in their Welsh Alliance days due to their noteriety for never issuing a programme. However one of the rules in the Cymru Alliance is they have to issue, and they did today, although it was more style over substance, but in my eyes there is no such thing as a bad programme.

With the sun beating down on a lovely late summers afternoon it was to the edge of Snowdonia, and Meurig Park I headed. The football ground was very easy to find, located just off the A5 road as you head out of town. A typical welsh ground with a railed off pitch, small covered seated stand and absolutely stunning views from all angles, in this case the Ogwen Valley and, err, the slate quarry.

Bethesda took the Welsh Alliance by storm last season, winning the title by 16 points, so it will be interesting to see how they cope with the step up. The oppostion today was my local team, Flint, who are a strong outfit at this level and are always there or thereabouts in the promotion race.

It turned out to be a very enjoyable game as (the mighty) Flint secured a comfortable win. Two first half goals, the first from Shaun Beck after 15 minutes and a then stunning finish, after a mazy run, from Paul D. Williams put Flint in a strong position just before half time. Bethesda came out and had a good go second half, as Flint took their foot off the gas, and with 6 minutes to go Craig Roberts pulled a goal back for the homesters. However, any fears of that the Silkmen would squander their lead were allayed when Shaun Beck netted a third two minutes from time to seal the victory.

This result meant a very happy hopper travelling back along the A55!

Saturday 22nd August 2009

Cymru Alliance

Bethesda Athletic 1-3 Flint Town United

Attendance: 54 (h/c)

ALBION ROVERS (Cliftonhill)

Embarrassing how I ended up at this game...I booked a cheap Virgin train to Glasgow to take in the CIS cup tie at Partick Thistle but (beacon cheeks) overslept and missed it! I was hell bent on seeing a game in Scotland so drove up there instead. As I was in the car, I didn't fancy driving into Glasgow city centre (especially as the area around Partick's ground is not the best to park a car, shall we say) so I headed to Coatbridge instead and Cliftonhill, the home of Albion Rovers.

The ground is an absolute tip, but thats the way (ah hah ah hah) I like it! Bags of character and not a bland stand in sight, in fact it was labelled "a shitehole" by the Livingston players on their arrival before the game, but as the Albion officials (kind of) retorted "it is OUR shitehole" a reference to the financial problems that Livingston have been experiencing. This game was in doubt right up until the previous 48 hours when Livingston were brought back from the brink after being saved by from liquidation.

This meant the crowd was swelled by over 400 travelling Livi fans, who were quite understandably just happy to be there. Albion came out of the blocks fast and were clearly "up" for the game. They took the lead after nine minutes when a Bobby Barr corner was punched into his own net by Livi 'keeper Roddy McKenzie. It was Barr himself who added the second three minutes into the second half when he fired home after a good move and cross from the left. Substitute Marc McCusker completed the scoring in the final minute when tapping home from a couple of yards, to send the home fans delirious.

There are long term plans afoot to sell off the ground and move to a brand new purpose built stadium, so very soon another "gem" will be lost forever. Please pay a visit whilst you can!!