WINGATE & FINCHLEY (Harry Abrahams Stadium)

A welcome bonus of a Sunday match, as this game was put back 24 hours because the Jewish festival of atonement, Yom Kippur, was taking place on Friday & Saturday.

Wingate and Finchley are based in North London and play at the superb Harry Abrahams Stadium. They were originally two separate clubs, who merged together in 1991. According to the programme notes, Finchley were founded in 1874 and have competed in various leagues ever since, but it is the Wingate club who provide the Jewish heritage, formed as they were in 1946 as way of using football as a weapon against anti-semitism. The club was named after General Wingate, who was responsible for forming the Israeli army during the Second World War.  When they found themselves without a ground in the seventies they ground shared with Finchley before reverting to junior football before re-emerging and then merging with Finchley, who at the time had severe finanancial problems.

The Abrahams stadium is a cracking little ground with a 1930's style art-deco stand. An unusual feature is that the stand also has another stand backing onto it, making a complete building, which is used by the adjacent rugby club. The grounds are totally separate and fully enclosed.  

As for the game itself, it was entertaining enough. The first 20 minutes or so were dominated by the home side but they didn't have that killer touch in front of goal and wasted their opportunities. Then on 23 minutes, completely against the run of play, Brentwood took the lead when Dean Green was sent through and calmly slotted past the advancing 'keeper. Talking of 'keepers there was then a hold up for over five minutes when the Brentwood goalie fell awkwardly after catching a cross and had to be subbed. The Blues were level on 33 minutes when Josh Cooper controlled a ball down the wing , cut inside and fired low into the bottom corner.

The second half was end-to-end, but in all honesty neither side were troubling the goal. On 73 minutes though W&F took the lead from the penalty spot, Garry Burrell firing home after Lewis Jones was hauled back in the area (pictured left). The home side sat back on this lead and tried to see ot the remaining minutes but this nearly backfired as Brentwood nearly levelled and indeed had an effort cleared off the line in stoppage time.



  

Sunday 19th September 2010

Isthmian League Division One North

Wingate & Finchley 2-1 Brentwood Town

Attendance: 162

CLYDE (Broadwood Stadium)

It was back up to Scotland today for a visit to another ground in my ongoing quest to complete the Scottish league. I always do my best to try and get to a ground when 'super' Annan are the visitors, so today I found myself at the Broadwood Stadium, the home of Clyde FC. This ground is known by some fans as the Ice Station, as it is always bloody cold due to its high altitude location, and today it certainly didn't let me down, despite the ground being bathed in late September sunshine.


The Broadwood Stadium is on the outskirts of the 'new' town of Cumbernauld (13 miles from Glasgow) and has been home to 'The Bully Wee' since 1995 when they moved here, following a nomadic existance after the demise of Shawfield, their old ground in East Glasgow, in 1986. It is pretty much as you'd expect a 'new' ground to look with no real distinguishing features, apart from only having three sides! However the ground is perfectly adequate (capacity around 8,000) for the size of crowd Clyde get, averaging around 633 last season. Today's gate was 1,043 largely due, I suspect, to some great offers on season tickets (£99 for adults £9 for kids) rather than the football on show!


The Broadwood was reached via train and bus, which naturally gave the opportunity to sample a couple of beers in Glasgow city centre. I stayed close to Queen Street and therefore went in the Counting House, which had a delightful selection of ales including Cairgorm 'Black Gold' and Caledonian 'Mellow Yellow'. This set me up nicely for the afternoon, which was just as well as the game was up to the usual standard i've come to expect north of the border.

A largely uninspiring game was settled in favour of The Galabankies with a goal in each half. Bryan Gilfillan fired the ball into the net in the 6th minute from 20 yards, a shot which I thought the Clyde 'keeper could've done better with, maybe he thought it was going wide or he just seen it late, only he can answer that. Annan dominated the possession in the first half, but rarely did they look like adding to their total.

The second half was a more even, but the game was won in the 72nd minute when substitute Bryan Felvus bagged his first goal for Annan with a neat finish. At the end of the game The Bully Wee fans made their feelings perfectly clear as their team were roundly booed off the field.


The win lifted Annan to the dizzy heights of third in the table and i'm already looking forward to my next journey to see them when they travel to table toppers Berwick in two weeks time. Bring it on!

That's a Leisure Centre, just in case you were wondering!

View along the stand (from my seat)
as all the fans were housed in the one stand.

Saturday 18th September 2010

Scottish Football League Division Three

Clyde 0-2 Annan Athletic

Attendance: 1,043

IRCHESTER UNITED (Alfred Street)

After a late night in Manchester watching Muse in concert, a night which was made even later by venturing up the 'curry mile' for a vindaloo, it was an early start for a trip to Northamptonshire.

Today's game was a bonus for me as I didn't really plan on going until a text message during the aformentioned gig offered me a lift. Never one to refuse such a kind gesture, it was off to Irchester for some spiffing Sunday afternoon football fayre!


For those of you unaware, Irchester is a small village on the outskirts of Wellingborough and their (basic) ground at Alfred Street is in heart of the village. They play in the United Counties League Premier Division (step 5) and today was their first FA Vase tie since 1977 (when they lost to Langford after a replay). Their opponents were Ipswich Wanderers, who play in the 1st Division of the Eastern Counties League (step 6). Both teams entered the game in good form, each having won three games on the spin in their respective leagues.


We arrived in good time which allowed us to snaffle our programmes before the very limited batch was sold out (and sell out they did, well before 2pm, much to the annoyance of some other 'hoppers) and then take a leisurely trip to the GBG recommended Locomotive pub in Wellingborough (pictured right) and sample some of the 7 real ales on draft.



The game wasn't the most exciting, but there was just enough to prevent total boredom. Lots of persperation, especially in the baking afternoon sunshine, but very little inspiration, especially in the final third. However, it was Ipswich who looked the more likely as they seemed to have pace in their side, but as touched upon they were let down with their final ball. Irchester did carve out a couple of half chances but Wanderers' goalkeeper was equal to them.

The tie was sealed in the second half by Ipswich's Danny Phillips, who bagged himself a hat-trick. His opening goal was a neat finish and his other two goals came from the penalty spot, both decisions you could argue were 'dubious' to say the least. The referee did the Irchester team no favours whatsoever as, on top of the penalty decisions, he also turned down what looked like a stonewall penalty of their own, gave the 50/50 decisions against them and sent their manager from the dugout, when he could not contain his anger no more.

An upset of sorts as Irchester crashed out. The cover of their programme declared "The road to Wembley starts here" but unfortunately for them thats where it ended too! Ipswich will now go on to play Raunds Town in the next round.





the travelling Ipswich fans



Danny Phillips opens the scoring from the penalty spot

Sunday 5th September 2010

FA Vase 1st Round

Irchester United 0-3 Ipswich Wanderers

Attendance: 132

WAKEFIELD (College Grove)

It was a trip to West Yorkshire today and my first  chance to watch the re-formed Chester in competitive action, in what was only their second game of the new season. College Road, Wakefield was the venue today and this was also a chance for me to see Wakefield at their 'new' ground, having seen them previously in their Wakefield-Emley guise at Belle Vue (Rugby League) ground.

The ground was pretty basic with just the one stand, but it is perfectly adequate for the crowds that watch 'the bears' their average being around 127 (based on last seasons attendances). The crowd today was 517, of which at least 400 were travelling Chester fans. Obviously when you get crowds of this size at step four games, if you want a programme you have to get there early and it was lucky we did as the programmes were sold out long before the kick off.

The game was a tough fought away win for the blues (or whites today) and they just about to deserve edge out a determined home side. There were very few clear cut chances created during the game but the ones that were generally fell to Chester. It was George Horan who gave Chester the lead from a corner, when he got his head to the ball, in amongst a ruck of players, to loop the ball home.

Wakefield should have gone in level at half time when Delroy Ferguson went through one-on-one, but goalkeeper Richard Whiteside denied him with a great save. However they were level soon after the break when Elliott Firth fired home from 20 yards after a mazy run in from the right wing.

The game was dominated by Chester from this point but unfortunately for them Bears' goalkeeper Josh Herring was in fine form. With fifteen minutes to go though the ball dropped to Stuart Graves who drove home to secure Chester their first win of the season.

All that was left for me now was to negotiate the M62 and head off to Manchester for the Muse gig at Old Trafford...



   

I apologise for the quality of the photo's, as I made a basic schoolboy error in forgetting my camera today, so these were taken on my mobile phone. Oops!

Saturday 4th September 2010
Northern Premier League Division One North
Wakefield 1-2 Chester
Attendance: 531