football rambles

 There was a definite feeling of deja vu about this game as Downham again dominated and looked by far the better team in the first half. Despite Downham using the wide men more than going down the centre, they could easily have been 2-0 up after 20 minutes if it hadn't been for the Mildenhall keeper and som of the shots had had a little more power to them. However, as the game progressed and Downham didn't make the most of their chances, Mildenhall started to grow into the game. Infact, if it wasn't for a brilliant save from Congreve, who is now the third keeper to play for Downham this season, it could have been Mildenhall going in ahead at the break. However, the first half finished with both teams failing to score and Downham were probably the team who could feel most aggrieved by not finishing their chances. The second half saw Mildenhall have a lot more of the ball, but their best chances seemed to be made from mistakes by the Downham defence. For Downham Charlie Royle...

 Despite being in London, the trip to Bromley's Hayes Lane was quite rural. After a Spoon's breakfast I followed some German goundhoppers down a rural path through what looked like a farm before coming to the ground. The game itself was an entertaining enough affair and one that Bromley, who are looking fr promoting could have easily won by more. Will Hondermarck gave the home team the lead on just 12 minutes and after that it was pretty much all Bromley, it was surprising when they went in at halftime only 1-0 up. The second half saw Hondermarck get his second on 55 minutes and after that Bromley eased up a bit. Grimsby had a few chances but never really bothered the Bromley goal. Bromley could have and should have scored more especially as the Mariners cleared one off the line, although replays show that it looked like it had already gone in. A good day out as a whole and a decent win for Grimsby who are looking good for a shot at promotion.

Yesterday was probably the coldest day of this season so far and therefore obviously there weren't even any goals to cheer us up. The crowd was also one of the lowest that I have seen at the ground. Despite Downham for most of the time playing two levels below this there has been a drop off in attendance thanks to their struggles in the league. There were a few away fans, and fair play to them travelling up to Norfolk from Canvey island. Despite the lack of goals it was a decent game all in all and as I always seem to write at Downham games this season, they were unlucky not to get more out of it. The first half was a bit of a stop / start affair at times, but with the assessor being there, the ref wasn't ever likely to let things slide that he might otherwise have done. Fo most of the half Charlie Royle, Eoin Mcquaid and Dylan Kirk caused problems for the Concord defence but not enough to seriously worry the Concord keeper,which ha pretty much Ben the story of the season so fa...

 On Saturday we went to Posh v Barnsley in the second round of the FA Cup. I am afraid there was very little cup magic on display. A poor performance from two weakened sides saw us being put out of our misery by Patrick Skelly who scored for the visitors in the 73rd minute. To be honest, I'll remember this day more for what was a final visit to the Blind Tiger as they concentrate on their Tap House in Nene Park and shut up shop in the town centre. There was also the small matter of a game at Villa Park where a last gasp Emi Buendia goal saw Villa defeat league leaders Arsenal and go third in the table. Unfortunately though the game at London Road was a real disappointment.

 This game saw John McGinn make his 300th appearance for Aston Villa and like most other people (although I would never admit it) saw this as an easy win for Villa. After a poor start to the season, Villa have been in some incredible form and we're up to 4th. Wolves on the other hand were routed to the bottom of the table on a measly 2 points. It therefore came as no surprise that wolves main tactic was to defend in numbers and try and hit Villa on the break. At times this looked like it might work, as Wolves forced a few good saves from Emi Martinez. However, not to detract from Martinez's efforts, a number of these efforts were given offside, and fortunately one that beat him was to. I think that if we were still in the era where linesmen put their flag up straight away, a number of people wouldn't have convinced themselves that Wolves were in this game as much as they might have thought. Villa had most of the play and most of the shots, but as we have seen of late, the p...

 At the weekend I was in Birmingham for a double header as Sutton took on Corby in the Northern Premier Midlands Division and Villa took on Wolverhampton in the Premier League. Going into the game Sutton had recently had some poor results, so it came as a slight surprise that they started to look the most likely side to take the lead in the opening exchanges including missing wha was pretty much an open goal in the second minute. Corby were starting to moan a bit as the Royals continued to push them, but all that was about to change.  On 23 minutes Corby floated a ball in from a corner and it seemed like a number of arms went up including that of Sutton defender Ryan Jordan. It hit Jordan's arm and a penalty was awarded. Jordan was also given his marching orders and shown a red. I am not entirely, if it was just for the handball, which in my opinion probably only warranted a yellow or for something that was said or something else the referee saw in. Whatever. It was from my pe...

 Saturday saw King's Lynn supposedly take on Macclesfield in what should have been a good match. Unfortunately, it was pouring down, but with no information coming from the clubs about it being off, I got on the train. The rain was getting worse and worse so I popped into the Fenman and got chatting to some Macc fans. At 2:40 we arrived at the ground. The DJ was rather sarcastically playing 'I do my crying in the rain'. Only for them to announce on our arrival that the game was off. A bit of a disappointment and a crap result fro the Macclesfield fans who had  a long journey for no football. Understandable though as it didn't stop raining and the photos coming out of the club would suggest that the pitch was unplayable even though both wanted the game to go ahead.

 Saturday saw King's Lynn take on Harrow in the FA Trophy, in what, despite all of the turmoil at the club recently, should have been a standard win for the Linnets. It definitely felt like that would be the case at the start of the game. The opening exchanges saw Harlow pushed back into their own half with a relentless wave of attacks from Lynn. Ross Crane opened the scoring on 10 minutes and Gold Omotayo made it 2 from the spot on 20 minutes. The rest of the half continued in a similar vein with Tom Clark in the Harrow goal keeping Lynn at bay. The teams went in at halftime with Lynn still holding a 2-0 lead, but at this point it didn't feel like Lynn were in any danger of sacrificing their lead. The opening exchanges in the second half were a rather scrappy affair with neither team really getting on the ball. Then on the 65th minute Dernell Wynter pulled one back for Harrow. All of a sudden Harrow had some belief that they could actually get something from the game. They pus...

 This was another good performance that could have easily been turned into 3 points by the home team against a strong Wroxham side, who are doing pretty well in the league. Both sides had plenty of chances in the first half, but it was Wroxham who struck first with a goal from Asa McGeachey on the 23rd minute. It was a pity as Downham had been playing well and passing it around with confidence in the first half. Up front Charlie Royle was causing all sorts of problems for the Wroxham defence, with him back in a wide position rather than the more central position he's been playing lately. It was Royle who equalised on 34 minutes with a fantastic strike from distance that gave the keeper no chance. The second half saw chances few and far between with both sides cancelling each other out. One positive is that in this game Downham held their own against one of the stronger teams in the division and this came on the back of a win away at Stanway on Saturday.