football rambles

 The bank holiday weekend kicked off with a somewhat arduous trip to nearby Peterborough thanks to public transport chaos, so thankfully it was an entertaining game. Sports have been on a bit of a downward spiral and are looking like relegation candidates. It's been a disappointing season for King's Lynn but the away supporters who travelled in numbers would have expected a win. Lynn probably had the best of a tetchy first half but their failure to get the full backs forward and the midfielders on the ball mean there were not too many clear cut chances. Just as it looked like the half was going to finish 0-0. However, in the last minute of the half a dreadful error from Aaron Chapman in the Lynn goal let Luca Miller in to give the home side a halftime lead. The second half saw Lynn spring into action and after 5 minutes Morgan Williams had an equaliser. Lynn clearly fancied the win and started to pepper the Sports' goal. However, as soon as they were in the lead, the defenc...

 This game saw two of the form teams in the National League North take on each other. However, I seem to always see Lynn play when they are not having a good day and this game was no different. King's Lynn had the majority of the play in the first half, but chances were few and far between for either side. Ross Crane and Bailey Clements had good opportunities before Lynn were given a golden on on. On 38 minutes Morgan Williams was clean through on goal only to be hauled down by Olly Dyson. The referee pointed to the spot and Dyson was shown a straight red. It looked like things were going King's Lynn's way. However,  Carlton Ubaezuonu decided that he'd do a fancy penalty and although it was a good save from Spennymoor's Bradley James, it was also a dodgy way of taking a penalty. The half ended 0-0. You would have thought playing against 10 would have given Lynn an advantage in the second half, but it didn't. If anything they looked like the team who had 10 playe...

 Well, there isn't a great deal to say about this game. Lynn have continued to bring in new faces and results have picked up. However, today wasn't really a game that will live long in the memory. Lynn had the majority of the play but couldn't force the issue. Curzon Ashton were happy to sit back and hit Lynn on the break. Despite a flurry of action in the Curzon Ashton box, particularly in the closing stages, this game finished 0-0.

 At the weekend, we had a bumper weekend in Brussels and Brugge. Apart from beer and culture there was also the chance to see a relegation scrap between Cercle and La Louviere. It offered a trip to the Jan Breydel Stadium, which they share with Club Brugge and is much maligned by visiting fans in European competition. It was apparently renovated last in 2016, but it looks like it was longer ago than that. Anyway, fun was still to be had and going to see a game in a new place is always a good experience. Cercle are the second team in Brugge but have had their moments. They have won the Belgian league 3 times - albeit the last time being in 1930. They have also won the cup twice, the last time in 1985. As recently as last season , they reached the Round of 16 in the Conference League, but avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth. After this result, they will be playing in the relegation round again and hoping to stay up somehow. Similarly La Louviere are also close to the relega...

 King's Lynn took to the pitch at the Walks on Saturday with their 3rd 'permanent' manager with Paul Caddis taking over from Ian Culverhouse who was relieved of his duties after a disappointing run of results that saw the Linnets drifting towards the relegation zone. Hopefully, it wasn't just new manager bounce that saw the Linnets get the win. The game started off with neither side creating much but with King's Lynn with the lion's share of the chances. In the opening exchanges Terry Bondo and Ross Crane had a couple of good chances that they weren't quite able to convert and Marine had a single chance that fizzed over the bar. As the half drew to a close Ross Crane had another chance and Jayden Davis came close to giving Lynn the lead, but Barnsley in the Marine goal pulled off a couple of good saves.  The second half started in the same way that the first half had finished with the Linnets in the ascendancy. On 50 minutes they finally broke the deadlock w...

 At the start of the day, Cambridge were in 2nd and Mk were in 3rd. A win for MK would have seen them leapfrog Cambridge and a win for Cambridge would have seen them go top - at least until Bromley played earlier in the day. Both teams would have probably been happy with a draw before kick off. However, the manner in which the points were shared was disappointing for Cambridge and a cause for celebration for the visiting Dons. The first half was as to be expected a fairly cagey affair with both teams looking more afraid of conceding rather than scoring. The majority of the chances fell to Cambridge, but chance of the half fell to ex-U Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, who missed a gilt-edge chance to put the Dons ahead. The second half saw Cambridge start to dominate more and the attacking substitutions showed intent as the best attack in the division attempted to break down the best defence. The deadlock was finally broken after both Kakai and Brophy had come close to giving the Us the lead...