football rambles

The Eastern Counties League results so far this season have been unpredictable to say the least. Ely's have been a bit more predictable and perhaps a bit better than could be expected having beaten Clacton at home and Gorleston away and as would be expected losing to Dereham and Haverhill away. Diss have also had a mixed bag of results with their highlight being a 4-0 crushing of Great Yarmouth. Therefore despite the 4-0 thrashing that Ely inflicted on Diss in the Cup a couple of weeks ago it was difficult to predict what would happen last week. Ely didn't exactly start where they had left off in the Cup, as the first 10 minutes were pretty open, although the Robins looked the most likely side to score, with Josh Bridgeman coming close on 6 minutes and Austen Diaper also having a fine chance on 10. Five minutes later and Impey should have put Ely ahead from another pass from Austen Diaper, but he blasted it over. Ely were to continue where they had left off in the Cup th

Saturday morning and I had a dilemma. I was pretty skint but needed a football fix. A quick look at the fixtures confirmed what I already knew: Ely were away, Thetford were away, Soham were away and King's Lynn were also away. I toyed with the idea of going to March Town United, a ground that seems to strike fear into the hearts of most nonleague fans who have ventured there, but they were also away, so I'll have to find out another day what the problem there is. I wasn't in the mood for Newmarket Town, which was probably just as well as they drew 0-0 with the omnipresent Diss. I toyed with the idea of going to Yaxley, but the transport options didn't look great. The other games on offer were Cambridge United V Hayes and Yeading and Histon V Corby. The weather was bad, neither of the fixtures inspired me and to be honest if I'm not meeting up with anybody I tend to avoid Cambridge if I'm on holiday. Therefore my last, but very cheap option was Ely City Reserves

What do you do on a wet and windy day by the seaside when you are sick of the amusements and fish and chips? Go to the local museum of course. Earlier this week I was down in Brighton for a break rather than the tedious work trips that take place in Brighton. The second day was pretty rubbish as far as the weather was concerned and we found ourselves in the local museum. Now don't get me wrong I enjoy a bit of history, but local museums tend to have the same series of themes running through them: A bit of history about how the town was formed (i.e. Vikings / Saxons / Normans, etc.); some famous battle (War of the Roses, Civil War); a look at the towns glory years and some of the harsh realities of the time (Usually always the Victorian era) and then some stuff about the two world wars abd their aftermath and its impact on the local community. Therefore I was pleasently surprised that in Brighton as well as the usual stuff there was a lot more about the more social side of histor

Maybe it's a bit, well very optimistic to think that Ely will get anywhere near Wembley, but the first game in the FA Cup in the extra preliminary round saw the Robins progress in style and also the extra cash from a cupm run will come in very handy. Ely completely dominated the game against Diss yesterday and ran out 4-0 winners in a pretty one sided contest. They did get a bit of help from the Tangerines of Diss though, who at times seemed happy to give Ely all the chances they could. The first goal which was scored by Richard Chadwick was pretty much indicative of the game as a whole. He fluffed his lines the first time and made a bit of a hash oif it, but Diss failed to clear their lines and he managed to force the goal of the line at the second attempt. After this Ely dominated the game and could have been further ahead if they hadn't wasted some of their chances. Diss looked particularly weak on crosses and as for their own attacking they weren't able to get pas

Forget it when the media start going on about the FA Cup when the first round begins. The extra preliminary round starts tomorrow when Ely City take on Diss Town in what should be a close and from previous experiences a high scoring game. Let's hope that the Robins can put together a decent run in the Cup and the Vase this season - they need the cash. A decent run in the Cambs Senior Cup wouldn't go a miss either, as that was the highlight of the season 2 years ago, so no putting out weakened sides in any of the competitions this year, please.

I couldn't be bothered to think of a witty headline for this, but it was a cracking match. We were joined by Beer Can and his friend, in fact I hardly ever seem to get down to the Shabby without guests in tow. I have predicted that Telford will shock a few Conference fans this season, most of whom seemed to have written them off before they had a chance to kick a ball after gaining promotion from the Conference North at the end of last season. However the Bucks have been scoring for fun in pre-season and I think they will pose more of a threat than the Conference big boys think they will pose. They certainly started off well enough at Cambridge on Tuesday night and could have easily been 3-0 up at the break if it wasn't for some impressive saves from Cambridge goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt, who was on tremendous form. A string of saves and double saves kept out the Telford onslaught with Sean Newton looking especially dangerous from set pieces. Cambridge on the other hand l

... I have to go to Gatwick tomorrow, so won't be at the game, so you might have to send a reporter.

Here are a couple of photos of when Posh and Place got on the pitch. I didn't take any photos of the action, as the match was too exciting.

Yesterday I was at Peterborough for the game between Peterborough and Crystal Palace and Posh got off to a good start. However, it will be interesting to see how they get on against some of the stronger teams in the division as both Posh and Palace are expected to find life hard in the Championship, but hopefully Peterborough can prove their critics wrong over the season. In the first few minutes it was Palace who looked the most lively with Sean Scannell coming close in the first minute, but fortunately Paul Jones was equal to the task and saved. On 5 minutes Andrew Davies also came close for the visitors, but again Jones who has made his loan deal from Exeter permanent saved. Posh then started to get into the game and Tommy Rowe was unlucky not to score from a Mark Little cross and a couple of minutes later Julian Speroni in goal for Palace did well to save a Grant McCann power drive. On 19 minutes Darren Ambrose, who is a bit of a legend at Palace, but who in my opinion is a complet

The badge above is the current crest of Crystal Palace. They are currently having a vote on a new badge at Selhurst Park, an idea which always seems to be ripe for being hijacked by rival fans to me. Therefore not surprisingly they are playing it safe with all four of the variants being Eagles, the nickname that has become synonymous with the club. It hasn't always been this way though, as they were known as the Glaziers up until 1973. The 1935-36 season was the first one in which the team wore a crest of any description and this was the initials of the club at a time when they still wore claret and blue. The next badge change for Palace came in 1955 when they introduced a badge with a facade of the place that they are named after, Crystal Palace (obviously). In 1964 Crystal Palace played Real Madrid in a friendly to open their floodlights. After this they decided to wear all white for a couple of seasons and with it and for some reason changed their badge to a red and blue shield.

The Premiership and most of the non-league might not have any fixtures apart from friendlies for another week, but the football league starts tomorrow and I'll be going to see Peterborough take on Crystal Palace in the Championship.

'The thing about the Arsenal is they try to walk the ball into the back of the net', says Moz in 'The IT Crowd' when he's trying to get in with some football fans and never was a truer word said in jest. Arsenal murdered the Red Bulls, but their lack of direct play and short passing game which often has commentators purring was their undoing. It really must be frustrating being an Arsenal fan as their lack of striking and sometimes suspect defending was infuriating. Arsenal did finally get a goal when Van Persie connected with a header on 41 minutes, but it could and should have been more. The second was more of the same with Arsenal running the ball down to the by-line and then trying to walk the ball in and it just wouldn't go in for them. Ex-Gunner and now New York Red Bull's striker Thierry Henry had wanted to play the last 10 minutes for Arsenal, but the referee wouldn't allow it. It might have worked out because Arsenal needed a striker who wasn

On the previous day PSG had lost 1-0 to New York Redbulls and Boca had drawn 2-2 with Arsenal. Arsenal had been criticised in the media for poor defending, judging by their performance in this match the Gunners defending must have been very suspect and how Red Bulls beat PSG is a mystery. PSG played some really impressive stuff and new signing Kevin Gameiro looked worth every penny they paid Lorient and 19 year old Neeskens Kebano, who had only played three times before for PSG definitely has a big future ahead of him. Jean-Eudes Maurice was first to get on the score sheet after meeting a cross from Kebano on 8 minutes and it was surprising that they weren't ahead even earlier on. PSG dominated for long periods of the first half and on 38 minutes Guillaume Horau headed them into a 2-0 lead. Boca also had their chances but were quite wasteful in front of goal. In the second half an Arsenal fan behind me commented that Boca played like Arsenal, which I think he thought was a complime

Arsenal take a corner agins New York Red Bulls in the second half of their games. Like most of their corners it didn't amount to a decent chance.

Thierry Henry takes a free kick for the Red Bulls in the first half of the game between Arsenal and New York Red Bulls.

Arsenal and New York Red Bulls line up before their game.

Paris Saint-Germain put the pressure on the Boca Junior's defence.

Some Boca fans outside the Emirates.

I think that they actually call it the South Stand, but it has the clock from the Clock End at Highbury ....

A couple of snaps outside the Arsenal stadium.

Top - The entrance to the bridge that leads to the North Bank at the Emirates. Bottom - The bridge itself.

On Sunday I was at the Emirates Cup at Arsenal and saw Boca Juniors take on Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal play New York Red Bulls. On the previous day Arsenal had drawn 2-2 with Boca and the Red Bulls had beaten PSG 1-0. Anyway, as I probably won't get a chance to go to the Emirates again I took plenty, which will follow before a couple of brief match reports.