football rambles

Jonathan Cristaldo is shown here with Lionel Messi with a reference to the Champions League. Unfortunately like several other players from Metalist he might find himself having to get a transfer to Shakhtar to realise that particular dream. Cristaldo has become one of the fans' favourites after signing from Vela Sarsfield in 2011. He made his debut in a 0-0 draw against Kryvbas (sound familiar?)and it took him a while to get going, however he is now a proven goalscorer for the squad. Despite not scoring for the first 2 months that he was in Kharkiv, he's the 3rd highest goalscorer so far this season in the league and averages a goal every other game since joining the club.

Han has authored a couple of books with a couple of his mates and I was chuffed that he brought with him copies of both of these books. The top picture shows the cover of the book that came out last year and which chronicles the last 20 years of Metalist history from when the Ukrainian League was formed after the formation of the republic and the break up of the Soviet Union. It really is a meticulous piece of research and apart from the statistics and stories the photographs offer an interesting look back, not least of all at how far the Metalist stadium has been developed over the years. The second cover shows a book that chronicles and has reports on every match that Metalist has played in Europe up to just before the Newcastle match.

Unfortunately Newcastle knocked out Metalist this Thursday in the Europa League. The game finished as a 0-0 draw in the North East and then Newcastle won 1-0 through a penalty from Ameobi. It was probably some of the dullest football I've seen on TV in a long time, but fortunately it was televised in the UK on ESPN, so not that many people saw it. Here's the programme from the match that both Han and Phil were at, although I'm quite glad I fought the temptation to go there myself. I am assuming that the programme has been slimmed down in contents as it is for a Europa League match. At £3, which seems to be the going rate in the top two divisions it's a fairly typical price, but compared with a lot of clubs' it's fairly thin and quite advertising heavy, but as I said it's probably better to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it is thinner because it's for a Europa League match.

I had a lot of regrets last year, but one of them was not being in Kyiv for the European Championships. Han on the other hand was rubbing shoulders with the great and the good of football in Kharkiv, Donetsk and was in Kyiv for the final. At least he got me a programme though.

This weekend I didn't get to a game because of work, but last weekend I didn't go to a game because my old mate, who features on the first very post of this website, Anatoliy Hamaev was in the country for the Europa League game match between Newcastle and Metalist. After an overnight journey from Newcastle to London he came up to Cambridge and then we went to London on the Sunday. I'm sure that he probably wouldn't have minded going to the usual football I attend, but I thought I'd better make sure he made the most of his trip and we did all of the tourist things. One of the weird things that happened was when we got out of Victoria Tube Station and were greeted by the Metalist massive. Apart from that though we did all the usual things that tourists do in Cambridge and London.

Last night the oldest club in Cambridgeshire, Ely City, took on the oldest club in Cambridge itself, Cambridge University Press for a place in the final of the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup. Last year Ely City won the competition by beating Soham Town Rangers in the final, but the omens weren't great as Ely had been on a terrible run of late. Last Tuesday's home defeat was followed up by another defeat at home on Saturday. I missed that particular match as my old mate Anatoliy 'Han' was in town, but more about that later. CUP have been doing well in their division, which is the one below Ely and on paper it looked like they would prove to be decent opposition. However, the start of the game looked like things were going to be very different. Adam Claydon came close to putting the Robins ahead with a bullet header on the 2nd minute, but the keeper was equal to it. It looked like it was going to be a long night for the visitors, as Ely attacked in swathes, but couldn

Last night on a cold February night Ely took on Wisbech at the third attempt. The game had originally been called off at the last minute on January 2nd because of heavy rain and the rearranged game fell victim to the snow. Was it worth the wait? Well, not really. Apart from the weather the pitch had taken a battering after the reserves had played on it on Saturday and Cambridge Women on Sunday. I'm not sure if the plan of rolling the life out of it every time it gets cut up is the answer though. Wisbech have been doing well enough this season, but still seem to be falling below their expectations, and after going out of the Vase they got rid of 4 players including Dubi Ogbonna. Ely on the other hand have had a disappointing season after finishing 2nd last season, they have been a fixture in the lower half of the mid table. There have been a few flashes of inspiration, but a few games where they have deserved the tag that a few clubs have levied at them of being a non-league Stoke

The flag that tells it as it is. I'm quite a fan of King's Lynn, but most other non-league fans in East Anglia really don't seem to like them. Alessandro Bacherini takes an early free kick for Rainworth. Spriggs sends Bacherini sprawling with a well placed penalty. Ross Watson (player in yellow nearest the goal) waits to receive the ball to put King's Lynn 2-0 up. Another Rainworth attack breaks down in the closing minutes.

Yesterday it stopped raining / snowing / sleeting for long enough for them to be some football. After watching Crusaders beat Manea I decided that it would be worth braving the cold for a trip to the Walks to see King's Lynn take on Rainworth Miners Welfare. I was especially keen to go, as I always enjoy a trip to the Walks and the weather and work commitments for the last couple of months and the coming couple of months don't seem too conducive to seeing as much football as I would like. On top of that Rainworth are a bit of a blast from the past, as are a lot of clubs playing in the Northern Premier Division 1 South this year. King's Lynn are currently 4th in the table, but have several games in hand and should make the play-offs, as Coalville seem to have top place sewn up already. Rainworth meanwhile are in mid-table, which for a team of limited resources is pretty decent too. Lynn may have expected to dominate the game, but it started off pretty evenly matched. For

Back in the 1999-2000 season when I lived in Sassari I went to most home games of Sassari Torres. At the time they were in Serie C2, but were on the way to a promotion. That was all well and good and I had many a good time there, but after a year of being in Rome with Stadio Olimpico in walking distance I'd got used to the heights of Serie A. Therefore my real treat was always getting on the long bus journey across the island to see Cagliari play at Stadio Sant' Elia in the top flight. At the time the team were struggling at the wrong end of Serie A and the club definitely had some desperate problems. However, Cagliari is a fine city and even if the local Ichnusa beer is pretty foul it was always a good day out and felt like a bit of an adventure. Driving through the mountainous regions of Sardinia, getting into Cagliari as the sun came out, going for a walk around the old city, lunch in a bar and then picking up tickets and watching the away fans arrive by boat. What a gre

Ely are due to be playing at home tonight, but due to the amount of snow and rain on an already bad pitch means that I am not going to risk walking down there, especially as nobody else is going. I feel like a lightweight, but I reckon it's going to end up abandoned.