football rambles

 It's always fun to go to a game at Thetford and Saturday was no different. We went to see the Thomas Paine statue and then moved on to the nearby Bell pub before going up the road to see the match.  It was a good game and Downham made a good fist of it against one of the stronger teams in the league. Downham fell behind first in the first half before Valter Da Rocha equalised with a trademark long range effort. In the second half Thetford took the lead again, but in the dying moments of the match Marley Delgado equalised only for Thetford to get a winner deep in stoppage time. A shorter report this time, as it's a few days ago and as usual in Thetford we had a few too many beers.

 It's taken me some time to get around to writing up Saturday's game, which was another league win for Downham. They have been on some impressive home form in the league this season, although their cup performances have left a little bit to be desired. This was a bit of an odd match in that Downham were without some key players and other key players performed below par, but at the same time what for the most part was a very young team handled the game well, and it never really felt like a positive result was in doubt.  It took Town just 9 minutes to find the lead when one of the veterans, Eoin McQuaid forced an own goal from a Hadleigh defender to put the home team 1-0 up. The rest of the half seemed to be characterised by Downham being wasteful in front of goal, with some good attacks coming from the full backs Dan Hobbs and Luke Reed. I also thought that George Watts-Sturrock did well mopping up at the back when Hadleigh tried to hit Downham on the break with the two full bac

 Despite some good results and performances in the league, Downham have been pretty lackluster  in the cups. Yesterday they took on Brantham in the FA Vase first round and the disappointment despite all of the cup success last season continued. Brantham unlike the lowly Castle Acre who recently knocked Downham out of the Norfolk Senior Cup, are in the same league as Downham and have an equal league record. However, they did come to the Memorial with similar tactics to Castle Acre. For large parts of the game they allowed Downham to have possession but were quick to snuff out any real danger whilst looking dangerous themselves on the attack. Downham started off pretty well, but didn't create many chances and Brantham looked pretty solid in defence with some sound tackling and determination to be first to get the ball. Downham had the first chance when Rudy Da Rocha had a shot from a Langy corner cleared off the line, but a couple of minutes later Brantham took the lead through Adam

 After a shaky start, a great second half performance saw Downham record another good home win. The first half started off quietly with Soham perhaps shading it, but actually to me looking like they possessed little quality and were there for the taking. Downham made the breakthrough on 32 minutes when a Sivakumar cross was turned in officially by Watts-Sturrock but from where I was standing (right behind the goal) it was an own goal. The lead didn't last long though, as Soham went up to the other end from the restart and scored. The teams went in at the break with the scores at 1-1, but it did feel like if there was going to be a winner it would be Downham.  We didn't have to wait too long after the break with Sivakumar cutting in from the left and putting the ball hard and low under the keeper to give Downham the lead. The home team then introduced a third Da Rocha on the right wing in the shape of Gerson, who joined Rudy and Valta on the pitch. In the 75th minute an inch per

 Downham managed to put the disappointment of losing to Castle Acre in midweek behind them with a fine win over a strong Dereham side on Saturday. They didn't make it easy on themselves though with Jake Miller getting sent off before halftime for the second league game in a row. Dereham started the better of the two teams but Downham grew into it. They probably had the majority of the play in first half, but there were no real openings as Downham seemed to want to walk it into the goal. Given the number of long range shots they've scored from this season, you'd think that they would perhaps shoot on site more often. The second half saw midfielder Eoin McQuaid taken off with Ben Smith coming to try and plug the gap in defence left by Miller's dismissal. If Dereham thought that Downham were going to settle for a draw though they were very mistaken. Downham took the game by the scruff of the neck and try and push for a winner. Rudy Da Rocha was especially giving a slow Der

 Last night Downham took on Castle Acre in the second round of the Norfolk Senior Cup. The banner behind where I was standing announced that Downham were the current holders of the cup and most of the talk around me was about how many Downham were going to win by. You could perhaps understand the confidence with Downham showing some good form especially, especially at home, in the Eastern Counties League Premier with Castle Acre having an average time 3 divisions below in Division 1 of the Anglia Combination. The confidence however was misplaced. Downham started off the brighter of the two teams and had several chances. However, it was Castle Acre who hit them on the break after a period of concerted pressure to take the lead on 13 minutes. Castle Acre remained a danger with some quick counterattacks but Downham continued to pile on the pressure. They hit the woodwork twice and the keeper was forced into some fine saves. Downham did get the equaliser eventually in the last minute of th

 In this game Downham scored a couple of wonder goals with Valtar Da Rocha giving them the lead and Harley Murkin rounding off the game with a goal late in the second half after he had come on as sub. The other goal came from Nick Castellan in stoppage time in the first half. I also thought that Sivakumar had a really good game. Despite the result, the win wasn't as straightforward as it sounds, although some of that was down to the referee rather than a concerted effort by Long Melford. When one Melford player went down like he'd been shot, Downham right back, Jake Miller got his marching orders. The fact that referee didn't appear to see what had happened was more infuriating and at the time Downham who were 1-0 up were looking at playing with 10 players for more than an hour. The referee did even things up in the second half when he sent off a Melford player with 30 minutes left, again for something innocuous.  A good game and a good win for Downham, but why do referees

 The rain poured down for the entirety of this game between my new local team and old local team and it was the new local team who were singing in the rain. Downham completely outplayed Ely in the first half. They played a good passing game and should have been 3 or 4 up at halftime. Sivakumar put the Town up on 11 minutes from a wonder shot. Unfortunately other opportunities were ruled offside or incorrectly not over the line, so it was only 1-0 at the break. In the second half Downham were a lot less composed and allowed Ely to come at them. They were still the better team, but did allow Ely to have a fair few chances by being less composed, maybe because of the driving rain. That didn't matter in the end as the Ely keeper thought he was Neuer rushed out to the half way line to make a clearance, realised he wasn't Neuer and sliced the ball to Murkin who scored to make it 2-0 in stoppage time.

 Despite being just 10 miles away, I went on the convoluted trip of a train to King's Lynn and then a bus to Wisbech in order to get to the game on Saturday. I had been meaning to go to the Fenland Stadium since it opened 10 years ago, but this was the first time I actually mad it. After some light refreshments in town, we made our way up yet another Lynn Road to get to what was a pretty nice little ground.  Neither team had really been setting the league alight this season with Wisbech having won their first game of the season the week before when they put four past Sleaford. I decided to stand with the away fans, just out of a bit of Midlands solidarity and that I used to enjoy the Bass Charity Shield at Gresley back in the 80s. It seemed particularly fitting after the passing of Gary Shaw, who I saw play for Villa at their ground. As a few games have already been this season, this was a game of two halves. Gresley looked like they had the taking of Wisbech in the first half and

 Finally a home game across the road I could go to. Due to sharing with a cricket team, Downham have been playing away games since the last time I went there after just moving in in April. They did have one other home game, but I was in Italy at the time. Stowmarket are a team that I also saw at the end of last season when they were relegated Isthmian North back into the Eastern Counties Premier. On that occasion they lost to Enfield 4-0, who themselves were also relegated but to the Essex Senior League. On Saturday's performance it doesn't look like they are going to turn much around despite now being in a league lower. Downham dominated the first half and could have been 5 or 6 up. Stowmarket managed a solitary shop that was easily saved. Downham went in at the break two goals to the good, Rudy Da Rocha scoring the first and Harley Murkin marking his debut with a goal. Chances were few and far between in the second half, but Downham must have felt it was job well done and it

 Last week was a quiet week for football with me between a forest and the sea on the Tuscan coast. It was also an international break, so football chances were limited. We visited the Leaning Tower in nearby Pisa, but spotted not far away were the floodlights of Arena Garibaldi, so I had to go and have a look. Pisa are currently top of Serie B, but it is early days yet. I remember them being in Serie A in the 1980s when Paul Elliot went and joined them and then when I went to Italy they were on the verge of bankruptcy in C1. Their fate seems to always be in direct opposition to nearby rivals Livorno. Livorno are currently in Serie D, so can Pisa get back to Serie A? I'll be watching to see how that progresses. 

 Bank Holiday Monday saw King's Lynn and Peterborough Sports take on each other in a local derby. Both teams came into the game with good wins a couple of days before with Sports having beaten Buxton at home and Lynn beating Marine on the road. There has been a sense of optimism around the Walks in preseason as they added a few good signings to a team that always had the ability to do better than scrape away from relegation last season and at the same time they have cleared out players who were not performing at the level. Therefore, I think that the expectation would have been the playoffs for Lynn. Conversely, Sports know that they are punching above their weight and will be happy to stay in the league for as long as possible. Some of those expectations will have to be reassessed though if yesterday's game is anything to go by. Lynn were lacklustre and it was Sports who looked like the team who could be upwardly mobile.  It took Sports just three minutes to take the lead when

 I imagine there are some people who regretted leaving this game when Blackpool went 4-1 up as they missed a very impressive comeback. Last week it was the forward line who I was critical of, but this week the defence let the side down for periods of the game and despite a poor game last week Shayne Lavery who scored a brace helped secure a point for the Us. The game got off to the worst possible start when the Us were caught napping at a corner and James Husband headed in at the far post. The rain poured down and Lavery thought he had an equaliser shortly after but was denied by the offside flag. That didn't deter him or the Us though and on 28 minutes Brophy found Lavery who slotted home for an equaliser. The lead didn't last long though as 10 minutes later Husband scored with a carbon copy of the first goal - you would have thought Cambridge would have learnt from the first one. Things then went from bad to worse as from the kick off Kyle Joseph burst forward and lobbed Reye