football rambles

 Saturday saw me take a trip with Dean to Top Fields in Hitchin to see the Southern Premier Central match between Hitchin and Kettering. After seeing Maidstone beat Ipswich in Molly Malone's near the station we made our way to the ground. I had been to Hitchin before and it is an impressive ground and being able to race their lineage back to 1865 makes them amongst the oldest teams in the world. They started off the season pretty well, but a run of 5 (now 6 ) injuries has seen them start to plummet down the table, although they still are comfortable mid-table. Speaking to locals this seemed to be due to the fact that they have an ever growing injury list and more youngsters are having to be recruited to the first team. Kettering on the other hand have been facing a relegation struggle, however the result today did manage to raise them out of the relegation places. With Nuneaton Borough going bankrupt this week too there are question marks over what will happen to the teams at the b

  Yesterday was a very frosty day and Posh were one of the few teams in the are who managed to keep their game on and that was after two pitch inspections. In fact when I got on the train to go there, there was no guarantee that the game was on, but fortunately it was, so I was able to buy tickets on the phone while I was on the train and pop into the Blind Tiger for a pre-match pint. Peterborough are currently second in the league and this has been mainly down to their attacking play. They have sured up the defence too by signing Jed Steer in goals. He surely should already be playing in the Championship! Shrewsbury on the other hand are lower mid-table and are known for their spoiling tactics to stay in games. This game started off as expected with wave after wave of Peterborough attack and resolute and tenacious defending from Shrewsbury. However, it was the visitors who went in ahead at the break. Jordan Shipley scoring a well taken goal after a poor clearance on 41 minutes. Posh c

Last month I saw the same fixture between Cambridge and Fleetwood in the FA Cup. In that game the Us won 4-0. Neil Harris who took over at the helm for Cambridge shortly after that game got off to a good start, but things have been a bit disappointing of late, so he really needed to get a result against the team who are bottom of the table. The stats show that Fleetwood had 18 shots and Cambridge 15, but it felt quite a cagey affair with very few chances created until late in the second half. Fleetwood defended with two banks of 4 and Cambridge had the energy but lacked the creativity at times. The only real chance of the first half fell to Jack Lankester of the Us who hit the bar.  The second half started in pretty the same way as the first half, what really changed the game was the introduction of Lyle Taylor. Taylor, who signed for Cambridge on Thursday, was introduced on 71 minutes and proved the point he had to prove. After being released by Forest, a move to Wycombe didn't re

 Another disappointing game at the start of the year for us to attend. Lynn after losing their manager and subsequently bottling the play-offs have been hurtling towards relegation and at this point look like relegation candidates. Darlington looked the better team in the first half, but Lynn fashioned more chances in the second and I thought that as the game came to a close they would be the team to find a winner. However, the game was settled by a stoppage time winner from Mitchell Curry. At the moment the players always seem to make the wrong decision, so I am not sure if it is down to the way that they are being coached or something else. Either way it's going to be a long rest of the season by the look of it.

 Despite a recent upturn in fortunes for Cambridge and a more expansive style from Neil Harris, Cambridge didn't start the new year with a bang. This was a very disappointing performance against Leyton Orient. Cambridge were probably fortunate to go in on the break on even terms, both teams had chances but Orient always looked the most likely. If we were hoping that Harris would give the players a kick up the Harris at halftime it didn't work.  A goal on 54 minutes from Jordan Brown was followed 3 minutes later with a strike from Daniel Agyei. Cambridge were left chasing their tails and the game ended 2-0 to the visitors in what was a pretty underwhelming start to the year.