football rambles

 You can tell you are coming to the end of the season when you finally het to a game and you don't have to wear a coat. A beautiful spring day was accompanied by a good day out at a friendly club where both the sets of fans were friendly and it really was a good day out. The first half was low on chances, to be honest and one of the highlights was a Tesla behind the goal getting hit by an errant shot by a Bromsgrove player. That got a big cheer, although it turned out that it was a car that belonged to a Bromsgrove player. The better chances, what there were fell to Bromsgrove and it was them who went in ahead at the break. In the 39th minute Jack Newall, on loan from Burton put the visitors ahead scoring after his initial shot was saved. Bromsgrove went in 1-0 up at the break.  It was a very different Royston who came out all firing in the second half. Archie Locke put the Crows level in the 50th minute. Royston then started to try and force the issue and Harvey Becket scored...

 On Saturday I met up with Neil Park in Melton Mowbray for Melton V Sleaford in the United Counties Premier League North. Both teams are safe but in the lower half of the table, so I wasn't expecting too much, which was just as well. At least the club house had a good selection of beers and we stopped off before and after at the Boat Inn in town that was a decent boozer. The first half was quite uneventful and ended 0-0 with neither club really threatening but Melton probably having the upper hand.  In the second half it looked like Melton had snatched glory when Luther Mukanandafa scored in the 72 minute after just coming on to the pitch. It wasn't to be though as in the 86th minute Ben Ashall replicated what Mukanandafa had done by coming on and scoring after being on the pitch for only 4 minutes. A good day out, but not the best match ever!

 Downham started off attacking the Town End rather than the Wimbotsham End. As we have seen many times this season, Downham start off quick and dominate the first half and then fade a bit in the second half. However, that has been when they have attacked the Wimbotsham End first and it's clear that they have a preference for kicking that way. The first half was a scrappy affair with Mulbarton coming closest when they hit the post, but it was a scrappy affair and neither team showed much quality. Things picked up in the second half when Downham were thoroughly dominant but didn't ever really get clear, it wasn't until the 65th minute when an corner was met with a superb header from Harley Murkin that Downham were able to stamp their authority on the match. It could have an probably should have been more, but the win keeps them top of the league

 I went to this game on Saturday expecting an away win, so I was pleasantly surprised when Posh registered an emphatic victory. It's been a tough season for Posh who up until a couple of weeks ago were flirting with the relegation places. Charlton on the other hand are more or less definitely in the playoffs, but before Saturday were more hopeful of getting automatic promotion. Peterborough also have a cup final in the Football League Trophy against Birmingham coming up and they have been distracted leading to these cup finals before. Charlton looked keen to get off to a fast start and Luke Berry came close to scoring for the visitors after just three minutes. However, after that it felt like it was all Posh. Sam Hughes opened the scoring for Posh after 38 minutes when a Kwame Poku pull back lead to him scoring his first goal in a Posh shirt from a header.  A few minutes later and it was 2-0 to the home team when Ricky Jade Jones broke down the wing to feed Abraham Odoh to mak...

On Saturday a bumper crowd at the Walks saw King's Lynn take on Spennymoor in a game that many had been anticipating. Lynn have put in some good performances of late and were looking to cement their place in the play-offs. Some fans have been skeptical and think that the team still need to rebuild ahead of gaining promotion. On this performance, I'd have to agree with them. At times, the team have looked goal shy all season and there have to be some questions over whether Omotaya Gold is good enough to be leading the line at this level. However, if you don't create any chances for him, then you won't find out. On this performance, it didn't look like Lynn would have scored for a week.  Fair play to Spennymoor though, who were definitely a lot more clinical and struck at key moments in the game. A goal from Aidan Rutledge in the 41st minute and one from Fin Shrimpton gave the visitors a 2-0 lead at the break. To be fair, the first half was all Spennymoor, who looked ...

 This was 'one of those games' where you expected a win, looked like getting a win but ended up with a draw. Downham started off the brighter of the two teams, but Lakenheath who featured the Portuguese contingent who served Downham well in the first half of the season understood that attack was the best form of attack when Downham are attacking the Wimbotsham End, and despite the early pressure, it was the guests who found the back of the net after just 11 minutes. After this point Lakenheath sat back and absorbed the pressure. Dylan Kirk managed to get Downham back on level terms on the half hour mark and it remained 1-1 at half time. The second half felt like it would only be a matter of time before Town got into the lead, but some resilient defending from Heath meant that Downham were left frustrated. Still top of the league, but this was definitely a case of two points dropped as Town now prepare for a number of fixtures away from home.

 A first half hattrick from Dylan Edge helped secure the points and a gap of 5 at the top of the league for the Red Army in cold and wet conditions last night. Downham got off to one of their trademark fast starts attacking the Wimbotsham End and Edge got the first goal from 20 yards out on 4 minutes. It was a good finish, but I feel like the Brantham keeper had his positioning wrong all the same. The opening half an hour saw Downham continue to create chances, however it was Brantham who got back on level terms just after the half hour mark. Charlie Royle had had the beating of the Brantham defence for the most part was not able to beat the keeper and then when they broke they showed him how to finish by slotting the ball in the bottom corner for the equaliser. Brantham were buoyed by the goal and had a chance to go into the lead shortly after but a good save from Harry Sutton kept the score on level terms.  The visitors probably thought that half time was going to come soone...

 A good weekend was had in Brum, but this was a very frustrating result and one that doesn't help with Villa getting into Europe again next season. Villa had 25 shots on target and ended the game with a forward line of Ollie Watkins, Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio. You would really have hoped they would have put more than one chance into the goal. 76% possession and the fact Ipswich had Axel Tuanzebe sent off before half time meant Villa probably should have done more. However, Alex Palmer in the Ipswich goal turned into prime Lev Yashin and we couldn't break them down. In fact it was Ipswich who opened the scoring from Liam Delap on a rare flurry into the Villa box and Martinez was caught at the near post to give the Tractor Boys the lead on 56 minutes. Villa got back into it on 69 minutes when a thunderous freekick from Rashford hit the bar and Watkins scored the rebound, but although Villa and in particular Rashford and Asensio created some good chances, Ipswich were reso...

 On Saturday I went on what was a surprisingly arduous journey to Dereham to see two of the stronger teams in the division take on each other and it was a fairly even match, which although scrappy at times saw both teams have chances. It didn't look like that would be the case at the start of the game though. Shortly after kick off George Diggins was brought down in the box by the keeper and awarded a penalty. The Dereham keeper saved though, so it remained 0-0. That didn't las long though as a couple of minutes after Diggins got through again and managed to put Thetford in the lead. It was only surprising that there were no further goals in the game and it ended 1-0 to the visitors who maintained their lead at the top of the table.