Having enjoyed some games in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County League last season I thought I would visit the Premier Division leaders, after three games, Oughtibridge War Memorial Sports Club FC.

Oughtibridge is 5 miles north of Sheffield City centre and is now a commuter town as its industry has faded away. Still very much a farming area it is reached passing fields and you approach the ground downhill towards the bridge over the river Don and a concreted lane winding through trees next to the river and past a weir. As you pass down the lane the ground opens up to a car park bordered by the Don and to the left a large open park with a junior pitch in the forefront, an extensive cricket square in the centre and a full sized football pitch on the far side. One side of the park is housing and the other two sides are flanked with trees. To the left is a clubhouse built to look down on the cricket pitch and some way from the football.

Everywhere was lush green except for the cricket pitch that has had a hard season and has been repaired to recover for next summer. The trees were also green, not turning to their autumn colours yet although the 14 degrees temperature, the low sun and that seasonal feel made you realise that the summer was well over. The mixed sky of blue, white and black clouds contrasted the green.

The football pitch had a great long, thick grass cover, sloped slightly from end to end with plenty of undulations.

The Oughtibridge War Memorial Social Club was opened in 1921, the clubhouse was rebuilt in 2007 after the river Don floods. I have been unable to find a history of the football club.

South Emsall were formed in 2007 originally playing in local Doncaster Leagues. They joined the Sheffield and Hallamshire League in 2013 and are reigning Division one champions.

Oughtibridge War Memorial Sports Club v South Emsall Services Firsts

Saturday 23rd September Kick off 15.00 pm

Sheffield and Hallamshire County League – Premier Division.

1st v 11th. Bridge v Soldiers

Oughtibridge, yellow shirts with black sleeves and black shorts; South Emsall claret shirts with light blue sleeves and claret shorts.

I sat down on a low wall and within two minutes the visitors were ahead when Kilmartin curled a free kick, from just to the left of the goalkeeping area, into the net. Although the keeper managed to touch it his positioning was at fault. Not learning from the first goal a foul was committed from a similar range but this time the post stopped it from being two nil.

South Emsall were attacking strongly with through balls past a rigid back line of the defenders and one of these found Cam Kilmartin who ran on to draw the keeper and roll the ball into the corner for a two goal lead. Although the game was fast and furious it was South Emsall who had all of the control and Oughtibridge’s unbeaten start to the season looked doomed.

On 24 minutes, 4 minutes after going two behind, Oughtibridge pegged one back when the away keeper failed to clear the ball which fell to David Shepherd who buried it into the net.

Oughtibridge now started to exert more pressure but their cause was not helped when on 28 minutes a player was sin binned for a hard tackle that was a level above the on going battle. With a man down Oughtibridge continued to press until half time.

From the restart Cam Kilmartin of Emsall was still a handful yet Oughtibridge were pressing the strongest.

This pressure unfortunately caught them out when South Emsall’s captain, Mark Lynch, raced almost half of the pitch and despite defenders trying desperately to stop him he stayed on his feet and rolled the ball past the advancing goalkeeper for a third goal.

Oughtibridge’s continued possession till the end of the game brought them few if any scoring chances and their winning run was over.

Oughtibridge War Memorial Sports Club 1 South Emsall United Services 3

South Elmsall impressed me and I can only think that they will soon be climbing the league to challenge near the top. Their number 8, Cam Kilmartin, continued his impressive scoring feats having now scored 50 goals in 50 games with a further 38 assists, some record.

A crowd of about 30 plus walked away from the pitch towards the clubhouse in the waning autumn sun. In a few weeks time it will be either earlier kick offs or the floodlights on a Saturday afternoon.

There were no chips available so a coffee and chunky Kitkat had to suffice.

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The F.A. Cup Second Qualifying round brought me to Tamworth to see the step 2 home team from the National League North play the step 4 team Harborough Town of the Northern Premier League Midland Division.

You arrive at the ground through some houses and immediately find a large car park with helpers packing everyone in. A kiosk outside the ground sells tickets on the day but it appeared that most either bought on line or were season ticket holders.

Inside the ground it looks very traditional with stands and terraces having evolved over the years. There is a large covered seated stand down most of one side and on the opposite side a covered terrace where most of the local fans congregate and make most noise. Behind one goal is a low covered  standing area and at the other a larger open terrace.

The high  dull grey sky may have contributed to the look of the pitch that appeared very dark due to a large amount of crumb that lay on the green carpet. The pitch itself sloped from goal area to goal area and was open apart from trees behind one end. A slight breeze made the 18 degrees feel definitely autumnal.

Harborough Town are a new team although there have been previous clubs in the town. Market Harborough is a a growing commuter town that has a busy centre. In 2007 it progressively merged three teams, Harborough Town Juniors, Harborough Town Spencers and Harborough Minis and with the local council developed playing facilities that have benefitted all ages and sexes to create many teams that can use the artificial pitches. After 3 seasons in local Northamptonshire football they gained promotion to The United Counties League again stepping up a league two years later. In 2022 they won the Premier League and are today playing in the Northern Premier League Midland Division where they are currently 13th. A team on the up.

Tamworth FC were formed much earlier in 1933 and after playing in Midlands Leagues they reached the Southern League in 1972, returning again in 1988 after a few years in the doldrums. Their highest league placing was in the old Conference, just one league below the football League. They are currently in the National League North where they sit top after 9 games. Tamworth have a good cup pedigree having won the FA Vase in 1989 and been FA Trophy finalists in 2003.

Tamworth FC  v  Harborough Town FC

Saturday 16th September 2023    15.00 pm kick off.    Lambs v Bees

The Lamb Ground Kettlebrook Road Tamworth B77 1AA

F.A ,Cup Second Qualifying Round

Tamworth played down hill in the first half and initial pressure led to them scoring from a corner after 14 minutes which was disallowed for fouling the Harborough keeper. Things looked grim for the away team when on 20 minutes the referee showed a yellow, then red card to their  Connor Kennedy for what looked like kicking the ball away after a tackle.

Harborough though re-grouped and unexpectedly went ahead on 24 minutes when an out swinging corner from the right was met by Paul Malone who unopposed headed it into the middle of the goal for the lead. The away team were mustering a great defence with their very big back four managing to stifle the many home team attacks. I lost count of the referees yellow cards which I think were 4 or 5.

Half time came with Harborough hanging on to their lead and as the teams went off there was the unusual sight of two security guards walking off with the officials.

Half Time 0.1

Tamworth’s relentless pressure paid off just a few minutes after the restart when Kyle Finn ran forward on the right and his cross goal pass was met by Jordan Cullinane-Liburd who slammed it home.

With half of the second half gone Harborough were still holding out and occasionally looked like breaking away to add to their score. The disappointing attendance of 840 were mainly behind the home team and they found their voice when on 85 minutes a beautiful long ball from midfield to the far post was met by substitute Daniel Creaney who nodded the ball into the corner for the lead and win. Having defended magnificently for so long it was a mistake when the defender and keeper hesitated to go for the ball that was their undoing.

The Lambs had taken the sting out of the Bees and progressed to the next round.

Tamworth FC 2 Harborough Town FC 1

My man of the match was Harborough’s Jake Duffy who covered every part of the pitch with his constant running and involvement making up for their one man disadvantage.

The first kiosk we went to had no chips but a spectator directed us to another in a different corner of the ground. Luckily he did because they were the best of the season so far. They were hot, hot, hot but also tasty, uniform, golden, crispy, not greasy and had a good centre. A score of 74.

payonthegate chip league 2023/24
Football Club	Score	Comments
Tamworth	74	Hot, Hot,Hot
Basford	70	Freshly fried.
Wombwell Town	67	Fries, great golden colour
Retford United	65	Could have been higher
Kings Lynn	64	Good Portion
Alfreton Town	60	25 minute wait!
Llangefni Town	60	A bit greasy
Shirebrook Town	60	Well down on previous seasons
Heacham	0	No Chips

                                   

There are some great local derbies, Arsenal v Tottenham, Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United, Aston Villa v Birmingham, Real Betis v Seville and down in the Toolstation Northern Counties East League, Division 1, Retford United v Retford F.C. There is less than 2 miles between these two grounds and some issues, however not with the 1202 who turned out on a glorious sunny day registering 30 degrees in the car when parking and 32 when I left. I new it was going to be a big crowd when I gained the last space in the big car park, an hour before kick off, before the overflow and parking on the Leverton Road were used. I was also lucky to get the last programme for the second time this season but my luck again was lacking in the Raffle, if I had kept all the losing tickets I have bought I could cover a wall in the spare room.

The crowd was jovial and being two local teams a lot of families had turned up and a lot of hellos were shouted from the stand as people walked by. Retford United must have done well with drink sales on this hot sticky day. The blue sky was filtered by a haze and some dark clouds were building on the horizon, the forecasted thunderstorm luckily didn’t arrive.

I always like coming to this out of town ground which is easy to reach and park, with good facilities and friendly people. The pitch slopes slightly from end to end and the players were training in the heat 50 minutes before the start. This must have been the better option rather than melting in the dressing room.

Retford United were formed in 1987 and have played their football in as high as the Northern Premier League but disappointing seasons and restructuring saw them fall to the Central Midlands league. Now under new management they won the Central Midlands League North at a canter last season and are now in the Northern Counties East League Division One.

Retford Fc are even younger being formed in 2015 moving to their ground ‘The Rail’ in 2017. They were formed at a time when Retford United were going through a rough patch and were promoted from the Central Midlands League in 2019 to compete in the Northern Counties East League where they have established themselves.

Retford United F.C. v Retford F.C.

Saturday 9th September 2023; 15.00 pm kick off: Cannon Park, Leverton Road, Retford DN22 0DR

Toolstation Northern Counties East Division 1: Badgers v Choughs; 6th v 10th

Retford United, white shirts with black vertical stripes with chevrons and black shorts: Retford FC; all navy blue.

Retford FC won the toss and made the home team kick up the slope in the first half, not their normal tactic. This did not phase them as after only 2 minutes an in swinging corner from the left was not dealt with by the goalkeeper or defenders and the ball fell to Mark West to prod home. The game was a normal derby game with some shirt pulling, arm offs and hard tackles. The home sides advantage doubled when again another corner from the left was not cleared and the ball fell this time to Nicholas Guest who flicked the ball into the net, deja vu if ever I saw it.

Retford FC’s first shot was on 12 minutes when they scored, with Aaron Sennett-Neilson taking the ball across the goal some twenty yards out, turning his body to hit it across the goalkeeper and into the net to the astonishment of the home crowd who had been laughing at the ease in which they had opened the half.

The home sides two goal advantage was restored when with 16 minutes gone Mark West was put through to run on and slide the ball into the corner of the net. It was West again who made it four and his hat trick on 43 minutes scoring a similar goal and adding to his local legend status which was assured last season when he scored his 100th goal for the club. Not long after his scoring feat he was subbed off having received an earlier knock.

HT 4-1

Retford FC were more effective to start the second half with substitute number 19, Will Tomlinson, causing some problems. United were partially seeing out the game and keeper, Tom Crosby was booked for time wasting.

As the Choughs tired Brandon Kane ran on to a through ball to make it five on 64 minutes and seven minutes later Jacob Priestnall took advantage of some hesitant defending and a miss cue, burying the ball into the net. Retford United controlled the game from there on in and everyone was pleased when the referee blew the final whistle. For United fans it was bragging rights after this demolition and they can bask in their glory untill the reverse fixture on Boxing Day. Retford FC fans will be hoping for a Christmas present from their team to cheer them up.

Retford United F.C. 6 v Retford F.C. 1

The chips were rustic with the skins on being, hot, crispy, tasty with a little grease and a good textured centre. I was about to give them a top score of the season 71 but deducted 5 points from this when hidden at the bottom of the tray there were lots of small hard bits. A final score of 65.

payonthegate chip league 2023/24 to date
Football Club	Score	Comments
Basford	70	Freshly fried.
Wombwell Town	67	Fries, great golden colour
Retford United	65	Could have been higher
Kings Lynn	64	Good Portion
Alfreton Town	60	25 minute wait!
Llangefni Town	60	A bit greasy
Shirebrook Town	60	Well down on previous seasons
Heacham	0	No Chips

                             

A lazy end of summer evening at Basford, pronounced Baseford, to see an F.A. Trophy Qualifying game between Basford and Gresley.

As often the case the week when the children go back to school is glorious after an iffy 6 weeks holiday weather. It was no different this year with the temperature at 26.5 degrees at Basford at 19.30 in the evening with clear blue skies and no wind or breeze.

Basford has become part of greater Nottingham, North West of the city centre, at the end of the tram system and not far from the M1. Basford United’s ground is in a housing estate which when you drive into the ground opens up to a large carpark. There are training pitches one side and at one end a row of tall poplars trees and bushes that hide the passing Midland Mainline trains and the Nottingham trams.

The facilities are a bit all over the place with a pitched roof one storey club house and flat roofed changing room on one side which also has a small covered seating area in the middle. There is another seated stand behind one goal and plenty of tarmacadam standing all round. I bought a coffee in the ample clubhouse but could not see anywhere to buy food, a serving place next to the bar was in darkness. The synthetic crumb pitch was very even.

Because this was an F.A. Youth Cup game the crowd was much younger that usual, made up of families and friends of players. A great turnout of 170 were well relaxed taking in the warmth, making it a social gathering as well as a football match.

There is only 30 miles between the two teams homes, Basford Senior team playing in the Northern Premier League, Premier Division and Gresley’s in the Northern Premier League, Midland Division, one lower than their hosts.

The F.A. Youth cup was first played for in the 1952/53 season for under 18’s teams that were affiliated to the F.A. Many of our most famous professionals have played in the cup and the most prolific winners have been Manchester United. One of the highest ranked teams in the country usually win it but as with the F.A. Cup smaller clubs enter to showcase their skills and hopefully progress to play a glamour tie.

Basford United U 18’s v Gresley Rovers U 18’s

Monday 4th September 2023 F.A. Youth Cup Preliminary Round

Basford: All yellow kit Gresley: All royal blue kit.

Basford were off like a train and within 5 minutes Marley Brown ran past static defenders drew and beat goalkeeper to give them the lead.
Gresley weathered the storm for the next 19 minutes but with Basford’s back four looking strong and their forwards skilfully and tricky. The floodlights came on early as it was dark by 20.00 pm, although we are having a good hot spell the signs are there that winter in on its way.
It was Marley Brown again who doubled his and the home teams tally when he came in from the right to roll the ball onto the goalkeepers legs and the ball then hit an away player and into the net. Just on half time the Gresley keeper made a brilliant point blank save to keep them in the game.

Within 5 minutes of the restart I felt very sorry for Gresley’s goalkeeper when Basford’s Desmond Saane ran across goal area and hit a clever shot back across the goal face. The keeper diving to his left had it covered as it hit the post but rebounded and hit his back trickling across the goal line for 3 nil. Cue wild celebrations including the Basford substitutes running on the pitch. Obviously a popular scorer but the subs were lucky not being booked for encroaching onto the playing area without permission.

Gresley did not give up or disgrace themselves and after the third goal looked a lot better. Their individual skills kept pressure on the home team
With one minute left of normal time Gresley’s number 10 found a lot of space on the right of the goal and from 30 yds out hit the ball over the goalkeeper into top left hand corner for a
deserved consolation goal. A few minutes of added time soon passed and Basford went through to a deserved home tie in the next round.

Siting behind the goal in the first half I kept seeing people walk by with chips. I explored at half time to find a food hut in the corner of the ground, the freshly cooked chips were hot, tasty, golden, crispy and didn’t taste of the greasy smell in the cabin. They were the best this season so far with a score of 70. For a price of £2 there was a good quantity, the large portions were immense.

I visited King’s Lynn FC on Saturday on the way home from a holiday.

The ground is not far off the centre of town and could be reached from there mainly through a leafy park. I struggled to park near the ground as next to it was a local fun day which had drawn other cars. The stadium is bounded on two sides by a park, one side by houses and a main road on the other.

The bright sunshine made the colours of the trees, grass and sky look vibrant on the summers day with the temperature at 24 degrees. There was little wind , what there was helped to bring in the sound of the fun fare that blared away as a background tune to the game. The grass pitch was immaculate and had a slight slope from end to end.

Attending many lower level games I fully appreciated their value for money as here I was charged £18.50 for a concession entrance, £5 for chips and a coffee and £3.50 for a programme. It seemed a lot as it is some way to the Premier League and if a family of four were attending it would have been close to a £100 cost including travel.

There has been organised football played in Kings Lynn for over 150 years and there is a mention of a Lynn Town in 1879 which lasted a few seasons until Lynn FC were formed in 1881 keeping that name until it was changed to Kings Lynn in 1953. Playing locally initially they were founder members of the Eastern Counties League where they stayed until 1958 apart from a two season move to the United Counties League. A short four year stay in the Midland league saw them elevated to the Southern League and a year later promotion to the Premier Division. During the 1960’s Kings Lynn had good success in the FA Cup and defeated Football League teams. A move to the Northern Premier League in 1980 was a stepping stone to the Conference North but were demoted for ground grading issues the season before their financial problems and demise.

The current club, Kings Lynn Town were formed in 2010 being admitted to the Premier Division of the United Counties League form which they gained promotion to the Northern Premier league Division One South after two years. In their first season in that league they were champions and promoted to the Premier Division. The team were then moved laterally into the Southern League which they won in 2019 to be where they are today in the National League North. Quite a journey in such a short time.

There has been a football team in Gloucester since 1883 with the City tag first appearing in 1902. That team folded in 1910 and at the same time a team called Gloucester YMCA was formed who 15 years later adopted the Gloucester City name that is used today. The club played local football in Gloucester, Bristol and Birmingham but in 1939 gained entry to the Southern League in which they stayed for 70 years. A promotion by the play-offs was secured in 2009 to the Conference/National league North where they have stayed except for one season when they were moved to the National League South due to boundary changes. More recently (2007) they had to vacate their home due to floods and lead a nomadic life until they were restored into a brand new home at the old address.

Kings Lynn Town FC 1 Gloucester City FC 1

Saturday 19th August 2023, 15.00 pm kick off.

Vanarama National League North.

The Linnets v The Tigers. 19th v 22nd

The Walks Stadium, Tennyson Road, Kings Lynn, PE30 5PB

The notes that I made about the first half of this game were, 1st 15 minutes dull, 2nd 15 minutes dull, 3rd 15 minutes dull. I should really have asked for my money back and driven home. The whole half was played down the centre of the pitch with each team cancelling out the other. If anything Gloucester just shaded the first half.

Kings Lynn made two changes at half time and the introduction of Joshua Barrett made an immediate difference. He’s energy, tactical awareness and accurate long passes upped the tempo of the game and created a shooting chance early on.

It was Gloucester though who took the lead on 72 minutes when the dangerous Danny Wright beat the home defence to flash a ball in from the right to be met by Elliot Durrell who made no mistake when he lashed it into the net. Gloucester did not initially fall back and kept attacking but Kings Lynn applied more and more pressure. When the board was raised to say 8 minutes of added time I expected them to see it out but right at the death two shots on goal were blocked but not cleared and at the third attempt Ben Stephens found space amongst a crowd of players to riffle the ball past the Gloucester goalkeeper to salvage (steal) a point.

So by the end it was the away side that felt they had lost two points rather than gain one on the road, the Tigers couldn’t eat the Linnets. Kings Lynn have now played 4 league games this season only picking up 3 points from 3 draws while Gloucester only have two points from their 2 draws. It looks like a long hard battle for these two teams this season.

The Chips were hot, crispy on the outside but very floury in the middle. A good portion but they left a taste afterwards of the oil that they had been cooked in. A score of 64.

A trip to North West Norfolk gave me the opportunity to visit Heacham FC. A first for me and a first to see an Eastern Counties League Premier Division game. Heacham have had an incredible run of eight successive promotions getting to Step 5 for the first time in their history.

A Heacham team was formed in 1907 playing most of its football in North West Norfolk being most successful locally in the 1960’s and 70’s, but their real rise started in 2016 with promotion to the lower reaches of the Anglian Football Combination. Eight promotions later they now play in the Eastern Counties Premier Division.

Heacham FC were playing Kirkley and Pakefield FC based south of the river Waveney and Lowestoft centre. K&P had to travel for 2 hours from North East Suffolk right across the whole of Norfolk. Organised football has been played in the Kirkley area since the 1880’s and with progress in local leagues merged with Lowestoft in 1908. Unfortunately disagreements meant for a short term alliance and Kirkley were again looking for a new home. On going financial and organisational problems forced other mergers and alliances to bring about the team name that prevails today. This colourful history has been dulled in more recent times with Kirkley and Pakefield now enjoying their 19th straight season in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division.

The temperature was 22 even though the sun was hidden by thick cloud rushing in from the Wash. Some of the clouds looked threatening and their speed was matched by a breeze that whipped down the ground.

You walk through a large car park to an entrance that reveals an open stadium. To the left is a brick built changing room and club house, on the right is one side of the pitch that has a small covered stand with two rows of seating with a row of safe standing on the third tier. Although there is a perimeter path around the pitch three sides are open with fencing complete each end. What has been achieved to get to the ground grading standards to the higher levels is brilliant. The pitch was relatively flat with a thick grass cover looking vibrant green after the recent rain.

Heacham FC 1 Kirkley & Pakefield 2

Saturday 12th August 2023

Eastern Counties League Premier Division

Heacham: black and white vertical striped shirts black shorts.  K&P: Royal blue shirts and shorts with white shoulders.

Heacham with wind behind them had the best of the 1st 15 mins and an away defender cleared off the line with the keeper beaten.

There was no real pattern to the second quarter but Kirkley & Pakerfield came more into the game.

With the game coming up to half time the clouds cleared to bright blue skies but a threatening black cloud was sneaking up from offshore.

A black cloud also overcame the home goalkeeper when he did not come out positively enough and the ball sailed over his head and defenders to fall to Caleb Geib who took the ball wide and slotted it into the net evading the scrambling back home players.

So against the overall run of play Kirkley and Pakerfield went in one nil to the good.

Kirkley & Pakerfield showed more guile, strength and organisation in the second half and easily picked off Heacham’s through balls as they lacked an effective wide approach.

With 29 minutes of the second half gone Declan MacIlvoy’s free kick from the right again sailed over the goalkeeper and ended up in the net. The away side were deservedly in the lead dealing easily with Heacham’s Huff and Puff.

In overtime Heacham were awarded a free kick 10 foot outside the goal area and Gibson stepped up to craft a superb curling shot over the defending wall and into the top left hand corner. The referee blew for full time and the 110 fans drifted away disappointed by their teams one win in three to start the season.

Most people who have read my blog over the last few years will know that I am very supportive of referees. In this game though he was the man of the match for the wrong reasons. He seemed to be taking Heacham players names like people used to collect train numbers and sent off both Heacham”s number 10 and a touchline official. Most offences seemed to me to be for disent which in my view seemed only minor except one strong swear word.

I think Heacham will need to make some major improvements if they want to get anywhere near another promotion.

There were no chips although a good menu of food was available. This was surprising in that the match was sponsored by North Beach Fish Bar.

29 free kick from right declan macilvoy, cross is missed by everyone and sails into far corner.
Referee collecting Heacham names including manager instead of train numbers. Whistle happy.
In overtime sent a Heacham official off Ted card. Usually supportive of referees.
Sent 10 off . A complete shocker. Think querying a nonsense decision.
18 Gibson free kick 20 metres out to right hand s

Match sponsor  north beach fish bar.