Torrential Rain doesn’t dampen 6 goal thriller.

Having driven south through a curtain of mist, spray and rain to Northampton, to see my grandson lose 4.1, I returned North on the M1 to Junction 23. Just a few miles along the Ashby Road is a left turning to Grace Dieu Manor.

The former Grace Dieu Manor Schools buildings were sold in 2022 to FCV International Football Accademy. The accademy was founded in 2007 as the first Prvate Football Accademy in the UK. Initially located at Nene Park in Northamptonshire, moving to Corby and then Stamford and now a permanent home at Grace Dieu.

They offer full time courses from the age of mid teens to students who wish to combine their academic progress with that of football. Academic courses are supplemented by the nearby Loughborough College and University.

The facilities are impressive for the students along with the artificial pitch that was receiving loving attention when I arrived, rollers, mechanical squeegees and other devices were being used to clear some of the deluge. There was plenty of parking.

The FCV Grace Dieu Football Club that I saw were only formed in 2023.

Having finished second and gained promotion from the Nottinghamshire Senior League Division One they romped away to win the Premier Division in the 2024/25 season and gained a further promotion to the United Counties League, Division One for this season.

Clipstone were known as Clipstone Welfare until 2013, a name they had chosen in 1955,4 having previously been Clipstone Combine. They have been a successful local Nottinghamshire side and reached the Nothern Counties East League only to drop back to the East Midlands Counties Premier Division and now play in the United Counties League after recent league reorganisations.

Th rain continued on a miserable day with the temperature rising to 6 degrees. This ground has hard block paved standing on one side and behind one goal where there is also some covered standing. There was no seating although I overheard a conversation that was saying some was being fitted before the end of March to comply with League grading. A cafe/food bar and toilets was located at the top of an open embankment which would be a good vantage point on a dry day.

FCV Grace Dieu 3 Clipstone 3

Saturday 22nd November 2025, kick off 15.00 pm. United Counties League, Division One

FCV Academy, Grace Dieu, Manor Park, Thringstone, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 5UG

5th v 18th

FCV Grace Dieu Orange shirts and shorts, goalkeeper in all purple.

Clipstone, Red shirts black shorts, goalkeeper in luminous green.

Grace Dieu were out of the blocks and immediately forced Clipstone back with quick wide plays, particularly from the right.

Clipstone weathered the storm but did not look comfortable. With 16 minutes gone the home side gained a penalty as a burst into the box was cynically stopped by pulling the player down. The penalty though, was saved, but the ball was put over the line from the rebound. The referee, who was on hand, immediately disallowed the goal for a foul on the keeper.

The marauding right back for Grace Dieu, Nathan Linden, was rewarded with a goal, on 31 minutes, when he was put through and he slammed the ball across the goalkeeper just inside the post. Clipstone were continually being undone by the home teams pace and were lucky not to go further behind. seven of the bank of 14 floodlights were turned on after 35 minutes, but they didn’t lift the gloom for the watching spectators or the away teams defence. As the teams left the field at half time you had to wonder why the home team were not further ahead.

By the time the second half started water was beginning to pool on the pitch and Clipstone seemed to have new vigour in attacking their opponents more quickly moving the ball forward at pace. FCV Grace Dieu should have gone further ahead within 5 minutes of the restart but their number nine had beaten the defenders and goalkeeper to present an open goal, he hesitated and allowed two defenders to rush back and block his shot.

Out of the blue with 63 minutes on the clock Lewis Weaver robbed the home player of the ball and unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top left hand corner of the net. With the ball now being slowed by the surface water, and Clipstone’s more organised showing, they went ahead, when some nice close passing from within their own half unleashed Lewis Weaver again to score on the run with his left foot.

FCV rallied and equalised with 76 minutes gone when Jack James Harry ran through the centre, steadied the ball and volleyed it along the ground, 2.2. But within a minute Clipstone were ahead again when from outside the goalkeeping area Jack Thatcher lifted his left foot and fired the ball into the roof of the net.

Clipstone were now running after everything trying to preserve their lead until the end. When it looked like they had made it, Spencer James -Weir Daley smashed the ball into the net after receiving a long ball and jinking from side to side, evading the away defence. Clipstone had been undone by the added 4 minutes, and the referee blew the final whistle moments later. FCV must have felt the better of the two teams having gained a point, while Clipstone must have felt they had lost two. In reality, Clipstone had retrieved a point when looking back, at half time, they were second best.

There were chips here, but I have to say they were the worst I have had at any football match. After trying one I smothered them with tomato sauce, but that didn’t help. They were cold, limp, soggy and tasteless scoring a miserable 20 for my chip league.

Lincoln Moorlands Railway just hold on.

After the day before, battling across the Midlands in the torrential rain of storm Claudia, I expected that the game I wanted to see would be postponed. However a call to the clubhouse, and a ring back by a cheerful lady, confirmed it was on.

There was some water lying in a few fields, and the river Trent looked high passing over the Toll Bridge at Dunham but there was little evidence of the storm that had caused flooding in some parts of Wales and the West.

The traffic in Lincoln was heavy, Lincoln City were at home to local rivals Doncaster, early Christmas shoppers, and perhaps people catching up on postponed shopping from the previous day.

I was dropped off at Lincoln Moorlands Railway FC in the south east of the City on a grey, overcast, light drizzly, cold (9 degrees) day. In fact I decided that winter had finally arrived.

Lincoln Moorlands Railway are the third team in Lincoln behind Lincoln City (English Football League, Division One) and Lincoln United (Northern Premier League, East Division). Crazily all three were at home on the same day. Perhaps the junior teams, in status, could play when Lincoln City were away to try to attract some of their fans who don’t want to travel.

The ground is reached by driving down a narrow drive between houses on a main way into the City. It opens up to a good car park and sports facilities that have a Sports and Social Club as its centre. Immediately through the gate you are met by the snack bar and beyond a large fenced in area for the main football pitch which is of grass and majorly flat.

There are floodlights, railings around the ground, two small covered seating areas on opposite sides of the ground, hard standing around the perimeter, toilets and changing rooms. This ground could be soon readied for a higher level of football rather than the eleventh tier match I had come to watch.

Lincoln Moorlands Railway FC started life in 2007 with the merger of Lincoln Moorlands FC and Lincoln Railway FC both of whom were in the Northern Counties League and the new club were placed in the Premier Division. After some near misses from relegation they went down to Division One in 2014 after being defeated in all but one of their games. Their misfortune continued with on and off field problems forcing a further demotion to the Lincolnshire League. A quick turnaround in fortunes enabled a move to the Central Midlands League but league reorganisations saw them back in the Lincolnshire League in 2018 where they still compete.

Sleaford Town FC by comparison have a history going back 100 years and like their opponents have featured in many Lincolnshire League campaigns. The first team now play in the United Counties League, Division One but it is their Development team that was playing.

Lincoln Moorlands Railway FC 4 Sleaford Town Development 3

Saturday 15th November 2025, 14.00 pm kick off

Lincoln Moorlands Railway AFC, Newark Road, Lincoln, LN6 8RT

7th v 14th (last with no points).

LMR FC; Claret Shirts with light blue collars and stripe down the sides, claret shorts, goalkeeper in all purple.

Sleaford; Green shirts, black shorts, goalkeeper in all grey.

The home team dominated early play but it was Sleaford who had the clearest shot on goal. Their domination plaid of when on 21 minutes, after some neat passing play on the right the ball was threaded through to Liam Bentley who turned one way and another before scoring the opening goal. Only two minutes later it was two nil after a penalty was awarded when an attacker bearing down on goal from the left was bundled over. Jon Smith made no mistake from the spot kick when he placed it past the right hand of the goal keeper.

Sleaford hit back almost immediately when Alexander Milczak hit a shot from outside the keepers area that took a deflection off the back of a defender and flashed into the top right hand corner of the goal. Moorlands lead was increased on 27 minutes by Jon Smith again, who headed in unopposed after a pin point cross from the right.

George Asplin, who was running everything in midfield added a fourth when he expertly curled a freekick from 20 yards over the defenders into the bottom left of the net.

Sleaford did counter but Lincoln should have scored more, hitting the crossbar twice before half time.

The teams left the field with the home team wellon top and looking like they would add many moor against the bottom of the table team. At the start of the second half you could hear the noise from the Lincoln City game and after a few minutes the floodlights were needed to be able to see through the gloom.

The expected gloom of the away team did not materialise, what did they have at half time?

They really started battling for everything and started to play the ball wide, particularly on the left, they matched and out fought the home team and were rightfully rewarded on 72 minutes when Andrew Whalen raced in to meet one of the many crosses to head the ball into the net.

Morlands looked shell shocked and could not deal with the continued domination and pressure from Sleaford conceding another goal with 5 minutes left when Andrew Wharton squeezed the ball over the line after again some strong play on the left.

Everything was now being played in the home sides half and the few supporters there were anxious that a draw was inevitable. They were relieved when they held out, but what would the result have been if Sleaford had played the whole game the way they played in the second half. Surely they will soon gain their first point of the season.

The referee and officials had a very good game that flowed and needed little added time to each half.

No chips here, however I had a mini sausage roll and a coffee which was very tasty.

St Albans cup run ends on the Trent.

Roadworks on the A38 brought me to a standstill as I approached Burton on Trent to see the first round FA Cup game between Burton Albion and St Albans City. With a junction and a side road joining at the point of the dual carriageway becoming one lane it took a while to get through. I was thankful that it was not a week day when this major road artery is well used by commercial traffic.

Having left enough time for such problems I still arrived with time to spare. Parking my car on the grass verge on Derby Road I was surprised at the lack of people. It was easy to enter the ground and I stood on the terrace with the home supporters. It was disapointing that the crowd was only 2523 having read that St Albans had sold over 600 tickets and tickets were available on the day, meaning that the home support was well below 2000.

Burton play at the 3rd level of English football while St Albans play at the seventh. These clubs had last met here in 2007 when they were both in the National League, (St Albans only season at that level), since when Burton have moved up 2 levels and St Albans moved down 2.

St Albans had won through 4 rounds to reach this stage, their season improving after a disapointing start. A missile had hit them however when only 3 days prior, their manager and his assistant, Ian Culverhouse and Paul Bastock, had left the club for King’s Lynn FC. No one blamed them, the offer from a club nearer to their home, at a higher level and full time rather than part time was an offer not to be turned down.

It was a damp afternoon, the temperature, 12 degrees, average for the first day of November, with a blue sky that was being invaded by some very dark grey clouds. Being over meant the floodlights were on from the start.

The Pirelli Stadium is modern with cover on all sides. The two ends and one side are for standing and the otherside seated. A well kept, flat grass pitch presented an immaculate playing surface.

I have written about the history of both these teams on previous blogs.

Burton Albion 6 St Albans City 0

Saturday 1st November 2025. 15.00 pm kick off.

FA Cup Ist Round. Brewers v The Saints, English Football League One v Isthmian Premier League.

Burton Albion; Yellowband black vertical halved shirts with black shorts. The goalkeeper in all light blue.

St Albans; Pink shirts with white shorts, the goalkeeper in all orange.

It was not the start that St Albans needed when within 58 seconds Burton went ahead. A through ball along the ground allowed Tyres Shade to outpace the defence to then draw the goalkeeper, Magnus Norman, and slide the ball under his body into the net.

The expected floodgates didn’t open and St Albans regained their composure producing some fluent football and shots on goal. Burton clipped the top of the bar when a cross decieved Norman and ended up on the roof of the net with 22 minutes on the clock.

St Albans came right back and three minutes later Zane Banton’s long range shot was neatly plamed round the post by Burtons goalkeeper, diving at full stretch.

Both teams cancelled each other out and despite the very early goal, the difference between these two teams was hard to see.

The second half started like the first, but it was St Albans who unluckily saw a header by Lewis Page glanced onto the right upright and scrambled away by the Burton defence. Having ridden their luck Burton made it two nil only 2 minutes later when a long throw from near the corner flag was headed on fir Charlie Webster to riffle it in.

Webster now seemed to be everywhere and he made it 3 when on 55 minutes he ran through the middle of the City defence and smashed it past the despairing Norman.

Both sides made changes and the game calmed down until the Saints keeper slipped while taking a free kick and the ball landed with Burton players who surged forward and from an angle Tyrese Shade made it 4.

As St Albans tired and started to look a bit ragged Fabio Tavares added two more in the 83rd and 96th minute.

Burton will be pleased to have avoided a banana skin and be in Monday night’s draw for the second round. St Albans must have been happy that for 60 minutes of the game they competed strongly with their higher rivals.

What if the post hadn’t stopped Lewis Page from scoring!!

I was informed by an official that the club had stopped selling chips two years ago, was this after my report that said they were the worst chips I had that season? Instead I had a steak and ale pie and a coffee. Small pie but filled to the brim with large chunks of meat.

Sheffield-Home of Football

During Heritage week, I joined the end of a tour of Crosspool, the area of Sheffield where Hallam FC is situated. We then moved into the clubhouse to listen to some facts about ‘The Oldest Football Ground’ in the world.

Looking across the football pitch you see the cricket ground bordering the open side. The Sandygate Road cricket pitch dates back to 1804 a year before the ‘Battle of Trafalgar ‘ and like many emerging football teams Hallam FC were partly born from the cricket club in 1860.

The Sheffield Home of Football group are forging ahead to promote Sheffield’s football Heritage being the birth place of the oldest team in the world, the oldest ground, the first cup and competition, the publishers of many of the original rules and many more firsts.

I had arrived at Hallam via Sheffield Town Hall where three cabinets of items relating to the history of Sheffield were on display. ‘Home of Football Group’ now have enough to display many more cabinets as they move towards a permanent museum in the city. One item in a cabinet was one of their latest blue plaques that are being put up all over the city in conjunction with the council to identify football/social history places that pioneers, events or places frequented. There is now a trail of these shown on ‘Home of Football’ web site.

Interesting in the cabinet are two pictures of the women’s game in the early years of the sport.

Some unusual facts that came out of the Hallam talk were:-

Football shirts in the beginning were either in a block colour or hoops as a loom to make vertical stripes had not yet been invented.

Hallam’s famous pitch slope is 1 in 26 but FA rules will allow up to 1 in 40.

The Youdan Trophy, the first football cup in the world, was not a cup but a ‘Coffee Jug’ bought off the shelf, because the designed cup was not ready in time for the competition.

The football club and cricket club have only 67 years left on their lease.

The exhibition goes on at Sheffield Town Hall until the 2nd of October and pilgrims to see the Hallam ground are always welcome.

Look up sheffieldhomeoffootball.org for all of the many interesting programs and projects that are going on.

An iconic ‘Game of two halves’.

Each season I like to watch an Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, the start of the journey to the final at Wembley. Last year, I started with Albion Sports losing at home to Trafford FC. The game was played at Bradford Park Avenues ground whilst they’res at Myra Shay was being updated to League standards

I noticed this year that Albion had been drawn away to Sheffield FC at the same stage of the competition. I drove to Dronfield, Sheffield still playing in Derbyshire, with their plans to finally set up in Sheffield stalled yet again.

Over recent years, the grounds car park has been reduced and a charge has now been introduced. There have also been little done to upgrade the ground although t looked good in the sunshine with the blue skies dotted with white fluffy clouds. The flat grass pitch, heavily sanded, looked in perfect condition after its rest, emphasised by the end to end striping by the cutting. There is still seating behind one goal, an end that also has the club house, changing rooms and food kiosk. One side has terraced standing with half of it covered, and the rest of the ground just has a path around the perimeter.

These two teams play in the same league, Northern Counties East, Premier Division, having played just one league game of the new season. Sheffield started their campaign with an away draw whilst Albion lost.

Albion Sports in their 51st year, started off playing Sunday League football. Steady progress led them to be winners of The Asian Cup and Bradford Senior Cup and League in 2000. That same season and in 2005 they went all the way to the final of The FA Sunday Cup, but were runners up on both occasions. In 2007 Albion moved to playing on Saturdays where they were successful in local leagues and were elected to the Northern Counties East League in 2011 which they won 3 years later and gained promotion to the Premier Division where they play today. An impressive rise in their short History.

Sheffield FC’s history as the worlds oldest team is well documented and their web site provides a good description of their pioneering days and up to date.

Sheffield FC 1 Albion Sports 1

Saturday 2nd August 2025, 15.00 pm kick off, Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup.

The Club v The Lions

Sheffield FC: Red and black quartered shirts, black shorts, Goalkeeper in yellow.

Albion Sports: All white kit with goalkeeper in all Pink.

Before kick off Albion were in a long huddle but it was Sheffield who started the game with the greatest intensity. The Club attacked down both wings with their most success coming from down the right and it was from there that on 13 minutes a cross was met by Nathaniel Crofts, at the far post, who headed the ball into the net. Sheffield were the more composed team and dominated play. Sheffield looked as if their training for the new season was paying off appearing to understand where each other were and where to put the ball. Alex Hardwick was denied by a point blank save by James Aspinall 10 minutes before half time and just before half time his header from a corner tipped the top of the cross bar. As the teams came off at half time Sheffield had looked well in control and the better team.

What a change in the second half with Albion Sports now dominating play, that must have been some team talk at the break. With Sheffield’s goalkeeper screaming for his players to challenge the opponents, Albion executed some neat play around the box to give Nathan Cartman the opportunity to curl a shot across Jim Pollard’s outstretched left hand to nestle in the corner of the net to equalise.

After the goal the referee allowed a drinks break, on the warm day, and also to attend to an injured player. Sheffield needed to regroup, but Albion kept up the pressure playing through a blizzard of dandelion seeds swirling around the pitch. Albion didn’t manage to get the winner and both sides will replay in the week. Certainly a game of two halves and Sheffield must have rued their first half chances and should have gone in at half time well out of sight.

A very good program for £2. It had good info on the clubs, players, and stats.

After just two matches of the new season I have been lucky to have had two portions of good chips. These were golden, crisp, no greasy after taste but not quite as tasty as last weeks at Berwick, a score of 66.

A great start at Berwick Rangers.

My first League game of the 2026/26 season was a Scottish Lowland League game between Berwick Rangers and Cowdenbeath. It has not been long since both of these teams were playing in the SFL. Dropping out is a big disadvantage because it is so difficult to get back.

Although Berwick Rangers are based in England, they continue playing in the Scottish football system like their nearby neighbours Tweedmouth Rangers FC, who play in the East of Scotland League. Berwick don’t only play in Scottish football rather than English they also play in Tweedmouth rather than Berwick, the river Tweed separating the two. Cowdenbeath have the nickname of ‘The Blue Brazil’, a little irony, I believe. They do play in blue. I have, in previous years, reviewed a book about the fall of the ‘Blue Brazil’.

I started my afternoon with a Haggis and cheese backed potato at the Riverside Café with a short 10-minute walk from there to the ground. The café was also feeding a fan from Aberdeen who had travelled down for the game.

The ground is behind housing with a large area for parking and is shared with Berwick Bandits, the Speedway team. Once through the turnstiles, where they were collecting for new floodlights, the ground looks large with a main seated stand on one side and covered terracing on the other. The pitch was a lovely green looking to have been well prepared for the new season. It had been cut in circles around the centre spot for a pleasing pattern.

Although it was 20 degrees, it seemed chillier in the wind, which was making grey and white clouds scurry past. The big reveal of the match was that Berwick would be wearing their new third kit for the first time.

Berwick Rangers 2 Cowdenbeath 0

Saturday 26th July 2025 Lowland League, 15.00 pm kick off . Shielfield Park, Tweedmouth, Berwick Upon Tweed, TD15 2EF. The Gers v The Blue Brazil, Attendance 541

Berwick Rangers, All black kit with some yellow edging, goalkeeper in blue top and black shorts.

Cowdenbeath, Light blue shirts with white shorts, goalkeeper in all yellow.

The game kicked off, and the first 20 minutes were uneventful as both teams looked to find rhythm and pattern after the break from competitive football. Cowdenbeath scored after 23 minutes, but it was disallowed for off side. the game now stopped while an official walked round the ground to deal with a blue flare that had been thrown onto the edge of the pitch in celebration. Some players took advantage of the stoppage through an unofficial drinks brake.

The game continued in a dull fashion, but on 38 minutes, Berwick took the lead through Mikey Mbewe, who stroked the ball along the grass into the net after a corner from the left and two blocked shots. At half time, I felt that both teams were trying to blow away early season cobwebs.

The second half started much brighter with Cowdenbeath’s attacks coming from mainly down the left, and both teams had more chances in that period than the whole of the first half. The more competitive game was ended with 20 minutes left when Rangers, number 8, Stuart Mair, controlled a strong pass, turned and from 20 yards hit the ball sweetly into the top right hand corner of the net. With less than 10 minutes left a heavy tackle by a Cowdenbeath defender caused some reaction, and the resulting ruck was reviewed by the referee and his linesman with only one yellow card being issued.

Cowdenbeath scored with 2 minutes left but were again denied by the linesman’s offside ruling.

Berwick fans seemed happy with the result and felt that the team would do better than a relegation battle this season. They deserved to win, but Cowdenbeath need to go back to review how they can be more effective and proactive upfront.

The chips were a great start for this seasons chip league with a healthy score of 70. They were golden, crisp, tasty, no taste of fat, soft inside, if anything a bit dry. I decided against a Scotch Pie as I was not in Scotland but then foolishly bought a Bovril at half because, as I revealed in a recent blog, it was invented in Scotland. I made a mistake there.

Great to visit a friendly ground and hope that either of these teams can challenge this season to return to the SFL.

Non-League Club Directory

This time of year, I usually advertise the new seasons Non-League Club Directory. Unfortunately this year I have recieved the email below that gives the sad news that the 2024/25 edition was the last one and after 47 publications there will be no more. Thank you for those many seasons of joy when thumbing through the many pages of tables and results of teams I had never heard of and aspired to visit in the future. In the early years it was invaluable for addresses to grounds now so easily found via Google Maps.

I will cherish all 47 editions that sit on my shelves and once again thank you and wish you well in your continued support for the game at this level.

Email from The Non-League Club Directory

Thank You…

You may or may not have heard that unfortunately last year’s edition of the Directory was in fact the last one.

Between myself and James Wright we tried our best to keep it going, for another season at least, but for a number of reasons it has not been possible to continue.

As some of you will know the above was where it all started 47 editions ago. Football has changed for the better, and worse but the one thing that remained the same throughout, the passion of real non-League followers and your support of the Directory, as well as our other publications such as Team Talk magazine.

Whether you bought just one edition or have the complete set (you must have a very strong book case!) thank you so much.

Good luck to you and your club for the season ahead.

All the best

Mike & Tony WilliamsCopyright © 2025 Mike Williams Publishing, All rights reserved.

There’s still value in County Cup football.

2416 fans turned up at Hillsborough to see the final of the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Cup final and no one was disappointed. It was a cold evening, only 11 degrees, yet it was a pleasant walk to the ground from parking the car just outside the ground, something you couldn’t do when ‘Wednesday’ are at home.

Fans of both teams mingled in the bars and food kiosks before taking their seats. I was able to get one of the padded seats, so I sat back waiting for the players of Worksop Town FC and Hallam FC. Both have had successful years coming second in their respective leagues and both gaining promotion by way of the playoffs. Worksop Town will be leaving the Northern Premier League and returning to the National League North after an 18 year absence. Hallam FC will be leaving the Northern Counties East League, Premier Division, next season, and moving up to The Northern Premier League, East Division a level they have never before played at. Despite these moves there will still be two level between the clubs, Worksop at the 6th level of English Football and Hallam at the 8th level.

Both teams entered the arena to some vocal fans and a drum beat by the Hallam contingent. The grass surface looked like it was starting to be prepared for the close season with patches of sand all over the pitch. After the customary introduction to the supporters and each other the teams stood in the centre of the centre circle with everyone standing and observing a minutes silence on this 80th Anniversary of VE Day.

The Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA Senior Cup is the 5th oldest in the world and next year it will be 150 years old, having been first played for in 1876.

Worksop Town 2 Hallam 1

Friday 8th May 2025, 19.30 kick off. Hillsborough Stadium.

Tigers v The Countrymen

Worksop; grey shorts and shirts the front of which had a vertical black panel on one side, the goalkeeper had an orange top and black shorts.

Hallam; All royal blue strip with the goalkeeper in a pink top and black shorts.

Worksop looked in control from the start but Hallam were letting them come to them and counter attacking with some quick breaks down the wings particularly down the right. Hallam were also controlling the tempo of the game with slow goal kicks, throw ins and set pieces, this was something they continued with all match.

It was Worksop who took the lead when with 16 minutes gone, a cross from the left was beaten out by the Hallam keeper but only onto the head of Aleks Starcenco who directed it down and into the bottom right corner of the net. The game now ebbed and flowed and despite the difference in League levels Hallam held their own to only trail by the one goal at half time.

The floodlights were turned on at half time with it coming over gloomy, and Worksop should have made it two with only 4 minutes gone from the re-start when the ball was blasted over the bar from very close range. A few minutes later, Warhurst in the Hallam goal kept them in the game with a reflex point blank save.

The Worksop dominance continued with the Hallam break aways, and one of these lead to an equaliser when a cross in from the left found Rio Allan, unmarked, and he cleverly dinked it over the goalkeeper into the net. Que celebrations by the players just in front of their fans. Rio Allen had played some skilful football all night and deserved the goal.

This set up a nerve wracking 20 minutes for both fans with the pattern of play resuming as before. Both sides made numerous substitutions, and it seemed destined for penalties to decide the tie, when with a minute to go Worksop struck again, when after a higher tempo attack the ball was received by Aleks Starcenco on the right corner of the Hallam goal area and he blasted it into the top right hand corner of the net. Hallam could not come back in the final 4 minutes of added time but all of their team gave their all. Worksop will have known that they had been in a hard won game, just deserving to edge it on the night.

Football Food

Great to have chips again, they were a good portion, tasty, golden, firm to soft inside, and but for the fact that they were only warm they could have been the chips of the year, score 73.

You have to deal with disappointment to follow the Villa….5….

An early start to head south to watch a grandson’s under 6 game in Northampton and then on to Wembley.

A Wembley trip is an occasion as well as a football match, and for me to go with two grandsons made me reflect on my first visit. Then there were twin towers, and England lost 2.3 to Sweden in 1959. This was only England’s second loss to a team other than a Home Nation on the hallowed turf. Just six years after the thrashing by Hungary and only 7 years before England’s World Cup triumph. Bobby Moore’s statue, with reference to the rest of the team, stands proud outside the entrance.

There have been other changes, too, even since a visit to see Aston Villa lose in a Championship Playoff final in 2018. On my first visit, my father showed me the decaying buildings left over from the British Empire Exhibition of 1924/25, and I showed what was left to my son in 1994 when Villa beat Manchester United. None of that now , the area has been transformed into a modern high-rise city of its own with the tiered walkway that was Wembley Way replaced by a flat pathed area to complement the new living style.

The organisation was fantastic, with the turnstiles and security opened, all of the queuing fans were whisked into the stadium. Inside the concourse offers food and drink and toilets to befit a national stadium.

The vastness of the red seats hit you as you walk into your seating area brought smiles to the grandsons. The immaculate pitch gleamed a bright green despite the grey overhead cloud, and there was no wind or breeze in this bowl.

Strangely, the Villa fans, so vociferous at home and away, seemed subdued, but a ripple of applause broke out as Stan Collymore was spotted standing above a ‘Villa Cannock’ flag.

Crystal Palace 3 Aston Villa 0

Saturday 26th April 2025, FA Cup Semi-final, 17.15 kick off.

Eagles v Villians.

There was little intensity to the start of the game, and Villa looked as if they were playing walking football out from the back as Palace didn’t press them but crowded out the mid field and defence. Palace fans were in ascendancy when 31 minutes Pau Torres made a mistake to let Ismail Sarr cross the ball for Ebrechi Eze to hit a fierce shot into the roof of the net past Martinez’s right hand.

Villa tried to get into the game and, with much of the possession, didn’t create a worthwhile chance despite some hard work by John McGinn.

Villa briefly looked a little sharper at the start of the second half but conceded a penalty . Jean-Paul Mateta stepped forward and placed the ball to the diving Martinez’s left, but with it clipping the outside of the post and going wide Villa fans thought this could be a sign of a come back.

However, Villa players looked like they had tired legs and were often picked off by some strong defending in mid field by Daichi Kamada and Adam Wharton. The Londoners doubled their lead on 58 minutes when Sarr dispossessed Tielemans and surged forward to power a drive along the ground into the left hand corner of the net. Villa made changes and could have reduced the lead but for their own player, Torres, blocking a powerful shot that looked destined to score.

With the minutes ticking away and the Villa fans drifting out, Sarr raced clear of the Villa defence and made it 3 nil, game well and truly over.

Although Villa had over 70 per cent of possession, it was Palace who outplayed them again this season, their defensive tack ticks and fast breaks, capitalising on Villa mistakes.

Palace had a game plan to disrupt Villa’s flow, they made the referee and Villa wait at the start as they held a long huddle, they made very long celebrations for each goal, Eze strutted back to the half way line after his goal celebrations at a crawl, Place came out in dribs and drabs to start the second half with a pause to wait for their 11th player and Henderson , who had a great game in goal should have been penalised by the referee for his time wasting. But despite this, you could not take it away from Crystal Palalce, who very much deserved to win and make Villa look second best.

Hopefully, the long season has not proved too much for Aston Villa and they can win the remainder of their games.

Football Food

The food at our magnificent football stadium was less than magnificent.

I was told I couldn’t just have chips to review for my annual chip league unless I had it as a meal deal with a burger. However, the chips were priced separately. Why not sell them separately then. The burger in what I think was supposed to be a Brioche Bun was awful. It was limp tasteless, just warm and made a McDonalds basic burger seem like a gourmet meal.

The chips were the worst I have had all season and sit bottom of my chip league, a score of 40 was generous. They were cold, dry limp, with no taste, and unfortunately, I left most of them under my seat for someone to clear up, sorry. I won’t ever buy anything inside this stadium again.

N.B. The heading to this post has been used before in my blog. However, it doesn’t reflect the enjoyment fun and smiles that Aston Villa have given me.

An evening at Pinxton FC

With the end of season fast approaching, I decided to get a game in before some time away, will stop me from watching some football. I headed south, two junctions down the M1 to Pinxton. Pinxton was a ground I had visited before but to watch a Derby Singh Brothers game when they were homeless and playing games there.

This is an ex mining village. You park in the car park of the Pinxton Miners Welfare and walk up the hill to the ground. Considering the pitch is on the side of a hill, it only has a slight slope from end to end and side to side. The surface is grass but a little bumpy. The facilities are unusual. There is a small covered two stepped seated stand that holds roughly 50 people in the corner of one side and built into the hill at the back is a food hut which you climb up to past a small covered standing area.

After a day that was beautiful , clear blue sky with the temperature rising to 18, the evening was cooling quickly with a cold breeze. 126 fans had turned up to see Pinxton play Staveley Miners Welfare with both teams on the edge of the play-off places with only a few games left.

Football Histories

Pinxton FC were started in 1994 and played in the Mansfield Bitter League for their first years, gaining promotions and moving up to the Midlands Regional Alliance League in 1997. Some solid seasons in this league gave them heart to join the Central Midlands League in 2004. They made their way to the highest division and won it in 2024 to be promoted to the United Counties Division One.

Staveley Miners Welfare F.C‘s. current club was formed in 1962 as a Sunday team, known as the Nags Head playing in Barrow Hill. There had been a football team in Staveley since the early 1880’s. They started playing on Saturdays in 1989. In 1991 they joined the Sheffield and Hallamshire County League and two years later moved to the Central Midlands League. They were constant members of that league until 1997 when their second place finish in the highest league gained them entry to The North East Counties League.

Their time in the NCEL wasn’t without ups and downs, semi-finalists in the FA Vase in 2012 masked their off field problems. In 2020 they secured grant money to install an all weather pitch and have continued their facilities development in tandem with community involvement. In 2022 the club took a voluntary demotion by one Division to reset a 5 year sustainability plan. They were moved to the United Counties Division 1

Pinxton FC 2 v Staveley Miners Welfare FC 2

Tuesday 8th April 2025 19.45 pm kick off

United Counties League, Division One, 8th v 5th, The Miners v The Trojans

Wharf Rd, Pinxton, Nottingham NG16 6LG

Pinxton; All Royal Blue shirts and shorts with some white chequered images on the lower front of the shirt. Goalkeeper in light lime green with some yellow stripes on the front of the shirt.

Staveley Miners Welfare; All fluorescence orange kit. Goalkeeper in all light green.

Pinxton were the more dominant team in the first 15 minutes, hitting the crossbar and being foiled by a point blank save by the Trojans keeper. They took the lead on 17 minutes when a ball cleared by the Staveley defence was controlled by Kane Hempshall who volleyed a rocket of a shot just to the right of the goalkeepers hand.

The home side were only ahead for eight minutes when Staveley equalised. A ball swung in from the right went over all those in the penalty area it was kept in out on the left, crossed back, where Dan Grierson outfought a defender at the right hand post and headed it down and over the goal line.

Pinxton returned the pressure and but for some great goalkeeping by xxx and a strong Staveley defence could have gone in ahead at half time.

Pinxton played downhill in the second half and, for the first 15 minutes, looked the most likely to take the lead. The game then settled down, and as it progressed into the last 15 minutes, it was Staveley who looked the most likely to score. With the final whistle approaching it looked like the away side had stolen the win when a long throw was headed on for Jack Deakin to riffle the ball along the ground, through defenders legs and into the net.

The game drifted into added time, and with three minutes added, Pinxton were awarded a corner from the right, which their goalkeeper went forward for. The over hit ball was chipped back in where Josh Wright headed the ball into the goal for a draw. The referee blowing for time only a minute later.

A good competitive game, with a draw being a fair result that leaves both teams with a chance of reaching the playoffs with two games left, although Pinxton’s is a slim one.

Football Food

I was happy to have some chips, but although being hot were a bit limp and some were overcooked. A good quantity and a good taste but a score of only 59.