End of September

The introduction to the 2015/16 season ended on Tuesday 29th September with Arsenal losing at home to Olympiacos by 2 goals to 3. Walcott missed a couple of early chances and he does need to sharpen up if he wants that strikers role.

Brentford lost 2-0 at home to Birmingham and then I see with pride two of my teams caused upsets.

Southend United won 2-1 at Crewe Alexander.

Exeter City won 2-1 away to League Leaders Portsmouth.

Lower down my pyramid Bideford lost 2-1 at home to Poole and Tiverton Town lost 1-0 away at Yate Town.

October promises lots more football, and that includes Arsenal at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Arsenal away to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup.

My plans to watch more live football keep being affected by family and life events but maybe perhaps I will have more interesting stories from the lower echelons to entertain you.

Vardy 2 Arsenal 5

In busy times I revert to type and follow my one and only.

Alexis Sanchez scored a hat-trick. Giroud scored at the end with Walcott opening the account.

Life twists and tries to grind me down. I get flu. Missed two local matches.

What did I do wrong? I chose Torquay, Weston-super-Mare and Bideford. That's what.

Spurs 1 Flamini 2

Any win against Tottenham is a good win.

Chelsea v. Arsenal (The Second Half)

Chelsea must be favourites now. Costa header. Pedro shot. Arsenal survive.

Commentator magic: Costa looks like the villain from a spaghetti western.

Ozil battles for the ball, creates a chance for Sanchez who is upended by Ivanovic. Card for Ivanovic.

Ozil lines up for a left footer. Sanchez lines up for a right footer. Sanchez hits the wall. Corner.

Chelsea break quickly from the Arsenal corner and Costa fails to deliver.

Matic shot. Blocked. Arsenal attack. Chelsea attack. Frenetic stuff.

ZOUMA SCORES. Chelsea 1 Arsenal 0. Great delivery from Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas.

Many times in the past it has taken a goal by the opponents to stimulate Arsenal into action.

It will not be easy today.

Hazard shoots. Cech saves.

Bellerin tries to cross. Aspilicueta blocks.

Big chance for Sanchez who does seem to be below par today. Could it be the Stamford Bridge crowd or is he carrying an injury?

Ifoulavic, Cuntsta, some interplay, eventually Walcott gets a cross shot over the bar.

Eden Hazard dances through the Arsenal defence and shoots wide.

Glenn Hoddle says Chelsea are getting closer (when is Klose signing?).

Olivier Giroud is now warming up on the touchline. Get him on. Costa misses a chance.

It IS all Chelsea at the moment.

Cazorla to Walcott but he cannot find Ramsey.

Chelsea break but Pedro shoots high and wide.

Does anybody care? What is life all about? Who am I? Go Gunners!

Arsenal are controlling the ball at last, around their own penalty area.

It has all gone a bit quiet. Chambers gets a yellow after he loses the ball ahead of himself.

Chelsea are in complete control at the moment and I blame Maccabi Tel Aviv.

At the start of the match I was prepared to settle for a narrow defeat but after watching the Costa antics I really want us to hurt Chelsea. Sadly, life rarely works that way.

Corner to Arsenal. Come on lads, let us prove that we are not useless at set pieces.

Head, head, head, head and Chelsea are safe.

Cazorla takes a second yellow and now a red card.

It is not a good day at the Arsenal office.

10 minutes left to get something out of this game.

9 men to do it with.

I 8 football sometimes.

Matic shoots, Costa leaves the field. Loic Remy comes on.

Football makes me 6 sometimes.

This is an epic battle. Most decisions have gone the way of the blues.

Chelsea seem to have more men than Arsenal. Oh. They do. Two more.

Come on you reds. One good break will do it.

Hazard gets a free kick on the edge of the box.

The wall does its job.

Mourinho says stop playing and hold onto the ball for a draw.

One minute plus injury time left. One quick break is all it takes.

Chelsea score a second to seal the match. It goes in off Chambers.

FIVE minutes of injury time to score three goals. Has it ever been done?

Arsenal throw.

Giroud to Walcott and Ramsey cannot get there.

Ramires gets a shot in. Corner.

It's a day for the blues. Mourinho has still never lost to Wenger in matches that really matter.

Not a good result but certainly a competitive match well worth watching.

CHELSEA 2 ARSENAL 0

Chelsea v. Arsenal (The First Half)

It's only a game. That much is true, but it is a game that many people care a lot about.

Blog as you go is the way forward, or perhaps it is just the way of the moment but I am now watching on BT Sport having enjoyed a lovely lunch down by the waterfall on the river at the Mill on the Exe.

We were so enjoying the food that when I checked my phone the time was already 12:45 so kick off was missed. On the 5 minute journey back in car I heard that "Walcott has beaten the Chelsea defence once again." so I assume that he has missed two chances already. He does need to improve his conversion rate.

As I write Santi Cazorla has just left a foot in the way of Pedro who goes over leading to a yellow card for the Arsenal midfielder.

Now Petr Cech (I had to look that spelling up) has thrown himself at the feet of Petro to save the day.

Gabriel now shepherds the ball into touch but in the replay it looks more like he shepherded that bloke in blue into touch as the ball drifted away from him.

Zouma shoots high from just over the half way line and people ask questions of his sanity.

Pedro shoot wide from just ahead of where Zouma shot from.

I hope these are the boots that Chelsea continue to shoot with as shots off target never lead to goals.

Walcott breaks and Zouma makes a supreme tackle to win the ball.

Commentator notes that Arsenal have three consecutive clean sheets to their name in the league.

Monreal earns Arsenal a corner.

Cazorla crosses, Ivanovic heads clear and sprints forward.

Ozil across goal. Ramsey fails to beat the defence.

Fight in the penalty area as Cech gets the ball out.

Costa hand to the face on Koscielny. Costa then chests Koscielny to the ground. Gabriel intervenes.

Yellow cards for Costa and Gabriel. Chelsea win that one as Costa should be off.

What has happened is that Gabriel is sent off for a second yellow card. The referee is a homer.

Costa is clearly a man in the mould of Mourinho.

The second half will now be Chelsea's 11 against Arsenal's 10 men.

Chelsea in the ascendancy and Arsenal on the moral high ground.

How often do morals win matches?

Last Night

Tuesday 15th September hid some football that crept up on me while my life was spinning out of control. Well, not really out of control but very busy.

Walcott has just got a goal back for Arsenal with 12 minutes to go.

Brentford travelled to Middlesbrough and were comprehensively beaten 3-1. Torquay earned a very creditable 2-2 draw away at Kidderminster. Weston were at home and given the early results did well to hold Truro at 2-2. Bideford beat Hamworthy United 3-1 and I can find no mention of the match between Street and Barnstaple which is on my spreadsheet so I shall assume it never happened.

Now, Arsenal, you have 7 minutes left to earn a draw. I shall stop blogging and will the ball into the Zagreb net.

Following Ten Teams

Following one team is easy and all fans know their last result and next fixture. Sometimes you have a mental block when work pressures get to you but the information is in there somewhere.

With ten teams to follow (and I watch out for local league teams as well) there is some effort required. Arsenal beat Stoke 2-0 at the weekend and there are no problems finding out as match of the day will always cover the Premier League. I buy the "Football League" paper to cover the next three levels and the "Non League" paper is full of life around the country. It is this last newspaper that has all the best stories.

Arsenal have just gone 2-0 down to Dinamo Zagreb and with Giroud off the field thanks to a red card it looks like Arsenal will have to do it the Arsenal way and come back from a first match defeat.

Brentford travelled to Leeds and drew 1-1. Southend lost 1-0 at home to Shrewsbury. Exeter beat the mighty Hartlepool 1-0. Are you reading this Jeff Stelling? Torquay earned a 1-1 draw away at Welling. Weston-super-Mare travelled to Dartford to lose 2-1.

Poole Town beat Barnstaple 1-0 in the F.A.Cup and I love watching the minnows progress so I hope we get a few cup upsets this year. There have been a few already but it is only when the non-league beat the league that it makes the real newspapers.

My final result for this post is Exmouth Town who beat Godolphin Atlantic 4-3. I have a feeling that I should go and watch Exmouth before too long.

Worthing v. Thamesmead Town

While visiting mother this last weekend I had the chance to watch a Ryman South team in action.

The match was an F.A.Cup Qualifier and Worthing were taking on Thamesmead Town from the Ryman North. The quality of the football was a jump up from my previous live experiences as you would expect and I was very happy with the value for money as I paid £8 each for my wife and I.

Following on from my last post and looking at the head of this blog I must give a shout out for one of the young Worthing players. BEN POPE danced through the Thamesmead defence for his first very well taken goal then added to it with a perfectly taken free kick around the wall.

My wife was first to notice that we had arrived at a stadium using the latest artificial 3G surface. She was fascinated and got closer than me. She described it as little lumps of rubber. I noticed that the ball was bouncing higher than on a conventional pitch and although it is the same for both teams I am sure the home team gains an advantage by understanding the bounce.

There was a strong wind from left to right as I watched from the grandstand but all the goals were scored kicking into the wind. Worthing took the two goal lead thanks to young BEN POPE. The match had plenty in it but it then settled down to what looked like a comfortable win until .........

The announcer stated that as the match had a definite result there would be a league match on Tuesday. Thamesmead took that as an invitation to score their goal and although the 90 minutes were up we all know that teams can score in injury time. The announcer told Thamesmead that they had two more minutes.

It got better as the next announcement was that the opponents on Tuesday were Dorking and as they were drawing in the cup there may not be a match on Tuesday. This was followed by another quote that they had in fact scored and the match on Tuesday was back on.

I know that teams at this level need support but that set of announcements did get me chuckling and thinking that a single announcement after the match would be better.

As it happens some friends of mine went to the match on the Tuesday and it was abandoned due to floodlight failure.

A good experience, particularly the two cups of tea at £1 a cup.

Gimme some names

You have probably heard of Olivier Giroud, you should certainly have heard of Alexis Sanchez, all fans are aware of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, and as an Arsenal fan I could name all the Ozil players as well, but now for some unknown names.

My number 10 pick Exmouth Town beat Tavistock 4-0 last night and I thought I should seek out a match report online. No luck there but I did find something on the facebook page and that is the name of the goalscorers.

Remember these names if you ever go and watch Exmouth Town:

Aaron Sowden

Joe Bushin

Karl Rickard

Jordan Hopkins

These are the first names I have introduced to this blog and I hope to check up on their progress in years to come. I have no knowledge of their ages so they may be on their last legs or they may be the new and upcoming stars of the future.

A 4-0 win for the only one of my teams in action has to be a good night.

England or Exmouth

Tonight I had to make a choice. Should I stay at home and watch England play Switzerland or should I drive the half hour to Exmouth and watch my number 10 pick for the first time. The Exmouth opposition is Tavistock, that team from the other side of Dartmoor.

England are drawing 0-0 at half time and I cannot see any information on the internet for Exmouth. The teams at the lower levels do not get much coverage and usually when they do it is a day late. Let me see what I can find out now that I have chosen not to travel:

Wikipedia says that the colours are all blue at home and all red away. No news. None expected.

Twitter last feed was yesterday talking about a pub crawl on the way back if you support them by coach on Saturday.

Pitchero was last updated one month ago and contains no information.

Facebook has a post on 6th mentioning the match against Tavistock. Worth watching in future.

The South West Peninsula League site has the fixture but I do not expect the result until tomorrow.

So now we know ... nothing!

Maybe we could start a match tracking site. I did some work on text to web some years back but then the sites started wanting lots of money for the service. Does anyone know any good text to web providers?

Southend United = Commentaminute

Opinion: Ben Coker was my man of the match (and last season's playoffs).

Southend v. Peterborough – United in football

1: Familiar face spotted from the playoffs at the end of last season, Ben Coker the left back.

2: Peterborough free kick headed over the bar.

3: It is all Peterborough.

4: Timlin challenge results in a free kick.

5: Peterborough corner taken short and wasted.

6: Dave Robertson, Peterborough manager, whistles at his players.

7: Ryan Leonard of Southend aims a shot at the moon.

8: Two players on the ground in the Peterborough area but nothing is given.

9: Santos of Peterborough blocks the shot.

10: Peterborough earn yet another corner.

11: Timlin heads the ball off the line to save a certain goal.

12: Mooney heads a decent cross over the bar.

13: Mooney v. Santos battle results in great noise from the crowd as Santos pushes Mooney over.

14: Ricardo Santos is shown close up after Michael Timlin shows the referee what he did.

15: Great free kick down the wing comes to nothing.

16: Hunt and Mooney get in each other’s way as a good chance results in no goal.

17: Santos clearly shoves Mooney to the ground. Southend free kick.

18: Midfield challenges demonstrate that both teams want to win this.

19: Free kick to Peterborough near the centre circle.

20: Peterborough goal kick.

21: Corner to Peterborough.

22: Daniel Bentley punches the ball clear.

23: Leonard wing to wing pass to Worrall who passes back to White who then crosses to Mooney.

24: Peterborough’s Jon Taylor hits the side netting.

25: Ben Alnwick in the Peterborough goal holds onto the cross.

26: Another Southend attack comes to nothing.

27: Phil Brown appears with a notepad while shouting at his players.

28: Joe Gormley controls the ball into touch.

29: Nothing happened.

30: Good move by Peterborough but no strike on goal.

31: GOAL FOR SOUTHEND – Adam Barrett hacks the ball in.

32: Phil Brown puts that happy frown on his face.

33: Mooney shoots and Alnwick saves.

34: Peterborough shot into the upper tier of the stand.

35: Ball across the Southend goal but no Peterborough players to connect with it.

36: Maddison shot blocked by the defender.

37: Barry Fry is sat in the stands admiring his Peterborough team.

38: Washington fouls Coker to give Southend a free kick.

39: Leonard proves that shooting is not an easy skill as he passes to the grandstand.

40: Brain dead now.

41: GREAT tackle by Southend.

42: Peterborough get a free kick.

43: The game is looking tired now.

44: Maddison shot well saved by Daniel Bentley.

45: One Minute of Time to be added.

46: The first half peters out with Southend 1-0 up.

SECOND HALF

46: Hectic but uncontrolled start to the second half.

47: They are changing the football as something is wrong with it.

48: Maddison goes down in the area and Southend get a goal kick.

49: Southend are offside.

50: Peterborough kick the ball out.

51: Southend get caught, recover and play the ball back to Bentley.

52: Peterborough corner comes to nothing.

53: Peterborough hit the crossbar.

54: Peterborough get another corner.

55: Peterborough get another corner.

56: Alnwick makes a great save to keep Peterborough in the match.

57: Bentley catches the ball one handed to prevent a Peterborough chance.

58: Peterborough corner played short and shot over.

59: Phil Brown croaks something unintelligible.

60: Period of to and fro.

61: Ben Coker heads a shot off the line.

62: Long throw from Leonard leads to a headed chance for Southend.

63: Ryan Leonard dives in the box and gets booked for trying to con the referee.

64: Ben Coker controls the ball back to Bentley with his chest.

65: Wordsworth shoots the ball over the bar.

66: Peterborough work a chance but shoot across the goal.

67: Wife interrupted my viewing and I am not going to rewind.

68: Thank you wife for this lovely cup of tea in front of me.

69: Hunt heads Southend into a two goal lead.

70: Replay shows an inch perfect cross from Ben Coker onto Hunt’s head.

71: Michael Timlin is lucky to get away with a robust challenge.

72: A quiet minute.

73: Another quiet minute.

74: Timlin shoots over the bar.

75: Mooney puts a great chance just wide of the post.

76: On Target stats appear – Southend 7 Peterborough 1.

77: What do you call a group of bankers? A wunch!

78: Lovely tippy tappy stuff from Southend, I could watch this lot.

79: Ben Coker tidies up nicely once again.

80: Southend knock the ball across the face of the Peterborough net.

81: Free kick to Peterborough.

82: Quick break from Southend looks good but comes to nothing.

83: Joe Pigott comes on as substitute for Noel Hunt.

84: Free kick to Peterborough in the centre circle.

85: Southend clear easily with a solid defence.

86: WORRALL and WHITE work a good chance but it travels across goal.

87: Stephen McLaughlin comes on to replace David Worrall.

88: Word is passed that there will be 4 additional minutes.

89: McLaughlin gives the ball away and Maddison scores for Peterborough.

90: Luke O’Neill comes on for David Mooney, a defender for a striker.

91: Ryan Leonard races from the half way line to take the ball into the corner.

92: Maddison shoots over the bar for Peterborough.

93: Foul by Peterborough on McLaughlin near the corner flag.

94: Two Peterborough players manhandle a blue shirt in the corner.

95: Peterborough Corner with Alnwick in the Southend area.

The referee blows the final whistle and Southend have won 2-1.

3 = Southend v. Peterborough

The first action is to check out who might be playing on the recording that I am about to watch. 

Could someone please pronounce the name of the Peterborough number three for me.

Southend United    Peterborough United 1 DANIEL BENTLEY 1 BEN ALNWICK 2 JOHN WHITE 2 MICHAEL SMITH 3 BEN COKER 3 KGOSI NTLHE 4 ANTHONY WORDSWORTH 4 SHAUN BRISLEY 5 ADAM THOMPSON 5 GABRIEL ZAKUANI 6 LUKE PROSSER 6 JACK BALDWIN 7 DAVID WORRALL 7 JON TAYLOR 8 MICHAEL TIMLIN 8 MICHAEL BOSTWICK 9 DAVID MOONEY 9 KYLE VASSELL 10 JACK PAYNE 10 ERHUN OZTUMER 11 MYLES WESTON 11 MARCUS MADDISON 12 WILL ATKINSON 12 RICARDO SANTOS 13 TED SMITH 14 CONOR WASHINGTON 14 KEVAN HURST 15 JERMAINE ANDERSON 15 CIAN BOLGER 16 HARRY BEAUTYMAN 16 NOEL HUNT 17 ALEX DAVEY 17 STEPHEN McLAUGHLIN 19 JOE GORMLEY 18 RYAN LEONARD 20 HARRY ANDERSON 20 GLEN REA 21 TOBI ADEBAYO-ROWLING 21 PAUL SMITH 22 LEONARDO DA SILVA LOPES 22 GARY DEEGAN 24 LEE ANGOL 23 JOE PIGOTT 26 DION HENRY 24 LUKE O'NEILL 27 KIERAN SADLIER 26 ADAM BARRETT 28 SOULEYMANE COULIBALY 30 JONATHAN EDWARDS 31 JACK COLLISON 32 CALLUM ELDER 33 CHRIS FORRESTER

Saturday 5th September

Time for my blog. The TV just magically switched from the football analysis to "Strictly Come Dancing" so I guess the wife has been at the controls while I was not watching. England have just beaten San Marino 6-0. This was a chance for San Marino to learn and a chance for us to try and score as many goals as possible. I have to be impressed that Theo Walcott scored a couple of goals but I cannot say the match gripped me at all.

This has been a busy day as my daughter just completed her maiden skydive in tandem with a chap who held a wrist camera to capture all the photographs. The company did well out of me as they got an extra £50 to take her up to 15,000 feet and when we saw the photographs my daughter simply had to have them costing me an extra £99. It is good to see her so happy though so I am convinced it was worth it.

Now I can settle down a bit and check up on all my pyramid teams. I have recorded Southend United who were on television at lunchtime. I may get the chance to watch them tomorrow morning but I heard the result on the radio as we were returning from Dunkeswell and they won 2-1. Listen to my language as I am aware that using the words we and us means you are a true dedicated fan but I am using the words they and them making me no more than an observer which is true.

Arsenal and Brentford have no matches as this is an international weekend and Premier League fans hate these weekends without "real football". The internationals are no longer a national obsession and as a result they pass many people by. This is a chance for my injured Arsenal players to recover a bit and I hope they make the most of the opportunity.

The best news for me this weekend is that my bottom of the table team Weston-super-Mare in the Conference South have won for the first time this season. This was 1-0 away from home at a place called Bishop's Stortford. Are they rubbish or did my pick simply have the luck of the chances taking the one needed to score the only goal?

The guys at work are going to be happy on Monday as Exeter beat Leyton Orient 4-0. The report on the radio suggested that Exeter were not worth that margin of victory but we all know that it is the result that counts not the performance. I know that most painfully as I am an Arsenal supporter.

Torquay United have not been producing good results recently so my expectations have been dropping and as they are one of the most hated teams in my office (local rivals) I am not sure that a positive 1-1 draw at home against Guiseley will go down well.

After recent weeks with poor performances from my league selections you will notice that all the above has been positive, including Torquay changing from defeats to a draw. I now look down at the Southern League results and see that Bideford lost 2-1 at home to Hungerford Town. The draw on bank holiday Monday was a blip in a series of defeats. Do I really want to go and watch them live?

Tiverton Town have been producing positive results. The latest defeat was in the F.A.Cup. Beating Swindon Supermarine 2-1 at home should put "us" in a good position in the table ... checking ... this result should be enough to put us in the playoff places depending on other results.

My Western League pick Barnstaple travelled to Bristol Manor Farm and earned a point in a 2-2 draw. That result keeps my team just behind the leaders and in touch such that a couple of wins can put us in contention.

I have saved the best till last. Exmouth Town travelled to Saltash United in a clearly Devon v. Cornwall clash. Looking at the result I see that the score was 3-3 at the end of normal time. You already know from my language at the start of this paragraph that my boys Exmouth scored the winner in extra time to win 4-3.

For the ladies, who should not be reading this blog, they are still announcing the pairings in Strictly Come Dancing. I think I will go and put the kettle on.

10 = Exmouth Town

This post is in anticipation of the F.A.Vase first qualifying round which takes place on 5th September. The only one of my teams in the first qualifying round is Exmouth Town who are away at Saltash United. It could have been a nice drive down the A38 to Plymouth, over the bridge then brake hard. Unfortunately my daughter is jumping out of an aircraft on Saturday so I have agreed to be there ready to catch her.

Barnstaple receive a bye through to the second qualifying round so will not appear in this competition until 3rd October.

Exmouth lost 1-0 to Saltash on 8th August so I hope they learned a few lessons from that match. Their second match was a defeat to Ivybridge Town but since then they have beaten Launceston and Elburton Villa. Good luck in the Vase Exmouth.

12 = Exwick Villa 2nds

Having enjoyed the lads night out at Exwick Villa before my summer holiday I returned determined to watch some more. My internet browsing revealed that there was a match at the same ground because the Exwick Villa 2nd team were playing against another local team, Heavitree United.

I had paid £3-50 for the chance to watch the first team, but that was in the semi-professional South West Peninsula League. This match in the Premier Division of the Devon & Exeter League was free so I was able to amble in and settle on the boundary with a friendly chap who was approaching the end of his playing days. We both enjoyed a competitive and entertaining match and commented about the changes over the years. Some fouls given in this game would not have been fouls 20 years ago.

Heavitree United took the lead and we were deep in conversation when Exwick Villa equalised. I saw Heavitree taking a kick off from the centre spot and drew the only possible conclusion but with these live matches there are no action replays to find out what happened. If you miss it you miss it and we both missed it. The match stayed level until half time and we agreed that Heavitree had the best of it.

The second half livened up a bit and I felt that Exwick were more determined to win as several players in dark blue (Heavitree) hit the ground and rolled around a lot. The referee did have the option and we formed opinions about which late tackles deserved a booking and which hard challenges should have been punished with no more than a free kick. The match was becoming great entertainment.

I suppose that the high point has to be near the end. Time was ticking away and my friend for the night suggested that Exwick had missed their last chance. I thought from what I had seen that Exwick were getting stronger as the match wore on and could get one or perhaps two more chances. They used up both of those and then just to prove us both wrong scored with a lob over the keeper.

The last minute or two was played up the far end of the pitch with 21 players in the box and one taking the corner. Confusion reigned as the referee ran over to the linesman as the corner was taken and in that confusion the match ended.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable match with a great finish and tremendous value for money. I paid two pounds for a couple of strips in the 50-50 draw. I shall return.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Saturday 29th August started a busy weekend. You might all have seen Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain score the goal that won Arsenal their match at Newcastle although it deflected in off that bloke in black and white stripes. In the world of the football fan we don't care about the opposition.

I could go through the leagues in order but this weekend was also an F.A.Cup weekend as the qualifying matches have to take place before the minnows get their chance against the big boys. My teams had mixed fortunes. Tiverton Town lost 4-1 away at Plymouth Parkway while Barnstaple won 2-0 away at Bridgwater Town.

Now I can give you all the bad news. Brentford lost 3-1 at home to reading while Exeter travelled to Wimbledon to be defeated 2-1. Torquay took on Cheltenham at home and lost 3-0. Weston travelled to Oxford City for a 3-0 defeat. Bideford hold the record as they managed to lose 5-0 at home to Histon. Bideford were pissed on by Histon.

There were some better results for teams I am following in the Devon & Exeter League but they are not for this blog unless I actually go out and watch them in which case you will hear all about it.

Bank Holiday Monday was much better for me but there were still no wins to celebrate. Southend travelled to Coventry in the evening and managed a 2-2 draw. Earlier in the day Torquay lost 3-2 away at Eastleigh, a club thriving in the shadow of Southampton. Weston were at home to Bath City and managed to maintain their consistency by losing 1-0. In the Southern League Bideford drew 0-0 away at Paulton Rovers and Tiverton drew 0-0 away at Bridgwater Town.

On Tuesday Exeter qualified for the next round in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy by beating Portsmouth 2-0 at home. That concludes a very boring report. Maybe I should get out more.