TW3

That Was The Week That Was:

A great night for my picks on Tuesday night -

Arsenal beat Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and can still qualify.

Southend travelled all the way up to Oldham and came away with a 5-2 victory.

Exeter travelled to Mansfield and were also victorious, this time the score was 2-0.

Finally Weston-super-Mare took on Havant & Waterlooville, winning 3-2 TYVM.


Come the weekend and we find that Arsenal are playing today (Sunday).

Brentford in the Championship are playing Monday night football this week.

Southend United drew 0-0 at home to Wigan.

Exeter City drew 1-1 at home to Bristol Rovers.

Torquay United drew 0-0 away to Braintree Town.

Weston came up trumps for the second time in a week, winning 3-2 at home to Hitchin Town.
This means qualification for the next round of the F.A.Trophy.

Bideford went away to Maidenhead United in the F.A.Trophy and are now out having lost 4-0.

Tiverton Town beat North Leigh 2-1 in the Southern League South & West Division.

Barnstaple beat Bradford Town 3-2 away in the Western League Premier Division.

Exmouth Town travelled to Torpoint Athletic in the South West Peninsula League and lost 2-1.

Now I can settle down and watch the Arsenal match.

Testing Times

I struggled with my open university course this week.

Many matches were postponed due to the weather in midweek and many F.A.Vase matches were postponed for the same reason on Saturday. The midweek match that survived was Tiverton Town's home match against Shortwood United. A 4-1 win sees Tiverton nicely placed near the top of the table in the Southern League South & West Division.

Tiverton followed this up with a 0-0 draw away at Winchester. A point away from home will do.

Barnstaple lost in the F.A.Vase 2-1 to Hengrove Athletic so that is their cup ambitions over for the season. Exmouth Town travelled to St. Blazey and came away with a remarkable 5-1 win. I must get to see this team before the season is out.

Bideford had a nightmare at home in the Southern League Premier Division. Kings Lynn Town turned up and went home happy with a 5-0 victory.

Exeter are very pleased with themselves as they won the local derby winning 2-1 away at Plymouth.

Southend won the battle of the seaside towns, beating Blackpool 1-0 at home.

Brentford produced a third league win in three beating Nottingham Forest 2-1. A good win.

The real failure of this week is Arsenal going to West Bromwich Albion and losing there for the first time since 2005 and to make matters worse Santi Cazorla missed a penalty. It would seem that he cannot score even if his life depends upon it. I would not have let him take that penalty.

Tomorrow is another day, this week sees some European action, and I got 22 out of 24 in my weekly test so the struggle was worthwhile.

F.A.Trophy weekend

With the internationals against Spain and France for the England team there is no football at the highest level this weekend. I shall therefore concentrate my focus on another competition, the F.A.Trophy competed for by teams from level 5 to level 8 (Step 1 to Step 4 of the non league game).

I had two teams in the competition at this stage as the Conference teams have not yet been required to play (just like Premier League teams do not enter the F.A.Cup until the third round). Bideford and Tiverton are up against opposition from levels 7 and 8 so I need to do some research to find out what happened.

Bideford managed to beat Brentwood Town 3-2 so continue their run in the F.A.Trophy. The information that I have been able to find one day after the match is ..... zilch. Interconnectedness on the internet does rely on the enthusiastic followers of football clubs updating the information early. Not every club has the right level of enthusiast attached.

Tiverton Town travelled to East Thurrock and managed to lose 5-0. Not surprisingly the information I have been able to find out online is .... zilch, but then who wants to write up a report about a bad defeat on the road. The enthusiasts are probably still drunk, trying to forget, and on their way home.

So much for the F.A.Trophy then. How about my other selected teams?

Southend and Exeter both drew 2-2. Southend were away at Sheffield United and Exeter were at home to Crawley. Torquay travelled to Barrow and lost 4-0 so relegation is a definite possibility. Weston-super-Mare had one of those days, losing 1-0 away at Gosport Borough. Bideford and Tiverton you know about, well all the information I could find anyway. Barnstaple Town followed last week's 2-0 over Bristol Manor Farm with a 6-0 win over Roman Glass St George. All teams with silly names should be given a damn good thrashing. Exmouth Town entertained Camelford in the South West Peninsula league and won 4-3. There does seem to be some good entertainment down there and I know the pubs are good.

Now, I have to put the bed back together after taking it apart. My Mrs has decided to move rooms.

Where are my teams at the start of November?

Everton have just beaten Sunderland 6-2 and Arsenal Ladies are leading Notts County ladies 2-0 with 5 minutes to go. I should be getting on with my university studies but I prefer to blog about football and at least it keeps me in active mode.

Pick 1) Arsenal are second behind Manchester City and in a good position to challenge for the title.

Pick 2) Brentford are in 11th place, 4 points off the playoff places and 10 points above relegation.

Pick 3) Southend are also in 11th place, 4 points off the playoff places and 8 points above relegation.

Pick 4) Exeter are in 14th place, 4 points off the playoff places and 13 points above relegation.

Pick 5) Torquay are at the top of the four teams occupying relegation places. The drop is possible.

Pick 6) Weston-super-Mare have been bottom but are now one point above the relegation places.

Pick 7) Bideford are firmly in a relegation place and are 7 points from safety at this early stage.

Pick 8) Tiverton are nicely placed in the playoff places and are 5 points from automatic promotion.

Pick 9) Barnstaple Town are in 6th place and 6 points off the only automatic promotion slot.

Pick 10) Exmouth Town are in 12th place, 20 points from promotion and 14 points from relegation.


N.B. Arsenal Ladies are winners of the Continental Cup so that is another chance to celebrate.