I contemplated a minute by minute blog for this one but I have decided to sit back and just enjoy the match. I hope you enjoy it too. Alternatively you could watch Leicester beat Tottenham.
Wednesday 20 January 2016
Saturday 9 January 2016
My teams in December
ARSENAL
I have to be pleased as we are now sitting comfortably at the top of the league.
We beat Sunderland, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The best result of the month has to be beating Olympiacos 3-0 away. We maintain the record.
The one blip was being stuffed by Southampton but they fully deserved their win on the day.
BRENTFORD
A mixed bag. Beat MK Dons, drew with Fulham, lost to Cardiff. Beat Huddersfield, drew with Brighton and wait for it ...... no we beat Reading as well. We are now sat in 10th place looking comfortable but perhaps we should be challenging for a play off place.
SOUTHEND
Lost to Millwall in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy before beating Bury and Colchester in the League. Millwall then beat us once again in the League completing an unpalatable double. We are in 7th place just outside where we want to be.
EXETER
16th place in the league is a drop from early season form. December seems to have been a very bad month for the Grecians. Should I disown them now? The team lost to Luton, Oxford and Wimbledon before starting the new year by losing to Dagenham & Redbridge.
TORQUAY
I can admit that our local rivals are only on my choice list because they are the nearest club. I am quite happy to see them second bottom in the National League although perhaps Helen Chamberlain is not so happy. Defeats to Wrexham, Chester and Cheltenham have not helped the league position and the victory over Forest Green was followed by defeat to the same team at the start of the new year. The one bright note is that following a 0-0 draw with Chesham we went on to beat them in the F.A.Trophy by the margin of 2-0.
WESTON-SUPER-MARE
The weather has caused some postponement recently but the month started with a win over Wealdstone. This was followed by draws with Bishop's Stortford and Hayes & Yeading. The team sit in 19th place just above the relegation zone and in serious danger unless the second half of the season is better than the first half.
BIDEFORD
My Southern League premier choice was also one of location and the team sit in 23rd place, firmly in the relegation zone. A draw with Hitchin Town was followed by defeats to Histon and Paulton Rovers. 2016 needs to be a completely new year if this group are to stay at their current level.
TIVERTON
Tiverton town lost in the Devon St. Luke's Challenge Cup but they were up against Plymouth Argyle who presumably had access to a better class of player. In addition the month started with defeat to Evesham United before victories against Wimborne Town and Wantage Town rescued the month. The month ended with a defeat to Marlow and a draw with Bridgwater Town. We sit 5th in the league in the last of the play off places.
BARNSTAPLE
Barnstaple sit 4th in the league which is comfortable. Bristol Manor Farm are top of the league with Odd Down and Street in between. It is looking like another year in the Western League. There have been a lot of postponements due to the weather but defeat to Odd Down and victory over Cadbury Heath are the two results that led up to christmas.
EXMOUTH TOWN
Exmouth sit safely in 6th place in the league and I now know where to go if I want to watch them as I was in town over christmas enjoying a pub lunch and visiting friends. A win over Witheridge and a defeat to Helston Athletic were followed by a series of postponements. The new year is going to be a busy time as fixtures are played in an attempt to catch up.
Arsenal are now 3-1 up against Sunderland.
I have to be pleased as we are now sitting comfortably at the top of the league.
We beat Sunderland, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The best result of the month has to be beating Olympiacos 3-0 away. We maintain the record.
The one blip was being stuffed by Southampton but they fully deserved their win on the day.
BRENTFORD
A mixed bag. Beat MK Dons, drew with Fulham, lost to Cardiff. Beat Huddersfield, drew with Brighton and wait for it ...... no we beat Reading as well. We are now sat in 10th place looking comfortable but perhaps we should be challenging for a play off place.
SOUTHEND
Lost to Millwall in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy before beating Bury and Colchester in the League. Millwall then beat us once again in the League completing an unpalatable double. We are in 7th place just outside where we want to be.
EXETER
16th place in the league is a drop from early season form. December seems to have been a very bad month for the Grecians. Should I disown them now? The team lost to Luton, Oxford and Wimbledon before starting the new year by losing to Dagenham & Redbridge.
TORQUAY
I can admit that our local rivals are only on my choice list because they are the nearest club. I am quite happy to see them second bottom in the National League although perhaps Helen Chamberlain is not so happy. Defeats to Wrexham, Chester and Cheltenham have not helped the league position and the victory over Forest Green was followed by defeat to the same team at the start of the new year. The one bright note is that following a 0-0 draw with Chesham we went on to beat them in the F.A.Trophy by the margin of 2-0.
WESTON-SUPER-MARE
The weather has caused some postponement recently but the month started with a win over Wealdstone. This was followed by draws with Bishop's Stortford and Hayes & Yeading. The team sit in 19th place just above the relegation zone and in serious danger unless the second half of the season is better than the first half.
BIDEFORD
My Southern League premier choice was also one of location and the team sit in 23rd place, firmly in the relegation zone. A draw with Hitchin Town was followed by defeats to Histon and Paulton Rovers. 2016 needs to be a completely new year if this group are to stay at their current level.
TIVERTON
Tiverton town lost in the Devon St. Luke's Challenge Cup but they were up against Plymouth Argyle who presumably had access to a better class of player. In addition the month started with defeat to Evesham United before victories against Wimborne Town and Wantage Town rescued the month. The month ended with a defeat to Marlow and a draw with Bridgwater Town. We sit 5th in the league in the last of the play off places.
BARNSTAPLE
Barnstaple sit 4th in the league which is comfortable. Bristol Manor Farm are top of the league with Odd Down and Street in between. It is looking like another year in the Western League. There have been a lot of postponements due to the weather but defeat to Odd Down and victory over Cadbury Heath are the two results that led up to christmas.
EXMOUTH TOWN
Exmouth sit safely in 6th place in the league and I now know where to go if I want to watch them as I was in town over christmas enjoying a pub lunch and visiting friends. A win over Witheridge and a defeat to Helston Athletic were followed by a series of postponements. The new year is going to be a busy time as fixtures are played in an attempt to catch up.
Arsenal are now 3-1 up against Sunderland.
DEAD Football Teams
Last night my love of the game returned as I watched my home town Exeter take on the mighty Liverpool in the F.A.Cup. Some of my friends went to get cold and wet but I stayed home and watched the television coverage. We drew 2-2 with young Tom Nicholls scoring the opening goal. He is earmarked for progression in the game but like all young hopefuls he will have to remain injury free.
Today I am listening to Arsenal on Arsenal Player while watching the scores pop up on Gillette Soccer Saturday from Sky Sports. The score is 0-0 and Sunderland have had the first chance but I have been compiling the Pyramid Tables (My Choice) and I thought I would mention some team names that we may never see again as they have dropped out of their respective leagues.
When league teams get into trouble there are usually enough supporters around to save the club with personal saving being put into a "save the club" fund. There are many reasons for lower level clubs disappearing from a mass player walkout to financial misappropriation by the directors. All I know is that football tables that started out with more teams now have less and I have decided to list the names from this season.
The National League (Conference) has seen no dropouts this season so we start looking at levels 7 & 8. I will admit that I am surprised that I can find no dropouts in the three regional leagues.
Level 9 was looking very secure but I have found the first team to fail. Winterbourne United are no longer competing in the Western League. I have found an internet article that indicates:
"Robyn Maggs is relieved that Winterbourne United's first team has been removed from the Western League."
Level 10 may show a few more teams dropping out so let us find out.
Mickleover Royals have dropped out of the East Midlands Counties League.
St Neots Town Saints have dropped out of the United Counties League.
Mickleover had won all four of their matches but dropped out for financial reasons.
St Neots Town Saints "have found it increasingly difficult to carry on for a number of reasons".
Level 11 teams dropping out from pyramid leagues are listed below:
Riccall United - Central Midlands League North
Thoresby Colliery - Central Midlands League North
Tintinhull - Dorset Premier League
Tiptree Jobserve - Essex & Suffolk Border League
Kings Stanley - Gloucestershire County League
Caterpillar - Leicestershire Senior League
Dunton & Broughton Rangers - Leicestershire Senior League
St Andrews Reserves - Leicestershire Senior League
Liver Academy - Liverpool County Premier League
Red Rum - Liverpool County Premier League
Kenilworth Town - Midland League
Aston - Midland League
Ringstead Rangers - Northamptonshire Combination
Gretton - Northamptonshire Combination
Welford Victoria - Northamptonshire Combination
Bletchingdon - Oxfordshire Senior League
Broughton & North Newington - Oxfordshire Senior League
Aylesbury United Reserves - Spartan South Midlands League
Dudley Hill Rangers - West Riding County Amateur League
Bardsey - West Yorkshire League
Andover New Street Swifts - Wiltshire League
Terrington Glory - York League
22 teams gone but there are plenty still going.
Arsenal v. Sunderland is 1-1 at half time.
Sunday 3 January 2016
December belongs to the wife
So, welcome back normality.
December starts with me having to contruct our christmas newsletter to send out with all the christmas cards. We then have to write all the cards and add any extra information on top of the news for selected persons. I am then expected to take the wife shopping and pay for all the presents although give her credit she is happy to choose all the items. We then have to go visiting all the people that we have ignored all year. I have to attend at least one christmas party with work and drink on many other occasions. All this means that you have heard nothing from me throughout December. What do you mean nobody noticed?
The new year has started with football on Friday 1st January. Torquay went away to Forest Green Rovers who beat them 3-1. That is a good place to start as all the matches at lower levels scheduled for Saturday 2nd January were called off due to waterlogged pitches or anticipated bad weather. My cousin's parents in law were flooded out and did not take extra flood insurance of £400 on the basis that for the past 48 years they have had no problems. This was now a costly mistake. Hindsight is a very valuable teacher.
So with just my league teams to tell you about we can start with Exeter who decided to lose to Dagenham & Redbridge at home, the score being 1-2.
Southend United were far more generous, losing 3-0 at home to Doncaster Rovers.
At least Brentford were away as they went down 2-1 to Birmingham City.
That leaves my top team Arsenal, and as I listened to the commentary we were definitely the second best team on the pitch but football is not all about performance, if it were we would win every match, it is about scoring goals and Lauren Koscielny scored the only goal of the game for a 1-0 win.
There. One of my resolutions is complete as I have updated my blog. Maybe I will do a team by team summary of December and the more I think about it that may be a better way to document this blog. It is early days, but now in addition to all my other "things" I have decided to take an open university course on football.
Bring on the new year.
December starts with me having to contruct our christmas newsletter to send out with all the christmas cards. We then have to write all the cards and add any extra information on top of the news for selected persons. I am then expected to take the wife shopping and pay for all the presents although give her credit she is happy to choose all the items. We then have to go visiting all the people that we have ignored all year. I have to attend at least one christmas party with work and drink on many other occasions. All this means that you have heard nothing from me throughout December. What do you mean nobody noticed?
The new year has started with football on Friday 1st January. Torquay went away to Forest Green Rovers who beat them 3-1. That is a good place to start as all the matches at lower levels scheduled for Saturday 2nd January were called off due to waterlogged pitches or anticipated bad weather. My cousin's parents in law were flooded out and did not take extra flood insurance of £400 on the basis that for the past 48 years they have had no problems. This was now a costly mistake. Hindsight is a very valuable teacher.
So with just my league teams to tell you about we can start with Exeter who decided to lose to Dagenham & Redbridge at home, the score being 1-2.
Southend United were far more generous, losing 3-0 at home to Doncaster Rovers.
At least Brentford were away as they went down 2-1 to Birmingham City.
That leaves my top team Arsenal, and as I listened to the commentary we were definitely the second best team on the pitch but football is not all about performance, if it were we would win every match, it is about scoring goals and Lauren Koscielny scored the only goal of the game for a 1-0 win.
There. One of my resolutions is complete as I have updated my blog. Maybe I will do a team by team summary of December and the more I think about it that may be a better way to document this blog. It is early days, but now in addition to all my other "things" I have decided to take an open university course on football.
Bring on the new year.
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