Non League Football Show

I have to recommend the non league football show:

EPISODE ONE

EPISODE TWO

EPISODE THREE

This is a decent production that I shall have to keep my eye on.

Bank Holiday Monday

Bank Holiday has seen a full National League program.

My pick Eastleigh lost at home to Ebbsfleet United.

AFC Fylde and Harrogate Town sit at the bottom of the playoff places and they are on TV at the moment. The score is 0-0 in the 85th minute. We should know the result before I finish this posting.

Aldershot 2 Sutton United 1 moves Aldershot out of the relegation zone.
Barnet 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 1 sees Dagenham & Redbridge remain at the foot of the table.
Braintree Town 0 Maidenhead United 2 keeps Braintree just above Dagenham & Redbridge at the bottom.
Bromley 4 Havant & Waterlooville 0 puts Havant & Waterlooville in the relegation zone.
FC Halifax Town 1 Gateshead 0 puts Halifax at the very top of the table.
Hartlepool United 1 Chesterfield 0 sees Hartlepool just outside the playoff places.
Leyton Orient 3 Dover Athletic 0 means Orient are now in third place with Dover firmly struggling as the other team in the relegation four.
Maidstone United 1 Boreham Wood 2 sees both teams in the middle of the table.
Salford City 3 Barrow 1 puts Salford near the bottom of the top half and Barrow top of the bottom half.
Solihull Moors 1 Wrexham 0 keeps both teams in the playoff places.

The full time score in the televised match is AFC Fylde 0 Harrogate Town 0 . A point apiece.

In the National League South my team Weston-super-Mare were beaten 2-0 by Bath City.

Tiverton Town lost today to local rivals Taunton Town. The 1-3 scoreline takes Taunton above Tiverton in the league table with Weymouth above both of them.

Bideford beat Barnstaple 1-0 in the North Devon Derby leaving Barnstaple in the relegation zone with a points total of zero.

You Tube Clips

The highlights:

PREMIER LEAGUE

CHAMPIONSHIP

LEAGUE ONE

LEAGUE TWO

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Still looking

Results = 25th August 2018

Arsenal gained 3 points in their third match of the season to avoid appearing in the relegation zone. There should be a steady climb up the table in the next few weeks but if West Ham had taken all their chances they could have beaten us easily. The final result of 3-1 to the gunners is a satisfactory start on the road to winning every week.

Brentford travelled all the way to Blackburn Rovers and came away with no points in a 1-0 defeat.

Southend United travelled across the country to Bristol Rovers and the journey was worth it as a 1-0 win was the result.

Exeter were up against their old manager Paul Tisdale who is now at MK Dons. The Dons won this match 1-0 scoring one of two penalties they were given.

Eastleigh gained a 2-1 win away from home. Their travels took them to Dover Athletic who scored their goal as a consolation.

Weston-super-Mare were at home to Oxford City and the visitors earned themselves a 1-1 draw. Weston are now bottom of the league and it looks like it may be another season trying to remain at this level.

Tiverton Town travelled to Harrow Borough and earned a 2-2 draw which keeps them at the top of the league. They are on the same number of points as Weymouth and Merthyr Town. Their goal difference in better than Merthyr but they are only above Weymouth by Alphabetical order.

Barnstaple are no longer in the F.A.Cup after losing 1-0 at home to Shaftesbury.

Buckland Athletic continue in the F.A.Cup as they beat Mangotsfield United 2-0.

Exmouth town crossed the border and came away with a victory. A 2-0 win at Callington Town has put them 5th in the table. Three wins and one defeat is a good start to the season.

As a bonus I checked up on my 11th pick playing in the South West Peninsula League Division One East. Elmore came from behind to beat St. Martins 2-1 at Horsden Park and ended a run of 22 games without defeat for the reigning champions.

That will do for reporting. I shall now try to find some video evidence.

Tables start to take shape

WIth the third match of the Premier League season about to take place it will no longer be possible to say "We should not be where we are in the league". West Ham bought well in the summer but the new players have not yet melded into the team. As it happens I am going to a barbecue this afternoon and often my elsewhereness has resulted in poor results for Arsenal. I was at a family wedding when Manchester United beat us 8-2 and I spoke to a friend who was seriously embarrassed in the pub where he watched THAT game.

I still expect us to finish in the top six with hopes for the top four but it will not surprise me if we lost to West Ham. We managed to stay above the relegation places last week as we only lost 2-0 to Manchester City. That result may prove to be one of the better performances against a team expected to walk the league once again.

Brentford travel to Blackburn Rovers this afternoon and their website tells me that the match will kick off in precisely 4 hours and 58 minutes. Sadly, that is not enough time for me to get to Blackburn but I had no intention of going anyway.

When I check the Southend United site it tells me that the next match starts in 7 days, 4 hours and 56 minutes. You have to dig a little deeper to find out that today's match is against Bristol Rovers away. That match is easily within reach but as I said earlier I am off to a barbecue this afternoon.

Exeter have got it right like Brentford with the match against Milton Keynes Dons being listed as 4 hours and 53 minutes away. Now if you are clever you can work out how long it is taking me to put this piece of literary detritus together. The other thing quickly discernable from this website is that the Carabao cup continues on Tuesday.

Moving from the league clubs to the non league clubs I arrive at the Eastleigh website and here I have to pick the correct season before they show me the fixtures. I wonder how many people want to know what the fixtures were last season or the season before. Eastleigh are away at Dover Athletic and from what I read they are a good side that punch above their weight. Tough test.

Weston-super-Mare are at home to Oxford City. A couple of promotions and they could be taking on their city rivals United (one relegation season). I still like the online presence of Weston although I almost switched them for Torquay United this season. Torquay will be much more attractive if they build the new stadium assuming adequate car parking is attached.

Tiverton Town are top of the Southern League Premier Division South so what could go wrong? As they renamed their stadium last week I am surprised to see that the website still references Ladysmead. That is not a worry today as the team are travelling to Harrow Borough. One old mate of mine used to support them but we have long ago lost touch. That's life.

On the Barnstaple site I have to select the month before I am given the fixtures. I should have checked earlier as this one would have got me intrigued and could have earned my money if I had not been going to the barbecue. Barnstaple Town are at home to Shaftesbury in the Preliminary Round of the F.A.Cup. This is the second of two preliminary rounds before the four qualifying rounds start. It is always a pleasure to watch the little minnows beat better opposition but at this stage of the competition the minnows have to beat the other minnows. Come on Barnstaple! I will watch you in the first qualifying round.

That covers the first eight levels of the English Football Pyramid system.

I watched Buckland Athletic in the F.A.Cup last season but not this year. Their website lists the next fixture as 1st September so I have to presume that they expected to win their extra preliminary F.A.Cup match and wanted to play today in the preliminary round. Football has a way of kicking you when you least need it.

Keying in "Exmouth fixtures" brought up the rugby club first and the cricket club second but I have found the football club now and in future I will use the phrase "Exmouth Town". Today the lads are away to Callington. If I remember rightly that is just over the border where they put the jam on before the cream. Savages! When I click "Read More" it moves me down the same page I am already on without any further information. Some of these clubs could pay for online training.

I expect to check in later in the weekend to provide you with the results. It is at times like this that I realise why football fans follow only ONE club and limit their knowledge to one set of players and fixtures.

Midweek Video Highlights

Video highlights that I have found:

FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

The short version of Villa v. Brentford

The long version of Villa v. Brentford

FOOTBALL LEAGUE ONE

Southend away at Luton

Exeter away at Cambridge

Tiverton Town rename the Ladysmead ground

Midweek Results

So taking my previous post in reverse order:

Celtic travelled to Suduva and managed a 1-1 draw. They expect to win the second leg.

In the F.A.Cup Kirkley and Pakefield were beaten 3-2 by FC Clacton.

Exeter did better than expected and beat Cambridge away.

Southend United did worse than expected losing 2-0 to Luton Town.

I watched the Brentford match and Aston Villa put in a good performance. Brentford held on and took the lead twice. They should have had more goals but missed a few decent chances. This cost them as Aston Villa equalised in the 95th Minute.

I shall now hunt down some videos.

Midweek Fixtures

The league tables are no indication of relative talent at this stage of the season but I will use them anyway.

Brentford are away at Aston Villa tomorrow night. Villa are 4th while Brentford are 9th. It will be a challenge.

Southend United are away to Luton Town tonight. Southend are 10th in the league while Luton are in the relegation zone. Easy win.

Exeter City are top of the table in league two and they travel to Cambridge United. If I know Exeter this is a defeat in waiting.

Something else I am following is the F.A.Cup and in the extra preliminary round FC Clacton are up against Kirkley and Pakefield.

Celtic, having been beaten out of the Champions League compete in the Europa League qualifying against Suduva on Thursday.

Having set the scene I will check back later in the week for the results.

Video Highlights

Those matches that I have been able to find online:

PREMIER LEAGUE

Do you want the 5 minute highlights?

Perhaps you would like the fantasy version.

Maybe you want to see Arsenal make Kepa Arrizabalaga look half decent.

Most of the other highlights are in foreign languages so I will not impose them on you.

FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

Brentford 2 Sheffield Wednesday 0

FOOTBALL LEAGUE ONE

Southend United 2 Bradford 0

FOOTBALL LEAGUE TWO

Exeter City 1 Newport County 1

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Eastleigh 1 Wrexham 3 (VLOG)

NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH

Billericay 4 Weston-super-Mare 2

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH

Tiverton Town 3 Frome Town 1

Tiverton Town 5 Walton Casuals 1

Searching for more but I have been distracted ..... again .....

NO MORE : Cannot find any current videos of Barnstaple, Buckland or Exmouth.

Full Time : Find out by reading

The second half was very different from the first half. There were periods when Chelsea were completely dominant. There were no prolonged periods with Arsenal in charge. The match was still entertaining but in this second half some of the challenges were more determined and a few yellow cards were shown.

When Eden Hazard came on he made a difference. He provided the cross through a mass of defenders for Marcos Alonso to get a touch into the net and Chelsea took the lead. The Arsenal response as it has been for years was to carry on exactly as before. With many teams you will see a sense of urgency upon going behind. Arsenal are, of course, above that. We are so good that we will win without having to put any effort in. It has always been thus. Unfortunately that is why we never beat the really top teams. There was no "determination to win".

Our third match is against West Ham who have bought very well in the summer. If they get their act together this will be the third tough match in a row. The one hope I do have is past experience. When have West Ham EVER got their act together. They could go three goals up and we will win 4-3. That would be a great match to watch for us but if Unai Emery is doing his job then perhaps we will see a better defensive performance maybe at the cost of attacking flair.

I shall watch the lower leagues now.

Until next Saturday ...

Half Time Chelsea 2 Arsenal 2

It is hard to understand what I have just watched.

There have been some dazzling individual performances but Arsenal still have no idea how to defend.

This is a long standing problem that Unai Emery has to fix using some magic formula that none of the pundits seem to know or understand.

Chelsea were dominant in the early exchanges and took a two nil lead with goals from Pedro and Morata. They could have had more.

Something then snapped in the Chelsea formation. Arsenal scored two goals and missed three much easier open goals. Mkhitaryan and Iwobi got the goals.

Shooting practice is required for Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Iwobi as they each missed from a position that it would have been easier to score. Sky shots.

So with Chelsea running the show they went 2-0 up then took their foot off the gas. Arsenal could have had 5 in reply but only managed to put two in the onion bag.

I hope that the second half contains the same level of entertainment.

Saturday Post Match

In reverse order then:

Twitter confirms that EXMOUTH TOWN beat Torpoint Athletic 4-0 with three goals from "Ace High" and one from Boere. This has peaked my interest and I must drop in "at the end of the line" next time I am in Exmouth.

Roman Glass are now 4-1 up against BUCKLAND ATHLETIC although there is no confirmation yet that this is a result. According to the tweets Les Afful scored from the penalty spot but apart from that it was a fairly easy home victory.

There is a similar situation going on at Moneyfields. They are 3-1 up against BARNSTAPLE TOWN. Ben Paul scored the Barnstaple goal after the Moneyfields side had gone 3-0 up. Once again this is not a confirmed result but that often happens when teams are defeated. Fans do not feel the need to confirm defeat although there is usually a confirmation when the team wins.

Back to Flash Scores and they confirm that TIVERTON TOWN have won their match against Walton Casuals by 5 goals to 1. The summary page shows that T.Bath scored in the first and second minutes. That should have put Walton on the back foot. J.Price scored in the 39th minute for a 3-0 half time scoreline. Two more goals were added by M.Landricombe and R.Allen. A comprehensive victory for the team that are sitting at the top of the table.

Billericay have beaten WESTON-SUPER-MARE by 4 goals to 2 and Weston have had a man sent off. Billericay went 3-0 up with three different goal scorers before Weston fought back. A goal by C.J.Jagger in the 73rd minute gave my team some hope and that hope grew with another goal in the 78th minute by J.Lee. His enthusiasm for the fight may have got the better of him as J.Lee then got sent off in the 80th minute. That was the end of the fightback as Billericay scored a 4th goal in the 81st minute.

EASTLEIGH also had a players sent off. A.Boyce got his first yellow card in the 62nd minute but went for his second yellow in the 64th and as we all know that is too soon after the first. A red card had to follow. P.McCallum scored the only goal in reply to the Wrexham three. The result was a defeat by 3 goals to 1.

EXETER CITY scored in the 21st minute but Newport equalised in the 82nd. The result is a 1-1 draw. J.Stockley the scorer.

SOUTHEND UNITED beat Bradford 2-0 with goals from T.Hopper and S.Cox. A good result that puts us in 8th place according to the EFL.

I can now relax and expect a good performance from a new Arsenal up against the old enemy Chelsea.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Saturday Pre Match

Arsenal are away to Chelsea at 17:30 which is likely to be our second successive defeat. We have a chance as I have identified Chelsea as one of the teams we will be competing with but we are away from home and Unai Emery still has a lot to do in organising our defence and getting the players to function as a team. Under Arsene Wenger we were good but we had a set of individuals who were expected to produce goals and assists without the need for organisation. If we were organised then Wenger was much worse than we thought.

Brentford are at home to Sheffield Wednesday at 15:00 tomorrow so there is a second match that we will not know about come 17:00 tonight. Let's have a look at my lesser lights.

Before we do I notice that Arsenal Women are at home to West Ham United Ladies tomorrow at 14:00. That could be a good watch if there is any coverage.

Southend United are at home to Bradford. The BBC site suggests that Southend have had 60% possession and have had 10 shots to Bradford's 2. If things continue in that manner I expect us to win.

Exeter are 1-0 up against Newport but it seems to be against the run of play as Newport have had 54% possession and 4 shots to Exeter's 2. Still, it is goals that count and we have that vital statistic in our favour.

Eastleigh are at home to Wrexham and midway through the first half we are recorded as being 2-0 down. Statistics have not yet made it to National League level on the BBC website but I have no idea why. Is it technology or merely a matter of getting an employee to the ground?

Weston-super-Mare are away to Billericay and at National League South level there are no recorded scores, so we will probably have to wait until 17:00 to get the result. Let me just check Twitter. Nothing there, but Facebook tells me that Billericay have gone 1-0 up. The effort us fans have to go to finding out about our teams.

The BBC cover lots of foreign leagues but will not go to the effort of adding the Southern League. Moving to FlashScores I find that Tiverton Town are already 3-1 up against Walton Casuals. That gives me a good feeling about at least one of my teams. I really must go and watch them as they are only 30 minutes up the road and I have not bothered partly due to worries about parking.

Even FlashScores does not extend to the Southern League Division One South. Why did the F.A. have to make things to complicated by adding another Premier Division to the Southern League? Barnstaple Town are away at Moneyfields. I will check social media to see if there is any information there. Back in a minute or two ......

Found something on the Moneyfields FC Twitter site that suggest they are 1-0 up. Oddly, this is not repeated on the Moneyfields FC Live site. I presume therefore that the non live site is way ahead of the 'Live' site. The Barnstaple site is ahead of both of them as they show that Moneyfields are now 2-0 up.

My Western League pick is Buckland Athletic and they are away at Roman Glass St George today. Twitter has confirmed that Roman Glass are 1-0 up at the moment.

Lastly Exmouth Town in the South West Peninsula League. The Facebook page tells me we are home to Torpoint Athletic. I will have to call in there sometime soon as according to Twitter "Ace High" has scored three goals already. Another feelgood factor having a team 3-0 up.

I will try and follow up as I did last week and I will seek out any videos of the actual action.

Fare well whatever you do with the rest of your day.

Video Highlights

The highlights that I have been able to find on YouTube:

PREMIER LEAGUE

Arsenal 0 Manchester City 2

FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

Stoke City 1 Brentford 1

FOOTBALL LEAGUE ONE

Southend United 2 Doncaster Rovers 3

FOOTBALL LEAGUE TWO

Morecambe 0 Exeter City 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Eastleigh 1 Bromley 0 (VLOG)

Barnet 1 Eastleigh 2 (Barnet VLOG)

NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH

Wealdstone 4 Weston-super-Mare 1

Weston-super-Mare 2 St. Albans City 3

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH

Swindon Supermarine 0 Tiverton Town 1

Tiverton Town before the Water Polo match.



Still searching for more ...

STOPPED SEARCHING!

League Cup Results

As promised the follow up to my earlier post:

Bury scored in the 2nd minute of the match and Nottingham Forest waited until the 93rd minute to equalise. Forest then took their penalties and won by 10 goals to 9. Great entertainment for the home fans.

In my other selected matches Forest Green Rovers beat Swindon 1-0, Sheffield United drew 1-1 with Hull City but Hull won the penalty shootout by 5 goals to 4. Leeds beat Bolton 2-1.

My selected teams had mixed fortunes. Brentford won 4-2 while Southend lost 2-4 but they WERE playing each other.

Exeter drew 1-1 with Ipswich Town and I had low expectations for the penalties but my local team won 4-2.

In the National League Eastleigh beat Bromley and Weston lost 2-1 to Slough Town.

None of the F.A.Cup replay scores have come through on the videprinter but that is the penalty for watching online.

Hope this blog is reading better than it has in the past. I still have much to learn.

Weston-super-Mare Goal

If you are a facebook user check out this video of a giveaway goal.

Weston Goal

Follow up from my earlier post:

Yeovil have a good goal disallowed.

Yeovil miss a penalty.

Aston Villa score.

League Cup Starts

In recent years I have lost interest in League Clubs as the fascination of non league clubs took over. Tonight I am renewing my interest by watching Yeovil v. Aston Villa on Sky Sports while following the other results on the BBC website.

I notice that Bury are 1-0 away to Nottingham Forest with 4 minutes gone. Leeds United are up against Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield United take on Hull City and in a local derby Swindon Town are up against Forest Green Rovers.

As far as my teams are concerned:

Brentford travel to Southend. They cannot both win.

Exeter are taking on Ipswich Town. We discussed going to this one but the last time I went it cost me £17 and I got much better value for money when I visited the cinema at a cost of £7. Maybe if the Tories had not reduced our wages to a pittance it would be easier.

In Europe AEK Athens are 1-0 up against Celtic and a team called Shkendija are drawing 0-0 with FC Red Bull Salzburg.

Eastleigh are up against Bromley in the National League.

Weston-super-Mare are away to Slough Town in the National League South.

At this stage of the season there are always plenty of F.A.Cup replays as the extra preliminary round continues.

That sets the scene for the evening. Now if I am a good blogger I will follow this post up with some results.

New Season, New Team

The 2018-19 season is now underway. I need to get to know about my new team, Eastleigh. This selection was necessary as my old pick, Torquay, have fallen into the National League South. I could have replaced Weston-super-Mare with Torquay but I do like the online presence of Weston including their neat little video of the teams walking out before each match.

Arsenal have lost their opening encounter against the team expected to walk the premier league by a margin. The second match away to Chelsea is unlikely to prove fruitful either. From being a top team capable of beating anyone we have become part of the second tier behind Liverpool and the two Manchester clubs. We are now competing with Chelsea, Tottenham and perhaps Everton.

Brentford started well with a 5-1 battering of Rotherham and followed that up with a respectable draw away against Stoke City.

Southend United lost at home to Doncaster then earned a draw away at Plymouth.

Exeter City have won both opening matches at home to Carlisle and away to Morecambe. They top the League Two table.

Eastleigh lost their opening encounters against Sutton United and Solihull Moors before beating Barnet away at the weekend.

Weston lost 3-2 at home to St Albans at the weekend after losing 4-1 to Wealdstone in their opening encounter. This means that the only point they have earned was in the 1-1 draw with Truro City.

That covers the top six levels including steps 1 and 2 of the non league game. There have been changes further down that have been imposed (as I understand it) by the F.A. who due to their limited thinking want to impose a 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 system on the country. The way they have chosen to do that is by splitting the Southern League into two Premier Divisions and two subsidiary divisions.

As I can only pick one in MY pyramid I have selected the Southern Premier South as my division. This means that I do not need to change my selection from Tiverton Town who won their opening game away at Swindon Supermarine.

Barnstaple Town beat Ilfracombe Town 2-1 at the weekend but that was not a league match so I think we have to wait a bit longer before the serious battles begin.

Buckland Athletic were in the F.A.Cup at the weekend, losing to Pewsey Vale. For the uninitiated this was in the extra preliminary round which takes place before the preliminary round and that takes place before four separate qualifying rounds and only then do they call it the "First Round" of the F.A.Cup.

Finally, Exmouth Town. I am very impressed with this image that I found on inspecting their site:

http://www.exmouth-townfc.co.uk/first-team-fixtures/

This shows both their 4-1 win against Elburton Villa and their position in the league. Very impressive.

The pyramid does not stop there, however, and at level 11 is another team I am following.

Elmore FC

A 4-1 victory in their opening league match looks like a good omen for the new season.