Dead Teams and Dropouts

Because of the complications at Professional Level 10 and Amateur Level 11 including me having to fork out £2 to watch a Level 11 match, I have linked all the Level 11 (and level 12) divisions that are attached to leagues which start at level 9 or 10 in a group that I can monitor more easily than the many many Leagues that start at Level 11.

Cowfold dropped out of the Southern Combination Division Two a while back.

The other leagues all seem consistent from the start of the season apart from one other division.

The Hellenic League Division Two South lost Brimscombe & Thrupp reserves some time ago. There is a second team that has disappeared from this division and that is AFC Chippenham.

I used to go hunting online for reasons but often there are none. People happily publicise successes but are far more reluctant to post information about failures no matter what the reason is. Reserve teams are generally regarded as unimportant but I tell you now that successful clubs always have a reserve team with players ready to take over in the first team when the first team players get injured.

I have found a Google link to "AFC Chippenham resigned in November 2019" so I now know when it happened but can I find out why? No ... that link takes me to the league table with simply the same statement about the club.

At Level 10 we already had Sidlesham out of the Southern Combination League Division One, and Wodson Park out of the Spartan South Midlands League Division One. They have been joined by Pewsey Vale who dropped out of the Wessex League Division One. Quick look for a reason. ... Found the reason = The F.A. made a decision that destroyed the club:

F.A. Impose League Change & Players Leave the Club

This will not be the first time that the F.A. employed blinkered thinking and it will not be the last.

The F.A. still insist that England needs a 2 - 4 - 8 - 16 league structure in spite of the triangular shape of the country. It is like trying to push the square block through the triangular hole that we all learned as children DOES NOT WORK.

Moving onwards and upwards there are no dropouts at Level 9 (Step 5).

Step 4, Level 8 is the subsidiary divisions of the three regional leagues. There are no dropouts at this level but I notice that one of my selections, Barnstaple Town are bottom of the Southern League Division One South on 15 points. Basingstoke are also on 15 points and Moneyfields are on 18 points. There is a strong possibility of finishing bottom, but they did so last season and were reprieved.

There are no dropouts at Level 7, Step 3, but I see that a team I have watched on several occasions are top of the Isthmian League Premier Division. Worthing, not to be confused with Worthing United who had two members killed in that plane crash, have a chance to be promoted to the National League South. The club is owned by a former player who became paralysed so the club has my support for more than one reason.

George Dowell = Owner of Worthing FC

The leagues are more stable than in some previous seasons. I expect no more fallouts from the top six levels and seven divisions.

Saturday 25th Roundup

After the defeat at lunchtime for Brentford going out of the F.A.Cup to Leicester City there were plenty of other matches to get involved with.

Exeter played out a 0-0 draw with Colchester United.

Torquay played out a 0-0 draw with Ebbsfleet United.

Weymouth beat Dorking Wanderers 2-1.

Tiverton took on Walton Casuals at home but could only manage a 2-2 draw.

Barnstaple continued a very poor season with a 4-0 defeat to Slimbridge.

Exmouth entertained Bridgwater Town and achieved the same result as Exeter and Torquay.

I attended the next match although I missed the opening goal.

Elmore took an early lead at Bovey Tracey and were the better team for about 35 minutes. In the last ten minutes of the first half Bovey came back strongly. First they equalised, then they took the lead. Once Elmore had lost their energy they gave away two penalties but only one was scored. The match finished 3-1 to Bovey Tracey and I think I must return to watch more football on the rain affected pitch. I was told by a local that the whole pitch is now much worse than when a match was cancelled for a small wet patch in one corner. Such is life.

Facebook informed me, so it must be a special occasion, that Liverton won 6-5 away. The post I shall copy below word for word:

Heavitree United 5-6 Liverton Utd
Livvy come back from 3-0, 4-1, and 5-3 down win a thriller 5-6. Goals from Neil Last with a hat trick🎩
Dejan Maric, Sam Hebbes and Manager John Fleet sealed the win.
Neil Last with a Panenka penalty 👀 and direct free kick, winning it for Livvy at the death.
Great spirit shown from the lads today.


Elmore's 2nd and 3rd teams both won 4-0 in the local league matches so it is not all bad for the club.
Cronies won 6-0, Broadclyst won 7-0, and Cranbrook won 3-0. The others fared less well.

Roll on Monday when Arsenal travel to Bournemouth.

The Brentford Team

The Team v. Leicester:

28 Luke Daniels

35 Mads Roersley Rasmussen

23 Julian Jeanvier

32 Luka Racic

2 Dominic Thompson

4 Dru Yearwood

12 Kamohelo Mokotjo

17 Emiliano Marcondes

16 Valencia Castillo

21 Halil Dervisoglu

31 Jan Zamburek

SUBSTITUTES

3 Rico Henry

5 Ethan Pinnock

6 Christian Norgaard

13 Patrik Gunnarsson

14 Pelenda Joshua Dasilva

19 Bryan Mbeumo

33 Fredrik Hammar

Leicester have taken an early lead.

Saturday Morning 25th January = Brentford LIVE on BBC1

I have BBC one on and I intend to watch the Brentford F.A.Cup match against Leicester City.

If I feel like it I will post updates here so that my fan can appreciate it.

Friday Night Report

Firstly Exmouth Town.

They postponed a home fixture against Brislington in the league to play a Devon St Lukes Bowl match away at Willand Rovers. This match was also postponed so there is no result to tell you about.

Weymouth finally played the many times postponed match against Verwood Town and unsurprisingly ran out 5-0 winners. The Dorset senior cup is now well in their sights.

Arsenal, in the middle of a sad season, with infighting and fear ruling the players, produced a special performance against Chelsea. When I say special performance I probably really mean special result.

Chelsea dominated the first half but only got a single goal. That was a penalty after our very own comedy player Mustaffi passed the ball perfectly for Chelsea to score and David Luiz elected to wrestle the player in blue to the ground. Jorginho put away the penalty to give the blues the lead.

Gabriel Martinelli produced a moment of brilliance from a Chelsea corner. He picked up the ball in his own half and ran the length of the pitch to score a solo goal. There was a moment of luck when Kante produced a Mustaffi moment and fell over right in front of him. It still took composure to tuck the ball away after the length of the run.

Azpilicueta gave Chelsea the lead again in the 84th minute and that seemed to be that. Try spelling that name after two pints when he is not known for scoring goals. Match over, Arsenal down to ten men with David Luiz receiving a red card from his earlier debut in greco roman style athletics.

So two men, enjoying the match on television with a young child upstairs sleeping, screamed with joy when Hector Bellerin in his first match back from injury neatly slots the ball into the far corner of the net. Fortunately she was sound asleep. My daughter went to check after hearing our screams.

The match may well prove to be a turning point but we have hoped that so many times over the last two seasons. If we produce a lazy performance in the match against Bournemouth we are back to square one.

THIS WEEKEND

1) Arsenal travel to Bournemouth in the F.A.Cup on Monday night.

2) Brentford are at home to Leicester in the F.A.Cup. The match is at 12:45 on Saturday.

The match against Nottingham Forest has been put back until Tuesday at 19:45.

3) Southend were due to take on Bury on Saturday but as they were kicked out there is no match.

The next Southend fixture is away to Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday.

4) Exeter City are at home to Colchester United.

"Oi can't read and oi can't write but that don't really matter. I come down from Colchester and I can drive a tractor."

5) Torquay United are at home to Ebssfleet United. Is tomorrow a good day to visit Plainmoor?

6) Weymouth are at home to Dorking Wanderers. The last time I was there I used their toilets when I nipped into the ground from the speedway track next door.

7) Tiverton Town are at home to Walton Casuals. Perhaps it is time for my first visit there.

8) Barnstaple are away to Slimbridge. More points are required if they are to escape relegation.

9) Exmouth Town are at home to Bridgwater Town. I have become a fan and it is only half an hour in the car. There is a strong possibility that I attend this match.

10) Elmore are away to Bovey Tracey. This is only a ten minute drive and a chance to see my 10th choice. This is an exciting prospect.

11) Liverton are away to Heavitree United. Not so exciting since I learned that the Heavy Tree is long gone. Liverton are out of the relegation zone and I hope they stay out.

There is a full set of fixtures in the local league matches. I will let you know of any startling or unusual results.

Have a fantastic weekend whoever you support. I hope you experience the sort of match that I did on Tuesday but don't wake your children up and remember that football isn't life.

Mid Term Report = Brentford

The last season at Griffin Park has been a good one so far.

Football League Championship

3) Fulham 49
4) Nottingham Forest 48
5) Brentford 47
6) Preston 46
7) Swansea 45
8) Millwall 44

Mostly green on my spreadsheet the results have been good but there is a good sprinkling of red and yellow as well. Since the start of December, though, there have been only two reds and two yellows so the predominant green is continuing into the new year.

The loss of Neal Maupay to Brighton does not seem to have stopped the goals. Tomorrow will be a good test as the visitors are Nottingham Forest, the team immediately above us in the table.

I am really impressed with this selection as I had low hopes at the start of the season. Promotion is not beyond us and it would be great to start the new season in the new stadium in the Premier League.

Football is a sport for dreamers. Dream on!

Mid Term Report = Arsenal

Arsenal have had a very bad season.

We are still in the top half of the table at the moment but only on goal difference.

Premier League

9) Southampton 31 (-11)
10) Arsenal 30 (-2)
11) Crystal Palace 30 (-6)
12) Everton 30 (-7)
13) Burnley 30 (-10)
14) Newcastle 30 (-12)

Pathetic collapses have given way to a bit of competitive nature since Mikel Arteta took the helm.

The signs are positive and coming back from 1-0 and 2-1 down against Chelsea having only ten men on the field has given the Arsenal faithful something to hang onto and cheer about.

The Kroenke family are American and have no concept of the part Arsenal have played in English football. The £3 million consultancy fee demanded by Stan Kroenke should be cut as his advice is clearly taking the club in the wrong direction. But I know that Arsenal are a toy for Americans and others to play with and no longer a football club meaning everything to the fans.

This season has to be one of holding on, strengthening up, and preparing for a real challenge next season.

Saturday 18th January

Postponed is the Mode Average of results on this particular day.

In the local league results Postponed was the median average.

Lympstone managed to lose 6-0 to Exwick Villa 2nds.

Broadclyst and Elmore 3rds both won each side scoring four goals. Dawlish United 2nds managed to get two goals in reply.

Working up from there Elmore beat Stoke Gabriel 2-1 away.

Exmouth travelled to Chipping Sodbury Town following a pitch inspection and won 3-0.

Both Southern League matches were postponed.

From here on in the positive thing is that there is no red on my chart.

Weymouth beat Concord Rangers 2-1 away.

Torquay beat AFC Fylde 3-2 away.

Exeter beat Grimsby Town 1-0 away.

Southend beat Accrington Stanley 2-1 away.

Brentford travelled to Huddersfield and earned a 0-0 draw.

Arsenal entertained Sheffield United and went 1-0 up but conceded late on to draw 1-1. Typical.

Onwards and upwards we go. Chelsea away on Tuesday.

Saturday 11th January 2020

The F.A.Cup third round last Monday saw Arsenal scrape through 1-0. Leeds United played much better than Arsenal in the first half but a Mikel Arteta half time talk seemed to change the mindset and eventually Reiss Nelson scrambled the ball into the net for the win.

Weymouth had a match scheduled against Verwood Town in the Dorset Senior Cup but that was postponed.

Exmouth Town travelled to Shepton Mallet and won 2-1 so they progress in the Les Phillips cup.

Today I had a long lie in and after a quick breakfast sat down to watch the Arsenal match. Arsenal took the lead with a goal from Aubameyang. He later got sent off and his manager cannot complain as we were informed that Mikel Arteta once scored against Crystal Palace and then got sent off. VAR again worked against Arsenal for the sending off but I can have no complaints as we would have been angry if a challenge like that against us was not rewarded with a red card. The match ended 1-1.

Queens Park Rangers turned up at Brentford and went down 3-1 meaning that my team won.

Southend United took on Tranmere Rovers at home and the defence held strong. The match ended 0-0.

Exeter were at home to Cambridge United and won 2-0 keeping their promotion hopes well alive and they are still in with a chance of winning League Two.

The F.A.Trophy continued with Torquay entertaining Halifax Town. Halifax won the match 2-1.

Weymouth were at home to Dulwich Hamlet. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Tiverton Town entertained Poole Town and lost their home game 1-0.

Barnstaple only had one team below them in the league and Basingstoke were the visitors today. Barum chose to lose the match 2-0 and now lie firmly in last place on goal difference.

Exmouth repeated their midweek win beating Roman Glass St George 2-1 at home.

Elmore entertained Ilfracombe Town with the match ending in a 1-1 draw.

Liverton United went to Braunton and lost by the only goal of the game.

My local league teams saw one defeat, two postponements and five victories. Happy days.

Mid Term Report = Exeter City

The League Two table is linked to below:

League Two

1) Swindon 50
2) Exeter 47
3) Crewe 44
4) Bradford 44
5) Cheltenham 41
6) Plymouth 41
7) Forest Green 41

Mostly green but with a good smattering of yellow and red. A good performance so far this season has seen us into second place in the league.

The only defeat since the start of November was in the F.A.Cup second round replay. The most recent win against Ipswich Town was in the Leasing.com Trophy. The League and the Leasing.com Trophy are the two targets for the Grecians now.

I still have not been to watch my home town team as I consider the entertainment poor value for money. Those I speak to talk about odd moments of skill but there is still a lot of bog standard kick it upfield.

Cambridge United are up next. More green please.

Mid Term Report = Southend United

The League One table is linked to below:

League One

19) AFC Wimbledon 24
20) Milton Keynes 24
21) Tranmere 21
22) Southend 9
23) Bolton 7

Whilst Bolton were penalised for financial impropriety and started on minus twelve points Southend suffered no such penalty and are therefore League One's worst performing team.

Without the penalty Bolton would be on 19 points and able to challenge Tranmere and the others to escape relegation.

My spreadsheet is almost entirely red.

One win in the Carabao Cup against Stevenage.

One win in the Leasing.com Trophy against AFC Wimbledon.

The only win in the league came against Milton Keynes Dons.

A slightly promising sign is the red and yellow stripes at the bottom meaning that a number of draws have been achieved. The two matches that would have taken place against Bury have been cancelled so at least that is two matches that we did not lose.

Sol Campbell has taken on the task of managing the club. I think he has a lot of work to do.

As far as my selections go if Southend are relegated then at least Exeter are in a position to get promoted if they continue to win.

Mid Term Report = Torquay United

The National League Table is linked here:

National League Table

11) Barnet 40
12) Sutton 39
13) Dover 39
14) Torquay 38
15) Eastleigh 37
16) Aldershot 37
17) Hartlepool 36

Torquay are in the bottom half of the table but a couple of wins could see them in the top half.

 The fixture list that I create has roughly equal green and red indicating that mid table is the correct position. The worrying aspect is that September and October were predominantly green while November and December have seen too much red. The 5-1 win over Aldershot in the F.A.Trophy and the 4-1 win over Woking were the exceptions.

Next up is the F.A.Trophy match against FC Halifax Town. We beat them 4-2 at their place earlier in the season.

Best results to date : January 4th

Having listed all the results in my spreadsheet I am delighted to see no red.

But it is much better than that and as a result I must include my local league selections.

Cranbrook beat Colyton 2nds 16-1.
Broadclyst beat Starcross Generals 12-0.
Westexe 2nds beat Dawlish United 3rds 8-0.
Cronies beat Seaton Town 7-1.
Elmore 2nds beat East Budleigh 4-1.
Westexe beat Axmouth United 3-0.
Elmore 3rds beat Cullompton Rangers 2nds 4-3.

Pleasing reading for me. Several thrashings for my selections.

Sadly Lympstone could only manage a 2-2 draw with Chard Town Reserves.

So a really great set of results at the bottom of my pyramid.

Now for the official pyramid:

11) Liverton travelled to Clyst Valley and won 2-1.

10) Elmore travelled to Torridgeside and won 3-0.

9) Exmouth entertained Bitton and won 2-0.

8) Barnstaple travelled to Bristol Manor Farm and won 2-1.

7) Hayes & Yeasding could not score against Tiverton so the match ended 0-0.

6) Weymouth travelled to Welling United and won the match 3-1.

5) Dagenham & Redbridge could not score against Torquay so that match also ended 0-0.

4) The Leasing.com trophy saw Exeter beating Ipswich Town 2-1.

3) Southend United did not play, thus helping keep red off my card.

2) Brentford qualified for the next round beating Stoke City 1-0.

1) Arsenal take on Leeds United on Monday Night.

I have to be happy tonight.

January 4th AM : F.A.Cup Day : Before the action starts

Looking back on New Years Day we find that:

Arsenal won a football match. Notable because we have been through the longest period without a win since before Arsene Wenger took over. He was not so bad then ay? Arsenal beat Manchester United with goals from Pepe and Sokratis.

Brentford travelled to anihilate Bristol City 4-0 in their own backyard.

Southend earned a creditable 1-1 draw away to AFC Wimbledon.

Exeter travelled to Forest Green Rovers and their meat based diet helped them to a 1-0 win.

Torquay hosted Yeovil Town and full of the christmas spirit handed the visitors a 2-0 victory.

Weymouth did the same to visitors Havant & Waterlooville but only offered the one goal going down 1-0.

Tiverton entertained local rivals Taunton Town and sent them packing winning the match by 3-2.

Barnstaple shocked the footballing world by beating Mangotsfield United 3-1. That puts them firmly in last place in the table although now on the same points total as Basingstoke.


This is F.A.Cup weekend and the following matches are scheduled:

Arsenal take on Leeds United on Monday Night. I can follow my other teams until then.

Brentford take on Stoke City so we can only hope that there are no broken legs.

Southend take on Gillingham in League One as they are already out of the F.A.Cup.

Exeter are also out of the F.A.Cup but they postponed their league fixture to take on Ipswich Town in the Leasing.com Trophy.

Torquay are away to Dagenham & Redbridge in the Vanarama National League.

Weymouth are away to Welling United in the Vanarama South.

Tiverton are heading to Hayes & Yeading United in the Southern League Premier Division South.

Barnstaple are hoping to build on that recent win as they travel to Bristol Manor Farm.

Exmouth are at home to Bitton in the Western Premier. A half hour drive but I still feel full from the overindulgence that is essential every Christmas.

Elmore are away to Torridgeside and I have no desire to find out where that is exactly.

Liverton are at home to Clyst Valley and if I remember ... checking ... they are one of two teams below us in the league. They are in fact bottom of the league with no points and the drive is one of less than 5 minutes. I shall watch my local village this afternoon. The start time is 2:15pm.

Cronies and Lympstone are away.
Elmore 2nds and Westexe are at home.
All the other local teams are away from home.

I shall leave you now and look forward to reporting back later.

29th December to January 1st 2020 - The new decade

Arsenal took the lead against Chelsea with a goal from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Things were looking good until the mental strength of Arsenal was tested. We caved and lost the match 2-1.

Brentford travelled to Millwall and lost the match by a single goal. The final score 1-0 to Millwall.

Southend should have been away to Bury but Bury were kicked out of the league at the start of the season. A rest day was the result.

Exeter travelled the breadth of the country to take on Colchester United in the City that houses the University of Essex, a concept that often gets people confused. The result was a 2-2 draw.

The BBC Sport website reports:

Ten-man Colchester played out a 2-2 draw with Exeter following a thrilling contest in League Two.

Exeter goalkeeper Jonny Maxted denied Callum Harriott early on, while Ben Seymour's first-time effort from Archie Collins' cross forced opposite number Dean Gerken to make a magnificent save soon after.

The Grecians went ahead in the eighth minute through Jake Taylor, who collected Matt Jay's pass in the area and thumped an unstoppable right-footed shot past Gerken.

But Colchester levelled when Harry Pell powerfully headed in Harriott's corner at the near post.

Randell Williams' free-kick rattled the crossbar for Exeter but the hosts went ahead in the 59th minute through Theo Robinson, who clinically fired in from close range after Pell's shot had been blocked in the area.

But Exeter levelled when Colchester's Tom Lapslie was dismissed for denying a goalscoring opportunity after a foul in the area on substitute Ryan Bowman, who scored from the spot to claim a point for the visitors.

The new decade starts with the matches listed below:

Arsenal are at home to Manchester United at 20:00
Brentford are away to Bristol City at 15:00
Southend are away to AFC Wimbledon at 15:00
Exeter are away to Forest Green Rovers at 15:00
Torquay are at home to local rivals Yeovil Town at 15:00
Weymouth are at home to Havant & Waterlooville at 15:00
Tiverton are at home to local rivals Taunton Town at 15:00
Barnstaple are at home to Mangotsfield United at 15:00
Exmouth are at home to Bitton at 15:00

Elmore have no fixture today.
Liverton United have no fixture today so cannot lose.

The local leagues have not scheduled fixtures for New Years Day.

Enjoy your football whatever level you are watching.