Saturday, 15 October 2016

F.A.Cup 4th Qualifying Round

The F.A.Cup results stolen from Flashscore are below:

I will analyse the interesting scores after you read out line by line .....



5.10. 15:00FinishedAlfreton2 - 2Gateshead
15.10. 15:00Finished Altrincham3 - 1Matlock
15.10. 15:00Finished Barrow2 - 1Tranmere
15.10. 15:00FinishedBeaconsfield0 - 5Brackley 
15.10. 15:00Finished Boreham Wood3 - 0Hendon(1 - 0)
15.10. 15:00Finished Braintree4 - 2Bromley
15.10. 15:00FinishedBurgess Hill0 - 5Dover Ath. 
15.10. 15:00Finished Chesham1 - 0Potters
15.10. 15:00Finished Dagenham & Red.3 - 1Wealdstone
15.10. 15:00Finished Eastleigh6 - 0North Leigh
15.10. 15:00FinishedEgham0 - 1St. Albans 
15.10. 15:00FinishedHarrogate0 - 2Halifax (0 - 0)
15.10. 15:00FinishedHarrow2 - 2Margate
15.10. 15:00Finished Kidderminster6 - 0Weymouth
15.10. 15:00FinishedLincoln City0 - 0Guiseley(0 - 0)
15.10. 15:00FinishedLincoln Utd.0 - 3Spennymoor 
15.10. 15:00Finished Maidstone3 - 1Billericay
15.10. 15:00Finished Merstham2 - 1Ebbsfleet
15.10. 15:00FinishedNantwich1 - 3Stourbridge 
15.10. 15:00FinishedNorth Ferriby1 - 4Macclesfield 
15.10. 15:00Finished Solihull3 - 1Kettering
15.10. 15:00Finished Southport1 - 0Chester
15.10. 15:00FinishedStamford1 - 1Wrexham
15.10. 15:00Finished Stockport2 - 0Bishop Auckland
15.10. 15:00Finished Sutton2 - 1Forest Green
15.10. 15:00FinishedTaunton0 - 0Hemel
15.10. 15:00FinishedTonbridge0 - 3Dartford (0 - 1)
15.10. 15:00FinishedTorquay1 - 1Woking
15.10. 15:00FinishedWelling0 - 1Whitehawk 
15.10. 15:00Finished Westfields2 - 1Leiston
15.10. 15:00FinishedYork1 - 1Curzon
So ,,,, my thoughts are .....

It is good to see Braintree progress since they lost last season's manager to Lincoln.

Dover Athletic were the other minnow vying for promotion last season.

My Weymouth selection got battered away at Kidderminster.

North Ferriby got beaten at home by Macclesfield.

Forest Green are now free to concentrate on the league.

Taunton live on into the first round draw but have to go to a replay against Hemel Hempstead.

There is so much more I could say and I am sure you want to hear it but real life is calling.


Today - Saturday 15th October

I have just listened to the Arsenal TV broadcast as my main team struggled to hold on to a 3-2 lead. It sounds as if Swansea, if they had had a good finisher, would have won the match by several goals. This may be the natural pessimism of football supporters (the match is commentated on by fans) so I shall watch the match later on to determine whether the opinions of the commentators were accurate.

Brighton were at home in the Falmer Stadium taking on Preston North End (whatever happened to Preston Central and Preston South?) and the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

Southend United were also at home and beat Chesterfield 1-0 at Roots Hall.

Exeter City continued a trend which has seen their best results coming away from home. If I were them I would agree to play all matches away. Travelling to Barnet they managed a convincing 4-1 away win which will help to ease their relegation fears.

North Ferriby United were in the F.A.Cup fourth qualifying round so I will leave them until my F.A.Cup review. It does mean that the draw for the first round proper is imminent.

Weston-super-Mare travelled to East Thurrock and got completely stuffed 5-1.

Weymouth are another team that played in the F.A.Cup so you can wait for their result as well.

Tiverton Town beat AFC Totton in the Southern League South & West.

Bridport were taking on Odd Down in a cup match today and I can find no trace of the result on the internet. Such are the problems the lower down the chain that you go.

Exmouth Town were not playing a league match and I can find no mention of a cup match so I have to presume that they were having valuable rest time.

Now I can look at the F.A.Cup. A tournament I do enjoy as the different levels take each other on.


Saturday, 17 September 2016

Box Life

I got to watch my first live football of the season today. It is my fault as I have been focussing on the garden and my wife and the television. It was a pleasure to watch Barcelona judging Scottish football and I thought City deserved to beat United. Leicester was undoubtedly the most feelgood factor this week as Bruges buckled under the pressure of Jamie Vardy and his cohorts.

My experience was a treat granted by my company who wanted volunteers to fill their box at St. James Park in Exeter. The original list offered the treat was not the same as the final list of those who accepted as there was a better option available at Sandy Park where Exeter Chiefs were taking on Harlequins. I met some new faces as we settled down to empty the fridge of alcohol and accept the main meal on offer which was acceptable but certainly not restaurant standard.

Following the refreshment we stepped out to occupy our seats. Within minutes the Plymouth attack in the shape of Garity had given deadly rivals Plymouth Argyle the lead. A second goal followed and from that point on the match was never in doubt. Exeter threatened the empty spaces and the fans wide of the two posts but the goal remained completely unassaulted. As a resident here I was embarrassed by the lack of quality that my home team showed.

As far as value for money is concerned I only payed for parking which was slightly more than I would have liked but that is Exeter for you. The experience was a pleasant one ruined only by the performance of my home team. I would probably accept if the offer came up again, but I think they keep a list and my turn will not come for another few years.

I was not convinced that I should pay for the experience.


Saturday, 3 September 2016

Life v. Blog

I am sat down watching Torquay v. Lincoln to catch up and see how Danny Cowley is getting on now that he has moved from Braintree to turn professional. As he says himself it is a very insecure existence as he is only six matches from dismissal. His team, however, are already 1-0 up thanks to an early penalty.

My garden now has a new wall and the system I have been testing had its first success on Friday. Life can take over from the serious issue of blogging sometimes and perhaps I should set aside a particular time to keep this site updated.

I may have abandoned you, my reader, but I have set up my spreadsheets for all of the F.A. tournaments, Cup, Trophy and Vase, my selections spreadsheet, I have added the EFL Cup to the list and my team tags (teams attached to leagues) spreadsheet is now down to level 11 (County Leagues).

There is some good quality football being demonstrated at the moment on screen but it is still the first half and the players have not had a chance to get tired yet.

My life is still more important than this blog but I hope to be here more often as the winter nights and winter weather focus my attention more on football and less on being active outside.

I do think North Ferriby have reached the limit of their climb now but it may just be a case of getting aclimatised to the altitude.