South West Regional Womens Football League.

Torquay United are bottom of the Premier Division while Plymouth Reserves are mid table. 

Premier Division

League Table

POS		P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	Marine Academy Plymouth Ladies 1st	3	3	0	0	17	9
2	Portishead Ladies First	2	2	0	0	8	6
3	Ilminster Town Ladies First	2	2	0	0	6	6
4	Bishops Lydeard Ladies First	2	1	1	0	1	4
5	Wootton Bassett Town Ladies First	4	1	1	2	-3	4
6	Callington Town Ladies FC First	2	1	0	1	0	3
7	Bideford Ladies AFC 1st	3	1	0	2	-3	3
8	Middlezoy Ladies First	3	0	0	3	-8	0
9	Torquay United Women 1st	3	0	0	3	-18	0

Western Division

League Table

POS		P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	AFC St Austell Ladies 1st	4	3	1	0	8	10
2	Feniton Womens FC 1st	5	3	1	1	2	10
3	Alphington Ladies 1st	4	2	1	1	8	7
4	Sherborne Town Ladies First	2	2	0	0	8	6
5	Plymouth Argyle LFC 2nd	5	2	0	3	-1	6
6	Plympton Ladies 1st	4	1	1	2	0	4
7	St Agnes AFC Ladies First	4	0	1	3	-12	1
8	Pen Mill Ladies First	4	0	1	3	-13	1

Devon Womens Football League Tables

Both of my selections at this level are top of the league.

Devon Womens Football League

Division 1

League Table

POS		P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	Exeter City Women 2nd	5	5	0	0	42	15
2	Seaton Town Ladies 1st	5	3	1	1	9	10
3	Plainmoor Ladies 1st	3	2	0	1	3	6
4	Axminster Town Ladies 1st	3	1	1	1	2	4
5	Bude Town Ladies First	3	1	1	1	1	4
6	Cullompton Rangers Women 1st	3	1	0	2	-3	3
7	Torquay United Women 2nd	2	0	1	1	-10	1
8	University of Exeter Ladies 2nd	2	0	0	2	-11	0
9	Bradninch Womens 1st	4	0	0	4	-33	0

Premier Division

League Table

POS		P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	Liverton United Ladies 1st	5	5	0	0	27	15
2	Halwill Ladies 1st	4	3	0	1	11	9
3	Signal Box Oak Villa Ladies 1sts	5	3	0	2	2	9
4	Budleigh Salterton Ladies 1st	4	2	0	2	-3	6
5	Shaldon Villa Ladies 1st	4	1	0	3	-9	3
6	Ottery St Mary Ladies 1st	4	1	0	3	-11	3
7	University of Exeter Ladies 1st	1	0	0	1	-5	0
8	Activate Ladies 1st	3	0	0	3	-12	0

Tuesday and Wednesday

 On Tuesday two of my Football League teams were in action.

Lincoln City 2 Plymouth Argyle 0

Exeter City 2 Crawley Town 1

One win and one defeat on the night.

On Wednesday the action was in levels two and ten.

Sheffield Wednesday 1 Brentford 2

Bovey Tracey 6 Honiton Town 3

Brentford beat a solid looking Sheffield Wednesday side. I watched it all on Sky TV.

Bovey Tracey must have sparked fear into other teams with their 18-1 record victory.

Tonight Arsenal start their European campaign.

Arsenal beat Tottenham in the North London Derby

 I am happy that my favourite girls got us the result we need every season against our local rivals.

Arsenal 6 Tottenham 1

Maybe we could have avoided the goal against but this team were built during the Wenger years.

In the Championship a creditable draw was earned away from home.

Sheffield United 0 Lewes 0

My spreadsheet shows entirely red for this next selection.

Plymouth Argyle 0 Milton Keynes Dons 8

A sound thrashing at home does not augur well for the rest of the season.

The next match was not on my original fixture schedule.

Exeter City 2 Swindon Town 1

It is good to see this team back to winning ways.

Torquay United's match against Callington Town was postponed.

Plymouth reserves seem to be running a red and green striped spreadsheet.

Feniton Women 3 Plymouth Reserves 0

Liverton United are competing in their first season of competition and are doing well.

Liverton 8 Ottery St Mary 0

Exeter Reserves are also having a good season and they certainly had a very good day.

Exeter Reserves 17 Bradninch 0

All I have to do now is dig out some match reports if any exist.

Hold the Front Page

 Mayday! Mayday!

Shock news on the horizon.

Local team wins a match against a team other than the whipping boys.

Bovey Tracey have beaten Holsworthy 2-1 away in the South West Peninsula League Premier Division East.

On top of this Ilfracombe Town were only able to beat Stoke Gabriel by 17 goals to 1 so Bovey Tracey retain the League Record by One Goal.

Dream Day for Bovey Tracey.

In other news the results are as follows:

Ilsington 3 Dartmouth 2nds 1

Plympton Athletic 2nds 0 Buckfastleigh Rangers 1

Two good wins for my teams in the South Devon League.

Liverton United 3 Budleigh Salterton 2

A pleasant win for my Devon League selection. This moves us away from the relegation zone.

Exmouth Town are still COVID excluded so their Western League fixture was postponed.

Larkhall Athletic 5 Barnstaple Town 0 so Barnstaple are now out of the F.A.Trophy until next season.

Tiverton Town 3 Farnborough 1 leaves Tiverton firmly at the top of the Southern League table.

Dartford 1 Bath City 0 leaves Bath City in a mid table position.

Weymouth 2 Kings Lynn Town 1 lifts Weymouth up the table with their first league win of the season.

Finally we reach the Football League and find ...

Walsall 0 Exeter 0

Plymouth 2 Northampton 1

Brentford 2 Coventry 0

And in the Premier League ...

Manchester City 1 Arsenal 0

I watched most of this match and Arsenal competed well barring a short spell in the second half when City looked dominant.

Wednesday Night

 Bovey Tracey continue to lose despite that league record 18-1 win.

I have some more information on that result and it seems that Stoke Gabriel are the common factor. The Stoke Gabriel team are bottom of the table having played 11 and lost 11. Their goal difference is unlikely to recover as they have scored 2 goals, one of them was against Bovey Tracey and conceded 137. This early in the season a goal difference of -135 is (I am afraid) unrecoverable.

I also check their other results. They lost 15-0 on Wednesday night. They lost 14-0 last Saturday. Their other goal was scored against Elburton Villa who only managed to win 9-1.

So Bovey Tracey were at home to Elbuton Villa with scores against Stoke Gabriel of 9-1 and 18-1.

Bovey contrived to lose their home game 4-3 to Elburton Villa.

I do want to go and watch as it is a lovely little ground with a friendly bar but maybe I will wait until the team get some footballers in.

My National League picks

 National League

Weymouth dominated the first half of the match and Barnet scored on the stroke of half time.

This means that after the initial 0-0 draw away at Altrincham there have been three 1-0 defeats. Whilst this means that the defence are not conceding more than one there seems to be a problem scoring.

F.A.Cup

Bath City travelled to Slough Town for this one.

Freddie hinds scored the only goal at the start of the second half to win this one.

Bath are now through to the Fourth Qualifying Round where the National League teams join in.

Tuesday night 13th October

 So what are my options for tonight?

I will be keeping an eye on my chosen teams so I will want to know how Bath City get on in the F.A.Cup Third Qualifying Round away at Slough Town. I will also want to know how Weymouth fare away at Barnet. Weymouth need to get a win or two in the National League or the season will be one of struggle until the end.

I have checked Exmouth Town and their match against Tavistock has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID issue. It brings things home when it is YOUR club suffering expulsion from the F.A.Vase and having league matches postponed. COVID is not nice. It is like some centre halves that I used to know.

Bovey Tracey are at home to Elburton Villa tomorrow. I may go and peek through the fence at part of the game but with an expectation of defeat for my chosen team I will not stay for long.

Now tonight I can watch several matches if I choose to. Azerbaijan versus Cyprus and Latvia versus Malta are both on Sky Sports at 17:00. If I do get permission from the wife I will choose Malta on the basis that she loved our time there and it is where we got engaged. Another option is Germany U21 against the U21 side from Bosnia-Herzegovina on German Football You Tube. If I am not watching the other two matches I might go in and save German Football You Tube as a favourite for a later date.

If I am still going after the 19:30 and 19:45 matches I could watch Bolivia against Argentina on Premier Sports but I have not yet paid for that option and this match is not enough motivation.

The 7:30pm options include England U21 v. Turkey U21 match on BT Sport. That has an appeal as we can watch the future of the England football team in action. Germany against Switzerland is the Sky Sports option at this time and I must admit I would like to watch both of those teams. There may or may not be Arsenal interest in that match and I will be doing a team sheet check before the match.

I have rejected the Scottish, Welsh and Irish options which exist but you might like to choose those games which are on Premier Sports, S4C Online and WATCHLOI. Only the welsh match is subscription free.

Sky Sports Red Button is showing several matches but I have my package through another supplier and I do not believe they pass through the red button options. Look up those options yourself if you fancy watching the minnows.

It could be a good night but I have promised the Mrs that we can have Ice Cream and a film if she can find a film that she actually wants to watch.

Sunday 11th October = The Women

 Devon League Division One) Torquay United Women Reserves 0 Exeter City Women Reserves 10

A ten nil thrashing of local rivals away from home must have done the Exeter girls a power of good. With four wins on the board they must be expecting promotion to the Premier Division at the end of the season but they do have to keep this form going. Many teams have started a storm and then become becalmed. I will follow with interest but if this is what the reserves are doing many of the team will be playing for the first team within a season or two.

Devon League Premier Division) Budleigh Salterton 1 Liverton United Ladies 4

This continues the good start that the girls have had this season (their FIRST season). Four wins from four should see the girls promoted to the South West Regional League at the end of the season presuming that the form continues and there are no ground grading problems when it comes to going up.

South West Regional League Western Division) Plymouth v. Sherborne = Match postponed

South West Regional League Premier Division) Torquay Women 1 Portishead Ladies 4

I checked the league on full time and have worked out that although most leagues only publish league matches this league has published "Other Fixtures" so I can knock off the one win and the worst defeat from the league results. This means that the team are on ZERO points after two matches. This is not as bad as ZERO points after four matches. There is still time to find a star striker.

National League South West Division) Southampton FC 3 Exeter Ladies 0

Exeter suffered their first defeat of the season away at Southampton FC. This puts the team in fourth place in the league on 7 points.

National League Southern Premier Division) Portsmouth 7 Plymouth Argyle 0

The Plymouth girls continue a losing start to the season with their fourth defeat in a row. This time they travelled to Portsmouth in the battle of the dockyards and came away with a heavy loss.

Womens Championship) Lewes Ladies 1 Blackburn Rovers 0

Lewes seem to be making a habit of winning 1-0. I wonder if their coach has any Arsenal experience. 

Womens Super League) Brighton 0 Arsenal 5

I watched this match at the weekend and Brighton came out fighting. Several chances whizzed past the Arsenal goal or were placed too close to Manuela Zinsberger. Once my girls got going, though, there was only going to be one winner. The Arsenal girls had the best three midfielders out injured so the team on the day was:

1) Manuela Zinsberger

5) Jennifer Beattie

6) Leah Williamson

15) Katie McCabe

20) Leonie Maier

7) Danielle Van de Donk

13) Lia Walti

21) Malin Gut

9) Beth Mead

11) Vivianne Miedema

19) Caitlin Foord

Substitutes used:

3) Lotte Wubben-Moy

22) Viktoria Schnaderbeck

30) Ruby Mace

Danielle Van de Donk scored her first goal of the season. May there be many more. Jennifer Beattie scored from a header at a corner knocking the ball back over the Brighton keeper. Lotte Wubben-Moy scored her first goal with a tap in at the far post but nobody knows what the full back was doing so close to the opposing goal. Nice one though! Of course the other two goals came from record goalscorer Viv Miedema, the last one coming in injury time.

I can now look forward to this week's fixtures and the coming weekend.

Saturday 10th October = The Men

 With Arsenal and Brentford out of action due to the international matches taking place I can concentrate on the lower leagues and let you know what I am finding.

League One) Plymouth Argyle 2 Burton Albion 0

Argyle versus Albion got me to thinking about the derivation of words. So I look up the word Argyle and I am surprised to find that it means a pattern composed of diamonds of various colours on a plain background. This seems to be a reasonable description of tartan. I felt that there was a Scottish feel to the word. The word Albion is defined as a literary term for Britain or England so we had an England versus Scotland match and it seems that Scotland won.

As far as the football was concerned Luke Jephcott returned from injury to score the opening goal after 25 minutes. Byron Moore scored the second early in the second half.

The Team on the day:

1)  Mike Cooper

2) Kelland Watts

4) Will Aimson

6) Niall Canavan (Captain)

7) Frank Nouble

10) Danny Mayor

15) Conor Grant

17) Byron Moore

18) Tyrese Fornah

31) Luke Jephcott

32) George Cooper

Substitutes used:

8) Joe Edwards

11) Dom Telford

14) Ben Reeves

The home team report ends "Burton toiled until the end but Argyle were simply too strong in all departments".

League Two) Southend United 2 Exeter City 2

Southend took the lead in the first half but Exeter equalised leaving the score 1-1 at half time.

Southend took the lead in the second half but Exeter equalised so the score was 2-2 at full time.

Joel Randall scored the equaliser in the first half.

Alex Fisher came on after 82 minutes and equalised in the last minute of injury time.

The team on the day:

1) Lewis Ward

6) Rory McArdle

8) Jake Taylor

10) Archie Collins

11) Randell Williams

12) Ryan Bowman

14) Joel Randall

15) Tom Parkes

17) Matt Jay

20) Lewis Page

30) Joshua Key

Substitutes used:

2) Jake Caprice

9) Ben Seymour

18) Alex Fisher

The home report ends "Fisher picked the ball up 20 yards from goal and curled a(n) unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net with his weaker foot".

National League) Weymouth 0 Sutton United 1

The team on the day:

21) Jack Bycroft (goalkeeper)

2) Brennan Camp

4) Josh Wakefield

7) Alefe Santos

15) Josh Leslie-Smith

16) Andreas Robinson 

17) Calvin Brookes

20) Cody Cooke

23) Cameron Murray

24) TomWhelan

26) Ollie Harfield

Substitutes used:

8) Jake McCarthy

19) Jack Hoey

The home report started "Jack Bycroft shone for the Terras" and goes on "left Cody Cooke isolated up front" then continues "It took 80 minutes for the away side to finally break the defensive resilience of the Terras". There then follows the emotional phrase "The frustrations boiled over into added time as players from both sides clashed on the near side of the pitch". Well, as I was not there, the "near side" of the pitch means nothing to me. "The final score was 1-0 to Sutton." Well, actually I had picked that up from the score at the top.

National League South) Bath City 2 Billericay 0

Cannot find the full team anywhere so I have simply found out that:

Tommy Conway scored both of the goals.

Bath City are now 9th in the table.

Southern League Premier Division South) Dorchester 1 Tiverton 0

Tiverton Town are still top of the table despite this defeat.

Southern League Division One South) Slimbridge 4 Barnstaple 1

Tornado Bello scored the Barnstaple goal.

Western League Premier Division) Match postponed due to the COVID issue

SWPE) F.A.Vase match) Longwell Green 2 Bovey Tracey 1

Bovey Tracey are out of the F.A.Vase for another year.

Devon Premier) St Martins 3 Liverton United 0

Liverton United are now 12th in the table.

That completes the Men in the Pyramid. I will worry about leagues below the pyramid.

International Weeked

When Saturday comes all thoughts turn to FOOTBALL. This weekend we are restricted to Internationals and Lower League games.

My Womens Teams are involved in the following matches:

Arsenal = Brighton AWAY

Lewes = Blackburn HOME

Plymouth = Portsmouth AWAY

Exeter = Southampton FC AWAY (They played Southampton Women (different) last week)

Torquay = Portishead HOME

Plymouth Reserves = Sherborne Town HOME

Liverton United = Budleigh Salterton AWAY

Exeter Reserves = Torquay United Reserves AWAY

I look forward to checking the results tomorrow night as Sundays are now Ladies Day.

My Mens Teams have the following matches:

Arsenal = Resting while the Internationals take place

Brentford = Resting while the Danish Internationals take place

Plymouth = Burton Albion HOME

Exeter = Southend United AWAY

Weymouth = Sutton United HOME

Bath City = Billericay Town HOME

Tiverton = Dorchester Town AWAY

Barnstaple = Slimbridge AWAY

Exmouth = Shepton Mallet HOME (Match postponed due to the COVID issue)

Bovey Tracey = Longwell Green AWAY in the F.A.VASE Second Qualifying Round

Liverton = St Martins AWAY

Buckfastleigh = Salcombe Town AWAY

Ashburton = Harbertonford AWAY

Ilsington = No Match Listed

Liverton Reserves = Galmpton United Reserves HOME

When I started this BLOG the plan was to watch some of these matches live but I want to keep blogging year after year so I am staying COVID safe in my castle. I may venture out next season.

Wednesday Night

 I thought that with the cancellation of the Exmouth Town fixture I had nothing to follow until the weekend.

I found that there were two matches that I knew nothing about. The F.A.Womens League Cup was taking place last night and two of my teams were participating.

They will participate no more as both teams lost. More importantly the F.A.Player apparently does not cover League Cup matches, only WSL matches.

I had to follow on Flashscore to see the goals go in.

Chelsea Women 4 Arsenal Ladies 1

Lewes Ladies 1 Crystal Palace Women 2

O.K. then ... on with the ironing.

The Midweek matches

 So I check the matches for this week and find .....

The match between Exmouth Town and Plymouth Parkway has been postponed due to COVID. This may be a blessing in disguise as Parkway are running away with the league and we might get them when they are slightly weaker later in the season.

The other matches all took place last night.

Two matches were part of the EFL Trophy competition.

Cheltenham Town 2 Plymouth Argyle 0

Swindon Town 3 Exeter City 4

One win and one defeat is reasonable.

Two matches took place in the National League.

Weymouth 0 Woking 1

Oxford City 2 Bath City 0

Two defeats for my selected teams is completely unacceptable. I will have to have words.

Two more matches took place in the Southern League.

Yate Town 0 Tiverton Town 3

Bristol Manor Farm 2 Barnstaple Town 2

I can live with four points from two matches so well done my Southern League teams.

I have no expectations for my South West Peninsula League East selection.

Millbrook 3 Bovey Tracey 1

Sure enough that 18-1 win was an aberation. I must try and get hold of a match report. None found yet.

My schedule suggests that I can now relax until Saturday.

Mens Results from the weekend

We will follow the format of the last post and work from the lowly teams to the higher levels, partly because I like that format and partly because most of my teams played on Saturday but my top two teams played on Sunday.

Teign Village 3 Liverton United Reserves 2 = The team are mid table with four points from four matches.

Ilsington Villa 6 Newton Abbot Spurs 3rds 1 =  Top of the table with 12 points from five matches.

Ashburton 3 Kingsteignton Athletic 2nds 1 = Top of the table with 13 points from five matches.

Torbay Police v. Buckfastleigh Rangers, Match postponed, I did say that it was very wet at the weekend.

That concludes the results for the non actual pyramid teams although I like to keep an eye on them.

Liverton United 1 Clyst Valley 1 = Two points from four games leaves us near the bottom of the table.

Bovey Tracey v. Plymouth Marjon, I confirmed that this match was postponed due to the wet weather.

Bradford Town 1 Exmouth Town 6 = Fourth in the league. Plymouth Parkway are seven points ahead.

Plymouth Parkway may be 7 points ahead but they have played two games more. A good contest ahead.

Barnstaple Town 2 Basingstoke Town 2 = Barnstaple are now fourth from bottom on two points.

Tiverton Town were playing in the F.A.Cup Second Qualifying Round.

Tiverton 3 Taunton Town 5 = That is the end of the F.A.Cup run for another season.

There is always NEXT year.

Bath City were another club playing in the F.A.Cup and this before their league season has started.

Bath 3 Winchester City 2 = Bath march on in the F.A.Cup and will meet Slough Town in the next round.

Weymouth opened their account in the National League by playing away at Altrincham.

Altrincham 0 Weymouth 0

The National League has finally begun and Weymouth are mid table with that draw.

That brings us to the Football League

Exeter City 2 Cambridge United 0 = Exeter are now 6th in the table with seven points.

Hull City 1 Plymouth Argyle 0 = Plymouth have 5 points after four matches and sit mid table.

The final two matches took place on Sunday.

Preston North End 4 Brentford 2 = Brentford are 15th in the table with 4 points from four matches.

The annoying fact about this match is that Brentford were 2-0 up and then threw it away.

Arsenal 2 Sheffield United 1 = Arsenal are fourth behind Leicester, Aston Villa and Everton.

Everton must be doing something right with both the mens and womens teams at the top of their respective tables. Aston Villa did the league a favour putting doubts into the minds of the Liverpool players and Leicester lost to West Ham only because David Moyes was unavailable.

Now .... some matches have taken place since the weekend (I told you it was non stop) so I need to go and check those results. I love it but it does keep me busy.

Ladies Results from the weekend

 I am glad it is not just me but I had a chat with someone else who said that things are happening so quickly that it is tiring to keep up. Gone are the 6 day rests and with television football on at 3pm on a Saturday as well as most days of the week I am encouraged to binge on football. My Mrs is none too happy and this weekend we had a family function which kept me away from my computer and the TV.

Now, I will present a results only service from my selected pyramids and enhance the information later if I get the chance which I do not think likely.

From the bottom, and I am going from the women's bottom, the results for MY teams are:

Exeter Reserves 9 Seaton Town 2 = Exeter are now top of the table with 3 wins from 3.

Liverton United 4 Activate Ladies 0 = Liverton are also top of the Premier division with 3 from 3.

St Agnes Ladies 0 Plymouth Argyle Reserves 4 = Two wins and two defeats put Plymouth mid table.

Torquay 0 Portishead Ladies 12 = Last week's 1-11 defeat was bettered. Torquay are bottom of the league.

Exeter 1 Southampton Womens 1 = First two points dropped. Third in the league now with seven points.

Exeter City beat Buckland Athletic away 6-1 in midweek so it is a good start to the season.

Plymouth Argyle 1 Chichester & Selsey 3 = Three defeats put Plymouth goal difference off the bottom.

London City Lionesses 0 Lewes Ladies 1 = Two 1-0 wins from three puts Lewes into fourth place.

Arsenal 3 Bristol City 1 = Arsenal are top of the league on goal difference. Everton are close behind.

The league is on track following the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the 2019-20 F.A.Cup semi-final. I look forward to the final which is now between Manchester City and Everton. Should be good.

Everton Ladies are performing well

 It is Saturday lunchtime and I have two open windows on my computer. BT Sport is showing the Chelsea v. Crystal Palace match and the F.A.Player is showing the ladies of Aston Villa taking on Everton. The mens match is currently nil nil but the ladies are scoring freely on one side as Everton are currently leading 6-0 with two quick goals soon after half time.

Aston Villa v. Everton

I think it is probably time now to check whether the team allocations listed by the various leagues up and down the country actually turned into those teams playing in that league. There are always differences each year and I know when I first started this process that some teams never appeared in leagues that accepted them during the summer.

One day I may check past seasons but there is always so much to keep up with each season that my first priority has to be keeping the current season as up to date as possible, although it is necessarily a week or two behind with the lower leagues.

This season we know we have lost Macclesfield Town from the National League although I understand that the situation is subject to legal challenge. Last year we lost Bury and I am certain that COVID will lead to the loss of several more clubs before the season is over.

Right .. I am off to check my spreadsheets and I will report back with any information found.

My Teams This Weekend

 My spreadsheet tells me that there is a full set of matches for the first time this season.

The National League starts up which helps the situation but the Ladies Leagues have also started so shall I go from the top? I shall but we will start with the ladies.

W1 - Womens Super League = Arsenal v. Bristol City

W2 - Womens Championship = London City Lionesses v. Lewes

W3 - National League Premier South = Plymouth v. Chichester & Selsey

W4 - National League South West = Exeter v. Southampton Womens

W5- South West Regional Premier = Torquay v. Portishead

W6 - South West Regional Western = St Agnes v. Plymouth Reserves

W7 - Devon County League Premier = LIVERTON v. Activate

W8 - Devon County League One = Exeter Reserves v. Seaton Town

That concludes the fixture list for my chosen ladies teams.

THE MEN

1) Premier League = Arsenal v. Sheffield United

2) Championship = Brentford v. Preston North End

3) League One = Hull City v. Plymouth Argyle

4) League Two = Exeter City v. Cambridge United

The National League starts tomorrow and I will be following Weymouth with great interest.

5) National League = Altrincham v. Weymouth

6) F.A.Cup 2nd Qualifying Round = Bath City v. Winchester City

7) F.A.Cup 2nd Qualifying Round = Tiverton Town v. Taunton Town

8) Southern League One South = Barnstaple Town v. Basingstoke Town

9) Western League Premier = Bradford Town v. Exmouth Town

10) South West Peninsula East = Bovey Tracey v. Plymouth Marjon

11) Devon League = Liverton United v. Clyst Valley

That completes the official pyramid fixtures

12) Torbay Police v. Buckfastleigh Rangers

13) Ashburton Association v. Kingsteignton Athletic 2nds

14) Watcombe Wanderers 2nds v. Ilsington Villa

15) Teign Village v. Liverton United 2nds

I hope to get a full set of results but the weather here is very wet and there may well be some washouts before the weekend is over.

The rest of a busy week

 I shall start with the ladies and apart from Arsenal losing to Manchester City in the semi-final of last season's F.A.Cup there was one other match which featured Exeter Ladies.

Buckland Athletic 1 Exeter Ladies 6

Barnstaple Town continued a mixed set of results with their third defeat in a row. This time the team were at home to Cinderford Town on Tuesday and managed to lose the match 3-2.

Wednesday night saw three victories for my teams:

Tiverton Town 3 Weston-super-Mare 1

Exmouth Town 4 Bridport 1

Stoke Gabriel 1 Bovey Tracey 18 (A league record)

Thursday night saw both the men and women of Arsenal in action and I have already reported on that.

Before those matches took place Brentford were in action taking on Fulham in the Carabao Cup. A win would mean that Brentford had got further in the EFL Cup than they have ever been.

The Action

Once you have reviewed the action I can tell you that Brentford have indeed gone further than they have ever been in the cup and the reward for their progress is a home match against Newcastle United who very nearly went out to Newport County.

Liverpool v. Arsenal v. Manchester City

 The two teams met twice this week. Once in the league and once in the Carabao Cup. The league match went the way of Liverpool and you can see the highlights here:

Liverpool Win

The truth is that Liverpool were totally dominant and Arsenal did well to hold on but eventually lost shape chasing the equaliser and ended losing the match 3-1.

We knew the second match would be different but the result was always in doubt.

Both Liverpool and Arsenal played some fringe players along with the experienced ones in the Carabao Cup and Arsenal maintained their shape failing to concede any goals thanks to an inspired display by Bernd Leno keeping a clean sheet. The match finished 0-0.

 Arsenal Win

The match then went to penalties and a variety of styles were witnessed with Joe Willock putting the final penalty neatly under Adrian's body.

These matches kept me well occupied this week and the second match was hardest to follow as I wanted to watch the ladies who were in action at the same time. Come on Arsenal, sort that out!

I was happy to see the men win on penalties but was not so happy to see Kim Little being taken off with a hamstring injury in the ladies match. She is a mainstay of the Arsenal team and we need to find someone new to cover for her as she ages and injuries become more common.

The highlights

Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-1 in the semi-final so they go through to the final of the F.A.Cup 2019-20 and Arsenal can now concentrate on the league.

The draw which took place after the men's game saw Arsenal drawn at home to Manchester City.

At the very least given the problems of previous seasons we are now competing with the best.

Shock! Horror! Probe!

 A lot has gone on this week and I will be blogging about that before too long but I have to register that I am currently stunned by what I just found out.

There is one team on my spreadsheet collection that is coloured RED in entirety. This means that they have lost every single match so far this season from friendlies through to the league. Bovey Tracey have lost 6-0 to Brixham and 8-0 to Ilfracombe Town.

On Wednesday evening Bovey Tracey travelled to Stoke Gabriel and this morning I decided to check on the result thinking that as Stoke Gabriel are firmly at the foot of the table maybe Bovey could grab their first point of the campaign by earning a draw.

Now we need a full probe to examine what was going on as I was certain that I was looking at a misprint on the South West Peninsula League website:

Stoke Gabriel 1 Bovey Tracey 18.

Apparently this is a league record so something strange has happened. My thoughts have turned to ....

1) New striker brought in from the Premier League

2) New manager that has an inspirational speech for every match

3) Stoke Gabriel have an entire team with COVID so they played the reserves

4) The Stoke Gabriel keeper was sent off in the first minute of the match

I think I will have to investigate further and try to find out what happened. This is a complete shock!

The Feminine View

 As you already know Arsenal Ladies beat Tottenham Hotspur Ladies 4-0. My granddaughter was delighted. We now get to take on Manchester City in the Semi Final of the Womens F.A.Cup.

The other results for my Ladies teams are as follows:

Womens Championship : Lewes Ladies 1 Coventry United Women 0

National League Southern Premier Division : Plymouth Ladies 0 Cardiff City Ladies 7

National League Division One South West : Exeter City Ladies 4 Poole Town Ladies 2

South West Regional Womens League Premier Division :

 Marine Academy Plymouth Ladies 11 Torquay United Women 1

South West Regional Womens League Western Division : Plymouth Argyle 2nds 2 Alphington Ladies 4

Devon Womens Football League Premier Division :

 Signal Box Oak Villa Ladies 2 Liverton United Ladies 10

This result puts my local village girls at the top of the league, ahead of Halwill on goal difference.

Devon Womens Football League Division One : Plainmoor Ladies 3 Exeter City Women 2nds 4

That is the first full set of results I have produced for the women. I will do some digging to see if there are any match reports that will enhance my coverage.

Arsenal Ladies

 The ladies of Arsenal beat the Tottenham women 4-0 with a sublime chip from Jordan Nobbs and three goals from Lisa Evans. The match was televised by BBC2 so I was and thousands of others were able to watch the match for free. Tottenham held the Arsenal for 70 minutes before capitulating in the way that Spurs always do.

Saturday 26th September

 From the bottom:

Off the record as the results are outside the remit of this blog

15) Liverton United 2nds 3 Paignton Saints 3rds 1

14) Ilsington Villa 2 Watcombe Wanderers 2nds 3

13) Buckfastleigh Rangers 2nds 0 Ashburton Association 6

12) Newton Abbot 66 3 Buckfastleigh Rangers 1

So two wins and two defeats in the bottom section of my pyramid (the base).

Now for the pyramid itself:

11) Chudleigh Athletic 2 Liverton United 1

10) Ilfracombe Town 8 Bovey Tracey 0

9) Bridgwater Town 1 Exmouth Town 3

8) NO MATCH

7) Swindon Supermarine 1 Tiverton Town 2

6) Match versus Torquay United cancelled due to injury.

5) Weymouth 0 Ebbsfleet United 1 (only a friendly so not too worrying).

4) Mansfield Town 1 Exeter City 2

3) Plymouth Argyle 1 Shrewsbury Town 1

2) Millwall 1 Brentford 1

1) Arsenal take on Liverpool on Monday night.

Short sharp results service. I will try and find You Tube coverage tomorrow.

Wednesday Night

 Four results to tell you about from my selections:

1) Arsenal progressed in the Carabao or EFL Cup by beating Leicester City 2-0 on their own turf.

The Highlights

Leicester hit the post before Nicolas Pepe chased the ball into the penalty area forcing a pinball like own goal off the post and Christian Fuchs.

The winner came from youngster Eddie Nketiah who stayed alert in the box to step over the defender and force the ball home.

7) Tiverton were at home to Bideford in the first qualifying round of the F.A.Cup and won the match 2-0.

9) Exmouth travelled to Street in the Western League Premier Division and came away with a 2-1 win.

10) Bovey Tracey were at home to Cullompton Rangers in the South West Peninsula League. Bovey managed to score two goals but unfortunately Cullompton scored four for the win.

On to Saturday.

Tuesday Night

 Three results from my selections although there was a lot of other football too.

My Brentford Boys finally got the better of West Bromwich Albion.

The key penalties

Bath City continued their string of friendlies by visiting Yeovil Town and losing 3-0.

Barnstaple Town have an interesting looking page on my spreadsheet. Win one Lose one Win one.

Last night they were due a win and in the First Qualifying Round of the F.A.Cup they beat Wiimborne Town 3-2.

Something Else

More tomorrow about the football tonight.

The Watchers Version

 Premier League

Championship

League One

League Two

Southern League Premier South

Jerry Gill

The quantity of football is not lessening yet with the Carabao Cup, F.A.Cup, F.A.Vase and now the F.A.Trophy all starting with many teams in the early rounds. Things will ease up I know unless there is another lockdown for the UK. At the moment though I am happy to be tracking so much.

Men at the weekend

 Level 15

Liverton United Reserves had no fixture this weekend.

Level 14

Ilsington Villa were originally scheduled to take on Dartmouth Reserves but the match was switched to be Bishopsteignton United. The result was something I have not seen for a long time and I had to look it up. H-W. Those who look at a lot of fixtures may recognise it immediately but I checked and it means home win which is usually only the case when the opposition cannot raise a team.

Level 13

Ashburton's match against Paignton Villa Reserves was postponed.

Level 12

Buckfastleigh Rangers took on Plympton Athletic Reserves and won the match 4-1.

Level 11

Last year Liverton United were well beaten at home by Alphington so definite improvement is being shown by the fact that this season the match ended 1-1.

Level 10

Bovey Tracey continue their losing streak and now have a singularly RED spreadsheet. The match away to Crediton United ended in a 3-1 defeat.

Level 9

Exmouth Town march on in the F.A.Vase. The match against Mousehole ended 0-0 but in the penalty shootout my favourite Western League team came out 5-3 winners.

Level 8

Barnstaple started this season with defeat away to AFC Totton. The tweet suggests that the main focus for the team was a night out in Southampton. The 3-0 loss was merely preparation for the evening.

Level 7

Tiverton Town started the season with a convincing 5-0 win over Wimborne Town. The next fixture is Bideford at home in the F.A.Cup First Qualifying Round.

Level 6

A You Tube video suggests that Bath City were training at the weekend for a match with Yeovil Town on Tuesday night.

Level 5

The Weymouth league season starts in October so they are still playing and winning friendly matches. Slough Town away was the latest in a line of victories punctuated with a draw against Exeter City. The win at the weekend was by FOUR goals to TWO.

Level 4

Exeter City followed up the 2-2 draw away to Salford with a 0-2 defeat at home to Port Vale.

Level 3

Plymouth travelled to AFC Wimbledon and played out what I hope was an entertaining 4-4 draw.

Level 2

Brentford followed up the opening day defeat to Birmingham with a convincing 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town.

Level 1

Arsenal took on West Ham on Saturday evening and took the lead with a header from Alexander Lacazette. Antoniou equalised for West Ham before half time. Arsenal then struggled to dominate and needed a goal from substitute Eddie Nketiah to win the match 2-1.

Football is starting to feel normal again but I have enjoyed the summer indulgence.

Women at the weekend

 Level 8

Exeter City Reserves travelled to the University of Exeter Ladies and came away with an 8-1 win.

Level 7

Liverton Ladies played their first ever league match and beat Shaldon Villa 6-2.

Level 6

Last week Plymouth Reserves lost 3-2 at home to AFC St Austell Ladies. This week they travelled to Plympton and managed a 3-2 win to get their season off to a start.

Level 5

Last week the Marine Academy Plymouth visited Torquay and won 5-0. This week the ladies took on RNAS Culdrose and won 4-0 to make it one win and one loss at the start of the season.

Level 4

I think the National League will start in October, same as the men so there is no result of Exeter City Ladies.

Level 3

Plymouth Ladies are in the National League and I have no evidence that the season has started.

Addendum:

The evidence came in late that Plymouth Ladies travelled to Keynsham and lost 5-1.

Level 2

Lewes Ladies lost 3-0 to Durham United last week and there was no fixture scheduled for this week.

Level 1

Arsenal 6 Reading 1 started the season. West Ham 1 Arsenal 9 continued the winning last week. The next match on the fixture list is Tottenham Hotspur in the F.A.Cup.

My women's pyramid reporting has now begun for real.

Liverton 6 Shaldon 2

The ladies started their league campaign with a good home win.

I will endeavour to find out some more information and let you know.

Addendum (I added this after initial post):

The goalscorers were:

Hannah Drummond x 4

Charlotte Dymond x 2

I think the race for the golden boot is between these two because last time out against Callington

Hannah Drummond x 3

Charlotte Dymond x 3

Twelve goals between these two in two games is a good sign and something to build on. Good strikers are hard to find and it seems that we have two of them.

The Midweek Matches

 Levels 3 and 10 on Tuesday.

Levels 2 and 9 on Wednesday.

And a hastily arranged friendly.

Matt Taylor talks us through the friendly

Weymouth 1 Exeter City 1

Plymouth scored the first two goals of the five that were all scored at the same end.

Goalscorers were Pantuche Camara and Kelland Watts.

Orient then came back into the game and timed it perfectly scoring the third goal in injury time.

Leyton Orient 3 Plymouth Argyle 2

Plymouth having beaten QPR in their first match are now out of the Carabao Cup.

Bovey Tracey travelled to Dartmouth for their fourth defeat of the league season. There are signs of improvement as this defeat was by one goal in a score of:

Dartmouth 2 Bovey Tracey 1

Sean Finch gave Bovey Tracey the lead but in a manner similar to Plymouth they allowed the lead to slip and Dartmouth scored the winner in the 87th minute.

Christian Norgaard has adding goalscoring to his talents for this season. Pelenda Joshua Dasilva added the second goal before half time and Brentford did not let the lead slip.

Southampton 0 Brentford 2

Two hundred (and one) fans were at Southern Road to watch Exmouth Town gain their first points of the new season. Jordan Harris scored a hat-trick to help the home team to victory.

Exmouth Town 4 Tavistock 1

Roll on the weekend. We are back into some sort of rhythm with the football.

I forgot the women

 Never forget the women!

The women

For those who dislike reading

 For the watchers who are not so keen on reading:

Fulham 0 Arsenal 3

The fight before the match

Three minutes of highlights

Arteta watches the action

Birmingham 1 Brentford 0

The two minute version

The five minute version

The eight minute version

Plymouth Argyle 1 Blackpool 0

Two minutes of highlights

Blackpool watchalong

Ryan Lowe reaction

Salford City 2 Exeter City 2

The two minute highlights

Seven minute highlights

Matt Taylor reaction

Weymouth 4 Poole Town 0

The highlights

Swindon Supermarine 1 Bath City 2

Jerry Gill reflects

The only highlights I could find

Barnstaple 2 Helston 0

The highlights

Exmouth Town 0 Melksham Town 2

The highlights

IF YOU WATCHED ALL THE ACTION YOU SHOULD NOW REST YOUR EYES.

The season has begun

 1) Premier League

The first match of the season was Fulham v. Arsenal as the kick-off time was 12:30pm. I watched it on the television and saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put in a match winning performance. The opening goal was not a classic but PEA chased down the ball on the left wing and turned the ball into Xhaka who got his usual off target shot in. Willian was in the right place to pick it up and shoot at the keeper. The save was a push into the path of Alexander Lacazette who touched the ball over the line from a metre out.

Willian hit the post with his free kick before delivering a perfect cross from a corner for Gabriel to nod in a goal in his first game for the gunners. Two goals to the good and Arsenal were cruising.

PEA smashed the third goal in from the corner of the penalty box to give my boys the best possible start to the season.

Fulham 0 Arsenal 3

2) Football League Championship

Brentford lost their opening game of the season away to Birmingham. I have just watched the highlights and it seemed to me to be chance after chance after chance for Brentford, a Birmingham corner that found a head and into the net then more Brentford chances so let me check the statistics ...

POSSESSION = Birmingham 37 - Brentford 63%

SHOTS = Birmingham 11 - Brentford 16

SHOTS ON TARGET = Birmingham 3 - Brentford 4

I think there is enough evidence to say that Brentford had most of the game but lacked something, perhaps an Ollie Watkins. My Championship pick will have to be much more clinical in front of goal.

Birmingham 1 Brentford 0

3) Football League One

One of my new teams for this season is Plymouth Argyle. Last week they beat Queens Park Rangers by three goals to two in the Carabao Cup. This week the league campaign started at home to Blackpool. A single goal decided the match.

Plymouth Argyle 1 Blackpool 0

4) Football League Two

Exeter City are now a regular in my blog and last week they lost 2-0 away to Bristol City. Following this they took on Forest Green Rovers in a midweek match for the EFL Trophy. This home match was won 3-2 and was good preparation for the start of the league season. The campaign started away to Salford City. Salford took an early lead but Exeter came back at them with two goals of their own. Salford equalised in the second half to earn both sides a point.

Salford City 2 Exeter City 2

5) National League

Weymouth have just been promoted from the National League South so I would expect this level to be a bit more of a challenge. A midweek friendly saw Weymouth beat Dorchester Town 3-1 away. This weekend the friendly was against Poole Town at home and resulted in a 4-0 win. So far, confidence is high and Weymouth have a 100% record in the friendlies they have played. The league season does not start until October.

Weymouth 4 Poole Town 0

6) National League South

Bath City are another new team to my blog. I still have a lot to learn about this side. Following draws with Salisbury City and Weston-super-Mare my chosen team at this level travelled to Swindon to take on their Supermarine side and came away with a 4-0 win. There is hope for me at this level.

Swindon Supermarine 0 Bath City 4

7) Southern League Premier Division South

Tiverton Town had no match this weekend but have won more than they have lost in their pre-season friendlies. The most recent match was last weekend when they lost 3-0 at home to Bideford but look back a couple of weeks and they beat Bideford 2-1 away. The real action starts next week with a home match in the league against Wimborne Town.

NO MATCH

8) Southern League Division One South

Barnstaple Town have had two bad seasons on the trot escaping relegation twice, first time with a reprieve and second time with COVID cancellation of the season. This year they really need to put together a strong team to establish their place at this level. On Saturday my selection competed in the F.A.Cup preliminary round. This was a home match against Helston Athletic. A good result means that Barnstaple are through to the next round of the cup.

Barnstaple Town 2 Helston Athletic 0

9) Western League Premier Division

A week and a half ago Exmouth Town were beating Keynsham Town 3-1 in the F.A.Cup then midweek this week Exmouth started the league campaign with a 2-0 defeat away to Plymouth Parkway. The F.A.Cup was the focus again this week as Town took on Melksham Town at home. The result is that the F.A.Cup campaign is over for another season.

Exmouth Town 0 Melksham Town 2

10) South West Peninsula League Premier Division East

I fear for Bovey Tracey, my pick at this level, as they lost all their pre-season friendlies. This week they started the league campaign and things seem to be even worse. 

On Wednesday the league campaign started with a negative result at home.

Bovey Tracey 0 Brixham 6

On Saturday the bad news continued with another home defeat.

Bovey Tracey 0 Torpoint Athletic 4

This could prove to be a very long season for Bovey Tracey. They have a lovely little ground and bar though so I am sure I will pop in at some point, maybe when they have found some footballing talent to go with their ground.

11) Devon Football League

It is not just the first team at Bovey Tracey that is finding life difficult. The reserves took on my pick at this level, Liverton United, on Friday night and managed to lose as well.

Bovey Tracey Reserves 2 Liverton United 4

Maybe I should have gone to watch this one but under Boris' you can no you cannot rules I am not sure whether I am allowed to so I shall stay home.

That is the end of my official pyramid report but you know I cannot get enough so on into my pyramid base selections:

12) South Devon League Premier Division

I have chosen Buckfastleigh Rangers at this level and it seems to be a good pick so far.

5th September : Buckfastleigh Rangers 4 Salcombe Town 2

12th September : Buckfastleigh Rangers 3 Ivybridge Town Reserves 1

Two wins out of two in the league is a good start to the season.

13) South Devon League Division One

Ashburton who are just down the road from us have made a reasonable start away from home.

Beesands Rovers 2 Ashburton 2

14) South Devon League Division Two

I definitely have to go and watch my pick at this level. The start to the season has been a flyer.

5th September : Ilsington Villa 9 Torbay Police Reserves 1

12th September : Bishopsteignton United 2 Ilsington Villa 9

I am SO disappointed that my team could not reach double figures.

15) South Devon League Division Three

Some good results in the pre-season friendlies for my Liverton Reserves team, but the league has now started and it was not the best beginning.

Totnes & Dartington 2nds 5 Liverton United 2nds 3

There is room for improvement but it was an away fixture. The home results will be the measure of the team.

THE WOMEN

My results sheet now contains the women's results and you already know about Arsenal beating West Ham United away by 9 goals to 1 so I just have to add the only other result on my sheet.

Durham United Women 3 Lewes Ladies 0

I hope that Lewes can turn that result into motivation for the future.

Enjoy your week. Watch some football (if Boris says Yes!).

A singular result

 Information, as I know from experience can be much harder to find as you head down the pyramid to the lower reaches.

Liverton Ladies played a match against Plympton Ladies and won 5-3. A good result in a pre-season friendly. I can confirm that the two teams played and that the result was 5-3 BUT I have had to assume that Liverton won by reading between the lines and words and picking up on a positive vibe.

When the league starts I always have the league site to double check the scores and I have from time to time discovered differences. I always go with what the league state as that will be the official score used to determine the league table.

Checking the other pre-season friendlies the results have been mixed for the Liverton side but that is a good thing. You can sometimes learn more about players from a defeat than you can when everyone is happy and winning every match. I used to love being the weakest player in a strong team as the others helped me to win almost every week. Winning is easy. It is much harder when you have to work for it.

Oh, and they have just said on television that Boris is badly damaging the reputation of Britain. I think I shall come back tomorrow and focus on the football.

Expanding the Blog

 I have spent the last week documenting the Ladies or Womens Pyramid. I think the time may be right to expand my blog and include the female version of the male game as it is gaining in popularity. The appeal used to be more honest football but money has now come into the women's game so we will see the top clubs start to establish themselves as separate from the rest.

Maybe I should have left my spelling mistake in that last paragraph. I originally typed extablish themselves and that is exactly what they will do by becoming a separate class from the average teams. The process has started just as I have started logging the scores of certain women only matches.

It will be no surprise to my regular readers that I have been following Arsenal Ladies for a while now. The result at the top of my "current" sheet is Arsenal 6 Reading 1. The latest result on their own sheet is West Ham United 1 Arsenal 9. I watched both matches and as an Arsenal fan I cannot help laughing a little when an opposing player is sent off. Gilly Flaherty, an ex Arsenal player and now West Ham captain was despatched from the field for legitimately complaining about an offside goal. I can only assume that the manner of her complaint was unacceptable to the referee.

My local village have just started a women's team and Liverton United will compete in the Devon County League at level 7 of the women's pyramid, so I thought to myself that I should fill in the gaps and follow a team from every level of the women's game just like I do the men. My selections have now become Arsenal from the Super League, Lewes from the Championship as they have the lowest level of mens team as their support and I have just read that they have split from that support.

With the top two levels decided I move on down the chain. I have chosen Plymouth Argyle from the National League Southern half, and Exeter City from the next level which is Division One South West.

These two have been chosen because the mens teams are in my mens selection so it should mean fewer websites to visit when I am after information.

At level five comes the South West Regional League Premier Division and going with the Devon trend I have chosen Torquay Women. Oddly, all the other teams have chosen to be called Ladies but I suppose they need to keep the image going. Keeping things all very simple I have chosen Plymouth Argyle Reserves as my team from the South West Regional League Western Division which sits at level 6 in the pyramid.

Level 7 is the Devon County League Premier Division and I will actually watch the Liverton Ladies when I am available and Boris has not just decided to ban fans from matches for the seventy ninth time in one year. You can watch this week, but you cannot watch next week, and you must get a test if you cannot smell the women as they run onto the field. You then phone for a test and find out that Inverness has some availability so you can pop up there for a quick weekend and a test. I shall now climb down from my hobby horse which is Boris baiting, a fully deserving horse.

I will go no further than level 8 which is Devon County Division One. In this contest I choose the Exeter City Reserves. If this takes off I shall learn a lot more about the women's game and record any changes that I uncover although I think the Football Association must be delighted (well nearly) as they have gone for a One, Two, Four pattern. This is continued limited thinking from the F.A. I am very proud that the South West Regional League have elected to run three divisions at the lower level. MY model given the shape of the country would be a 1, 3, 9, 27 split which would allow greater flexibility much higher up the chain.

I intend to add a Womens Pyramid on the right hand side to join the Mens Pyramid. The header will probably also have to change but I may wait a season as I am not perfectly happy with two reserve teams in my initial selection.

Having announced that women are now part of my football analysis I can now return to my results sheet in the next post.

Arsenal DID play on Saturday

 So by pursuing Twitterdata I found out that Arsenal have had a couple of friendlies since the Community Shield. I guess it is COVID that makes us desperate for information. In past seasons a match without a crowd would not be a friendly as only matches played in front of crowds counted. Now we are desperate to know what is going on it all counts.

On Tuesday 1st September while I was focussed on the F.A.Cup matches Arsenal entertained Queens Park Rangers at the London Colney training ground. We won 4-3 apparently but there was little information about the match.

On Saturday the friendly was played at the Emirates Stadium and we lost 3-2 to Aston Villa. There is a bit more information about this one but the important fact is that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored both of the goals. He is SO important to Arsenal. The second goal came from a penalty but it still has to be placed into the net.

Strange times. I expect to find out about lower league matches after the event but I am normally fully aware of what Arsenal are up to because the media feeds are full of it. Times have changed.

Soccer Aid is now live. Get watching and contributing.

Football STARTS AGAIN

 We have already seen the start of the F.A.Cup with the Extra Preliminary Round taking place this past week. I Love the F.A. tournaments but the bread and butter of the game is/are the league matches (delete is or are according to your taste in subjects and objects). Several leagues started on Saturday but there are many leagues that are holding out until October.

Arsenal and Brentford start their league campaigns next week but Brentford had a Carabao Cup match today in which they took the lead through Ethan Pinnock but allowed it to slip. The 1-1 draw meant that penalties decided the tie in which Wycombe did not disgrace themselves. As is quite common due to the higher standard of player the senior team won the match, Brentford came out as 4-2 winners in the shootout. A good start for my set of selections.

Brentford 1 Wycombe Wanderers 1 (Brentford win 4-2 on penalties)

Plymouth Argyle played their Carabao Cup tie on Saturday. Queens Park Rangers visited Home Park and made the game an entertaining one scoring two goals to Plymouth's three. The goals came from Joe Edwards in the 32nd minute to equalise an early QPR goal, Danny Mayor in the 55th minute which was quickly followed by a QPR equaliser, and Frank Nouble in the 78th minute which proved to be the winner.

Plymouth Argyle 3 Queens Park Rangers 2

Exeter City were also competing in the Carabao Cup and travelled to Bristol City for their tie. Finances are such that Exeter fielded five academy players in the starting lineup and had nine out in total when you look at the substitutes bench. Is that sustainable? The result went the way of Bristol City who won 2-0 at Ashton Gate and I hope this Exeter result is not a sign of things to come. Roll on the next match.

Bristol City 2 Exeter City 0

The National League does not get underway until October with the fixtures coming out at lunchtime on Tuesday, so Weymouth were playing a friendly match at the weekend. The information becomes harder to find the further down the pyramid that you venture but Weymouth seem to have pretty good coverage and you can watch highlights of the match on You Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bK0jZR2Lxk

Now you have watched the match I can reveal that the goalscorers were Alefe Santos, Cody Cooke and Calvin Brookes. This is information that I might not have been able to bring you last season but I am now recording more information than ever before in order to provide a service to my fan. I have a good feeling about Weymouth although I know nothing about their new manager, Brian Stock, who will be taking the team through their newly elevated status following back to back promotions. Mark Molesley has moved to Southend so I will keep an eye on whether it is the manager or the players that are making things difficult at Roots Hall.

Weymouth 3 Havant & Waterlooville 1

Bath is the team that I have the most to learn about. In midweek they travelled to Salisbury and came away with a 1-1 draw. On Saturday they travelled to Weston-super-Mare on the coast and I used to have the seagulls as part of my selection so I was keen to see what the outcome would be. I have no idea who scored.

Weston-super-Mare 0 Bath City 0

Tiverton have had many pre-season friendlies already so what is one more. Bideford were the visitors in this one and were clearly too much for the Tiverton team that took to the field. I intend to check who was in the side but at the present time I only know the result.

Tiverton Town 0 Bideford 3

Levels 8 and 9 had no matches as far as I can ascertain. I cannot guarantee that as some fixtures only appear online after they have been played but I do not think I have missed anything.

Bovey Tracey played their first match in the South West Peninsula league and lost it. Their fixture list is all red (defeats) on my spreadsheet.

Bovey Tracey 1 Crediton United 2

Liverton opened their league campaign with defeat as well. The visitors were Exwick Villa, a team I used to watch before I moved and I had intended to watch this match as well but real life sometimes takes over and I let it.

Liverton United 0 Exwick Villa 1

That concludes the results from the opening league weekend of the NEW SEASON.