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.

New Pyramid Released

 I have just released my pyramid for the new season.

Obviously with no matches having been played it is in alphabetical order for each league. With the loss of AFC Bournemouth from the Premier League my beloved Arsenal are back in first place before the season starts. We can only go downhill from here.

Brentford, having had a very good season in 2019-20 start the season at number 25 in the pyramid, and my new pick for league one, Plymouth, begin the season at position 62. Exeter City are at 77 and I have heard whispers that many players have been "allowed to leave" the club. I think this is a euphemism for cutting the wage bill so I am not expecting to see us challenging for honours this season.

Weymouth are my new pick for the National League, but this is merely a continuation of me following them up from the National League South. The void in the National League South is now taken by Bath City and I have a whole lot of learning to do there. I must take the Mrs shopping in Bath but I have to make sure my credit card can take it before I watch a home game with Bath City at the centre. Alphabetically, with Weymouth near the bottom and Bath at the top, another first place to start the season, their pyramid positions are close to start with. Weymouth are at 113 and Bath are at 117.

The Southern League picks are two old favourites, neither of which have been visited although they are now long standing in my pyramid. Once again with Tiverton near the bottom alphabetically and Barnstaple near the top the pyramid positions are not far apart. Tiverton are at 153 with Barnstaple starting the season on 160. I expect Barum (Barnstaple) to drop like a stone as they should have been relegated for the last two seasons but escaped by the skin of their teeth both times.

In the Western League I am still following Exmouth Town which I perceive as a well run and friendly club. I hope to get to watch Ace High and his team many times this season. I have even started to learn the names of some of the squad. You might get a mention if you perform well this year. The team starts the season at 189.

Bovey Tracey are the new boys to my blog but I did watch them a couple of times last season. The bar was friendly and the grandstand provided a good seating position. This is the smallest grandstand I have been in that still had seats. All the smaller ones (and I have been in a few) had no room for seating. Bovey start the season at number 201. We are now into the 200s.

The last of my pyramid picks is my local village, Liverton United, who start the season at number 229. There has been a revival at the club as there is now a reserve team as well as the first team and a ladies team has started up at the club to boot. I watched two early friendlies but then the government banned spectators from all football matches in the way that the Tories do. "We had a problem at one ground so we are damn well going to stop all fans at all football matches!" You know, the subtle approach. Boris decided so the world has to descend to his level of incompetence. I have not rushed back but I do want to go and see some live football at some point.

The remaining teams do not really form part of this blog so I may or may not mention them as each week passes. It depends on whether I have the time to investigate their results or simply write down the numbers. I have chosen (purely on the basis of which teams are nearest) Buckfastleigh Rangers who appear at number 239, Ashburton Association who feature at number 253, Ilsington Villa who are on the way to Haytor and each time I pass the sign I want to divert and check out their playing fields. They are starting the season in position 273. Finally Liverton United 2nd team who start at 286 only eight places above the bottom of my pyramid which ends at 294. In their first season any place on or above 293 will be a good result.

Roll on the new season, I want to see some numbers other than ZERO in the tables. I have got all the web references stored so it is simply a matter of copy and paste from now on.

The F.A.Cup

The Football Association Cup has begun.

Yesterday morning there were 368 clubs in with a chance of winning the cup, most had no realistic chance of winning but you never know. A series of upsets can see a lowly club go a long way but realistically it will be a Premier League Club that wins the cup next spring.

This morning there are only 367 clubs left with that chance of winning. London Colney are OUT having been beaten 3-1 by Woodford Town in the Extra Preliminary Round, which takes place before the Preliminary Round, which takes place before four Qualifying Rounds and only then do we get to the First Round of the cup when the Football League Clubs join in.

I enjoy the F.A. tournaments and sometimes I enjoy the F.A.Trophy and F.A.Vase more because in those competitions a lowly team is guaranteed to win. The Trophy is for levels 5 to 8 and the vase is for levels 9 and 10. This year I found that no level 11 clubs have been included which was not the case in the past. I learned about Level 11 leagues by tracking and tracing the Level 11 clubs that appeared in the F.A.Vase.

The F.A. do seem to want to cut off amateur teams from the professional game which is why they changed the structure of the South West Peninsula League. I thought that it was the best league which allowed teams to develop from the amateur game to the professional game without having the trauma of changing leagues and having to deal with all new contacts and all new clubs.

Tonight sees the bulk of matches in the Extra Preliminary Round take place. I shall be watching with interest as another 183 teams are knocked out of the competition. I used to think that there was no point competing if you cannot win but the money the F.A. offers to competing teams which increases with every round is important to the coffers of the little clubs so a good cup run can keep a team going for another season or several.

Let me pick just a few ties for you to follow. Bear in mind that I have virtually no knowledge of clubs at this level so I usually pick on those with unusual names.

Crook Town v. Yorkshire Amateur : What is an amateur team doing in the professional game? Are they capable of dealing with a town full of crooks?

Wythenshawe Amateurs v. Shelley : Another set of amateurs competing in the professional game and this time they are taking on a bloke with high intelligence who refuses to work and hates the establishment. COME ON SHELLEY!

Maine Road v. Squires Gate : Do we want to keep the traffic moving or ensure that it comes to a halt?

Romulus v. Coventry Sphinx : I had no idea that a mythical creature was taking on the founder of Rome. Can sphinxes play football? How much training has Romulus had?

Blackstones v. Boston Town : Will Boston survive the bombardment of black stones coming their way?

Diss Town v. Framlingham Town : How much dissing can Framlingham take. Will they use foul language in response? Listen carefully.

Park View v. Hashtag United : Do you go for the country walk in the park or stick to twittering about the matches that you choose to watch?

Hullbridge Sports v. Hadley : I picked this match because as a young man I played at both of these places and they hold some good memories. I did have a little too much to drink in one of these places.

Oxhey Jets v. Bishop's Cleeve : I picked this one for the Science v. Religion angle.

Royal Wootton Basset Town v. Chipping Sodbury Town : Because the first sounds posh and the second sounds as if it could not give a shit.

Lordswood v. Hanworth Villa : Two posh clubs

Oakwood v. Cobham : Two clubs from the trees.

Lancing v. Phoenix Sports : The home team will keep stabbing and the away team will keep rising from the dead. What better match could you watch?

Badshot Lea v. Amesbury Town : One team high and wide of the target, the other more carefully taking aim at the goal.

Now we are approaching my area of the country I will pick two of my selections for this season.

Keynsham Town v. Exmouth Town : Exmouth have high hopes that this is the start of a long run.

Wells City v. Bovey Tracey : This is the first experience of the F.A.Cup for Bovey Tracey and I fear that experience at this level is very important.

Roll on tonight. I may not be able to watch live but I will keep an eye on the results. I do normally visit one of the local clubs for the start of the F.A.Cup but this is Coronavirusyear.

Transition

 This season sees the largest change in my team selections that I can remember.

This is mostly because I have moved to South Devon and will be looking at that league rather than the Devon & Exeter League from Level 12 downwards.

My first two choices have remained unchanged although I had hoped to have to make a decision when I supported Brentford in their attempt to be promoted to the top table. Since lockdown was eased I have watched all of the Brentford matches and my wife was so shocked that it was not Arsenal that she bought me a Brentford mug. I am now a member of the squad alongside Benrahma, Mbeumo and Watkins, at least on the side of the mug.

Having worked in an office in Exeter where there were Plymouth and Torquay supporters it seemed important to choose one and only one of those teams in order to participate in discussions and argument. It is not acceptable to follow two local teams ... well why not? I will be following Plymouth Argyle in League One this coming season, mostly because my childhood team, Southend, were relegated. I could have ejected Exeter from my selection but I am more likely to get to St James Park than I am to Roots Hall so I have kept Exeter as my League Two choice.

Torquay could have been my National League team as they were already in position but I want to keep an eye on Weymouth as I have been watching them (not too closely) in their promotion from the National League South. I will now get to recognise how difficult it is to make it in the National League when coming from the half National League. This left a gap at the National League South level and all I did was pick the nearest club to me so I will be following Bath City. I also know that Bath is a lovely place to visit as my cricket club used to go on tour there every year.

Tiverton Town and Barnstaple Town remain unchanged at levels 7 and 8 although Barnstaple have been lucky for the last two seasons when they should have been relegated. They need to put a side together that can earn their place in the Southern League Division One South.

Exmouth Town have been my favourite for a few seasons now. The Western League is their home at the moment although I first watched them as they gained promotion. They have a good squad and it will be good to see how far they can go.

Bovey Tracey are new on the scene but I like their ground and watched a couple of matches there last season. The stand can hold around 50 people and there is plenty of room around the pitch for anyone to wander and find a good vantage point. I hope to watch them in the F.A.Cup this season but I am worried that fans will be banned when the match takes place.

I am already banned from watching Liverton United. They have put a notice up stating that the F.A. will not allow spectators. This means that they miss out on the cost of a pint. I know that the government likes football because it keeps people's minds off the mess that the politicians are making of running the country. Agenda 21 states that the population of the world is growing beyond our ability to feed the people so countries should reduce their populations where possible. The Tories have clearly started this process and will not put any money into helping the people that need it, hoping that they will die.

My research then had to kick in as I got to know which teams are in the South Devon League and which divisions they are in. Who should I choose? .....

I went with Buckfastleigh Rangers in the Premier Division.

I have gone with Ashburton in Division One.

Ilsington Villa are my choice for Division Two.

Division Three was quite easy as that is where the Liverton United Reserves play.

I also note that Liverton United have started a Ladies Team that currently play on Sundays.

Good luck to the ladies and I hope to get to watch you in action before COVID kills us all.

Ancient History

 For some reason I started looking back at the start of this blog and found several things that interest me. How are my selections from that year doing today? What about some other clubs?

I started this blog back in 2013 with a selection set of Arsenal (no change there although there was a chance this year), Yeovil who were in the Championship at the time, Brentford were in League One, Exeter are now an established stalwart of League Two. Those were the Premier and Football League selections.

I had forgotten that my Football Conference selection (now National League) was Tamworth. I had hoped to visit my cousin and get a match or two watching the lambs but they dropped down into the North division which is not part of "MY" pyramid. I keep watching to see if they will come back but it has not happened yet.

My long standing Conference South team was Weston-super-Mare but I dropped them when they were relegated to the Southern League. 

I began my Southern League selections with Bideford in the Premier and Tiverton in the South & West. There have been many changes since that season and Tiverton are now in the Premier League South (it helps having two Premier Leagues in the Southern League).

My Western League selections were Buckland Athletic in the Premier Division. I did get to watch them once when they played in the F.A.Cup extra preliminary round, the one before the preliminary round which is the one before the first qualifying round. Who decided on these designations? I understand that the public have to understand that Round 1 includes the Football League teams but maybe we should educate the public that there are many teams outside of that bubble. I chose Barnstaple Town who were in the Western League Division One at the time. I now understand why they are struggling in the Southern League Division One South. They need to make their current division their own. Strengthen the squad where it is needed. I know that money is always a problem. The main reason I do not visit more football grounds is that I want to ensure we have food on the table next month.

When I discovered the South West Peninsula League at Level 10 and realised that the Western League Division One was also Level 10 I broke my pyramid into two halves. The top half ended with the Western League and the bottom half began with the South West Peninsula League. For my memories I will state that my selections were Elmore Eagles in the Premier Division of the South West Peninsula League and I went very early to watch them play. I got talking to one of the officials at the ground and found that they were paying £25 a man plus expenses. That gave me some financial grounding in what is expected at Level 10 in the South West.

At South West Peninsula League Division One East I chose Exwick Villa and once paid £9 to get three of us into the ground. The other two bought the beers and it worked out approximately even. The football seemed to be of a poor standard but I went back the following week and got in free because it was the second team playing. The football was much better. That is one of the fascinating aspects of football. You can watch an exciting match at a lower level and a very poor match at a higher level. I was disappointed that Fulham won the Championship playoff by stopping Brentford from playing their great style. That is football though, and I was happy when second best Arsenal beat Liverpool and Manchester City. In 9 out of 10 matches Liverpool and Manchester City would have won but we held on and got the victory. Sad to say but we learned from Mourinho and that loss against Spurs.

The Devon & Exeter League saw me select Tiverton Town 2nds (Premier), Elmore Eagles 2nds (One), Exwick Villa 2nds (Two), those were the easy ones but then I had to choose Tedburn St Mary (Three), Lord's XI (Four), Countess Wear Dynamoes (Five), Exwick Village (Six), Tedburn St Mary 2nds (Seven) and Elmore Eagles 3rds (Eight). I very nearly got to watch the Elmore third team as they were playing at the ground over the road from the pub where we were lunching but my wife wanted to get home and family comes first.

I found mention of the Kent County League and Sussex County League at Level 9. The Football Association asked them to rename themselves in the cause of standardisation. The F.A. want the County Level to be Level 11 so the Kent County became the Southern Counties East League and the Sussex County became the Southern Combination. I also noticed the Kent Invicta League which has now become the Southern Counties East League Division One. The only constant in football is change. I watched a pre season friendly at a local ground last night and there was a drinks break at 22 minutes so I guess we have moved as a nation more towards America by having four quarters in our national game.

Finally, VAR. Is it there purely to disallow good goals if the forward is leaning too far forward when they make a dash for the ball? Olympiakos were very unlucky against Wolves last night. We will start seeing coaches saying "Lean back when you dash forward" soon. I thought the rule for VAR was supposed to be a "Clear and Obvious error". If it is a matter of millimetres LET THE GOAL STAND.

That is enough rant for this morning. It looks like a lovely day. The pre season has started for the lower levels of football and I am intending on going to a double header on Saturday. This is immediately after the English Football League season ended on Wembley on August 4th. I normally have an off season but not this year. Too heavily focussed on Brentford's promotion push I only noticed that my local team had their first game of the season on Saturday 1st August, a fact that I first noticed on 5th August.

Blogging is very therapeutic. I recommend it even if nobody reads it. I have enjoyed looking back at my thoughts from seven years ago.

Selections for the new season 2020-2021

So we found out in my last post that the number one and number two slots have been decided:

1) Premier League = ARSENAL

2) Football League Championship = BRENTFORD

The rest of the list will see some changes because of promotions and relegations. Southend United dropped into League Two so I need a new pick in league one. Are there any obvious choices? Firstly the three coming down from the Championship are Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic and Hull City. I have a friend and his family who are Charlton supporters so I might get some info there. Wigan Athletic have a rich history including the year when they won the F.A.Cup and got relegated. An interesting choice of priority as far as I am concerned. I went to university in Hull so there is some appeal there as well.

I quite like Portsmouth as it is the gateway to the Isle of Wight but the last two times I went via Southampton on the Red Funnel. Definitely not Gillingham due to crowd trouble in the 1970s when I was a Southend United supporter. Bristol Rovers are just up the road (M5) and the city is big enough to support a top flight club if they can find the right owners. Lincoln City were in with a shout until Danny Cowley went to Huddersfield. Accrington Stanley because of the milk advertisement. AFC Wimbledon because of the crazy gang.

The teams promoted from league two are Swindon Town (not that far away) but it is "the other side" of Bristol. Crewe Alexandra with the famous station junction. Northampton Town who thumped Exeter City in the playoff final. My selection, though, as they are just down the road from me, is Plymouth Argyle.

3) Football League One = PLYMOUTH ARGYLE

League Two now has my old favourite Southend United as well as my home town club Exeter City. Forest Green Rovers with the vegan ethic could have got a look in and still might if they leave this division. Salford City from the television program (where is Gareth Seddon and is his cheese shop still going?). Barrow and Harrogate coming up from the National League are both too far north for me.

I will stick with my home town club as it is the nearest and if I ever want to part with £20 to watch paint dry I will be there.

4) Football League Two = EXETER CITY

That concludes the football league but not the professional game as the national league is increasingly professional these days.

The National League offers me the greatest choice of teams so I need not mention those teams that are not going to get a look-in like Stevenage who came down from League Two. Yeovil Town would probably give me the best chance of promotion from this level. Torquay United are possible as the road links have now improved greatly and my last trip to the ground was easy. Eastleigh are still there but my one season following them was not easy as they have a poor online presence.

These would all be good choices but I am going for the weakest choice. Weymouth have just achieved promotion from the National League South and I am going to follow them in their newly elevated status.

5) National League = WEYMOUTH

That promotion has left a gap in the National League South which I need to fill. This is the level that I often find most difficult as many teams are a long way away so the obvious choice would be one that is nearer than most of the others. Consequently, and for no other reason than the geographical one I am going to choose to learn about Bath City.

6) National League South = BATH CITY

That ends the National leagues and my regional league at this point is the Southern League South. In the Premier Division I could choose the very best Cornish team Truro City, the Somerset Cider team of Taunton Town, the most isolated football team, Salisbury City, my old pick Weston-super-Mare, and many others but I am going to stick with my long standing selection, Tiverton Town. Who knows, this season I may actually get to Ladysmead to see them play. I just need to work out the parking.

7) Southern League Premier Division South = TIVERTON TOWN

The next choice is obvious and I am going to stick with possibly the luckiest team in the pyramid. Last season they were reprieved from relegation and this season they only avoided relegation because of the COVID crisis. Barnstaple Town cannot do as badly as they have done for the last two seasons. It is a lovely trip up on the Tarka Line if I want to go and watch them so we shall see if I make it this season.

8) Southern League Division One South = BARNSTAPLE TOWN

The team I have probably supported most partly because the town car park is a 5 minute walk from the ground is Exmouth Town. They also have a striker with the brilliant name of Ace High. I fully intend to get to watch this team in the F.A.Cup and probably in the Western League as well. Visiting this ground has provided the best value for money over the past three seasons.

9) Western League Premier Division = EXMOUTH TOWN

Now we come to changes as a result of my move a year ago. I now live just over a stone's throw from Bovey Tracey and they are competing in the South West Peninsula League so my allegiance has at long last changed from Elmore Eagles who were there at the start of this whole process.

10) South West Peninsula League Premier Division East = BOVEY TRACEY

I actually live in the village of Liverton and there is big news on the football front. Last season the team ran as a single side and I watched some very lacking in ability players take to the field. This season I have found out that there are two mens team and a ladies team as well. I should be able to head to the ground and find something going on most of the time. The online presence is still poor as I have to use both Facebook and Twitter to find out what is going on and sometimes there is just no information but a two minute drive is ideal if Arsenal are on television just before or just after.

11) Devon League = LIVERTON UNITED

That concludes the pyramid selections but I know that one of you likes the lower picks as well. That might not prove to be the case now that I have switched from the Devon and Exeter League to the South Devon League. Fewer divisions and fewer results to research.

12) South Devon League Premier Division = BUCKFASTLEIGH RANGERS

13) South Devon League Division One = ASHBURTON

14) South Devon League Division Two = ILSINGTON VILLA

15) South Devon League Division Three = LIVERTON UNITED RESERVES

There may be some more changes to my blog in the future but at least my selections are set for the new season 2020-21. Unless .....

Brentford v. Fulham

So I settled down last night to watch the Championship playoff final. My team Brentford were up against the favourites (due to money spent) Fulham. Thomas Frank was taking on Scott Parker who has been the butt of many jokes by my mates. We are Arsenal fans and he was with Spurs so it is no real surprise but what can I reasonably say? ... He has always struck me as rigid, never straying far from the straight line. Maybe that is what Fulham needed.

On the night Fulham flooded the midfield and prevented Brentford from playing. They did such a good job that I did not recognise the Brentford that I have been watching since lockdown. Lockdown gave me a great chance to watch my Championship pick and I got to know the players to such an extent that I am probably now a fan of the club.

I was thinking hard about what I would do if Brentford got promoted. I had nearly decided to drop my own club Arsenal from the blog and put Brentford into slot number one at least for one season while Mikel Arteta rebuilds the Arsenal side from the poor state that the Kroenkes have allowed it to get into. Following the result I can now keep my Premier League side and my Championship side as they have been this season and look forward to following Brentford next season although some of the players may feel the need to move on to better their careers.

The Fulham left back eventually broke the deadlock and scored twice to put Fulham in the winning position that they held on to despite the consolation goal that Brentford scored at the end.

There are more selection problems as we head down my selections but at least ONE and TWO are now decided for next season.