6-3-1

Yes, you guessed, I found another unpublicised match.

Barnstaple Town travelled to Horndean and won the match 3-1 so Barnstaple are through to the next round of the F.A.Vase.

With Tiverton through and Bideford still fighting in the F.A.Trophy that is three chances of reaching Wembley. I might even purchase a ticket if one of my teams gets there but the coverage is so much better with a lot more information provided if you watch the match on TV.

So a very positive weekend with a double bonus in the cups.

Now to get on with my open university studies. I see they are now doing a course on football. I have already signed up, as I have a passion for it. I just have to make sure that learning about things does not kill the passion as it always did in school and at university.

5-3-1

It is easy to miss things with so much going on and particularly where the F.A. are concerned. The cups they run are certainly special but the publicity is miserable to the point of non existence.

I found that Tiverton Town were also in the F.A.Trophy away at Peacehaven & Telscombe. A solid 3-0 win has put the Southern League South & West side into the next round, and my score for the weekend just went up.

Now to check the F.A.Vase just in case I missed another one.

Four wins, three draws and one defeat

A second results service and this time ... on the same day ... although it includes the result from last night. Four wins from eight matches played and I have to be happy. Three draws, but that is football, and one defeat (the crowd will be down next week then).

Arsenal travelled to Swansea and beat them 3-0 with goals from Giroud, Koscielny and Campbell. This Campbell is not one of those that killed the Macdonalds but he is the one that killed Swansea.

Brentford won the local derby for the first time in 50 years I am told. The Judge and Djuricin combined to pass judgement. Queens Park Rangers were despatched as 1-0 losers.

Weston-super-Mare have not been having a good season but travelled to Brighton to take on Whitehawk and managed a 2-0 victory in the Conference League South.

The fourth win was by Exmouth Town who travelled south to Stoke Gabriel where they won 2-0 in the South West Peninsula League Premier Division. A level 10 league.

 The three draws were Southend at home to Rochdale, where both sides scored two goals, Torquay away at Altrincham with both sides scoring a single goal, and Bideford in the F.A.Trophy taking on Farnborough at home where the match finished 1-1. A replay in the week will have to be added to my fixture list.

The defeat came for my home town club Exeter, who are expecting to lose to Didcot Town in the first round of the F.A.Cup just like they did to Warrington, and who today travelled to Barnet and lost 2-0.

A, broadly speaking, good set of results. Did you like the comma after one letter?

Results Service

While Arsenal were beating Bayern Munich, Southend United were losing 3-0 at Chesterfield and Bideford were beating Frome Town 2-0 at home. One day later Brentford beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 away and Exeter beat Cambridge United 1-0 at home.

The weekend that saw Arsenal beating Everton had Brentford beating Charlton Athletic 3-0, Southend and Exeter drawing 1-1 with Gillingham and Notts County respectively. Weston-super-Mare went out of the F.A.Cup 2-1 away at St. Albans City. Bideford drew 2-2 away at Bedworth United. Tiverton and Barnstaple both won 2-0 with the opposition being Bashley and Hallen. Exmouth Town travelled to Callington Town and came away with a 3-1 victory.

While Arsenal were jacking in the Capital One Cup Bideford drew 1-1 at home to Cirencester Town and Tiverton beat Slimbridge 1-0.

That brings us up to date and tonight Brentford are beating QPR 1-0 with 85 minutes gone.

Judge and Djuricin

The Brentford pair combine to score the first goal. 1-0.

Part of the QPR team

Part of the QPR team.

Chery, Luongo.

Brentford

Well, as my number one team are obviously rubbish having played in black and blue and performed like a bunch of newly promoted lads who have never played together before ... er .... Arsene? ... I think it is time to watch my number two pick, Brentford who are on Sky Sports tonight against Queens Park Rangers.

Red and White stripes take on Blue and White hoops. It looks good on a green and green surface.

The Brentford team comprises: Button, Yennaris (seen him before somewhere), Dean, Tarkowski,

Bidwell, Woods, McCormack, Diagouraga, Swift, Judge and Djuricin. I will let you know if anyone stands out in the next 90 minutes.

The QPR team comprises: Green Onuoha, Hall, Hill, Konchesky (familiar), Tozser (really?), Henry, Phillips, Chery, Luongo, Emmanuel-Thomas (seen him before as well).

So far there is a lot more enthusiasm than skill and with 10 minutes coming up Djuricin is caught offside but only by about 15 yards, so no problem there then.

Brentford have just had a period of dominance but it only led to a cross and a misdirected header.

I will come back to the game I hope but for now I leave you wanting the result.

Arsenal

Well, I have to be happy this week. So much could have gone wrong, but it didn't.

Three goals away to a team that had only conceded one goal at home all season, proof that Arsene IS capable of learning lessons from other teams as we played second best and beat Bayern Munich, then the beating of Everton, and holding onto the lead after a tough week of competition.

Why come down off my high by checking other results? I can do that when we take on Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup tomorrow night. I have also started an open university course and that will take up some of my time from now on.

The F.A.Cup first round draw took place this evening without Sporting Khalsa but congratulations to them for reaching the fourth qualifying round. Southend United are away to Scunthorpe and Exeter City take on Didcot Town who now have the chance to "do a Warrington".

The week reviewed

The week was boring. I spent most of my time in the office. There has to be more to life than this ... and there is ... Football! Four of my pyramid picks played on Tuesday night and I almost missed the Tiverton Town result as they drew 0-0 with Taunton Town in the Red Insure Cup. This was followed by a 3-0 defeat on penalties. I think penalty practice is the order of the day this week.

Woking hosted my Vanarama team Torquay and an honourable 2-2 draw was played out.

Barnstaple beat Clevedon Town 4-0 in the Western League Premier Division so I am happy with that.

Finally Exmouth Town beat Witheridge 4-2 in the match I almost attended. It would have been good.

And then Saturday comes:

Arsenal beat Watford 3-0 after Watford eventually tired. They played well for the first two thirds. Brentford beat Rotherham 2-1 and Southend beat Barnsley 2-1. Exeter travelled all the way to Carlisle and lost 1-0. Torquay were held to another draw, this time 1-1, by Grimsby. Weston went to Maidenhead United and lost 2-0. Bideford travelled to Chesham United and lost 3-1. Tiverton Town held Burnham 0-0 away. At the end of the list Barnstaple had a second win in a week, this time it was 2-0 away at Bridport.

Now it is time to settle down with my Mrs as we are watching series 5 of Game of Thrones once again. Tyrion and Mormont have just been attacked.

Grand Western Canal

So on non league day I chose to spend my time with friends and family on a horse drawn barge starting from Tiverton and ending in the middle of nowhere with the view of an aqueduct that allows tractors to traverse the water course via a short tunnel. I have photographs.

I did think about the F.A.Cup several times but you know how it is, family and friends sometimes have to take precedence. So how did my teams to this week?

Southend United beat Crawley 3-0 in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Exeter took on local rivals Plymouth Argyle in the same trophy and lost 2-0. So Southend march on and Exeter march out.

Torquay entertained Dover and chose to lose 3-2. My choice for the Conference South next season may have to change from those Seagulls that I have yet to go and watch live.

The Seagulls went away to Wingate & Finchley in the F.A.Cup third qualifying round and managed a 3-1 victory. It was expected as the opponents are an Isthmian League team. Weston-super-Mare can now look forward to the fourth qualifying round when victory may see them up against Football League opposition.

Bideford managed a 1-1 home draw with Stratford Town but when you are in a relegation battle every point is gratefully accepted.

Tiverton Town performed one better by managing a 2-2 draw away at AFC Totton.

 Barnstaple lost 2-0 in midweek to Buckland Athletic but when I check the competition it is only in the Devon St. Luke's Bowl which really does not concern me much. The good news is that the defeat seems to have produced a reaction as my Barnstaple boys travelled to Welton Rovers and thrashed them 7-0. It is a small but gratifying high point in this week's blog.

Exmouth Town who started the season so brightly seem to be struggling at the moment. In midweek the team travelled to Plymouth Parkway and lost 4-2. Yesterday the lads travelled to Tavistock and lost 5-1. I cannot blame them as Tavistock is beyond the back of beyond. They still burn peat there.

I have to report that although I have now covered all of my top ten picks, my number eleven choice, Exwick Villa, who I have watched live managed to beat Tiverton Town Reserves 9-0 in the cup. I have no idea what cup but it would have been a good day to support them once again.

And ..... to end things for today ..... I have just watched Exeter City on television and the TV voodoo seems to have struck again but not so vehemently as a 3-3 draw at home to Stevenage was achieved.

I have matches listed for Torquay, Tiverton, Barnstaple and Exmouth listed for midweek. It is about time I visited the home of Exmouth Town.

October starts well

Arsenal have just beaten Manchester United 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium as I sit down to write about my pyramid teams. My number one pick are easy to follow as they are almost always shown live on TV making an inroad into my living room that I just cannot ignore.

My number two pick Brentford seem to be going through a bad patch as they sink down the league.Twentieth position in the Championship is just above the relegation zone. Buck up Brentford.
Losing 2-0 away at Derby County is not what the doctor ordered.

Southend United travelled to Burton Albion and managed to lose 1-0. This places my league one pick in 11th place in the table.

Exeter City managed to get a 1-1 draw away at Newport County and also sit in 11th place in their league.

Torquay United lost at home to Aldershot in the National League and are now firmly in a relegation position in 22nd place. Conference South here we come unless there is a dramatic change in fortune.

Weston-super-Mare have crept off the bottom of the table while I looked the other way so I guess the result yesterday was not a bad one. Sure enough the long trip across country to Margate resulted in a 2-0 win for the seagulls. Who in the world likes seagulls?

Bideford are similarly one place above the bottom of the table in the Southern League Premier Division. Losing 2-1 away at Slough Town certainly will not help the attempt to rise up the league.

Tiverton Town were involved in the F.A.Trophy yesterday and spent their time beating AFC Totton 2-0 to go through to the second qualifying round. The 1-0 win over Yate Town on Tuesday was enough to see them into fifth place in the Southern League South & West Division.

Barnstaple Town were involved in the F.A.Trophy yesterday. They managed a 4-1 win away at Ivybridge Town. Their position of fifth in the league matches Tiverton and just behind the promotion places is a good place to be at this time in the year.

 Lastly, at level 10 in the South West Peninsula League Premier Division I am following Exmouth Town and have already missed two chances to watch them live. They sit in ninth position and with no match yesterday I shall reserve judgement until the next match.

Now to follow my heart down to levels 11-21. You don't get to hear much about those teams though.

End of September

The introduction to the 2015/16 season ended on Tuesday 29th September with Arsenal losing at home to Olympiacos by 2 goals to 3. Walcott missed a couple of early chances and he does need to sharpen up if he wants that strikers role.

Brentford lost 2-0 at home to Birmingham and then I see with pride two of my teams caused upsets.

Southend United won 2-1 at Crewe Alexander.

Exeter City won 2-1 away to League Leaders Portsmouth.

Lower down my pyramid Bideford lost 2-1 at home to Poole and Tiverton Town lost 1-0 away at Yate Town.

October promises lots more football, and that includes Arsenal at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Arsenal away to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup.

My plans to watch more live football keep being affected by family and life events but maybe perhaps I will have more interesting stories from the lower echelons to entertain you.

Vardy 2 Arsenal 5

In busy times I revert to type and follow my one and only.

Alexis Sanchez scored a hat-trick. Giroud scored at the end with Walcott opening the account.

Life twists and tries to grind me down. I get flu. Missed two local matches.

What did I do wrong? I chose Torquay, Weston-super-Mare and Bideford. That's what.

Spurs 1 Flamini 2

Any win against Tottenham is a good win.

Chelsea v. Arsenal (The Second Half)

Chelsea must be favourites now. Costa header. Pedro shot. Arsenal survive.

Commentator magic: Costa looks like the villain from a spaghetti western.

Ozil battles for the ball, creates a chance for Sanchez who is upended by Ivanovic. Card for Ivanovic.

Ozil lines up for a left footer. Sanchez lines up for a right footer. Sanchez hits the wall. Corner.

Chelsea break quickly from the Arsenal corner and Costa fails to deliver.

Matic shot. Blocked. Arsenal attack. Chelsea attack. Frenetic stuff.

ZOUMA SCORES. Chelsea 1 Arsenal 0. Great delivery from Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas.

Many times in the past it has taken a goal by the opponents to stimulate Arsenal into action.

It will not be easy today.

Hazard shoots. Cech saves.

Bellerin tries to cross. Aspilicueta blocks.

Big chance for Sanchez who does seem to be below par today. Could it be the Stamford Bridge crowd or is he carrying an injury?

Ifoulavic, Cuntsta, some interplay, eventually Walcott gets a cross shot over the bar.

Eden Hazard dances through the Arsenal defence and shoots wide.

Glenn Hoddle says Chelsea are getting closer (when is Klose signing?).

Olivier Giroud is now warming up on the touchline. Get him on. Costa misses a chance.

It IS all Chelsea at the moment.

Cazorla to Walcott but he cannot find Ramsey.

Chelsea break but Pedro shoots high and wide.

Does anybody care? What is life all about? Who am I? Go Gunners!

Arsenal are controlling the ball at last, around their own penalty area.

It has all gone a bit quiet. Chambers gets a yellow after he loses the ball ahead of himself.

Chelsea are in complete control at the moment and I blame Maccabi Tel Aviv.

At the start of the match I was prepared to settle for a narrow defeat but after watching the Costa antics I really want us to hurt Chelsea. Sadly, life rarely works that way.

Corner to Arsenal. Come on lads, let us prove that we are not useless at set pieces.

Head, head, head, head and Chelsea are safe.

Cazorla takes a second yellow and now a red card.

It is not a good day at the Arsenal office.

10 minutes left to get something out of this game.

9 men to do it with.

I 8 football sometimes.

Matic shoots, Costa leaves the field. Loic Remy comes on.

Football makes me 6 sometimes.

This is an epic battle. Most decisions have gone the way of the blues.

Chelsea seem to have more men than Arsenal. Oh. They do. Two more.

Come on you reds. One good break will do it.

Hazard gets a free kick on the edge of the box.

The wall does its job.

Mourinho says stop playing and hold onto the ball for a draw.

One minute plus injury time left. One quick break is all it takes.

Chelsea score a second to seal the match. It goes in off Chambers.

FIVE minutes of injury time to score three goals. Has it ever been done?

Arsenal throw.

Giroud to Walcott and Ramsey cannot get there.

Ramires gets a shot in. Corner.

It's a day for the blues. Mourinho has still never lost to Wenger in matches that really matter.

Not a good result but certainly a competitive match well worth watching.

CHELSEA 2 ARSENAL 0

Chelsea v. Arsenal (The First Half)

It's only a game. That much is true, but it is a game that many people care a lot about.

Blog as you go is the way forward, or perhaps it is just the way of the moment but I am now watching on BT Sport having enjoyed a lovely lunch down by the waterfall on the river at the Mill on the Exe.

We were so enjoying the food that when I checked my phone the time was already 12:45 so kick off was missed. On the 5 minute journey back in car I heard that "Walcott has beaten the Chelsea defence once again." so I assume that he has missed two chances already. He does need to improve his conversion rate.

As I write Santi Cazorla has just left a foot in the way of Pedro who goes over leading to a yellow card for the Arsenal midfielder.

Now Petr Cech (I had to look that spelling up) has thrown himself at the feet of Petro to save the day.

Gabriel now shepherds the ball into touch but in the replay it looks more like he shepherded that bloke in blue into touch as the ball drifted away from him.

Zouma shoots high from just over the half way line and people ask questions of his sanity.

Pedro shoot wide from just ahead of where Zouma shot from.

I hope these are the boots that Chelsea continue to shoot with as shots off target never lead to goals.

Walcott breaks and Zouma makes a supreme tackle to win the ball.

Commentator notes that Arsenal have three consecutive clean sheets to their name in the league.

Monreal earns Arsenal a corner.

Cazorla crosses, Ivanovic heads clear and sprints forward.

Ozil across goal. Ramsey fails to beat the defence.

Fight in the penalty area as Cech gets the ball out.

Costa hand to the face on Koscielny. Costa then chests Koscielny to the ground. Gabriel intervenes.

Yellow cards for Costa and Gabriel. Chelsea win that one as Costa should be off.

What has happened is that Gabriel is sent off for a second yellow card. The referee is a homer.

Costa is clearly a man in the mould of Mourinho.

The second half will now be Chelsea's 11 against Arsenal's 10 men.

Chelsea in the ascendancy and Arsenal on the moral high ground.

How often do morals win matches?

Last Night

Tuesday 15th September hid some football that crept up on me while my life was spinning out of control. Well, not really out of control but very busy.

Walcott has just got a goal back for Arsenal with 12 minutes to go.

Brentford travelled to Middlesbrough and were comprehensively beaten 3-1. Torquay earned a very creditable 2-2 draw away at Kidderminster. Weston were at home and given the early results did well to hold Truro at 2-2. Bideford beat Hamworthy United 3-1 and I can find no mention of the match between Street and Barnstaple which is on my spreadsheet so I shall assume it never happened.

Now, Arsenal, you have 7 minutes left to earn a draw. I shall stop blogging and will the ball into the Zagreb net.

Following Ten Teams

Following one team is easy and all fans know their last result and next fixture. Sometimes you have a mental block when work pressures get to you but the information is in there somewhere.

With ten teams to follow (and I watch out for local league teams as well) there is some effort required. Arsenal beat Stoke 2-0 at the weekend and there are no problems finding out as match of the day will always cover the Premier League. I buy the "Football League" paper to cover the next three levels and the "Non League" paper is full of life around the country. It is this last newspaper that has all the best stories.

Arsenal have just gone 2-0 down to Dinamo Zagreb and with Giroud off the field thanks to a red card it looks like Arsenal will have to do it the Arsenal way and come back from a first match defeat.

Brentford travelled to Leeds and drew 1-1. Southend lost 1-0 at home to Shrewsbury. Exeter beat the mighty Hartlepool 1-0. Are you reading this Jeff Stelling? Torquay earned a 1-1 draw away at Welling. Weston-super-Mare travelled to Dartford to lose 2-1.

Poole Town beat Barnstaple 1-0 in the F.A.Cup and I love watching the minnows progress so I hope we get a few cup upsets this year. There have been a few already but it is only when the non-league beat the league that it makes the real newspapers.

My final result for this post is Exmouth Town who beat Godolphin Atlantic 4-3. I have a feeling that I should go and watch Exmouth before too long.

Worthing v. Thamesmead Town

While visiting mother this last weekend I had the chance to watch a Ryman South team in action.

The match was an F.A.Cup Qualifier and Worthing were taking on Thamesmead Town from the Ryman North. The quality of the football was a jump up from my previous live experiences as you would expect and I was very happy with the value for money as I paid £8 each for my wife and I.

Following on from my last post and looking at the head of this blog I must give a shout out for one of the young Worthing players. BEN POPE danced through the Thamesmead defence for his first very well taken goal then added to it with a perfectly taken free kick around the wall.

My wife was first to notice that we had arrived at a stadium using the latest artificial 3G surface. She was fascinated and got closer than me. She described it as little lumps of rubber. I noticed that the ball was bouncing higher than on a conventional pitch and although it is the same for both teams I am sure the home team gains an advantage by understanding the bounce.

There was a strong wind from left to right as I watched from the grandstand but all the goals were scored kicking into the wind. Worthing took the two goal lead thanks to young BEN POPE. The match had plenty in it but it then settled down to what looked like a comfortable win until .........

The announcer stated that as the match had a definite result there would be a league match on Tuesday. Thamesmead took that as an invitation to score their goal and although the 90 minutes were up we all know that teams can score in injury time. The announcer told Thamesmead that they had two more minutes.

It got better as the next announcement was that the opponents on Tuesday were Dorking and as they were drawing in the cup there may not be a match on Tuesday. This was followed by another quote that they had in fact scored and the match on Tuesday was back on.

I know that teams at this level need support but that set of announcements did get me chuckling and thinking that a single announcement after the match would be better.

As it happens some friends of mine went to the match on the Tuesday and it was abandoned due to floodlight failure.

A good experience, particularly the two cups of tea at £1 a cup.

Gimme some names

You have probably heard of Olivier Giroud, you should certainly have heard of Alexis Sanchez, all fans are aware of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, and as an Arsenal fan I could name all the Ozil players as well, but now for some unknown names.

My number 10 pick Exmouth Town beat Tavistock 4-0 last night and I thought I should seek out a match report online. No luck there but I did find something on the facebook page and that is the name of the goalscorers.

Remember these names if you ever go and watch Exmouth Town:

Aaron Sowden

Joe Bushin

Karl Rickard

Jordan Hopkins

These are the first names I have introduced to this blog and I hope to check up on their progress in years to come. I have no knowledge of their ages so they may be on their last legs or they may be the new and upcoming stars of the future.

A 4-0 win for the only one of my teams in action has to be a good night.