Liverton 5 Exmouth Reserves 2

Liverton produced their best performance of the season to come from 0-1 down to beat their young opponents.

Two well taken goals from Man of the Match Dejan Maric laid the platform for the win. Maric worked tirelessly in his striking role.

Further goals from Sam Hebbes, Nick Edmunds and Neil Last with his customary 25 yard free kick sealed the win.

Well done lads.

Great display.

Saturday 7th March : Fixtures

For the first time in a long time all my fixtures are taking place on Saturday.

1) Arsenal v. West Ham United
2) Brentford v. Sheffield Wednesday
3) Southend v. Bristol Rovers
4) Walsall v. Exeter
5) Sutton United v. Torquay
6) Bath City v. Weymouth
7) Tiverton v. Weston-super-Mare
8) Barnstaple v. Sholing
9) Exmouth v. Chipping Sodbury Town
10) Elmore v. Torrington
11) Liverton v. Exmouth Town Reserves

12) Beer Albion v. Cronies
13) Lympstone v. Bow Amateur Athletic Club
14) Sandford v. Elmore 2nds
15) North Tawton v. Westexe
16) Cranbrook v. Kentisbeare 2nds
17) Farway United v. Broadclyst
18) Topsham Town 2nds v. Elmore 3rds
19) Priory v. Lympstone 2nds
20) Westexe 2nds v, Witheridge 3rds

All we need now is a day without torrential rain.

Rambling On - Combined Counties League

So I found out something very interesting today.

I first started keeping track of all the football leagues in England back in 2011-12 when I was working for a company that had no concept of man management and insisted that I work on a project where there was no work to be done.

To be fair I was given the option of going back to my old job but if you were paid to sit around waiting for some work to show up what would you do? My choices were to sit and stare into space or do something. I chose to research the Football Pyramid and starting with the Premier League and then the Football League. I established that below the National League there were a whole host of other leagues and back then teams could apply to move from one to another.

Having completed the Level 1 to 5 single division diagram I learned that there were two divisions at Level 6 although those non league officianados insisted on calling it Step 2. Below that there were three regional leagues, the Northern Premier League, the Southern League which covered a huge area, and the Isthmian League centred around East London.

Each of the regional leagues had feeder divisions at Level 8 and at one point I thought "that will do" but I am a perfectionist so I wanted to continue the pyramid to its ultimate conclusion. Little did I know that there are far more leagues than I ever expected and I have now started collecting Scottish, Welsh and Irish leagues after completing most if not all of the county leagues. The F.A. have now decided the County Leagues should sit at Level 11 (Step 7) and have been decimating long standing leagues to achieve that aim.

When I reached Level 9 (Step 5) I decided to work in alphabetical order and the Combined Counties League was first out of the hat. This league had and still has a Premier Division and a Division One.
What intrigued me most this morning was that back in 2011-12 when I started the team sitting at the top of the Combined Counties League Division One was Guernsey. I visited their ground when I was on holiday a few years back.

This season 2019-20 the team at the top of the Combined Counties League Division One is Jersey Bulls following in the Guernsey footsteps. The "Combined" name means that the league is very flexible in terms of who it allows in and it has allowed the channel islands teams to compete albeit that they have to pay for the travel costs of their opponents when they visit the islands.

This level 10 division includes teams such as Fleet Spurs, Bagshot, Cove and Westside as well as the more interestingly named Chessington & Hook United, Eversley & California (there IS a California in Britain), British Airways (I wonder if this is a works team) and FC Deportivo Galicia (maybe with some foreign nationals in the team). According to my table four teams will be promoted to the Premier Division so alongside Jersey Bulls the teams in position at the moment are Farnham Town, Tooting Bec (I am sure there is a station there) and Walton & Hersham. Question: How many sides have merged over the years to become X&Y or A&B?

The Premier Division is currently led by Ascot United followed by Spelthorne Sports. The division includes Sutton Common Rovers, Guildford City and Hanwell Villa who currently sit bottom of the division. It also contains one of my favourite names for a team and that is Badshot Lea. I have a fantasy of watching the team or its opposition playing a forward called Leigh or Lee who would shoot high and wide whereupon we could all shout "Bad Shot Lee". ... Fantasy over.

That concludes the ramble about the Combined Counties League. My knowledge is limited but at least the Channel Islands are now BOTH represented in the professional leagues. This is the first season for Jersey Bulls and they are storming the league so I expect them to go far. The Guernsey side are currently in the Isthmian League South East Division so that must be the minimum target for Jersey as they are the larger of the two islands.

Ramble around the Leagues

We will start in the South West where I live and breathe. My favourite leagues are the ones that start at Level 10 (Step 6). The football pyramid extends to Level 7 but the Football Association are now pushing for Level 7 to be County Level leagues so anything above that has to be pushed, pulled and pulverised until it fits the dream that the F.A. have.

The South West Peninsula League has always held a fascination for me as I watched teams promoted from the subsidiary division which are free to the Premier Division where they are required to charge money and count the crowd. I always felt that this league allowed a transition from amateur football to the professional game but the F.A. have put paid to that. They want the professional game under their jurisdiction, and the amateur game can make their own rules.

So ... This Season ... There is no league as such. There are now two parallel divisions, one east and one west. I shall watch closely at the end of the season to see where the champions end up as previous to this season the winners of the South West Peninsula and the winners of the Western League Division One were both eligible for promotion to the Western League Premier Division. Now there will be three teams vying to go up so expect there must be three teams coming down in different directions. Relegation and Promotion are rarely one to one at this level.

The two teams at the top of the East Division are Ilfracombe Town in North Devon and Brixham in South Devon. The non league matters league table suggests that both teams will be promoted but I cannot see that unless the F.A. have more changes in mind that they have not announced yet, or are not yet general knowledge. At the bottom and heading for the Devon League are Sidmouth Town, more know for Folk Music than for football.

At the top of the West Division are Helston Athletic from west cornwall and AFC St Austell from east cornwall. At the bottom are Godolphin Atlantic from Newquay heading in the same direction as their airport now that FLYBE have been abandoned by the government despite being acknowledged as an important connector for business personnel around Britain.

There are two more league that start at Level 10 (Step6). One is the East Midlands Counties League that acts as a feeder to the Northern Counties East League. Sherwood Colliery are at the top (was Robin Hood a miner?) and they are closely followed by Eastwood Community. I like it when community football makes the big time. They are followed by Dunkirk (not the French city but the team on the banks of the River Trent in Nottingham), and Heanor Town close to the Eastwood where Robin Hood was rumoured to have lived. At the bottom are Teversal and Borrowash Victoria, two nice name but clubs that I know nothing about.

The last of the Level 10 (Step 6) Leagues is my new favourite. They became my favourite when I read a report that the Football Association want to exclude them from the structure of the pyramid. Short sighted F.A. officials clearly cannot get the league to fit easily into their 1-2-4-8-16-32 format so they do not come up with creative ideas, they simply say "you're OUT!". This must not be allowed to happen and I am sure there are enough people in the midlands who can kick up the necessary stink to force the F.A. to change their minds.

The West Midlands (Regional) League has three divisions and forms a league so the F.A. will want to cut the lower two divisions free but may instead just cut the league free. Division Two is being led by AFC Bentley, closely followed by Church Stretton Town. The league includes teams called Ludlow (lovely place) and Newport Town (a third Newport after Wales and the Isle of Wight). Other teams are from Worcester, Walsall and Bridgnorth.

The West Midlands (Regional) League Division One are led by Droitwich Spa who are eight points clear and I expect to see them in the Premier Division provided that the F.A. have not destroyed the league in time for next season. There are a few familiar names in this division like Old Wulfrunians and Wellington Amateurs as well as Tipton Town and Sikh Hunters.

The professional division is led by Shifnal Town with Bewdley Town and Dudley Town close behind. Wolverhampton Casuals and Wolverhampton Sporting Community are in this division and I remember those name as they take a lot of typing. The two teams likely to go down are Cradley Town and Dudley Sports.

That concludes my ramble about the Step 6 Leagues.

Matches not postponed

Most of the matches on my spreadsheet were postponed this week but the ones that were not are:

Cardiff City 2 Brentford 2. A creditable draw away from home.

This result puts Brentford firmly in the play-off places. Eleven points off automatic promotion and three points above Bristol City who are just outside the zone.

Oxford United 2 Southend United 1. Another defeat in a long line.

Southend are four points above Bolton but I expect Bolton to rise above us in the next few weeks. More importantly we are seventeen points from safety. We WILL be relegated.

Exeter 1 Crawley Town 1. Drawing at home is not promotion form.

Exeter 1 Crewe Alexandra 1. Drawing at home is not promotion form.

Exeter are now top of the play-off places and Colchester are ten points behind us, just outside the zone. Above us on goal difference sitting on 65 points are Plymouth Argyle, our local rivals. Above them are Crewe Alexandra on 66 points so we missed a chance last night. Swindon Town remain top of League Two on 69 points.

Torquay 2 Chorley 0. A good home win but expected against the team who are at the foot of the table.

Torquay are firmly in the middle of the table, only six points from a possible play-off place and eight points above the relegation zone.

Weymouth 5 Maidstone United 1. You have already read the match report in my previous post.

Dorchester Town 2 Weymouth 4. Weymouth are now WINNERS of the Dorset Senior Cup.

I can only assume that Bournemouth put out a weakened side at some point in the competition.

Weymouth are in the play-off places on 59 points, seven points behind league leaders Wealdstone. Hampton & Richmond, just outside the play-off places are on 46 points.

In the Devon & Exeter League Premier Division Cronies beat Colyton 2-1 away. They seem to play even when the rest of the league are not playing and I thought it must be their pitch but this time they were away from home.

On Monday Arsenal qualified in the F.A.Cup by beating Portsmouth 2-0.

The other two Tuesday matches apart from Crewe and Dorchester were both bad defeats.

Beaconsfield Town 4 Tiverton Town 0.

Tiverton are in the play-off places on 55 points. Truro City in the automatic promotion place are on 66 points and Taunton Town just outside the play-offs are on 51points.

Shepton Mallett 4 Exmouth Town 0.

Exmouth Town at one point had about five games in hand over those above them but a few defeats and matches played have changed all that. We sit on 53 points in 5th place, with Tavistock on 53 above us on goal difference, Hallen on 56 points, Bradford Town on 58 points and Plymouth Parkway on 58 points.

I am now currently watching midweek F.A.Cup matches. This must be because TV money is much greater for one match per night than for showing them all on a Saturday night. What is the worst that money can do to the game? That will be what happens next!

Weymouth 5 Maidstone United 1

From the non-league paper:

Weymouth finally gave their fans a relaxing afternoon with an emphatic home win against a Stones' side who looked worse for wear from their long trip.

This was the first time the Terras had won at the Bob Lucas Stadium by more than a solitary goal since a 3-0 win over Braintree in late October and they could even afford the luxury of missing two penalties out of the three they were awarded.

Calvin Brooks began the rout inside the first three minutes when he ended a twisting run with a bullet shot that beat Chris Lewington inside his near post.

Halfway through the half Josh McQuoid slipped in Ben Thomson who stroked home the second moments before Abdulai Baggie failed from the spot.

It was, however, 3-0 just before the break after the unfortunate Ryan Johnson found his own net.

The Terras were virtually home and dry within nine minutes of the restart when Tom Whelan thumped home from the spot. Whelan should have scored again 15 minutes later but was left with egg on his face when he missed Weymouth's third penalty of the match.

The Stones did grab a consolation in the 75th minute. Sam Corne headed past Ward at the second attempt but the Terras rounded off the scoring late, substitute Hack Hoey hammering home a loose ball to complete the rout.

Friday Snippet

So Exmouth Town's trip to Willand Rovers in the Devon St Lukes Bowl on wednesday night was postponed.

Arsenal assumed they were going to go through in the Europa League after winning the away leg against Olympiacos. The match started with Arsenal playing a lazy Sunday afternoon after lunch style. Olympiacos were faster, sleeker and more accurate with their passing. They took a deserved lead and held on to it so the match went into extra time.

In extra time Aubameyang scored the goal with a scissors kick. He was only in a central position because Lacazette had been taken off. The 1-1 scoreline was sufficient to put Arsenal through but now a single goal for Olympiacos would put them through on the away goals rule. Arsenal held on up until the 119th minute. With a minute to go Olympiacos scored the winner and some blame must go to Bernd Leno who had needlessly dallied and given away a corner.

Scoring in the last minute is usually enough to win but there was still time in injury time for Auba to get another chance. It seemed easier to score but he hit his shot wide and Arsenal were cut free from the Europa Cup and can now concentrate on the Premier League and of course the F.A.Cup.

Arsenal travel to Portsmouth on Monday night for their F.A.Cup trial.

At the matches listed below ladies are entitled to ask their boyfriends to marry them:

Brentford are away at Cardiff.

Southend are away at Oxford.

Exeter are at home to Crawley.

Torquay are at home to Chorley.

Weymouth are at home to Maidstone.

Tiverton are away to Swindon (the Supermarine variety).

Barnstaple seem to be missing a fixture.

Exmouth are away to Clevedon Town.

Elmore are at home to Plymouth Marjon (a college where an ex girlfriend studied).

Liverton are away at Teignmouth. Some nice pubs down there.

Cronies are away at Colyton.

The other matches are far too unimportant for you to bother with.

Who am I kidding? All matches matter to the players involved in them.

Catching up with results

On Saturday I was able to watch Brentford 2 Blackburn Rovers 2 and with Blackburn going 2-0 up that has to be seen as a good recovery. A magical strike from Ollie Watkins got things back on track.

Southend United continued a miserable season with a home defeat to Burton Albion. Burton won the game 3-2 to keep Southend in prime position for relegation.

Exeter suffered a rare defeat away at Northampton. Northampton won that match 2-0 but I am pleased to say that in the rugby on Sunday revenge was gained as Exeter beat Northampton 57-7.

In the Vanarama National League Torquay took on FC Halifax at home. A 1-0 home win was the end result.

Weymouth entertained Billericay Town in the National South but that match finished 0-0. No goals to report. No news to report.

Tiverton were at home to Wimborne Town in the Southern League Premier Division South. These leagues are getting more and more complicated. All just to satisfy the limited thinking of the Football Association who want a 2-4-8-16 formation that does not match the geography of the country.

Barnstaple against Thatcham Town was postponed due to the weather. Rain? What rain?

Exmouth entertained Wellington (not the Duke) and won their home match 2-0. The season continues on a good path with a chance of promotion.

Elmore were due to play at Dartmouth but I think the Dartmouth pitch was similar to the picture above.

I did not know about it as the Devon League website is so far out of date that planning even a week ahead is just not possible. Liverton took on the University of Exeter and managed a 4-4 draw. Given the season to date this is a good result that may well see my local village safe from relegation. The team must have a few new players as the early season team showed little footballing ability.

Only three of the local league matches went ahead and the results were one of each. Cranbrook beat Central, Broadclyst drew with Awliscombe and Lympstone 2nds lost 7-1 to Devon Yeoman 2nds.

I enjoyed the match on Sunday now that I have access to Sky Sports via Now TV. Arsenal took on Everton so Mikel Arteta should have known all about both teams. Bukayo Saka once again proved to be a match winner with a fantastically placed cross for Pepe to run onto and produce a Henriesque flying finish with his leading foot ahead of him in mid air.

Everton had taken the lead in the first minute because Arsenal still go to sleep whenever there is a dead ball situation. I cannot believe that they do not practice defending such situations.

At this point the match was 1-1 with Everton having the early play and Arsenal coming back strongly after recovering from their exertions (and win) against Olympiacos. Things felt great when David Luiz played one of his long through passes that found Pierre-Emeryck Aubameyang who timed his run to perfection, and in another Henrieque moment opened his body shape and scored in the far corner. Thierry Henri was back in the shape of Pepe and Aubameyang.

Arsenal then conceded from a corner and I was entertained by watching David Luiz come out late thus playing Everton onside and then heading thin air miles from the ball. Brilliance and lunacy from the same player which I was warned about by my Chelsea supporting friend Jen.

Halftime saw both teams going in with the score at 2-2. This match could go either way.

The match was one by a well placed cross from Pepe who found Aubameyang near the penalty spot. His well directed header found the net and whilst it will never make goal of the season it was enough for the win.

Everton had many chances to equalise after that but they wasted them all.


In the Luton v. Brentford match last night an early own goal gave Luton the lead. According to the highlights Brentford then had many attacked before Luton scored again. Brentford then had more attacks eventually scoring a consolation prize. The match finished 2-1 to Luton.

Tough Weekend

I listed the matches that I want to watch this weekend last night.

SAT 12:30 Brentford v. Blackburn SKY SPORTS
SAT 12:30 Chelsea v. Tottenham BT SPORT

We were out shopping : Family comes first : Got back to see Blackburn 2-0 up.
My Championship pick came back to 2-2 via an Ollie Watkins screamer and a penalty.

SAT 14:15 Italy v. Scotland Rugby ITV

Italy played some good rugby to gain ground several times but Scotland won 17-0.

SAT 16:45 Wales v. France Rugby BBC

As I write this the French have just scored the first try and the score is 3-7.

SAT 17:20 Sutton United v. Barrow BT SPORT

Foreign Football late into the evening but I think I have to give the wife the TV for the evening.

TOMORROW

SUN 12:00 Women's rugby as Wales take on France and England take on Ireland

That will have to be cut short as I try and watch using both my computer and the television:

SUN 13:00 Exeter v. Northampton Rugby BT SPORT
SUN 13:00 Arsenal women v. Lewes women BBC Red Button & F.A.Player

SUN 15:00 England v. Ireland Rugby ITV

SUN 16:30 Arsenal v. Everton SKY SPORTS = Three Line Whip, cancel other plans.

Foreign Football continues late into the evening but I have agreed to go and watch "Yesterday" with the wife.

France have just had a try disallowed for a forward pass. The score is now 6-10.

Winter Break

So I have completed my mid winter break.

YOU can go and find out what happened while I was away. Some very interesting results I can tell you.

This week Southend United lost 1-0 at home to Gillingham. They are in deep trouble.

I managed to watch Portsmouth v. Exeter as I now have access to Sky Sports via Now TV. I refuse to pay Rupert Murdoch directly but I have to admit that Sky Sports provides what people like me want.

The match was a tight game for 78 minutes. Jake Taylor battered the ball into the net to put a very young Exeter side ahead in what had been a tight game. This should have been enough and in most cases would have been. Portsmouth equalised in the 86th minute and that should have been it. We were now expecting a penalty shootout. Exeter kept chasing the game and a well placed cross led to an own goal in the 89th minute. Surely that was it. Exeter had just achieved a famous victory against a very strong Portsmouth team.

The fourth official indicated that there would be 5 minutes of injury team although nobody could work out where that had come from. Was this Fergie time? Kenny Jackett may have taken on the mantle and now influenced the fourth official from his position close to the touchline. In the 91st minute Portsmouth equalised. OK, So we will have to accept the lottery of a penalty shootout. Nope! In the 96th minute of a 95 minute match Portsmouth scored the winner. This young Exeter side had produced a brilliant performance but it was not enough. They will have to learn fast.

Portsmouth 3 Exeter 2 - (96th minute of a 95 minute match).

The Exmouth match away at Odd Down was postponed. Perhaps it had something to do with the rain?

We were discussing the first knockout match this season in the Europa League. A narrow defeat would be acceptable but I was only going to be happy with a 0-0 scoreline. The new Arsenal under Mikel Arteta needs to recreate the Arsenal of old where we DO NOT CONCEDE. As it happens we did not have to worry. Olympiacos attacked strongly at the beginning of both halves but could not break our leaky and wobbly defence. What is more Bukayo Saka is proving to be the find of the season as he created a number of chances the best of which led to Alexander Lacazette scoring the winning goal. Laca is Backa! I hope he scores many more in the weeks to come.

This weekend the matches to look forward to are:

1) Arsenal v. Everton on Sunday.

2) Brentford v. Blackburn Rovers.

3) Southend v. Burton Albion.

4) Northampton Town v. Exeter.

5) Torquay v. FC Halifax Town.

6) Weymouth v. Billericay Town.

7) Tiverton v. Wimborne Town.

8) Barnstaple v. Thatcham Town.

9) Exmouth v. Wellington.

10) Dartmouth v. Elmore

No match listed for Liverton but that has become more the norm as the season goes on.

The local league matches are my business and not yours so I will only mention exceptional performances.

Enjoy your weekend wherever you are watching your football.

Results @ Brexit Weekend

Brentford beat Hull City 5-1 away as we found out earlier.

Southend United produced a good result beating Lincoln City 2-1 at home.

Exeter City suffered their second defeat in a week going down 2-1 at Swindon Town.

Torquay United travelled to Barrow and went down to the same score as Exeter, 2-1.

Weymouth visited Braintree and went 1-0 down but drew level to finish the match 1-1.

Tiverton went 2-0 up away at Salisbury but then allowed the home team to come back for a 2-2.

Barnstaple went 2-0 down at Moneyfields. They never recovered and finished the match losing 5-2.

Exmouth performed worse than Tiverton going 2-0 up at Roman Glass St George. Roman Glass then produced three goals of their own to win the match 3-2.

Elmore had no match this weekend.

Liverton are showing something of a revival winning 2-1 at Topsham Town. Should I go back and watch my home village or do you think it is my lack of support that results in these wins?

There was a good set of results in my local league matches but Elmore 2nds and 3rds are flying.

Elmore 2nds beat Clyst Valley 2nds 11-0.

Elmore 3rds beat Otterton 2nds 15-1.

Sorry Broadclyst but a 4-0 win is just not good enough for a mention.

Twitter On

Just playing with Twitter and it seems to be a useful source of football scores.

As at 3:30pm ...

Swindon are leading Exeter City 1-0.

All my other Football League and National League matches are 0-0.

Tiverton are beating Salisbury 2-0.

Barnstaple are losing to Moneyfields 2-0.

Exmouth Town are beating Roman Glass St George 2-0.

Twitter on.

Hull 1 Brentford 5

Happy Days.

The BMW up front for Brentford fired on all cylinders and produced a marvelous performance at the KC Stadium. Said Benrahma (B) scored a hat-trick and looked the part although he was booked for removing his shirt to show the message "Je t'aime papa" or "I love you dad". His father died recently so he is going through the pain that many of us have been through.

Bryan Mbeumo (M) had his chances and missed at least one golden opportunity. He was, however, instrumental in causing mayhem amongst the Hull defenders.

The final jigsaw piece of this front three is Ollie Watkins (W) and he scored his goal heading in a superbly placed cross from Rico Henry.

The only goal for Hull was a blooper by David Raya that will be played again and again and will be on Question of Sport's "What happened next" before too long. He elected to kick rather than pick up the ball and it slipped between his legs and into the net.

The result puts Brentford into third place in the league but Nottingham Forest have yet to play.

Good start to the day.

I had two screens working so was able to keep my eye on Leicester v. Chelsea as well.

Now for some international rugby union.

Saturday Morning : February 1st

So, on the day that England, Wales and Scotland leave the EU and Northern Ireland are placed in the unenviable position of either building borders and restarting the violence or remaining in Europe and risk reunifying Ireland, football goes on unchanged.

On Monday night I had the pleasure of watching Arsenal secure a win against Bournemouth early on but then missing the excitement of "the fear of losing" gave away a goal in injury time at the end of the second half to try to create panic amongst the fans. Thankfully we held on for the win. 2-1.

Tuesday night for me saw three defeats and a win.

Brentford lost 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest.

Southend lost 3-1 away at Doncaster Rovers.

Exeter suffered a surprise defeat 3-1 away to Port Vale.

The only victory for my teams came as Weymouth travelled to Hemel Hempstead Town. Victory was by one goal to nil. Weymouth are having a good season.

On Wednesday the match between Tiverton and Chesham United was postponed.


Tomorrow Arsenal travel to Burnley.

Today Brentford travel to Hull and as the match is at 12:30 it must be on television somewhere.

Other matches today are:
Southend v. Lincoln City
Swindon Town v. Exeter
Barrow v. Torquay
Braintree Town v. Weymouth
Salisbury v. Tiverton
Moneyfields v. Barnstaple
Roman Glass St George v. Exmouth

No matches listed at levels 10 or 11 but as there have been so many postponements I will check the internet to see if any matches have been rearranged for today.
<check complete>
No match for Elmore but it seems that
Topsham Town v. Liverton United
is now a match available for watching.

A full set of local league matches is also scheduled.

Dead Teams and Dropouts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

George Dowell = Owner of Worthing FC

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

Saturday 25th Roundup

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

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

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

Weymouth beat Dorking Wanderers 2-1.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Roll on Monday when Arsenal travel to Bournemouth.

The Brentford Team

The Team v. Leicester:

28 Luke Daniels

35 Mads Roersley Rasmussen

23 Julian Jeanvier

32 Luka Racic

2 Dominic Thompson

4 Dru Yearwood

12 Kamohelo Mokotjo

17 Emiliano Marcondes

16 Valencia Castillo

21 Halil Dervisoglu

31 Jan Zamburek

SUBSTITUTES

3 Rico Henry

5 Ethan Pinnock

6 Christian Norgaard

13 Patrik Gunnarsson

14 Pelenda Joshua Dasilva

19 Bryan Mbeumo

33 Fredrik Hammar

Leicester have taken an early lead.

Saturday Morning 25th January = Brentford LIVE on BBC1

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

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

Friday Night Report

Firstly Exmouth Town.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THIS WEEKEND

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

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

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

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

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

4) Exeter City are at home to Colchester United.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mid Term Report = Brentford

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

Football League Championship

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

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

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

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

Football is a sport for dreamers. Dream on!