Lingfield FC

Lingfield 3 Southwick 0 - Sussex County League, Division Two

Sussex County League

Lingfield is a village in Surrey. It lies to the west of the A22 which runs between Bletchingly and East Grinstead. Lingfield is famous for its racecourse with race days every month, including turf, National Hunt, all-weather racing and harness racing. On the Haxted Road towards Edenbridge, is Haxsted Mill. The double-fronted mill was built in two halves, the first around 1580 and the other in 1794. It has been fully restored and is a unique combination of a working watermill and a museum of mill machinery used for water-power.

This was a relatively easy venue to reach, with regular ‘rush hour’ services from Victoria and London Bridge taking about 45 minutes to reach Lingfield. From the railway station, a brisk 20 minute walk will get you to the Sports Pavilion, located on Godstone Road. The route takes you via Town Hill and the High Street, where there are a couple of decent looking pubs. The aroma emanating from Dave Dove’s Fish & Chip shop proved too much for the Pieman and his journey was temporarily delayed. Just chips mind but they were superb.

Once again I paid less than the price of a West Ham match programme to gain admission to the match. A programme was also included in the price, although it was restricted to a four page folded sheet containing team line ups but no other text.

The only covered accomodation is a verendah in front of the clubhouse. Tables and chairs are located thereon and the match can be watched from there.

A closely contested first period saw Lingfield edge in front, courtesy of Louis Perkins (35). His back post header from a corner certainly livened up the match which improved during the second half. Two further strikes from Chris Arrow (72) (a piercing shot? - Ed) and Danny Gillard (82) settled the affair but Southwick contributed and were not outplayed.

The 22:14 got me back to Victoria for just after 23:00 and via Tottenham Hale, I was back at Cheshunt for 23:50 and in bed not long afterwards. I appreciate that Manchester United v AC Milan was live on terrestrial TV, but I was more than happy with my selected Tuesday match.

Attendance: 44
Admission: £3.00
Programme: 4 pages, free with admission
Tea: 50p
Cheeseburger with Onions: £1.50
Fare: £3.10 from Zone 6 with Gold Card discount

Godmanchester Rovers FC

Godmanchester Rovers 0 v Haverhill Rovers 1 - Eastern Counties League, Division One

Eastern Counties League

Godmanchester is a small town immediately south of Huntingdon on the southern bank of the River Great Ouse. It lies on the A14 road, on what used to be the historic Ermine Street between London, Lincoln and York. While now in the county of Cambridgeshire, the town was historically part of Huntingdonshire. The location is likely to have been originally settled due to the gravel beds providing a ford across the River Great Ouse. In 2003 it had a population of about 5500.

One of the town's best-known features is its Chinese Bridge. Local legend has it that when the Chinese Bridge was built, it was without the use of nails or any other fixings.

Chinese Bridge

A number of years later, an architect applied to the council for permission to deconstruct the bridge to discover how exactly this had been accomplished. This being done, they tried to reconstruct the bridge again, but found that they could not get it to support itself under its own weight! Today the Chinese Bridge is held together by nails.

Turnstile & Gateman

A family day out to Huntingdon via the A10 and A1198 on a sunny Saturday provided an opportunity visit another Eastern Counties League venue. The Bearscroft Lane ground is no more than half a mile from the Wood Green Animal Shelter and while Hotspur and I spent a pleasant afternoon watching Godmanchester Rovers, Wife and Daughter spent a good while at the Shelter. I had wondered if there was a link between North London and this place but now have confirmation. Miss Louisa Snow founded Wood Green Animal Shelters in 1924 to help alleviate the problem of abandoned and injured animals on the streets of London after the First World War. In 1933 Dr. Margaret Young became involved with the charity and changed its aims to finding new homes for these animals.

The Charity started its work in a small house in North London over 80 years ago, this gradually became too small for the necessary work of the organisation. A small pig farm in Hertfordshire was purchased in 1954 to take on the increasing amount of dogs and cats being brought in and provided the charity with improved facilities to house the animals. Eventually in 1984 52 acres of farmland was bought in Godmanchester to expand further the work of the animal welfare organisation. All three of the Wood Green sites have grown and developed enormously over the last 80 years and have helped to set national standards in animal welfare across the Country.

Clubhouse

The Bearscroft Lane ground is situated on the southern edge of Godmanchester. Facilities are basic but perfectly adequate for this level of senior football. There is limited covered accommodation, the only seating being a token bench (looks like something out of a school gym - Ed)

Godmanchester Rovers are currently bottom of the Eastern Counties League Division One, having won only 5 games this season. However, they do have games in hand over the teams immediately above them. In contrast, visitors Haverhill Rovers are in 2nd place, looking for promotion to the Premier Division.

Although starting brightly, Haverhill struggled to make their superiority count. They did score a first half goal but a determined home performance ensured a nervous time for the visitors and with a bit more self belief the home side could have grabbed a point.

In the closing moments of the match an off the ball incident saw the Haverhill Number 11 sprawled out clutching his jaw. The Pieman, like most, had followed the ball, but a linesman called the referee over and the resultant red card reduced the home side to 10 men.

It is the EASTERN COUNTIES League after all!

Attendance: 54
Admission: £3
Programme: with admission (obtained for you Andy, Stan and Glyn, the barman in Phil Butler's local, the Prince Albert in Ely)
Eagle Bitter: £2
Hotspur's Fanta : 70p

AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon 1 Staines Town 1 - Isthmian League, Premier Division

Isthmian League

Wimbledon is a suburb of London, part of the London Borough of Merton. For most of the past one hundred years, Wimbledon has been best known as the home of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. In addition the Wombles are fictional characters created by British author Elisabeth Beresford, originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. The characters later became nationally famous in the mid 1970s as a result of a popular BBC children's television show using stop motion animation. A number of spin-off novelty songs also became major hits in the British music charts. Wombles are pointy-nosed furry creatures that live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. This "green" message was ahead of its time in the 1970s. Although Wombles live in every country in the world, the stories focus on the life of the Wimbledon Common burrow in London, England. Beresford reportedly invented the name "Womble" when one of her young children referred to Wimbledon Common as "Wombledon Common".

The club and its supporters regard AFC Wimbledon as the direct continuation of the former Wimbledon F.C., and consider that the new MK Dons are no longer representative of the legacy and tradition of Wimbledon FC. Regular readers of this blurb may recall the Pieman's visit to MK Dons earlier this season and the debate between MK Gould and Badger Atkins that took place.

On this warm bank holiday Monday, Hotspur and I set off via Seven Sisters and Vauxhall to Norbiton station, from where a ten minute stroll will get you to Kingsmeadow the home of AFC Wimbledon. A very good crowd were present to see if AFC could maintain their push towards confirming a place in the divisional play off for promotion to Conference South.

AFC made the best possible start by going ahead in the 3rd minute. A cross from the right was met by a flying Luke Garrard header and the stage was set for another goal feast (the previous home match had been won 9-0). However, the only other strike was for Staines Town after 69 minutes.

You knew they were there if needed!

Wimbledon looked tired as this season reaches its climax. The 1-1 draw mirrors the result from when the two clubs met at Wheatsheafe Park on Boxing Day. Should AFC miss out on the play offs they might regard Staines Town as a thorn in their side.

"Help my back's gone"

Kingsmeadow is a good venue with covered terracing on three side and a decent seated stand along the main side. I was overpowered by the smell of the chips during the second half and had to purchase a tray.

Badger Atkins failed (yet again) to attend the match which just underlines what the Worleys say about this lightweight. Atkins - your club needs you!

Attendance: 3002 (that's 3000 + Harry and me!)
Admission: £9 (Hotspur: £2)
Programme: £2.50 (obtained for you Andy, Stan and Glyn, the barman in Phil Butler's local, the Prince Albert in Ely)- very good it is too with articles by Ray Armfield (a colleague)
Fare: Covered by my annual season ticket/travel card (Hotspur: £1)
Tea/Coffee: 70p
Chips: £1

Sevilla FC

Sevilla 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1 - UEFA Cup Round of 8, 1st Leg

La Liga

Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain, irrigated by the river Guadalquivir. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Sevilla. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos . The population of the city of Seville proper was 704,154 as of 2005. According to legend, Seville was founded by Hercules and its origins are linked with the Tartessian civilisation. It was called Hispalis under the Romans and Isbiliya with the Moors.

Seville Cathedral

Our trip to Seville in Easter week came at the same time as the major religious festival. Holy Week is known as 'Semana Santa' in Spain and is most widely celebrated in the towns and cities of Andalucia. In Seville it is one of the city's two biggest annual festivals along with the April Fair (Feria de Abril) which follows two weeks later. Semana Santa takes place the week leading up to the Easter weekend and consists of processions in which enormous 'pasos' (floats) are carried around the streets of Seville by teams of 'costaleros' (bearers) followed by hundreds of 'nazarenos' (penitents).

Many of these floats are religious works of art that date back as far as the 17th century, each showing a small part of the Easter story. Throughout the city thousands of people line the streets waiting to catch a glimpse of the processions, each of which takes many hours between leaving its parish and returning there after following a set route around the city. Each of over 50 brotherhoods (cofradías) have two floats so you can imagine the enormity of the occasion.

Seville town council had attempted to get the date of the match switched and it is easy to see why in such circumstances. However, they only started muttering after the draw had been made and after many supporters had book flights and hotels. So for once it is congratulations to UEFA for displaying a bit of backbone!

Traditional Seville Orange Marmalade from Delia Online

Our hotel was located a couple of hundred yards from the home stadium of Sevilla's rivals, Real Betis. We were able to explore the venue and rather like Sevilla's, it is lacking a bit of care and attention. I will not dwell on this aspect other than to say that these stadia would not be allowed to hold Premiership matches. (Do you mean it is a bit of a dump, Pieman?- Ed)

Real Betis are struggling in La Liga in their centenary year. The Manuel Ruiz de Lopera Stadium has a capacity of 52,700.

Seville is known for the wide variety of Tapas on offer. Ciderman and I fulfilled our duty to experience a good selection and enjoyed the choices. There is not much that I can comment on regarding beer, Cruzcampo holding the monopoly for the region.

Not sure about the history of this - one or two familiar crests

The Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, like that at Real Betis, is ageing and could do with Trinny and Susannah's help. However, it does afford a good view of the action but some parts of the seating allocated to visitors will be some distance from the playing area (Newcastle United! - Ed)

As for the match, this was the first time that Spurs had failed to win in this season's competition. An early Keane goal was wiped out by a harshly awarded Kanoute (remember him) penalty. A second Sevilla goal ensured a win for the home side and the tie is finely balanced prior to Thursday's 2nd leg at White Hart Lane.

Many will be aware of the behaviour of the local police during the first half of this match. Pie & Mushy Peas is not a political vehicle but I would like to make the following points. These people are cowards. Like their Italian counterparts they are only brave when armed with batons and dressed in riot gear. To attack someone in a wheelchair is completely out of order and that particular officer must be very pleased with himself.

In contrast to this the Seville people are a genuinely friendly bunch who welcomed us to their city at a very busy time. After the match one local bought glasses of sherry type wine over to my good friend Poddy and I. There was a language barrier as Poddy speaks nothing but E17 cockney and I am no better but this was not a problem.

Attendance: 32,000
Admission: 60 Euros
Programme: Sevilla do not issue programmes
Beer : 1 Euro (average price)