Season Summary

Well on a disapointing note, i didn’t reach a 100 games but i did do 83 which i am still quite happy with , sadly the bad weather in February really slowed me down and then with work i found it really hard to make up lost ground . So my total for the season is 83 , which is 45 games better than my total last season when i did just 38. This season has included 20 new grounds, a few of them being in the worcester district league though.

The season started for me with a friendly on a red hot summers day back in July , when i made the trip to see Bartley Green lose 4-0 to local higher leaguers Stourbridge. That was then followed by 8 other friendly games , which included 2 new grounds , which were Cirencester and Solihull Moors.

When the season began, i was hitting the ground running , rarely found in the house striving to get to 100 games and also trying to get to some new grounds and the next on the list was Fairfield Villa who i watched beat Droitwich 3-1 in August.

I dipped into the under 21 Mid comb league to when i visited Bewdley towns ground , very nice setting a old wooden stand set in a sort of valley next to the river. Cradley town was the first ever West Mid regional ground i visited , and it made a big impression on me.

In October , i visited Littleton  who were top at the time beat strugglers Northfield, another very basic ground in a rural setting. In december i visited Stourbridge Fc’s ground but it was to watch Causeway United play there. Boxing day was another new ground , york Rd AFC Smethwick beat Wombourne to go 2nd in the league .

January , came a jaunt into Herefordshire to watch Bromyard lose 2-1 to 2nd placed Gornal , very good little ground and i followed this up to the mad looking ground which is home to Lye Town.

During this period i was also watching youth football and would often watch Birmingham Citys youth side tear apart sides as they romped to the league scores i saw were… 11-0,6-1,8-1, 10-1,5-3, and finally 13-1 , all in Blues favour  clear and deserved league winners.I did see some high scoring games though .. i saw WCT beat Malvern Radar 12-2 , I saw Cradley beat Darlaston 6-0 .

The furtherest ground i completed was Portishead Town , of the toolstation league on a bank holiday in April and out of 83 games i saw just one 0-0 which at the time ruined my 55 match run of scoring games ,but since then i have managed to get back to 45.

So that is that for this season and all that remains to say is thank you for following my blog and i shall return when the friendlies start again which is only about 6 weeks away. Still the champions league final and Euro 2012 to get out of the way yet. See you soon !

Adj

 

Game 83- Loughborough Uni 2 Tipton Town 0 7/5/2012

On Monday night i attended the Polymac Cup Final at the Bescot Stadium, in the game between Loughborough Uni and Tipton Town. The game was very equal but Loughboro started looking the sharper and more threatening side and took the lead in the first half with a low finish. Tipton offered little 2nd half but when they came into the game in the 2nd half they were thwarted by fine saves by the Uni keeper, and Uni finished in in injury time and one on one buried with a aplom.

Line Ups

Game 82 – Cavelier Sports 3 Malvern Town (Sunday) 0 6/5/2012

Well i continued my late push for games by attending this Worcester Division Four fixture between these 2 struggling sides and with it so i overheard a player saying that this win has secured there status this season but i am not sure if Malvern are so safe as this result has meant they have been leapfrogged by Sports into one from bottom.

This was a new ground as such , Windermere drive the home of the Archdales 73 club , even though the team of the same name now play a few minutes away .The weather was sunny and bright but did cloud over later.Sports in the white and Town in the red. I overhead a Malvern player saying how it was a right miss match this season and how he didn’t mind if they went down so they could rebuild , they turned up with 2 subs and only 11 shirts so when a player came off they had to give there dirty shirt to the new player …urghh.

As for the game , it was entertaining to a degree, Sports bossed the game but they were made to work for it by a spirited Town side who on there sday could have scored 4 or 5. The opening goal came on 32 minutes , a top draw free kick from outside the area sailed into the top corner. Town spooned a few chances over , and at one point had a open goal but 2 defenders flew in to make a great double block.

In the second half , it was soon 2-0 , the keeper rushed off his line and a player lobbed the ball over his head. Town continued to battle , but continued to sky ball after ball over the bar. A sports player then recieved the red for i believe was a second yellow. Sports wrapped it up near the end burying the ball hard and low in a one on one past the keeper. Att around 35-40

Game 81 – Archdales ’73 2 Blackwood 1 5/5/2012

Promotion chasing Blackwood had their party put on ice by a hard working Archdales side, but they shall have the chance to get their own back on Wednesday night when Archdales travel to Blackwood.

I decided to stay local today so it was either Archdales or the bromsgrove derby of Fairfield V Bromsgrove, but instead i opted for Mid Comb Team of the month Archdales Verses 2nd place Blackwood. I arrived at the ground at 2.50pm and the teams were getting ready to come down the steps with Archdales in White and Blackwood in red.

The first half was a more interesting encounter , Blackwood hitting the post , before taking the lead on 30 mins , with a rasping drive that the keeper tryed to catch , instead went straight through his gloves and hit the bar , the ball was then cleared to the wing where it was played back in and finished low.

Archdales responded well and Mark Owen smashed a drive high that hit the framework. A strange thing i noticed was the lineman had to be about 75-80 , i couldn’t understand why he was running the line at his age and there were plenty of gripes from the players of his performance, he struggled to run , i really did feel for the guy .

The second half , saw Archdales come back into the game with a low ball played into the bottom corner for 1-1. Archdales continued to be the stronger side , and Owen missed a glorious chance having a shot saved , regaining his feet and instead of pulling the trigger was  dispossesed by the keeper/ defender.

Archdalesfinally took the 3 points with the ball played off the right wing and the No 9 stuck his head on it. Admission – FREE  Attendance – Like usual at these open places , it fluctuated but around 30-40.

Game 80- Perrywood AFC 2 Powick FC 3 22/04/2012

Well i have finally limped onto 80 game for the season , a big achievement but could have been alot more  but as ever in life things get in the way and at the moment its work. I have found it hard to get to games due to been exhausted but on this day off i decided to go to the Worcester District premier game of Perrywood (3rd) V Powick (5th).

I arrived just before kick off and noticed a black fella playing for Perrywood amnd thought i recognised him , and it was only when he got closer i saw he was only Paul Hall , ex Portsmouth , Torquay , walsall and Coventry City striker as well as Jamaica international. He was infact Perrywoods best player in this game , reading the game very well telling younger players to drop on and off people.

Paul Hall

Perrywood in the blue kit fell behind on 23 mins to the Powick 6ft 7ish strikers bobbleing effort. Powick bossed the 1st half but spurned alot of chances. Perrywood scored from the kick off in the second half , the ball played to Paul Hall who rifled it into the box and a player backheeled it in.

Powick them scored 2 in 2 minutes , the 6ft 7ish number 11 doing another bobbler into the bottom corner.Powick then attacked again and as Perrywood tryed to clear it the ball was intercepted and the player ran through and smashed it low.

Perrwood managed some hope from a corner the number 8 sticking his head on it to make it 3-2 but that was all the scoring for today, tempers got abit fraught at the end with hall and another player in a spat.

Attendance – Just me at 1st but rose to around 11

Game 79- Aston Villa 1 Stoke City 1 9/04/2012

A rare premier league game for me on Easter Monday courtesy of a friends season ticket was just in order after yet another hard slog at work.The omens were not good as it chucked down with rain.The game itself was not a good one and , as when it comes to league football i support Birmingham City and Walsall , i have the usual distaste for Villa but as it was free i willed Stoke to win.

The game was few on chances , but Villa were the better side but other than a Collins header that plopped into Begovics hand’s not much happened. The only bright thing i could see was how Weimann, looks a very promising player for Villa and the Austria U21 curled a devine ball into the far corner.

Seconad half , Villa were more under the cosh , but it was only when Jermaine Pennent came on , much to the disgust of booing Villa fans for his connection to Blues did Stoke offer a wway back. On the right flank Pennent was adjudged to be fouled by Gary Gardner and from the resulting free kick , Huth crashed a header home.

The attendance was just over 30,000.

Game 78- Pelsall Villa 1 Southam Utd 5 7/4/2012

Well my 100 target for the season has gone right out of the window but i am still more than happy with my achievements this season , but as i have previously said , circumstances have dictated this but if i reach 80 i will still be pleased . Today though i took in the second half of this Mid Combination Prem game . When i arrived Southam were 3-0 up , and cruising . From a corner , a header was crashed home for 4-0.

The referee then went down injured , clutching the back of his leg but he then made a recovery. Pelsall briefly threatend a revival , a player taking a age to finally sweep it into the net. The game was killed dead by a fifth and final goal being finished into the bottom corner by Southam .