Game 14: Salisbury City 1.1 Northwich Victoria (Blue Square Premier) 22.11.08

A bright start for Salisbury against their relegation rivals. In the second minute Jon Davis took a corner that was dropped by the Northwich keeper and knocked in by Matt Robinson, a rare goal for the defender during his career.

Northwich’s Burns looked to be a dangerous threat upfront and was unlucky not to be given a penalty when he was tripped in the box by Ian Herring. Northwich had several chances to equalise during the first half as Salisbury seemed content to sit back on the early lead. Luckily James Bittner was in excellent form to make some good saves.

In the second half Burns continued to cause problems – one cross he made into the penalty area was ideally placed if there had been any other Northwich players supporting. The goal that they had been threatening finally came on 54 minutes when a wide pass following a good run into the centre box gave Peter Winn an easy opportunity to place the ball past Bittner.

Jon Davis was a pleasure to watch as always and made some tricky runs. From one of these runs he took a shot that hit the outside of the Northwich post and bounced wide. With about twenty minutes to go the Whites had three good chances from corners in succession.

From the first, Robinson had a free header that was deflected over the bar. The second corner almost went in directly but the keeper palmed it over the bar. The third found Brian Dutton in space but he headed straight down into the ground and the ball bounced about up and over the crossbar.

Game 13: Willand Rovers 2.1 Bemerton Heath Harlequins (aet) (FA Vase) 15.11.08

After attending Bemerton’s last two FA Vase games, I decided to make the trip down to Devon to watch them take on Willand Rovers from the Western League. I made good time down the motorway and arrived in time to park in the ground and read the programme before heading to the touchline to watch the game.


The local paper had an article commenting on the possibility of Bemerton not having a keeper for the game due to injury and county FA call ups. Checking the line up, it was confirmed that they had managed to get a new keeper in time. Bemerton were playing up the sloped pitch in the first half and had some good opportunities early on to take the lead. On 15 minutes a shot was sent across the goal and ended up just going wide of the post while a later chance saw a close range shot blocked on the line. Willand also created some chances on the break but nothing to trouble the new keeper.


In the 26th minute, the hosts won a penalty for what the referee felt was a push in the box. This was rather soft and the defenders around the Willand player had the same opinion. However there was no changing the referee’s mind and the penalty was well struck into the bottom left corner of the net, giving the keeper no chance.


The muddy pitch was starting to cut up and the referee finally began to start to clamp down on late tackles, taking the time to talk to players and explain his decisions. Bemerton seemed a little bit stunned after the goal and took some time to get back into the game. They were creating some chances but their final ball continued to let them down.


Willand had been flagged offside a number of times during the first half but managed to suss the offside trap during the second half. There were a couple of occasions where players went through one on one with the keeper but each time the shot was taken early and went well wide.


Bemerton started to assert themselves onto the game and on 75 minutes scored a well deserved equaliser. The ball was played into the penalty area and broke to Paul Palmer who smashed it into the net from six yards out – the cue for celebrations on and off the pitch as Bemerton had brought a number of supporters down from Wiltshire.


The game went into extra-time and as the fog started to roll in, it looked like both teams would have to go to Western Way for a replay. It was now a question of next goal wins it and in the 119th minute the game was won. Willand won a corner and played the ball across the box. Players from both teams tried to get onto the loose ball and it was a Willand foot that hit a shot through the keeper’s legs, across the line and in. Heartbreak for Harlequins!

Game 12: Laverstock & Ford 0.3 VTFC (Wess PREM) 25.10.08

After missing a couple of weeks of games while my back was healing, it was nice to get out to a local game. Decided to watch this game as there were a couple of familiar faces playing for VTFC – Paul Sales and Tyronne Bowers who are both ex Salisbury players. Arriving at the ground I found that the regular car park was closed off and I had to park the car in an adjacent field.

Laverstock had an early chance on 5 minutes but the shot was dragged wide. VTFC were soon in control and their passing was of a much better standard than normally seen at this level. They earnt a couple of free kicks and corners but most of the talk on the terraces was about the referee and his assistant on the nearside who were making some unexpected decisions with corners and missing clear offsides.

VTFC took the lead on 24 minutes when a cross came in from the right and a Laverstock player headed it past his own keeper when under no pressure from the opposition. On 32 minutes they had a good opportunity to make it 2.0 when a header (from their own team this time!) went just wide of the post. 3 minutes later and the same player came close to scoring again. A Laverstock defender misread the bounce of the ball and when it bounced over his head the VTFC striker read it well and tried to lob the keeper. His shot bounced narrowly wide and perhaps he would have been better placed to try and bring the ball under control first before placing a shot.

In first half injury time, a free kick was given to VTFC when Paul Sales was shoved over. The free kick was played to Sales but his diving header from two yards was straight at the goalkeeper who managed to push it away.

VTFC had most of the play in the first half and this continued in the second half, along with the abuse from a Laverstock spectator who turned out to be the same “gentleman” who I’ve seen abusing officials at Bemerton. The players were finding it hard to keep their footing and the strong wind gusts were not helping. VTFC scored a second goal on 65 minutes with a player running through the Laverstock defence and chipping the goalkeeper from distance. In the 90th minute they wrapped it up with the best goal of the game. A sub took the ball down the left wing, rode through 3 challenges and put the ball past the keeper’s right hand.

Game 11: Portsmouth 2.1 Stoke City (Premier League) 05.10.08

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been to a league ground so decided to take a trip down to Fratton to catch up with Alan, Matt and Chris and take in the game against Stoke, currently managed by ex-Portsmouth boss Tony Pulis. I was in a bit of pain with a bad back which stopped me walking too far so we had some lunch in Fratton and walked to the ground early. I haven’t been on the old Milton end since a game against Charlton in the early 90’s and I was glad to see a roof has been added since my last visit so the rain showers weren’t a problem.

The Portsmouth team has certainly improved since my last visit with a number of regular England players in the squad. However even the best players are prone to making mistakes and Stoke were gifted a great chance to score when David James hit a clearance straight to Rory Delap who put Dave Kitson in on goal. Kitson hadn’t scored for Stoke in his first 6 games and perhaps a lack of confidence led to his shot going wide.

The bulk of Portsmouth’s attacks were coming down the left flank with Nadir Belhadj and Armand Traore interchanging passes and positions. Pompey took the lead on 25 minutes with a quality strike from Peter Crouch. The ball came across from Defoe on the left handside and Crouch hit a spectacular overhead kick into the bottom left hand corner of the Milton end goal. From our vantage point you could see the ball heading in all the way – which gave me half a second to try and stand up before the crowd leapt up around us.

Stoke’s main threat this season has come from Rory Delap’s long throws and every time he got the ball he got a chorus of abuse, although this was more likely to have been due to his previous history as a Southampton player. In the 48th minute he launched a long throw into the box and another former Saint (and Pompey) player, Ricardo Fuller, managed to knock the ball in from close range.


Defoe almost replied within a minute but his shot from distance hit the post. A minute later and he repeated the trick, cutting in from the left and firing a shot past Steve Simonsen and in. Pompey made some good chances to add a third but it wasn’t to be and the game finished 2.1

The diagnosis for Stoke was another defeat but for me it turns out that I’ve torn a muscle in the base of my back and won’t be at football for a couple of weeks. Looks like it will take six months to heal properly.

Game 10: Bemerton Heath Harlequins 3.0 Shortwood United (FA Vase) 04.10.08

After two enjoyable games in the FA Vase this season, decided to go to the game at Bemerton Heath this afternoon. The bright sunshine of last week's game had turned into a grey, overcast day and as I left the house it started to rain. By the time I arrived at the ground 10 minutes later it was pouring down.

Shortwood had earnt an FA Cup replay after an excellent result against Conference South Havant last weekend and that midweek game almost went to extra time, with Shortwood missing a penalty in the last minute. With that in mind, I expected Bemerton to be the underdogs but that turned out to be a mistake!

Bemerton took the lead on 5 minutes with a Sanger header that looked to be heading over the crossbar but looped down over the keeper and into the net. 4 minutes later they had a great chance to make it two nil from the penalty spot. One of the Shortwood players pushed into a Bemerton striker in the box as both players ran towards the corner flag chasing a ball and the referee felt that this was a foul. Sanger took the penalty and put it wide of the keeper's dive to the right but the ball hit the post and bounced back out again to be cleared to safety. A couple of the locals weren't expecting him to take the penalty and probably wished he hadn't!



As the first half went on, the referee gave a number of freekicks when perhaps an advantage could have been played or where there didn't appear to have been a foul. This led to a stop-start game and neither team were able to take advantage of the chances they had. Bemerton had another chance to claim a penalty when Sanger was hacked down in the box but to everyone's surprise the referee waived play on.

In the 35th minute Bemerton were reduced to 10 men temporarily as one of the team was getting attention from the physio off the pitch following a heavy tackle. As Bemerton cleared the ball from their penalty area, two more players were felled by similar tackles. With the numerical advantage now 3, the referee decided to blow the whistle and allow the physios to come on to the pitch, followed by a dropball.


By halftime the wind had really picked up and Bemerton had the advantage of playing out of the wind in the second half. They made excellent use of this in the 47th minute when they took the ball down the left hand side to the touchline, put in a low cross that evaded the oncoming defenders to find two Bemerton players in the box. I thought that they might get into each other's way but to their credit, only one player went for the shot and it ended up in the back of the net.

Shortwood looked to be running out of ideas after going two goals down and it was not a surprise when they brought on a very tall sub in the 60th minute. His first job was to take a thrown in on the nearside - the crowd thought that he might be better placed in the box until they saw how long he could throw the ball! Even with the wind against him, the ball was propelled into the six yard box and Bemerton were lucky that the scramble that followed saw a near post shot go wide. Shortwood now created some good moves but their passing and shooting in the final third was not good enough to get them a clear scoring chance.

As Shortwood pushed forward, Bemerton were able to exploit some space at the back. A great pass from the halfway sideline found one of their strikers who hit a shot low across the grass from the edge of the area. It looked like the goalkeeper was going to save it easily but somehow it skidded along the wet turf and underneath his falling body, losing some momentum but making it to the back of the net for 3.0. The final fifteen minutes went by very quickly and Bemerton were through to the next round of the Vase.

Walking out I checked my raffle tickets against the board - I was 1 number out from winning the main prize! Hopefully Bemerton will be luckier in Tuesday's draw!

Game 9: Salisbury City 2.3 Mansfield Town (Blue Square Premier) 27.09.08

All the pre-match build up for this game focused on the announcement during the week that Salisbury were asking their supporters to raise £100,000 to avoid the club having to make budget cuts. The chairman took the pitch before the game to stress that the club wasn’t in financial crisis yet but they wanted to do something to prevent future problems.

As the weather was warm and sunny, decided to watch the game from the side of the main stand rather than my usual vantage point behind the goal. Salisbury took the lead after 11 minutes, Sandell striking a low shot after a cross from Feeney found Herring on the back post. He headed it back for Sandell to score from six yards.

Mansfield had a lot of possession but were unable to make the most of some good approach play. Bittner in the Salisbury goal lead a charmed life, especially when coming out for corners and missing the ball – on both occasions a Mansfield player was unable to get to the ball in time to create a scoring chance.

In the second half Mansfield changed their formation to 4-3-3 and put more pressure on the Salisbury backline, especially down the left side. The equaliser came on 57 minutes when Scott Bartlett put in a strong challenge only to see the ball spin into the net out of Bittner’s reach. From my view point the ball almost seemed to be travelling in slow motion towards the goal.

Mansfield forced a corner a minute later which was cleared to Liam Feeney. He used his pace to sprint down the field and having outpaced his team mates, took the ball around Silk and hit an unstoppable shot past the Mansfield keeper from the edge of the area to put Salisbury 2.1 up

The goals didn’t stop there – four minutes later Mansfield took the ball down the left side and ex-league journeyman Mark Stallard was on hand to sweep the ball in from close range for the equaliser. Seven minutes later it was 3.2 to Mansfield – a Mansfield player controlled a through ball and slipped a pass into the box to a team mate who hit a low shot past Bittner.

Salisbury put Matthews and Griffin on to try and get back in the game. Griffin had the best chance to equalise, heading wide when he should have got it at least on target. An exciting second half but sadly not the right result for the Whites.

Game 8: Farnborough North End 0.2 Bemerton Heath Harlequins (FA Vase) 20.09.08

Decided to take the train to Farnborough and walk to North End's ground which looked like a reasonable hour's stroll from the station from the maps I printed off Google and the club's website. It was a nice sunny day but about half an hour in I found myself scratching my head trying to work out where the ground was as the recommended road was now closed and turfed over. A car pulled over and I was asked if I knew where the ground was. It was three of Bemerton's commitee men and after comparing notes, they kindly offered me a lift to the ground. Luckily for us a sign appeared at a nearby roundabout that guided us through a maze of roads to the ground. I think it would have taken me another 10 minutes to find that sign and probably another 30 minutes to navigate the maze of roads so the lift was much appreciated.

When we arrived at the ground, the Farnborough players had finished warming up and were posing for their official club photo before disappearing to the changing rooms adjacent to the pitch for some last minute instructions. Before the game, both sets of players shook hands as part of the FA Respect campaign. Bemerton were wearing their change kit of orange with Ian Chalk's company logo - I'm sure Alan would be queuing up to buy one of these garments.

Bemerton started brightly and made a few chances but their corners and free-kicks lacked purpose and poor delivery let them down. The best of their chances were a header straight to the keeper and a shot that struck the side netting.

Farnborough had a couple of pacy strikers and made some good breakaway chances. They should have taken the lead on the 37th minute when a cross found an unmarked player in the box. With the goal at his mercy he headed down into the ground, wide of both the post and his oncoming teammate's boot sliding in to try and get to it. Two minutes later Bemerton had a decent penalty shout - Joe Sanger ran across the keeper with the ball and was tripped up but the referee didn't agree that the keeper had made contact.

Farnborough started the second half well. An early cross looked promising but managed to evade everyone in the box. In the 49th minute they came close to scoring - a long ball was headed backwards, over the keeper and onto the crossbar.

These close misses galvanized Bemerton. From a throw in just in front of me, the ball was played into the box and won by a Bemerton player who carefully chipped the ball past the keeper and into the net.

Four minutes later and Bemerton doubled their lead with a diving header connecting with a cross with pace to make it 2.0. I wasn't sure that the try and remove my shorts celebration would catch on mind!

The home side didn't give up hope and on 80 minutes had a glorious chance to get a goal back. Their no 9 was lucky to be on the pitch after asking the referee to book a Bemerton player and then pushing the referee when it wasn't given. He took the ball in the area, turned and hit a shot against the post. He had another chance right on 90 minutes but shot wide. While Farnborough would rue their early miss, Bemerton were through to the first round proper.

Game 7: Downton 1.4 Westbury United (FA Vase) 06.09.08

Andy and I drove out to Downton for this FA Vase tie and my first "non – Salisbury" game of the season. Downton have been struggling in the league since their relegation from the Wessex Premier but had won a couple of cup games.

Westbury had the first chance of the game after 12 minutes. They had to make an early substitution due to an injury and their sub went one on one with the Downton keeper who made a smart save. While Downton had a couple of chances in the first half, notably an "accidental" save by the Westbury keeper when a header from a free kick was headed against his legs, Westbury were looking more dangerous with several of their shots either going over the bar or saved by the Downton keeper.


Andy and I watched the first half from the sideline by the clubhouse and as time went on, the clouds got darker and darker. After the disappointment of finding out the clubhouse wasn’t serving at halftime, Andy agreed to move into the main stand for the second half before the expected rain started to fall.


Downton had two good shouts for a penalty turned down by the referee. The first one was for a shove on a player which could have gone either way but the second should have been awarded when their striker was hacked down in the box. To everyone’s surprise, the referee didn’t see or hear the tackle and this was too much for one of the Downton players. He made a comment to the referee as he went past him, calling him a disgrace, so earnt a second yellow card.

This put Downton at an immediate disadvantage and Westbury made the most of their extra man. A couple of minutes later, the ball was crossed in from the left and headed in to put Westbury one up. On way back to halfway line something else must have been said to the referee as he brandished his red card again to the Downton no 2 – this time a straight red card.It was hard to tell what it had been given for and some of the crowd seemed in shock as the rain started to fall.

On 65 minutes Westbury added to their lead, as a long shot skidded past the keeper an in. 5 minutes later it was 3.0 – a shot from the left hit the post and bounced straight out to a Westbury player on the right hand side of the box, who smashed it into an empty net.
Andy and I started to speculate that this could be similar to a game we saw at Stockbridge a couple of years ago, where a double sending off led to a glut of late goals.

However Westbury decided to play catch up in the red card stakes – with 10 minutes to go one of their defenders pushed a Downton player in the face in retaliation after he was pushed near the goal line when trying to let the ball go out for a free kick. This reaction gave the referee no option but to send him off – the original offence by the Downton player only earning a yellow card.

Downton grabbed a consolation goal a couple of minutes later. A cross from the left was headed hard down into the ground and bounced up, past the keeper and into the roof of the net. This wound up one of the Westbury supporters who was ranting as his team for not being able to keep the ball in the Downton half.

These words may have inspired Westbury as on 85 minutes they scored again in a similar fashion – a cross came into the centre and a substitute beat the keeper to the ball and headed in. An eventful and enjoyable second half from a neutral point of view!