Game 34: Shrewton United 0.1 Sherborne Town (WEST 1 - abandoned after 40mins) 03.04.07

It had all started so well. Drove out to Shrewton for a 7.30 kick off but got caught up in traffic and arrived at the ground at 7.35 only to find the teams were still warming up.

It turned out that the kick off had been put back to 7.45 so I started to flick through the free programme that was included in the 4 pounds admission. I was confused at first as the previous match report dated back to December 30th but on turning to the centre pages, it turned out that the game had originally been scheduled for January but had been postponed.



When the game finally kicked off, Sherborne had the best of the early chances. The best of these chances came from a superb cross from the right that eluded the defence and found the head of a striker a yard from goal. Unfortunately for them, the header flew wide when the keeper would have had trouble in keeping out anything that had been on target. Shrewton had a similar chance from a freekick from just outside the penalty area. The shot was well saved by the keeper but the ball spilled out of his hands. A Shrewton striker followed up and managed to tap the ball towards goal from a tight angle - just putting it wide which allowed Sherborne to clear their lines.



There were some early signs that the players didn't have much respect for the referee - at one stage Sherborne had a corner but their goalkeeper needed some treatment and the trainer was on the pitch at the other end. The referee ran from one end of the pitch to supervise this, leading one Sherborne player to quip,"don't go down there Ref, you'll never make it back again". When the corner was finally taken, another free header for Sherborne ended up going just wide.



Shrewton had another good chance when the ball bounced over a defender's head, allowing the striker to control the ball but his shot from the edge of the box ended up going wide. A minute later and it was a Sherborne striker who played the ball over a Shrewton defender's head - only for the shot to go wide. There was a strong wind blowing towards the Shrewton goal and several shots ended up blazing over the bar, not helped by the pitch also sloping up towards the goal.

Sherborne hadn't been helped by the referee during the first half an hour as he didn't play advantages when they were in good positions following a foul. However on 35 minutes he awarded them a penalty when a Shrewton player backed into one of the Sherborne players in the area. There were some strong verbals, especially from the goalkeeper and one of the defenders was booked.



When the penalty was finally taken, the strong shot to the left bounced back off the post and spun out towards the opposite side of the penalty area to a Sherborne player who followed up by smashing the ball into the net. There was a small scuffle with the celebrations which the referee defused. However there was now some bad feeling between the teams which soon escalated.



A couple of minutes after the restart, a Shrewton player was fouled and looked to have injured his leg. The game carried on but a Sherborne player laughed loudly and shouted that it served him right. As the ball reached the opposite wing, a strong tackle came in on a Sherborne player by the Shrewton player who had been booked. As it was right in front of the referee there was no surprise that the player received a second booking and was sent off.

The player took some time to walk off the pitch and it appears that something was said to the referee as he blew up and he and his assistants left the pitch (one of the Sherborne players shouted across the pitch that the referee had been threatened by a Shrewton player). Everyone seemed to be confused as to what would happen and there was some hope that the referee would change his mind. There was an assessor there who went in to talk to the referee with the managers. I had been updating Alan on events and gave him a call as trying to explain this in a quick text would have been a bit difficult. A couple of minutes after we finished chatting, one of the managers came out and called the teams in - that was that for the evening.

So for the first time in my 30 years of watching football, a game was abandoned due to the behaviour of the players. Hopefully the last time too!

Game 33 Salisbury City 0.1 Farnborough Town 31.03.07 (NCS)

After the previous two goalless visits to the Ray Mac, I thought I'd head up and hope for third time lucky. Since my last visit, the two new stands had been erected and some fencing had been put up on the far side.



Ryan Clarke was the man who made the headlines again - in the first half he raced out of the box to try and sweep up the ball but ended up catching a Farnborough player and conceded a free kick from which Farnborough almost scored with a header.



Salisbury took a bit of time to get going, Jon Beswetherick hit a freekick well but the keeper managed to save it. Robbie Matthews then had a shot that looped over the keeper but ended up on the top of the netting instead of in the net. While City had a lot of the play, Farnborough came close after half an hour when a powerful shot smacked off the crossbar to the crowd's relief.



0.0 at halftime and it looked like another bore draw was on the way. However on the 60th minute Ryan Clarke rushed out of the box to try and clear a long ball and it looked like it struck him on the arm - the assistant referee gave the decision against him and the referee decided it was a red card offence.



Matt Bulman came on for Jerome Watt but his first job was to pick the ball out of the net as Farnborough scored from the free kick.

Matthews and Tubbs worked hard to get a goal back and Tubbs hit the crossbar in a goalmouth scramble.



Salisbury had several corners but the final ball was lacking and the keeper was able to claim them.



Robbie Matthews came close when a ball from Fowler found him in space but his shot came back from the post.



In the final minute Matthews again had a chance to equalise but the keeper managed to deflect the ball for yet another corner that came to nothing.

Game 32: Salisbury City 0.0 Hayes 27.03.07 (NCS)

Another midweek game - after Saturday's disappointing result I thought that the team would bounceback against lowly opposition.



Robbie Matthews created a couple of chances but the game never really got going....




... it got to the stage where looking at the ground was more interesting....



so that's what we did.



Wayne Turk had a goal disallowed in the second half for offside and the terraces emptied quickly after the game, an almost identical frustrated reaction to the game as we'd seen on Saturday.

Game 31: Salisbury City 0.0 Thurrock 17.03.07 (NCS)

It was good to see how work was progressing with the new ground works but the rest of the afternoon was frustrating as Salisbury were unable to breakdown a hardworking Thurrock team.



The strong wind meant that chalkdust was flying across the pitch - a good job that John McEnroe wasn't in the crowd! Thurrock started well and had a goal disallowed. The wind was making it difficult for Salisbury to get the ball into the box and both teams were chasing a lot of lost balls due to them being overhit.



Thurrock were quite a physical team and when Salisbury made opportunities, the Thurrock keeper made some good saves. Salisbury's best chance came on 32 minutes when Matthews ran onto a long ball and let it bounce three times before shooting, only to see it cannon off the keepers leg for a corner.



Ryan Clarke gave everyone a shock just after halftime when he missed a kick from a backpass. As the ball went past him a Thurrock striker followed it in but managed to miss an open goal as Clarke scrambled back and the ball ended up in the side netting.

Aaron Cook came close with a header just over from a Prince corner and even a Robbie Matthews freekick special found the keepers hands as he dived to the left. Right on the final whistle a Prince cross came off a defender's head and seemed to be heading for the bottom left hand corner when it bounced up and hit the post.

The frustration of not getting a win showed at the end as there were a few boos from the Whites faithful.

Game 30: Bemerton Heath Harlequins 2.4 Poole Town 03.03.07 (Wess Prem)

Originally I had planned on going to the Wess 1 game between Hythe & Dibden and US Portsmouth but the overnight rain led to concerns as to whether the game would be on. Laverstock's game was cancelled so I decided to use a voucher Andy had given me for free entry to watch Bemerton play Poole - a game that was rearranged as Bemerton's original opponents (Wimborne) were playing in the FA Vase 6th round.



The Manager's notes in the programme referred to the reverse fixture being the worst Harlequins performance of all time (they lost 4.0 and were lucky to get nil!). Bemerton started brightly and almost scored in the first minute with a close shot that the Poole keeper saved with his feet. However that was as good as it got for Bemerton in the first half. Poole started to get their game going and forced a corner of their own which was headed over. In the 10th minute, a headed flick on allowed a Poole striker a free run through and he blasted it past the keeper from the edge of the 6 yard box before the Bemerton defence could close him down.



By now Taffy Richardson and co were dominating the midfield and it was no surprise when the second goal came. This one was from a disputed penalty which the Poole striker blasted straight as the keeper dived to his left side. Despite having the lead, Poole weren't prepared to let up with the pressure - at one point Richardson called for the ball only to see one of his teammates try to flick it on and putting it out for a throw - amusingly he introduced himself to his teammate and made the point that when he says Taffy, you leave the ball for Taffy!



The game had kicked off in bright sunshine but a strong wind signalled the arrival of some menacing rainclouds and the driving rain soon lead to everyone taking cover where they could. Poole were unable to convert any of the chances they created and went in at half time 2 nil up.

As the rainclouds moved over to be replaced by sunshine, a rainbow appeared above the clubhouse. I honestly couldn't see that Bemerton could get on the scoresheet. There was little evidence of teamwork, accurate passing, vision or creativity. However on 50 minutes much to my surprise Bemerton managed to pull a goal back. A long throw from the left side into the penalty area was flicked across to an unmarked player to drill into the net at close range.



This goal seemed to unnerve Poole and Bemerton spent the next 25 minutes pushing for an equaliser. They were winning every 50/50 ball in the midfield and gambled on everything up front. Poole did manage to exploit some space on the counterattack and had a couple of shots either saved or pushed away. Bemerton almost managed to pull back an unlikely equaliser when a header was saved at close range from a long freekick that had a Poole fan enraged - he felt that the ball had been won cleanly but missed the tap on the ankle that prevented the Bemerton player from trying to win it back.

On 82 minutes, Poole won a free kick on the edge of the box and floated the ball across into the area, where the no 10 swivelled on the ball and smashed it into the net to make it 3.1. I thought that the game would be over as a spectacle how wrong I was!




The first incident came from some verbals from Tommy Killick, the Poole manager that the assistant referee overheard. The referee had given a Bemerton corner so ran over when signalled and had a discussion with Killick. That seemed to be it but a few moments later the assistant referee on the farside was flagging for the referee again. It appears that the verbals had continued and the referee decided to send him off. Being a non league ground, that constituted walking round to the stand on the other side - a walk that seemed to take Killick a while, at one point he seemed to be hiding behind the Bemerton bench.

It did seem unnecessary at 3.1 up and perhaps this lead to a lapse of concentration from his team. Bemerton's first corner was deflected behind and from the second (disputed) corner they managed to squeeze a shot past the Poole keeper to make the score 3.2 and set up an interesting last few minutes.




Poole seemed a little rattled by this turn of events while Bemerton were eager to try and get a third goal. This combination led to a unsavoury incident towards the end of the game. In an attempt to get the ball back to play a freekick, one of the Bemerton players pushed a Poole player in the face. The Poole player made the most of this and fell to the floor clutching his face. This was enough for a 21 man brawl to break out in the middle of the pitch giving the referee and his assistants a difficult job when it finally calmed down - who to send off for the push. Indeed, the protests of players and spectators that they had the wrong man was enough for the referee to reconsult his assistant again. The Bemerton player was rightly sent off for the initial offence and this handed the initiative to Poole, who scored a fourth shortly before 5pm. Poole broke forward and when the Bemerton keeper was unable to keep hold of a shot,the ball was centred to the visitor's no 10 to complete his hattrick.



Bemerton's bench were furious with the referee while one of their supporters (who had spent 5 minutes screaming obsenity after obsenity to the felled Poole player who was standing only a yard away) got involved in an argument with the Poole manager who was making his way back to the dressing room.

An entertaining game but perhaps for the wrong reasons!

Game 29: Stevenage Borough 3.0 Salisbury City 24.02.07 (FAT QF)

Having booked myself onto coach 3 before it sold out thanks to a quick lunchtime dash up to the Ray Mac I found myself in the coach park with a number of other gentlemen clutching Tesco's bags full of grub, drink etc for the journey upto Stevenage for this FA Trophy Quarter Final Tie.



The journey up to Stevenage was pretty uneventful and we got to the ground about an hour and a half before kick off. This gave us plenty of time to wander across the busy road to the bar where the FA Trophy was on display for supporters to get themselves photographed with it. After catching some of the Fulham v Man Utd game on Sky, wandered into the ground about 2.15 to take in the pre-match atmosphere. There were about 500 Whites fans in a crowd of 2,148 and most of the noise was coming from them.

Unlike last year's Quarter Final tie, we were allocated a seated end so the squeeze to try and find some space wasn't an issue. I headed over to the far side so the goal was to my right (old habits die hard!) and watched the teams warm up.



Before the game I felt that we had a good chance to get something from this tie but that feeling soon evaporated. Stevenage were playing some great one touch football on the ground and ex England International Steve Guppy was getting into some good crossing positions on the side nearest me. While the Salisbury supporters were in good song, the referee was cracking down on anything physical which suited Stevenage. Paul Sales was booked early on for putting his elbows up when trying to flick the ball on for Matt Tubbs and the Stevenage back four were mopping up anything that came near their box. However the referee did seem to be inconsistent in his decision making, favouring the home team on more than one occasion.



After a couple of early scares, Stevenage took the lead. Following a weaving run down the right wing, the ball was passed across the area and found Daryl McMahon unmarked at the edge of the area. His shot sped past Clarke into the back of the net, some saying that it had been deflected. The scoreline stayed the same to halftime although Tubbs did manage one spectacular shot it was always rising above the crossbar.



In the second half Salisbury continued to battle in vain for an equaliser. A few more chances were created but the killer pass was lacking. It reminded me of watching Salisbury play Chesham the previous season - except that day Salisbury were the ones playing ball to feet, getting into good positions and breaking with pace.

The second goal came as a result of pace - Ryan Clarke came out of his goalmouth to try and sweep up a long ball but was beaten to it. When the cross was delivered to the centre of the box it meant that Morison had an empty goal to aim out and from 6 yards he wasn't going to miss.



Robbie Matthews came on as a sub and almost immediately made a difference, his pace troubling the Stevenage team who had grown used to the high balls looking for Sales. Matt Tubbs was unlucky to see a ball cleared off the line from short range with a spectacular overhead kick.



The referee had shown that he was not going to allow the Salisbury players to make challenges that he felt were dangerous or to discuss the unpunished dangerous Stevenage tackles without granting a yellow card so when Matthews broke through the defence on the left but was given offside, it wasn't a surprise that he was given a yellow card for kicking the ball away. However moments later when he won a header in the box, the referee seemed to be indicating that any more contentious challenges and he would be off. That didn't sink in with Robbie and when he slid in for a 50/50 challenge from behind a Stevenage defender you could almost see the smile on the referees face as he ran towards him at full pace brandishing a yellow then red card.

At the time I was furious with the referee, possibly the most angry I've been at a non-league game since last season's FA Trophy game at Exeter. On reflection, perhaps the Salisbury players didn't adapt to the style of a "Fast Track - tick all the boxes in assessments apart from common sense" referee because they don't see that kind of refereeing week in week out. Mr Ward is already running the line in Premiership games but didn't seem to get into good positions to see challenges that ended up unpunished. Perhaps he was already thinking of his trip to Cardiff for the 5th official role at the League Cup final the next day....



The decision wound up many supporters around me, who were well placed to see the challenge. Some of them spilled down to the front of the stand and for a moment it looked as if there might be some trouble. It also wound up the Salisbury bench and Tommy Widdrington was banished to the stands for expressing his view - probably a few too many expletives for the referee.



Stevenage made the most of the man advantage and wrapped up the win in the 90th minute. Ryan Clarke made two superb saves at close range but couldn't keep the third shot out after his save for the second came back off the crossbar. Stevenage certainly deserved to win the game but the scoreline did flatter them in the end. Unlike last year, the defeat wasn't caused by a poor referee but you have to wonder what the result would have been if the referee had been consistent in his decision making.

Game 28: Salisbury City 1.1 Dorchester Town 20.02.07 (NCS)

A local derby under floodlights - you can't beat that for atmosphere and with the ground improvement works continuing, the far left corner of the stand behind the goal was reserved for visiting fans. They showed their appreciation by covering the area with balloons and the pitch in front with the entire contents of a Tesco Value megapack of toilet rolls before the game.



Looking at the programme, it appeared that Salisbury hadn't won for some time against Dorchester in a competitive game and sadly that fact still stands. While Salisbury started well, the main talking point was Matt Tubbs receiving a straight red card for a tackle after 30 minutes.



Tubbs had created the first goal, his 14th minute shot being parried up in the air by the keeper allowing Paul Sales to head into an empty net. This silenced the cries of "Magpie Reject" for a few minutes but it appeared that Tubbs was driven on by the chance to put one over his old team. On the half hour mark he went flying in for a tackle on the halfway line when it wasn't really necessary and caught the Dorchester player with a tackle from behind that the referee decided was dangerous. As it was his 4th red card this season, he no doubt earnt himself a rollicking from the management to go with his 6 match ban.



Salisbury managed to survive until the 78th minute without conceding, playing some good counterattacking football, Matthews replacing Sales earlier than normal to give the defence a mobile outlet. Dorchester thought they had scored earlier in the 2nd half but the assistant ref already had his flag in the air much to the annoyance of the Dorchester drinkers. However in the 78th minute, the ball came across from the left wing and David Town hit an exceptionally sweet shot straight into the back of the net. Despite being 30 yards out, the power and pace left Ryan Clarke no chance.



Salisbury created two good chances later on and both Bartlett and Matthews put shots agonisingly wide from positions on the far right of the box in the last 5 minutes. The draw was enough to put Salisbury top of the table but it would have a win if 11 men had stayed on the pitch.

Game 27: Salisbury City 2.1 Bognor Regis Town 10.02.07 (NCS)

A wet day at the Ray Mac - there was a late pitch inpection in the morning and the weather remained dry until I left for the ground at 2.30, when it started to chuck it down. Arrived at the ground and managed to get a parking spot just outside the turnstiles on the hardstanding.




Salisbury started the game brightly and the Bognor keeper made a spectacular flying save in the third minute to keep a Scott Bartlett header out. Both teams were trying to play a passing game but the downpour made playing conditions difficult. Salisbury had the most of the play but found it difficult to break down the Bognor defence.



Probably the biggest cheer of the first half came from a crossfield pass that hit the referee's feet, causing him to trip up and fall face first into the mud. With the far side out of bounds due to the ground improvement works, the stewards allowed the Bognor fans round the ground to stand behind the goal. I'm sure it's the first time that Scooby Doo, Lou from Little Britain, Homer Simpson and Superman amongst others have been in the away end!



Salisbury continued to pressure in the second half and the goal finally came on 64 minutes. Luke Prince sent in another cross from the left and Aaron Cook rose up to plant a looping header over the keeper. After seeing it go in, he span around and headed to the halfway line with a Channonesque windmill arm celebration.



However this spurred Bognor on and suddenly Salisbury found themselves under pressure. After a couple of corners a clearance found Ben Watson on the right side, he sent a cross in that missed everyone in the middle but curved towards the goal, deceiving Ryan Clarke on it's way to the back of the net.



Both teams continued to press for a winner but it looked as if the game was going to finish as a draw. Late into injury time, the referee pulled back play on the edge of the box after a foul didn't leave Salisbury with an advantage. Robbie Matthews stepped up and blasted the ball round the wall, past the keeper's outstretched hand and into the bottom left corner of the net - cue delirious celebrations on the eve of Salisbury's 60th anniversary.

Game 26: Salisbury City 2.1 VTFC 06.02.07 (Friendly)

With the lack of regular reserve team games, this game was arranged at short notice to assist with Tommy Widdrington's recovery from a dislocated knee.



Both teams fielded a mix of first team and reserve team players. On the VTFC team I recognised ex-White Tyronne Bowers and former Eastleigh player Ryan Ashford while Salisbury's team included Declan McGregor, Simon Browne, Alex Haddow and Matt Holmes.



Salisbury opened the scoring with a Nick Eastham header but VTFC broke down the right side and the ball broke to Bowers to slot in a shot from close range into an empty net. Tommy was replaced with a trialist after 40 minutes, looking a bit tired but none the worse for wear.



Alex Haddow scored with a tremendous volley from outside the area to make it 2.1 just before halftime. The second half was a disjointed affair and neither team really did much in front of goal so the score remained 2.1 at full time.