Steve B the Groundhopper

3pm 15 March  2025 West Cheshire League, Division Three Sutton Rangers 3 Rainhill Town reserves 2 (att 20) After a morning game in Oldham I had the rare pleasure of going home for lunch before venturing out again for my afternoon match. It took me, for the second time in recent weeks, to Ellesmere Port. Sutton Rangers play on a 3G pitch at Ellesmere Port Sports Village. It's not an interesting venue, just a typical facility with spectators accommodated along a little over half of one touchline. It was the final venue I needed to recomplete the West Cheshire League's three divisions though, and looked an attractive fixture with table-topping Sutton needing points as they close in on the league title. All the goals came in an excellent first half. Sutton scored twice in the first two minutes, both coming just before the official kick off time thanks to an early start. Rainhill quickly got a goal back and then equalised with barely a quarter-of-an-hour played. Sutton's third g...

10.15am 15 March  2025 Manchester Saturday Morning League, Division Two Championship Glodwick Dynamoes 0 Davyhulme Park 0 (att 7) My first goalless draw of the season was an unexpected one. Having seen more than 40 matches in the Manchester Saturday Morning League over the years I'm fairly sure this is the first time I've had a nil nil. Not that it matters of course, and unlike at least one groundhopper the absence of a goal doesn't mean I have to return before I can consider the ground 'ticked'. Glodwick did get the ball in the Davyhulme net twice, once in each half, but both were ruled out for offside. They looked the better team over 90 minutes, surprisingly so as they're lower in the table. It took an excellent performance by Davyhulme Park's goalkeeper to earn his side a point. I tried to visit Glodwick Dynamoes at their Snipe Clough home ground earlier in the season, but was caught out by a very early kick off. Thankfully this game began at the league...

2.30pm 9 March  2025 Launceston and District Cup, Quarter Final Pensilva 2 Holsworthy reserves 1 (att 84) The Launceston and District Cup is one of a diminishing number of local competitions for Saturday sides with fixtures played mostly on Sundays. From a groundhopping perspective they provide a good excuse for a weekend away. After staying overnight in Plymouth it was short journey to the village of Pensilva, near Liskeard, who play in division one east of the St Piran League.  Visitors Holsworthy reserves play in the top tier of the North Devon League, which is theoretically at the same level. On paper it looked likely to be a close game, and that's how it turned out. The decisive factor was a red card, early in the second half, for the away side. Before that Pensilva had scored the first half's only goal, coming not long after Holsworthy had what they thought was a goal belatedly ruled out for offside. The sending off was for bringing down a Pensilva player who was well-pl...

2.30pm 8 March  2025 St Piran League, Premier Division East St Dominick 2 Torpoint Athletic reserves 4 (att 34) After my morning game in Bristol I was relying on compliant traffic on the M5 and A38 to make it beyond Plymouth in time for my second match. I had back up options, but a trouble-free journey meant I reached Lovells Park in good time. St Dominick - or St Dominic, the k seems optional - is a small village not far from Saltash. The football ground is enclosed with a roped off pitch, a pair of dugouts, changing rooms, tea bar and a number of strategically-placed park benches. The pitch has a challenging slope and, being high up, the location is exposed. A strong wind didn't help what was often a scrappy game. The first half's one moment of quality put Torpoint ahead, but the home side deserved their equaliser just before half time. Moments later they hit the crossbar, but that was as close as they came to going in front. Torpoint regained the lead from a free kick, and a...

10.10am 8 March  2025 Bristol Churches League, Division One Bedminster Church of Christ 4 Life Church 5 (att 13) This was my first match in Bristol's Saturday morning league for several years, and was 'plan B' having arrived at the Bridge Learning Campus to find it deserted and unlikely to stage its scheduled fixture. It was a short drive from there to the Imperial Sports Ground, where I was relieved to find players warming up and waiting for youngsters to finish their booked time on the 3G pitch. The caged artificial pitch is adjacent to a grass pitch used by Somerset County League side Imperial FC. It's also just across the road from another Imperial ground, where years ago I'd seen seen pre-merger Imperial Bristol and Imperial United play on different pitches. The late kick off was a necessity to allow the children to complete their sessions and clear the pitch. The delayed start didn't seem to affect Life Church, as they took the lead inside the first minute...

2.15pm 1 March  2025 Middlesex County League, Division One South and West Feltham 0 Sporting Duet Academy 3 (att 8) I used to be a regular at Feltham homes games, back in the 1980s when they played at the now-demolished Feltham Arena. Having then gone decades without seeing them at home, this was my second time within a year. Last season, the revived club's first as senior side, I saw them host a game at Spelthorne . They drew that day but relegation followed, as did a move to a new ground. Home now is Hanworth Air Park, so named as it used to be an airfield. Feltham actually played here many decades ago, under their previous name Tudor Park and before Feltham Arena was built. It's a large open space. T he football pitch is a fair walk from the changing rooms and clubhouse of Feltham Rugby Club, whose facilities Feltham FC use on matchdays. There is a railed off football pitch in the park, which I believe is used by Sunday side Hanworth Sports. Feltham make do with erecting a t...