Steve B the Groundhopper

6.30pm  30 March 2022 Wigan and District Amateur League, Division Two Leigh Town 3 Abram Athletic 0 (att 35) abandoned at half time The weeks once the clocks have gone forward and there are early evening midweek matches are known by some groundhoppers as the 'silly season'. This game showed why. Abram kicked off with just nine players, and injury soon reduced them to eight. A late arrival got them back to nine before another injury meant they were depleted once again. Leigh Town, top the Wigan League's third tier, barely broke sweat, and with little or no defending to worry about they scored three first half goals. With sharper finishing and greater urgency they'd have netted more. A late start and a gloomy evening meant the first half lasted just 40 minutes. During half time it became clear that Abram felt they didn't have enough fit players to continue, so the referee had little option but to abandon the match. Whether there are any repercussions remains to be see...

2.30pm  26 March 2022 Middlesex County League, Premier Division Stonewall 0 Larkspur Rovers 0 (att 28) After the day's earlier game it was a few Jubilee Line stops to Stratford, where I had time for the briefest of looks in the Westfield shopping centre before lingering longer in a nearby pub. The last time I saw Stonewall, in 2019 , they were based in Barnes. Since then they've relocated to the other side of London, using the London Marathon Community Track, in the shadow of the London Stadium, for home games. It's probably the most interesting venue in the Middlesex League, being within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and close to Anish Kapoor's iconic Orbit tower as well as West Ham's stadium. The Community Track itself has a good-sized seated stand, although inevitably the running track means the football pitch seems distant. The grass playing surface was surprisingly poor, which may have been a factor in a game of few chances. There was little between the side...

10.15am  26 March 2022 Arthurian League, Division One Old Westminsters 3 Old Rugbeians 2 (att 3) As I was in the south east for the weekend I took the opportunity to use public transport to visit a couple of grounds in the capital that'd be more challenging, and expensive, by car. First up was a morning kick off in the second tier of the Arthurian League. Westminster School has its own sports ground in central London but, other than Arthur Dunn Cup ties, the old boys team makes do with hiring a 3G pitch in Rotherhithe. It's not bad as 3G venues go, with a raised viewing area between the pitch and the Bacon's College Sports Centre building. Unfortunately it's behind the fence but there is some bench seating. High-rise London landmarks including The Shard and The Gherkin provide the backdrop. The fixture was a bit of an end of season dead rubber. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, it was an enjoyable and entertaining 90 minutes. Old Rugbeians, despite kicking off a ...

12.15pm  20 March 2022 East of Scotland League, Division One, Conference B Oakley United 2 Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare 1 (att 365) A Sunday lunchtime game that was the final part of the weekend's organised groundhop covering the Lowland and East of Scotland Leagues. It was the only game on the hop schedule at a ground I needed, so it was worth staying nearby overnight. The downside of hop matches is that you don't really experience a 'normal' matchday, with a much larger than usual crowd and the detrimental effect that unusual kick off times and days can have. Oakley United are top of the league, but may not stay there once teams below them play their games in hand. A win was therefore vital to their promotion hopes. They got it, but made hard work of seeing off Easthouses Lily. All the goals were in the opening half. Oakley scored first, then scored an own goal to make it 1-1. The home side went ahead again, and then conceded a penalty. The spot kicked was saved, an...

2.30pm  19 March 2022 SJFA, East Region, Midlands League Arbroath Victoria 9 Scone Thistle 2 (att 40) After the recent upheavals in the structure of Scottish football the only remaining junior leagues are the three north region divisions and the Midlands League, comprising the Tayside area clubs who are what's left of the East Region. The single division is a feeder to the Highland League, with possible promotion dependent on winning play-offs as well as having the required facilities, and deep enough pockets to cover the travelling costs. For Scone Thistle just completing the season will be some sort of success. They're 10 points adrift at the bottom, and this defeat took their goal difference to -136. They're a young side and although they were outclassed by mid-table Arbroath Victoria they put up a decent effort. The home side were 6-1 up by half time, but it was a first half in which they took every chance. The goals didn't flow quite as freely after the break, and ...

10am  19 March 2022 Strathclyde Saturday Morning League, Championship B Southpark 1 Knightswood 3 (att 10) This was a tight game between well-matched sides who are both battling to avoid finishing bottom of one of the Strathclyde Saturday Morning League's three parallel second tier divisions. Visitors Knightswood kicked off in last place, but this valuable win saw them climb two places and sent Southpark to the bottom of the seven team league. The home side started the better of the two, but Knightswood grew into the game and a neat finish after 20 minutes put them in front. Southpark levelled before half time from a free kick. It was well struck, but the goalkeeper will have been frustrated not to have kept it out.   There was little to choose between the sides in the second period, but as the game went on Knightswood looked more likely to turn a chance into a goal. Eventually they did, and rubbed salt into Southpark's wounds with a third in stoppage time. The venue was ...

2pm  12 March 2022 Southern Combination League, Division Two Southwater 2 Upper Beeding 0 (att 93) I had hoped to go to Copthorne, but when that was postponed as their opponents couldn't raise a side I turned my attention to another match in the same division. It's Southwater's first season at level and this win, in their penultimate league fixture, ensures a solid mid table finish. Upper Beeding are a little higher in the table but were disappointing. The home side's opener came mid way through the first half. It had looked like a penalty when the goalkeeper clattered a Southwater forward, but the ball fell to a teammate who knocked it into an empty net. It was a windy afternoon and I expected better from the visitors when they had the conditions more in their favour in the second half, but Southwater continued to dominate. They quickly added a second goal, and if there was to be a third goal in the game they looked more like scoring it. Their best chance was a penalty...