Steve B the Groundhopper

7pm  29 October 2015 Durham Alliance Combination Blackhill and Ebchester 1 Sunderland University 1 (att 10) This was the first game I've seen in the newly-created Durham Alliance Combination (the result of a summer merger of what was left of the Durham Alliance and Wearside Combination leagues). A floodlit game on a Thursday night may not be typical, but it was entertaining to watch. Sunderland University are playing midweek fixtures to catch up on games, having sat out the early part of the season while they waited for students to return after the summer break. They'll have left Consett Leisure Centre wondering how they managed to win a point. Blackhill and Ebchester dominated the game but couldn't score. Several times they were denied by the frame of the goal, at other times by some good, and occasionally unorthodox, goalkeeping. After a goalless first half, the second period was even more one-sided, with the students looking to hit their hosts on the break. Th...

2pm  28 October 2015 BUCS Midlands 1A Nottingham Trent University 4 Loughborough University II 0 (att 15) More midweek afternoon university football, this time on a recently-installed 3G pitch at Nottingham Trent's Clifton Campus. I was last at Clifton in January 2008 when the University's first team used a grass pitch, which still exists, close to the main students' car park. Presumably that was long before the impressive new all-weather surface was installed, in another part of the campus. I seem to bring NTU's footballers good luck, last time I saw them hammer Staffordshire University 9-1, and while this game was a lot closer they were still far too strong for Loughborough's second eleven. For much of the first half the visitors' keeper was busy, making several good stops to keep out the home side. Eventually NTU went ahead, and by half time they'd built up a commanding 3-0 advantage. With the contest effectively over, the second half was low...

7.30pm  27 October 2015 Anglian Combination, Division One North Walsham Town 3 Loddon United 1 (att 52) North Norfolk is a long way to go for a midweek match, but my efforts were well rewarded, with a good game at a decent ground. North Walsham Town are one of a handful of Anglian Combination clubs with floodlights, and so usually host a handful of night matches each season. Their Greens Road ground is well-equipped, it's fully enclosed and boasts a clubhouse, railed-off pitch and three separate covered standing areas for spectators (four if you include the redundant former dugouts). Admission was a bargain at just £2, and included a free 20-page programme. The home side had to come from behind to win this, overturning a first half deficit. Loddon's half time lead was wiped out soon into the second half, and not long later the tide turned comprehensively against the visitors. The key moment, in the 55th minute, was a controversial second goal for North Walsham. The...

2.30pm  25 October 2015 Stroud Charity Cup Quarter Final Sharpness 3 Frampton United 3, 1-4 on penalties (att 60) Local cup competitions that play matches on Sundays are getting rarer, but the Stroud Charity Cup is still a useful source of extra games, and based on this tie it remains fiercely competitive. The villages of Sharpness and Frampton-on-Severn are only a few miles apart, and the clubs are separated by one division, Frampton in the Gloucestershire County League while Sharpness compete in the county's lower Northern Senior League. For most of this game Sharpness belied their lower status, racing into a two goal lead, before Frampton pulled one back ahead of half time. In the second period Sharpness added a third, then missed several chances to put the outcome beyond doubt. Eventually they paid the price for poor finishing, Frampton pulled a goal back, and the home side tired as the visitors upped the pressure in the closing minutes. Frampton equalised with just ...

3pm  24 October 2015 Southern Amateur League, Division Three Old Lyonians 1 AFC Oldsmiths 0 (att 5) Just like last Saturday, my choice of a 3pm game was entirely dependent on a new ground that was within range of a nearby lunchtime kick off. Car journeys in London can be unpredictable, but I made it from Pitshanger to Old Lyonian's South Vale ground with a few minutes to spare, only to find it was going to be a challenge to locate somewhere to park. The club's small car park had a barrier to control entry, and looked full, while the street outside was restricted to residents with parking permits. I eventually found a space a couple of minutes' walk away, and the referee helped me by kicking off a few minutes after 3pm. This was only the second Southern Amateur League match I've ever watched, and the first was 23 years ago (at Polytechinc FC). I have, however, been to plenty Southern Amateur League grounds, mostly for midweek afternoon representative games, wh...

12.45pm  24 October 2015 Middlesex County League, Premier Division Pitshanger Dynamo 9 Southall reserves 0 (att 8) There was due to be a Middlesex County League "hop" game this morning at AFC Wembley, but it disappeared after it was discovered the pitch didn't meet the league's  minimum size requirements. Luckily for me, another game in the same league kicked off early instead. Pitshanger's game with Southall reserves was a late addition to the fixture list, and the early start was to accommodate another event already planned for the Argyle Road pitch later in the afternoon. Whatever the kick off time, it wasn't going to be an easy task for Southall, who are struggling at the wrong end of the table. They battled well, and restricted mid-table Pitshanger to just two first half goals. The second half was very much one-way traffic, and Pitshanger were ruthless enough to take most of their chances for my biggest win of the season so far. Southall deserv...

7.45pm  23 October 2015 Eastern Counties League, Premier Division Hadleigh United 5 Brantham Athletic 0 (att 115) Hadleigh United's Millfield home was the final ground I needed to complete both divisions of the Eastern Counties League, and so a Friday night match was an ideal way to finish the league. Hadleigh certainly turned on the style, as they steamrollered a disappointing Brantham and ran out easy winners. A 5-0 scoreline didn't flatter the home side, and with better finishing they could easily have won by more. They scored twice in the first half, then two of the three second half goals were in the closing minutes, and at least ensured the result reflected the balance of play. I liked the ground. The seated stand is "old school", with wooden bench seating inside, and is on the far side of the pitch from a nice clubhouse. There's plenty of cover built in front of the clubhouse, from where most of the home side's supporters watched the action. ...

12 midday  22 October 2015 UEFA Under 17 Championship, Qualifying Group 1 at Dragon Park, Newport Wales U17 2 Netherlands U17 1 (att 169) Dragon Park is the newly-developed Wales National Football Development Centre, a sort of St George's Park for the FA of Wales, and is staging all three Wales games in the qualifying group for the next European Under 17 Championship. In fact, Wales is hosting all six group games, with rivals Albania and Switzerland playing their opening fixture a few hours after this at the very nearby Newport Stadium. Given recent results by the two nation's senior teams, a Wales win might not be such a shock result, and the home side's youngsters were good value for the three points in what was a refreshingly entertaining game. Wales took an early lead, and held their advantage until the final moments of the first half. Youth games at this sort of level are too often sterile affairs, but this was a good game, and both sides came close to scori...

2pm  21 October 2015 BUCS Northern 1A Liverpool John Moores University 1 Leeds University 0 (att 2) More midweek afternoon university football, this time a home game for Liverpool John Moores which allowed me to tick off the newly-installed 3G pitch at what used to be called Breckside Park, but is now the Anfield Sports and Community Centre. I last saw a game here in 2010, on one of the grass pitches that remain. The artificial pitch, floodlit and enclosed by a typically high mesh fence, doesn't overlap the pitch used by Clubmoor Farmers FC that day, so this was a new ground for me. I'm currently enjoying an unusually-long run of games without a goalless draw. I've some way to go to match my best ever (194 games), but I've got to more than a hundred. However, for 89 minutes or so it looked as if the run would come to an end in Liverpool, before a last minute winner gave the home side a win. They'd been the better side, although had it remained at nil nil ...