Steve B the Groundhopper

7pm  19 July 2016 Orkney League, B League South Ronaldsay 0 St Andrews 2 (att 15) South Ronaldsay is the most southerly of the main islands in the Orkney archipelago, although a series of causeways mean there's no need for ferries to get to and from Kirkwall, the islands' 'capital'. The main town in South Ronaldsay, more of a village really, is St Margaret's Hope. A playing field next to the local primary school is the picturesque home of the football club, who went into this match battling for promotion to the A League. Their defeat, at the hands of fellow challengers St Andrews, will be a serious blow to those hopes. The visitors deserved the win, scoring a goal in each half and looking the better side throughout. It may have been a top of the table clash, but it was a low-key evening. At kick off I was one of just two spectators, although more arrived once the game was underway, many choosing to watch from inside their vehicles. Most football grounds...

7pm  18 July 2016 Orkney, Brown Cup at Stromness Athletic FC West Mainland 1 East Mainland 2 (att 150) A holiday in Orkney gave me the chance to watch some football, as the islands' league and cup competitions are played during the summer months. I'd ticked off around half of Orkney's football venues during a previous trip, and some frustrating fixture late changes meant options this time were limited. The Brown Cup was a bonus, I only found out about it when I read the local newspaper, The Orcadian, on the ferry from Caithness. It's an annual match played between players from the two halves of Orkney, and is part of the yearly Stromness Shopping Week gala. The game is staged at Market Green, home of Orkney League side Stromness Athletic. As Stromness is in the west of the island, East Mainland must be the only football team to play every match away from home (West only play at home, a distinction they share with some prison-based teams). Ahead of kick off ...

11am  10 July 2016 Eccles Sunday League, Division Three Deans Sports 1 Egerton Arms 4 (att 7) More Sunday morning entertainment courtesy of the Eccles Sunday League, this time my first dip into the competition's lowest division. The standard of play was a noticeable step down from what I'd seen previously, but it was still an enjoyable 90 minutes as Egerton Arms recorded a comprehensive victory. It was a curious game, as Deans had more of the play and created plenty of chances. But, while the home side failed to take their opportunities, Egerton were efficient in front of goal. They scored twice in each half to set up a commanding lead, although Deans briefly threatened a comeback when they netted a 72nd minute penalty to reduce the margin. Deans Sports are part of the long-established Deans Youth and Ladies Football Club, which runs lots of teams a junior level. Their home is Ellesmere Park Playing Fields in Eccles, a large playing field which doubles as a school ...

3pm  9 July 2016 Pre-season Friendly at Sheffield Hallam University Maltby Main 2 Wickersley 1 (att 32) After the morning's match in West Yorkshire I headed to South Yorkshire where Northern Counties East League Maltby Main where hosting county league Wickersley at the Sheffield Hallam University Sports Park. I'd seen the university's own team here back in 2007, when they played Glasgow University on a Wednesday afternoon. Back then it was a basic sports ground rather than a 'sports park'. The transformation since then is impressive, and the football pitch used that day is now Sheffield Eagles Rugby League ground. There's a floodlit grass football pitch, that I thought this game might be played on, but instead it was on 'synthetic pitch one', which is dedicated to football and alongside 'synthentic pitch two' which is used for rugby. Two 45-minutes halves in this game, and the surprise was that it took Maltby until the final minute of ...

11am  9 July 2016 Pre-season Friendly at University Academy Keighley Ilkley Town 2 Knaresborough Town 3 (att 18) I rarely make a huge effort just to watch pre-season friendlies, generally sticking to local games that give me chance to visit one-off venues. Ilkley and Knaresborough's warm-up caught my eye partly due to its morning kick-off, giving an opportunity for a second game, and also as it was being held at Keighley's University Academy, which sounds very grand but is essentially just a secondary school. It's a well-equipped secondary school though, certainly when it comes to sport. I'd expected the all-weather football pitch to be in a typical high-fenced 'cage', but instead it was inside an athletics track, and bordered by a chest-high fence. The match was played over three 30-minute thirds, rather than the usual 45-minute halves. Not ideal from my point of view, but either way it adds up to 90 minutes of football, and it was just a training ma...

7.15pm  5 July 2016 Catforth and District Summer League, Division Two Springfields 2 Ribchester Rovers reserves 4 (att 10) A groundhopping quirk meant this was my second visit to Ashton Community Science College in a month. Last time I saw a Catforth League game on grass, this time it was on the enclosed and floodlit artificial pitch. In truth it wasn't the greatest of games, on a surprisingly chilly evening in Preston. Ribchester were the better side, and won thanks to two goals in each half. Both second half goals were penalties, the foul which led to the latter one resulting in a red card for the home keeper. For their part Springfields scored early in the second half, reducing the deficit to 2-1, and again with a well-taken free kick in the last minute, by which time they were well beaten. Caged 3G pitches are rarely interesting to visit, even less so just a few weeks after watching a game on the adjacent grass surface, but it's good to see some competitive footb...

10.30am  3 July 2016 Eccles Sunday League, Margaret Piggott Memorial Cup, Second Round FCC Stars 4 De La Salle Reds 3 (att 25) It's been two weeks since my last game, and in that time the calendar has moved from June into July and my football season has passed from 2015/16 to 2016/17. Not that any of that matters to the Eccles Sunday League, a three division competition that began its summer season in April. The first match of my new season was in the same round of the same cup as my final game of 2015/16. The cup tie was between a pair of top division sides, and it was a decent game that came to life during the second half. The first half was tight, before FCC Stars edged ahead two minutes before the break. They conceded an own goal to allow De La Salle to level just into the second half, but then took control, racing into a 4-1 with half-an-hour left. They couldn't score a fifth though, and two goals in the final 10 minutes left the home side hanging on at the en...