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Are Boreham Wood / Hornchurch our 'local derbies' next season? (Depending upon the play-offs for BW)

I remember Peter Burridge very well ex Crystal Palace also played for Crystal Palace. As a youngster I recall Peter driving into the Old Eyrie for the first time and asking me where the changing rooms were, he became a favorite with the Eagles fans. Sad news.

I'm not sure whether Cruz or LondonEagle remember a player called Peter Burridge who Bedford Town Manager at the time Ron Heckman got from Charlton Athletic in 1967, he's in the front row of the photograph below, second from the left. Peter sadly died today aged 91 😪 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Burridge https://sites.google.com/site/bedfordoldeagles/the-later-years-1967-82/later-history-1967-82/1967-8-to-1969-70-up-down-and-back-up-again

Let's get ready to rumble then, is there any stopping Tring Athletic at the moment:

Kings Langley and Harringey both relegated to step 5? Felt like last time I checked on them they were thriving at step 3!

More on this from Bedford Councillor Ben Foley, I wonder what Mr McCormack thinks of his totally 'out of touch' comments: Like virtually the whole of Bedford, I was pleased that Universal announced yesterday that their plans for a theme park in Bedford would go ahead. Greens take the view that fun is important, and it's better if people go to a theme park they can get to it without long-haul flights. It should be good for Bedford, bringing thousands of long-term jobs directly, and more indirectly. However, we're also aware of, and paying attention to possible downsides. It was good to get reassurance that Universal hadn't insisted on Luton Airport being expanded (so that was the Labour Government's own decision to trash the climate). We will, all the same, be wary of any tendency for the theme park to mean extra flights at Luton. At the meeting of the Universal senior staff with the leaders of the groups on Bedford Borough Council (and me as convenor of the Green group), I think there was consensus across parties to encourage the promotion of the use of Eurostar and the train up from St Pancras to get as many of the visitors from continental Europe to the site by that route as possible. Another possible downside we've also been paying attention to, is the possible impact on the local housing market of having a major tourist attraction. I've already emailed and spoken to the member of the Council Executive with responsibility, and asked for it to be on the agenda for Housing Committee meetings. It's something I want Bedford to be 'ahead of the game' on, so we protect local people who need homes. I've also raised the need to make sure that Disabled people stand a fair chance of being recruited to the thousands of jobs that there will be. Too often, employers, when faced with two candidates at final selection, one Disabled, one not Disabled, will go for the non-Disabled one. This is the biggest part of why Disabled people find it much harder to get jobs. I got some reassurance from the senior staff of Universal, but will want to follow up on the issue of franchisees, etc. All told, we're pleased, but we want to make sure downsides are minimised and upsides maximised.

I noticed this also whilst shopping, but needs to be advertised to the wider public.

Tring Athletic lifted the SSML Challenge Trophy last Saturday (26 April) with a fairly comfortable 2-0 win over Aylesbury Vale Dynamos at Second Meadow, see a match report and photographs: https://www.tringathletic.co.uk/teams/252691/match-centre/0-6194103/report https://www.tringathletic.co.uk/photos/1st-vs-aylesbury-vale-dynamos-gt-final-winners-260425-1138377.html https://www.aylesburyvaledynamos.co.uk/teams/77541/match-centre/0-6194357/photos

Groundhopper and Blogger 'Mullered Sports' was in attendance at this affair at Alfred Street:

the games are advertised on the board in the sainsburys store in the town

Groundhopper and Blogger 'Mullered Sports' was in attendance at this affair at Hayden Road:

Groundhopper and Blogger 'Mullered Sports' was in attendance at the SSML Division One Cup Final between Wellingborough Whitworth and Desborough Town:

Groundhopper and Blogger 'Mullered Sports' was in attendance at the SSML Premier Division Cup Final between Milton Keynes Irish and Biggleswade United:

Winslow Boy - Yes, there were amazing scenes at AFC Dunstable last Saturday, you have to hand it to Leverstock Green, I assume that relegated Kings Langley will return to the SSML next season. I see that former SSML Club Haringey Borough were also relegated from the Isthmian League Division One North but may go into the Essex Senior League. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bwZF7K8sbA https://levgreenfc.co.uk/event/250426f/

A groundhopper from another Forum was at the King George V Playing Fields last night: SPARTAN SOUTH MIDLANDS DIVISION 2 134 Tue 29/4 Spartan South Midlands Division 2 Sarratt 2 2 Aston Clinton 45 Goal times: Sarratt (41 & 90+6 mins) - Aston Clinton (44 & 77 mins) Ground: 2nd visit here, last visit exactly one year ago, what a lovely village, I arrived early as usual and headed for The Boot, refreshment required. Pitch: bumpy, rough and undulating. Weather: warm day 23 C, mild evening 17 C. Travel: Miles: 20- Another game at Step 7. Scrappy first-half, two goals, one each, half-time 1-1. Home defence lost concentration and presented Aston Clinton with the ‘winning goal’, only for Sarratt to equalise with virtually the last kick. Play-off tomorrow night, possibly, or I may have more of the same.

Oh well Wingate & Finchley 🤮. and Potters Bar it is then 🫤

After the Lord Mayor's Show but photographer Amelia Ratcliff was in attendance at Garden Walk to witness this affair, see over 135 photographs:

After the Lord Mayor's Show but photographer Amelia Ratcliff was in attendance at Garden Walk to witness this thriller, see 230 photographs:

A groundhopper from another Forum was at the Caddington Sports & Social Club: Spartan South Midlands League Divison Two - Caddington 2-0 Totternhoe Admission - free, Attendance - 100 (h/c around 40 mins) Personal Stats - 2nd time seeing this entity of Caddington. The first being earlier this season at the neutral venue of Stockwood Park - 3rd time seeing Totternhoe. 2 losses and 1 win. - 1st time to this ground, 447th ground visited. Ground Caddington Sports & Social Club - Appears to have changed since the Futbology profile photo with no railing around the pitch. This houses the small social club and plenty of benches for a pleasant evening like tonight. Shared with a cricket pitch, you can access all four sides however both goal line sides are public footpaths. Pleasant enough village pitch without much to write home about. There looks like an old pitch due to an old out of use stand further up the field. Club History Caddington FC - A copy and paste after seeing the ‘original’ Caddington team just last week: A bit of a strange history with this particular Caddington FC team. Today’s side were formed in 2022, taking over AFC Caddington. The original club was re-formed in 1973 after an absence of football in the village for quite sometime. Their best season came in the 1996/97 year when they came runners up in the South Midlands League Division One. Unfortunately for them it was the season where the Spartan League and the South Midlands league merged so the club moved laterally. They stayed in the Spartan South Midlands league until 2013/14 but couldn’t field full sides for a couple of games and were moved to the West Herts Division One. They were promoted to the West Herts Premier league following coming 2nd in the 2015/16 season. This remained until the 22/23 season when the new Caddington was formed and was placed in the Spartan South Midlands Division Two where it remains to this day, with the original Caddington, moving between the North Bucks & District League and the Bedfordshire County League. Totternhoe - Founded in 1906 and joining the South Midlands League in 1958, winning division one in 1961/62 and finishing runners up twice. Founding members of the Spartan South Midlands League in 1997. Totternhoe have competed in the FA Vase eleven times, progressing to the first round proper once in 1988/89 where they were beat by East Thurrock United. Match Report After a Totternhoe dominant first 15 minutes with a couple of long range efforts coming close, against the run of play Caddington took an early lead through Byron Lee-Clarke when a ball was crossed from the right and missed by the Totternhoe right back Niall Gregory, the ball bouncing in off Lee-Clarke. 1-0. Caddington came close to a second with another missed header, this time from left back Keaton Cross which was then lofted over. The hard dry pitch was leaving a heavy bounce which both sets of players were struggling with. The heavy bounce had a huge part to play on 40 minutes when Totternhoe latched onto a long ball and tried to lob the keeper but the ball bounced 6 yards out from goal and lifted over the bar. Caddington doubled their lead just before half time when a terrible defensive mix up between the Totternhoe keeper and defender led to the ball bumbling in. 2-0. The second half was pretty dire stuff, not great to watch but Caddington held on to the lead in their final game of the season. Line Ups Caddington David Jachnik - Leighton Town Development Josh Jones Kelvin Chirandure - Harpenden Colts Desal Turner Byron Lee-Clarke - Leverstock Green Nat Legunsen - Harpenden Town Development, Harpenden Colts, Waltham Cross Billy McKay James Elliott - Harpenden Town Charlie Stokes Dan Jones Jamie Prouten - Kentish Town, Amersham Town, Tring Town Subs Daren Bloor - 49 - Hendon, Harrow Borough, Leverstock Green, Edgware Town Aiden Dawson Ollie Hibbitt - Totternhoe Kadeem Maddix - Luton All Stars Ash Gardner - Totternhoe, Arlesey Town Reserves, The 61 FC Totternhoe Tom Higley Niall Gregory Keaton Cross - Pitstone & Ivinghoe Harlee Samm - AFC Dunstable Ryan Quinn - Dunstable Town, AFC Dunstable, New Bradwell St Peter, Tring Town Callum Horgan Nathaniel Connolly - Leverstock Green Riley Keeble Josh Langlais - Crawley Green Jacob Taylor Ryan Cole Subs Chris Gibson - Barton Rovers, Dunstable Town, Crawley Green, Tring Town Mason Perry Matty Gordon - The 61 FC Lee Loasby - Crawley Green, Stewkley

A groundhopper from another Forum was at Brunting Road: Spartan South Midlands League Division One Semi final play off - Moulton 3 Irchester United 2 - Admission £4 concession incl. programme - Attendance approx 400 A terrific play off match that goes down as one of my matches of the season with the away side wondering how on earth they’ve lost this one. In fact, their Twitter feed commented at the end ‘Simply put, the better side lost tonight, but mistakes and naivety ultimately cost us’. A bit like sour grapes in my view. Yes, they were the better side, but they could have been a bit more gracious in defeat and wished Moulton well for their final on Saturday. I just think there’s a right way and a wrong way in commenting after a match like this one, but I guess it was posted when emotions were high at the end of the match. Irchester attacked literally from the first whistle and had already gone close to scoring when they went behind on 7 minutes when a long punt from the keeper came off a defensive head to Nat Ansu, Moulton’s top scorer, and he rifled in a 20 yarder into the bottom right corner. If that was against the run of early play, their second just before the break came after Irchester had been thwarted by Jonny Vallance in the home goal and his defence time after time. A cross from the right was flicked on to Lewis Isom at the far post to slide the ball home. 2-0 up and they hadn’t deserved it. What I did like about Moulton was that every time they conceded a corner, which was pretty regularly, they left three men up near the half way line, which obviously meant that three or four defenders had to stay back, and as a result, that really helped the pace of the game. The second half was more of the same with Irchester just failing to either get that final touch in front of goal or seeing attempts blocked by desperate defenders or the keeper. Eventually, the pressure told and on 72 minutes, they got a lifeline when Daniel Law found Lewis Fisher who found the bottom left corner from the edge of the box. More pressure came but they were hit with a sucker punch of a breakaway by Moulton on 86 minutes when two substitutes both in plenty of space combined - Matty Long received the ball on the right inside Irchester’s half and he spotted Nathan Burrows in the middle, found him and Burrows buried the ball into the net. Game over? Not yet as Dante Gray was penalised for a handball in the area and gave away a penalty and also got an early bath as he received his second yellow and then the red. Up stepped Kobi Bivens after a fair wait whilst Dante slowly made his way off the pitch, and Bivens put the spot kick to the keepers right to bring the deficit back to one. It was soon 10 v 10 as Ellis Andrews said too much to the referee and was sent to the sin bin, but despite around nine minutes of stoppage time, Irchester failed to get that third goal that would have taken the match to penalties. Cracking entertainment and this made up for the turgid play that I’ve seen in three of the previous four matches seen since Friday. Hoping for more of the same tomorrow night in yet another play off match.

Did we actually see the incredible programme meticulously put together by Mr McCormack for the Cheatcode Conference on Friday 11 April at the Bedford Corn Exchange:

I see Leverstock stayed up!

An Eaton Socon v Moulton FC Final then, Desborough Town finished 23 points ahead of Eaton Socon in the regular season, are the play-off's really fair: Tuesday 29 April Division One Play-Off Semi Finals Desborough Town 0 Eaton Socon 0 (Eaton Socon win 5-4 on pens) Moulton FC 3 Irchester United 2

Last night's results: Tuesday 29 April Division One Play-Off Semi Finals Desborough Town 0 Eaton Socon 0 (Eaton Socon win 5-4 on pens) Moulton FC 3 Irchester United 2 Division Two Caddington AFC 2 Totternhoe 0 Eynesbury United 0 New Bradwell St Peter 2 Milton Keynes College Football Academy 3 Tring Corinthians AFC 4 Newport Pagnell Town Development 5 Bovingdon 0 Old Bradwell United 3 Codicote 2 Sarratt 2 Aston Clinton 2 Stony Stratford Town 0 Padbury Village 1

My brother lives in Hitchin said they were terrible this season