Saturday 18 March - SSML Results/Reports

[Rhodes]

The weekend fixtures:

Saturday 18 March (all kick off 3.00pm)

Premier Division
Ardley United v Biggleswade United
Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Harpenden Town
Baldock Town v Tring Athletic
Dunstable Town v Risborough Rangers
Hoddesdon Town v Colney Heath
Leverstock Green v Stotfold
London Colney v Crawley Green
Potton United v Cockfosters
Shefford Town & Campton v Leighton Town
St Panteleimon v Arlesey Town

Division One
Amersham Town v Eaton Socon
Ampthill Town v Rugby Borough
Burton Park Wanderers v Holmer Green
Langford v Buckingham Athletic
Lutterworth Athletic v Northampton Sileby Rangers (at Leicester City WFC)
Northampton ON Chenecks v Raunds Town
Rushden & Higham United v Real Bedford FC
Thame United Reserves v Moulton FC
Wellingborough Whitworth v Letchworth Garden City Eagles
Winslow United v London Tigers

Division Two
AFC Caddington v Eynesbury United
Berkhamsted Raiders v Old Bradwell United
Leighton Town Development v Milton Keynes College Football Academy
New Bradwell St Peter v Codicote
Pitstone & Ivinghoe v Bovingdon
Sarratt v Buckingham United
The 61 FC (Luton) v Tring Corinthians AFC
Totternhoe v Aston Clinton

[Cruz]

Very interesting fixture in the SM Div !, Ampthill v Rugby Borough, both teams need to win this fixture if they have any hope of catching Real Bedford, should RB lose a few matches.

 

[Rhodes]

19 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division Two
Berkhamsted Raiders v Old Bradwell United

Berkhamsted Raiders are having an indifferent campaign aren't they, down in twelfth place:

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March

Division One
Amersham Town P Eaton Socon

The match programme however unfortunately it has been called off due to a waterlogged pitch at Spratleys Meadow:

b7ce89_cff7c5eef2af46b0a45a04990a45c37d.pdf (wixlabs-pdf-dev.appspot.com)

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division Two
AFC Caddington P Eynesbury United

Another postponement this afternoon:

GAME OFF - Unfortunately the weather has once again ruined our weekend and our fixture against Eynesbury United has been postponed. We will release information about a new date in due course.

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March 
Premier Division
Dunstable Town P Risborough Rangers

More disappointment:

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March 
Premier Division
Leverstock Green v Stotfold

The match programme:

https://issuu.com/tonysmart/docs/stotfold_programme

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Premier Division
Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Harpenden Town

The match programme:

https://issuu.com/aylesburyfc/docs/harpenden_programme

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Premier Division
Hoddesdon Town P Colney Heath
Shefford Town & Campton P Leighton Town

Two more Premier Division fixtures have sadly bitten the dust this afternoon, Leighton Town will be disappointed having won their last six League fixtures.

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division One
Rushden & Higham United v Real Bedford FC

I hope this one won't fall foul of the elements this afternoon with the World and his wife looking forward to the livestream from Hayden Road, see the match programme:

https://www.flipsnack.com/FBA66D77C6F/bedford.html

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 17:33, Cruz said:

Very interesting fixture in the SM Div!, Ampthill v Rugby Borough, both teams need to win this fixture if they have any hope of catching Real Bedford, should RB lose a few matches.

Cruz - Yes, very much so, Rugby Borough could still be leg weary following their hard fought win over Northampton ON Chenecks on Wednesday, see the match programme:

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com%2Fclubs%2F3716%2FYQjiPaycT9SjYJSbFd6i_amps+v+rugby+borough+18+march+23.pdf

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division One
Northampton ON Chenecks v Raunds Town

There shouldn't be any difficulties for Northampton ON Chenecks this afternoon who could well meet Northampton Sileby Rangers in the Division One Play-offs:

Edited March 18 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division Two
Sarratt v Buckingham United

I wonder whether Buckingham United will be buoyed this afternoon at the King George V Playing Fields by the news of their proposed merger with Buckingham Athletic:

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Premier Division
London Colney v Crawley Green

The match programme from Cotlandswick:

https://issuu.com/londoncolney/docs/lc_v_crawley_green

[Rhodes]

On 16/03/2023 at 16:14, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March 
Premier Division
Baldock Town v Tring Athletic

The match programme:

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com%2Fclubs%2F1770%2FJ1ju1bldRBCy8uRwsGue_Programme_Vol+15_Iss18_Tring.pdf

[Rhodes]

Leverstock Green v Stotfold and London Colney v Crawley Green are unfortunately late casualties in the Premier Division and Sarratt v Buckingham United and The 61 FC (Luton) v Tring Corinthians AFC in Division Two:

Saturday 18 March (all kick off 3.00pm)

Premier Division
Ardley United v Biggleswade United
Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Harpenden Town
Baldock Town v Tring Athletic
Dunstable Town P Risborough Rangers
Hoddesdon Town P Colney Heath
Leverstock Green P Stotfold
London Colney P  Crawley Green
Potton United v Cockfosters
Shefford Town & Campton P Leighton Town
St Panteleimon v Arlesey Town

Division One
Amersham Town P Eaton Socon
Ampthill Town v Rugby Borough
Burton Park Wanderers v Holmer Green
Langford v Buckingham Athletic
Lutterworth Athletic v Northampton Sileby Rangers (at Leicester City WFC)
Northampton ON Chenecks v Raunds Town
Rushden & Higham United v Real Bedford FC
Thame United Reserves v Moulton FC
Wellingborough Whitworth v Letchworth Garden City Eagles
Winslow United v London Tigers

Division Two
AFC Caddington P Eynesbury United
Berkhamsted Raiders v Old Bradwell United
Leighton Town Development v Milton Keynes College Football Academy
New Bradwell St Peter v Codicote
Pitstone & Ivinghoe v Bovingdon
Sarratt P Buckingham United
The 61 FC (Luton) P Tring Corinthians AFC
Totternhoe v Aston Clinton

[Rhodes]

6 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March 
Division Two
Totternhoe v Aston Clinton

No problems by the looks of it at Dunstable Road:

[Rhodes]

9 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division Two
Leighton Town Development v Milton Keynes College Football Academy

This one has passed a Bell Close pitch inspection:

[Rhodes]

The belated results:

Saturday 18 March

Premier Division
Ardley United 2 Biggleswade United 4
Aylesbury Vale Dynamos 2 Harpenden Town 1
Baldock Town 2 Tring Athletic 2
Dunstable Town P Risborough Rangers
Hoddesdon Town P Colney Heath
Leverstock Green P Stotfold
London Colney P  Crawley Green
Potton United 1 Cockfosters 1
Shefford Town & Campton P Leighton Town
St Panteleimon 2 Arlesey Town 2

Division One
Amersham Town P Eaton Socon
Ampthill Town 0 Rugby Borough 4
Burton Park Wanderers 2 Holmer Green 2
Langford 1 Buckingham Athletic 1
Lutterworth Athletic 1 Northampton Sileby Rangers 2 (at Leicester City WFC)
Northampton ON Chenecks 1 Raunds Town 0
Rushden & Higham United 0 Real Bedford FC 5
Thame United Reserves 1 Moulton FC 2
Wellingborough Whitworth 4 Letchworth Garden City Eagles 0
Winslow United 2 London Tigers 1

Division Two
AFC Caddington P Eynesbury United
Berkhamsted Raiders 2 Old Bradwell United 8
Leighton Town Development 2 Milton Keynes College Football Academy 1
New Bradwell St Peter 6 Codicote 1
Pitstone & Ivinghoe 1 Bovingdon 1
Sarratt P Buckingham United
The 61 FC (Luton) P Tring Corinthians AFC
Totternhoe 3 Aston Clinton 0

[Rhodes]

5 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Premier Division
Ardley United 2 Biggleswade United 4

A groundhopper from another Forum was in attendance:

Ardley Utd v Biggleswade Utd (2-4)
South Midlands Football League Premier Division
Admission: £4 concession, Programme: not printed, Attendance: c.50
My first choice, Mortimer FC v Woodcote FC (Hellenic 2 East 2 v 4) was postponed due to the lack of a match official. Fortunately, I checked the Mortimer Twitter feed before I made arrangements to set off.
Last time I visited Woodcote, their committee people told me that lack of match officials was a regular occurrence in the lower reaches of the League. As this game might have been a tight affair, I don’t suppose both teams wanted to use a Club Official to step in. It’s such a shame that 22 players and subs are geared up for a game and that the one person they need to complete the triangle cannot be found.
So, a trawl around the various options, via Futbology, led me to this one as it’s such a long time since I have been to Ardley.
After stopping off at Bicester, I arrived at the Ardley’s car park at 1:30. The facilities are quite a trek from the car park and I noticed that the pitch is fenced off now and there is a small pay gate and turnstile situated half way. Nobody on duty but a gentleman outside the clubhouse/changing rooms told me he was waiting for the cash tin to arrive.
Having paid up, I settled in the four-tiered stand on the far side, opposite the halfway line. The Perspex dugouts are on the other side and there is a small covered standing area behind the near goal. The pitch slopes from the near goal down to the far one.
The game started at a reasonable pace with the visitors seemingly on top. They had a couple of nippy players up front, especially the slight, quick number 9. He was clever at avoiding physical contact which made it difficult for the defenders to mark him.
However, after 25 or so minutes the equally dangerous Ardley 7 followed up an attempt by the 11 who had chested the ball into a space but was blocked off from making progress by the ‘argumentative’ Biggleswade 5, to side-foot a 10-yard shot into an empty net.
About 5 minutes later, the Ardley keeper hit a long clearance which was nodded on by the 9 into the path of the 7 who chipped the ball over the advancing keeper for 2-0.
Within minutes the lively Biggleswade 9 had pulled one back and went on to equalise a minute before half-time.
The game had ebbed and flowed with a mixture of tight passing and a lot of long passes with defenders hitting uncompromising clearances.
However, two Ardley defensive mistakes, both similar in nature, enabled the ever-willing 9 to capitalise and hit two more, the first after 4 minutes after the restart and about 4 minutes from the end. Defenders chose to try to control the ball instead of either passing back to the keeper or clearing the ball, and lost possession.
The incident which puzzled me and the locals near me was the decision to substitute the 2-goal 7 after about 60 minutes with the score at 2-3. He took the long disconsolate walk back to the changing rooms after waving at the dugout on the far side.
After the final whistle, I made the long walk back to the car just before it started raining.

[Rhodes]

9 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division One
Burton Park Wanderers 2 Holmer Green 2

A groundhopper from another Forum was present:

Spartan South Midlands League Division 1
Burton Park Wanderers 2 Holmer Green 2
Admission: £5, Programme: £1 (just a shell of adverts with a small insert for today's match), Food: Sausage Roll (£2), Attendance: 40 h/c
This match took a little while to get going, but when it did Burton Park Wanderers found themselves on the front foot and had the first clear-cut chance after 15 minutes: a corner was headed against the crossbar before falling back into the box, with 8 trying and failing to poke in the rebound. Five minutes later, the home side went close again as 7 beat the offside trap (BPW made a lot of opportunities from this approach all match) and tried to square to 9 for a tap-in, but a defender intercepted and poked it out for a corner instead. BPW's 9 had another chance on the breakaway moments later, but took too long to shoot and had his shot blocked. The ball then fell to 8 in the box, but his shot was also blocked and went out for a corner.
At this point, BPW were dominant and it seemed like a matter of when and not if they would take the lead, but Holmer Green had other ideas: in the 25th minute, they countered quickly and 3 hit a powerful shot into the net from just inside the box. This saw BPW frustrations start to boil over as they started arguing amongst themselves and berating each other for every mistake, while Holmer Green started to pick up on the fact that the home side were lazy at tracking back after conceding possession. Not as though they were able to take advantage of that, as despite having a better spell Holmer Green didn't produce much to threaten the BPW keeper before half-time.
BPW started the second half with a real sense of purpose and went close early on when a corner fell to 4 on the edge of the box, his goalbound shot volleyed out for a corner by a Holmer Green defender. A few minutes later, BPW went close again when a ball over the top set 9 one-on-one with the Holmer Green keeper, but the keeper made the save to protect his side's lead. After this, the torrential rain started and the match started to peter out as both teams struggled with the worsening conditions. BPW kept pushing for an equaliser, but only truly went close in the 66th minute when 2 decided to try his luck from 30 yards and the keeper was forced into an excellent full-stretch save to deny him. Other than that, both ends saw the few chances that were created denied by defensive blocks and the occasional save.
In the 77th minute, the match was brought back to life by Holmer Green scoring their second after the BPW keeper came out of his box to meet a loose ball and misjudged it, setting Holmer Green's 15 through with an open goal ahead of him. A BPW defender reacted quickly to get a tackle in, but all that did was push the ball to Holmer Green's 15 to shoot into the empty net instead.
BPW reacted quickly and took just three minutes to pull one back, a simple pass into space on the left wing setting 16 through for an easy low finish at the near post. This made for a thoroughly engaging final ten minutes as BPW threw everything forwards in search of an equaliser. Holmer Green defended resolutely throughout and looked to have done enough to secure three points as we entered stoppage time. But then they gave away a free kick just outside the box, and BPW's 2 smashed it into the crossbar and in to earn his side a point at the death.
This was a great game played in seriously testing conditions at times, with a pitch that was already bobbly at the start before the rain started falling and then became very slick and slippery the longer it poured. I imagine some referees would have abandoned the game, given a couple of patches in front of the stands that were becoming noticeably waterlogged, but in this case everyone just played around those problem areas and everything was fine.
A draw was probably a fair result, as Holmer Green were very much doing a smash and grab job by scoring from two of the very few chances they made throughout the game, while Burton Park Wanderers were seriously wasteful and far from harmonious but never gave up and kept pushing. And what a goal to earn the draw as well! That said, Holmer Green will be gutted to have dropped two points so late on, as a win would have given them some comfortable breathing space from the relegation places in what is a very close bottom half of the SSML D1 table.
Frankly, I'm not a fan of Latimer Park at all. It's clearly been cobbled together very hastily as Kettering Town have climbed the leagues, having no doubt been a more basic facility when it was just Burton Park Wanderers calling it home. Now, it seems that Kettering are keen to hide any mention of BPW playing here, with just one sign at the entrance and with BPW having a separate Clubhouse that's hidden away in one corner of the ground. Other than that, the toilets were utterly disgusting, the stand on the near side (which I presume to be the original stand) was filthy and had multiple leaks in the roof and I'm never a fan of those weird temporary stands with the tarp roof. Ultimately, it's just a weird mishmash which doesn't really work for me and which is presumably one of the more basic offerings at Step 2 as a result.

[Rhodes]

3 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 18 March
Division One
Winslow United 2 London Tigers 1

Highlight of the action, courtesy of Sports Shots: