The Non - League thread

[Royal Rother]

Marcus is currently at Reading Town it seems.

[Tad Showbiz]

I see Newport IoW won at the weekend, could be an interesting cup tie when they play Reading Town at the weekend.

Newport IoW are a sizeable club for the level they play at and have a very nice ground....those who have an interest in non league ground hopping should pay it a visit.

Although Newport IoW have dropped down the leagues in recent years Reading Town may struggle to get through to the next round.

I went there in 1985 to see a Hampshire Senior Cup tie against Farnborough instead of going to the Baseball Ground to see reading draw 1-1

It was a very good ground back then. One of my favourite NL grounds was the old home of Dulwich Hamlet. Now that was a big old ground.

1985? Would be a different ground now as their old one is where the Tesco supermarket is in Newport (IoW) town centre.

The new St Georges Park is a 5-10 minute walk away from town.

I've only been there once for Newport (IoW) 0-3 Sittingbourne whose side included Karl Elsey....remember him?!

[floyd__streete]

Windsor fans (ie. Rother and TB, 20% of W&E's entire fanbase) what are your opinions on Andrew Fagan, with you during your championship campaign I believe? Seen him twice in Maidenhead colours this season and have been very impressed.

[Terminal Boardom]

Windsor fans (ie. Rother and TB, 20% of W&E's entire fanbase) what are your opinions on Andrew Fagan, with you during your championship campaign I believe? Seen him twice in Maidenhead colours this season and have been very impressed.

"He's just a white Cafu!" was the song from the Windsor faithful.

Total quality whenever I saw him. He has the ability to rise to the occasion. The better the opponent, the better he plays. One of the best NL players I have ever seen.

[Royal Rother]

Windsor fans (ie. Rother and TB, 20% of W&E's entire fanbase) what are your opinions on Andrew Fagan, with you during your championship campaign I believe? Seen him twice in Maidenhead colours this season and have been very impressed.

I'd echo that entirely.

I've seen him about 40 times and can confirm that in most games he was quality as well. Rarely makes a mistake. Good at the back, excellent carrying the ball forward out of defence, gets a few headed goals, very good all round really at our level. (Except I don't think I ever saw him have a shot on target!)

08/09 he was Rt back, 09/10 central defence. Totally unflashy but he just has more time than anyone else around him.

I reckon he could probably do a job in League 2.

[Terminal Boardom]

In the absence of the completely unreliable Four of Clubs, I bring you this weekend’s non-league fixtures which may include some local interest. Not forgetting that this Saturday is Non-League Day what ever that means…

Ryman Div 1 South
Merstham v Fleet Town
Horsham YMCA v Whitstable Town
Leatherhead v Whyteleafe

FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round
Ascot United v Staines Lammas
Guildford City v Sevenoaks Town
Newport (IW) v Whitchurch United
Cobham v Rye United
Andover New Street v East Cowes Victoria Athletic AFC
Erith Town v Badshot Lea
Hartley Wintney v Brading Town
Thame United v Slimbridge AFC
For other FA Vase fixtures, I suggest using the link but there must be about 200 games in total
http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/FACompetitions/TheFAVase/Fixtures

Hellenic Premier
Binfield v Fairford Town
Bracknell Town v Wootton Bassett Town
Carterton v Abingdon Town
Pegasus Juniors v Wokingham & Emmbrook
Reading Town v Witney Utd
Shortwood Utd v Flackwell Heath

Hellenic Div 1 East
Chinnor v Rayners Lane
Farnborough Stiffs v South Kilburn
Henley Town v Newbury
Hungerford Town Stiffs v Didcot Town Stiffs
Penn & Tylers Green v Holyport
Woodley Town v Finchampstead

Combined Counties Premier
Bookham v Ash United
Camberley Town v Chertsey Town
Colliers Wood United v Sandhurst Town
Egham Town v Epsom & Ewell

Combined Counties Div 1
Chobham v CB Hounslow United
Eversley v Sheerwater
Frimley Green v Worcester Park
Hayes Gate v Farleigh Rovers
Warlingham v Knaphill

Southern Premier – Note… Website says 7.45pm kick off. Could be a mistake!
Brackley Town v Windsor & Eton
Chesham United v Tiverton Town
Didcot Town v Banbury United

Southern League South & West
Abingdon United v Yate Town
Almondsbury Town v Thatcham Town
Andover v North Leigh
Frome Town v Hungerford Town
Gosport Borough v Bideford

Conference
Crawley Town v Fleetwood Town
Hayes & Yeading v Histon

Conference South
Basingstoke Town v Braintree Town
Bishop’s Stortford v Farnborough
Ebbsfleet Utd v Staines Town
Lewes v Hampton & Richmond
Maidenhead Utd v Bromley
St Albans v Woking

[paultheroyal]

Might check this one out...

Hartley Wintney v Brading Town

Ex - Reading Neville Roach versus a team from my roots.

[AndyRFC]

Windsor fans (ie. Rother and TB, 20% of W&E's entire fanbase) what are your opinions on Andrew Fagan, with you during your championship campaign I believe? Seen him twice in Maidenhead colours this season and have been very impressed.

I'd echo that entirely.

I've seen him about 40 times and can confirm that in most games he was quality as well. Rarely makes a mistake. Good at the back, excellent carrying the ball forward out of defence, gets a few headed goals, very good all round really at our level. (Except I don't think I ever saw him have a shot on target!)

08/09 he was Rt back, 09/10 central defence. Totally unflashy but he just has more time than anyone else around him.

I reckon he could probably do a job in League 2.

I've seen the same games as Floyd, with Fagan, been impressed also. Hope he can form a good partnership with Mark Nisbet, and "Lord" Jamal Fyfield (Left Back)

[royal-biscuit-man]

basingstoke town, probably IN.

[Four Of Clubs]

In the absence of the completely unreliable Four of Clubs,

... I did try and get my preview on here yesterday evening, after returning from overseas (IofW) but the internet was ph@(£ing about summit chronic - much as it seems to be doing this AM - (this is my 2nd attempt so far to respond) - so I went up the pub instead!

Just adding in few more 'local interest matches':


FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round
Alresford Town v Cove
Baldock Town Letchworth v Milton United
Fleet Spurs v Petersfield Town
Highworth Town v Bradford Town
Kidlington v Malmesbury Victoria
Moneyfields v Farnborough North End
Shrivenham v Potton United
Wantage Town v London Colney


Southern ... Note… Website says 7.45pm kick off. Could be a mistake!
..the confusing header note on the Zammo site refers to default EVENING KO times i.e. not the Saturday Fixtures which are all 15:00h - any other/odd KO times then are usually shown over to the right. i.e. see KO time @ Paulton for the 13th Sept - shown as 7.30


Southern League South & West
Andover v North Leigh - postponed - still something wrong with Andover's pitch, I think

WESSEX Div 1
Tadley Calleva v Downton

... normal service should be resumed in due course - maybe!


I'm probably off somewhere new and possibly far away tomorrow in the Vase - not sure yet - maybe south of Brizzle or p'raps Letchworth - depends on how the M'ways are looking - don't favour the M25 N&W clockwise much at present though.

...haven't read back on here thoroughly yet (still too upset about The Sig )but in case it didn't get a mention, did anyone else notice the attendance @ Larges Lane on BH Monday for "tenants vs landlords" clash in the Hellenic Premier:

Wokingham & Emm. 1-1 Bracknell Town att: 379 ... superb!

[Big Foot]

The attendance for Wokingham vs Wantage last Saturday was only 96, that's a hell of an increase...though a local derby on Bank Holiday Monday is always tasty

[Terminal Boardom]

Southern League South & West
Andover v North Leigh - postponed - still something wrong with Andover's pitch, I think

Very interesting snippet in the Bracknell v Thame programme which referred to this. Apparently, Andovr are having all sorts of problems with cute, fluffy animals and all they have been able to do is fill in the holes with loose soil. I will dig out the programme tonight and provide the full article.

[Four Of Clubs]

...sorry, forgot to mention in my curtailed round-up - some of these Vase ties tomorrow are being played to a finish i.e. no replay - but ET & pens.

Check the FA site link shown above for the full up to date list - ties with a plus sign usually denote this agreement has been made in advance between the sides.

'locally' games thus designated are :-

Ascot vs Staines Lammas
Newport Pag. v Holmer Gn (NB venue also switched home sides ground not available)
Newport IoW v Whitchurch
Andover New St v E.Cowes
Hartley Wintney v Brading

... and Hook Norton v Laverstock & Ford is being played @ L&F's ground nr Salisbury.

I have a vague idea the agreement can be made as little as up to an hour before KO too - providing the Officials agree to it as well.

Unusual for it NOT to be sorted out & publicised well beforehand though.

[paultheroyal]

Southern League South & West
Andover v North Leigh - postponed - still something wrong with Andover's pitch, I think

Very interesting snippet in the Bracknell v Thame programme which referred to this. Apparently, Andovr are having all sorts of problems with cute, fluffy animals and all they have been able to do is fill in the holes with loose soil. I will dig out the programme tonight and provide the full article.

I enjoyed refereeing at the Portway, Andover. Nice feel to the ground. Just a shame that this ground is out of town, otherwise i think Andover would be a well supported club than they are already.

[Ark Royal]

...sorry, forgot to mention in my curtailed round-up - some of these Vase ties tomorrow are being played to a finish i.e. no replay - but ET & pens.

Check the FA site link shown above for the full up to date list - ties with a plus sign usually denote this agreement has been made in advance between the sides.

'locally' games thus designated are :-

Ascot vs Staines Lammas
Newport Pag. v Holmer Gn (NB venue also switched home sides ground not available)
Newport IoW v Whitchurch
Andover New St v E.Cowes
Hartley Wintney v Brading

... and Hook Norton v Laverstock & Ford is being played @ L&F's ground nr Salisbury.

I have a vague idea the agreement can be made as little as up to an hour before KO too - providing the Officials agree to it as well.

Unusual for it NOT to be sorted out & publicised well beforehand though.

To paraphrase Cleese: "Lammas are larger than frogs. Look out, there are Lammas!"

[Terminal Boardom]

Going back to the question whether Andover will be playing, I have dug (excuse the pun) out the article.

Andover were faced with major problems on Tuesday after their first Zamaretto League Div1S&W clash of the new campaign was postponed by the referee at 7pm when the Portway Stadium pitch was deemed dangerous and unplayable.

The playing surface had already come in for considerable criticism during the summer and the staging of the six-a-side competition at the end of May was at the time also looked upon with some trepidation. However, Tuesday's events have now thrown the club into more trouble as the league are bound to look at the situation with some punishment in mind.

Lions' boss Andy Leader was in no mood to disagree with the referee and said "I have no issues at all with the decision to call the game off - it is just another embarrassing episode at the club and in truth my players and management team deserve more than this."

What had already become a poor surface has been made worse by a number of rabbit holes which the club has attempted to fill in, but the pitch was not acceptable to the officials or to Sholing who made their concerns clear on their arrival. In fact the Portsmouth Road-based side, known as VTFC until the summer, have yet to play a game as Saturday's game was also called off as opponents Bromsgrove Rovers had ceased playing and have been thrown out of the league.

What is of more pressing concern is Saturday's home game with paulton Rovers which is almost certain to be called off. It is unlikely that the Somerset club would be able to reverse the fixture at short notice as they are bound to have a reserve game at Winterfield Rd and so negotiations will have to start with them and the league.

There is also a reserve game at the Portway next Wednesday which will certainly bite the dust and that would give the club until 18th September to get the pitch playable as they have three away games on the trot.

The possibility of an FA Cup replay with Sittingbourne on Tuesday August 31st could add further fuel to the fire.

The above appeared in the Bracknell Town -v- Thame United programme for the fixture dated 24th August. Whether the game goes ahead tomorrow is anyone's guess.

[Four Of Clubs]

Andover's Portway stadium failed a further pitch inspection earlie this week - they tried to switch the game vs N.Leigh to tonight at Eynsham Pk (Nor Lye's ground) but could not get agreement - I thought possibly the England game AND the fact its a groundshare pitch (Old Woodstock play vs Sherborne there in the Vase on Sat.) but it appears both clubs WERE in agreement until the League intervened - see below.

They've put a contingency in place for NEXT weeks' (Sat 11th) FA Cup tie v Chertsey (from NonLeaguematters website) :

Reference the FA Cup tie at Andover, the ground has been deemed unplayable again and at the moment the club are trying to get permission to play the game at Whitchurch United FC, presumably if Chertsey agree.

This weekend's game with North Leigh which was originally at Andover and then switched to North Leigh on Friday night has now been postponed

... seems the league's possible intransigence has led to a bit of 'shooting oneself in foot-ism' - this taken from 'the Millers' [North Leigh's] website:-

An agreement had been reached between the two clubs for the fixture to be reversed and played at Eynsham Park on Friday evening, but that arrangement was unable to proceed due to a ruling by the Southern League which states that no reversal of fixtures between clubs will be permitted in any circumstances.

... means Nor Lye will now have two blank Saturdays - they got dumped out of the FA Cup last w/e 2-1 @ Cinderford.

[Four Of Clubs]

Here's Saturday's (4th Sept) results for our 'local' NL sides - not sure what impact Non-League Day had on crowd figures.
Some leagues won't publish attendances for a few days yet anyway - can't see much difference around the Conf South or Hellenic - though Ascot pulled in a tidy figure for their Vase match:-

FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round
Alresford Town 0-4 Cove
Andover New Street 1-3 East Cowes Victoria
Ascot United 3-0 Staines Lammas – attendance 197
Baldock Town Letchworth 2-1 Milton United
Cobham 1-2 Rye United
Erith & Dartford Town 3-1 Badshot Lea
Fleet Spurs 6-1 Petersfield Town
Guildford City 5-0 Sevenoaks Town
Hartley Wintney 0-1 Brading Town
Highworth Town 2-1 Bradford Town
Hook Norton 0-4 Laverstock & Ford
Kidlington 5-0 Malmesbury Victoria
Moneyfields 5-2 Farnborough North End
Newport (IW) 4-1 Whitchurch United
Shrivenham 5-1 Potton United
Thame United 2-1 Slimbridge AFC
Wantage Town 4-2 London Colney

Conference
Crawley Town 1-1 Fleetwood Town
Hayes & Yeading 1-2 Histon
... Newport host 'Wrecsam' on Sun PM.
Conference South
Basingstoke Town 0-2 Braintree Town
Bishop’s Stortford 1-4 Farnborough
Ebbsfleet Utd 1-1 Staines Town
Lewes 1-2 Hampton & Richmond
Maidenhead Utd 0-2 Bromley
St Albans 0-1 Woking

Southern Premier
Brackley Town 0-2 Windsor & Eton - Chenells 47, Mannella 50
Chesham United 5-0 Tiverton Town
Didcot Town 0-2 Banbury United
Salisbury Town 4-1 Cirencester Town
Southern League One Central
Biggleswade Town 1-5 Slough Town
Leighton Town 1-1 Burnham
Marlow 2-1 Ashford Town (Mx)
Southern League One South & West
Abingdon United 3-1 Yate Town
Almondsbury Town 3-2 Thatcham Town
Frome Town 0-1 Hungerford Town
Gosport Borough 4-1 Bideford

Ryman Div 1 South
Merstham 5-2 Fleet Town
Horsham YMCA 2-3 Whitstable Town
Leatherhead 1-1 Whyteleafe

Combined Counties Premier
Bookham 1-2 Ash United
Camberley Town 2-0 Chertsey Town
Colliers Wood United 0-0 Sandhurst Town
Egham Town 3-1 Epsom & Ewell
Combined Counties Div 1
Chobham 0-2 CB Hounslow United
Eversley 1-1 Sheerwater
Frimley Green 0-2 Worcester Park
Hayes Gate 3-2 Farleigh Rovers
Warlingham 2-2 Knaphill

Hellenic Premier
Binfield 6-1 Fairford Town - att 69
Bracknell Town 3-0 Wootton Bassett Town - att 87
Carterton 1-3 Abingdon Town
Pegasus Juniors 3-2 Wokingham & Emmbrook
Reading Town 0-0 Witney Utd - att 94
Shortwood Utd 1-1 Flackwell Heath
Hellenic Div 1 East
Chinnor 0-0 Rayners Lane
Farnborough Res 4-1 South Kilburn
Henley Town 3-0 Newbury
Hungerford Town Res 3-0 Didcot Town Res
Penn & Tylers Green 1-2 Holyport
Woodley Town 1-1 Finchampstead

WESSEX Div 1
Tadley Calleva 1-5 Downton

... I braved the Reading cross-town traffic this lunchtime (oddly enough there was none! ) and tried a dash up the M40 to:
Vase 1Q Tie Buckingham Athletic v Barkingside - finished 2-2 aet (2-2 @ FT) Good feisty affair the home side belied their lowewr level status and had a good share of the game - bit feisty later on Ref issued a Red Card to an away defender - bit of ill-feeling near the end and the refs indecision re ET & pens didn't ease the situation.
- no-one seemed to know what, if anything, had been agreed beforehand re what would happen on 90' in the event of a drawn game.
The replay date HAD already been set for Monday but after the additional 30 mins of extra-time, there were frantic phone calls to the FA and the League - the Ref quite clearly thought they were set for penalty shoot-out but neither set of club officials seemed to have agreed this.
A Spartan South Mids League official was there too - we sat near him and chatted a bit during the 2nd half. He thought it was going to a replay after 90' and was seriously non-plussed re all the arguments afterwards.

Nice 'public-park' type ground - with benched seating in a stand - a big clubhouse including a very reasonably priced Tea Bar - 'The Sozzled Swan' : Double Sausage & Chips £1.60
Definitely worth a visit - ground on the southern side of the A422 - probably best approached from the eastern end of the town coming in on the Stratford Rd - follow the ring road round to the A422 roundabout and turn back in towards Town centre. Ground down the bottom of the hill on the left.

[Terminal Boardom]

Little trip down to Egham Town yesterday where I saw the most appalling refereeing display of my life. Both sides completely ruined by an official who missed everything and ignored his assistants from start to finish. That said, great little ground is the Runnymeade Stadium with an array of covered terraces and seats. Comfortable clubhouse but sadly the choice of beer not as good as some. Epsom's #8 was lucky to stay on the pitch. How he managed that only the ref knows but Egham's #7 had to leave the field 3 0r 4 times with blood coming from the corner of his eye.

[AndyRFC]

Little trip down to Egham Town yesterday where I saw the most appalling refereeing display of my life. Both sides completely ruined by an official who missed everything and ignored his assistants from start to finish. That said, great little ground is the Runnymeade Stadium with an array of covered terraces and seats. Comfortable clubhouse but sadly the choice of beer not as good as some. Epsom's #8 was lucky to stay on the pitch. How he managed that only the ref knows but Egham's #7 had to leave the field 3 0r 4 times with blood coming from the corner of his eye.

Went to Egham last season, comfy little ground, clubhouse was ok, but wouldnt put Newcy v Ding on for us. Carlsberg was a bit shit,