The Non - League thread

[Sutekh]

Reading Town RIP

Indeed much as expected new owners, apparently Highmoor IBIS, to move in NEXT season.

Owners reportedly do not want RTFC to fulfill the season and have effectively folded the club.
Possibly inevitable once they lost the security contract for the Festival.

Nor quite sure where this leaves Woodley Utd ... believe they will play out their season @ Scours.

RTFC scratched from their cup tie @ Stokenchurch this PM

... sad times for the club.

Will they ever come back?

[Four Of Clubs]

yesterday's results in NL:

Saturday 13th February

NAT
Aldershot Town 0-0 Tranmere Rovers
Woking 0-1 Guiseley
NATN
Brackley Town 2-3 Nuneaton Town
NATS
Eastbourne Borough 3-3 Weston-Super-Mare
Maidenhead United 1-1 Wealdstone
Maidstone United 2-1 Gosport Borough
Margate 2-1 Basingstoke Town
Oxford City 1-1 Ebbsfleet United - City level with injury time pen.
St Albans City 2-2 Concord Rangers
Sutton United 1-1 Bath City

ISTHP
Dulwich Hamlet 2-2 Farnborough
Tonbridge Angels 2-0 Staines Town

SOUTHP
Dorchester Town 1-2 Slough Town
Redditch United 1-0 Chesham United
SOUTH1C
Arlesey Town 1-1 Godalming Town
Barton Rovers 0-1 Hanwell Town
Beaconsfield SYCOB 2-0 Chalfont St Peter
Bedford Town 1-0 Aylesbury
Fleet Town 0-0 AFC Rushden & Diamonds
Potters Bar Town 0-1 Egham Town
Uxbridge 0-3 Northwood
Ware 3-1 Petersfield Town
SOUTH1S&W
Banbury United 3-1 North Leigh
Burnham 0-2 Slimbridge
Didcot Town 1-2 Winchester City
Swindon Supermarine 3-1 Marlow
Wantage Town 0-5 Evesham United

CCLP
Ashford Town (Middx) 0-1 Westfield – bit of a shock for ‘Ashtrees’ here. With Hartley’s game off – they missed the chance to re-take top-spot and stay 2nd on GD having played 4 games more.
Epsom & Ewell 1-0 Bedfont Sports
Guildford City 1-1 AFC Hayes
Spelthorne Sports 2-1 Raynes Park Vale
Windsor 3-2 Redhill – looks a bit squeaky against the real strugglers above Cove near the foot of the table but 3 points nonetheless to turn a poor run around somewhat?
CCL1
Bedfont & Feltham 3-1 Cobham
Frimley Green 1-1 Ash United
Sheerwater 5-0 Staines Lammas
South Park Res 1-5 Abbey Rangers

HELLP
Abingdon United 2-3 Brimscombe & Thrupp
Flackwell Heath 3-0 Thatcham Town - att 139 =- crucial win for Heathens to stay in touch with Kingfishers at the top 2 points behind one game in hand.
Highworth Town 2-1 Brackley Town Saints
Kidlington 6-2 Royal Wootton Bassett
Thame United 3-1 Lydney Town
HELL1E
Bicester Town 1-0 Penn & Tylers Green
Headington Amateurs 3-4 Chinnor
Holyport 1-3 Henley Town
Woodley United 0-1 Rayners Lane

B&B Intermediate Semi-Finals
Risborough Rangers 5-1 Cookham Dean
Olney Town {SEVEN} 7-3 Letcombe
Reading Senior Cup Q-F
Highmoor-Ibis 2-1 Mortimer

WESSP
Whitchurch United {SEVEN} 7-1 Alresford Town
WESS1
Alton Town 1-2 Tadley Calleva

[AthleticoSpizz]

Just gotta love this game of ours, crazy even at non league levels.

NPL (N) Warrington part company with Shaun Reid (Peters' brother) despite leading the division by 8 points.......he was going to be discarded at the end of the season, but has left with immediate effect........sound familiar?

[Royal Rother]

Windsor 3-2 Redhill

Well FOC, I guess it was a bit close run in the end but having been 3-0 up, then 3-1 and Redhill down to 10 men, it really shouldn't have been.

In fact if we didn't have the best shot stopper in the league (as I've said before) we'd be a fair bit worse off than we are right now.

That said, it was actually an enjoyable game and Redhill looked better than their lowly position suggests. Although Windsor are not very good this season, I actually think the overall quality of the CCL is the best it's been in the 5 years we've been in it.

[Terminal Boardom]

Is the CCL better because we are a lot worse? We were coasting at 3-0 and then decided to switch off completely. Once Redhill went down to 10 they were inspired and could have snatched something.

[Royal Rother]

Could be but the results in the Vase suggest there's carts inlay a bit of quality in the upper reaches.

[Royal Rother]

Carts inlay...?

No idea what I intended that to be!

[frimmers3]

"certainly"?

[Royal Rother]

Ah, of course! Thanks.

Obvious really.... (Long couple of days)

[Four Of Clubs]

....just tried posting a quick update of this weeks results but the editor went screwy on both mobile devices I had to hand.

Hellenic
... were wins for Ascot over Bracknell 4-0, Flackwell bt Binfield and Kidlington mauled Wok & Emm 4-1 @ Henley.
...gloomy prospects indeed for RTFC now, as their outstanding (8) fixtures are all showing as 'Void' on the League site.

CCL
.. wins for Hartley 2-0 vs Bedfont Sports - who pull three points clear at the top with three games in hand - and Guildford who won impressively 3-1 at Hanworth Villa: another big defeat for poor Cove 2-6 vs Baggy Lea and Camberley were held somewhat surprisingly at home by Spelthorne.

... Some startling results around the Southern League

Premier: big away wins for Slough (@ Cirencester) & Chesham, humbling Weymouth 4-1. Hungerford lost to 2 late goals at home to Leamington.
In the Central section Fleet Town went nuts @ Barton coming away with an 8-1 win; Egham prevailed 3-2 at home to Ware.
In the S&W division Diddy thrashed poor Burnham 5-0, Marlow were comfortably beaten by Winchester - who are up to 2nd place ..... Nor Lye's game last night (Wed) at home to Bps Cleeve was postponed.

... BUT pride of place must be the news that Bashley got their first point of the season holding on to a 0-0 draw at home to Mangotsfield.
Previous league 'shut-out' was on the 13th March 14-15 Season H v Shortwood - 32 games ago - if I've counted correctly.
The 'Bash' host local rivals AFC Totton this Saturday.

...finally .... I didn't get out as much as I'd planned this week (was half-term too ... but co-incided with a bA$tard cold )

Managed to get to Cherrywood Road on Monday night to see Ryman Premier Farnborough 0-2 Billericay.
'boro have returned most of their RFC loanees but have extended the loan on Bogdan 'Boggy' Vastsuk - the Estonian wonder-kid. He's very neat and tidy on the ball but much like the rest of the team, is lacking a lot of basic application. Their passing game is dreadful all over the pitch, so most of their efforts are based around individual flashes of skill. He tried a 40 odd yd chip which the keeper just scrambled back to tip over but for the rest of the game he and most of the other forwards isolated themselves with poor runs and ill-timed passes.

Looks fairly certain they'll be down in the CCL next season. They are still a very long way from mathematical safety and I believe the odd terms of their repayment bond, dictate they need to finish a good deal higher to stay even at Ryman Divison One.

Crowds are seriously down too, only approx. 180 and that looked generous - and for my second visit running I parked inside the main car park. In the 'good old days', back in the early 90s, when I used to attend quite regularly, you'd often struggle to find a parking space within a couple of hundred yards of the ground. Even as recently as four years back, their average was close to 4 times what it is now.

[Royalist]

I notice the vase and trophy finals are at wembley on the same day with one ticket for both games. Great idea in theory but gap between games whilst england play elsewhere! Apparently they are showing the game on the big screens there but i suspect most the people in for the first game will drift away.

[Terminal Boardom]

I notice the vase and trophy finals are at wembley on the same day with one ticket for both games. Great idea in theory but gap between games whilst england play elsewhere! Apparently they are showing the game on the big screens there but i suspect most the people in for the first game will drift away.

Looks like someone has actually put some thought into this for a change. I would be tempted to get tickets for it.

[Sutekh]

Wouldn't it rather screw up the celebration of the first winners or do they have more than 2 changing rooms at Wembley

[Four Of Clubs]

Looks like someone has actually put some thought into this for a change. I would be tempted to get tickets for it.

...not sure I would be all that bothered about staying for the Trophy Final [assuming they'd have the Vase first] - bit like the 'pros' League Cup - in general - no-one takes a blind bit of notice of it until the latter stages. I'd have to look up whose still in it - though I'd guess Woking are the most local reps left - since I'm fairly sure they overcame Oxford City in the last round? Is more often than not contended by sides at the upper end of the National Conference - though Gosport Boro bucked the trend season before last.
Bognor Regis are the lowest ranked survivors in the last 8 I believe (don't know where Nantwich are currently ) from STEP03 in the Ryman Premier. 4th Round (Q-F) Ties are due to be played NEXT w/e 27th Feb.

I was quite keen on making the effort for the Vase again though: - I got to the last ALL southern Final betwixt Truro and AFC Totton back in '07. Looks as if both the finalists this season could also be from the south - only Morpeth from the north-east surviving in the last 8 (see ties below in preview list) .
As I've stated before on the Vase previews if the S-F draw is kind, I'd expect the 'dream' final to be Hereford v Salisbury - two former giants slugging it out down at STEP05 temporarily.
That Final scenario could well have surpassed the record Vase crowd of recent times, which was that Truro/Totton Final, over 36k. This was subject to a rather bizarre recount, as I recall, the originally published figure had been down in the mid-20ks but it was amended somewhat cryptically a couple of months later?? All a bit academic though, if the ticket offer is "one-for-two" - as it were?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.... here's tomorrow's NL games

EDIT including some Sat AM declared postponements - there's plenty more inspections ongoing

SATURDAY 20th FEBRUARY 2016

The FA Vase 6th Round
1 Hereford v Camberley Town
2 Salisbury v Ashford United
3 Morpeth Town PP Bristol Manor Farm - to be played Sat 27th Feb
4 Bowers & Pitsea v Kidlington

NAT
Bromley v Woking
Gateshead v Aldershot Town
NATN
Brackley Town v Stockport County
NATS
Basingstoke Town v Maidenhead United
Bath City v St Albans City
Bishop's Stortford v Maidstone United
Chelmsford City v Margate
Concord Rangers v Gosport Borough
Eastbourne Borough v Dartford
Hayes & Yeading Utd v Oxford City
Hemel Hempstead Town v Sutton United
Truro City v Ebbsfleet United
Weston-Super-Mare v Wealdstone
Whitehawk v Havant & Waterlooville

ISTHP
Farnborough v Leiston
Staines Town v Enfield Town

SOUTHP
Chesham United v Histon
Hitchin Town v Hungerford Town
Slough Town v Leamington
SOUTH1C
Chalfont St Peter v Fleet Town
Egham Town v Uxbridge
Godalming Town v North Greenford United
Petersfield Town v Beaconsfield SYCOB
SOUTH1S&W
Bashley v AFC Totton
Marlow v Didcot Town
North Leigh v Wantage Town
Winchester City v Burnham

CCLP
AFC Hayes v Windsor
Ashford Town (Middx) v Cove
Chertsey Town v Badshot Lea
Chessington & Hook United PP Westfield
Colliers Wood United v Guildford City
Horley Town v Spelthorne Sports
Knaphill v Farnham Town
Raynes Park Vale v Bedfont Sports
Redhill PP Hanworth Villa
Sutton Common Rovers v Hartley Wintney
CCL1
Abbey Rangers v Frimley Green
Ash United v Banstead Athletic
Bedfont & Feltham v Dorking
Dorking Wanderers Res v Worcester Park
Farleigh Rovers v Sheerwater
Sandhurst Town v CB Hounslow United
Staines Lammas v Epsom Athletic

HELLP
Ardley United v Oxford City Nomads
Highmoor-Ibis v Brimscombe & Thrupp
Highworth Town v Milton United
Lydney Town v Bracknell Town
Tuffley Rovers v Binfield
HELL1E
Chalfont Wasps v Penn & Tylers Green
Holyport v Old Woodstock Town
Rayners Lane v Bicester Town
Wantage Town Res' PP Finchampstead

Challenge Cup Round 3
Ascot United v Thame United
Longlevens AFC v Flackwell Heath
Reading Senior Cup
14:00 Reading YMCA v Wokingham & Emmbrook - winners to play Binfield in the Quarter Finals.
- Highmoor/IBIS won their Q-F last w/e vs Mortimer and await the winners of the above in the Semi-Final.
- Final to be played midweek in early May at the MadStad.
- Other half of the draw is way behind comparatively. Will give a more detailed preview of it, perhaps when some of the earlier ties are progressed.

WESSP
Andover Town v Blackfield & Langley
Brockenhurst v Whitchurch United
WESS1
Fleet Spurs v Romsey Town
Pewsey Vale v Andover New Street
Tadley Calleva v Totton & Eling

[Royalist]

Wouldn't it rather screw up the celebration of the first winners or do they have more than 2 changing rooms at Wembley

Done a tour there. I guess they can turn the 'nfl' style dressing rooms into a separate room for the 4 clubs

[AthleticoSpizz]

12 418 at Tranmere v Cheltenham today

[Four Of Clubs]

... yesterday's NL results:

SATURDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2016

The FA Vase 6th Round
1 Hereford 3-2 Camberley Town - AET 2-2 @ FT attendance 3329 – ex-Diddy marksman Mills on 120’, breaks Camberley’s hearts.
2 Salisbury 3-0 Ashford United att - 1791
4 Bowers & Pitsea 3-3 Kidlington AET FT 3-3 – Kiddy led 2-0 then reportedly had a clear ‘over the line’ goal ruled out @ 2-1 – eventually trailed 2-3 but mid-way through 2nd half Aniclet Odhiambo equalised to take it to ET on an absolute porridge-surface pitch - replay set for next Saturday 27th Feb

NAT
Bromley 2-1 Woking
Gateshead 3-2 Aldershot Town
NATN
Brackley Town 0-1 Stockport County
NATS
Basingstoke Town 2-1 Maidenhead United - winner on 91’
Bath City 1-0 St Albans City
Bishop's Stortford 0-1 Maidstone United
Chelmsford City 2-3 Margate
Concord Rangers 0-0 Gosport Borough
Eastbourne Borough 1-1 Dartford
Hayes & Yeading Utd 2-1 Oxford City - H&Y winner an 89’ og
Hemel Hempstead Town 2-2 Sutton United
Truro City 1-1 Ebbsfleet United
Weston-Super-Mare 1-2 Wealdstone
Whitehawk 1-1 Havant & Waterlooville

ISTHP
Farnborough 3-0 Leiston - bit of a shock win here for struggling ‘boro – especially after seeing how poor they were last Monday. Three up by H/T – two scored by recent signing ex-Gills midfielder Charlie Allen

Staines Town 0-1 Enfield Town

SOUTHP
Chesham United P-P Histon
Hitchin Town 2-1 Hungerford Town
Slough Town 1-3 Leamington
SOUTH1C
Chalfont St Peter 1-2 Fleet Town - another surprising win for Fleet at play-off chasing Chalfont
Egham Town 2-2 Uxbridge
Godalming Town 3-1 North Greenford United
Petersfield Town P-P Beaconsfield SYCOB
SOUTH1S&W
Bashley 0-4 AFC Totton - sadly normal service resumed for Bash
Marlow 0-5 Didcot Town
North Leigh 1-0 Wantage Town
Winchester City 6-1 Burnham - first half hat-trick for Bentley (was 6-0 by H-T) and City now top - Cinderford’s home match with Taunton postponed. Winchester travel to Banbury next w/e with Diddy hosting Cinderford.

CCLP
AFC Hayes 3-1 Windsor
Ashford Town (Middx) 3-1 Cove
Chertsey Town 3-4 Badshot Lea
Colliers Wood United 2-4 Guildford City - another creditable big away win for City in a week – up to 11th now.
Horley Town 4-0 Spelthorne Sports
Sutton Common Rovers 0-5 Hartley Wintney
CCL1
Abbey Rangers 3-1 Frimley Green
Ash United 1-5 Banstead Athletic
Farleigh Rovers 0-3 Sheerwater
Sandhurst Town 0-5 CB Hounslow United

HELLP
Ardley United 0-1 Oxford City Nomads
Highmoor-Ibis 1-2 Brimscombe & Thrupp
Highworth Town P-P Milton United - failed inspection at about 14:00
Lydney Town 4-4 Bracknell Town - great battling point for Robins - new signing George Short, from Winchester City, levelled on 92'
Tuffley Rovers 2-5 Binfield - big win for Moles helps neighbours Bracknell in their push to safety
HELL1E
Chalfont Wasps 0-2 Penn & Tylers Green
Holyport P-P Old Woodstock Town
Rayners Lane 5-1 Bicester Town - shock and heavy defeat for the morning’s leaders – P&TG benefit and go top on GD – Henley Town could go joint top with these two, if they overcome Woodley Utd on Tuesday evening @ Mill Lane

Challenge Cup Round 3
Ascot United 1-2 Thame United
Longlevens AFC 2-4 Flackwell Heath
Reading Senior Cup
Reading YMCA 3-6 Wokingham & Emmbrook - Sumas advance to play Binfield in Q-Fs

WESSP
Andover Town 3-2 Blackfield & Langley
Brockenhurst 2-4 Whitchurch United - ‘Jam Boys’ unbeaten in five now and climbing rapidly – up to 15th.
WESS1
Fleet Spurs 5-1 Romsey Town - another very surprising score-line considering current form – though Spurs had won 4-2 last-time out
Pewsey Vale 3-0 Andover New Street
Portland United 2-0 United Services Portsmouth - 1st beat 3rd - the islanders are now 8 points clear of 2nd placed Amesbury
Tadley Calleva P-P Totton & Eling called off just before KO

[Royal Rother]

I think you do Norwood's delivery a disservice there. Heck of a swerve on it, perfectly executed would be my verdict.

...OK RR - I withdraw my point ... in part - just had another 'butchers' and there's definitely a lot of swerve - was still more 'curly float' than 'whipped' though !!

...glad to see you aren't spending too long baiting the Cambo fans on the F'Focus bd - but then you're probably quite rightly keeping a low profile, after your lots' performance at 'Brook House' yesterday???

Our performance was ok yesterday in terrible conditions. Touch and go whether it could be played - a real mud bath.

Suspensions and injuries meant we had a real bare bones team with new faces, square pegs and round holes and all that. We played most of the football but were unwilling to shoot. Intricate passing around a packed penalty area in a mud bath just isn't going to work. And so it proved - AFC Hayes had about 4 chances and scored 3 goals.

Bearing in mind my repeated comments this season about us not being very good, yesterday was far from the worst we've played, albeit a disappointing end result.

Camberley fans and players have been so easy to wind up about their long-ball hoof it football over the last couple of years it's ridiculous! But I have to say I really don't get the love-in amongst the CCL teams. I have no anti feelings about any of them but don't have any desire for the other teams to do well in the cup competitions.

It might be a bit curmudgeonly but I support Windsor, not the Combined Counties League.

[Four Of Clubs]

12 418 at Tranmere v Cheltenham today

... just FTR now reported as an error - officially 'reduced' to 5,418.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Yeah...I've seen the empty seats in the pics at Prenton....however....the Beeb website still claims the higher figure....whilst the Non League Paper manages to claim both