The Non - League thread

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Bracknell Town 8-0 Tuffley Rovers

Second place by just two goals.

Both Bracknell and Thatcham doing enough to win the title in any normal year, but at least its 2 up this season.

Would have been grossly unfair on Thatcham if Bracknell had won by 10. It really isnt that difficult to arrange the final title deciding games on the same day. Thatcham v Brackley should have been this afternoon. All other games can work around it.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Hungerford live to fight another season in the National South (by the skin of their teeth) courtesy of a 1-0 away win at East Thurrock.

Better things for them next season hopefully.

[Old Man Andrews]

Bracknell Town 8-0 Tuffley Rovers

Second place by just two goals.

Both Bracknell and Thatcham doing enough to win the title in any normal year, but at least its 2 up this season.

Would have been grossly unfair on Thatcham if Bracknell had won by 10. It really isnt that difficult to arrange the final title deciding games on the same day. Thatcham v Brackley should have been this afternoon. All other games can work around it.

Hellenic league have been getting pelters for weeks about their scheduling and rightfully so. I know it's a strain rescheduling so many games but key championship deciding games just have to be played at the same time.

[tmesis]

Bracknell Town 8-0 Tuffley Rovers

Anyone else think Tuffley Rovers sounds like a football team from a book by Beatrix Potter?

[Sutekh]

Bracknell Town 8-0 Tuffley Rovers

Second place by just two goals.

Both Bracknell and Thatcham doing enough to win the title in any normal year, but at least its 2 up this season.

Would have been grossly unfair on Thatcham if Bracknell had won by 10. It really isnt that difficult to arrange the final title deciding games on the same day. Thatcham v Brackley should have been this afternoon. All other games can work around it.

Hellenic league have been getting pelters for weeks about their scheduling and rightfully so. I know it's a strain rescheduling so many games but key championship deciding games just have to be played at the same time.

I don't know if it's common practice across all leagues at step 5/6 and below, or just something peculiar to the Hellenic, but to me the organisation of fixtures at these levels generally isn't! (someone will probably be able to justify and explain why it's like it is but I don't see what's different from Steps 4 and above).

Even early in the season you get sides scheduled with no Saturday games when there's no cup involvement and then it seems that fixtures are just published for 2/3 months only and constantly you get this sort of thing where the end of the season sees clubs involved in things finishing their season 2/3 weeks before other teams.

[mx]

Winchester City's season rather petered out. We were in and around the play offs for a long time, but we dropped too many points with late goals against us, and just weren't good enough in the end.

There is a lot of goodwill towards the manager and the team though.

The two local businessmen who have been funding the club are trying to extract themselves, but have ended up staying, and bringing in a new chairman. They have made it clear that the playing budget will be much reduced next season. Our expensive number 9 left a couple of weeks ago - I'm guessing a couple of others will follow. We do have some talented local youngsters coming through, and it will be good to see them get more game time next season.

Cheers to FoC for running this thread.

[Royalist]

Gosport stay up with three wins in a row. Not that odd? They finished with 20 points. Their last win was in December.

Nearly half their seasons points won in the last 3 games

[Rea Ding]

Gosport stay up with three wins in a row. Not that odd? They finished with 20 points. Their last win was in December.

Nearly half their seasons points won in the last 3 games

Amazing wasn't it! Dunstable must feel mortified to be the only club going down.

Conference south will be a tough league next year so I was delighted that Hungerford survived even if they made it a struggle!
Slough in playoffs against Kettering, hopeful of another local team in the Conference South. Decent seasons for Maidenhead and Basingstoke.

[Rea Ding]

Didcot made the playoffs too!

[AthleticoSpizz]

As have Hartley Wintney

A great season for our peripheral teams

Highmoor Ibis escape the Hellenic drop zone too

[Four Of Clubs]

As have Hartley Wintney

A great season for our peripheral teams

Highmoor Ibis escape the Hellenic drop zone too

... And further on the peripheral but featured Hayes & Yeading make the POs too. WIll post the S-F / Q-F line -ups with the review later.

Bracknell led Tuffley by 7 with over 20' left too.... only got the 8th in added time.

.... and I'm not sure Highmoor are safe, they finished in the bottom 4 with Burnham Woodley & Fairford and there are 4 clubs potentially eligible for promotion from Div One E&W.

Will have a root around and see what's what, in due course.

[AthleticoSpizz]

“Big time ambitions” Eastleigh up for sale

Meantime there is a possibility that Borehamwood (who?j could be joining the football league.

[Sutekh]

So the restructure will introduce a new league at step 3 and a new league at step 4. This new league will comprise clubs currently residing in “central” England. Therefore I presume the likes of Cambridge City, Bedford Town, Evesham United plus a lot from the Isthmian North will get shunted over together with those in the region promoted from step 5.

Funny thing is that the new Step 4 league will fall under the jurisdiction of the Isthmian League but the division the winners are promoted to will be run by the Southern League.

Looking forward to seeing the composition of the leagues for next season in the next few weeks and just where the various lines will be drawn.

[Four Of Clubs]

...here's the round-up of yesterday's results - and the PO line-ups as they stand.

- dates for the next phases (Semi Finals) for STEP01/02 will be w/e 5th & 6th
- Finals are w/e 12th/13th - the 'big one' is at Wembley on the Saturday?

- STEP03/04 Finals are staggered over Sat & Sun 5th/6th May- Isthmian League have already announced their dates.
Take into account the weather is s'posed to be sh!te this midweek too there may well be some 'knock-ons' - there were even games postponed last Saturday.

Sat 28th April
NAT
Maidenhead United 5-2 Bromley
Sutton United 2-1 Aldershot Town
Woking 1-2 Dover Athletic – Cards down, even though Chester did them a favour by getting a surprise win at Barrow; Dover missed out on the PO’s on GD as Fylde held on for a point at Wrexham.
NATN
Brackley Town 2-0 York City
NATS
Bath City 2-1 St Albans City
Bognor Regis Town 1-2 Dartford
Braintree Town 3-0 Gloucester City
Chippenham Town 1-0 Welling United
East Thurrock United 0-1 Hungerford Town- ‘Crusaders’ survive thanks to a Bignall goal on 37’
Eastbourne Borough 0-3 Chelmsford City
Hampton & Richmond Borough 1-1 Truro City
Havant & Waterlooville 3-2 Concord Rangers
Poole Town 2-0 Oxford City
Weston-super-Mare 2-1 Hemel Hempstead Town
Whitehawk 0-1 Wealdstone

Play Offs [‘Quarter Finals’ – 2nd & 3rd placed sides have byes to S-Fs]
Wednesday 2nd May
NAT [2nd Tranmere Rovers; 3rd Sutton Utd]
Match A : Aldershot v Ebbsfleet

NATN [2nd Harrogate Town; 3rd Brackley Town]
Match A: Stockport v Chorley
Match B: Kidderminster v Bradford PA

NATS [2nd Dartford; 3rd Chelmsford City]
Match B: Hampton & Richmond v Truro
Match A: Hemel Hempstead v Braintree

Thursday 3rd May
NATN
Match B : Boreham Wood v AFC Fylde

Saturday 5th May 2018- 12.15pm
NAT Semi Final - Tranmere Rovers vs winner of Match A

Sunday 6th May 2018- 3pm
NAT Semi Final- Sutton United vs winner of Match B

NATN Semi Final - Harrogate Town vs winner of Match A
NATN Semi Final - Brackley Town vs winner of Match B

NATS Semi Final - Dartford vs winner of Match A
NATS Semi Final - Chelmsford City vs winner of Match B

Saturday 12th May 2018- 3pm
NAT Promotion Final - Wembley Stadium

Sunday 13th May 2018
NATN Promotion Final
NATS Promotion Final

ILP
Dorking Wanderers {EIGHT} 8-0 Lowestoft Town
Staines Town 5-2 Thurrock – sad farewell to the Isthmian and indeed most likely Senior NL altogether, for Thurrock in their current form, They are folding at the end of this season and their ground together with and adjacent to, the Hotel will be sold for development.
– This leaves Romford to look for a new ‘lodgings’ – appears they may have been accepted for next season, out at East Thurrock Utd

Play Offs
Tuesday 1st May
IL1 South
Cray Wanderers v Walton Casuals
Greenwich Borough v Corintihan Casuals
– Final Sat 5th 15:00
Wednesday 2nd May
IL1 North
Bowers & Pitsea v Canvey Island
Haringey Borough v Heybridge Swifts
– Final Sun 6th 15:00
Thursday 3rd May
IL Premier
Dulwich Hamlet v Leiston @ Tooting & Mitcham
Hendon v Folkestone Invicta
- Final Monday 7th 15:00

SLP
Basingstoke Town 4-3 Kings Langley
Chesham Utd 1-3 King's Lynn Town
Kettering Town {SIX} 6-2 Farnborough
Slough Town 2-1 Royston Town
Tiverton Town 0-0 Banbury United
SL1E
AFC Rushden & Diamonds 1-0 Ashford Town (Middx)
Arlesey Town 0-2 Uxbridge
Aylesbury 2-3 Northwood
Bedford Town 2-0 Fleet Town
Chalfont St Peter 3-0 Egham Town
Hartley Wintney 3-4 Aylesbury United
Hayes & Yeading United 5-0 Barton Rovers
Marlow 0-1 Beaconsfield Town Town Champions by a point above AFC R&D
Thame United 1-3 Kempston Rovers
SL1W
Bideford 2-0 Winchester City
Didcot Town 3-0 Paulton Rovers
Kidlington 2-2 Mangotsfield United
North Leigh 1-1 Larkhall Athletic
Swindon Supermarine 3-2 Barnstaple Town

Play Offs
Wednesday 2nd May
SLP
King's Lynn Town v Weymouth
Slough Town v Kettering Town
SL1E
19:30 Hartley Wintney v AFC Dunstable
Hayes & Yeading United v Cambridge City
SL1W
Evesham United v Swindon Supermarine
Wimborne Town v Didcot Town

CCLP
Abbey Rangers P-P Westfield - waterlogged
Bedfont Sports 2-1 Walton & Hersham - Sports confirmed as runners-up
Camberley Town 3-2 Redhill
Colliers Wood United 0-0 Banstead Athletic
Epsom & Ewell 0-0 AFC Hayes
Farnham Town 2-3 Balham
Godalming Town 0-0 Hanworth Villa
Horley Town 0-0 Sutton Common Rovers
North Greenford United 0-1 Chertsey Town
Spelthorne Sports 1-0 CB Hounslow United
CCL1
Ash United 1-0 Cove
Bagshot 0-2 Cobham
Chessington & Hook United P-P Fleet Spurs
Raynes Park Vale 1-0 FC Deportivo Galicia
Sheerwater {EIGHT} 8-1 Kensington Borough
South Park Reserves 4-4 Eversley & California
Staines Lammas 5-0 Farleigh Rovers
Worcester Park 3-3 AC London

HLP
Abingdon United 3-0 Highmoor Ibis
Brackley Town Saints 1-1 Fairford Town
Bracknell Town {EIGHT} 8-0 Tuffley Rovers
Burnham 2-2 Wantage Town
Flackwell Heath 1-1 Brimscombe & Thrupp
Lydney Town 0-2 Windsor
Woodley United 0-3 Longlevens
HL1E
Virginia Water 5-1 Thame Rangers
Wokingham & Emmbrook 5-0 AFC Aldermaston
HL1W
Easington Sports 3-5 Letcombe - ensures Sports finish 3rd behind Shrivenham – remains to be seen if they and Ardley take up their promotion places. Bit of a disappointment for Easington as with their newly installed floodlights they probably would have been able to move up too but needed a win to get above Shrivy on GD.
HL2E Long Crendon 5-0 Abingdon Town

In the Wessex Premier League Champions Blackfield's final game at Brockenhurst was called off by the match referee - so they will have to try again next Friday (4th May.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This MW sees a quite a few Finals and local Cup ties being staged. There are some league dregs to mop up .... but none that affect promotion/relegation - hence why clubs @ STEPS4, 5 & 6 - were given special dispensation to play into the first week in May & beyond in some cases.
- e.g. South Park's Reserves still have half a doz. CCL1 fixtures to fulfill.

Monday
Hellenic Floodlit Final:
Binfield v Thatcham Town @ Windsor's Stag Meadow

Wednesday
Berks & Bucks Senior Final:
Chesham Utd v MK Dons @ MK Dons

Berks Trophy Centre Semi-Final
Reading YMCA v Woodcote/Stoke Row @ Rivermoor (Scours Lane)
- winners meet Cookham Dean at the Madejski later in the month

[tmesis]

The Wessex League title race goes down to a nail-biting finish. Top of the table Blackfield & Langley will be champions if they can only avoid a 31-0 defeat at Brockenhurst. The tension will be unbearable.

[mx]

Looking forward to seeing the composition of the leagues for next season in the next few weeks and just where the various lines will be drawn.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 999425&z=7

I don't think this is "official" . It may be an educated guess, and anyway, the playoffs haven't happened yet.

Winch lose the long trip to Evesham but also closer games like Didcot and Kiddlington.

The long hauls to Bideford and Barnstaple inevitably remain. Being one of the most easterly South West clubs that sort of thing is unavoidable.

S*lisbury have been promoted which costs us a lucrative local derby, but there are now more clubs quite close, which is good.

[Jerry St Clair]

Bracknell Town 8-0 Tuffley Rovers

Anyone else think Tuffley Rovers sounds like a football team from a book by Beatrix Potter?

It may sound like it, but Tuffley is a particularly shitty suburb of Gloucester, which is a pretty grim place anyway.

[From Despair To Where?]

Gosport stay up with three wins in a row. Not that odd? They finished with 20 points. Their last win was in December.

Nearly half their seasons points won in the last 3 games

Amazing wasn't it! Dunstable must feel mortified to be the only club going down.

They won 2-0 away at Dunstable in the penultimate game. That was sandwiched between 7-0 and 4-0 home wins. More remarkable that they finished with 3 clean sheets having conceded 142 goals in their previous 43 games.

That division was mental though. Weymouth finished 5th on 97pts.

[Old Man Andrews]

Big Rog at Binfield guided his side to a Cup victory over Thatcham last night (I am guessing they were under strength). Great result for Binfield.

[Hoop Blah]

Big Rog at Binfield guided his side to a Cup victory over Thatcham last night (I am guessing they were under strength). Great result for Binfield.

Not Thatcham’s strongest XI by the looks of it, but a typically rotated side that’s been playing recently.