Southern League 2015/16

[Jemfy]

Saturday's Diamonds result was AFCR&D 1 - 0 Aylesbury FC

A good, if sometimes scrappy win against a strong Aylesbury side who started the day in 3rd (the table is meaningless right now of course). Tom Lorraine (Quiche) got our goal just 6 mins in with a half volley after a few attempts in the box fizzed around. He could have opened the scoring earlier but for a good save. The best other chance of the game saw Berwick beat the 'keeper and fail to find the open goal from an angle, the ball coming back off the post. We had some other opportunities, mostly in the opening ~30mins. Claudiu Hoban had a couple of good shots in the second half which were well saved, in between getting kicked a lot. Aylsebury were limited to few opportunities from distant in a solid defensive display, but they had a lot of talent on the wings and caused both full backs some serious issues at times, with subs almost as strong as the starters coming on and freshening things up late on. They will be dangerous, and it's a great win to score.

Confidence must be riding quite high in the Diamonds camp, and it's FA Cup time again next Saturday and a trip to UCL side Deeping Rangers.

 

[Jemfy]

Diamonds through in the FA Cup while there was a round of games for the clubs that didn't make it through the two rounds of the FA Cup that we've all been in. Some clubs obviously not playing despite being out of the cup due to having a fixture against a side that made it through. 5 fixtures of the scheduled 11 (22 team division of course).

Midweek sees a full list, with one game on Monday and the rest Tuesday. Diamonds visit Kings Langley, who had a good win to go up to 5th on Saturday (the table clearly means nothing right now). Kings Langley will be keen to get revenge for a tight 1-0 away win the Diamonds inflicted in the FA Cup in the preliminary round. Clearly this is going to be a difficult fixture against a side where we were largely evenly matched, but found the breakthrough.

St Ives vs Aylesbury FC stands out as a game which looks like it could be good. Ives currently trail Aylesbury by 2pts with a game in hand.

 

[Jemfy]

Match abandoned!

~90 (+2?) mins in at 1-1 the game was called off by the ref. He lost control of the situation, but in truth he'd lost control of the game well before that.

There was a mass brawl after a previous scuffle, all after their manager was sent off. The only player shown any card or caution for these incidents was our unused sub.

They were rather unhappy that when they played the ball out for a feigned injury (player refused treatment, one in a series) we didn't give it back to them and instead went on to score an equaliser. The game restarted after their manager was ejected and a scuffle on halfway when everyone was lined up to begin. After our player ended up in their technical area following a challenge while shielding a ball out all hell broke loose, and the game didn't start again.

I had written a much longer post, but honestly it was rambling and boring. It might be poor sportsmanship to have played the throw (on halfway) to go on to score, but I can't see any other team losing 1-0 in the 90th min doing otherwise unless the opposing player required serious treatment. Even then I expect half wouldn't.

As for the actual game. We were very poor, and so were they. We couldn't make space in midfield and resorted to hoofing it, and that suited them fine. Neither team really deserved anything from the game, so getting abandoned might be the fairest result!

 

[redjed]

Hi Jemfy,
Just found this, I sort of follow Cirencester Town, if you like i will start doing some up dates on whats going on in top division, just do basic catch ups after a weekend or midweek matches.
This season Ciren have started pretty well, at the moment sitting in 5th place with 22 points, with a game in hand on the leaders, Weymouth, who have 25 points.
One of Ciren's close season signings is Charlie Griffin, who made his league debut for Swindon years ago, for the past few years Charlie has been doing the rounds, playing for most of the non league clubs round here, but now plying his trade and scoring goals for us, just hope he stays fit and stays with us for the rest of the season.
Ciren were knocked out of the FA Cup by a team from your Division, Jemfy, Petersfield Town, and for what ive been told simply out played us, and they seem to be struggling at the wrong end of table.
In the FA Trophy, Ciren are due a decent run in this competion, we face North Leigh from the South and West division, at home.
Ciren have a compact nicely appointed ground, built in 2002, we have seats for about 700, and ground capacity is about 2000, if we do get promoted some money will have to be found to improve the ground for Conferance South or North, as Gloucester City were sharing with us until we were told we needed to upgrade, our chairman, Steve Abbley, ex Swindon player decided the time was not right for us to upgrade, so Gloucester moved out and are now sharing with Cheltenham Town.
Also we have a huge indoor Arena, which is quite a asset, as well as a few indoor leagues using it, a lot of the larger teams, in bad weather come and train here, thus generating extra revenue for the club.
Hopfully i will try and update once a week, mainly following Ciren but i will try to give a rundown of all results .

 

[Jemfy]

Hi Jemfy,
Just found this, I sort of follow Cirencester Town, if you like i will start doing some up dates on whats going on in top division, just do basic catch ups after a weekend or midweek matches.

That's pretty much what I've been doing. Hoping this can grow in to something like the Isthmian threads each year if people come and find us. Until then it's a little bit masturbatory doing this on my own!

Ciren were knocked out of the FA Cup by a team from your Division, Jemfy, Petersfield Town, and for what ive been told simply out played us, and they seem to be struggling at the wrong end of table.

We played them in the opening game of the season, and I honestly have no clue how they are struggling so much at the wrong end. They were a good side who played some attractive football with no small amount of skill. We were a bit lucky to draw that one! I have little doubt they will avoid all trouble at the bottom end and rise up the table eventually.

 

[Jemfy]

For ourselves, we've crashed out of the FA Trophy after a tough draw at home to fellow promoted side Basford United, they came and beat us 3-1 in revenge for the 5-3 we put up on them in the vase the other year.

The more significant thing is it ends a 31/32 match unbeaten streak in all competitions. The doubt is over if the Kings Langley result stands or will be replayed. Either way it was a good run that came to and end. We're still in the FA Cup though, and play on Saturday at home to Ashton United of the Northern Premier League Premier Division. A huge game for us in the joint furthest we've been in the competition since reforming.

 

[Aberstone]

I aim to be at Hitchin Town vs. Kettering Town in just over two weeks. That will be my annual Southern League contribution after Biggleswade Town vs. Poole Town last season.

 

[redjed]

Southern Premier,
Cirencester did not have a game this weekend, but did play last Wednesday, away at Frome Town, Ciren, losing by the odd goal in 5.
At the moment it seems to be a battle between Leamington and Poole for the honour of topping the league, currently its Leamington by 1 point from Poole, after Leamington beat Merthyr 1-0 in front of a 600+ crowd. Poole did not play today, so the top of the table looks like this.
Leamington played 14........ points 28
Poole played 13.........points 27
Weymouth played 14.........points 26
Chippenham played 13........points 25
Dorchester played 13 .........points 22
Cirencester played 13.........points 22
Next weekend sees Cirencester at Poole, we never ever win here, whilst Leamington are away at Kings Lynn, and that will be a tough job to get a point there as i fancy them do to pretty well this season.

 

[Jemfy]

In Div 1 central there were a few interesting results on the weekend.

North Greenford were one of the worst sides we have played, and they beat Chalfont St Peter 6-2. Chalfont sit 3rd in the table (currently meaningless) as things stand. Those 3 points lifted Greenford to 18th from dead last. A number of the other sides near the bottom were on the other end of heavy scorelines to teams around the top half including a 7-0 for Arlesey at Egham and St Ives putting 5 past Leighton Town. Goals galore.

We didn't play due to cup commitments, and I'm not really paying attention to the table. I've got a few points totals in my head I'll be happy to see us get, and where that leaves us in the table. I'd rather concentrate on ourselves than others.

Up next is a home game to Potters Bar who have started the season reasonably well and should provide some stiff opposition. Diamonds will be without a few players still, though we could see the return of Cladiu Hoban and the regular segment when opposition players try to kick him...

 

[Paddy]

That's pretty much what I've been doing. Hoping this can grow in to something like the Isthmian threads each year if people come and find us. Until then it's a little bit masturbatory doing this on my own!

You don't want that mate. You start to develop a sense of abandonment when all your fellow thread posters go get promoted. Jarred, Aber, Maidstone fans... come back... we miss you!

 

[Jemfy]

You don't want that mate. You start to develop a sense of abandonment when all your fellow thread posters go get promoted. Jarred, Aber, Maidstone fans... come back... we miss you!

Hah, they come back for regular visits, and you get random new Isthmian friends joining every season. It's good for the forum and I'd like to have a similar thing happen with the Southern League and I'm sure those in the North would be happy if there were contributions from more Northern Premier League teams

 

[Paddy]

They do come back from time to time but that's like having your rich cousin come over for Christmas dinner though... sure you're happy to see them but you wish they were as broke-ass as you (or rather you was as rich as them).

But in all seriousness yeah, we should try to grow the step 3+ non-league section here. One idea would be to post the links on local club websites much like what happened when TFF became 1FF & some poor bastard had to go fish us all out of forum purgatory.

 

[Jemfy]

We've added a couple of new faces in Tom Liversedge (striker) and Andy Hall (winger/CM). Hall is meant to be a very good signing from the sounds of things - Won this league last season with a certain lot up the road, played 13 times for Stamford this season at step 3, joining us to get closer to home for him (Northampton).

Liversedge got 17 for Bedford in this division last season. Joins from Rugby Town. I thought we had enough forwards, so maybe we will see someone leave in the near future.

Both are obviously cup tied. In side news the club are subsidising travel to Barwell and charging just £7.50 for non-members and £5 for members for coaches. So far two have been filled and the 3rd is arranged and selling. Wonder how many we can get?

 

[Jemfy]

Edge of the seat stuff as Diamonds won 3-2. A couple of cracking goals for 1-0 and 1-1 with Claudiu Hoban showing why some teams find it easier to kick him as he scored a 25 yard free kick in the top corner. Hall made his debut from the bench and got one assist while just the crossbar prevented a second, though Tom Lorraine was on hand to put in the rebound. At 3-1 we then gave away a stupid penalty on the 89th min in order to have to hold on for the rest of the game, but we secured the points.

We've got a game in hand to play on much of the league on Tuesday night as Fleet make the long journey up. As much as Peaks is trying to keep the players focused on the game in hand, they surely must have an eye on the cup tie on Saturday. Still need to perform in the league first. The only positive of the new signings being cup tied is that they don't have to worry about it and can focus on the league match.

 

[Jemfy]

From 3-2 to 5-2 as AFCR&D turned up the attack a notch with a win over Fleet. Job done, though conceding a couple at the wrong end is a little concerning, but hopefully Delroy Gordon will be fit again for the cup after the news that Jack Ashton seems to have done his ACL.

Tom Lorraine found a pair of goals again. His performances, at least in front of goal, have either gone up as a result of the signing of Tom Liversedge or the introduction of Andy Hall to the team. Hall grabbed one, Tommy Berwick scored another and sub Scott Joseph grabbed the only goal of the second half to finish things off.

In other news Claudiu Hoban has signed a contract for the rest of the season, with an option to extend for next season too. This is fantastic news, he's been our best player since he joined. There is a reason that some teams try to kick him off the park, but he doesn't react and keep going because he's that used to it. We really missed him while he was injured, having him back for the cup is huge. No doubt the club have been fending off approaches.

 

[Jemfy]

A good proportion of the SL games today were rained off, unfortunately this included ours. Maybe it's luck, or maybe it's better pitches, but only one in the Premier division wasn't called off.

Games in hand are better than losses of course, but points on the board would be better. Not saying we necessarily would have won of course.

Having a bunch of games in hand I am now not sure as to why we have nothing scheduled for Tuesday night! That said the next week we don't have a midweek game already planned is Tuesday 15th December!

 

[DarkSithLord]

First league defeat of the season yesterday at Godalming I see. What happened Jemfy?

 

[Jemfy]

Indeed it was our first league defeat of the season. Up until now I had been deliberately not mentioning the unbeaten run or how well we were doing in the table, happy to be quietly doing the business as the right end of the division.

Frankly the performance was awful. The only moment of quality in the game was their goal, which deserved to win any match at this level, but other than that there wasn't too much to shout about. We had a bit more control of the game, well until part way through the second half when the referee decided to go on to random mode. Two near-equal mistakes for red cards for both sides just about evened out, though ours came first the opposition goalkeeper told us that it clearly wasn't a red. We were a goal down before we were a man down, so that had no bearing on the score.

Depending on who you talk to we've had a few games where we've played in a rather lethargic manner and not up to our standards, so hopefully this will be a kick up the backside and we can get another run going. That said we're going to lose Liam Dolman for three big games from the looks of things, which is compounded by the fact we only have 2 fit CB's right now.

In even worse news however the club house at the Dog and Duck was set on fire last night. Police suspect arson. The clubhouse is of course shared with Wellingborough Town (and indeed was there before we arrived). Apparently it was attended to and put out fairly quickly, however there is still extensive damage. We are waiting to see how bad the damage is, and there is no word on if it will impact on any fixtures. Some people saying it is mostly smoke damage and the structure is more-or-less OK.

 

[Jemfy]

Update time!

Following the loss to Godalming we had a game at Aylesbury United last Wednesday. We were somewhat helped by the fact that their goalkeeper went mental and took down Tommy Berwick outside the box and got himself a straight red card on about 10 mins. It still took another 10 mins for us to take the lead but we on that one 4-0. Aylsebruy United 0 - 4 AFCR&D. This also makes Aylesbury United the first team at this level that we have done a double over. They currently sit in 20th so it's nothing special, but we got the points which is what counts.

Saturday we played hosts to Beaconsfield SYCOB. From all accounts it was an even game, but it was still disappointing that we condeded a last min equaliser to draw 1-1. ACFR&D 1 - 1 Beacsonfield SYCOB. Apparently a fair result in trying conditions. Also our first game without a functional clubhouse! Beaconsfield sit 9th right now. It was nice to see a youngster, Joe Akroyd, come off the bench and get his first goal for the 4th, also assisted by another youth Matt Pinder who was a late sub.

Tuesday saw us host again, this time to 21st placed Leighton Town, one of our games in hand with only 2 games in the SLD1C played on Tuesday, with a further game played tonight (Wednesday). Leighton are in 21st for a reason. They did manage to score first, but that will be scant consolation to them as they went home having lost 7-1. ACFR&D 7 - 1 Leighton Town. Tom Liversedge got 4 goals in his first start of the season!

These results mean Diamonds have moved up to 2nd in the table with games in hand on most of the teams around us, including 2 on leaders St Ives Town. Heres the top 9 for no apparent reason:

1 St Ives Town p17 +14 35pts
2 AFC Rushden & Diamonds p15 +23 34pts
3 Chalfont St Peter p17 +14 34pts
4 Royston Town p16 +19 31pts
5 Kings Langley p15 +15 31pts
6 Aylesbury p17 +14 31pts
7 Ware p18 -1 30pts
8 Egham Town p16 +21 28pts
9 Beaconsfield SYCOB p18 +11 28pts

It's been pretty tight around the top for the whole season. Royston look a dangerous side. Kings Langley were the game we had abandoned (expect the result to stand as a draw, but no announcement from the Southern League yet...). Apparently people weren't impressed with St Ives when we visted them.

In player news we've added Edi Appleton a CB who was previous with Corby Town, winning the SLPD with them I believe. Also joining, from Cogenhoe in the division below, is midfielder Lewis Leslie. We've got a couple of players unavailable for personal reasons, some injuries and the suspension of Liam Dolman kicking in now (for the next 3 games), so it's good to see some faces added at the right times. That said I'd like to see Pinder and Ackroyd continue in the squad if they can after combining for a goal when they both came on against Aylesbury United.

 

[JaredSUFC]

Jemfy, where are Aylesbury United (the real Aylesbury) playing these days. I used to love our visits to Aylesbury, our last 3 league visits saw us win 4-1 (a top of the table clash which virtually secured us the title), 4-0 and 6-0. They were a decent sized step 2 club back in the day, with a decent support.

 

[Jemfy]

Jemfy, where are Aylesbury United (the real Aylesbury) playing these days. I used to love our visits to Aylesbury, our last 3 league visits saw us win 4-1 (a top of the table clash which virtually secured us the title), 4-0 and 6-0. They were a decent sized step 2 club back in the day, with a decent support.

They are in Thame. Not sure how long they have been there or how long they have there.

 

[JaredSUFC]

They are in Thame. Not sure how long they have been there or how long they have there.

Cheers, that's not a bad ground for that level. Or at least it wasn't 12 years or so ago....(Is there an Thame phoenix club about?)

 

[Jemfy]

Cheers, that's not a bad ground for that level. Or at least it wasn't 12 years or so ago....(Is there an Thame phoenix club about?)

I didn't go unfortunately so no real real opinions from me. Looking it up briefly they are sharing with Thame United, who appear to have never gone out of business. Apparently it's a very expensive new ground! All my info is coming from Wikipedia now though!

 

[JaredSUFC]

I didn't go unfortunately so no real real opinions from me. Looking it up briefly they are sharing with Thame United, who appear to have never gone out of business. Apparently it's a very expensive new ground! All my info is coming from Wikipedia now though!

Just checking up, and it seems Thame are in a new ground (financial difficulties forced them to leave their last ground), so it's a different place to one Sutton went to a league cup tie earlier this century.

It's also good to see Aylesbury United having a higher average attendance than Aylesbury FC.

 

[Jemfy]

Petersfield 0 - 1 AFCR&D

Big win for us against a side who gave us a very difficult game at home on the opening day. Tough conditions and the draw might have been a fairer result from all accounts, but what matters is taking the points. We have quite a lot of players missing for various reasons right now, so getting results is huge. Unfortunately those around us also picked up maximum points, so the top three are "as you were" with a gap starting to form in the table. Diamonds are fortunately on the right side of the gap and still with some games in hand.

Lots of games Tuesday but the highlight of the list surely is 2nd placed AFCR&D vs 1s placed St Ives Town. This is the mirror of the opening games of the season as Diamonds hosted Petersfield then went to St Ives, drawing both games. We felt lucky to draw the first, and hard done by to draw the second. Chalfont play at Ayslebury FC ready to pounce should the game finish level, though Aylesbury (FC) are no pushovers, especially at home.

 

[Jemfy]

Game tonight vs St Ives suspended. I imagine many of the games tonight may be in doubt. Aylesbury FC vs Chalfont St Peter also off, so top 3 remain as they are.

We're already in doubt for our home game on Saturday vs Royston (5th now). Royston are currently scheduled to play so we will have the minor advantage of extra rest should both games go ahead, however unlikely that is to happen.

On the plus side this may help us to recover a bit from some injuries and absences. Hopefully we have the lads training over at the 3G surface at Raunds so we are still getting in some good practice.

 

[Aberstone]

Hitchin Town 2-0 Paulton Rovers (Att: 235)

A well deserved win for Hitchin, even if the vast majority of the play left a lot to be desired. Words can't even begin to describe how bad Paulton were, lackadaisical when not in possession of the ball, no vision when they did have the ball and some players (their #11 the main culprit) who couldn't even trap a ball.

The first half only had the one shot on target, a tame shot from the visitor's #9. The 2nd half was all Hitchin though, the opening goal I wish I had on camera it was that comical.... shot comes in and the keeper decides to parry it without jumping, unfortunately he doesn't get enough clearance on his parry, the ball comes off the crossbar allowing Brett Donnelly to score a simple tap in from 2 yards out. The 2nd goal was well worked in fairness, Johnny McNamara (very slight but had some ability) with a cross to the back post and Alasan Ann was there to head low and under the keeper.

The Canaries could have bagged some more but for poor decision making or a final ball letting them down.

I love Top Field, first visit there in 10 years by my estimation so it was long overdue.

 

[Jemfy]

I didn't post about Saturday's result against Royston on here because I posted in the match thread. We lost 4-1, and were poor by all accounts. We really missed the suspended Liam Dolman at the back, and fielded a very young bench with a striker playing in midfield.

Tuesday night saw our depleted squad travel to Hanwell who are struggling at the wrong end of the table. About 3 weeks ago this would have been suggested as a routine win situation (while all teams at this level deserve credit of course, just that we had been playing well). Reports suggest we should have drawn the game, but thankfully we managed to get over the line thanks to the hosts missing a last min penalty! We only had 4 players on the bench, striker in midfield again. Two on the bench were U18s, one is dual registered with a UCL side and awaiting an operation, and the other was our sub GK. Thin on the ground just about covers it. The midweek games really are problematic in terms of travel for players who have to get off work early. The points were secured thanks to Tommy Berwick and Delroy Gordon goals.

Say it quitely, but this win has put us top of the table on GD with a game in hand on most of the teams around us thanks to Chalfont losing 3-1 at home to Uxbridge. It seems like we've got a few things to sort out in the squad if we want to stay there of course. Weirdly enough we have to play Uxbridge on Saturday!

 

[Jemfy]

Update from the weekend:

Uxbridge 0 - 1 AFCR&D. Took a last min goal in another game which was just about equal by most accounts, but we got the 3pts against a team who have played opposition that occupied 1st position in all of their last 3 fixtures! The fact that the other two teams vacated the spot as a result of points dropped makes it an even better result. Chalfont (2nd) got a 91st min winner too, but that was over Royston (now 5th), so not a bad result for us to stay top on GD. St Ives (3rd) also dropped points with a draw putting them 3 behind us.

Midweek games see St Ives and Royston in action as the only two of the current top 5. St Ives could go top with an 8 goal win... any smaller win and we stay top on GD and with Chalfont the three of us would be level on points, though we would have 2 games in hand (n.b. one of them is the phantom game vs Kings Langley). We're sitting out and having a rest this week finally.

In squad news we've signed a new midfielder from Stamford - Shawn Richards. We've had Scott Joseph (striker) and Steve Spriggs (midfielder) leave this week. Joseph has joined St Ives, he was our best striker on his day IMO, so it is disappointing to lose him, though he wasn't playing much for whatever reasons.

 

[Inactive]

Few weeks old, but here are highlights between Leamington & Histon in the Southern Premier