Belgian Beer and Football

Saturday 7th March 19.45
Jupiler Pro League
Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen 1 KAS Eupen 1 HT: 1-0 Att: 15,524

from AFAS Stadion Achter Kazerne

After Tom suggested a foreign football jaunt we decided to find a cheap flight first and work backwards, neither of us being too precious about the standard of football we saw. Charleroi in Belgium was the winner, being a new country for both of us football-wise and, almost as important, world renowned for its beer.

Men and their beer-football relationship; I think there is a double sliding scale of quality of football and quality of beer enjoyed by menfolk. As the marker for football slides from good to bad and the marker for beer slides from bad to good, so the bloke changes a bit like the evolution of man pictorials – starting with your Sky Sports addicted sofa-dweller with a six pack of Carling watching the Champions League to a circumspect fellow on a crumbly terrace at Sherwood Colliery, drinking an Infinity IPA by Blue Monkey. The more refined the gentleman the worse the football and better the beer.

Knighton Town

Wednesday 27th November 2019 19.30
Mid Wales League Division Two (Welsh Step Four)
Knighton Town 0 Forden United 10 (TEN) ht: 0-3 att: 75
O’Donnell 2,4,59 Henderson-Smith 18,88 Anderson 50, Morgan 57, Jenkins 72, Webster 73,75

Knighton Town are one of a number of mid-wales teams who are playing at step three or lower but who have sizeable grounds that could and have graced Cymru Alliance or higher status. They all seem united in having one main old stand of character in the middle (no arena or atcost models) and floodlights. Among the others are Llanidloes Town, Rhayader Town, Berriew, Welshpool, Presteigne St Andrews, Montgomery, Llandrindod Wells. Knighton Town are having a hard time this season having lost every game of their step four Mid Wales Division Two League. Their record was 0 0 12 9 76 an average game score of roughly 6-1.

Coventry Sphinx

Saturday 4th March 2017 15.00

Midland League Premier

Coventry Sphinx 3 AFC Wulfrunians 0 HT: 0-0 Att: 70 Ent: £6 Prog: £1.50 Coffee: £1

Harkin 67, 80, Towers 83

from Sphinx Drive

Five Penalties in a Game

Monday 27th March 1989
League Division Two (nka Championship)
Crystal Palace 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 1 HT: 2-0 Att: 14,384

Wright 18; Bright 35 (pen), Bright missed pen 38, Wright missed pen 40, Pemberton missed pen 70 : Curbishley 60 (pen)

from Selhurst Park

It was Easter Monday and perfect weather for the old grudge derby between Palace and Brighton. Little did I know that the much anticipated game, 47 miles north, was going to break three British records, at the time going back 127 years, and subsequently lasting another 29 years to this day.

Yes, one of English football’s oddest rivalries broke the following records:

• Most penalties awarded in a game
• Most penalties awarded to one team in a game
• Most penalties missed by one team in a game

Colwyn Bay

Saturday 25th February 2017 3.00pm
Evostik Division One North
Colwyn Bay 1 Glossop North End 2 ht: 1-0 att: 207 Entrance £10 Programme £2.50 Coffee £1.30
Bartle 45 : Leonard 79, Johnson 87

from Llanelian Road
(from the archives)

Whenever I plan a jaunt a bit further afield, the weather does its best to spoil it. I have a scientific mind and don’t believe in Sod’s Law, but the things that nature (and sometimes public transport, if nature fails), does to try to stop my hopping is quite uncanny. One has to be phlegmatic about these things, otherwise they’ll drive you to paranoia and despair.

A few days’ jaunt in North Wales withthe  family, was to culminate in a Welsh Alliance tie. When the universe got wind of my plans, it changed the forecast for North Wales fromperfectly clement, to rain every day before, during and after our arrival. Not a problem in holiday terms, but yet another water-logging scare football-wise. As if that wasn’t enough, it threw a storm in, namely Doris, to make sure. Very few PPs all season in the Welsh Alliance except the very day I’m there.

Keele University (3G)

Monday 6th February 2017 19.45
Staffordshire County Senior League Division One
Keele University 1 Market Drayton Tigers 1 HT: 0-1 Att: 27 Ent: FREE No Prog

Goals 60 (pen) : 1

from Keele University Sports Complex 3G Pitch

 

Aylestone Park

Saturday 4th February 2017 15.00
East Midlands League
Aylestone Park 5 Borrowash Victoria 1 HT: 3-1 Att: 35 Ent: £5 Prog: £1 Coffee: £1

Jepson 2,6,21,88 Brown 79

Patricino 45

from Saffron Lane

Kimberley Miners Welfare

Saturday 14th January 2017 3.oopm
East Midlands League
Kimberley Miners Welfare 4 Gedling Miners Welfare 1 ht: 2-0 att: 40

Carter 29, Williamson 45, 79, 90+3 : Clarson 60

from The Stag Ground

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Cardiff City (CCS)

Saturday 3rd December 2016
Championship

Cardiff City 0 Brighton 0 Att: 16,168

from Cardiff City Stadium

Mynydd Isa Spartans

Tuesday 14th August 2018 18.30
Welsh National League Division One
Mynydd Isa Spartans 4 Castell Alun Colts 0 ht: 0-0 att: 17 hc
Davies 67, 75, 89 Robins 82

from Argoed Sports Centre

Mynydd Isa Spartans came back into Welsh football last season. The original club, Mynydd Isa, were founded in 1976 and played in the step two Cymru Alliance between 2006-09, before folding. The new club has added the suffix Spartans to their name but play at the same Argoed Sports Centre as the original club. While sounding like a small Welsh savings account, Mynydd Isa means lower mountain inWelsh.