With the Coronavirus continuing to cause concerns in several parts of the country with spikes being reported the world of football is trying its best to entice fans back through the turnstiles with further pilot test games now being tried further up the pyramid. For the SSML the midweek brought about the first of many full midweek Premier Division fixtures.
TUESDAY 15th SEPTEMBER
TUESDAY HEADLINES
Following on from Saturday’s five opening games the SSML Premier Division staged its first full programme of matches that saw a further ten clubs begin their new league campaign (only Leighton Town remain to start the 2020-21 league season). As the last of the final whistles sounded on Tuesday night five clubs were still able to boast 100% while a further five were still looking for their first points of the season. North Greenford United, who last season had to wait until December to record their first league win, secured all three points from their first home league game. Late goals saw Colney Heath maintain their perfect start while both Baldock Town and Oxhey Jets were grateful for late strikes to help them secure a share of the spoils. Aylesbury Vale Dynamos topped the attendance charts of the evening.
Tuesday Stats: 10 games played of which 3 were home wins, 5 away wins and 2 draws.
Highest Attendances: 139 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Leverstock Green, 109 Potton United v Eynesbury Rovers and 108 Dunstable Town v Baldock Town.
PREMIER DIVISION
Tuesday night saw the first full Premier Division fixture list and the evening’s ten games served up an average of four goals per game. Top of the table are Colney Heath who delivered two late goals to come from behind to win 3-2 at Arlesey Town joining them at the top with two wins from two are Newport Pagnell Town who held off a late second half rally by hosts Biggleswade United to win by the odd goal in five. Potton United opened their new league campaign by overcoming Eynesbury Rovers 4-1 at the Hutchinson Hollow to go third in the table. At the bottom at this early stage of the season sit the aforementioned Eynesbury Rovers along with Tring Athletic who suffered a second successive league defeat when a last gasp winner saw visiting Crawley Green steal all three points. London Colney and Wembley are still looking for their first league goal of the new campaign as both followed up their goalless draw on Saturday with 0-2 home defeats, Harefield United winning at London Colney while it was Broadfields United who won the game at Vale Farm. Oxhey Jets and Harpenden Town shared six goals and the points when the Jets levelled the game with minutes remaining to deny their visitors of the win. Leverstock Green’s midweek trip to Aylesbury Vale Dynamos proved to be fruitless as the hosts eased out a 3-1 win while North Greenford United enjoyed a 3-1 home success over neighbours Edgware Town. The remaining game saw Dunstable Town held 1-1 at home by visiting Baldock Town. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.
2-3 Arlesey Town v Colney Heath (Feyi, Miller) / (Shepherd, Gleeson, Fitzgerald) Attendance: 96
3-1 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Leverstock Green (Mason-Williams, Lambeth, Gaspar) / (Shuttlewood) Attendance: 139
2-3 Biggleswade United v Newport Pagnell Town (Flanagan, Wright) / (O’Brien, Dunstan, Lyon) Attendance: 93
1-1 Dunstable Town v Baldock Town (Octave) / (L’Honore) Attendance: 108
0-2 London Colney v Harefield United (Pacquette, Farhall) Attendance: 58
3-1 North Greenford United v Edgware Town (Relf, Clifton, Molyneux) / (James) Attendance: 96
3-3 Oxhey Jets v Harpenden Town (Putman [2] [1 pen], Lewis) / (Anthony, McGreevy, Collins) Attendance: 76
4-1 Potton United v Eynesbury Rovers (Pyman [2], Camara, McArdle) / (Hatch) Attendance: 109
2-3 Tring Athletic v Crawley Green (Naylor, Butler) / (Watson, Draycott, Holmes) Attendance: 106
0-2 Wembley v Broadfields United (Peters, Harewood) Attendance: 69
AND FINALLY
Coronavirus: Football team loses 37-0 in socially distanced match
A German football team lost 37-0 to their local rivals after fielding only seven players who socially distanced throughout the match. Ripdorf fielded the minimum number of players on Sunday because their opponents SV Holdenstedt II came into contact in a previous game with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. Their team tested negative but Ripdorf said the conditions were not safe. If Ripdorf had not played, they would have faced a €200 (£182) fine. They had asked for the match – in the 11th tier of German football – to be postponed but the local association refused. Ripdorf said they did not feel safe as at the time of the game 14 days had not yet passed since Holdenstedt players had come into contact with the person who tested positive. Holdenstedt’s first team did not play in the match and the club fielded their second team. At the beginning of the match, one of Ripdorf’s players stepped onto the pitch, passed the ball to an opponent and the team then walked to the side-lines. Ripdorf co-chair Patrick Ristow told ESPN: “The Holdenstedt players did not understand. But we did not want to risk anything.” He added of his players: “They did not go into direct duels and observed the social distancing rules, keeping two metres between them and Holdenstedt players.” Holdenstedt did not hold back, scoring a goal every two or three minutes. “There was no reason not to play this game,” Holdenstedt coach Florian Schierwater said.
Don’t forget that every Sunday afternoon the Non-League Show on Three Counties Radio (Herts, Beds & Bucks), a show all about local non-league football. The popular show presented by Ollie Bayliss has been increased to two hours each week and moves to a new day and time, every Sunday afternoon from 2.00pm – 4.00pm and is the perfect opportunity to catch up with our local non-league scene at all levels.
For those who missed it then you can catch up here:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08qdv35?fbclid=IwAR3yy4T7EmBuCblr1aio0QDswCuU5r0lhfcSoYS4GUrsMxZIscUP_WaaQbk