WEEKEND’S HEADLINES
Milton Keynes Irish shock Broadfields United in the FA Vase. Berkhamsted Comrades record their first ever win in the SSML. Codicote and Pitstone & Ivinghoe maintain their 100% league records. Crawley Green net six. Buckingham United and New Bradwell St Peter both register first wins of the new campaign. The weekend brought about 113 goals from the 29 games (an average of 3.89 per game) with Danny Watson (Crawley Green) bagging the only hat-trick.
Weekend Stats: 29 games played of which 13 were home wins, 12 were away wins and 4 draws.
100% league record to date: Codicote and Pitstone & Ivinghoe.
Weekend’s Highest Attendances: 320 Leighton Town v Biggleswade United, 172 Dunstable Town v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos and 149 Shefford Town & Campton v Langford.
Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Premier Division Clubs): 320 Leighton Town v Leiston (FA Cup), 320 Leighton Town v Biggleswade United and 300 Harpenden Town v Aveley (FA Cup).
Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division One Clubs): 315 New Salamis v West Essex (FA Cup), 285 Winslow United v Newport Pagnell Town (FA Cup) and 236 New Salamis v Colney Heath (FA Cup).
Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division Two Clubs): 103 Codicote v New Bradwell St Peter, 90 Totternhoe v MK Gallacticos and 75 Bovingdon v Totternhoe.
Friday 9th October/Saturday 10th October/Sunday 11th October
THE BUILDBASE FA VASE Second Round Qualifying
It was to prove a disappointing FA Vase weekend for the SSML clubs with only seven of the eighteen sides progressing. The action began on Friday night with an all SSML affair that saw Edgware Town defeating Premier Division bottom club Tring Athletic 4-1, the first time in eight years the Hertfordshire club had exited the competition this early on. Saturday’s action saw two more all SSML clashes, Division One Milton Keynes Irish pulling off a shock when winning 2-1 at Premier Division Broadfields United while North Greenford United enjoyed a 3-1 success at Oxhey Jets. Crawley Green survived a late scare at home to Wellingborough Whitworth, the Bedfordshire side were cruising at 6-0 up with twenty minutes remaining to finally run out 6- winners. Elsewhere there were wins for Division One sides New Salamis and Ampthill Town, Salamis winning 3-0 at home against Cornard United while Ampthill required a late winner to see off the challenge of hosts Long Buckby to win by the odd goal in five. Division One clubs Enfield Borough and Park View both lost out in penalty shoot-outs to higher ranked former SSML clubs, Enfield losing at Hadley after a 1-1 draw while Park View drew 2-2 at home against Cockfosters before losing 2-4 on spot kicks. Elsewhere Premier Division Arlesey Town, Harpenden Town and London Colney all lost by the odd goal to Northampton Sileby Rangers (2-3), Cogenhoe United (1-2) and Ipswich Wanderers (0-1) respectively. Potton United failed to hold on to their interval lead when going down 1-3 at home against Clapton while Division One sides St Panteleimon and London Lions both went out, The ‘Saints’ losing 0-3 at Rothwell Corinthians and ‘Lions’ went down 1-3 at Walthamstow. Sunday saw Baldock Town progress into the First Round Proper with a 3-2 home success against Halstead Town. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.
4-1 Edgware Town v Tring Athletic (Shirley-Clarke, Onabolu, Wallace, Nagheeb) / (Naylor) Attendance: 146
2-3 Arlesey Town v Northampton Sileby Rangers (De Brito, Carvalho) / (Mann [2], Stronge) Attendance: 92
1-2 Broadfields United v Milton Keynes Irish FC (Smith) / (Clarkson, Lawless) Attendance: 63
2-1 Cogenhoe United v Harpenden Town (Culley [pen], Ansu) / (Palmer) Attendance: 61
6-4 Crawley Green v Wellingborough Whitworth (Watson [3], Crook, S Holmes, Cowell) / (Daldy, Brittian, W Holmes, Bivens) Attendance: 20 (Club officials)
1-1 [8-7 pens] Hadley v Enfield Borough (Baird) / (Harris) Attendance: 145
1-0 Ipswich Wanderers v London Colney (Blake [pen]) Attendance: 120
2-3 Long Buckby v Ampthill Town (Hilton, Finlay) / (Brasier, Mead, Cerminara) Attendance: 111
3-0 New Salamis v Cornard United (Georgiou, Rosero, Lutaaya) Attendance: 45
1-3 Oxhey Jets v North Greenford United (Preedy) / (Mitchell, Manitou, James) Attendance: 76
2-2 [2-4 pens] Park View v Cockfosters (James, Sunkwa) / (Clarke, Wade) Attendance: 0 (Behind Closed Doors)
1-3 Potton United v Clapton (Brinkman) / (Bentley [2], Beckford) Attendance: 78
3-0 Rothwell Corinthians v St Panteleimon (Plowright, Maisiri, Agbenu [pen]) Attendance: 72
3-1 Walthamstow v London Lions (Monsheju, Toner [pen], Ibe) / (Kyte) Attendance: 189
3-2 Baldock Town v Halstead Town (Furness [2], Hay) / (Harpur [og], Gardner) Attendance: 128
PREMIER DIVISION
Saturday’s Premier Division game of the day saw Leighton Town playing host to Biggleswade United in a Bedfordshire ‘derby’ at a sell-out Bell Close. The hosts went into the game unbeaten while the visitors had made an indifferent start to the campaign with mixed results, the game was a tightly contested affair with the visitors throwing the form book out of the window to take the points thanks to a late solitary goal. Fourth placed Eynesbury Rovers travelled to lowly Wembley and kept up their title hopes with a 3-1 win. Elsewhere Dunstable Town welcomed Aylesbury Vale Dynamos, the hosts search for a first win of the campaign once again eluded them with the visitors winning by the odd goal in three while Leverstock Green leap frogged Newport Pagnell Town following a 2-1 success against their visitors. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.
1-2 Dunstable Town v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos (Smith-Reid) / (Lambeth [2] [1 pen]) Attendance: 172
0-1 Leighton Town v Biggleswade United (Parkinson) Attendance: 320
2-1 Leverstock Green v Newport Pagnell Town (Swales, Peerless) / (Smails) Attendance: 120
1-3 Wembley v Eynesbury Rovers (Fehmi-Gil) / (Jordan Brown, Ives, Olukanmi) Attendance: 64
DIVISION ONE
With table toppers St Panteleimon involved in FA Vase action second placed Bedford had the chance to take top spot as they welcomed fourth placed Buckingham Athletic to McMullen Park. As expected it was a tight tense affair and really was no surprise it finished goalless, the point being enough to send the Bedfordshire side to the summit. Shefford Town & Campton closed in on the title challengers as they hosted local rivals Langford, the game attracting a healthy three figure crowd, saw the home side totally in charge to run out 5-1 winners. At the other end of the table second bottom Amersham Town played host for the first time this season when welcoming Stotfold but it was the visitors who enjoyed the day securing the points with a 2-0 win. The day’s other action saw Winslow United come from behind twice before snatching a win by the odd goal in five against struggling Hillingdon Borough. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.
0-2 Amersham Town v Stotfold (Forsythe [2] [1 pen]) Attendance: 42
0-0 Bedford v Buckingham Athletic Attendance: 50
5-1 Shefford Town & Campton v Langford (McNamara [2], Milton, Renney, Ansell-Carter) / (Wing) Attendance: 149
3-2 Winslow United v Hillingdon Borough (Brindley, King, Collins) / (Ebor-Joof, Lokilo) Attendance: 76
DIVISION TWO
Codicote remain the early leaders at the top of the table when making it three out of three wins at Aston Clinton on Saturday, however they needed a spirited fight back from 1-3 down to win by the odd goal in seven thanks to two late goals. Old Bradwell United are two points behind in second place following their 2-2 draw at Tring Corinthians AFC while Pitstone & Ivinghoe moved up to third as they also maintained their 100% record with a 3-0 win at MK Gallacticos. At the bottom of the table The 61FC (Luton) remain pointless after going down 0-4 at home to new boys Berkhamsted Comrades (this being the first SSML win for the newcomers) while Sarratt were beaten 1-4 at Buckingham United, the hosts picking up their first points of the new campaign. The day’s other fixture saw New Bradwell St Peter also recording their first points of the season with a 4-1 success against Berkhamsted Raiders. Full results and goalscorers (where known) listed below.
3-4 Aston Clinton v Codicote (Smith, Nyembe, Doncaster) / (Mitchell, Mudimu, Bennett, Leech-Levy) Attendance: 45
4-1 Buckingham United v Sarratt (Janecki [2], Ginger, Adam) / (Gdyztongi) Attendance: 51
0-3 MK Gallacticos v Pitstone & Ivinghoe (Gallant, Hall, Downes) Attendance: Unknown
4-1 New Bradwell St Peter v Berkhamsted Raiders (Davey, Hunt, Skelton [pen], Kalek) / (Unknown) Attendance: 45
0-4 The 61FC (Luton) v Berkhamsted Comrades (Hemington, Rigarlsford, Sule, Wootton) Attendance: 26
2-2 Tring Corinthians AFC v Old Bradwell United (Hatt, Jenkins) / (Darryl Smith, Green) Attendance: 28
AND FINALLY
The result of this week’s Team of the Day Poll with 370 votes cast is:-
Milton Keynes Irish 36.5%
Biggleswade United 34.1%
Shefford Town & Campton 18.4%
Berkhamsted Comrades 11.0%
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/p08sv18p?fbclid=IwAR1F1n9TF-HW7jdtgkKTHm0bk6onkyBkIPWH9YducdGXFstu4B9rFzx9ujo
Dave Henman was at Hadley on Saturday and sends this report – As the score suggests…. 8-7 on penalties after a 1-1 draw this was a very close game indeed, and you’d never know that Hadley were a level higher than their visitors from down the road. I thought Enfield edged the first half hour but unfortunately never took advantage of their half chances that they created. Hadley then came very much into it with their long ball game and probably were just on top come the half time whistle. It just still nip and tuck in the second half until substitute Billy Baird broke away in the 71st minute to put Hadley in front courtesy of a decent shot in off the post. With less than 20 minutes remaining on the clock Borough started to throw more men forward, but still defending sensibly at the back. Come the 90th minute came the well-deserved equalizer from substitute Elliott Harris whose shot took a small deflection, and went in off the post. A slice of fortune maybe but no more than they deserved. Then onto penalties, and to be fair both sides took some very good spot kicks with the cheekiest being a chip shot from Elliot Harris. When 18 penalties are taken, and 15 are converted, you can appreciate the quality of the penalties. Unfortunately though it was Borough who failed at the death with the 18th one. It was good to see Hadley Chairman Guy Slee again. General Secretary Bob Henderson wasn’t there as in isolation due to the virus but was in fine fettle when I spoke to him late in the week. Also good to see Hadley’s attendances increasing to well over the 100 mark. This game attracted a good crowd of 145.
An overdue library book has been returned nearly 60 years late. It was left in Middlesbrough Central Library’s returns box this week but was due back in December, 1962. The copy of Geoffrey Faber’s poetry anthology The Buried Stream was still “pristine”, Middlesbrough Council said. The fine would have been more than £500 but charges have been suspended during the pandemic and there would be “no questions asked”, a council spokesperson said. The identity of the borrower is not known. Librarian David Harrington said they were “really grateful to the anonymous person who returned this book to us as it will be added back to our stock and placed in the Reference Library for future generations to enjoy”. He urged anyone else with overdue books to return them while the library was not imposing fines. Around the time Middlesbrough Library was expecting the return of The Buried Stream:
- Actor Ralph Fiennes is born
- Actress Demi Moore turns one month old
- Elvis Presley tops the UK charts with Return to Sender
- The Osmonds make their national TV debut on The Andy Williams Show
- Golden Wonder’s first flavoured crisp (cheese and onion) is on the market
- The book that ends up as the Michael Caine classic The Ipcress File is published
- The Queen passes a decade on the throne, at the age of 36
- Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O’Toole, premieres at Odeon Leicester Square
FA Vase 2020/21 Second Qualifying Round – Stat-packed Review
Debut clubs into First Round
Milton Keynes Irish
Equalling best run to First Round
New Salamis – 2nd time in 2nd campaign
Into First Round and long time since last KO as early as Second Qualifying Round
5 years – Baldock Town, Crawley Green
Exited in Second Qualifying Round but set best FA Vase run
Park View – 2nd campaign
First time Knocked Out as early as Second Qualifying Round for a while
8 years – Tring Athletic
Avenged Previous FA Vase Defeat
Oxhey Jets 1-3 North Greenford United (2 previous defeats)
Ipswich Wanderers 1-0 London Colney (2 previous defeats)
FA Vase Upsets
Arlesey Town (5) 2-3 Northampton Sileby Rangers (6)
Hat-tricks and more
3 – Danny Watson – Crawley Green
Source: Twitter’s FA Vase Factfile