Missed Opportunity!

A couple of games i failed to write reports on.....


Brentford 1 Darlington 1
Binfield 3 Eton Wick 0
Hendon 1 Heybridge Swifts 1

Hendon 0 Harrow Borough 2

Not my first choice for this night however due to weater i find myself back at Vale Fam, only a week + after my last visit. With the pitch frosty and in the shadow of the Wembley arch Hendon lost 2-0 to two second half goals. Both goals came in the same way with the highly rated Robin Shroot beating his man down the left wing before putting a low cross in which was invarably scored.

The ground at Wembley (thats Vale Farm not the Stadium), by far meets its criteria for the Combined Counties League that Wembley FC play in. With a long seated stand occupying the far side. The rest of the ground is terracing with some covered posistioned at the far end of the ground.

Photo's to follow!

Manchester City 0 Manchester United 1

I was quite looking forward to this game however turned out to be a little dissapointed. The City Of Manchester Stadium is an amazing ground, however for such a big game i was expecting a better atmosphere.

Man United i didnt feel played particuarly well however won care of a Wayne Rooney goal. United felt a little pressure as Ronaldo saw red however still feel the game lasked the passion i was expecting.

I would however recommend Eastlands to anyone though. In terms of new build grounds it is in my opinion one of the best. The programme was also a good buy at £3 with 100 pages.

Altrincham 0 Rushden & Diamonds 4

After much thought we decided to pick this game as it was local to where we were staying. Altricham were very poor with Rushden missing countless opportunities, as the fog decended and got thicker!

The ground has both seating and terracing, with most of it covered. The away supporters are however left to stand in the uncovered terrace behind one goal.

There is covered terracing running both behind the other goal and along the far side and a small grandstand occupying the near touchline.

On this occasion the grandstand was less than half full. It also has a smaller seated stand adjacent to it.

Barrow AFC 2 Brentford 1

An upset in the making. On a cold, damp night in Cumbria Brentford were knocked out of the FA Cup by there lower ranking opposition! In truth Brentford were poor and probably deserved to lose. Barrow appeared to want the victory more and after Brentford were rightly reduced to 10 men, the shock that the Setanta camera's were looking for was very much on.



The ground is an of a traditional style with just one side being modernised. This being a all seater stand. The rest of the ground however is terracing varying between covered and uncovered. Bees fans were housed in the corner with the option of Terracing and Seating, however segregation for the seating was clearly not in place.



For a full match report visit http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/

Overton United 1 Sandhurst Devels 0

This game in the Aldershot Senior Cup, was played on a Neutral ground at the Aldershot Military Stadium. The stadium is majoritally a Athletics track which also hosts any Army football matches.

The ground has a distict tradional 50's feel about it with some great authentic old floodlights. There is just the one main stand which runs alongside the pitch. This is all seater and for this game housed around 20 people !

There is also a turnstille over in the far corner of the ground, however for this game it is not used.

The game itself was in my mind ruined by the referee who failed to let it flow. Overton took the lead in the first half but rarely threatened. Sandhurst did pull one back only for it to be rulled out. The reulting protests ended up with Sandhurst being reduced to 10 men.

In all a tidy ground that i would recommend anyone goes to should they get the chance.

Cockfosters 2 Holmer Green 1

Another league cup competitions brings me to Cockfosters. A bit of a landmark for me as its my 150th ground. After a long journey on the Piccadilly Line and a brief stop at the chippy by the station i make my way to Dacre Field. Now i have to admit at this point i have a soft spot for Holmer Green after my visit there last year so i guess my alliance for this game were them. The Ground has very little there! A small seated section on the near side and a pathway around 3 sides. The other side has just a row of bushes behind the goal.

I feel i must also praise the programme editors at Cockfosters, it was by far one of the best Non League Programmes i have read in a while! The game could have gone either way with both teams having spells of pressure. I thought the referee was spot on and have a very good game. The deciding goal came from a nice run and good finish in the last five minutes or so. I must recommend Cockfosters to any groundhoppers if only for the programme!

Horndean 0 Brading Town 1

My next game took me into the Wessex League.

This game between Horndean and Brading had a distict lack of quality. The game itself was quite entertaining with plenty of chances, however alot of play was 'hit and hope' so to speak.

The ground iself was quite quaint. With just a fence posistioned behind one goal and no walkway. There is a seated stand which has a estimated capacity of around 40 people


and a small covered terrace on the far side between the dugouts.

The strange thing on that side is to get to the stand you have to walk infront of the dugouts. Not very practical when the game is in progress i suspect.

Two of the floodlight pylons are actually Mobile Phone masts with lights stuck to them!

The game had a delayed kick-off as the referee issisted the Horndean goalie changed his shirt as it clashed with Bradings away shirt. In my opinion the Brading goalies shirt actually clashed more!

Horndean looked the lively of the two teams in the opening stages missing a few chances. However Brading then began to settle and were awarded a penalty just before half time. The striker however failed to hit the target putting it wide. The second half was a little more scrappy with Brading scoring a well worked goal. I think a draw would have been fair, but for struggling Horndean it wasnt to be.

Ashford Town (Middx) 2 North Greenford United 1

This game was in the Middlesex Senior Cup and in my mind the £9 admission fee was a little pricey. Admittedly this game was not my first choice however due to a spaight of bad weather i decided to go just up the road to Ashford, especially as i hadnt been there in a while. The game was one way traffic with Ashford missing chance after chance. However you had to give credit to NGU who defended well and got there reward just after the break scoring from a well worked set piece. Ashford however had other ideas, and continued to enslaught the NGU goal. It looked as though NGU may hang on, but they were to conceed twice in stoppage time, to eventually lose. I think NGU deserved extra time at least especially considering one of Ashford's goals looked very offside.

Hassocks v Balcombe

Match Abandonned which was a shame as i quite fancied this one, but given the rain cant say i'm overly suprised!

An Update!

Admittedly i have been a little rubbish updating this lately hence the sketchy catch up reports, but i will endeavour to get better....... i promise :) . For Brentford Games i generally just relate back to the clubs website as i want this to largely concentrate on the non-league side of things :).

Havant & Waterlooville 1 Brentford 3

The Bees made it through to the second reound with a well rounded performance. Ok so perhaps not the best i have ever seen but they went with a plan to avoid a bannaskin and complete the job and thats exactly what they did. Bring on Eastbourne or Barrow! For a full match report go to www.brentfordfc.co.uk

Feltham 2 Chobham 0

Another trip to the Orchard to see Feltham. Chobham were defensively all over the place and Feltham raced into a 2-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes. They then proceeded to feel happy with the 2-0 victory and sat back. Had it not been for the Feltham Goalkeeper they could have been made to pay as Chobham looked good going forward.

Brentford 1 Rochdale 2

They came, they saw, they conquored. Rochdale came to Griffin Park with a game plan and after going into half time 2-0 up were happy to sit back and absorb the presure. For a full match report go to www.brentfordfc.co.uk

Sun Postal Sports 0 Royston Town 6

A one sided game this one with Sun Postal going behind after less than a minute. Royston went on to dominate the game as Sun Postal were reduced to 9 men. Its not hard to see why Royston are near the top end of the table.

Feltham 2 Bookham 4

A nice short journey for me down to the Orchard, home of Bedfont FC, to watch this el Premier Cup 2nd round tie. Feltham a division lower than Bookham put a good performance in and on another night could have won convincingly.

Bookham had 4 real chances and scored all 4 whereas Feltham missed chance after chance. Bookham sped into a 2-0 lead with a dodgy free kick providing the second. The referee failed to signal an quick kick was permitted and also failed to blow his whistle, the Bookham striker found the corner of the goal nicely with the Feltham defence failing to notice the kick had even been taken. Feltham continued to pile on the pressure and pulled one back.

As they pushed on for a second Bookham broke on the counter attack and went 3-1 ahead. Feltham then managed to get a second making a tense finish. As they searched for an equalizer Bookham got a forth and effectively killed the game. The home team also had a player sent off as he watched from the sidelines after being substituted. Feltham were good for extra time and unlucky to not get anything, on a bitterly cold evening.

Chester City 3 Brentford 0

My first visit to Chester and what a journey. After going through what seemed like all four seasons, including some heavy snow, we made it to the Deva Stadium with 5 minutes to kick off, no less than 5 and a half hours after leaving Brentford. The game itself was a strange one, Brentford failed to take numerous opportunities and Chester scored there one of the first half. The second half Brentford failed to turn up conceeding two more. The score line is a bit deceptive Brentford dominated the first half and Chester the second and on another night the score could have reflected just as well in favour of the visitors. In all not a great night for the Bees in the North West and a long journey home pointless. For a full match report go to www.brentfordfc.co.uk .

Brentford 1 Shrewsbury Town 1

The Bees, for me, did enough to win this, in a game which was a great advertisement for the league. Charlie MacDonald once again showed what a class player he is with his goal before Shrewsbury equalised less than 10 minutes later. For a full match report visit www.brentfordfc.co.uk .

Brentford 3 Morecambe 1

The Bees should have probably won this more convincely. Neverless its another 3 points. For a full match report visit www.brentfordfc.co.uk .

Barkingside 4 Hullbridge Sports 1

I ventured out to Essex for this game in what can only be described as very poor conditions. So much so that a power cut, (caused by the weather apparently), meant i was stuck on the Central line for 20 minutes going nowhere. I even feared i may miss the game altogether having no idea how long it would take to restart. It would have been a huge annoyance having gone so far and only being 2 stations away.




I am a little confussed as to who owns the ground now, i was under the belief Barkingside used to, but it has now been sold to Redbridge (Ford United), who continue to let Barkingside play there as tennants. Similar to Kingstonian at AFC Wimbledon. Indeed the signage around the ground suggests that Redbridge owns the ground. However in the programme it states Redbridge are Barkingsides tennants. Maybe i got confussed or misunderstood something!

The ground itself is quite quaint with the only annoyance being that to get to it from the adjacent station you have to go around almost in a semi circle. There is ample terracing and a largish seated stand along one side. Segragation is possible if needed and it looked like the far side would be given to travelling fans. Barkingside seemed to have a nice set up with plenty of ideas in the programme that are clearly raising extra revenue for the club.


The game itself was quite an open one with both teams looking dangerous going forward. Hullbridge had ample opportunities in the first half however failed to convert them. Barkingside themselves also lacked that something infront of goal missing numerous chances. Hullbridge were however there own victims, with Barkingside 1-0 up with around 4-5 minutes until half time they scored an own goal as between 2 defenders and the goalkeeper no one made real claim to it, before it bounced off the second defender and in. Barkingside were then to score a second a minute or so later as the keeper charge out for a long ball he was never going to get.






The second half continued to present chances for both teams who couldnt hit the target. Hullbridge pulled one back before letting Barkingside get a 4th. In all a very entertaining (and wet) night.

Once again my apologies for the picture quality these were unfortunatly taken on my camera phone. If everyone stook still and the light wasnt so bright they would have been alot better ;-)

Aldershot Town 1 Brentford 1

Not the greatest of games to be honest with both teams having ample chances to win it. Brentford equalised from the spot after Aldershot had led due to a first half penalty. The rec has a certain charm to it, however it does need some basic improvements. For a more detailed match report visit www.brentfordfc.co.uk.

Flackwell Heath 2 Marlow United 2

A local derby in every sense of the word. Marlow ground share Wilkes Park with Flackwell Heath and so this game had a little bite about it. The ground is quite a neat fuctional one however the enterance is maybe a little less obvious. Tucked in the corner between some houses it is easy to miss as i did. You can then circle the ground knowing it lays behind the houses however not succeding in finding the entry point. When we did find it, (it was behind a parked van meaning from the road it was not visable), we payed our entry fee and posistioned oursleved behind the goal. This fixture had a fairly large crowd and the majority of them were either on the dugout side of the ground or by the turnstilles.

The game it's self was a firey affair as Marlow raced into a 2-0 lead. The first coming from a keeper error. Flackwell Heath however had other ideas and depite being reduced to 10 men pulled the score level to 2-2. It was however to be a low blow for the Heathens as Marlow were to sneak a winner late on in the game.

(my apologies for the poorness of the pictures)

Locks Heath 3 Ludwig Leisure 1

My first Hampshire Premier League game saw me at Locks Heath, near Fareham in Hampshire.

In thruth it was quite an entertaining game that Locks Heath should have won more convincingly. Locks Heath playing in red took the lead through a penalty which was comfortably converted. Building on from this they doubled there advantage with a nice goal drilled in from the left past the driving keeper. Ludwig then pulled one back in what i think was there first meaningful attack, lobbing the keeper nicely as he came rushing out. The score remained 2-1 at half time even though Locks Heath should have been out of sight by this stage. Ludwig put up a bit more fight in the second half however to no avail as Locks Heath scored a 3rd to effectively kill the game off.

The ground is one of only 3 in the Hampshire Premier League that currently has floodlights and there is potential for more. The attendance for this fixture varied as the match continued as there is no access control or admission fee. The club house is situated away from the pitch over a cricket strip, as are the changing rooms.

The Start of Something!

So here it is the beginning of my blog. My aim is to update it with details of my Ground hopping exploits that will take me to various leagues and towns throughout Great Britain. I love football and everything about it, I am first and foremost a Brentford FC fan however having conquered most of the grounds in Leagues One and Two decided to turn my attention to the Grassroots game. Having followed the Bees around the country avidly for the last 3-4 years i now would like to notch up a few more grounds. I still hold a Brentford Season Ticket and intend on going to all games at Griffin Park, however its the cold Tuesday nights standing in a field in the middle of nowhere clutching onto a cup of Bovril that this blog will concentrate on.

I have been to numerous non-league games over the last 10 years and have racked up a number of clubs, however despite keeping records of all these fixtures i felt it was now time to try and document them for all to see.