SATURDAY HEADLINES
On a weekend that saw the number of goals per game drop to below three for the first time this season New Salamis net six in the Premier Division and Stotfold hit five on the road.

Saturday brought about 69 goals from the 24 games (an average of 2.87 per game). Elijah Ogunseye (New Salamis) led the way with a four goal haul while Scott Valentine (Old Bradwell United) weighed in with a hat-trick.

Saturday Stats: 24 games played of which 11 were home wins, 11 away wins and 2 draws.

Without A League Draw to date: Aston Clinton, Codicote and Risborough Rangers Development.

Saturday Highest Attendances: 265 Flackwell Heath v Risborough Rangers, 175 Ampthill Town v Irchester United and 158 Dunstable Town v Harefield United.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Premier Division Clubs): 473 Leighton Town v Broadfields United, 449 Leighton Town v Aylesbury Vale Dynamos and 435 Dunstable Town v Leighton Town.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division One Clubs): 404 Stotfold v Ampthill Town, 392 Stotfold v Bedford and 371 Ampthill Town v Bedford.

Season’s Highest Attendances to date (Division Two Clubs): 212 Bovingdon v Totternhoe, 175 Bovingdon v Berkhamsted Raiders and 134 Totternhoe v Leighton Town (Gladwish Challenge Trophy).

Saturday 29th January

PREMIER DIVISION
The yo-yo positions at the bottom end of the standings took another twist on Saturday as Tring Athletic climbed out of the bottom two with a 3-1 win at Holmer Green, the result saw the hosts drop into the relegation placings. Bottom club Crawley Green now find themselves eight points from safety after going down by a solitary goal at home against Milton Keynes Irish. At the top end of the table Hadley dropped two points on the leading two as they were held 1-1 at home by Ardley United while their two promotion rivals both won, leaders Risborough Rangers came from a goal down at the break to win 2-1 at Flackwell Heath while second placed New Salamis were the days big winners with a 6-1 success against visiting Arlesey Town. Elsewhere it was a return to winning ways for both Leverstock Green and Harpenden Town, the ‘Green’ winning by a solitary goal at Broadfields United while the ‘Harps’ enjoyed a 2-0 home success against local rivals London Colney. The day’s other fixtures saw Leighton Town win 3-1 at struggling Baldock Town while Dunstable Town extended their unbeaten league run to ten games with a 1-0 home success against Harefield United. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

1-3 Baldock Town v Leighton Town (Aldridge) / (Turner, Campbell, Adams) Attendance: 147
0-1 Broadfields United v Leverstock Green (Pett [pen]) Attendance: 83
0-1 Crawley Green v Milton Keynes Irish (Olukanmi) Attendance: 42
1-0 Dunstable Town v Harefield United (Sellers-West) Attendance: 158
1-2 Flackwell Heath v Risborough Rangers (Driffill) / (Wyllie [pen], Marum) Attendance: 265
1-1 Hadley v Ardley United (J Edwards) / (Talboys) Attendance: 115
2-0 Harpenden Town v London Colney (Palmer, Anthony) Attendance: 157
1-3 Holmer Green v Tring Athletic (White) / (Hearn, Mannion, Hutchins) Attendance: 122
6-1 New Salamis v Arlesey Town (Ogunseye [4], Furlonge [2]) / (Zilboud) Attendance: 65

DIVISION ONE
No changes at the summit with the top three all winning, leaders Stotfold won ruthlessly at strugglers London Tigers, the Bedfordshire side netting five goals without reply while second placed Winslow United were made to work hard for the points as they edged past visiting Letchworth Garden City Eagles by the odd goal in three. Third placed Ampthill Town were also tested as bottom club Irchester United ran them close before the hosts won 3-2 in front of a healthy crowd of 175 with Sam Holmes netting a brace for the third successive game for the ‘Amps’. Bedford moved into the play-off places with a 2-1 home success against Rushden & Higham United while Shefford Town & Campton continued their climb up the standings with a 2-1 win at Northampton Sileby Rangers, the Bedfordshire side now lie ninth just six points outside the play-off places but have a number of games in hand. Elsewhere Penn & Tylers Green defeated visiting Wellingborough Whitworth 4-1 while Thame United Reserves overcame Langford by a solitary goal in Oxfordshire. For news on the days other game between Raunds Town and Kidlington Reserves see later in the ramblings the report from Bob Flight. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

3-2 Ampthill Town v Irchester United (Holmes [2], Butler) / (Peasland, Clayson) Attendance: 175
2-1 Bedford v Rushden & Higham United (Goodman, McLeod-Bentley) / (Loasby) Attendance: 59
0-5 London Tigers v Stotfold (Clarke, Amaning, Ryan, Sutton, Spavins) Attendance: 30
1-2 Northampton Sileby Rangers v Shefford Town & Campton (A Taylor) / (Robinson, Dillon) Attendance: 40
4-1 Penn & Tylers Green v Wellingborough Whitworth (Hurst [2], Green, Hancock) / (Ncube) Attendance: 37
2-1 Raunds Town v Kidlington Reserves (Waple-Moors, McBride) / (Baker) Attendance: 70
1-0 Thame United Reserves v Langford (Griggs) Attendance: 51
2-1 Winslow United v Letchworth Garden City Eagles (Attwell, C Brown) / (K Brown) Attendance: 101

DIVISION TWO
It’s as you were in Division Two as the top two both won, leaders Old Bradwell United saw off the challenge of visiting Totternhoe with a 3-0 win while Bovingdon won 3-1 on the road at Risborough Rangers Development. At the other end of the table Buckingham United enjoyed a 3-0 success at New Bradwell St Peter while The 61FC (Luton) gained a valuable point at Berkhamsted Raiders following a goalless draw. Elsewhere there were 2-0 away wins for both Aston Clinton and Codicote at Eynesbury United and Milton Keynes College Football Academy respectively. The day’s other action saw Pitstone & Ivinghoe defeat visiting Sarratt with a goal in each half. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

0-0 Berkhamsted Raiders v The 61FC (Luton) Attendance: 30
0-2 Eynesbury United v Aston Clinton (Banert, MacDonald) Attendance: 94
0-2 Milton Keynes College Football Academy v Codicote (Evans, Kimber) Attendance: 25
0-3 New Bradwell St Peter v Buckingham United (Fordham, Walls, Amour) Attendance: 35
3-0 Old Bradwell United v Totternhoe (Valentine [3] [1 pen]) Attendance: 96
2-0 Pitstone & Ivinghoe v Sarratt (Hall, Leotta) Attendance: 54
1-3 Risborough Rangers Development v Bovingdon (Wilson) / (Beckwith [2], Seodi) Attendance: 42

COMMITTEE AWAYDAYS
Bob Flight was at Raunds Town and sends the following report:-
Two teams from the bottom half of the league table met at Raunds where Town hosted Kidlington Reserves on a bright if windy sunny day in front of a crowd of about 70. Kidlington started well and could have scored in the first minute but the home keeper made a good save. However their pressure told in the 28th minute when William Baker scored following a cross from the right wing. Not much was seen of the home club although they had a shot deflected onto a post and away for a corner. Kidlington were well worth their one goal lead at half time. The second half started in a similar fashion and another good Town save and a goal line clearance keep the visitors at bay. The visitors then, seemingly in control of the game, shot themselves in the foot when following a brief altercation their player was sent off on 58 minutes. The Town player involved received a yellow card for his trouble. This gave Town something to go for and they equalised on 68 minutes when Harry Waple-Moors scored direct from a free kick. Worse was to follow for Kidlington as first they conceded another free kick which was dispatched into the far corner of the visitor’s net on 75 minutes by Dean McBride and then their defender was sin binned for moaning to the referee. Despite being down to nine men, Kidlington tried to battle back and they denied Town any further scoring chances. Indeed during the final few minutes of the game and with the side restored to ten men, they almost snatched a late equaliser but the shot was deflected just wide of a post. The home crowd were well pleased with the valuable three points which keeps Town away from the relegation zone.

AND FINALLY
Roberto Carlos: Brazil legend set to make appearance for Shropshire pub team
Roberto Carlos' brilliant, swerving free-kick for Brazil against France in 1997 is one of the most memorable goals in the history of football. It's no wonder then that a pub team in Shropshire could hardly believe it when they learned the World Cup-winning full-back will play for them in a Sunday league match. The Bull In The Barne won the services of Carlos - now 48 - in a 'dream transfer raffle' on eBay meaning he will appear as a substitute at one of their Shrewsbury & District games in February. "You pay £5 to enter the raffle for a chance to have a pro sign for your team. One of our lads said in a group chat 'let's just give it a go' and we ended up winning it," striker and club secretary Matthew Brown told BBC Radio Shropshire. "On Friday afternoon, our manager, Ed Speller, sent a message to say we won the competition and none of us believed him. We thought he was having us on. "I went out on Friday night and woke up with a bit of a sore head on Saturday and I had messages from people saying 'is it true about Roberto Carlos?' and at that point I was thinking 'it can't have happened, it's just a dream'." Bull In The Barne are fifth in Division One of the Shrewsbury & District Sunday League. So how will Bull in The Barne's facilities compare with those at the Bernabeu Stadium? "We play on a pitch next to Hanwood Village Hall. The changing room is proper Sunday league, pretty basic, a couple of the showers don't work," Brown added. "There has been talk of moving the game somewhere else because the car park is tiny. Our usual crowd is mostly just a couple of family members, but we do have two parents, Mr and Mrs Turrall, who are there rain or shine watching us." Most of the Bull In The Barne team are of a similar age and grew up watching Carlos' exploits. "He's probably one of the best left-backs the world has ever seen," Brown said. "Liam Turrall is in my opinion the best left-back in Shropshire but he's probably going to have to take one game out for us - he's a cracking player but Roberto Carlos is another level. One of our lads decided a couple of weeks ago that he wasn't fit enough to do it anymore and retired, but he's regretting his decision now, I think. I can imagine we're not going to be struggling for players for the next couple of weeks as they try to get into Ed's good books." Communication between the star signing and his new team-mates shouldn't be a problem. "I think he can speak English, eBay released a couple of videos - but I don't know if he'll understand the Shropshire accent," Brown joked. So, what will happen if Bull In The Barne are awarded a free-kick in the other's team's half? Presumably they will just hand him the ball? Maybe not. "We've got a couple of lads who want to show him what they can do first," Brown added.

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 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:-

Ollie Bayliss Non League Show

The result of this week’s Team of the Day Poll with 228 votes cast is:-
Tring Athletic 36.4%
Codicote 23.7%
New Salamis 21.5%
Penn & Tylers Green 18.4%