THE INANE RAMBLINGS FROM UP NORFF #47

SATURDAY HEADLINES
It’s your 18th birthday so what do you do? For Lewis Taylor it was a case of playing the game he loves … football, in the morning he turned out for St Ives Town U18s in their Hunts FA U18 County Cup fame and scored seven in their 12-3 win then in the afternoon he donned the Northampton Sileby Rangers kit and netted all four in their 4-1 SSML win against Letchworth Garden City Eagles and still had time and energy to blow out the candles on his cake.

Saturday brought about 73 goals from the 23 games (an average of 3.17 per game). Lewis Taylor (Northampton Sileby Rangers) and Albie Hall (Pitstone & Ivinghoe) both netting four goal hauls.

Saturday Stats: 23 games played of which 11 were home wins, 7 away wins and 5 draws.

(Most League Wins – all Divisions):
21 Stotfold
20 New Salamis, Winslow United
19 Risborough Rangers.

(Most League Draws – all Divisions):
8 Penn & Tylers Green
7 Arlesey Town, Dunstable Town, Harefield United, Leighton Town
6 Ardley United, Aylesbury Vale Dynamos, Milton Keynes Irish, Ampthill Town, Bedford, Thame United Reserves.

(Most League Defeats – all Divisions):
23 Irchester United, 19 Crawley Green, 18 Burton Park Wanderers, London Tigers.

Without a Draw:
(Division Two League): Aston Clinton and Codicote.

Most Goals Scored:
(Premier Division League): 78 New Salamis.
(Division One League): 88 Stotfold.
(Division Two League): 71 Old Bradwell United.

Most Goals Conceded:
(Premier Division League): 81 Holmer Green.
(Division One League): 90 Irchester United.
(Division Two League): 60 Buckingham United.

Fewest Goals Conceded:
(Premier Division League): 14 Risborough Rangers.
(Division One League): 21 Winslow United.
(Division Two League): 16 Old Bradwell United.

Fewest Goals Scored:
(Premier Division League): 29 London Colney.
(Division One League): 27 Irchester United.
(Division Two League): 23 The 61FC (Luton).

Saturday Highest Attendances: 533 Stotfold v Winslow United, 172 Risborough Rangers v Hadley and 147 Dunstable Town v Ardley 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): 533 Stotfold v Winslow United, 404 Stotfold v Ampthill Town and 392 Stotfold 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).

New Salamis returned to the top of the table with a 6-1 win against visiting Baldock Town, by an odd coincidence just two weeks ago Salamis beat Baldock’s landlords Arlesey Town by the same scoreline at Coles Park. Morning leaders Risborough Rangers were held at home by fourth placed Hadley, the game finishing goalless. At the bottom end of the standings Holmer Green picked up a vital point with a 1-1 draw at Milton Keynes Irish while London Colney continued to slip in their fight to avoid being sucked into a relegation fight when they were beaten 3-4 at Oxhey Jets. Elsewhere Arlesey Town defeated visiting Broadfields United 2-0 with Kim Forsythe returning for a fourth spell for the hosts and maintaining his record of scoring every time he has begun a spell. The day’s other action saw honours even as Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Harefield United and Dunstable Town v Ardley United both ended in 1-1 draws. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

2-0 Arlesey Town v Broadfields United (Hamilton, Forsythe [pen]) Attendance: 90
1-1 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Harefield United (Hodgins) / (Bircham) Attendance: 71
1-1 Dunstable Town v Ardley United (Percy) / (Blackstock) Attendance: 147
1-1 Milton Keynes Irish v Holmer Green (Lawless) / (Chunga) Attendance: 51
6-1 New Salamis v Baldock Town (Asamoah [2] [1 pen], H Georgiou [2], Lutaaya, Hervel) / (Gaffney) Attendance: 65
4-3 Oxhey Jets v London Colney (Tabor [2] [1 pen], Giordmaina, Swaby) / (Hartley [2], Slama) Attendance: 54
0-0 Risborough Rangers v Hadley Attendance: 172

The first 500+ SSML crowd of the season finally arrived as Division One table toppers Stotfold welcomed second placed Winslow United, 533 packed themselves into The JSJ Stadium to witness the hosts extend their lead at the top to four points thanks to a solitary late goal from midweek signing James Younger. Third placed Ampthill Town kept up the pressure on the top two as they recovered from a half time deficit to win 3-2 at Raunds Town. At the bottom Burton Park Wanderers put the memories of last weekend’s heavy defeat behind them as the bounced back to record their first win since December with a 3-1 success against visiting Thame United Reserves while fellow strugglers Irchester United and London Tigers both suffer home defeats, Tigers losing 0-3 against the team in form Shefford Town & Campton while the ‘Romans’ were beaten by Bedford, the visitors winning 2-0. Elsewhere Rushden & Higham United overcame the challenge of visiting Kidlington Reserves 3-0 while Northampton Sileby Rangers defeated their guests Letchworth Garden City Eagles 4-1 thanks to the fore-mentioned goalscoring exploits of Lewis Taylor. The days other action saw Penn & Tylers Green record a 2-0 success at Langford. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

3-1 Burton Park Wanderers v Thame United Reserves (Fitzjohn [2], Brown) / (Griggs) Attendance: 58
0-2 Irchester United v Bedford (Joseph, Watson) Attendance: 43
0-2 Langford v Penn & Tylers Green (Lines, Hurst) Attendance: 60
0-3 London Tigers v Shefford Town & Campton (Snee [[2], Metcalfe) Attendance: 16
4-1 Northampton Sileby Rangers v Letchworth Garden City Eagles (Taylor [4]) / (Bates) Attendance: 57
2-3 Raunds Town v Ampthill Town (Clark, McBride) / (Cerminara [pen], Draycott, Cullen) Attendance: 42
3-0 Rushden & Higham United v Kidlington Reserves (McMahon, Dolden, Reynolds) Attendance: 36
1-0 Stotfold v Winslow United (Younger) Attendance: 533

Wellingborough Whitworth missed out on a County Cup Final when they were beaten 1-3 at ChromaSport Northants Combination League side Blisworth in the semi-final of the Les Underwood Junior Cup. Full result and goalscorers are listed below.

3-1 Blisworth v Wellingborough Whitworth (Bobowicz, Duffy, Wilkes) / (Taylor) Attendance: Unknown

The big game in Division Two this week saw table toppers Old Bradwell United hosting third placed Eynesbury United and for the second successive game OBU dropped two points at home, the hosts were ahead at the break before the visitors hit back in the second period, for more on this one see later in the Ramblings. Second placed Bovingdon are now just three points behind the leaders after beating struggling The 61FC (Luton) 3-1 at home after a goalless first period. Bottom club Tring Corinthians AFC recorded their first league win since the 30th October when they defeated visiting Risborough Rangers Development by the odd goal in three while Sarratt gave themselves breathing space in the lower places of the table with an excellent 3-1 win at 6th placed Totternhoe. Elsewhere Codicote made it five games without defeat with a 2-0 success at Berkhamsted Raiders while Pitstone & Ivinghoe were the Division’s biggest winners with a 5-1 win at struggling Buckingham United. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.

0-2 Berkhamsted Raiders v Codicote (Barker, Alkhaled) Attendance: 40
3-1 Bovingdon v The 61FC (Luton) (Barkers-Obua [2], Dowling) / (King) Attendance: 99
1-5 Buckingham United v Pitstone & Ivinghoe (Amour [pen]) / (Hall [4]. Batten) Attendance: 18
1-1 Old Bradwell United v Eynesbury United (Darryl Smith) / (Piesse) Attendance: 77
1-3 Totternhoe v Sarratt (Woolhead) / (Beckford [2], Thomas) Attendance: 45
2-1 Tring Corinthians AFC v Risborough Rangers Development (Hutchinson [2]) / (Pekun) Attendance: 28

Aston Clinton advanced into the semi-finals of the Berks & Bucks Charles Twelftrees Trophy with this solitary goal win over East Berkshire Football League side Old Windsor, the all-important breakthrough from Ryan MacDonald coming in the first half. Full result and goalscorer listed below.

1-0 Aston Clinton v Old Windsor (MacDonald) Attendance: 25

Bob Flight was at Old Bradwell United and sends the following report:-
The match of the day in Division Two saw leaders Old Bradwell entertain third placed Eynesbury United on a bright, if windy, day in Milton Keynes. The pitch looked in excellent condition and the crowd expected an exciting game. Bradwell started like an express train and an early effort was cleared off the visitor’s goal line. The goal came almost as early when in the 7th minutes Darryl Smith scored from a right wing cross to put Bradwell into the lead. The crowd expected more goals as Bradwell dominated the half but they failed to add the important second goal through a series of excellent saves from the Eynesbury keeper and some wayward finishing from the home team. Such was the dominance of Bradwell that Eynesbury failed to have a single effort on the home goal throughout the half. Just before half time, Bradwell thought they had scored again as the ball was bundled into the net on 39 minutes but the referee ruled for a foul on the away defenders in the process and the goal was disallowed. This led to a loud, bad language protest from the home bench and they received a yellow card for their trouble. Eynesbury were fortunate to reach half time just a goal behind. The second half was more of an even affair and as every football fan knows, a single goal lead is never safe. Inevitably, this slender lead came under threat and from their first effort on goal, Eynesbury scored as Sam Piesse headed the ball into the Bradwell net on 62 minutes to level the scores. Bradwell tried to respond and had another goal rightly disallowed for a foul on the keeper, but once again they failed to trouble the visitor’s goal and indeed missed a last great chance to score late on. Eynesbury plugged away and had a couple of chances themselves and the home team were fortunate to see a cross come shot hit the top of the bar and bounce over. Thus the game finished as a draw much to the disappointment of the home team who should have been out of sight by half time. Congratulations must go to Eynesbury for sticking in the game when all looked lost and they went away happy with a valuable point.

Not a tweet nor SSML but this gem caught my eye amongst the many match reports I read over the weekend - And on a wet cold afternoon the first half lived up to the last game. When a fan asked me how long to half time I responded ‘11 mins and two more full moon rotations around Saturn’- it was that turgid.

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 300 votes cast is:-
Bovingdon 46.3%
Dunstable Town 35.3%
Codicote 10.3%
Burton Park Wanderers 8.1%