ALNWICK TOWN (St James' Park)

FA VASE 2ND QUALIFYING ROUND, ALNWICK TOWN 5-3 PICKERING TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 50

Today I headed north up the A1 to Northumberland to the town of Alnwick.

Alnwick is famous for it's castle, which was used for the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films and also in the very first series of Blackadder.

Anyhow when the draw was made for the FA Vase I hatched "a cunning plan" to get in a cheeky double by also taking in the Women's Super League clash between Sunderland Ladies and Doncaster Belles, which kicked off at 7.30pm.

Northern League Division Two Alnwick Town were taking on Pickering Town of the Northern Counties East Premier League.  Alnwick Town have spent most of their history playing in the Northern Alliance before they became founder members of the Northern League Division Two in 1982 before relegation in 2007. They returned to the Northern League in 2011.

Their ground, St James Park, has been home since 1900. I liked the set up here, especially the old wooden cover behind the goal. I read in issue 152 of Northern Ventures, Northern Gains (the Northern Leagues excellent magazine) that the existing clubhouse and changing rooms will be replaced once the funding is in place. The tea hut behind the goal was also excellent and Alnwick is close enough to the Scottish border to be able to indulge oneself with a scotch pie!

I arrived in the town in plenty of time to "tick off" both 2015 GBG entries, the John Bull Inn and the Tanners Arms. I'm happy to report both were in fine form.

The game was a fine example of a classic cup tie and served to remind me why I love the Vase so much. Alnwick won out in an eight goal thriller, helped in no small part by some clinical finishing at the right moments.

Pickering started the brightest and had an early free kick came back off the outside of the post. On 11 minutes, with their first effort at goal Alnwick scored courtesy of Adam Shanks. 

Pickering continued to have most of the possession but were always vulnerable to the counter attack. They had a chance to equalise, but this time they were denied by the crossbar. It proved costly as on 42 minutes Shanks got his and Alnwick's second.

The second half was just three minutes old when Shanks completed his hat-trick and the tie was seemingly over. Pickering finally got a goal back on the hour through Ryan Cooper but two minutes later Brad McClelland restored Alnwick's two goal advantage.

On 83 minutes Sam Calvert scored to set up a grandstand finish and when Robert Hawkes made it 4-3 on 90 minutes it made things really interesting. With stoppage time to go Pickering threw everyone forward in desperate search of an equaliser but they were once again caught on the break and it was that man Adam Shanks who scored his fourth goal of the game with the final kick of the game.

Credit to both teams for serving up a brilliant game of football.

ST HARMON (The Lingen)

RADNORSHIRE CUP 1st ROUND, ST HARMON 0-7 LLANDRINDROD WELLS, ATTENDANCE: 46 (h/c)

A chance for some Sunday football is not to be sniffed at so I headed for Mid Wales for some Radnorshire Cup action. However there was a slight change of plan as I was originally heading to Knighton Town and their clash with Sennybridge but the club (very kindly) tweeted me around 10am to say the game was off as the visitors could not raise a team (and with that they also forfeited the tie).

The only alternative (for me) was a trip to St Harmon and their game with Llandrindrod Wells (another club who very helpfully tweeted details to me). St Harmon is a village in Powys on the B4518 road between Llanidloes and Rhayader. The football club was founded in 2000 and play at The Lingen, which is up a lane just off the B4518 in the adjacent village of Pant-y-Dwr.

I'll be honest that due to the very late change in my plans I had not done the requisite research (I was stuck in work when the Knighton game was pulled)  and I was struggling to find the ground. Luckily one of the players was a late arrival and he said follow me up to the pitch. The club still get changed in St Harmon next to where their old base was, the now closed down Sun Inn pub, then drive the 1.5 miles to the ground.

The ground is basically sloping a field, complete with the old crusty sheep's dung. The only furniture present was a bit of rope to hold back the spectators, of which there were a fair few today as the locals came out to support their team, and what looked like old dugouts, which in all honesty would not provide an shelter from the elements on a bleak winters day. Luckily today the ground and surrounding vista was picturesque as it was bathed in late September sunshine.  Entrance was £2 and the lady on the gate made sure you paid and refreshments were available from a tea hut.

The game was as one sided a you would expect given the clubs respective positions in the Welsh pyramid. Llandrindrod Wells are newly promoted to the Cymru Alliance (step 2) whilst the homesters are members of the Mid Wales South League (step 5).

First half goals from Robbie Nicholls (13, 15 & 30) and Ritchie Powell (19) gave Llandrindrod a 4-0 interval lead before further goals from Johnny Williams (46) and Ashley Jones (57 & 69) added further gloss to the scoreline. 

In fairness St Harmon never let their heads drop and kept plugging away and made the visitors 'keeper work on more than one occasion. However it proved a comfortable afternoon for Llandrindrod and they will now face a trip to Rhosgoch Rangers in the next round.

A very, very enjoyable afternoon in Mid-Wales.

REDHILL FC (Kiln Brow)

FA CUP 2ND QUALIFYING ROUND, REDHILL 2-1 TONBRIDGE ANGELS, ATTENDANCE: 321

After spending the morning watching some Essex Senior League action at Clapton's Old Spotted Dog ground (Newham beat Waltham Forest 2-1) it was a painless journey (so painless in fact that there was ample time to tick of a GBG pub en-route to the ground) along the M25 to Redhill for some FA Cup action.

Redhill, of the Isthmian League Division One South, were taking on Isthmian Premier League Tonbridge Angels. On paper it looked an away banker but that is the magic of the cup, anything is possible.

Redhill came out of the blocks the fastest and had Tonbridge on the back foot for most of the half. It was no surprise when Sam Butler gave the homesters the lead after 20 minutes with a free kick (pictured left) that, although struck well, the Tonbridge 'keeper perhaps should have done better.

When Joe Bingham (42) doubled Redhill's advantage just before half time the upset was well and truly on and Kiln Brow was rocking.

The Angels surely couldn't play as worse in the second half and a vastly improved display saw them get a goal back when Billy Medlock (59) bundled home. 

Tonbridge applied plenty of pressure in the final half hour but couldn't find a way through a stubborn Redhill defence and it was the Lobsters who deservedly progressed to the next round for the first time since season 1975/76.

SOUTH SUFFOLK HOP

Another early start! Another long day!
Today I headed to Suffolk for a cheeky treble, which meant a 6am start. The things you do in the name of this wonderful (mental?) hobby of ours!

12pm NOTTCUTTS PARK
EASTERN COUNTIES LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
WOODBRIDGE TOWN 2-2 STOWMARKET TOWN
ATTENDANCE: 134

The Eastern Counties Suffolk Hop finally got underway at Nottcutts Park, the home of Woodbridge Town. It was due to start 17 hours earlier but the Friday evening game at Felixstowe was called off just before kick due to fog, much to the amusement of some and the disappointment of many.


We arrived in Woodbridge with plenty of time to pay a visit to The GBG listed Cherry Tree for some pre-match lubrication, where we met up with a few like-minded hoppers.

This was an entertaining game with Stowmarket somehow finding themselves 2-0 down after dominating the early proceedings.  Aaron Greenwood (15) and a superb free kick from Alex Greggor (17) gave Woodbridge the advantage before Stowmarket eventually clawed their way back to take a point.

Goals from Ben License (37) and Sean Rea (64) levelled things up, which was the least they deserved. The Woodbridge goalkeeper Luke Kingham-Jones was by far and away the man of the match , making some stunning saves to keep his team in the game.

3pm 'BLOOMFIELDS'
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE NORTH
NEEDHAM MARKET 3-0 CRAY WANDERERS
ATTENDANCE: 279

The hop now headed onto Ipswich Wanderers for the next game but, having visited Humber Doucy Lane previously, I diverted to Needham Market for their Isthmian League clash with Cray Wanderers.

As with the previous game, there was time to have a few pre-match slurps in the GBG listed Rampant Horse, which was a few minutes from Needham Markets's ground, Bloomfields. The ground was named in honour of club stalwart Derrick Bloomfield.

Needham have had a storming start to the season winning nine out of ten games and today they were too strong for Cray Wanderers, who were relegated to this league back in April. I think this season may also be a long and hard one for Cray.

Captained by former Colchester United stalwart Kem Izzet, Needham scored three without reply thanks to a hat-trick from Sam Newson (14, 39 and 90). They do look worth a punt for promotion.

6pm BRANTHAM LEISURE CENTRE
EASTERN COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
BRANTHAM ATHLETIC 2-2 FC CLACTON
ATTENDANCE: 150

The final game of the day saw us head to the Brantham Leisure Centre where Brantham Athletic were taking on FC Clacton.

The ground is shared with the local cricket team but is a tidy ground for this level. At this point I must also highlight the food on sale in the clubhouse which was fantastic. The baked potato looked great but being a creature of habit I opted for a breakfast bap, well it had gone 5.30pm!

After a bright start by the home side, Clacton scored against the run of play and from that point on never looked like relinquishing the points as they raced into a three goal lead and missed numerous other chances.

A 'royal' goal from Billy Wales (9) gave Clacton the lead before a brace from Aaron Condon (60 & 71) made the three points safe.


Brantham's consolation goal was probably the best of the day as a long range effort came back off the crossbar and went in off the diving Aaron Reid's head (76).

The game was very 'tasty' to say the least with some, err, robust challenges being made by both sides. The referee just about managed to keep a lid on it.

An enjoyable end to a great day's hopping. Roll on next March when we all head to Swaffham, Thetford, Mildenhall and Newmarket.

This is the leagues take on the weekend proceedings;
http://thurlownunnleague.co.uk/foggy-start-to-south-suffolk-hop/