St Albans 3-2 Halifax A game we could and should have been taking all three points from. Poor defending for all three goals, but some good saves from our keeper when they actually did create some chances. Our strikers missed some good chances, and the referee didn't help with a possible last minute effort by blowing the whistle for an injury as the ball came back into the box (the player had been lying injured for some time and got up again quickly too). Their ground is in a park, must only barely meet Conference standards, an interesting one which the main stand appears to have been built in various sections. The roof is uneven, most of the ground uncovered. I like it.
Aldershot 3-2 Burton Albion Aldershot came from two goals down to see off Burton. Burton were ahead within a minute, Aaron Webster crossing for Daryl Clare to hammer home, and 12 minutes later Clare set up Andrew Corbett to score. Darren Stride pulled one back with a 25th-minute penalty after he was fouled and eight minutes before the break John Grant equalised with a header. Ryan Williams smashed home a winner before John Grant was shown a red card for foul language after the whistle. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_conf/6282047.stm Brings the shots up to 11th place in the table.
Halifax 3-1 Redditch A new look home side these days, only two of last seasons playoff runners-up were in action for the full 90 minutes, with another two also playing a part. Dominated the game but gave away a sloppy goal and allowed them to come back at us. A good result, qualifying for the quarter finals of the FA Trophy for the first time.
This could be rather interesting. I'm due to be setting off for the Shay in a few minutes. Got a couple of other things to do on the way, so am going despite the prospect of the game being called off (a 50-50 chance apparently, inspection at 10:30). And the roads into Derbyshire could be interesting.
Halifax PvP Northwich Well this was interesting. Travelled nearly 500 miles, saw no football, had my exhaust fall off, brakes gave up the ghost all round and had to spend time I didn't want to waiting to get my car fixed. Stafford 2-3 Halifax An entertaining and eventful game. Lost our main central defender after five minutes, conceeded a sloppy goal a minute later, but spent most of the first half attacking. Two goals midway through the half, and then conceeded a penalty just before the break. Keeper saves it (after being responsible for it in the first place) and even manage to be two up by the break. Spend the second half defending, six minutes added on too due to a lot of injuries. They got one back, but thankfully missed chances to equalise. Worst injury was when two of their players collided, one of them needing to be stretched off with a head injury. The ground is probably the worst I've been too. Small and not in very good condition. Definitely not one for the League.
That's probably about average overall, perhaps a little low for Aldershot as Southport can't have brought many fans down. Highest at the moment is Oxford around five to six thousand, some of the semi-pro sides will be lucky to get 1,000 (including Stafford today when we had a few hundred in the crowd).
About 1,600 is the norm, although we do tend to go up a little, rather than down, from that figure. Only twice over 2,000 this season. York and Southport (the latter being the first home game of the season). It seems to be a pretty settled crowd, most of the 7,000 or so at the playoff final don't appear to have come very often since, although the away following does seem a lot bigger this season. The largest crowds I've been part over the past few years were when Chester and Doncaster were in the division, both relatively local and well supported. They also picked up a lot when we won the title in 98, were getting over 4,000 for some pretty small opponents.
Kidderminster 3-1 Halifax FA Trophy fixture this one. At half time we were 1-0 up and looking quite reasonable (the goal itself just before the break). Came out for the second half a changed team. Two poor goals to conceed, and they started to dominate. Never really got going again and let in another soft goal to finish. Kidderminster do have one, if not the best, ground in the Conference. Whilst newer it doesn't give the impression of being totally concrete and has variety in it's stands. Approriate size too.
Woking 2-2 Halifax Not a surprising result, it happens in about a third of the games between the two sides. Took the lead, conceeded two and played the last half hour with no recognised central defenders (but did have four full backs). Injuries really haven't helped this season. The equaliser for us came in the third and final minute of injury time. Long throw in and their defender headed over his own keeper . A really odd ground. One large and modern stand behind a goal, a small main stand which wouldn't be out of place at a side just above park level and two small terraces (one covered). So the place looks odd, but not in a good way. It's also not segregated, quite possibly the only professional side in the country not to do this (although I do believe for certain fixtures they do). And I can recall a game in the past here abandoned due to a hole in the pitch.
Kidderminster 1-0 Halifax After managing to get out of Reading before the M4 became too clogged up (past Maidenhead) due to someone rolling his car onto its roof, had a pretty steady journey up to Kidderminster. Having no fit central defenders, three out of the first four choice for up front out as well, this was a makeshift side. In the middle at the back we had the second choice left back and the third choice right back. Actually played the best football before the break, creating many chances, but forcing their keeper to do very little. One break they got and it was deflected in by one of our defenders. Pretty unfortunate. After the break Kidderminster looked stronger, and our keeper was very busy. But overall a creditable defensive performance. Poor at the other end, our captain, Tom Kearney, wasting several chances from midfield in particular. With only a couple of months to go, we have the games in hand and have the players to stay up, but whether we can get them on the field to do the job is debatable. Two points and two places above the drop zone, it's not looking good.
Tamworth 1-0 Halifax Conceeded an early goal after three minutes, got a shot on target (blocked by one of our own players) eighty minutes later. A poor performance, and we need better with three straight away games and only two points above the drop zone. The unrepaired bit of my exhaust fell off too .
7-2 win at Stockport virtually ensures Rochdale will be entering our 34th year in the basement division next season. Who looks like coming up?
Just having a look at the Conference North table, and noticed Lancaster City -1. What's the story with that?
Dagenham are almost certainly going to be champions (only Oxford or York could catch them, but unlikely). Those two should be playoff favourites, with two of Burton, Exeter, Morecambe and Stevenage to make up the numbers.
No money, so they've gone into administration. Having to play pretty much a youth team for the season they were pretty keen to get the 10 point deduction this season, where relegation has been certain throughout, rather than next where it could be crucial.
I always like it when teams who have never been in the Football League before get promoted. I'm rooting for Dagenham and Morecambe
I'd certainly like to see Dagenham go up (as they really should have already had the chance - rather than Boston). From the other contenders, I wouldn't mind seeing Morecambe either. As you say a new side for the League, and they've probably been the most cosistent contenders for the past few seasons. As for the others, I can see (mostly selfish) reasons why I'd like to see them go up. Oxford - actually one of the closest to me (and certainly the easist to get to), but I really don't like the ground, and the city put me off even applying to the uni. And happy with a longer drive too. York - another poor ground, although a fantastic city. Only ground where I've ever been made to feel uncomfortable by the police. Exeter - actually I like the trip here, they can stay down. Burton - If they do get promoted, Burton must surely become the place after London to have had most League sides.
I quite liked York. I only went there once, for a Tuesday night game in our 93/4 promotion season. We lost 0-1, but I thought it quite pleasant on a mild spring evening. Accrington has had 3 clubs. The original Accrington, founder members of the league. Accrington Stanley, who went bust, who were a completely different club. And the present Accrington Stanley, who have no actual genuine connection with the other Accrington Stanley, even though they have the same name. Bootle have also played in the league, making 3 Liverpool teams. ps. thought I'd have my occasional venture into the conference and went to see Aldershot beat St Albans 2-0 today. Sadly no player had a greater influence on the game than the wind, and it was an appalling match. Not the greatest pictures in the world, but it wasn't the greatest game in the world either. Penalty. The Rec Relief rather than elation after the second.
Gravesend 2-0 Halifax Third bottom and needing ten points from six games now to stand a good chance of survival. Not looking good at all. The performance was shocking. After being originally abandoned with us 2-1 up and playing well, this was bad throughout. Strange thing is we don't actually have that bad a side, everyone without fail hasn't played to standards we know they are capable of. The most likely way of avoiding the Conference North at the moment looks like the club going out of business. Supposedly some investors keen to get involved, but it doesn't look promising.
Burton are already at three as it stands (Swifts, Wanderers and United - albeit the latter a merger of the earlier two). Good pictures, you managed to take a wander around the ground, notice that looks like John Grant celebrating. We're missing him this season, lacking a regular goal scorer. St Albans are a poor side (with an interesting ground).
Aldershot's ground is curious in that although they have designated away turnstiles, both home and away turnstiles come out in exactly the same place. The home end is segregated rather brutally by an obstrusive double fence, but there's nothing to stop home fans wandering into the away sections if they wish. Remarkably that was also true in Aldershot's league days. The ground is actually in a public park, and apparently it used to be the case (an indeed, may still be) that you could walk right round the back of the segregated end into the other teams section if you so wished. I used to know a couple of fans of Aldershot from days gone past, and they recalled a "hampshire derby" between Aldershot and Portsmouth in Div 4, when Portsmouth brought about 6000 fans (out of 10,000 there) and this honest-based segregation method was surprisingly not quite up to the job. I've never been to St Albans' ground (nearly did once after Watford v Reading was called off many years ago with us nearly at the ground, only to find St Albans' match was also off after going there instead) but I do remember that they used to have a tree in the middle of the terracing at one end of the ground, and the conference refused to let them be promoted because of it. the true was protected by a preservation order or similar, so they couldn't chop it down either. I think they then suddenly discovered the tree was diseased and chopped it down.
It certainly surprised me on my first visit down there, although then we could leave via the same exit as the home fans. The second trip we were directed away from that exit, so a trip through the park instead. The St Albans tree puzzles me though, I knew about the story, but from seeing the ground wonder why a bit of terracing couldn't have just been sealed off. Wouldn't have noticeably affected the capacity, and if stable wouldn't have posed a danger.
I think the conference was just being a bit sniffy about it, saying it presented an unprofessional image or something similar. It was very much in that era of draconian ground rules about 10 years ago, when clubs being denied promotion around that level was almost more common than them being allowed up. Wokingham Town, for example, used to be a few miles down the road from me. They had a very good season, and were challenging Slough for the Rymans League title, but were forced to pay for ground improvements before going up, without knowing if they'd go up or not. In the end they came second and the resulting debts crippled the club and they had to sell the ground. From being 2 points from the conference and one game from the FA Trophy final, they are now about 6 divisions lower after having to merge with an amateur club in the town to survive. I remember Colne Dynamos having a spectacular season in the Unibond league, winning it by an absolute mile, but the conference turned them down for promotion. The chairman was so disgusted that he disbanded the club. Anyway, good luck in the survival bid. Halifax were always the Archetypical Division Four club, and as a kid I always had a strange curiosity about them as they were so obscure (to a southerner). Even TV highlights of a cup tie v Spurs (lost 1-5) provided no clues, as it was too dark to see the stands.