Just like Andy I've been clocking up another country point (#34).
Saturday's mediocre offering was Apollon Limassol 1 AEK Larnaca 0. Shit game won with an 84th minute penalty. Thankfully the home support was pretty good, otherwise I may have fallen asleep.
Sunday was another topflight Cypriot game - Ethnikos Achnas 3 AEL Limassol 1. Slightly better than the previous evening, complete with howlers by both keepers. Home support was very poor, with two thirds of the crowd being very noisy away fans (after seeing these 2 games I get the feeling a Limassol derby could be worth seeing - atmosphere wise at least).

@Jack Sparrow. I got tickets today for Anorthosis Famagusta v Internazionale. Price 80 euros. In my mind I guess that probably bags the most ridiculous match prize.

Saw my first Champions League game for a couple of years last night - Anorthosis Famagusta v Inter. Better than I expected, although comical goalkeeping and defending ensured an open game. A draw was about right, but if Inter can concede 3 against that lot then I don't see them going too far in the competition.

2472 excited souls, packed like sardines into Croft Park. The sun shone, the gray clouds blew over, it rained, then the sun shone again. The banter had barely settled to a murmur when Shawn Reay latched onto Robbie Dale's astute pass after 30 seconds and rifled the ball into the Shrewsbury net. Cue incessant Shrews pressure. Blyth stood firm, their central defenders like twin green and white rocks against the blue and yellow waves.
A break away down the right, Reay again, 2 goals to null and the Blyth faithful were in blythe spirits.
The second half opened to a similar pattern when a Spartan attack produced an opening deep on the right, close to the goal line. The Shrewsbury keeper came when he shouldn't, the ball was pulled back beyong him and defender Todd bundled the ball home, 3-0. Surely game over? But no, a Holt header after 68 minutes at the Plessey Road end meant fingernails were bitten but the Spartans were not to be denied their Thermopylae and march into the next round. No.3 in the draw.
Magnificent entertainment - and I was there.....

Stuart Hall was not involved in this match report in any way.

@Les: I can't believe you were there - as they won .

My Saturday comprised:
Nea Salamis 1 Omonia Aradippou 0
A real poor quality game in Cyprus's second tier. The home team created loads of chances, but only managed to convert one with a near post header from a corner. Not a bad two-sided ground adjacent to a roundabout. It's possible to see the floodlights at both the Anorthosis Famagusta and AEK Larnaka grounds from the top of the stand.

AEK Larnaka 2 AEL Limassol 0 (Abandoned after 80 minutes)
Terrible first half, slightly better after the break. Having seen both sides lose last weekend it was easy to see why they were short on confidence. The home side broke the deadlock with two quickfire goals on 76 and 79, both of which the away fans were convinced were offside (although they looked onside to me). We were sat in the away end as it was nearest to the car park and we had to make a speedy exit for the airport. When the second goal went in the AEL fans went berserk and started breaking seats and throwing them onto the pitch. The ref took the players off the pitch very quickly, and we took the decision to leave before it got worse.
From these pictures

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it looks like we made the right decision.

I've redone the link asI think it wasn't working properly.

Sanktpaulee wrote:

@Les: I can't believe you were there - as they won .

And Billingham Chris and he's a bigger jinx than me! Maybe Dani countered the juju by her attending - although we didn't see her.....

GeordieLes wrote:

Sanktpaulee wrote: @Les: I can't believe you were there - as they won . And Billingham Chris and he's a bigger jinx than me! Maybe Dani countered the juju by her attending - although we didn't see her.....

If you want to watch the highlights of this (and the other games in the round):

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Tuesday was a welcome break from rioting Cypriots and a return to obscure non-league competiton in the shape of Dudley Sports v Studley in the Worcestershire Senior Urn.
Crap game, won 2-1 in extra time by Studley. The ground was better than I expected (they had seats) but the pitch was very heavy.
Night off tonight, as I just can't be arsed.

FA Vase action today as i headed to see Harefield United of the Spartan South Midland Prem League against Barkingside from the Essex League.

Harefield isn't the easiest place to get to(apart from bus which i don't do often) so i got off at Denham and walked the three miles or so to Preston Park.
En-route i'd cross the border from South Bucks into the borough of Hillingdon and then after 45 mins i'd arrived at the ground.

Now, i'd got a record to keep up with Harefield(excuse me but i've mentioned this before) as i'd seen them three times, all away, all against teams beginning with "B", all games won by Harefield.

A tidy set up here,a small seated area under cover and a covered area on the dugouts side bidding "Welcome to Preston Park, home of the 'hares", it was very refreshing to see a large number of kids in Harefield kits with the youth team pitch just adjacent.

I'd wandered around to one side as an eldery gent came up to me and asked "are you local?", so i explained i wasn't,so he was interested to hear how i'd come to pick Harefield and was amazed that i'd travelled from Marylebone(and Ramsgate beforehand) just to watch his club.
It was great to talk to this gent for a while,as he regaled me with tales of how he used to play for Uxbridge after the war(pre-Honeycroft ground days)and how he'd last been on a train just after the war and how he'd only been as far as France. Made me think how lucky that we are these days really with my wanderings and travels.

Harefield took the lead with a pen after 15 mins before Barkingside restored parity with a goal that looked offisde to all except their bench.

The 'hares stepped it up after the break and as per usual when i watch them, they played some glorious stuff, one goal disallowed for offside following a sublime move from a corner, this was a real shame as it was an inspired move.

They then got the winner they deserved to keep up my 100% record of the 'Hares over the B's

A first in the first half, corner delayed after the lino had to nip off for a pee !

Nice place, decent people and a great game, well done the hares

A long trek out to Lowestoft for an FA Vase clash between Kirkley & Pakefield v Dereham Town for me.
Both are in the top five of the Eastern Counties Premier, so I expected a competitive game. Competitive it was, as they pretty much kicked the crap out of each other, with the home side being particularly ill-disciplined (they had a league game abandoned a few weeks back after one of their side slapped a referee). Without going into great detail they managed to get 2 players sent off, and it could well have been 3. Dereham won it near the end with a sweet half volley from their left back from 20 yards.
Despite the team not being good to watch Kirkley are a friendly club with really good facilities, and their programme is as thick as a phone book.

As a postscript from the Harefield report on Saturday, i sometimes write a report on the well known non-league forum apart from sharing the gory details with you lucky lucky people.

Yesterday i had a superb pm from the Harefield United manager, who'd read my report on the Kempster forum and he'd taken the time to register and respond to me personally.

The gist of it was, compliments all round and a warm invitation to visit this decent club again as i'm seen as a lucky mascot !

Just the sort of thing that makes the Non-League scene so good and shows that are some real diamonds out there.

Again well done to Harefield and their gaffer.

andy tranmere wrote:

As a postscript from the Harefield report on Saturday, i sometimes write a report on the well known non-league forum apart from sharing the gory details with you lucky lucky people. Yesterday i had a superb pm from the Harefield United manager, who'd read my report on the Kempster forum and he'd taken the time to register and respond to me personally. The gist of it was, compliments all round and a warm invitation to visit this decent club again as i'm seen as a lucky mascot ! Just the sort of thing that makes the Non-League scene so good and shows that are some real diamonds out there. Again well done to Harefield and their gaffer.

Andy. Mail him and see if they'll give you a lift to Lowestoft in the next round. I'd expect it to be over 500 attendance, although the Hares will probably get turned over. (That's Lowestoft jinxed then).

Ticked off my last Essex Senior League ground last night with a visit to newly promoted Takeley. The club is based about a 5 minute bus ride from Stansted airport in what would be quite a nice setting if it weren't for the constant drone of the jet engines.
The ground isn't much to shout about at the moment, as the stand is still under construction. The game wasn't up to much either, despite Takeley being 2nd in the table and it being a derby v Stansted. Both were guilty of a glaring miss in the first half, before Takeley put one of their chances away after the break to win it. Decent gate for Takeley of 110.

Decided to give the meaningless friendly on tv a miss tonight and instead went to Bishops Cleeve v Totton in the Southern League.
I reckon the good people of Cheltenham didn't share my apathy for the internationals, as there was well under a hundred at the game. Those that stayed away missed possibly the worst linesman I've ever seen. He managed to rule out a Totton goal, presumably giving offside. Neither set of supporters could work out what he was seeing. The game finished 1-1, and I was a bit disappointed with Totton as they didn't play like a team near the top of the table.

After work this morning, i headed for Sittingbourne to catch the Kent County Premier League match up at Milton & Fulston United.

A brief jaunt up the high street in the town and my trackie top was recognised by a Sittingbourne fan, he asked me if i'd ever seen St Pauli play first time that i'd ever been asked that particular question, still it made his day anyway.

They're a new club this season as the former Premier club Milton Athletic had struggled to raise teams last season, so a merger with local junior side Fulston Zebras to maintain their senior status seemed the way forward to the club.

A minutes' silence was immaculately observed for a club stalwart who'd died aged 99, his links with the original club went back to 1925 !!

History today as they produced their first ever programme, decent effort as well, like Canterbury City i was charged £2 for admission via the prog.

Bearsted started well and after a very decent first half from them they were 3-0 up at a canter.

Second half, Milton scored two in 2 minutes, before they got an equaliser from their skipper with an excellent chip over the advancing keeper on the edge of the box.

With 15 mins to go, Bearsted got the winner with a stunning lob from just inside the Milton half that sailed over the despairing keeper.

Bitterly cold afternoon but a match to warm the cockles.

In a change of plan I ventured into the sheep-bothering county to see Gresley Rovers v Stocksbridge Park Steels. Gresley are in serious financial brown stuff, and lost about 8 of their players last week. Two more were making their final appearances before moving on, so it was very much a patchwork side fielded by Gresley.
The game wasn't bad, although there was a major shortage of goal opportunities. Stocksbridge eventually took the lead on 83 with a tap in from a low cross, and sealed it with a penalty 5 minutes later.
The ground is really old, surrounded by houses, and has a ridiculous slope in one half. The tea bar was more like a proper chippy, and they did a roaring trade in chips and mushy peas.