WEST COUNTRY FOOTBALL

Bitton AFC 0 – 4 Bristol City

Bitton AFC 0 – 4 Bristol City
Preseason Friendly
Saturday 7th July 2018
The Recreation Ground, Bitton
Attendance: ~ 2000

This was Bristol City’s chosen Community Match for the 2018/19 preseason – their attempt to help out a local club by playing them in a friendly and allowing the hosts to split the gate receipts with the Robins’ Community charity.

The Championship side won this match comfortably, and fielded 33 different players for 30 minutes each, but of course it was about more than just the final score.

Bee Happy

Trowbridge Town 1 – 0 Devizes Town Reserves
Wiltshire Senior League
Saturday 17th October 2020
Woodmarsh, Trowbridge (view on map)
Attendance: ~45 (head count)
Admission: £3

The Season So Far:

Trowbridge Town come into this game with a so far unremarkable record – 2 wins and 4 losses from the first 6 games, followed by a 2-0 victory against Corsham Town Reserves in the midweek. Home wins against Stratton Juniors and an impressive 5-0 versus Ludgershall Sports mean that they currently sit in 9th, however the table is slightly hard to read as teams have played anywhere between 5 and 10 matches. The pick of the games so far must surely be away at Purton where the former Southern League side found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-4 scoreline. In midweek The Bees won away at Corsham Town Reserves so will be confident of securing a result today.

Devizes Reserves are one of those to have only managed 4 games so far, and indeed have failed to secure a single point thus far. Not managing to score in all but one of these games will no doubt be troubling for manager Chris O’Donovan and they’ll be seeking to turn things around against The Bees. The one goal they have scored came away at a decent Shrewton United so there should be some comfort in that. A midweek game at home to bottom club Ludgershall Sports saw them easily gain their first 3 points of the season against the early strugglers. Can they make it two in a row this afternoon?

All’s Wells That Ends Well

Wells City 6 – 0 Godolphin Atlantic
FA Vase – 1st Qualifying Round
Saturday 19th September 2020
The Athletic Ground, Wells (view on map)
Attendance: 77
Admission: £6

The Season So Far:

The Cornish visitors started their South West Peninsula Premier West season with a couple of heavy away defeats before earning a point away at St. Dennis this time last week. Against Bodmin Town in midweek they returned to losing ways, but by all accounts gave a good account of themselves. They’ll be looking to the FA Vase to find their form. The home side lost away to Southern League Bideford in the FA Cup last time out, and have had a full week to prepare for this game. Having played just the one league game – a 2-1 home win over Bishops Lydeard – Wells City will want to prove their cup competition credentials against this relatively unknown opposition. The teams play at the same level – Step 10 of the football pyramid – so on paper this should be a close match. However, as we know, things are rarely that straight forward; particularly in knockout tournaments. Before Covid-19 put pay to last season, Wells were flying high in the Western League Division One – sitting in 4th and with a definite chance of promotion. Godolphin were bottom of their league and potentially facing relegation to the recently formed St. Piran league.

Field Day

Westbury United 0 – 2 Binfield FC
FA Cup – Extra Preliminary Round
Tuesday 1st September 2020
Meadow Lane, Westbury (view on map)
Attendance: 93
Admission: £6

The Season So Far:

Being the first competitive match of both of these teams’ seasons we only have the abandoned 2019/20 season, and this summer’s preseason friendlies to talk about. The away side – travelling to Wiltshire from Berkshire for this game – compete at the same level as Westbury, albeit in the Hellenic Premier Division. When last season was halted Binfield were 2nd in the league, 13 points behind Westfields but with 4 games in hand over the leaders. Their final friendly resulted in a 1-1 draw at home to Beaconsfield Town of the Southern League Premier South; surely a morale boosting result for The Moles. Prior to that they won all but one of their warm-up games so should go into this FA Cup match full of confidence.

The hosts, who finished 12th last season in the Western League Premier Division, played their final friendly the day after today’s opponents’. Travelling to Badshot Lea, the Whitehorse Men found themselves at the wrong end of a 2-1 final score. The rest of their preseason was a bit of a mixed bag – losing to Longwell Green and Calne Town of the league below, but defeating Portland United, Radstock Town and Wiltshire neighbours Warminster Town. A 2-2 draw with Southern League Willand Rovers completed their preseason fixture list.

United We Stand

Staverton United 2 – 1 Warminster United
Preseason Friendly
Saturday 15th August 2020
Bowerhill Sports Pavilion, Melksham (view on map)
Attendance: 17 (Headcount)
Admission: Free

The Season So Far:

The home side ply their trade in the Trowbridge and District League Division Two (Step 9 of the non league pyramid – a feeder league to the Wiltshire County League) and finished 2nd before Covid-19 spoiled things for everyone. Warminster United find themselves in the Division above, finishing 4th before the same fate befell them. Both teams have this game as their first of the preseason so it is tricky to try and predict what the outcome might be. Warminster won the League’s A&B Cup last April (against Staverton, nonetheless) – their first ever silverware. Not bad for a side formed in 2018. Staverton were a new club for the ill-fated last season. They were on course for a good finish so will be out to prove themselves again this year.

2019/20 Season Review

It will come as no surprise when I say that, for me, the 19/20 season ended in a less than ideal manner. Nearly 3 months since the last match I was able to attend, I have just about processed what has happened and now I look forward to next season (whenever that may be). In the meantime I anticipate the birth of my first child any day now with massive excitement. Part of me was slightly reluctant to do this review of the season for fairly obvious reasons, however I thought it would be good to draw a line under it. So here goes…

St George’s Day

Roman Glass St George 2 – 1 Cadbury Heath FC
Western League – Premier Division
Saturday 7th March 2020
Oaklands Park, Bristol
Attendance: 52

The Season So Far:

Going into this game it looked to me as though there was nothing to play for for either team: Roman Glass in 13th and with too much to do to threaten the teams vying for promotion, and Cadbury Heath in 17th yet 15 points clear of bottom placed Odd Down. To be honest I was just wanting to go to a game and, given the 3G pitch at Oaklands Park, this one was unlikely to be called off… especially given the lack of rain predicted for today.

Swiss Role

FC Zurich 1 – 1 Neuchatel Xamax
Swiss Super League
Saturday 22nd February 2020
Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich
Attendance: 7,722

The Season So Far:

I’m not normally a follower of Swiss football, my awareness of it mainly coming from teams such as Basel and Young Boys’ participation in European competitions. There are just ten teams in the Super League, today’s home team still battling for a place in the Europa League sitting in 5th. The visitors – relegation play-off survivors last seasons – looking up at all but one of their rival clubs. Surely this should be easy for FCZ!

Well, winter break friendlies aside, they were still looking for their first win of 2020. Before this, inconsistent results including a 3-1 away win over league leaders St Gallen and a 5-0 home defeat to Servette, suggested the outcome tonight would be less straightforward. On the other hand Xamax were looking for another win after beating Sion away the previous weekend.

Better Late Than Never

Bradford Town 2 – 1 Shepton Mallet AFC
Western League – Premier Division
Wednesday 12th February 2020
Trowbridge Road, Bradford-on-Avon
Attendance: 111

Bradford Town have been enjoying a fruitful season since I last visited in pre-season. Currently sitting top of the Western League despite their exploits in the FA Vase meaning they have games in hand over some of the chasing pack. However, their attempts to reach Wembley were dashed at the weekend as they went down 3-1 at home to Leighton Town of the Spartan South Midlands League. Winning all four league games so far this calendar year, Town should remain confident of challenging Plymouth Parkway for promotion to the Southern League, but will find tonight’s opponents – currently 4th – stiff opposition.

Shepton Mallet are 7 points behind their hosts but have played a couple more games, having been knocked out of the FA Vase back in October. They are in a rich vein of form, winning the last 6 matches, going all the way back to a 4-0 win over Odd Down on Boxing Day. While a late push for promotion is not out of the question, it will be a tough ask for the Somerset side with only one automatic promotion spot and only 2nd place entering the play-offs. This should be a great contest!

The Cowes jumped over the Moon

Bemerton Heath Harlequins 5 – 1 East Cowes Victoria
Wessex League – Division One
Saturday 11th January 2020
Moon Park, Bemerton
Attendance: 54

The Season So Far:

My second Wessex League game of the season sees me travel south to Moon Park, just outside of Salisbury. Home of Bemerton Heath Harlequins who I saw defeat Warminster Town in preseason. Harlequins currently sit 6th in the table and, given that the top 4 teams will be promoted (according to Wikipedia – i’ll try to find some further evidence), are well set to make an assault on the promotion places. However they come into this game off the back of 2 league defeats – their last league win being an impressive 8-0 home win against bottom club Folland Sports.

The away side, making the long trip up from the Isle of Wight, find themselves in 17th position. Despite this they should be reasonably confident of surviving given that, due to Pewsey Vale quitting the league, only one team will be relegated come the end of the season. A recent win against Folland, plus impressive draws against top half Downton, and Whitchurch United will give East Cowes reassurance that they certainly have a good chance of coming away from this tie with something.