CADBURY ATHLETIC 4 - 0 F.C. DARLASTON

 

      BIRMINGHAM SATURDAY VASE, 3RD ROUND 

Hayes Playing Fields, Birmingham Rd, Hopwood, Worcestershire, B38 8LP

                              20/11/2021   2pm Kick Off

I had at first thought of going to a FA Vase 2nd Rd match and Atherstone Town had been top of my list but in the end I wimped out and decided to go to a more local competition, namely the Birmingham Saturday Vase.

As Cadbury Athletic at present cannot use their own excellent recreation ground pitch, due to covid restrictions, they are currently hiring out an artificial pitch on some playing fields that Alvechurch FC now own. This is the site that's primarily going to be developed for their new ground in the future and the articial pitch is hired out to different clubs in the meantime.

The Cadbury match secretary, Russell Cooke, informed me by email that this ground is a caged affair but one side has room for spectators. At first, I was not that keen but as the weather forecast is quite good I decide to go for it, plus Russell also mentioned there are refreshments available and match programmes too! 

I travel by train to Longbridge and go browsing around the local shopping centre, even buying some Christmas Cards, have a meal at Sainsbury's cafe and walk to the ground, which takes me about 50 minutes. I definitely need the exercise!

I don't realise until later that this facility lies just over the border in Worcestershire, my home county.

I make my way up the new looking road and come to a table where 2 guys from Cadbury are taking the gate money and selling the match programmes and club badges.

The road takes a left turn and the pitch is on the left as I walk up and beyond are some toilets (much needed by now), with the changing rooms behind them plus a club house that's still not fully completed inside.

I go to the entrance of the cage and walk along the spectator area till I am just over half way along and get ready for the match.

 Soon the 2 teams, come out on to the pitch, with Cadbury in their usual home strip of purple and FC Darlaston from the West Midlands League are in their away kit of all red.

The 'Chocolate Men' are in control at the start and are pressing for an early goal. Darlaston have a set back after just 6 minutes when their No.8 has to hobble off the pitch and take no further part in the proceedings!

Cadbury Athletic press well and are playing with a confidence that underlines their current good form which sees them top of the 2nd Division of the Midland Football League.

Their best first chance falls to their No.10 who I think is Tom Craine, their joint top scorer but his shot is blocked by the visitors keeper. Then their No.2 lets fly with a shot that fly's just over the bar.

Eventually the Cadbury No.9 does score and later on Tom Craine wrong foots the goalkeeper and slots home in to the bottom right-hand corner of the goal, when his team are awarded a penalty.

Darlaston do mount attacks of their own but these are usually snuffed out before they reach the penalty area and the home keeper has competently dealt with anything coming his way.

So Cadbury Athletic are 2 up at the break and are looking comfortable to move forward in to the 3rd Round draw.

At half time I go in to the club house and have a cup of tea and a ham roll. When I walk out a club official points to some steps that lead to a raised area, where the Alvechurch ground will be built. He tells me that I'm welcome to go and have a look but of course there is not much to see yet. 

The fortunes of Alvechurch have been taking an upturn in recent years and that's very good considering they are basically a village team but with a very proud history of course.

FC Darlaston are a club that was only formed in 2017 by 2 former officials of Darlaston Town, Paul Foster and Mark McIntyre. They started off by recruiting mainly local players and then signed up some former 'Town' players the next season and achieved promotion to Division One but this will (hopefully) be their first full season in the top flight, following the covid restrictions of the previous 2 league campaigns. 

The second period commences and it's Cadbury Athletic mainly on top but Darlaston do manage to implement more attacks this time round.

Tom Craine is foiled twice by the visitor's keeper in quick succession and then hits the rebound over the bar in the 59th minute.

   The Chocolate Men miss a great chance to go 3 goals up when their No.12 substitute hardly makes contact with the ball when it's passed invitingly in front of him in front of goal.

One of FC Darlaston's best players, their No.7, hits a shot over the bar after 75 minutes as a reminder that his side still intend to fight all the way.

Cadbury have other ideas and do score the all important 3rd goal soon after when the ball is glanced in at the far post when a cross comes over from the left.  

        (The Cadbury Athletic No.3 almost bends it in like Beckham)

The home side complete their scoring with 8 minutes remaining when their No.9 goes on a good run down the right and scores from close in.

Cadbury Athletic have been well worth their victory today and next week sees them hosting their close rivals and second placed team, Knowle FC. Should be quite a contest. They will be playing here at 'The Hayes' until the end of this season and then hopefully will be able to go back to their ground in Bournville.

FC Darlaston will be trying to resurrect their season as they currently occupy bottom place in their division.

Before I leave the site, I get chatting to a guy called Dougie Griffiths, who turns out to be a director of Alvechurch FC. He's an ex-player and informs me when I tell him I come from Worcester, that he was the deputy manager for 2 seasons when George Rooney was in charge at Worcester City in the 1980's. It turns out he has been involved with several Midland clubs in the past and has plenty of stories to tell.

All in all a good trip and it will be interesting to see the new Alvechurch stadium in the future.

Match Attendance:        60

Entrance Fee:               £4

Programme:                 £1

Entertainment value:  7/10  

 

 

 

WALSALL WOOD 0 - 1 WORCESTER CITY

 

   MIDLAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE, RESERVE DIVISION,

        at the BBG Stadium, Lichfield Road, Walsall Wood, WS9 9NP

                                  13/11/2021   2pm K.O.

My choice of game today, reflects my roots as I have decided to see Worcester City, the place of my birth and see their reserve team playing at Walsall Wood's ground. I had wanted to see their first team play at Romulus 2 weeks ago but my plans came unstuck when I got confused as to where the second bus taking me close to the ground in Castle Vale, was going from. The Traveline West Midlands website had not been clear on that matter and I wasted 20-30 minutes looking for the correct bus stop, so I ended up not going as I would have been late arriving.

This time around I had no such trouble as I have been to Walsall Wood's ground on 2-3 occasions before. The only problem I had was trying to eat all the meal I had ordered at the cafe I used in Walsall town centre. So I had to reluctantly leave half of the chips uneaten and hurry out for my bus at the nearby bus station.

I catch the No.10 bus which 20 minutes later drops me off just in front of the ground. 

It's just a £3 entrance fee today and I forget to ask for a programme but I think there will not be one today.

I just have time to go to the loo and when I get back outside there is a minute's silence for Remembrance Day, with both teams lined up and music provided by some Army cadets I think?

The Walsall Wood team are in their usual strip of all red while Worcester City are in an alternative strip of all green. It's nice to see that the club have a few stewards in attendance and some ball boys are provided from the club's boys teams.

When play starts, defences are mainly on top for the first 10 minutes but 'The Wood' do have 2 corners awarded for their efforts.

The home team are looking the more likely to break the deadlock and the Worcester keeper has to make a save from the Walsall No.10 on the right side of the goal, after 19 minutes. 4 minutes later and the same player makes a good run in to the visitor's box only to be thwarted again by the the keeper.

As the first-half progresses, Worcester get in to the game more and their first real chance comes in the 34th minute with their No.7 having his effort well blocked by The Wood's keeper (as shown below).

  After 36 minutes, City's No.10 hobbles off the pitch after he's made a good showing with his forward play, especially in laying off the ball for his team mates.

Worcester's No.9 then breaks through on goal after 39 minutes but his shot is acrobatically turned over the bar by the Walsall keeper. Their first choice goalkeeper certainly has some competition on that showing!

The end of the first 45 minutes sees the scoreline still goalless with the defences generally on top but it certainly hasn't been dull.

During the interval I have a warming cup of tea and I speak to a guy at the entrance end of the ground who tells me that their first team are playing up the road at Hednesford in a friendly, as they didn't have a fixture today. He also says that he manages the Twitter content for the club.

I ask him if an old guy called Bill Shaw is still connected to the club and he informs me that no, he passed away a few years ago. I tell him that I'd met Bill 2-3 times in the past and he had once kindly got the club to print some of my photos in their programme from The Wood's FA Vase victory at Malvern Town, that we had both attended the week before. He's been remembered by the club as they have named the opposite end of the ground the 'Shaw End'. A nice touch.

In the second half, the play is quite even between both teams and The Wood have a few corners at the end where I'm stood but the City defence stand up to the pressure well.

  Not to be outdone, Worcester's No.11 sees his shot from the left go past the right hand post.

After 92 minutes, Worcester take the lead and I miss the goal except that I just have time to see the ball going in to the right hand corner. I think the ball had not been able to be cleared by the Wood's defence following a corner and I find out later that the goal scorer was Armani Bennett. I think he may have been playing at No.8?

This spurs on the home team to press for an equaliser and in the last minute, a hard cross from the right is tipped over by the Worcester keeper.

The visitor's manage to keep their lead intact and I must admit, a draw may have been a fairer result but I will take the win gladly for sure.

It's been good to visit this ground again as Walsall Wood seem to be a well run and friendly club. Also it's been good to re-acquaint myself with 'The City' as I have to confess it's been a very long time since I saw them in action. It must be 7 years, when I saw their famous FA Cup victory at Coventry City, along with 3,000 other City supporters! A great day which no City fan will ever forget. Let's hope that those days will come again in the not too distant future. I have certainly been impressed with the progress the club have been making both on and off the pitch in recent times and feel that they are going in the right direction, as the fan base is certainly there.

Match Attendance:         Approx, 35-40.

Entrance Fee:                                 £3.

Match Programme:         none available 

Entertainment value:                 7.5/10                      

 

 

EDGBASTON SPARTANS 1 - 1 WELLINGTON AMATEURS DEVELOPMENT

 

   WEST MIDLANDS REGIONAL LEAGUE, DIVISION 2

  TSA Sports Ground, Eckersall Rd, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B38 8SR

                                  06/11/2021      2pm K.O.

I had planned to go to Derby again for a match but a look on my weather app put me off as it indicates rain there this afternoon. Instead I am staying in Birmingham and ticking off my first West Midlands League game for this Blog.

In the four years since I was last here in the West Midlands, there have been many clubs moving over from this league to be incorporated in to the Midlands Football League and I have been wondering what the future holds for this historic competition?

Anyhow I want to go to a game with an earlier kick-off time and so I have plumped for the 2nd Division home game of the splendidly named 'Edgbaston Spartans', who I find play at an old haunt of mine, the TSA Sports Ground, formerly the home of the now defunct Pilkington XXX and then Cadbury Athletic. I used to occasionally take photos for Pilkington for their programme but it looks as if they may have disbanded in 2017.

My journey by train to Kings Norton goes as planned and I give myself enough time to get a snack at a local cafe in nearby Cotteridge before setting off for the 20 minute walk to the ground. I am feeling a bit more optimistic about the weather as the sun has come out now and again this morning.

When I get to the ground, some of the home side players have been limbering up but there don't seem to be many spectators about and there is no-one to take money for the entrance fee. I stand by the goal at the changing room end of the ground and I ask a guy (whose face I saw on the website) if it's OK to take photos? He turns out to be the young Chairman of the club, Giani Ntente and he tells me yes that's fine. He informs me that The Spartans are a very new club (formed in 2020) and so this will be their first full proper season in action.

A bit later, another guy comes over and tells me that the entrance fee is £3 and when I pay up I get a match ticket! I later find out that he is the friend of Giani and co-founder of the club, Dimitros Ampatzidis.

The match starts a bit later than planned, with Edgbaston taking to the field in a red and white strip while Wellington are in blue and white. It looks as if Wellington have mainly young players with a few older hands thrown in.

In the early minutes it's the hosts who start off on the front foot and have several attacks on the Wellington goal but then the visitors start to launch attacks of their own and are the more dominant team in this half.

Their generally younger's players speed is causing The Spartans defence some problems and they take the lead after 18 minutes with a scrappy goal. They have a corner from the right and the Edgaston keeper and one of his fellow defenders get in each others way and the ball drops for Lewington to stab home from close in.

15 minutes later and Wellington break away when they get the ball from a Spartans corner and their No.20 shoots across goal while under pressure from a defender and sees his shot drift just wide of the right hand post.

Half-time arrives with the visitors still a goal to the good and Edgbaston will have to up their game to win this match. Both teams find themselves both near the foot of this division and have plenty to play for in the next 45 minutes.

During the first-half a spectator asks me if I can send him some photos that feature his son, Elliott Hadley and I agree to this. It turns out that he needs some photos for his portfolio as he is looking to take up a sports scholarship at a College in the U.S.A. and he is funding it himself.

When the teams come out for the second period I notice that the weather is not improving and because of the dwindling light levels I give up on taking any more photos for today. Indeed for the last 25 minutes I take shelter in the stand when it starts to rain.

An unfortunate incident takes place after just 6 minutes when the young No.11, Souleiman Adamu I think, for Spartans bursts through the middle on goal to be met by the on-rushing Wellington keeper and comes out 2nd best from the collision and eventually has to hobble off the field. A shame as he looks to be a useful player and I hope he recovers quickly.

This half sees an improvement from The Spartans and it's much more of a contest now.

The home side equalise in the 58th minute when a great through ball sends Eddie Foweather through to slot home. 

It's a very competitive game now with the play switching from end to end.

Both sides go close to scoring again and at one point I think Wellington have got the winner when one of their defenders has a header that seems destined for the right side of the Spartans goal only for it to be cleared. 

In the last few minutes Wellington finish the stronger but cannot get that 2nd goal. It ends 1-1 and I think that's a right result. Edgbaston showed great character to come back strongly and will hope to build on that.

I am glad I came to this game and it's good to see this ground still being used. I find out later that the 'Spartans' part of the club's name is due to the Greek connection as the co-founders Messers, Ntente and Ampatzidis both hail from that country and only started the club in January last year. I would have realised quicker maybe if they had been named something like 'Edgbaston Olympiakos' or AEK Edgbaston !

They are promoting the Greek and Cypriot sporting community and are also busy developing players from different cultural backgrounds. That's good to see and I wish them well in this venture.

Wellington played well and seem to have to some good young talent coming through.

 

Match Attendance:         Approx 30

Entrance Fee:                           £3

Entertainment Level:              7/10 

Match Programme:  None Available