Easter Footballing Egg-stravaganza (sorry!) Part I

This weekend I aimed to go to five football matches in five days.  It's currently Sunday and I have been to three games already.  Today is a day off before doing two games tomorrow afternoon.  This weekend should see me visit four new grounds in total and see a couple of Boston games along with a few other matches.

1/5 - England Women vs Spain Women

The first game of the five was at the New Den where England Women took on Spain Women in an important World Cup qualifier.  This is the second in a double header of qualifiers, the first of which you can read about elsewhere on this blog.  This week my £5 bought me seats in the second row of the stand, level with the penalty area.  Pleasingly the weather cleared up and went from being wet and cold to just cold, as evidenced by the risk of losing an eye every time Rachel Unitt came to take a throw in on the near side.

£5 buys good seats in the Women's game.

The lasses played well and eventually ran out 1-0 winners.  England has much the better of the first half and should've taken advantage of several chances after a Katie Chapman strike around the half hour mark.  In the second half Spain came back into the match and put more pressure on.  England managed to hold out for the win and an all important three point haul in their quest for World Cup qualification.

Rachel Unitt taking a throw, you could hang a coat on those!

Kelly Smith played a brilliant game before being subbed off.  That girl could even teach Wayne Rooney a thing or two about tracking back with an absolutely massive work rate!  Several times she put vital challenges in inside the England box.  A special mention goes out to Fara Williams who I adore for several reasons.  Fara has a brilliant array of passing and works really hard, she's like a good, attractive, non-fat version of fat Frank Lampard and she really makes the team tick from midfield.  Ellen White got her second England cap coming on as a sub in the second half and played really well again.

Fara Williams, talented in so many ways.

2/5 - Boston United vs Frickley Athletic

Boston and Frickley had agreed an evening kick off for this Good Friday fixture ensuring that all the other league results were known.  All of Boston's promotion rivals had taken three points on  Friday afternoon with Bradford, annoyingly, coming from 2-0 down to win against Kendal.  So it was that three points were essential for Boston.

It looked like it was going to be an easy, stress free night of entertainment when Anthony Church slotted home in the fourth minute.  However, Frickley had been on a great run of form recently, coming from three down to win 5-3 against Retford the previous weekend and they conspired to make this game more exciting than I'd have liked.  The Frickley equaliser came in the 22nd minute from a predictable source in the form of an ex-player. Ben Chapman, looking about five years younger than when he left Boston, hit a cracking volley from just outside the box.  The closing down could have been quicker but there were no real complaints as you can't defend shots like that.  A few minutes later and a shot on the turn from Danny Clarke left Boston with half time to wonder how the hell it'd all gone wrong.

Boston took ten minutes of the second half to quiet the moans from the fans when the superb Shaun Pearson put the ball away to equalize.  Boston continued to batter Frickley and could've scored on several occasions.  The break through came on 70 minutes with two quick goals from Weir-Daley and Canoville shattering the away team's resistance.  Boston could've had a few more goals before the final whistle. 

4-2, job done.  I can do without games like that every week though!

3/5 - Sleaford Town vs Northampton Spencer

Eslaforde Park, home of Sleaford Town.

This match made a pleasant change from the televised clash between the 'big-time charlies' in the Premier League.  Having watched United - Chelsea in a Sleaford pub I made my way towards the ground.  What I found was a really nice environment to watch football in.  The ground itself was accessible through the clubhouse, which plays host to a fully stocked bar, comfortable seats and a big TV showing Sky Sports News.  After pausing for a quick, reasonably priced pint, I entered the ground proper.

The small terrace behind the right hand goal.

The ground itself is encompassed by a six foot perimeter fence.  The dugouts sit along the clubhouse side with a covered seating area opposite and a miniature terrace off behind the right hand goal.  I chose to watch the game from this terrace and in the first half this put me behind the home goal.

The home goal keeper, Andrew Scott, has to be one of the fattest keepers I have ever seen.  The large stature of the man belies his mobility and on several occasions he was solely responsible for keeping Sleaford in the game.  I can see on this quality performance why he has played 300 odd times for Town.  The first half was fairly even with both sides getting good opportunities.  It seemed that neither side really wanted to take the game though and the opportunities were spurned.  0-0 at half time and a cracking portion of chips and curry sauce was needed along with a pint to wash it down while watching Soccer Saturday.

The chubby keeper, surprisingly mobile!

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first with chances to score being fluffed.  A mix up at the back and some shoddy defending finally gave Northampton Spencer a chance they couldn't refuse.  1-0.  More chances fell to Town who, it seemed, wouldn't have scored if they were there all week.  One golden opportunity was denied when a clear penalty was given then over-ruled by the linesman and given as a free kick.  The lino., sporting the thickest glasses ever (there are a few milk bottle factories missing their bottle bottoms), got that decision very, very wrong.

On balance Sleaford probably deserved a point out of the game.  I found out later that Town also had quite a few players out and this surely can't have helped.  Still the impression that lasts is how nice a place Eslaforde park is to visit.

In part two...

...  I do two games in one afternoon as Radford FC take on Gelding Town and Boston United travel to Hucknall Town.

Getting In Touch With England's Feminine Side

Thursday saw England take on Austria at Loftus Road in the first of a double header of Women's World Cup 2011 Qualifiers, with a game against a strong Spain side a week away.  For those of you unfamiliar with the fastest growing women's sport in this country, next summer sees Germany host the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup tournament.  After an impressive run in the UEFA Women's Euro' 2009 competition, England reached the final before being outclassed by a all conquering German team, England will be hoping to be there.  Despite this success qualification for the World Cup is hardly assured...

Loftus Road, home of QPR and, for tonight, England Women.

The UEFA section qualification process for the Women's World Cup is a bit convoluted but I will endeavour to make it as clear as possible.  41 European teams are drawn into eight groups.  The eight group winners are drawn into play-offs with the four winning teams joining Germany at the tournament finals.  The four losing teams play-off against each other until there is one team remaining.  The remaining team is then entered into a play-off against the team placed third from the CONCACAF section with the winner going to the World Cup.  Simple, right?

England, the favourites being the highest FIFA ranked team (8th) in the group, share group five with a free scoring Spain side who have scored 21 goals in their first four games without conceding once.  England have also started strongly, beating group whipping girls Malta 8-0 and Turkey 3-0 before Thursday's game.  Their opponents at Loftus Road have narrowly lost to Spain twice and have picked up three points by defeating Malta.  Realistically England must come out on top in their head-to-head clashes with Spain and win the rest of their games, starting with Austria to ensure qualification.

Two sides of Loftus Road are open for the game and just under 4,000 people have braved the light drizzle to be there.  My £5 has bought me a seat on the upper tier of the South Africa Road stand, in the platinum season ticket area no less.  Just 20 yards away, in front of the press box, Sir Trevor Brooking takes his seat.  Plenty of families have turned up and as the teams line up and the national anthems sound out the atmosphere starts to build.  Six enforced changes have been made to the England team that beat Turkey in the last outing but the squad has the depth to have this many girls out and still bring in some talented players.

The anthems are played as kick off nears.

Kick-off arrives quickly and England start well.  England's right flank is particularly strong with Dunia Susi and Alex Scott combining well to create several chances.  The Austrian keeper, Jasmin Pfeiler, has a poor start to the game and has to rely on a combination of good luck and help from her defenders to get her out of a few sticky situations.  The England front-line continue to look threatening and as the half wears on it seems that a goal is inevitable.  Lianne Sanderson duly provides with a deflected looping header on 16 minutes after some fantastic work by Eni Aluko to get a cross in.  This is the highlight of the first half for England and after scoring the performance starts to slip.  England give away numerous free kicks and Austria, looking good on set pieces, threaten to take advantage.  England are probably happier to hear the half-time whistle than Austria.

The second half begins where the first left off.  England have good chances but some excellent goal keeping from a much improved Pfeiler keep them out.  Austria look threatening with the Austrian captain Nina Aigner starting to run the midfield.  Most of the problems were of England's own making though, as the defenders struggle to clear their lines and begin to drop deeper.  The home side were kicked back into life after a scare as a Daniella Tasch shot rattled the crossbar.

The second half gets going.

England's right came to life once more, and after a good spell of pressure Alex Scott somehow contrived to miss an absolute sitter from two yards.  Striker Ellen White was handed her début as Hope Powell reshuffled, boldly replacing right back Susi.  Several chances followed before Sanderson returned the earlier favour and crossed for Aluko to volley home a well struck effort.  That goal effectively ended the match as a competition

It could have been three when Fara Williams, now bossing the midfield with a great array of pinpoint passing, drove an effort against the crossbar from 25 yards.  Powell handed the second début of the night to Claire Rafferty and with three minutes left on the clock and the game appeared to be over.  However some impressive play from Sanderson, who had shown quality touches all night, put Ellen White through to deftly lob Pfeiler in a beautiful finish to her first full international appearance.

This women's international provided great entertainment, especially for a £5 entrance fee!  Women's football is slower paced than the men's game but there is no lack of skill or physical challenges.  The match officials would be welcomed in any game as they did not put a foot wrong all night.  The next clash against Spain will be a much tougher challenge for the lasses but this win is an important step towards qualification leaving England three points behind Spain with a game in hand.

If you are about in the London area on Thursday (1st April) then get some tickets from the Millwall website and come along to the New Den.  If you can't get there but are stuck for something to do you can watch the match live on the FA website.