Lower Leagues Hike

[Pacman1903]

Went to Maidstone United v Ebbsfleet on Saturday. Away end. Time-warped back to the 70s. Good crowd. Local derby. Bottles flying. Good pies, nice programme, glorious day, last minute clincher for 2-0 Ebbsfleet. Grreat day.

Nice one. I want to try oot a lower league guffball game. Was thinking about Blyth Spartans as they are relatively close

Fit league are Maidstone and Ebbsfleet these days?

[deaconred]

They are in the Vanarama National League. Maidstone are looking dead certs for relegation to the National League South, whilst Ebbsfleet are in with a chance of making the (complicated) play-offs for a place in League Two.

Not sure how they work the North/South League thing. How do they ensure the same numbers each year without having - say - Dover in the National League North?

Attendance was apparently 3002 on Saturday with over 700 Ebbsfleet fans making the short journey. Apparently there is not an actual place called Ebbsfleet but there is a railway station. When they went one up, their fans started singing:

One nil to the rail station ..

I liked that.

[Pacman1903]

Not sure how they work the North/South League thing. How do they ensure the same numbers each year without having - say - Dover in the National League North?

Attendance was apparently 3002 on Saturday with over 700 Ebbsfleet fans making the short journey. Apparently there is not an actual place called Ebbsfleet but there is a railway station. When they went one up, their fans started singing:

.

Same as the HFL. If Cove go up this year and Albion or Berwick come down then that's an odd number in LFL and HFL. Its when it hypothetically happens over and over again and one league ends up decimated it will become complicated

Ebbsfleet were Gravesend and Northflleet before were they not?

[deaconred]

Same as the HFL. If Cove go up this year and Albion or Berwick come down then that's an odd number in LFL and HFL. Its when it hypothetically happens over and over again and one league ends up decimated it will become complicated

Ebbsfleet were Gravesend and Northflleet before were they not?

Yes. Went bust? Tried a crowdfunding thing where each £30 investor got a share and a vote in the (day to day) running of the club. Now run along fairly conventional lines. Not really sure tho.

Looked it up. If - after relegation and promotion issues are settled - there is an imbalance in the NLS and NLN, then one of the midlands-based teams has to move division. Last time - apparently - it happened, Worcester City had to change from being a North team to a South team. Great if you are a groundhopper.

[Pacman1903]

Lochee United 1-3 East Craigie

Fine night for an upset. Cracking night in Dundee. Lochee were 1/7 to win on McBookie. East Craigie are 4th in the second tier and Lochee are flying and unbeaten in the Premier. I expected a one way game but nae the way it went. Maybe because it was league cup LU didnt give a f@ck but they were murder. So disinterested it was poor to watch. The Craigie battered them and deserved a bigger win. They even missed a pen in the second minute. Ive seen Lochee twice this season already and thought they were magic. Far from it tonight. Garry Kenneth on the bench(hes a cracking player at this level). Also noticed there were high numbers in the starting xi. And numbers under 11 were subbed on which suggested it was second string. Deservedly humped none the less

Even in defeat the people connected with Lochee were affa nice. The guy at the gate letting junior in for free and having a conversation with him. The wifey at the tea shack searching high and low for a pin badge(with sucess, meaning im due another couple of pints off my bro). Al mannies having a kick about with junior who took his ball in with him as examples. Fine bunch

Weird ground. Only stand behind the goal. You would think you would build it on the wing. Theres ample room too. Many a puss must have been busted over the years by stray shots

Got us oot the hoos. Also attempting 15 new grounds this trip home. So thats one ticked off(should have Shotts Bon Accord too but my work f@cked that right up. W@nks)

[Pacman1903]

Ayr United 1-3 Ross County

Game two today in a second country. Dinna think ill manage that again

Somerset is one of those relics ive always wanted to visit. Ticked aff now. I much prefer these places. Only two teams id never seen before aswell Ayr and Edinburgh City. So they are ticked off too

Decent enough game. Canna complain for a complimentary ticket. But it would have been worth it if i had paid. Really niggly off the ball. Nae sure if the cameras caught it. Two different teams. County being direct and brutish, Ayr quick and tried to play fitba. Bruteball won. If Ayr had a striker they would have scored more. Shanklands injury coincides with their arse falling out. The RC forst goal knocked a fair bit of stuffing out of Ayr and the better team won.

To funny things from the night

1-Michael Gardyne booted one of those beaver atmosphere mics and f@cked it. The BBC soumd boy came over to fix it. He turned to me and said "if he does that again, f@cking punch him"

2-Get it right round you Pikey Jute Minks


Few pints in Auchinleck beckon tonight
Did anyone watch. Was RCs first handball?

[Pacman1903]

Forfar West End 4-4 Tayport

I cant not mention this game as it was first of all one of the best games of football I have ever seen. It was also further meat on the bones to my favourite argument that you dinna need 100m pound players to create good games. On top of that it furthers my love with all things lower league. My love for the Scottish game is at a high(shame my love of my Scottish team is dwindling)I'm just going to blitz Scottish grounds next season, that's my plan. Starting at Sauchie with some beaut off of here

This "groundhopping" malarky is now becoming a bit obsessive and I was questioning my self as to why the f@ck I was going to and East of Scotland Consolation Cup Tie in Forfar on a Wednesday night.

The night started of in the usual Junior way, old boy at the gate letting junior in for free. 100% record at the juniors with that. Then I got a text fae my bro asking for a badge as the one he had was circa 50 year old. So I spoke to a committee member and asked where to get one of the badges he had on his lapel. He said he wasn't sure and asked If I was a collector. I explained about my bros f@cking awesome badge collection, so another couple of old dudes piped up and coaxed him into selling it to me. So for a fiver I literally bought it off his lapel. Good start

The game was entertainment like I have rarely seen. It was great viewing and I don't have enough superlatives for it. To start it was niggly and dirty with some pretty wild challenges. I would be shocked if there were less than 50 fouls in the game. Surprisingly only 4 bookings though. But the way the game panned out rivals any of the best games ive ever watched which included the greatest save I have ever seen. I am not exaggerating when I say this. Tayport went up 1-0 in maybe 10 minutes (I never checked my watch), this was followed quickly by a penalty to West End which was a dive and justice was done when the penalty was a worm burner and easily saved by the Port keeper. Just before HT Forfar equalised and I would say deservedly so. Then for the second half. After the nature of the first half (the dirtiness) I decided to see how many fouls were in the first 15 minutes. The answer was 12 with the 12th resulting in a penalty to Tayport which was despatched. From centre the West End striker spotted the Tayport keeper off his line. Now for the greatest save I have seen. The halfway line lob was attempted but it wasn't floaty it was hit with venom, the ball went over the keeper destined for the equalizer, but no the keeper in truly astounding fashion supermanned horizontally towards his goal and about a yard from the line managed to throw an uppercut at the ball and put it over the bar and out the ground for added effect. I cant describe it and do it justice. the only word I can think that comes close to giving it justice would be superhuman. Unbelievable save. Then to make the save better, from the resulting corner Tayport broke and scored to make it 3-1. Which was caused by sh@te goalkeeping. This causing a near scuffle in the "crowd" when a Tayport supporter basically called the keeper pish,not realising the keepers dad was standing next to him leading to the great shout of "what the f@ck did you say about the goalie, I'm his dad, I'm going to nut you". Brilliant. "but the response was even better "if you canna take you son getting abused for being sh@t then teach him about his f@cking near post". Back on the pitch the fouls rained in and with 9 minutes to go there was a lifeline for Forfar when they score a minky deflected goal, so minky it was probably an OG. This got their tails up and with seconds to go(or so I thought) they were awarded the 3rd penalty of the game which was buried. I was just thinking to myself there was a lot of added time when Tayport broke and scored. I clocked it on 95 minutes. Surely 4-3 FT, so me and Junior started heading for the gate. To top of this spectacle Forfar took centre and went straight up the park and banged in their 4th and the games 8th goal. Incredible due to the fact it was 3-2 Tayport at 90 mins. An absolute epic at Strathmore Park and all for 6 quid. Definitely in the top 5 most entertaining games I have ever seen.

So to answer my question, that's why I headed to an East of Scotland Consolation Cup tie on a Wednesday night