Seven games in the last six days have taken me up to 25 for the season and 4,917 all told. The sequence began with Bedfont Green v Ashford Town (Middx) on Tuesday, played at Viking’s old ground in Greenford (0-3), and continued with a Benefit for former player Andy Scott that featured Brentford and Leyton Orient at Griffin Park.
Andy explained to the near 2,000 crowd at half-time how he had "felt rough" in the first few minutes of Orient’s game at Cheltenham and later experienced chest pains. A heart condition was diagnosed and unfortunately it meant the end of Andy’s playing career. He was cheered to the echo by the fans of both teams and "kicked off" Wednesday’s game with young son Lewis. Orient have now appointed him youth team coach, which is brilliant.
Brentford won 2-0 and the O’s had a penalty saved when they were a goal down. There were two spot-kicks during Thursday evening’s game at Poole in Dorset and they were both missed too!
The first penalty incident, with the score at 0-0, was unusual. With a Poole striker bearing down on him and the evening sun shining right in his eyes, the Dorchester ‘keeper panicked when a team-mate passed the ball back to him. He removed his cap as he raced forward and an attempted clearance hit the Poole player and put him in the clear.
There seemed to be minimal contact as the ‘keeper made a grab for him from behind but he shot wide of the open goal and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Then, with players and fans alike shouting "Come on ref, it’s only a friendly", the official showed him a red card. A friendly, yes, but still played according to the Laws, surely?!
I sat in the back row of the stand behind the goal for the Bournemouth v Southampton "local derby" on a balmy Friday evening. I thought the attendance of 5,430 was excellent for a friendly and we were all treated to a grandstand finish as the Cherries equalised at 1-1 in the third minute of stoppage time. It’s always nice to finish a game on a high note and the home fans were absolutely buzzing afterwards.
The third game of my brief "busman’s holiday" produced yet another 1-1 draw. I was at Lymington’s Fawcetts Field ground more than hour before kick-off, so went into the bar to watch some of the Test match with a cool drink. Some Gravesend supporters in pale gold replica shirts were playing snooker right in front of the TV, completely ignoring the cricket.
It was a slight disappointment that a game between a Ryman League side and one from the Conference’s National Division didn’t warrant a programme, or even a team-sheet, but the action on the pitch was quite entertaining. A goal down at the break, Lymington were awarded a penalty and I wondered if it was going to be my fourth consecutive miss. Well, it wasn’t – a beefy substitute blasted the ball towards the top right-hand corner and though the ‘keeper got both hands to it, he couldn’t stop it soaring into the net.
The weather was much more summery back in London on Sunday, i.e. cold, wet and windy, and my double header at Whitefield School under a swirling umbrella was FC Vendredi Soir v North London Olympian in the Capital Sunday League and Camden Town Ladies v Acton Sports Club in the Women’s Sunday Summer League.
"The Barber" came very close to seeing five 1-1 draws in a row. The Ladies’ match DID finish 1-1, with both goals scored in the last four minutes, and "Soir" had a superb late strike turned round a post by a full-stretch ‘keeper as they went down 1-0.