Friday 29 May 2015

Bucket List For Next Season

Obviously this isn't the best time to start a football blog. I mean the season is all but over, only a couple of big matches remain like the Fa Cup final and the Champions League final, none of which I am going to. the next match for me which I am definitely going to is Lowestoft vs Braintree on the 25th of July, since I am away from something like the 3rd until the 11th and then again from the 13th until the 24th. bit annoyed that I am missing some good Braintree friendlies like the games against Millwall XI and Reading XI at home. Hopefully I can find a match on the island of Lanzarote which is where I am going from the 13th. but as soon as i suggested going ground-hopping on holiday, my mum was extremely sceptical about instead of me relaxing on the beach in the sun i was going to watch a football match...

Either way, here is a bucket list for what I want to achieve next season.

Do at least 5 Braintree away days.

due to me going to a school which we had to attend school on Saturday mornings it was incredibly hard to get to away games, since I am leaving that school altogether now since I am in year 11 I now have the opportunity to go to more away games with Braintree. The grounds that I definitely want to go to are Torquay, since when we played them at home I met a few Torquay lads about my age who travelled up for the day. also we beat them 5-1 away last season, so i just want to see them again so i can rub it in their faces!! Tranmere because their ground is huge for the conference level, Chester, Wrexham and Woking or Aldershot because my uncle lives down that way and it is fairly easy to get to.

Us Braintree lads on the right and the Torquay lot on the left (I'm the one in the Santa hat)

Do a Chesterfield, Colchester and Yeovil away day. 

The reasons for these three teams are because I have a few mates who support them who want me to do a few games with me. Two Chesterfield fans who I met during our 6-0 Fa Cup hammering at our ground last season, My mate Kieran who is a massive Col U fan. Met him a few times at Colchester and when he sometimes visits Braintree. We agreed I will do a Colchester away day if he comes to a Braintree away day. finally there's a guy who is a massive Yeovil fan, he wants me to come along to a Yeovil away day. We've been talking online quite a bit, and puts all his videos online on his YouTube channel. He's also a member of the famous "Street FC Ultras" which is also pretty cool.

Also last time I saw Chesterfield I managed to get the best selfie ever with Ex-Manager Paul Cook

Go to more Clapton Games.

The Essex senior league is one of my favourite leagues in the football pyramid. mainly because it holds my other team Clapton. but also because of the wide mixture of teams. You have Clapton obviously, FC Romania which was originally a pub team which was set up by Romanian Immigrants, and they are now good enough to play at  Step 5 in non league, However the only time I have seen them play was in the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy where they lost 8-0 away at Takeley. Also there are a couple of grounds just up the road from me which are Stansted, Takeley and Sawbridgeworth. I don't care where the Clapton games are. As long as I'm there!!!

Clapton Ultras at the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy Final (Me on the left)

Meet more Groundhoppers

Last season I met two main groundhoppers (excluding my mate Dan) Firstly I met Matt Harrison at Colchester vs Crawley earlier this year. If you didn't know Matt himself has his own blog too. We only had a brief chat at half time and after the game, but still Matt is a very friendly guy!! I Would love to meet up again mainly because at Colchester I look awful... I also met Russell Cox also known as the Wycombe Wanderer at Coggeshall town a few weeks back his blog is another one that's worth a read, I also said, if I had the chance I would make it down to Wycombe's Ground soon. Furthermore I met Ellis and Gibbo from the YouTube Channel "Away Days" When they visited Braintree's ground a couple of months back. Would love to meet those guys again!!

Me and Matt Harrison (I look awful...)
Me and Russell Cox















Finally Here are some other Clubs/Grounds/Matches I would like to go to next season:


  • Dulwich Hamlet
  • Southend
  • Norwich
  • AFC Wimbledon
  • Enfield Town
  • Wycombe
  • Fa Vase Final
  • Fa Trophy Final
  • League 1 or 2 Play-off Final
  • Possibly more during the season


Hopefully we will see scenes like this again next season. (I'm balancing/hanging/climbing on the stand on the far left.)

Monday 25 May 2015

Brown Sauce and Ketchup at Takeley.






Here is a post from a while back from the Essex Senior League match up between Takeley Fc and Sawbridgeworth Town Fc.


Saturday 28th March 2015
Takeley vs Sawbridgeworth
Essex Senior league
FT: Takeley 2-0 Sawbo 
Attendance: 98
Game rating 3.5/5
Prices:
Adult: £6
U16: FREE
Programme: £2
Pin Badge: £4
Scarf: No
Burger: £2.70
Hot Dog: £2 (7/10 review by my mate Dan)
Tea: £1
Coffee: £1 (9/10 reviewed by me)
Chocolate Bar: 70p
I decided this week to head over to Takeley, I have been planning to visit there with Clapton, but instead went there today because I was going to meet my mate, fellow Groundhopper and Braintree fan Daniel Turner (@PuffPuff65 on twitter)
I arrived at the ground at the same time as Dan, as my mum drove past he was about to walk over the bridge where you can see the ground and the pitch. So you could essentially watch the game without going through the turnstiles.
We were both free admission because we are both under 16 but we both gave the club £2 each in exchange for the programme anyway. most games in the non league offer under 16's free admission, so that's why I've been going to non league more than the football league.
At first glance Takeley's ground looks fairly impressive compared to the other grounds I've been to in the essex senior league. It has two seating areas one on either side of the pitch, and a standing area with a roof over head to the left of the Home Dugout, we decided to stand there for the match. as when we tried to sit down on one of the standing areas, we had hardly any leg room, and also we both prefer standing.
The previous day I had a flag made to be put up at Braintree, I took it to the game to show Dan and he was impressed!! We decided then to hang it up to see how it looked. and Wow!! It did it look good!!! Takeley came into the Match 12th In the table and Sawbridgeworth 10th, so either side could take the opportunity to move up the table.
The match started off fairly evenly matched, both teams had a lot of chances that could have put them in front. The deadlock was finally broken though due to a well struck free kick from Takeley's number 10 and captain Alex Martin from just outside the box. We were standing in the best place to view it and you can see our perspective because Dan got it on camera!! Defiantly one to watch! Will link it at the end!
The Half time whistle went and me and Dan immediately headed over to the clubhouse to get something to eat and drink. I got myself a Coffee and a Mars bar for 1.70p, The coffee was absolutely fantastic in my opinion it was served in a large cup and tasted fantastic, probably one of the best coffees I've had at a football ground for quite a while! Dan on the other hand got himself a hot dog which cost about £2 he said "it wasn't the best but I'll give it a 7/10" I responded with its cause you put brown sauce on it instead of Ketchup" we then proceeded to have a debate on which is better. we ended up coming to the conclusion that they are both designed to be put on different foods.
The second half started and Takeley looked the better team they we putting some great balls through and were hitting the target a couple of times. Sawbo on the other hand did have some chances too, but failed to hit the target. In fact me and Dan realised that there was an advertising board just left of the post that Sawbo had probrably hit about 10 times in his estimate
Takeley eventually capitalised short after a sending off for one of the Sawbo players for a second yellow, the ball was played through the middle to Takeley's number 9 Micheal Ogboin who rounded the keeper and slotted home.
From then on nothing else really exciting happened and the match finished 2-0 to Takeley, I said goodbye to Dan not long after taking a few extra photos. Finally I quickly walked up to the hill to take one last photo of the ground.
Overall it was a great day in one of the Essex senior leagues best grounds that it has to offer!
I would like to Thank Takeley for their hospitality. and a quick thank you to the players of Takeley in Sawbridgeworth for putting on a great game!
PS: Here's the first goal: http://youtu.be/W2gwvWW53yM
Here are the Images from the game:




Yes, that is Dan,
my mate who refuses
to get a haircut, and
also now refuses to smile...










The Flag in all it's glory.