Worth the visit to see the stand

Saturday 27 May 2023, Pershore Town 2 Lye Town 3 - Smedley Cooke Charity Cup Final, Trico Stadium, Redditch United

Possibly my last game of the season, but one taht was worth the drive- as a sunny day, cracking game between two teams playing good football then to top it off, the unusual grandstand. All in all, a great day out.

No cup joy for Toby

Wednesday 24 May 2023, Catholic United 3 Toby 0 - Essex Olympian League, Senior League Cup Final, Scraley Road (Heybridge Swifts)

Good attendance when both teams (or any in that league) are not that close to Heybridge, current form would have predicted an easy win for Catholic United, and the game went to form as they soon got on top and were two up in 30 minutes. Toby were not dirty but were racking up a number of fouls from late tackles - Catholic players were keen to get Toby players booked/sent off but the Ref (sensibly) just stuck to yellow cards.

Thought we may be in for a goal feast after Catholic added a third goal in the 49th minute, however a combination of Catholic taking their foot off the gas, Toby working hard to the end and the game ruining roll on/roll off subs meant no further goals were added.

Heybridge is a good set up, just avoid parking in club car park as not sure you would have got away for a while.

All over by half time

Sunday 14 May 2023, Oxford City 4 St Albans City 0 - National League, South, Play-off, Court Place Farm

Sell out crowd, sun out, expecting a great game, but within half an hour the contest was over- Oxford were outstanding and St Albans had their best player on the bench, possibly injured. Second half was an anti-climax, but Oxford had done the hard work and now take their place in the National League for the first time.

Hid behind the posh houses

 Saturday 13 May 2023, Bovingdon 5 Pitstone & Ivinghoe 0 - SSM, Div 2, Green Lane

Decent ground for step 7, fully railed, large clubhouse, small brick dug outs and a stand on the half way line filled with various types of seating from garden benches to old leather armchairs!

Finding the ground not easy, small track off the main road, no sign for the football ground but a sign for the tennis club.

A Reserve game kicked off at 1pm, so this game started 5 minutes late with the home side on top from kick off and taking the lead on 15 minutes, they let the visitors back in the game only to kill the game off with a second goal on 44 minutes. Bovingdon continued to dominate the game in the second half and added a further 3 goals without ever being put under much pressure at the back themselves.

Large crowd with 2 games being played, and plenty of beer sold. 

A secret wood or a football stadium

The modern stadium of Lech Poznan has become a ‘must visit’ for many fans, a great stadium, a train parked up outside however the main pull for most is the atmosphere created by all the Lech fans, not just the Ultras.

However for the football fans there is far more to see in Poznan on top of visiting Lech, and the best part is the one stadium you will definitely want to visit, is just a 10 minute walk from the town centre.

Edmunda Szyca Stadium, was once the home of the ‘second’ team in Poznan, Warta, who were one of the top teams in Poland between the World wars and they moved into the Edmund Szyca was one of the founding members of the Warta Poznan club. The stadium opened in 1929, rebuilt after the war and re-opened in 1957. Over 60.000 saw Lech play there in 1972 in 2^nd Division game.

However the ground was too big (and expensive to run) for Warta, so they moved to the training ground next door. The Training Ground, known as Ogrodek (Little Garden) is still their home bur does not conform to Polish top league standards, so Warta currently play away from the city.

Once Warta left the Edmunda Szyca Stadium, trees quickly started to push through the terracing, however the pitch was kept clear and used for training. However over the last few years, the whole ground has been abandoned and fenced off, but various holes in the walls, make entry to the ground easy and what you find I part wood, part football stadium and you will end up spending hours climbing up and down the terracing and trying to get a better photograph.

The ground is featured on the excellent Austrian book about disused grounds in Europe, ‘Das Fussball-Stadion’ by Josef Gruber.

It is not the only ground in Poznan featured, take a tram to the north west of the city, you will find a large sports complex – 3 stadium next to each other, one just for football and athletics stadium and then the one from the book – Stadion Golecin, still used occasionally for football but a ground better known for speedway, however it went for a while with no team as TS Olimpia closed their speedway section, however it is now used again as a track and well worth a visit.

 Worth a look at the impressive flood lights at the athletic stadium next door.