Friday/Saturday 21/22 February - SSML Results/Reports

[Rhodes]

The weekend's fixtures:

Friday 21 February

Division Two

Eynesbury United P New Bradwell St Peter

Saturday 22 February (kick off 3.00pm unless stated)

Premier Division

Aylesbury Vale Dynamos v Biggleswade United

Baldock Town v Milton Keynes Irish

Colney Heath v Dunstable Town

Crawley Green v Kempston Rovers (at Kempston Rovers FC) 

Harpenden Town v Winslow United

London Lions v Arlesey Town

Wormley Rovers v Tring Athletic

Division One

AFC Welwyn v Leighton Town Reserves

Cranfield United v Rushden & Higham United

Desborough Town v Ampthill Town

Eaton Socon v Moulton FC

Huntingdon Town v London Colney

Irchester United v Buckingham FC

Langford v Long Buckby AFC

Rothwell Corinthians v Letchworth Garden City Eagles

Stotfold Reserves v Royston Town Reserves

Wellingborough Whitworth v Raunds Town

Division Two

Aston Clinton v Stony Stratford Town (kick off 2.00pm)

Caddington AFC v Pitstone & Ivinghoe (at Stockwood Park Athletics Centre in Luton, kick off 2.00pm)

Milton Keynes College Football Academy v Milton Keynes Irish Reserves

Padbury Village v The 61 FC (Luton) (kick off 2.00pm)

SSML Division Two Cup Quarter Finals

Codicote v Tring Corinthians AFC

Pitstone & Ivinghoe P Caddington AFC 

Sarratt v Newport Pagnell Town Development (kick off 2.00pm)

Totternhoe v Old Bradwell United (kick off 2.00pm)

Edited February 20 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Two postponements this afternoon, hopefully there will be no others:

Saturday 22 February

Premier Division

Aylesbury Vale Dynamos P Biggleswade United

SSML Division Two Cup Quarter Finals

Sarratt P Newport Pagnell Town Development 

[Rhodes]

1 hour ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February
Division One
Irchester United v Buckingham FC

The match programme:

https://issuu.com/irchesterunited/docs/irchesterutdmatchdayprogrammebuckingham?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=x.com

[Rhodes]

14 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February
Division One
Huntingdon Town v London Colney

The match programme, surprisingly no problems at Jubilee Park:

https://huntingdontownfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/The-Hunters-vs-London-Colney.pdf

[Rhodes]

2 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Two postponements this afternoon, hopefully there will be no others:
Saturday 22 February
Premier Division
Aylesbury Vale Dynamos P Biggleswade United
SSML Division Two Cup Quarter Finals
Sarratt P Newport Pagnell Town Development 

Another postponement, at the John Clements Memorial Ground:

Saturday 22 February

SSML Division Two Cup Quarter Final

Codicote P Tring Corinthians AFC

[Rhodes]

56 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February
Premier Division
Crawley Green v Kempston Rovers (at Kempston Rovers FC) 

The match programme, I have it on good authority that Luton Town 'pulled rank' hence the fixture taking place at the Hillgrounds stadium:

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com/clubs/73930/3KYlmQRwTteuSOSP1cbS_Match Day Programme v Kempston Rovers FC - 22 January 25.pdf

[Rhodes]

The results:

Friday 21 February

Division Two

Eynesbury United P New Bradwell St Peter

Saturday 22 February

Premier Division

Aylesbury Vale Dynamos P Biggleswade United

Baldock Town 1 Milton Keynes Irish 3

Colney Heath 0 Dunstable Town 2

Crawley Green 3 Kempston Rovers 2 (at Kempston Rovers FC) 

Harpenden Town 3 Winslow United 2

London Lions 2 Arlesey Town 0

Wormley Rovers 3 Tring Athletic 6

Division One

AFC Welwyn 2 Leighton Town Reserves 1

Cranfield United 2 Rushden & Higham United 0

Desborough Town 2 Ampthill Town 1

Eaton Socon 3 Moulton FC 2

Huntingdon Town 2 London Colney 1

Irchester United 5 Buckingham FC 1

Langford 2 Long Buckby AFC 3

Rothwell Corinthians 2 Letchworth Garden City Eagles 1

Stotfold Reserves 1 Royston Town Reserves 0

Wellingborough Whitworth 2 Raunds Town 1

Division Two

Aston Clinton 0 Stony Stratford Town 5

Caddington AFC 2 Pitstone & Ivinghoe 1 (at Stockwood Park Athletics Centre in Luton)

Milton Keynes College Football Academy 3 Milton Keynes Irish Reserves 0

Padbury Village 2 The 61 FC (Luton) 0

SSML Division Two Cup Quarter Finals

Codicote P Tring Corinthians AFC

Pitstone & Ivinghoe P Caddington AFC 

Sarratt P Newport Pagnell Town Development 

Totternhoe 2 Old Bradwell United 1

Edited February 22 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 22/02/2025 at 16:40, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February
Premier Division
London Lions 2 Arlesey Town 0

A groundhopper from another Forum was at Rowley Lane:

Rowley Lane - London Lions 2 Arlesey Town 0 - Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division
Attendance 34, Admission £8/£5 (cash or card)
My intended game unexpectedly fell victim to the overnight rain and an 11am pitch inspection, leaving me searching for a relatively cheap and local tick at short notice. I somehow imagined Westfield had a 3G pitch, but a quick look at their Twitter feed revealed their game against Binfield had also succumbed to the elements. Some of my other options were offering no social media confirmation of going ahead or otherwise, so I plumped for one of my few remaining unvisited senior grounds within Greater London.
Rowley Lane is quite a remote location, beyond the village of Arkley in the furthest tip of the London Borough of Barnet, with the A1 and its continuous drone marking the boundary with Hertfordshire around 200 yards to the west. My chosen route was by Underground to High Barnet, from where buses 107 or 384 will drop you around 15 minutes walk from the ground at Rowley Green Road, with the latter taking a more "round the houses" route. I used the same route to visit near neighbours Hadley last season, whose Brickfield Lane ground is two stops further on the bus. I subsequently realised I could have got closer on this occasion by taking the Thameslink from London Bridge to Elstree & Borehamwood, then bus 107 from the opposite direction to the other end of Rowley Lane where it meets the A1, but Borehamwood has long been one of those towns I instinctively avoid visiting if at all possible.
The venue is an impressive modern facility in which a fair amount of money has clearly been invested without cutting corners. The main pitch is railed off on three sides with a high quality grass surface. A sturdy 200 seat stand sits on the halfway line, named in honour of former player Alan Mattey who tragically passed away prematurely. There are car parks behind each goal, connected by a track running behind the dugouts on the other side, which is out of bounds to spectators. The site would originally have had a considerable slope and a lot of effort must have gone into levelling the pitch, which is cut into a bank in one corner, with a retaining wall a few yards beyond the touchline. There are two further full size grass pitches and a full size 3G cage, plus another training area in the far distance littered with portable goals, on the side beyond the main stand. The turnstile block was closed on this occasion, with spectator entry via the same gate used by the players to enter from the dressing rooms, which are in a plush clubhouse building with a comfortable bar set back behind the goal in the main car park. A vintage 1950s drophead coupe that had overtaken me on the walk from the bus stop was parked at the far end, and I was able to identify it from the bonnet mascot as an Alvis.
The fixture looked promising, with the two teams sitting just outside the top 5 and separated by goal difference. In the end it was a surprisingly one sided game dominated by the hosts, who might have won more handsomely had they possessed a bit more firepower in front of goal. The visitors' Twitter feed reported an injury and illness epidemic in their squad, which also encompassed the regular social media officer, hence there were no updates and no team line up announced. As the teams entered the field immediately before 3pm, I saw something I don't recall ever seeing before. Both sets of players took up positions in the same half, with both keepers standing in the same goal, while the captains tossed the coin. Presumably they were all very keen to kick the same way, but Lions prevailed, so Arlesey had to troop to the other end before getting underway.
Lions had been probing patiently for openings for around 25 minutes before they finally unlocked the visitors' defence with a well worked move. I recall the name of Mitch Hahn from numerous Isthmian Premier Division match reports during the past decade or more, and he picked a great pass to release Felix Shalom inside the left edge of the box, who then fired a low pass across the box for Max Davis to collect just beyond the penalty spot before beating the keeper with a well placed shot.
The pitch, despite looking superb, was clearly quite soggy in a couple of the corners and began to cut up during the second half, which hindered the hosts' attacking play in the face of some muscular defending. Arlesey only really threatened from corners, but it was a corner at the other end that allowed Lions to give themselves a decisive advantage with twenty minutes to go. A delivery whipped in just beyond the near post seemed destined to be claimed without alarm by the keeper, only for Jake Rinsler to make a perfectly timed run on the blind side to meet it with a bullet header into the net from point blank range, no more than a couple of feet from the keeper's hands.
No visit to Barnet is complete without stopping off at Ye Olde Mitre, a Grade 2 listed 17th century coaching inn, which means alighting from the bus one stop before the Underground station. It's a Greene King house, and on the expensive side, but is a GBG regular and always has at least a couple of decent guest beers. The best offerings on this occasion were both from the East Kent brewery Wantsum. I started with a pint of Red Smacker, which was acceptable, before moving onto Heart of Darkness Stout. This was more of a porter in my book, but was both excellent and strong enough for me at 4.5% ABV. It was quite busy on arrival just after 5.30pm, with a large crowd watching the Villa v Chelsea game in the back room, but I soon managed to find a comfortable seat in my favourite spot just inside the front entrance near the bar. A second pint of the porter/stout was enjoyed before the 50 minutes journey on the Northern Line from High Barnet to London Bridge, from where I opted for the 20 minutes walk home along Tooley Street and Jamaica Road rather than the lengthy trek to the Jubilee Line platforms and a shorter walk back from the opposite direction. Home at 8.20pm.

[Rhodes]

On 22/02/2025 at 16:40, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February
Division Two
Aston Clinton 0 Stony Stratford Town 5

A groundhopper from another Forum was at Aston Clinton Park:

Aston Clinton 0-5 Stony Stratford Town - Spartan South Midlands League Division 2
The hosts may still be recovering from their last home game, in which they suffered a sensational 1-0 loss to divisional whipping boys The 61FC (Luton), whose record for the season now stands at won one, drawn none, lost 19. This afternoon there was no particular sense that Aston Clinton knew what they were doing - midway through the second half they forced a goalmouth scramble, but otherwise rarely caused Stony any bother.
The visitors, without star striker Dan Woolley - away on business being a Tik-Tok influencer - were hardly outstanding themselves but at least there was a discernible pattern to their play. And, most importantly, they could finish, with two coming from Cam Langford, the Jack Grealish of the Spartan South Midland League’s lower reaches.
We later retired to the Black Lion in Leighton Buzzard and got chatting with a woman who'd brought in her very soppy and amiable dog. Hound's name turned out to be Bo, "short for Boadicea, The Warrior Queen.”

[Rhodes]

23 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February
Division Two
Padbury Village 2 The 61 FC (Luton) 0

Sports Shots photographer Luke Stafford was in attendance at the Padbury Playing Fields, see over 110 high quality photographs:

[Rhodes]

On 20/02/2025 at 13:31, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February 
Premier Division
Colney Heath v Dunstable Town

Brief highlights from the Recreation Ground and a match report:

https://www.dunstabletownfc.co.uk/post/match-report-colney-heath-0-2-dunstable-town

[Rhodes]

On 24/02/2025 at 12:34, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February 
Premier Division
Baldock Town 1 Milton Keynes Irish 3

Highlights from Milton Keynes Irish win at Baldock Town and a match report:

https://mkirishfc.co.uk/first-team/report-baldock-town-1-3-mk-irish/

Edited March 15 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 24/02/2025 at 12:34, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February 
Premier Division
Wormley Rovers 3 Tring Athletic 6

Groundhopper and Blogger Oliver Sims was at this high scoring affair, also see a match report:

https://www.tringathletic.co.uk/teams/252691/match-centre/1-15650427/report

[Rhodes]

On 24/02/2025 at 12:34, Rhodes said:

Saturday 22 February 
Premier Division
Harpenden Town 3 Winslow United 2

Highlights from Rothamsted Park: