Longer itinnerary
Truro City had to evacuate their ground as it was sold off to Lidl. For the rest of the season, the Tinners will play their home games 115 miles away in Somerset on Taunton Town’s ground. This will include a ‘home’ fixture for Truro City against Taunton Town. The Tinners move into their new ground next season. We don’t know the entrance fee for Truro fans, but let’s hope they are big on quality and Lidl on price. And, yes, the misspelling of itinerary
was intentional.
Ascot hattrick
If you went to Ascot United of the Isthmian South Central League on Saturday, you could have witnessed a hattrick even though the score was a 1-0 win over Chipstead. The reason is that Ascot United are offering ground entrance, beer and a burger for £15 or the Ascot hattrick, as they call it. The Yellaman’s offer presumably comes with free mustard. However, don’t expect the same offer on Ladies Day at Ascot when there are quite different hattricks.
Gash wounds Harriers
Michael Gash was part of the Kidderminster Harriers side that knocked his hometown club, Peterborough Sports, out of the FA Cup. On Saturday, as player-manager of Peterborough Sports, his club faced the Harriers in the FA Trophy. Gash’s stoppage time goal powered the Turbines of Peterborough to a 1-0 win that puts them into the Trophy quarter-finals.
A nasty gash
There’s nothing like a good celebration when a trophy is won. It’s a pity this one doesn’t go quite so well. https://t.co/ZhVT3954EK?ssr=true. I can still remember witnessing Arsenal celebrations at Wembley after the League Cup win in 1993 when Steve Morrow ran towards Tony Adams. Tony ducked and tipped Morrow over his shoulder. Morrow just about recovered from a broken arm in time for the next season.
Bull dozed
There were home defeats for the Bulls of Hereford and Jersey in the FA Trophy and FA Vase. 52 years ago this week, Ronnie Radford famously struck an unstoppable goal for Hereford to knock Newcastle United out of the FA Cup. The current Hereford team, however, succumbed this weekend in the FA 
Trophy to Gateshead, as Marcus Dinanga scored the only goal of the game in the 77th minute. At Jersey, Falmouth Town prevented the Channel Islanders from getting a step nearer Wembley with a 3-0 win in the FA Vase. Not a good week for the Bulls.
Week of the Dragon
Last week, we featured Taff’s Well. This week, we focus on their opponents at the weekend, Baglan Dragons, which only seems fair given that it is the Year of the Dragon. The Dragons may be sponsored by Rhys Williams Plumbing and DW Plumbing, but there were no leaks in their defence as they ran out 1-0 winners. Actually, in their defence, there were no leeks, either.
Spelling bee
Many thanks to the reader who told us about Bee Shannon last week without giving too many details. You may recall our search for non-League footballers with the name of an insect and a girl’s name. Our reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells us that Bee played for Histon Reserves in the 1960s and was a regular scorer. His brother, Brian, was also in the team although it might have been Bryan rather than Brian. Bee’s real name was Bernard but with two B. Shannons in the side, Bernard was known as Bee after a local paper headline referred in a headline to ‘Bernard stings’ after scoring a hattrick. There’s more, but I think we’ll serialise this story. My only query is whether Shannon was a girl’s name in the 1960s.
Valentine keeps things looking rosy
It wasn’t a massacre, but Ipswich Town loanee Nico Valentine scored a first-half equaliser for Needham Market at bottom-placed Berkhamsted to help keep their promotion push in the Southern League Premier Central Division on target. Two late goals from striker Luke Ingram gave Needham Market a
3-2 win, keeping them in second place, one point behind Redditch Town, but with four games in hand.
Bunch of flowers
Keeping flowery, Harry Flowers started the comeback of the day for relegation-threatened Southport, playing at home to Brackley Town in the National League North. Despite being reduced to ten men, Flowers equalised Brackley’s first-half goal in the 85th minute. Josh Hmami and Jordan Archer added two more goals in the remaining time to give Southport a 3-1 victory, which took the Sandgrounders out of the bottom four.
Legal action
Sturminster Marshall might sound like the name of solicitors in a small town. However, it’s a football club that is bottom of the Jewson Dorset Premier League. Of course, someone has to be bottom of the table, but I noticed their 12-0 at home to Merley Cobham Sports at the weekend. It appears this is the tip of the iceberg, as they have conceded 222 goals in their 21 games. In their last six games, if you exclude a narrow 5-0 defeat to Bridport Reserves, they have conceded 86 goals. The only thing I could trace using Google was an invite from the club in July 2023 to join the club as ‘a pathway to senior football’. I’m awaiting a reply.
It’s all a bit awkward
The top-of-the-table clash between Northern League rivals Bishop Auckland and West Auckland Town ended with a 2-1 win for The Two Blues over West. The win keeps Bishop Auckland at the top of the division, with West in third place. The West Auckland Town badge is, however, a little confusing. On it are the words, ‘Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy 1909 & 1911’. This might seem a sad thing to have on your club badge until you learn that the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was arguably one of the first international football tournaments. The trophy might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but in 1909, they defeated FC Winterthur of Switzerland 2-0 in a match played in Turin to win the trophy.
