Rumbling vowels
Harrogate Railway Athletic won this week’s Rumbling Vowels Award. Yes, the Yorkshire-based club has more vowels in its name than any other club, with ten vowels. You’re probably wondering if there are any clubs with no vowels. Of course, Rhyl in the Welsh League achieved that in one sense, but Rhyl in Welsh is Clwb Pêl Droed Y Rhyl, so we’ve disqualified that club. The one-vowellers are few and far between – Blyth Town, Fylde, Rylands, Bury, G.N.P.
Sports, Lydd Town, K Sports, Cribbs and Wick. Blyth Town and Lydd Town must regret adding ‘Town’ to their name.
Tiverton boss all at sea
Leigh Robinson is the new manager of Tiverton Town, the Southern League Premier South Division club. The club is struggling in the relegation zone, and Leigh doesn’t underestimate the task. Leigh says he is proud to be handed the reins but knows it won’t be plain sailing. Perhaps he is thinking of sea horses. His squad is full of tasty food options, with Cameron Salmon, Jack Veale, Jack Rice and Zak Baker recently joining. As Leigh reportedly said, “Zak knows which side his bread is buttered on”. If it’s plain sailing he’s looking for, maybe he should make sure midfielder River Allen is in the team.
Hash curd
Ted Curd deserves a mention this week. The young Hashtag United keeper on loan from Chelsea is in England’s Under 17 World Cup squad. Ted flew out with the squad to Indonesia for the tournament last Friday. Jakarta? No, he went of his own accord. Oh no, that doesn’t work. Ted was an unused substitute in England’s first game against New Caledonia, a match they won 10-0. I assume their next game is against an atoll in the Maldives. Looking at the England team, there is a preference for squad members with longer names, which is unlucky for poor young Ted. Full marks, though, to the parents of Reiss-Alexander Russell-Denny.
Hairy day for Barnet
Saturday brought together top versus second in the National League. The result was a resounding 4-2 win for Chesterfield against Barnet, although it took two added-time goals from Barnet to pull the deficit back from 4-0. The win means that Chesterfield opened up a five-point lead over Barnet with a game in hand and a 10-point lead over third-placed Solihull Moors. The attendance was just short of 10,000.
Wembley not going to Wembley
For Wembley FC, it was the end of the Wembley trail in the FA Vase last weekend. Their tie with Athletic Newham ended 3-1, and despite two Newham penalties sailing out of the ground, teenage keeper Lindrit Beqiri was hopefully old enough to tip plenty of rum into his daiquiri on Saturday evening after
making two excellent penalty saves. Athletic Newham face Erith Town at home in the next round.
Three-legged race
It was all threes at Winch’s Field on Saturday. Herne Bay entertained table-topping Three Bridges in a day of amazing coincidences. Three Bridges took a 3-0 lead before Michael Salako, who has three As in his name, scored three times in the 60th, 69th and 78th minutes to level the score at 3-3. The goals came at times, all divisible by three and separated by nine minutes, which is three squared, as any 11-year-old student would know. The attendance was 381, which is 333+33+3+3+3+3+3. The comeback means that Herne Bay is now in sixth place in the Isthmian League South East Division, a position also divisible by 3. Extraordinary or not?
Ring finger
Cody Cooke was the hero in Bath City’s 3-0 win over fellow promotion rivals Aveley in the National League South. Cooke sent Aveley keeper Jonathan North the wrong way from two penalties after scoring early in the game. Aveley remain in second place, a point ahead of Bath City. Jason Ring received a red card when the visitors conceded their second penalty for handling on the line.
Reds ditch Cameron
You’ve read the headlines about David Cameron returning to the Cabinet, but Redditch United’s Cameron almost salvaged a point for the Reds in their
game against Barwell. After hitting the bar with an effort, Cameron put Redditch United ahead at the break. In the second half, Barwell stormed back to win 2-1. As you might expect from a team named Barwell, vodka and limes were drunk in celebration after the game. Why? Barwell wear an all-lime kit, although they are nicknamed the Canaries. Any ornithologists who can confirm that canaries can be lime-coloured?
Acting up
When RADA took on the Royal College of Music, the result was a resounding 7-3 win in RADA’s favour. Fans behind the RADA goal were heard to chant, “You’re not singing any more”. However, earlier in the game, when RADA went ahead 3-2, which needed VAR to confirm it wasn’t offside, there were cries of “2-3, or not 2-3, that is the question”. Good night.
