[Football] The Non-League Football Thread- 2024/25 Edition

It seems strange that there aren’t any midweek Southern Combination matches week. I’ve had to stay in and make conversation!

Saturday 16th November (3pm unless stated)

Isuzu FA Trophy 2nd Round
Dorking Wanderers vs Eastbourne Borough
Lewes vs AFC Totton
Chichester City vs Worthing
Horsham vs Maidstone Utd

Isthmian Premier Division
Bognor Regis Town vs Carshalton Athletic
Hastings Utd vs Cray Valley PM
Whitehawk vs Wingate & Finchley

Isthmian South East Division
Ashford Utd vs East Grinstead Town
Broadbridge Heath vs Eastbourne Town
Burgess Hill Town vs Sheppey Utd
Deal Town vs Littlehampton Town
Phoenix Sports vs Lancing
Steyning Town vs AFC Croydon Athletic
Three Bridges vs Margate

Southern Combination Premier Division
AFC Varndeanians vs Bexhill Utd
Crawley Down Gatwick vs Horsham YMCA
Eastbourne Utd vs Pagham
Hassocks vs Midhurst & Easebourne
Lingfield vs Newhaven (at Fort Road, Newhaven)
Little Common vs Shoreham
Loxwood vs Roffey
Peacehaven & Tel vs Crowborough (at Shoreham FC)
Petersfield Town vs Haywards Heath Town
Saltdean Utd vs Wick

Southern Combination Division One
Godalming Town vs Mile Oak (2pm)
AFC Uckfield Town vs Selsey
Arundel vs Chessington & Hook
Banstead Athletic vs East Preston
Billingshurst vs Oakwood
Dorking Wanderers B vs Seaford Town
Forest Row vs Infinity
Montpelier Villa vs Alfold
Storrington vs Reigate Priory
Worthing Utd vs Copthorne

stewart12 said:

Weren't Bognor quite good last season- what's happened?!

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Injuries have been a massive factor this season.
Experienced central defender (and best player) Craig Robson shredded his knee on Chichester’s 4G pitch in August, so he won’t be back this season and at 33 might struggle to ever return.

Lucas Pattenden, Harvey Whyte and Tommy Block have also missed more games than they’ve played, and there have been plenty of other injuries which has resulted in some youth team players being drafted into the squad.
This has left a very young and inexperienced team that has looked particularly vulnerable in defence.

The manager is former Burnley, Leeds and Pompey striker Robbie Blake who is in his 6th season at Nyewood Lane. He sets the team up to play a passing game but without the experience and strength of the injured players the side seem to regular get hit on the break and concede silly goals.

Jack Pearce continues to have a massive say in how the club is run and has shown remarkable loyalty to Blake (not everyone agrees that he should).
The club are also run tightly from a financial point of view and have never had the financial volatility that many other local clubs have experienced over the past 25 years (Worthing, Lewes, Horsham, Southwick, Fareham, Gosport).

Facilities wise the club are well placed as a Step 3 side and wouldn’t need to improve much off the pitch to compete in National South.
We have a decent fan base and have been averaging over 600 even though we are bottom of the table.
The club house is great but is hardly used on non-match days. A new stand was built a couple of years ago which is very comfortable with decent seated views.

Nyewood Lane has a magnificent grass playing surface which receives plenty of compliments. However our local non-league neighbours have all now dug up their grass pitches and play on plastic. Chichester City, Worthing, Horsham and Havant & Waterlooville are all now higher in their league positions than Bognor and generate more income from having their facilities available 7 days a week if needed.

So unfortunately it looks as though in the next 18 months The Rocks will be joining them, replacing grass with plastic in order to increase the use of their facilities and to increase their income.

Back to the elephant in the room, the performances. Is it because of the manager or the injuries? My view, it is a bit of both.

A fresh face in the changing room, would likely remove a lot of the negativity and bring some new ideas.
Most fans however (including myself) are unaware what the weekly wage bill is and also how many of the injured players and the manager are required to be paid until the end of the season because they are on contracts.

If new experienced players or a new manager are recruited they will need to be paid for somehow.
In what is a tight league, Bognor have a decent chance of avoiding relegation. But the ’too good to go down’ tag will soon disappear unless they start picking up some points.

In fact there are a lot of similarities between Bognor and Crystal Palace’s situations, apart of course that Bognor did actually manage to get their new stand built.

Decent game at Burgess Hill, 3-0 win against Sheppey United with all the goals in a dominant second half (had a penalty saved before HT too). 5th in the table.

Worthing united 6 Copthorne 0. Don't think I've ever seen such a bad team since my lad starting playing. Seaford away next Saturday. Huge game

Went to Lingfied v Newhaven today, game played at Newhaven due to issues at Lingfield’s ground.
Newhaven won 1-0, not that exciting and I’m glad i walked because it warmed me up walking home.

Deanbha said:

Worthing united 6 Copthorne 0. Don't think I've ever seen such a bad team since my lad starting playing. Seaford away next Saturday. Huge game

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I may take a trip over there next Saturday for a change

Ground number 55 was Hill Park, home of Saltdean United for their SCFL Premier Division with Wick

I previously lived in Brighton for over 20 years yet somehow this somehow this was my first venture out to deepest darkest Saltdean (had a similar experience at Mile Oak a few weeks ago)

The ground really is out in the sticks. Mad to think really that this is part of a bustling city as it's so rural, with even a working farm next door and an abandoned house (surprised some landlord hasn't bought it and turned it into flats, am I right ?). Given it's rural feel it's actually quite accessible, and with that in mind I decided to get a pint at the Caxton Arms and get the 27 bus over.

Admission was £7, which is about normal for this level. The ground is mid renovation with a new stand recently built which replaced the previous one that was kind of dug into the hill, giving it good views of the pitch. There's also another seated stand on the other side. They are building a new clubhouse but I actually liked the current one. It's not that big but has plenty of character. FRIENDLY STAFF AS WELL (hi Southwater), however the beer was a tad on the funky side sadly. Just not sure it's a good idea for a place like this to be serving Guinness on tap as it surely just doesn't get enough flow, but I won't knock them for trying. I like this place a lot

The game was a weird one as Saltdean conspired to completely throw it away. They deservedly went 1-0 up just before half time and really should have scored several goals way before this. Wick then equalised just after half time and snatched a relatively late winner.

I like this place and would like to revisit once it's fully done up

55 grounds in and still not a single 0-0 draw. Just two grounds remaining

I went to Hastings United v Cray Valley this afternoon, the first home league game on a Saturday Hastings have had in 3 months. The visitors deservedly won 1-0 in front of 1336. They looked a good side and are 2nd for a reason.

stewart12 said:

Ground number 55 was Hill Park, home of Saltdean United for their SCFL Premier Division with Wick

I previously lived in Brighton for over 20 years yet somehow this somehow this was my first venture out to deepest darkest Saltdean (had a similar experience at Mile Oak a few weeks ago)

The ground really is out in the sticks. Mad to think really that this is part of a bustling city as it's so rural, with even a working farm next door and an abandoned house (surprised some landlord hasn't bought it and turned it into flats, am I right ?). Given it's rural feel it's actually quite accessible, and with that in mind I decided to get a pint at the Caxton Arms and get the 27 bus over.

Admission was £7, which is about normal for this level. The ground is mid renovation with a new stand recently built which replaced the previous one that was kind of dug into the hill, giving it good views of the pitch. There's also another seated stand on the other side. They are building a new clubhouse but I actually liked the current one. It's not that big but has plenty of character. FRIENDLY STAFF AS WELL (hi Southwater), however the beer was a tad on the funky side sadly. Just not sure it's a good idea for a place like this to be serving Guinness on tap as it surely just doesn't get enough flow, but I won't knock them for trying. I like this place a lot

The game was a weird one as Saltdean conspired to completely throw it away. They deservedly went 1-0 up just before half time and really should have scored several goals way before this. Wick then equalised just after half time and snatched a relatively late winner.

I like this place and would like to revisit once it's fully done up

55 grounds in and still not a single 0-0 draw. Just two grounds remaining

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It’s just so obvious that ground 57 will host a goalless draw.

dazzer6666 said:

Decent game at Burgess Hill, 3-0 win against Sheppey United with all the goals in a dominant second half (had a penalty saved before HT too). 5th in the table.

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That was quite a 14 mins and a cracking third as well.

Lewes well beaten today by Totton. Charlie Austin scored the first on the half volley. Was surprised to see him playing that far down the pyramid as he was doing ok at Swindon last season.

Pogue Mahone said:

It’s just so obvious that ground 57 will host a goalless draw.

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Written in the stars!

stewart12 said:

Ground number 55 was Hill Park, home of Saltdean United for their SCFL Premier Division with Wick

I previously lived in Brighton for over 20 years yet somehow this somehow this was my first venture out to deepest darkest Saltdean (had a similar experience at Mile Oak a few weeks ago)

The ground really is out in the sticks. Mad to think really that this is part of a bustling city as it's so rural, with even a working farm next door and an abandoned house (surprised some landlord hasn't bought it and turned it into flats, am I right ?). Given it's rural feel it's actually quite accessible, and with that in mind I decided to get a pint at the Caxton Arms and get the 27 bus over.

Admission was £7, which is about normal for this level. The ground is mid renovation with a new stand recently built which replaced the previous one that was kind of dug into the hill, giving it good views of the pitch. There's also another seated stand on the other side. They are building a new clubhouse but I actually liked the current one. It's not that big but has plenty of character. FRIENDLY STAFF AS WELL (hi Southwater), however the beer was a tad on the funky side sadly. Just not sure it's a good idea for a place like this to be serving Guinness on tap as it surely just doesn't get enough flow, but I won't knock them for trying. I like this place a lot

The game was a weird one as Saltdean conspired to completely throw it away. They deservedly went 1-0 up just before half time and really should have scored several goals way before this. Wick then equalised just after half time and snatched a relatively late winner.

I like this place and would like to revisit once it's fully done up

55 grounds in and still not a single 0-0 draw. Just two grounds remaining

Click to expand...

I was there too and you’ve given a good summary of the match. Saltdean deserved to win, but when you’re down at the bottom you don’t always get the rub of the green.