WORCESTER RAIDERS PROSPER AT LANGLAND STADIUM

I find myself going back to Malvern today to watch another match in the Worcester Sunday League. Again it's at the Langland Stadium but this time it's to watch a Division 2 encounter between Malvern Rangers and the league leaders, Worcester Raiders.

When I set out on the train from the Shrub Hill rail station in Worcester, it's sunny but with a bit of a chilly breeze. Nothing too unpleasant though.
Again, I'm going to a Sunday match due to other commitments that rules out watching a match on a Saturday. Originally I had thought of going to see Lye Town play at Bilston Town in the West Midlands League on Saturday, as I still haven't made it to their ground for a visit yet.

After getting off at Great Malvern station I walk up hill to the town centre and get some breakfast at the local Costa Coffee shop as I can get a free coffee with my loyalty card.

When I get down to the stadium just before 10:30 am, I'm surprised that the game has already started! I hope they didn't start at 10am.

I quickly walk in to the ground and set myself up alongside the goal at the southern end of the ground. Worcester Raiders are playing in yellow & blue while Malvern are in a red & white kit.  

 The Raiders are showing why they are the league leaders as Malvern Rangers don't seem to be able to get out of their own half. Five minutes after I have arrived and Worcester take the lead. I find out at half time that I only missed the first 4 minutes but I'm still mystified as to the reason for the early kick-off?

Although Worcester Raiders are still the better team, for the next 30 minutes, Malvern put up a better fight of it, although they don't threaten the Raiders goal much.

Then Worcester score another goal and only a minute later have a third in the back of the net, (the shot is shown below).

While I am taking photos, a young guy in a track suit who I had seen pacing up and down the touch line nearby comes over to talk to me. He is with the Worcester Raiders team and asks me if I'm taking photos for the Worcester News. I tell him I'm just taking them for my Blog but will send the newspaper some photos just in case they have a use for them. I tell him that I had a photo published in the Malvern Gazette from a game 2 weeks ago and I give him the address for this Blog. Later I wish I had got his email address from him so that he could identify some of the Raiders players for me.

He did put me right on the fact that his team are different to the other Raiders team in Worcester, who are correctly called WCT Raiders and their Sunday team play in this league's Premier Division!

Back to the game and just before half-time, Rangers have a corner and their No.10 gets in a header which just goes over the bar.

So it's 0-3 at the interval and looks like a matter of how many Worcester Raiders can score to boost their goal difference. The interval only lasts for 5 minutes and then we're off again. These Sunday players are made of sterner stuff obviously! Either that or they wan't to get to the pub early.

   Raiders score another 4 goals in this half. They are usually quicker to the ball, have stronger players and some of the Malvern Rangers players look very young. One of them only looks about 15! So it's a bit of a mis-match football wise and it's obvious that the Raiders are destined for bigger things when they get promoted.

One of the highlights for me in this half is the Raiders fifth goal which is rifled in to the corner of the net by their No.9 I think. Very good shot.

Also I'm impressed by the skill of the Rangers No.10 (featured above) who at one point in this half keeps possession from 4 Worcester players in succession. 

So Worcester Raiders have gained a convincing win today at Rangers expense, who have looked a bit demoralised in the last 20 minutes.  

I reckon there were about 20 spectators at this morning's match. When I walk back to Great Malvern station, I look up at the Malvern Hills in front of me and can see that the sunnier weather has brought out the walkers in large numbers as I can see lots of people on the top of the Worcestershire Beacon, which is the tallest hill.

Just a few weeks to go till the end of the season and not many opportunities to visit new grounds.    

SOUTHAM CUP SUCCESS FOR BREWERS ATHLETIC

As I was not able to visit any games on Saturday, I decided to dip my toes in to Sunday League football for the first time. My destination is the Langland Stadium home of Malvern Town, where Malvern Victoria from the Worcester Sunday League, Division 2 play. Their opponents today in the Southam Cup competition are Brewers Athletic, who are carrying all before them in Division 3 of the same league. Their league record so far, 16 games played and 16 won! 

Because I have not attended a Worcester Sunday game before, I don't know much at all about the 2 teams today.

I take the train to Great Malvern in hazy sunshine. After breakfast at the local Caffe Nero I walk down to the Langland Stadium. I like Malvern as it's very scenic with the hills nearby and the great architecture in the main part of the town itself.

I arrive just a few minutes before kick-off, which is at 10:30am and there looks to be a crowd of around 30 spectators today. Luckily, I hear one of the goalkeepers shouting, 'Come on the Brewers!', so can work out that Brewers Athletic are playing in the old gold & black shirts while Malvern Victoria are in florescent light yellow & green shirts, which at first I had mistakenly taken to be tracksuit tops.

The game starts and it turns out to be an open end to end one. This is great for a neutral spectator like me. Although there are several chances for both teams, neither can take them.

I can see that Brewers Athletic have the large presence of Chris Cornes playing for them in midfield. He is a very experienced player who has had spells at most of the bigger Non-League clubs in the area, like Evesham Utd, Worcester City etc. He is also wearing a shirt with the eye catching squad number of 99!

                                    ( Chris Cornes, keeping possession )

At one point the referee stops the game to have a word with the Brewers Athletic No.5 (shown below, 2nd from the left) who has been getting stroppy at times with some of the Malvern players.

The referee has been having a good game as he lets the play flow as much as possible, which is always good to see.

His actions have the desired effect and the player concerned concentrates on his play. Indeed, after 43 minutes he scores the first goal of the game!
Athletic had twice gone close to scoring in the previous 5 minutes, hitting the bar and post on those occasions.

It's a relief that someone has scored and soon the whistle is blown for half-time. The players don't get much of a rest though as both teams come back on the pitch just 5 minutes later.

  

After another five minutes of play, Brewers Athletic score another goal, this time courtesy of their No.11 (shown below on the left.) I think he looks a bit like John Terry in this photo.

     So 0-2 down and Malvern Victoria come back strongly. Their best chance falls to their No.9 but with just the goalkeeper to beat he manages to shoot the wrong side of the post.

Brewers Athletic are awarded a penalty later on when Malvern's goalkeeper brings down one of their forwards in a one on one situation.
However the player who was brought down, takes the penalty kick but crashes his shot against the bar (as shown below).

They do manage to see out the rest of the game without any further goals being scored. Although Malvern Victoria did have plenty of the play at times, Brewers Athletic seemed to be the more dangerous attacking team. Also the Brewers had the influence of Cornes in midfield and their goalie had a good game too.

They should prove to be a force in the 2nd Division next season when they get promoted and they will now be playing Northside, also from the 2nd Division in the final of this cup, with a date to be yet confirmed. I find out later that it will take place on the 4th May at the ground of Pershore Town at 6pm.

Malvern Town should have an artificial surface put in place in the summer, which will benefit them and Malvern Victoria too if they are playing here again next season, as the playing surface today was difficult for both teams, being hard and bumpy.