Picture This...A Round-Up of Sorts

The new shelter at Andover New Street.

It's all over for another season. I've brought you more words and pictures, and you keep coming back to see whassup. I don't post about every match I go to, for my own sanity more than anything. I don't even take photos at every game - sometimes excitement has to come before art. But I do have a few pictures to spare from games that I didn't cover on here, so I thought maybe you'd like to see some? All of these photos were previously published on the HAH Facebook page. If you follow the blog on there, you'll be familiar with most of these, but not everyone is on Facebook.

So, would you like to see the new shelter at Andover New Street? Yes? Well, here it is, pictured in December last year. Plenty of places to stand under cover at the Wessex Premier's new boys. You'll never get wet at New Street.

Lymington Town at night.

How about a pretty picture of a church tower at night, taken at Lymington Town's ground in January? It rained that night. It rained every single day for three months...

Danny Phillips puts Infinity in to the cup final.

There was a league cup semi-final at Locks Heath in early February between Paulsgrove and Infinity. I'd seen top photographer Paul Paxford a few days before at Windsor. I asked him where the best place was to take penalty photos. He suggested behind the goal. He was right. The match went to a shootout, which Infinity won to send them in to the Hampshire League Cup Final.

Bush Hill go close against Sway at Hythe & Dibden.

The second semi-final was held at Hythe & Dibden a couple of weeks later. Bush Hill were cruising at 2-0 up with 15 minutes to go, but Sway came back to draw the game and win on penalties. They then beat Infinity in the final in May in what was a minor shock. I took this photo whilst stood on a raised platform behind the goal at the entrance end. Sway's number 7 heads off the line here. If that had gone in, it would have been 3-0 and game over.

The Mighty Havant & Waterlooville in action at Oxford City.

I follow the mighty Havant & Waterlooville when I'm not doing HAH. Here they are (in orange) at Oxford City's Marston Road in March. A hard-fought 1-0 victory for the Hawks.

Step art at Whitehawk at the Battle of the Hawks.

On Easter Monday, Havant & Waterlooville travelled to Whitehawk in East Brighton. They were possibly fortunate to come away with a 0-0 that day, but every point counted after 42 matches, as they finished level with Dartford, winning the league on goal difference.

The sun sets on Romsey Town's promotion hopes.

As clubs battled to finish their fixtures in April, one week it was possible to go to six matches in six days (a rare opportunity as there are very few Thursday night fixtures under normal circumstances). The week started at Romsey Town, who beat Laverstock & Ford 3-1 at the Bypass Ground. Unfortunately, a home defeat by Tadley-Calleva a few days earlier had put paid to their promotion hopes for this season. There's always next year...

Andover New Street's promotion party starting at Totton & Eling.

One team that never faltered - and surprised everyone - was Andover New Street. They were promoted after a 5-0 win at Totton & Eling. After being at (or near) the bottom of the Wessex since forever ago, no-one could begrudge them their success this season. Incredibly, they'll be playing in the division above neighbours Andover Town after the Portway side were relegated by the FA for refusing promotion to the Southern League.

Beneath the high rise at Team Solent.

My third game of this busy week was a Thursday night encounter between Team Solent and Alresford Town. Neither side had anything to play for, but it was an entertaining affair nevertheless. Alresford came back from two down to draw. They probably should have won.

Shock victory for Follands in their final home match.

The Friday night entertainment was at Follands (in yellow above). Rock-bottom, with one home victory all season, you would never have known they'd struggled as opponents New Milton Town were hammered 5-1. Most unexpected.

The home dugout at Fareham Town.

Blackfield & Langley won the Wessex this season. One of their final games was a visit to Fortress Cams, home of Fareham Town. It wasn't much of a fortress that evening as a visibly tired home team were easily beaten after they'd played approximately a zillion games in the previous fortnight. You can see the subs' shirts hung up in the home side's dugout at half-time here.

Paulsgrove rent the Front Lawn facility in Havant for their league match with Sway.

I don't think it counts in my season's match total if I only see half a game, does it? After watching the Hawks beat St Alban's City at Westleigh Park, I caught the last 40 minutes of a 4 o'clock kick-off at Hampshire FA's Front Lawn facility in Havant. It's a 4G pitch which was rented for the day by Paulsgrove for their Hampshire League game against Sway. The "home" club won that game fairly easily.

Ed Harris cadges a lift on Rory Williams' shoulders. This was an exciting moment, but not as incredible as what happened in the last minute.

Did I mention that I follow Havant & Waterlooville? And that they won the National League South to take their place in non-league's top division next season? Here they are celebrating their second goal against Concord Rangers on the final day of the season. 2-0 up against a team with nothing to play for? It's all over with an hour still to play, surely? Well, it wasn't, as the club from Essex somehow scored twice in the second half. Heading for the play-offs with a minute to go, Jason Prior scored with the coolest side-foot volley you'll ever see for the most exciting moment of 2017/18. There was a lot of leaping around right there and then, I can tell you.

One more post this season, and that will be the ever-unpopular roller round-up.

Bush Hill v Sway

Bush Hill walk out on to the pitch in front of Southampton's ex-tallest building, Millbrook Towers.

Has anyone escaped the Christmas and New Year lurgy this year? I don't know anyone who hasn't been sneezing, sniffling or barking up phlegm over the past fortnight. At the height (or should that be the depths?) of my own affliction, I was flat on my back, watching the ceiling bounce up and then jounce down again very very slowly as if it was on a length of elastic. I was hallucinating, seeing faces in the artex.

Up there above my sweating torso was Joe Root, explaining how beastly the Aussies were being to his cricket team, but not in his usual voice - it was deep, gravelly and distorted, like a badass buckled foghorn. And then there was Leon Osman, Everton stalwart and now BBC football pundit, with his trademark cheeky smile. But his mouth was getting wider and wider until it extended from one side of the ceiling to the other, bent out of shape so that it looked more like a conger eel than a human mouth.

Bush Hill celebrate their first goal in front of the shorter, four-storey flats at the lower end of the pitch.

Details:
Bush Hill FC (1) 5 v 2 (0) Sway FC
Saturday 6th January 2018
New Forest Care Homes Hampshire Premier League Senior Division
Attendance: c50
Admission: None
Programme: No
Colours: Red and black / black / red and white v Yellow / blue / yellow
National Grid reference: SU3714

Stripy dressing room containers.

When I eventually did fall asleep, my sleep-dreams were just as weird as my waking hallucinations. At one point, I'd grown an extra pair of legs which had sprouted through my eye sockets and I was scootling around a football pitch. But I was tiny - blades of grass were arching over me, keeping me hidden from the view of those above. And there were plenty of people there - there was a match going on way above me.

But I had more to worry about than being trodden on by a pair of Adidas size nines. Spiders were closing in on me from all sides, fangs bared, their multiple eyes all pointing my way, dribbling venom from their fangs. There was no way out...

But of course there was a way out. All I had to do was wake up and Leon Osman would save me with his conger eel mouth.

But that's enough about me. How was your Christmas break?

She's behind you! Wasn't she in one of my hallucinations?!

I was missing my football whilst lying there, sweating and worrying. So it was good to get back on Saturday. My first choice was to travel on the coach to Westfields in Hereford for Hamble Club's FA Vase match (which they won 4-1 to reach the last 16). However, I didn't feel quite well enough yet to travel such a long way, so I decided to stay local for the first HAH of 2018.

For me, it doesn't get any more local than Bush Hill, who play on Mansel Park on the Millbrook estate in Southampton. I don't know what you consider to be walking distance, but for me, with Bush Hill being 25 minutes from my house, that counts as within walking distance of where I live. Add on another five minutes, and I could have been at Test Park, home of Team Solent, or another 10 minutes, and I could be at QK Southampton FC - all of which I consider to be within walking distance for me. Another half an hour would take me to the two Totton grounds, which is fine if the weather is reasonable.

No! More! Handbags!

The Millbrook estate was built in the early 1960s as a council estate. Thousands of people have lived in the area over the years. Millbrook Towers, which overlooks Mansel Park, was Southampton's tallest building for over 50 years, only losing that honour in 2014, when Moresby Tower was constructed in Ocean Village. Apparently, several more skyscraping buildings are to be built over the next few years, which will give Southampton the new nickname of Singapore-on-The-Solent (probably).

You'd think that a football pitch on a public park on an old council estate wouldn't be very photogenic, but the opposite is true. Everywhere the camera points, there is something of interest in the background. Behind the red and black stripy containers which house the dressing rooms, a kitchen area and spectator toilets, you can see The Saints pub. At night, this pub has searchlights switched on which swivel around searching for Nazi bombers.

Blue buses and red buses stop outside the pub, picking up the locals to take them to Shirley and the city centre, bringing them back again later with bags full of shopping.

Crunch!

Creeping up the hill to the right of the pub, there are stark-looking concrete flats. To their right is Millbrook Towers, which is encircled by a curious mural with a pair of giant tits* looking down upon a fox and a badger who guard one of the entrances along with an enormous hedgehog. Around the corner from them is a young woman in a purple top, whose eyes follow you wherever you go in the park. I'm sure she lives in my ceiling as well.

There are the types of trees that you associate with bogland over the other side of the park - indeed, a lot of Mansel Park was ankle deep in water and mud as I walked across it towards the railed off pitch before the match. The people who look after the pitch have done wonders since the club moved here in 2013, as they had loads of matches called off due to waterlogging at first. That's now a rare occurrence.

All Saints Church, a couple of playgrounds and some brown-brick flats complete the surroundings.

*The feathered type, obviously.

Sway attacking down the left.

Bush Hill have existed since 2002, when two local clubs, AFC Maybush and Lordshill SAS, merged. With their combined resources, they were able to win the Southampton Saturday League five times in a row before moving up to the Hampshire League. This is now their fifth season at county level.

Dressed in Saints shorts and stockings, and playing next to the Saints Pub, Bush Hill can only come from one city.

They are current champions of the Hampshire Premier Football League, whereas their opponents on Saturday, Sway, from the New Forest, are playing at this level for the first time after being promoted last season. The home side sat in mid-table, but with only one defeat all season and several games in hand, they are well-placed to move up in the second half of the season. They took the lead after 6 minutes when a corner fell at the feet of Sean Haines 10 yards from goal. He confidently slotted the ball home.

And so it stayed until the 50th minute, with Sway holding their own in an entertaining tussle. Nathan Gray broke forward on the right and crossed for Cain Prentice, unmarked 6 yards out to poke the ball underneath Sway's keeper to put Bush Hill two up.

Ten minutes later, Prentice ran at Sway's defence and crossed for Ben Addams to score a similar goal  to make it 3-0. The goals were coming at 10 minute intervals now, as Prentice made it 4-0 with a low drive from outside the box after 70 minutes.

With the result no longer in doubt, Sway's number 10 scored a consolation after 75 minutes with a daisy cutter from 25 yards. The same player pulled the score back to 4-2 after 79 minutes, much to the frustration of Bush Hill's manager, who accused his players of "switching off". If Sway had scored again, there might have been panic in the Bush Hill ranks, but it wasn't to be, as the final goal came just before the final whistle, with Prentice completing his hat-trick from close range.

Saints shorts, Saints stockings, Saints pub. It can only be Bush Hill FC.

I mentioned that Mansel Park makes for some interesting photographs. Once I've uploaded them, you will be able to see more from the match on the HAH Facebook page here. I intend to feature more Hampshire League teams throughout the rest of the season. Look out for the next one in two weeks.

I wasn't aware of his presence at the time, but another groundhopping blogger (who had travelled down from Manchester) was also at the match. You wait all season for one blogger, then you get two at the same match... You can read his report here.

I've been doing this for exactly seven years now. Thanks to everybody who has ever looked in and enjoyed what I've done. There's been over 200,000 page views since January 2011, which isn't too bad.

The Fifth Annual Festive Parade of Rusty Rollers

Brockenhurst FC. "The Cobra". Not bright enough.

I've not told anyone this before, but I've been an undercover detective these past few months. If you'd met me, you'd see a scruffy middle-aged bloke with a camera and a notebook who writes rather odd reports on non-league football matches involving Hampshire clubs. I'd be happy to pass the time of day talking about the weather with you, or swapping stories of football grounds we've both visited. I have as many opinions on the red hot topics of the day as anyone else, and I'll share them with you if you wish to listen.

But underneath this bonhomous exterior, I've been on the lookout for a criminal, who is thought to be hiding within a non-league football ground. However, it's reached the point where I need others to join in to help me find this vagabond, as I've had no success thus far.

Will you help me?

Fareham Town. Too big.

Think back to the beginning of August. Do you remember all the WANTED posters pasted up around town? The first one I saw was on the back of a bus stop in Shirley. It read something like this:

WANTED!

FOR THE CRUSHING OF STU FRANCIS'S GRAPE

RUSTY LEE

ARMED AND DANGEROUS!

DO NOT APPROACH!

 LAST SEEN IN HAMPSHIRE BUT IS KNOWN TO HAVE CONNECTIONS IN NORTH WALES

Larkhall Athletic. Too weedy.

Upon seeing this poster, my inner sleuth's curiosity was piqued. I wandered down to Shirley Police Station to find out more. At the front desk was a jolly, red-cheeked sergeant who filled me in on some details.

Apparently, ageless comedian Stu Francis (ex-Crackerjack, amongst other TV shows) had recently been in Southampton to hold talks with the management of the Mayflower Theatre about appearing in their Christmas pantomime. He'd brought his prestigious (and priceless) Golden Grape statuette with him, which was awarded to him in 1990 by the British Fruit Farmers Association for popularising grapes in his famous catchphrase "Ooh, I could crush a grape!"

The panto talks had gone well and, to celebrate, he'd gone to a local Wessex League ground to watch one of the opening matches of the season. He'd taken his Golden Grape award to show a friend of his on the club's committee. During the first half, he'd happened to comment on the rather dowdy nature of the club's roller and that if he got the pantomime gig, how he'd buy the club a sparkling new roller with his first night's earnings.

Stu had lain his award on the ground behind him and forgot it was there as he went to the tea hut at half-time. Upon his return, he was aghast to see that his Golden Grape had been crushed! Oh, the irony!

Swivelling around, he turned his gaze towards the dowdy club roller...

Salisbury FC. Spotless.

...But it wasn't there! It had mysteriously disappeared during the half-time break! Stu's committee member friend was most apologetic, but all he could do was call the groundsman over to ask the whereabouts of the roller. What the groundsman said shocked all who were listening:

"I haven't used the club roller for three weeks now. It's been locked away in my equipment container all that time". When Stu described the roller that he'd seen behind him, the groundsman denied ever seeing one that looked like that at the club.

This is when the police were called, and sure enough, nobody but Stu Francis had seen this phantom roller, thus he was the only witness to this ghostly phenomenon. He told the police that the roller had been approximately 4ft wide x 18in tall. It was extremely rusty and - weirdly - had a mark on the main roller mechanism in the shape of a Crackerjack pencil - almost like a birthmark.

The sergeant at Shirley Police Station was dubious that this had ever happened outside of Stu Francis's mind, but as the comedian had offered a large reward for the capture of the rogue roller (dubbed "Rusty Lee" in the local press as a strange kind of tribute to Stu's celebrity chef friend, Rustie Lee), he felt it incumbent on the force to at least be seen to be doing something.

It was at this moment that I offered my services in the hunt for the mystery roller. I explained that I travel the county and beyond taking photos of rusty groundsmen's equipment and that I might be able to find the roller in question. The sergeant gave me a queer kind of look, and giggling through his fingers, said "Yes, yes, go ahead, why not?"

Sway FC. "Naughty".

The first place I visited this season was Abingdon Town's ground for a match between Abingdon's groundsharers Chinnor and Hartley Wintney. Despite a thorough search, there were no rollers to be seen anywhere, so my attention turned to Brockenhurst a couple of weeks later. Brockenhurst's roller, "The Cobra", is notoriously clumsy, having broken one of their goals the previous season. Despite its rather dangerous-sounding nickname, it was surely not clever enough to have crushed the Golden Grape?

On to a floodlit match at Fareham Town. The club roller here was certainly rusty enough to be Rusty Lee, but was surely too big? Stu Francis had said that his nemesis was 4ft wide - Fareham's roller was a good 6ft, and could be safely ruled out.

Portland United. Inseparable.

Stu Francis came up with some more evidence a few days after Fareham. He'd contacted the police and told them that he thought that he'd heard someone - or something - whispering profanities in Welsh on the evening of the crime. I couldn't make it as far as Wales for my next roller search, but Bath's Larkhall Athletic was near enough. I found a green roller under a tree. Now, this one was about the right size, so I had a really close look at it. But it had obviously been there quite some time, as it had weeds growing all over it. It could not have been Rusty Lee.

Soon after the Larkhall visit, I went to Salisbury. I was delighted to see a roller appear after their match with Follands, being pulled along by a powerful Mario Kart. This roller didn't have a speck of rust on it, so could not possibly have been Stu's grape-crushing enemy. Another suspect ruled out.

Dyffryn Nantlle Vale. Mud sculpture.

I was hopeful that I'd found the criminal roller on a visit to Sway, but speaking to a committee member there, it transpired that their rollers had been locked up in a cage for several months since they'd been "naughty". He didn't specify what he meant by "naughty", but he was adamant that they couldn't have escaped and reappeared at the Wessex League ground near Southampton in early August. I took his word for it.

Portland United in early November was my next opportunity to track down the bad roller. As the sun set over the peninsula, I spotted a pair of rollers cuddling each other by the far wall. Upon closer inspection, it transpired that they weren't cuddling, but were actually stuck together with super-strength glue. Why? I don't know, but Stu had only seen one roller, and these two were like Siamese twins. One wasn't going anywhere without the other any time soon.

Porthmadog FC. Knows no Welsh profanities.

With no rollers on show at either Bemerton Heath Harlequins or Alton Town, I was left with only my two visits to grounds in North Wales this autumn. Now, this was a proper long-shot, based on Stu hearing some whispering noises in Welsh...

There were a pair of rollers at Dyffryn Nantlle Vale lying down next to an ancient standing stone. The blue one had something that looked like a birthmark! Could it be the mysterious Crackerjack pencil "birthmark" that Stu had seen? I had a look and was disappointed to see that the "birthmark" was actually a clod of mud. However, my disappointment soon turned to joy when I noted that the mud clod was shaped exactly like the British Isles - England, Scotland, Wales and the island of Ireland all in perfect outline! There was even a miniature Isle of Wight with a tiny River Medina!

The final hope of success came at Porthmadog on the only cold day of the winter so far - the wind was blowing straight down from the surrounding snow-capped mountains when I spotted their roller sat down in front of a hedge. It was rusty, 4ft x 18in, and had a mark upon it which resembled a pencil. Could it be...? I went up to it and asked it if it knew any profanities in Welsh. In reply, he said: "Nah mate, I'm from the East End. I'm here on holiday! I wouldn't know a Welsh profanity from an Anglesey eel!"

No luck with the mystery roller in the first half of the season then. I'm going to need some help in the second half of the season with this. Would you be so kind as to keep your eyes peeled and tell me if you see anything suspicious? Remember, there's a reward!

Other festive parades and roller round-ups can be found by clicking on the tag "Rollers etc". And yes, they're just as weird as this one...

Happy New Year everyone! I think I'll be back with a match report from a ground near Southampton on January 16th, weather permitting.

Sway v Four Marks

The home end at Sway FC.

If anybody ever asks me "What's the best thing about living in Southampton?", I invariably struggle for an answer. Is it the fact that the council erected some new energy-saving lampposts in our road a couple of years back that thrills me? Perhaps it's the smoothly tarmacced pavements - no chance of tripping over in the dark when the lampposts have switched themselves off for the night? Or is it the huge array of 99p shops in Shirley?

I really do struggle.

The answer I usually give is "Southampton is handy for the New Forest". A damning indictment of the place I live in, but I can't usually think of anything better.

The New Forest is a charming place. It lies in between two large conurbations, but you can walk for miles in some of the more deserted areas and see very few people. What you will see are woods and boggy heathlands filled with wildlife - there's the famous ponies, but in the Spring and Summer, the place is alive with bird song and butterflies as well.

If I could afford to live there instead of Southampton, I would do.

Sway's neat little stand and clubhouse.

Details:
Sway FC (1) 2 v 1 (0) Four Marks FC
Puma Engineering Hampshire Premier Football League Division One
Saturday 17th October 2015
Attendance: About 35 (varied throughout the match as people came and went)
Admission: By donation
Programme: None
Colours: All red v Tangerine / black / black
National Grid reference: SZ2798 / SZ2898

The Denny Blackmore Stand providing cover at Sway FC.

I've been to football matches in the New Forest three times already this season, and it's always a pleasurable experience - two FA Cup matches during Brockenhurst's remarkable run to the Third Qualifying Round, and then this, my first trip to Sway.

Why did I choose to come to Sway, rather than anywhere else on Saturday? Well, with my photographer's hat on (it's a jaunty, jolly sort of hat with a colourful ribbon tied round the middle), I wanted to go to a pretty ground with a chance of capturing the New Forest in all of its Autumnal splendour. Pre-match, in my mind's eye, I could see the seasonal reds, oranges, yellows, greens and browns producing a kaleidoscopic background of pure natural beauty for my football photos. In reality, the day was overcast and the only bright reds and oranges on show were on the shirts that the players were wearing.

Never mind.

There was also the stand. I'd heard that Sway had a covered stand, but I'd not seen any good photos of it, so I wanted to have a look for myself. Ground enthusiasts like a homemade area of cover - we appreciate the work that's gone into creating a little stand of your own, rather than buying one off the shelf. Sometimes they're rickety, ramshackle scaffolded structures; at other times they're neat, brick built structures that look like they're made to last. Sway have the latter variety. It's really the difference between enjoying a Victoria sponge, slathered in strawberry jam, lovingly handmade by your favourite auntie, and a shop-bought Mr Kipling angel cake. They both do the job, but which is nicer?

Matching bottle green dugouts at Sway.

I'd had a look at Sway's excellent website before I travelled and read about their history. They were formed in 1908, and the players had to bathe in a pond post-match to get clean and relax their aching muscles. Move over ducks, here come the lads...

The club was banned for a year in 1923 after crowd trouble following one of their matches. When they reformed, a little wooden collection box was made to collect donations. I'd heard that this was still in use today, so I was looking forward to seeing it...and sure enough, towards the end of the first half, a club volunteer came along, holding the original, ninety year old collection box! I was so enamoured with this slice of history that I stuffed a fiver inside it.

We spoke for a little while about the club's present and future. He said that the club rent their ground from the parish council, but they have to pay for the upkeep. They're happy to be playing in the Hampshire Premier League, and that if they had the opportunity in the future, they would consider moving up to the Wessex League, but that finding money for the required ground improvements would be prohibitive. Floodlights may be considered in the future, but their next project will be to extend the clubhouse.

In the meantime, they do the best they can with what they have, and they're perfectly content as they are.

I hope I didn't misquote him there.

Well, somebody had to go and fetch that ball!

With crowds of around 35, there's no problem finding a place to park at Sway's Recreation Ground if you drive there. Alternatively, the village has a train station on the main Bournemouth to Waterloo line a ten minute walk away. You know when you've reached the ground, as the club put a little sandwich board sign up outside the entrance to the car park with the day's fixture written upon it.

The football ground is part of a larger sporting complex which is run by the parish council. To the left of the car park are tennis courts and a children's play area. At the far end of the car park is the clubhouse and changing rooms building, which was erected in 2004 and officially opened by Lawrie McMenemy. There's a cardboard box containing second-hand books for sale in exchange for a charity donation (I was tempted by a Sue Townsend novel), as well as the expected TV set for those who want to know the half-time scores from around the country.

If you trundle out of the clubhouse and walk clockwise around the pitch, the first thing you see is a collection of rollers on your left, safely caged up so they can do no harm. The pitch is surrounded by concrete paving. There are two bottle green breezeblock dugouts on the east side, behind which is a bench seat. Behind the bench are holly and gorse bushes, which obscure the village cricket pitch from view.

At the far end is an extremely tall mesh fence to stop footballs being booted out into the road (it reaches up to what would be Row X or Y at Pompey's Fratton End - it needed to be even taller when one particularly wayward shot got belted into an imaginary Row Z during the first half).

Walk around past the corner flag and up to the halfway line and you come to the little homemade stand, painted in pine green to blend in with the surrounding trees. Four rows of wooden bench seats give enough cover for the entire average crowd on a rainy day. Just beyond the stand is another bench seat, dedicated to a fan who died aged just 45 in 2014.

The famous Sway collection box, being modelled by one of the club volunteers.

Sway have just come up from the Bournemouth Hayward League. They lost a few players in the summer who weren't prepared to travel the extra distances involved when playing in the Hampshire Premier League - although the average distance travelled for Sway is only 33 miles for away matches, it could make a difference to anyone who works on a Saturday morning or evening. Thus, with a relatively large turnover of players, Sway have had a slow start to the season as the new teammates gel. They started the day in fifth place in the eleven team league with seven points from seven games.

Four Marks were lying in third place, unbeaten after six games. However, they turned up to Sway's Recreation Ground without eight first choice players - one had phoned in sick on the morning of the match, whereas several others had gone to Royal Ascot for a day's racing. Something Ronald Koeman doesn't have to worry about.

The day got even worse for Four Marks after 32 minutes when they had Kenny-Lee Guinness sent off for an off the ball incident. I didn't see it, as I was pointing my camera towards the player in one of the pictures above who had gone to fetch the ball which had landed in the road behind the ground (just missing a car) after clearing the big mesh fence. An away supporter told me at half-time that there had been handbags from both sides and that the ref had only seen his player's reaction to the initial incident. I suppose the poor old ref can't see everything - he could only adjudicate on what he'd actually seen out of the corner of his eye, so - rightly or wrongly - Four Marks were down to ten men for the last hour.

The last minute winning goal for Sway.

Sway took the lead a few minutes before half-time, when Dan Fairhurst walloped one in from 30 yards, leaving the away keeper grasping thin air - as good a goal as I'll see all season, whether live or on the telly by a top pro. The home team nearly doubled their lead in stoppage time - the crossbar coming to the away side's rescue.

The team in red fully deserved their half-time lead against their unbeaten opponents. Time for some refreshments in the clubhouse - £1 for freshly brewed tea in a mug and a Kit-Kat. You'd be lucky to have a sip of tap water and a Polo mint at a professional club at that price...

Four Marks improved in the second half. They scored a deserved equaliser from the penalty spot after 70 minutes, Steve Brown confidently dispatching a low shot to the Sway keeper Matt Langdown's right. The match could have gone either way after that, but the deciding goal didn't arrive until the 91st minute. A corner from the right was cleared by the Four Marks defence, but the ball came straight back into the box, where it was headed across the goal by Ben McQuoid. Fairhurst reacted quickly with a scissor kick from five yards which looped up and over the keeper's outstretched arms.

Protests from Four Marks followed the goal - for high feet, I think (wasn't there a similar goal disallowed for Crystal Palace earlier in the season?), but after a quick discussion with the club lino wearing a Man U trackie top, the young referee allowed it to stand, blowing the full-time whistle a minute later.

Another of the club's volunteers gathers the flags post-match.

There's a well written match report on Sway's website here.

My next report should be from a Dorset-based Wessex League club on November 7th. Following that, I intend visiting another Wessex League club, but this time in Wiltshire, on November 28th. Beyond that, I had AFC Totton scribbled down as my last pre-Christmas destination on December 12th, but if the weather allows it, I may well rock up at another Hampshire Premier League ground on that day - the 2 o'clock kick-off times are handy for photography at that time of the year - and it will allow me to get to an all-day show at the Joiners an hour earlier than I would otherwise have done...hey, hang on, Southampton has some decent music venues! Perhaps I'll say that the next time I'm asked to justify why I live in the city.

Wherever I go in the Hampshire Premier League in the future, I'm sure I'll end up somewhere pleasant and friendly again.

I'll finish off this week with some bonus shots of the players. No captions, all action...