As the Government continues to educate the country on the latest happenings with the Coronavirus with new measures being brought in weekly the latest has brought about the cry of ‘Football without fans is like fish and chips without mushy peas’. The SSML midweek fixture list saw the FA Cup and Division One in the spotlight.
MONDAY 21st SEPTEMBER/TUESDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER/WEDNESDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER
MIDWEEK HEADLINES
Leighton Town remain alone in flying the flag for the SSML in the FA Cup as Dunstable Town, New Salamis and Potton United exit the world’s oldest cup competition. Bedford and St Panteleimon make it two out of two in Division One to become the early pace-setters.
Midweek Stats: 10 games played of which 5 were home wins, 4 away wins and 1 draw.
Highest Attendances: 325 New Salamis v Brentwood Town, 170 Leighton Town v Mildenhall Town and 79 Winslow United v Rayners Lane.
THE EMIRATES FA CUP First Round Qualifying
The midweek action began on Monday night when 325 (figure includes club officials who are not deemed part of the 30% limit) witnessed Step 6 New Salamis entertaining Isthmian League North (Step 4) Brentwood Town, New Salamis in their debut season in the competition once again done themselves and the SSML proud before going down to an odd goal in three defeat. Tuesday night saw Dunstable Town travelling to Barking (Step 4) and Leighton Town welcoming Mildenhall Town (Step 5). For Dunstable Town a spirited performance was not enough in a pulsating cup tie that saw the hosts strike early on and eventually run out 6-1 winners meanwhile Leighton Town continue to show the fine form that has many tipping them as SSML Premier Division title favourites already as they booked a place in Friday’s draw with an excellent 4-0 success against fellow Step 5 opponents. Wednesday night it was Potton United in the spotlight as they travelled to Essex and a meeting with Grays Athletic (Step 4), the evening began brightly with the visitors taking the lead only to be pegged back by the interval. After the break the hosts struck twice in the 54th and 81st minutes to end the dreams of the Bedfordshire club. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.
1-2 New Salamis v Brentwood Town (Mehmet) / (Oyenuga, Bantick) Attendance: 325
6-1 Barking v Dunstable Town (Dadson [3], Douglas (og), Dumaka, Anderson) / (Daniels) Attendance: 105
4-0 Leighton Town v Mildenhall Town (McClelland, Pattie, Collier, Campbell) Attendance: 170
3-1 Grays Athletic v Potton United (Melaugh, Stokes, Omolabi) / (Etheridge [pen]) Attendance: 271
DIVISION ONE
The midweek SSML Division fixture list brought about some interesting meetings with 18 goals from the six games. At the Irish Centre Milton Keynes Irish welcomed Ampthill Town for what both clubs first league game of the new campaign and the 54 spectators in attendance were treated to an eight goal thriller, the Bedfordshire visitors finally winning 5-3 with all the goals in the game being scored by different players. St Panteleimon moved to the top of the standings as they were made to work hard before edging their game at Langford by the odd goal in three. Joining the ‘saints’ at the top on six points are Bedford who won a spirited ‘derby’ against visiting Stotfold by two goals to nil. Buckingham Athletic and Rayners Lane both began with wins in their first league outings, Athletic defeating visiting Amersham Town 2-0 while the Lane won by a solitary goal at Winslow United. The other action saw London Lions being held at home by Shefford Town & Campton, a result that saw the Bedfordshire club move off the bottom of the table. Full results and goalscorers are listed below.
2-0 Buckingham Athletic v Amersham Town (Parr, Faulkner) Attendance: 50
3-5 Milton Keynes Irish FC v Ampthill Town (Spence [pen], G Shrieves, Dummett) / (Butler, Mead, Cullen, Cerminara, Basra) Attendance: 54
0-1 Winslow United v Rayners Lane (Blagden) Attendance: 79
2-0 Bedford v Stotfold (McLeod-Bentley, Ward) Attendance: 70
1-2 Langford v St Panteleimon (Smith) / (Albadri, Massay) Attendance: 40
1-1 London Lions v Shefford Town & Campton (Opponent Own Goal) / (McNamara [pen]) Attendance: 42
AND FINALLY
Winslow United win this week’s Tweet of the Week with this gem in midweek.
“Tonight’s tweets brought to you by the bloke who missed the first half-hour due to being on the gate and the last fifteen minutes on ball hunting duties”.
Don’t forget that every Sunday afternoon the Non-League Show on Three Counties Radio (Herts, Beds & Bucks), a show all about local non-league football. The popular show presented by Ollie Bayliss has been increased to two hours each week and moves to a new day and time, every Sunday afternoon from 2.00pm – 4.00pm and is the perfect opportunity to catch up with our local non-league scene at all levels.
For those who missed it then you can catch up here:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08qvdzh