Saturday 29 November 2014

Matchday 13 Results & Updated Tables


Championship


Audenshaw Dynamo  2   Oxford Excelsior  1
Burnley  3   Blyth Spartans  4
Hungaria 5   Hartlepool United  2
Manchester City  3   Wrexham  1
Matlock Town  2   Mossley  2
Northwich Victoria  2   Gainsborough Trinity  3
Red Star Sunderland  1   Marlow  0
Stalybridge Celtic  4   Liverpool St Helens  2



Second Division

Atletico Espanol  2   Newcastle United   0
Crewe Alexandra  6   Bradford City   1
Hendon Hotspur  5   Gateshead Dynamo   3
Manchester Newton Heath  2   Spartak-Slavia   1
Merthyr Tydfil  0   Nelson CBR   1
Newcastle Blue Star  2   Crystal Palace   3
South Liverpool Red Star  2   Marine   1
Sheffield Wednesday  3   Inter-Italiano   3





Monday 24 November 2014

Matchday 12 Results & Updated Tables



Championship


Blyth Spartans  5   Hungaria  0
Gainsborough Trinity  2   Manchester City  2
Hartlepool United  2   Stalybridge Celtic  1
Marlow  5   Burnley  4
Mossley  2   Northwich Victoria  0
Oxford Excelsior  0   Liverpool St Helens  2
Red Star Sunderland  3   Matlock Town  1
Wrexham  4   Audenshaw Dynamo  0




Second Division

Bradford City  2   Hendon Hotspur  1
Crystal Palace  5   Manchester Newton Heath  2
Gateshead Dynamo  2   Sheffield Wednesday  0
Marine  1   Crewe Alexandra  5
Nelson CBR  5   Newcastle Blue Star  3
Newcastle United  2   Inter-Italiano  0
South Liverpool Red Star  6   Merthyr Tydfil  2
Spartak-Slavia  2   Atletico Espanol  1



Monday 17 November 2014

Matchday 11 Results & Updated Tables



Championship:

Audenshaw Dynamo  3   Gainsborough Trinity  2
Burnley  1   Red Star Sunderland  1
Hungaria  6   Marlow  4
Liverpool St Helens  3   Wrexham  1
Manchester City  3   Mossley  2
Matlock Town  1   Northwich Victoria  4
Oxford Excelsior  2   Hartlepool United  2
Stalybridge Celtic  4   Blyth Spartans  3



Second Division:

Atletico Espanol  3   Crystal Palace  1
Crewe Alexandra  5   South Liverpool Red Star  3
Hendon Hotspur  4   Marine  1
Inter-Italiano  2   Spartak-Slavia  3
Manchester Newton Heath  2   Nelson CBR   0
Merthyr Tydfil  2   Newcastle Blue Star  4
Newcastle United  2   Gateshead Dynamo   0
Sheffield Wednesday  5   Bradford City  3



Monday 10 November 2014

Matchday 10 Results & Updated Tables



Championship


Blyth Spartans  2   Oxford Excelsior  1
Burnley  3   Matlock Town  2
Gainsborough Trinity  2   Liverpool St Helens  1
Marlow  1   Stalybridge Celtic  1
Mossley  10   Audenshaw Dynamo  2 
Northwich Victoria  5   Manchester City  1 
Red Star Sunderland  5   Hungaria  3
Wrexham  3   Hartlepool United  1



Second Division

Bradford City  3   Newcastle United  1
Crewe Alexandra  2   Merthyr Tydfil  3
Crystal Palace  4   Inter-Italiano  5
Marine  2   Sheffield Wednesday  2
Nelson CBR  0   Atletico Espanol  1
Newcastle Blue Star  8   Manchester Newton Heath  2
South Liverpool Red Star  2   Hendon Hotspur  0
Spartak-Slavia  1   Gateshead Dynamo  0


Thursday 6 November 2014

Archive #5: European Cup 2012-13


Continuing with the European Cup records catch-up with the 2012-13 edition:


Proceedings kicked-off with a pair of shocks, as both the holders Vasas Budapest and the previous season's beaten finalists Sporting Lisbon fell at the first hurdle, along with a greater proportion of seeded teams than has been the norm.

The quarter-finals provided a good deal of excitement, with Velez Mostar earning a crucial first leg victory in Hungary against Raba ETO Gyor, Dubocica Leskovac producing a fine second leg comeback to overcome Stromsgodset, and Internazionale conquering Atletico Madrid with a late, decisive third goal in their rematch, Atletico previously having squeaked past Rapid Vienna on penalties after a drawn second round replay, the same stage at which Matlock Town were thrashed by Raba after putting up a fine display over the two original legs of the tie. Making up the last four, and for the first time, were Slavia Prague, convincing winners over Saint-Etienne, beaten heavily for the second season in succession.

Slavia fell to Internazionale but only after a replay in the semi-final, whilst Dubocica again tripped at the penultimate stage, once more losing out by a single goal on aggregate, this time to Bosnian neighbours Velez, who then proceeded to win the cup, for the first time, thus depriving Internazionale of what would have been a record-equalling fifth triumph, in a thrilling end-to-end final.




Wednesday 5 November 2014

Archive #4: European Cup 2011-12



Realising recently, when posting the list of European Champions' Club Cup Winners/Finals, that I still had three seasons' records-worth of the continental competition to catch up with, here's the first step in rectifying that tardiness, with the 2011-12 edition of the tournament, which, of course, enjoys the same format as the original actual European Cup before it became the UEFA Champions' League, being a straightforward home-and-away-legged knock-out competition ending in a one-off final (with scope for replays in the event of aggregate ties, no account taken of away goals, as with the early years of the European Cup).



The domestic league's representatives, Wrexham, making their debut in the European Cup, made a first round exit (one of only 3 of the seeded teams to do so), failing to recover a hapless 0 - 3 first leg defeat to Levski-Spartak in Sofia, but another newcomer, Yugoslavia's Dubocica Leskovac, reached the semi-finals only to lose narrowly in the second leg and on aggregate to Vasas Budapest, whilst cup-holders Sporting Lisbon defended their title all the way to the final, only to succumb to Vasas, who thus became the first club to win the trophy for a fifth time.





Tuesday 4 November 2014

Archive #3: Championship Results & Final Table 2013-14


By way of a little contextual information in relation to the current league season, and how the teams are performing so far, here's how last season's Championship played out and concluded:


As can be observed, current new league leaders Stalybridge Celtic achieved a steady, mid-table finish, an improvement on the previous season (their first back in the top flight after a few years' absence, having won the Second Division title to earn promotion) which saw them end in 13th position, a couple of places and points clear of the relegation spots.

Of the different names from last season to this, Marine (currently leading the second tier, despite a wobble that has brought them 3 defeats in 4 games) and Wimbledon were relegated, the latter leaving the league altogether, as did Shrewsbury Town, who failed to earn the necessary licence to continue in the revamped two-division structure. In their stead were promoted Hartlepool United and rapidly-rising Northwich Victoria, with third placed Audenshaw Athletic, as they then were before the brave-new rebranding as 'Dynamo', subsequently filling the vacancy created by Shrewsbury's demise. Oxford United as was have also undergone a name change, to 'Excelsior', although as they have recently slumped to the bottom of the Championship, they seem to be having trouble living up to such a billing.

West Ham United merged with Walthamstow Avenue, having some years ago done likewise with Dagenham, and the decision was taken to honour both clubs' historical association with the East End's Hungarian community (I make this stuff up, but it's good enough for me) by taking the name 'Hungaria', who are at the moment tentatively trying to find their feet in the competitive environment of the Championship.


Monday 3 November 2014

Matchday 9 Results & Updated Tables



Championship


Audenshaw Dynamo  2   Northwich Victoria  4
Hartlepool United  2   Gainsborough Trinity  2
Hungaria  4  Burnley  1
Liverpool St Helens  2   Mossley  2
Matlock Town  2   Manchester City  1
Oxford Excelsior  2   Marlow  3
Stalybridge Celtic  4    Red Star Sunderland  1
Wrexham  3   Blyth Spartans  1




Second Division

Atletico Espanol  4   Newcastle Blue Star  1
Gateshead Dynamo  2   Crystal Palace  1
Hendon Hotspur  1   Crewe Alexandra  2
Inter-Italiano  2   Nelson CBR  2
Merthyr Tydfil  6   Manchester Newton Heath  0
Newcastle United  1   Marine  0
Sheffield Wednesday  4   South Liverpool Red Star  2
Spartak-Slavia  2   Bradford City  1