Sheffield United 3-4 Mansfield Town  (FA Cup Round Three) It’s been an incredible weekend already. On Friday night Wrexham beat Forest in a thriller on penalties to provide headline writers with their much anticipated ‘Hollywood Ending’… Yesterday sixth tier Macclesfield trumped even that by knocking out holders Crystal Palace to write themselves into David verses Goliath territory, the Silkmen became only the ninth non-league club in 100 years to beat top flight opposition i

Doncaster Rovers 2-3 Southampton (FA Cup Round Three) So I chose the right game to go to last night, not putting myself through a miserable watch as a Forest fan, they were beaten by Wrexham on penalties and became the first ‘giant killing’ of the round, today they’ll be more of the same as I head out the door towards Doncaster, who host Southampton, for more FA Cup action. 23rd in League One, Doncaster Rovers have never been as far as the fifth round in the FA Cup, their re

Port Vale 1-0 Fleetwood Town  (FA Cup Round Three) It’s the FA Cup Third Round weekend, the David against Goliath of annual football fixturing, although tonight I’ve got a pair of David’s to go see play. I was slightly concerned that I wouldn’t get to see any football at all this weekend, Storm Goretti threatening to cause havoc, but it looks like we are through the worst of it, the covers have been on at Vale Park and a midday inspection has given the match all clear. Vale h

Barwell 2-2 Quorn (Southern League Central Division) So that's it then. Over for another year. Christmas day flashes before our eyes and we're already thinking about 2026 , my wife has us already looking at summer holidays to Croatia. I got a whiskey smoking kit and a chargeable heated seat pad, the latter of which I will aim to use over the upcoming games, perhaps a bit overkill for today as it's not that cold out and I'm not entirely sure how it works yet, a bit of drizzle

Scarborough Athletic 0-3 Radcliffe  (National League North) I was supposed to watch Scarborough verses Hereford last week but the game at Bridlington got called off due to a waterlogged pitch. I didn’t even know that the Seadogs were playing at Queensgate until I got wind of the postponement, so that would have been fun, turning up at the Flamingo Land Stadium and seeing doors locked and half their plastic pitch torn up. I think the move is for this year only, as repairs are

Barwell 1-0 Banbury United (Southern League Central Division) Non league football can be confusing. Eight years ago Barwell were in the Northern Premier League. Just two seasons ago Banbury United were in the National League North, but here for a second successive campaign will the two teams do battle against each other in the Southern League Premier Central Division. I watched a 1-0 win for Banbury at Kirkby Road early last season. The return fixture was 2-1 to Barwell and

Ilkeston Town 0-3 Hednesford Town (Northern Premier League) It's a local one today as I'm out with friends tonight, so I've told the wife I'll be home by 6pm. Ilkeston is just 12 miles from my house so a nice cushty little number on a Saturday afternoon. The Robins have been slipping of late. The last time I seen them they were awful at home to Cleethorpes in 3-0 defeat, before going on a decent run of seven unbeaten, they have since lost their last six not including a Derby

Quorn 3-2 Redditch United (Southern League Central Division) I played over 500 games as an amateur, I coached around 150 semi-pro matches and have scouted ‘officially’ including today 257 games exactly, but I only ever managed three matches, when completely left alone to my own devices. My first, was for Netherfield Albion against Westside, in the early 2000’s which we won 3-1 back in the Notts Amateur League, when I was helping out my uncle who was then Manager (he had some

Leicester City 0-3 Manchester City (Women's Super League) I've not watched a women's game for a while. The wife has banned me from covering Sunday matches when I'm working Saturdays but she's had two Xmas do's this weekend so something had to give. Stuck dog sitting both Friday night and Saturday afternoon, I'm finally let out on the leash this Sunday morning, to do my first WSL game since May. It'll be my first viewing ever of Manchester City women. A chance to see Khadija

York City 5-1 Aldershot Town (National League) I was in New York last weekend for a shopping and show birthday getaway with the wife, this weekend it's old York and back to the matchday grind. I tell her 'if it weren't for the football we wouldn't get these luxurious long haul trips away' which at least appeases her to release me when we haven't got something 'better' to do. York are going well in the National League under Stuart Maynard, Aldershot aren't, under a new Manage

Scotland 4-2 Denmark  (World Cup Qualifiers)   I'll be honest, I've been looking forward to this one for a few weeks now. Scotland's defeat by Greece and Denmark's failure to beat Belarus on Saturday has set up this European Group C qualifier really quite nicely. If Scotland win, they qualify, if Denmark don't lose, it'll be they who get to go the World Cup.   Our contract with UEFA is to apply in game stats and analytics which are used by the bet markets and live score apps,

Barwell 5-2 Stratford Town (Southern League Central Division) Formed in 1992 as a merger between Barwell Athletic and Hinckley, Barwell FC became Founder members of the Midland Alliance in 1994 where they joined Stratford Town in the division, and the two teams would play each other, at least twice, every season, until 2009/10 when the Leicestershire side would become champions, thus moving to the Northern Premier League Division One South. That same year, Stratford finished

Forest Green Rovers 3-1 Gateshead (National League) I'm feeling a bit guilty cooking sausages for breakfast ahead of visiting the world's first vegan football club today. Forest Green are going well under Robbie Savage, third in the National League a point behind leaders Carlisle whilst their opponents this afternoon Gateshead are struggling this season in nineteenth, just six points above the drop zone. Kick off time has been put back to 3:03pm which is a statement by the Na

Tamworth 0-1 Woking (National League)   It's Saturday and they're talking long throw ins and set plays on the radio ahead of the lunch time kick off between Tottenham and Manchester United. The modern game has gone direct with coaching focussed on beating the low block. It seems the only way to conquer it is by getting the ball into the opposition box.   Arsenal are the direct daddies, averaging over 30 touches per game in the opposition box this season, whilst Burnley are b

Carlisle United 2-1 FC Halifax Town (National League) I've had a weekend of wall to wall FA Cup action. I hardly moved from my sofa on Sunday as I watched Shrewsbury beat South Shields on telly, I also saw Port Vale see off the lowest ranked outfit Maldon & Tiptree and Accrington edge Northern Premier League Gainsborough Trinity to annoy the TNT cameras who were no doubt looking for a shock. on Monday night Leyton Orient silenced Tamworth at the Lamb to ensure another league