Boston United 2-2 Woking (National League) Woking have sacked their Manager Neal Ardley after a 1-0 defeat at Marine in the FA Trophy. I had thought Ardley was doing reasonably well having watched Woking win on the road a couple of times this season. The Cardinals went on an eleven game unbeaten run before Christmas but have since won just twice in the league and after four defeats in five games the team are starting to look over their shoulders. No such trouble for Boston w

Scunthorpe United 3-3 Solihull Moors (National League) Another Saturday game and another trip to Scunthorpe United, as I head over to North Lincolnshire to see the Iron take on Solihull Moors, a team that I've not yet seen play this season. The Moors are solid in mid table but aren't in a great run of form right now, just one win in seven and that coming at lowly Morecambe a few weeks back. They did start the year in great form after a 4-1 win over Sutton before Christmas, t

Braintree Town 1-2 Aldershot Town  (National League) I’m back on the road again today, heading south-east, the only way is Essex, but before my match night in Braintree, I’m going to cut the grass, as we’ve had two days of sunshine after three months of rain and it’s finally now firm enough to take the weight of my mower. The Iron are struggling, five points below safety they sit fourth bottom of the National League and since watching them beat Eastleigh here last month, they

Leamington 1-2 Merthyr Town (National League North) Two days ago I'm sat watching Luka Modric spray balls for AC Milan across the San Siro, tonight I'm in Leamington for the visit of Merthyr Town. How football can so quickly bring you back down to earth. I'm knackered, Monday was about return flight and recovery, flicking channels over to Walsall & MK Dons every time Everton had a corner in their awful match against Manchester United. I saw some complaints of the Premier Lea

AFC Telford United 2-2 Chorley  (National League North) A new ground and a new club tonight, growing up in the 90’s Telford United were a regular on the Grandstand vidi-printer as Des Lynam read out the scores from the GM Vauxhall Conference. A fifth-tier club since the day the Alliance Premier League was formed in 1979, the Bucks stood for 24 years in the same division of English football until financial hardship in 2004. Liquidated with over £4m of debt, but with a brand sp

Scunthorpe United 3-6 Boston United  (National League) It’s St Valentine’s Day, but not in my house, as I wake up alone tired and hungover from Redditch United and the night before, the Mrs has already sodded off to the gym, and I’m out the door early afternoon and gone for most of the day, back for my M&S meal for two however, by 6:30pm tonight. It’s derby day, of sorts, Lincolnshire verses Humberside, Boston and Scunthorpe is a match I’ve been lucky enough to regularly atte

Brackley Town 1-1 FC Halifax Town (National League) I've got the thermals on for a Wednesday night in West Northamptonshire to watch yet another National League game. The Saints of Brackley Town have been doing ok under the interim charge of centre half Gareth Dean, previous manager Gavin Cowan recently left to take the job at Shrewsbury Town at the end of last month, on a limited budget Cowan over-achieved with this small part time squad of players, having won the National

Boston United 1-0 Gateshead (National League) I spent a lovely morning on Monday meeting the daughter and granddaughter of a former Nottingham Forest footballer who served in World War II for the Royal Navy, Arthur Hedley Williams was a seaman who also played for Bilsthorpe Colliery and Huthwaite CWS winning the Notts Alliance league title with both. I wrote a full article on the Nottingham Sport website about his amazing story which can be read here . Boston United are unde

Forest Green Rovers 4-2 Woking  (National League) It’s a bit of a road trip today. I’ve got a last-minute game in Taunton added to my diary for Wednesday night so whilst in the South-West I may as well stop over on the Tuesday, I look for cheap rooms on Booking.com and find the Hunters Hall Inn in Kingscote at just £54 per night, just a ten minute drive from Nailsworth, the Cotswolds home of Forest Green Rovers FC. After a good start to the season FGR have dropped a little of

Braintree Town 2-1 Eastleigh  (National League) The games are coming thick and fast, a busy month ending in Essex ahead of plenty more action to come in February. I last visited Braintree on Bonfire night where there were plenty of fireworks, but not much on the pitch in a dire single goal defeat to Brackley, I’ve seen their results have hardly improved, Steve Pitt’s side have lost their last three, including a penalty shoot out defeat in the National League Cup at Truro City

Peterborough Sports 4-3 Macclesfield  (National League North) Storm Chandra has been threatening to call matches off up and down the country today, but Pims Park is made of hardened stuff these days, a 1pm pitch inspection passed, it’ll be my first watch of Macclesfield FC, the team that beat the FA Cup holders Crystal Palace earlier this month. Formed as recently as 2020 after Macclesfield Town went bust, it’s been a rapid rise since local businessman Rob Smethurst brought t

FC Halifax Town 2-1 Boston United  (National League) A ground I’ve been trying to get to for an awful long time is the Shay, longstanding home of Halifax Town and of course Halifax Panthers Rugby League which is very big around these parts of West Yorkshire. Before liquidation in 2008, I always thought of Halifax as a football league club, founder members of the Third Division North in 1921, they stood firm in the bottom two tiers of the league until 1993, following five seas

Boston United 1-2 Eastleigh (National League) It's been a cold frosty start to the new year and as I wake up this first Saturday of 2026 I'm soon checking my phone if today's game between Boston and Eastleigh is on. They've had the covers on overnight at the Jakemans Stadium and the head groundsman is optimistic, pitch in his opinion playable but the Referee will confirm upon his arrival at 12pm. The Eastleigh team have been staying in the area so every chance will be given

Tamworth 0-2 FC Halifax Town  (National League) I’ve spent a couple of days in Whitby, with the wife and in-laws, we went up to Sandsend and Staithes, before coming home through Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington, stopping off at a lovely beach at Fraisthorpe full of dog walkers, heading back home, over the Humber Bridge at Hull towards Nottingham, where I would unload the car, have a brew, then head off again, down the M42 towards Tamworth. The Lambs took a tonking  on Boxin

Brackley Town 0-2 Morecambe  (National League) So DAZN have decided to piss off the whole of the National League Premier Division this weekend by playing every game at any other time they can bar 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, which in a funny way actually works well for me as I took the dog to see Santa yesterday, and initially thought I might miss out on my last round of games before Christmas. It means I can keep the wife happy with a trip to some puppy play field near Hemel

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

Carlisle United 1-3 Woking (National League) It's so tight at the top, should third place Carlisle get just a draw tonight they'll go back to the summit of the National League table ahead of a cluster of promotion wannabes. Mark Hughes side are unbeaten in nine in the league but did get dumped out of the FA Cup losing 4-1 at Blackpool on Sunday. Woking themselves are on a fine run under Neal Ardley, unbeaten in nine in all competitions, they last suffered league defeat in Se

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

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