Sholing FC v Bridgwater Town - TONIGHT KO 7:45pm Sholing FC v Cinderford Town - Saturday 20th KO 3:00pm Both these games are FREE entry to everyone, so please pop down to support the "Boatmen" the 2nd most successful club within the City. Sholing are in currently 10 games unbeaten and won their last 5 The Silverlake Arena (previously the Vosper Thornycroft Sports ground) is on Portsmouth Road (don't let that put you off) http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/vtfc/location/ There is a small bar open before & after the game and at half time, also a refreshment kiosk. Small amount of covered seating with hardstanding around the pitch. Free parking too. The Boatmen also play in proper Red & White stripes! All Southampton fans are welcome, vast majority of Sholing fans are also Saints fans.
Sorry to hear that Sholing FC have had to resign from the Southern League due to finances.....I have every reason to support Sholing as they are the nearest club to where I grew up and my father and brothers worked for Vosper Thornycroft. I think that I will pop down tonight to watch some grass roots footie.
If anyone was thinking of going to the Saints U21's game tonight bad news, http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/tonights-u21-game-postponed-773528.aspx so this could be an alternative.
FT: Sholing 8 Bridgewater 1. The scoreline could have been much higher if it wasn't for the excellent Bridgewater goalie. Lost count of the number of 1 on 1's Sholing had. Lee Wort scored 4 times, lost count how many he's bagged in the last few weeks! It is a shame that Sholing are dropping back down to the Wessex league, but tonight's game highlights that Southern League is not financially viable with the quite long travelling distances teams have to make. Bridgewater struggled to put out a team, their normal centre forward had to play centre half and half the team were reserves. Its quite hard for semi-pro's to get time off for a 2-3 hour trip to an away game. Sholing's main focus now is to rebuild the club facilities with new changing rooms, clubhouse, function room & offices. Free entry again on Saturday for last home game of the season.
Well i'm glad that I made the effort to go down to see the match last night...I was well impressed with Sholing and they were well worth their 8-1 victory, Lee Wort looks like he could play in a higher league...I can see them 'walking' the Wessex League next season...What happens if they win the league, do they get promoted back to the Southern League? or will the lack of finances restrict them again?
I think its a case of "one step at a time" regarding Promotion from the Wessex League. Teams can decline promotion though. Not sure when the rebuilding work starts at the ground, but I presume in a years time it will be complete. Sholing have a good chance of hanging onto most of their players as many are locals and been with the club a few seasons. Plus the reserves have just romped to winning their league so there's some useful players to come through.
I think they are going to stay down until the ground improvements are ready to go. Playing at Sholing's level costs a lot of money and most teams can't afford to be promoted to it - only one team applied (Newport) and they aren't going to finish top 3 so won't get it anyway. Winchester are coming down to Wessex Prem well - link, so I make that a 23 team league next season.
Was that a typical attendance last night?...looked like there might've been a couple of hundred there.
Attendance was 168. Highest of the season, the average before last night was around 80. Hopefully get a few more youngsters on Saturday if the weather is good.
As a comparison, these are the high, low & average for other clubs in the same division: http://www.southern-football-league.co.uk/attendances/south-and-west.asp?section=attendances
Sholing won 5-0 tonight. Included a 7 minute hat-trick from Lee Wort. Unbeaten in 12 and 7 wins in a row. 26 goals in the 8 games in April ! Let's hope for more on Saturday for the final home game of the season.
Another impressive victory. it would be interesting to see how how they would fare against AFC Totton now, I suspect that it would be a close game. I'm going to come to Saturday's game with my brother and his son as Saints are away, lets hope for more goals, goals, goals...
Sorry, last attempt at plugging free entry at the game on Saturday. 3pm kick off, Sholing's last home game of the season & sunshine guaranteed!! Up the Saints & Up the Boatmen.
