A busy FA Cup weekend saw the expected attendance boost, especially on Friday night at Wokingham but it is Windsor & Eton turning heads at Step 7 with 1,000+ through the gates at Stag Meadow.
Elsewhere Slough Town boss Scott Davies took a soaking during post match media duties but he has reunited a fan favourite central defence partnership – something to ponder while drying himself off.
As ever, lets hear your moments from the weekend in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Brilliant attendances, and not just in the FA Cup
A Friday night FA Cup tie between to neighbouring clubs was always likely to bring out supporters, but as over 600 walked into Lowther Road at the weekend to watch Wokingham & Emmbrook take on Binfield they wouldn’t have known at the time they were part of a record crowd.
The Combined Counties League Division One North side have been playing back in Wokingham at the ground they share with Emmbrook Cricket Club and have been busy improving facilities over the summer.
The ground got its first real test of the season then on FA Cup weekend but it was Binfield – a division higher in the Isthmian League who ran out 2-0 winners to advance to the FA Cup First Qualifying Round.
Across the way in East Berkshire, Thames Valley Premier League Windsor & Eton were setting the bar high for attendance records of their own.
Stag Meadow has seen higher attendances over the years, but a reported 1,022 supporters shuffled in to the ground within the grounds of Windsor Great Park and watch the brand new Windsor & Eton draw 0-0 with West Berkshire side Burghfield.
A fantastic occasion no doubt for both sides, the work off the pitch at Windsor to raise awareness of the new clubs progress (at last check on Twitter, volunteers Grace and Peter Stevens had posted 5,000 leaflets around the town) has certainly caught the eye. All eyes now on the team capturing their imaginations as well.
Boots kept under lock and key
I don’t know if this is just me, but discovering AFC Porchester’s kit man not only keeps all the South Coast sides players boots under lock and key, but chooses what type they’ll be wearing on any given surface, seems a bit odd.
Mind you I suppose you can’t argue with his methods when his side win 8-1 in the FA Cup at Tadley Calleva.
Keen to know the process a ‘wantaway player’ has to go through to get his boots back though.
Maidenhead United’s medical team earn big Dagenham & Redbridge praise
We were heartened to hear that Dagenham & Redbridge’s Inih Effiong is on the mend after a medical incident during Maidenhead United’s 1-0 win at York Road on Saturday.
The Daggers website reported that ‘tests undertaken to date have revealed no underlying condition’.
It went on to praised the Magpies medical staff for their quick reactions: “We would also like to thank everyone at Maidenhead United and the wonderful medical staff who attended to Inih so quickly after he became unwell.
“In particular their Club Therapist, Max Bangura and Club Doctor, Mandip Singh. Also the response para-medics and the staff at Wycombe General Hospital.”
Bracknell Town’s Temi Eweka and Dan Bayliss reunited at Slough Town
I’m going to mix a lot of metaphors here so I apologise in advance. Berkshire’s biggest brick wall is rebuilt as Temi Eweka and Dan Bayliss reunite at Slough Town in the Vanarama National League South.
Eweka flirted with the Rebels on several occasions last season over two spells but stuck with parent club Maidenhead United over the summer.
Bayliss, the Bracknell captain, made the switch in the summer and at that point we started bulk buying bags of mortar repair.
Now two weeks into the season, Eweka and Bayliss are reunited at Arbour Park after the former signed permanently for Scott Davies men. The duo that conceded just 12 league goals (they actually scored more between them (14) than they conceded) on the way to the Robins 21/22 Isthmian League South Central Division One title romp are back together.
We also loved this tweet from Rebels Radio, perhaps if it actually was Eweka and Bayliss instead of nobody film extras in the those suits, they’d have found the droids they were looking for and we could have saved ourselves the whole sorry post-1983 Star Wars saga.
Also from Slough (sorry Scott)
Finally, Liam Gavin is front and centre for new club Hartley Wintney
A site to make us smile. Liam Gavin on the front of a match day programme. The goalscoring central defender made the move to Hartley Wintney in the summer and they’ve only gone and put him on the front of the printed programme.
