Junior scribes report soaring gates!

Gates were up by more than a third on Saturday 25 March as budding young scribes aged 11 and under joined forces with fundraising fans for Comic Relief at fixtures from Heybridge to Hastings during the annual celebration of the community work of clubs and their commitment to good causes including the Ryman League's official 2016-17 charity, Prostate Cancer UK.

Last weekend's competition - staged this season to mark the end of the record-breaking 20 year Ryman sponsorship and the thousands of pounds that have been raised for charities by the Isthmian League's 72 clubs over the years – was won by schoolboy Andrew Morrison for his report on the 2-0 win by Soham Town Rangers over Bowers & Pitsea in Ryman North, see below.

Theo Paphitis, the sponsor’s managing director, retail entrepreneur and ex-Dragon's Den star, hailed the success of Ryman’s final community drive before predicting a bright future for the writer of the competition’s winning entry who’s also looking forward to collecting a second prize of £250 worth of Ryman goodies to help him with his studies after seeing his report, published in Sunday's NLP.

Paphitis said: “The Ryman Kids Community Day saw attendance up 40 per cent across the 35 games so it was great to hear of so many fans, new and old, celebrating their local sides. In our final season, after 20 years of sponsorship, this was also a fantastic way to celebrate our ties with the League and encourage more young people into the beautiful game.

"Competition was strong in the match report entries, but the winning write up, from 10-year-old Andrew, covered all the bases and gave a real flavour of the game and atmosphere on the day - perhaps a future sports journalist in our midst!”

Clubs in all three divisions of the Ryman League saw a big boost to their gates last weekend. Unsurprisingly, with the club topping the average attendance charts and already holding the record for the season's biggest gate, Dulwich Hamlet led the way in south London with a whopping 2,805 fans turning out to see them host Billericay Town in the Ryman's top flight.

In Ryman South, Horsham posted their biggest gate of the season when they hosted title-chasing Tooting & Mitcham with 481 at Gorings Mead. Delighted officials at the Hornets say the record-breaking gate was boosted by 114 fans who were admitted for free thanks to the special flyers printed and distributed by title sponsors Ryman to help swell the gates at this season's league-wide event.

The trick also worked in Ryman North where Haringey Borough also recorded their biggest gate so far of the 2016-17 season with 177 at Coles Lane in Tottenham to see them host Brightlingsea Regent.

Successful Soham seal three points

By Andrew Morrison, aged 10

A warm afternoon and a positive crowd proved to be fantastic conditions for Soham Town Rangers in their 2-0 victory over Bowers and Pitsea.

Before the match, referee Nigel Smith, organised a minute silence out of respect for the victims of this week’s London attacks. Soham got the game underway and the first 10 minutes saw Rangers enjoy more possession with Sam Mulready hitting the bar.

Pitsea then took control of the match with Lewis Manor heading just over for the visitors. Before the break, Rangers earned a free kick on the right hand side of the box that the goalkeeper fumbled. Sam Mulready took advantage by heading it into the back of the net.

The second half was not as exciting as the first, but Pitsea were trying to draw level. This resulted in Luke Brown doubling Soham’s lead, catching the away side on the counter attack. Despite a late surge from the away side, Rangers managed to hold on for the win in what was an enjoyable afternoon’s football.

Images courtesy of Andy Burford, John Lines, Paul Simpson & Scott White

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