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Aug. 12th, 2006 10:14 pmFirst day of the footie season, Havant & Waterlooville playing at home to Cambridge City - and with my bank account scarlet, I'd been expecting to spend it stuck at home, glued to Radio Solent and/or the HWFC Web forum for updates.
But at breakfast this morning my mother asked me if I wanted to borrow the money for my season ticket until pay day on the 31st. So at 2 pm there I was in the bar at West Leigh Park, supping a pre-match Coke, saying hello to fellow Hawks and half-watching the end of Stoke v Birmingham on the Sky telly. I met a Wigan Athletic fan there, so wished him good luck for the season - "hope it's even better than the last one" - and told him I had Arjan de Zeeuw in my Fantasy team. He told me De Zeeuw was leaving Wigan.
We lost. By 55 minutes we were two down and the game looked over, then Rocky Baptiste gave us all hope with a lovely curling thunderbolt into the top corner. Time was running out and the game still appeared lost, then a desperate Cambridge defender brought down Craig Watkins and the ref pointed to the spot. Rocky made no mistake, cue massive celebrations among the Hawks support. We were happy to settle for a point...then in injury time Cambridge made a breakaway attack and their sub angled home the winner.
(A couple of comedy moments during the second half : Hawks boss Ian Baird had been trying, and failing, to get the ref's attention to bring on a sub, so Trevor Brock, the club secretary and matchday announcer, said over the PA "Substitution, ref." It did the trick, everyone laughed, and one fan called out "You'll get in trouble for that, Brocky." Then late in the game Cambridge brought on a sub and Trevor announced "Coming on for Cambridge, number 16, ... there's no number 16 on the sheet!" Someone from Cambridge came to his rescue and told him who the player was - he should have been wearing 12, but the bloke who should have been number 2 had the number 12 shirt on. This is why I love non-league.)
Gutted, I walked back to the station, and sprinted the last hundred yards to make the 5.15 train...I made the platform by 5.15 but missed the train, which left 15 seconds early. So I had to flop onto a bench on the platform and read The Big Issue till the next train at 5.39 - which was nearly a minute late. Then I still had the walk home from the Gosport ferry. At least I made it in time for The X Factor - One Year On.
Just checked via the Wigan website and BBC Football Online, and Arjan de Zeeuw is still at Wigan and has no intention of leaving - so no adjustment to my Fantasy team needed, thank goodness.
But at breakfast this morning my mother asked me if I wanted to borrow the money for my season ticket until pay day on the 31st. So at 2 pm there I was in the bar at West Leigh Park, supping a pre-match Coke, saying hello to fellow Hawks and half-watching the end of Stoke v Birmingham on the Sky telly. I met a Wigan Athletic fan there, so wished him good luck for the season - "hope it's even better than the last one" - and told him I had Arjan de Zeeuw in my Fantasy team. He told me De Zeeuw was leaving Wigan.
We lost. By 55 minutes we were two down and the game looked over, then Rocky Baptiste gave us all hope with a lovely curling thunderbolt into the top corner. Time was running out and the game still appeared lost, then a desperate Cambridge defender brought down Craig Watkins and the ref pointed to the spot. Rocky made no mistake, cue massive celebrations among the Hawks support. We were happy to settle for a point...then in injury time Cambridge made a breakaway attack and their sub angled home the winner.
(A couple of comedy moments during the second half : Hawks boss Ian Baird had been trying, and failing, to get the ref's attention to bring on a sub, so Trevor Brock, the club secretary and matchday announcer, said over the PA "Substitution, ref." It did the trick, everyone laughed, and one fan called out "You'll get in trouble for that, Brocky." Then late in the game Cambridge brought on a sub and Trevor announced "Coming on for Cambridge, number 16, ... there's no number 16 on the sheet!" Someone from Cambridge came to his rescue and told him who the player was - he should have been wearing 12, but the bloke who should have been number 2 had the number 12 shirt on. This is why I love non-league.)
Gutted, I walked back to the station, and sprinted the last hundred yards to make the 5.15 train...I made the platform by 5.15 but missed the train, which left 15 seconds early. So I had to flop onto a bench on the platform and read The Big Issue till the next train at 5.39 - which was nearly a minute late. Then I still had the walk home from the Gosport ferry. At least I made it in time for The X Factor - One Year On.
Just checked via the Wigan website and BBC Football Online, and Arjan de Zeeuw is still at Wigan and has no intention of leaving - so no adjustment to my Fantasy team needed, thank goodness.
