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Down to earth
Feb. 2nd, 2008 08:24 pm
There were 19 of us on the midibus that left Westleigh Park for Havant & Waterlooville's match at Hayes & Yeading United. "Is this Coach 1?" one guy asked, sardonically contrasting our little party with the 11 coachloads we had last week. "Oh, I've been stewarding so many people this morning," Aly added.
On the bright side, Ruth was our driver! She'd loved last week's trip so much that she asked to take us to this game. When she introduced herself, I and one other guy who'd also been on Coach 2 last week cheered.
There was no service-station stop en route this time, as the whole journey took less than an hour and a half. We got issued little plastic cups of raspberry or orange squash as we neared the end. Ruth managed to take a wrong turning as we arrived in the Hayes area, but Phil got her back on track and Alan shouted "Thank you for the scenic tour."
A couple of the guys at the front had been urging Ruth to come in and watch with us; she was finally persuaded when Phil said he'd pay for her to get in. Cue wolf-whistles and shouts of "Phil's pulled". As we piled into the Hayes & Yeading United Social Club (with Chelsea memorabilia behind the bar) a couple of the home fans picked out a young lad in our group and asked if he was Billy Parker, the kid who'd been featured on MOTD and in the newspapers bursting into tears when we took the lead at Liverpool. Al said no, Billy wouldn't be coming today, he hardly ever comes to away matches, and young Spud made a caustic comment about the guy becoming nationally famous just for crying.
Ruth came into the bar with us, by now wearing a Hawks scarf! With two and a half hours still to kick-off, I passed the time supping several Magners as we all watched Man City v Arsenal on the little screen and ignored the rugby on the big screen.
Inside the ground, my first port of call was the tea-bar, for a burger (hooray, burger sauce was on offer) and a portion of excellent chips. There were about 100 Hawks there in all, gathered at one end of a covered terrace running along one side. The Hayes hardcore were in the middle section, and chants flew between the sets of fans all game - soon after kick-off the Hayes lot sang "6000, you're having a laugh" at us; we replied with "Where were you at Westleigh Park?" (they brought hardly any to our place in August).
Throughout the first half Hawks attacked but were unable to put the ball in the net; Craig Watkins, preferred to Rocky Baptiste today, had several chances but shot all of them wide or over. Just before half-time, Hayes scored from a close-range free kick.
Soon after the break Hayes made it 2-0 with a lob over the keeper and that knocked the stuffing out of Hawks. It was game over, and on the hour we conceded a third through sloppy defending. From then on the Hayes fans alongside us kept singing "Let's all laugh at Havant" and the odd variation like "You might as well go home". Malc got into a slanging match with one home fan with long black hair and a beard (dubbed 'Jesus' by Mark) which got fairly fruity until the home fan retreated behind some of his pals. Mo Harkin scored a consolation in the closing minutes.
Since the cup run ended, all the talk around the club has been of making the play-offs. On that display, forget it.
When we got back on the bus Ruth told us she'd enjoyed the experience, offered a little comment on the Hawk performance and said she'd like to come again. Malc, Aly and Spud then handed out cheese or ham rolls, packets of crisps (pot luck - I got cheddar cheese flavour, which I was very happy with) and more little squash drinks. We did a Blackout (with so few of us on the bus most of us had to buy two or more teams) won by Simon, prompting moans from some. With my cold, tiredness was starting to kick in and I nodded off for much of the trip home.
On the bright side, Ruth was our driver! She'd loved last week's trip so much that she asked to take us to this game. When she introduced herself, I and one other guy who'd also been on Coach 2 last week cheered.
There was no service-station stop en route this time, as the whole journey took less than an hour and a half. We got issued little plastic cups of raspberry or orange squash as we neared the end. Ruth managed to take a wrong turning as we arrived in the Hayes area, but Phil got her back on track and Alan shouted "Thank you for the scenic tour."
A couple of the guys at the front had been urging Ruth to come in and watch with us; she was finally persuaded when Phil said he'd pay for her to get in. Cue wolf-whistles and shouts of "Phil's pulled". As we piled into the Hayes & Yeading United Social Club (with Chelsea memorabilia behind the bar) a couple of the home fans picked out a young lad in our group and asked if he was Billy Parker, the kid who'd been featured on MOTD and in the newspapers bursting into tears when we took the lead at Liverpool. Al said no, Billy wouldn't be coming today, he hardly ever comes to away matches, and young Spud made a caustic comment about the guy becoming nationally famous just for crying.
Ruth came into the bar with us, by now wearing a Hawks scarf! With two and a half hours still to kick-off, I passed the time supping several Magners as we all watched Man City v Arsenal on the little screen and ignored the rugby on the big screen.
Inside the ground, my first port of call was the tea-bar, for a burger (hooray, burger sauce was on offer) and a portion of excellent chips. There were about 100 Hawks there in all, gathered at one end of a covered terrace running along one side. The Hayes hardcore were in the middle section, and chants flew between the sets of fans all game - soon after kick-off the Hayes lot sang "6000, you're having a laugh" at us; we replied with "Where were you at Westleigh Park?" (they brought hardly any to our place in August).
Throughout the first half Hawks attacked but were unable to put the ball in the net; Craig Watkins, preferred to Rocky Baptiste today, had several chances but shot all of them wide or over. Just before half-time, Hayes scored from a close-range free kick.
Soon after the break Hayes made it 2-0 with a lob over the keeper and that knocked the stuffing out of Hawks. It was game over, and on the hour we conceded a third through sloppy defending. From then on the Hayes fans alongside us kept singing "Let's all laugh at Havant" and the odd variation like "You might as well go home". Malc got into a slanging match with one home fan with long black hair and a beard (dubbed 'Jesus' by Mark) which got fairly fruity until the home fan retreated behind some of his pals. Mo Harkin scored a consolation in the closing minutes.
Since the cup run ended, all the talk around the club has been of making the play-offs. On that display, forget it.
When we got back on the bus Ruth told us she'd enjoyed the experience, offered a little comment on the Hawk performance and said she'd like to come again. Malc, Aly and Spud then handed out cheese or ham rolls, packets of crisps (pot luck - I got cheddar cheese flavour, which I was very happy with) and more little squash drinks. We did a Blackout (with so few of us on the bus most of us had to buy two or more teams) won by Simon, prompting moans from some. With my cold, tiredness was starting to kick in and I nodded off for much of the trip home.
