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Mar. 29th, 2008 10:31 pmI tossed up all morning between Fareham Town v Wimborne Town and Moneyfields v Alton Town, but finally opted for Moneyfields. As I walked up from the Hard to Portsmouth city centre through the wind and rain to catch my bus, I reflected on how I could have stayed home and watched Victoria Pendleton go for gold.
On arriving at the clubhouse I made sure I got a Wells Bombardier bitter. This time there were only half a dozen people in the bar, and there was no food on offer - this turned out to be because of a wedding reception in the private function room, which took up the full attention of the catering staff.
I had enough dosh for a programme this time. I don't want to be too harsh on it, as it looks like there's just the one guy who does the whole programme - on one page he appealed for people to contribute stuff - but it was pretty basic, and included a report on Moneys' recent match with Poole Town that was written from the Poole point of view.
Called at the tea hut and requested a bacon roll, only to be crushed by one of the ladies saying "No bacon today. It's hamburgers or hot dogs." At that point I wished I'd gone to Fareham, home of the finest bacon rolls in English football. I went for a hot dog - not bad at all, especially compared to most football ground hot dogs. And they get a big plus for having HP sauce on the table.
The actual game was fairly eventful. On the quarter-hour Bickram Singh missed an open goal, but minutes later Jason Prior was able to score a sloppy goal to give Moneyfields the lead. Alton's physio was an attractive young lady; when one of their players went down and she ran on to attend to him, a couple of guys in the stand reckoned he'd faked injury to get seen to by her. Moments after receiving her attentions, he was back on his feet and in the thick of the game again, fuelling the guys' suspicions. Half-time saw people exchanging various rumours about the Portsmouth score before a bloke who had a personal stereo on, tuned to Radio Solent, settled the issue by confirming Pompey were 1-0 up. The second half saw an Alton player shove Bickram Singh in the back; Bik went down but the ref waved play on, to all-round discontentment in the stand (Bickram argued about it with the ref for a while but didn't get a card). The Moneys number 6 sent in a couple of rocket shots, but both were saved by the keeper; towards the end a speculative Alton cross appeared to be going in, but the goalie just managed to turn it over the bar. Moneyfields held on for the win. Sat behind me was a delightful old lady who, towards the end of the game, asked if anyone knew how the British cyclists had got on this afternoon
Into the clubhouse - much busier now than before the match - as I needed to visit the gents. With the scores coming in on Sky Sports News I asked a man who was intently watching the TV if the St Albans v Hawks score had come in yet. "I don't know, sorry," he replied. I then saw the carnation in his buttonhole and realised he was one of the wedding party. Just then, the result came up - St Albans 1 Havant & Waterlooville 0 ;( I met a married couple who were looking forward to their trip to Wembley next week. The twist? He supports West Bromwich Albion, she Portsmouth. "Divorce on the way home," they said to me.
Walked down to the bus stop and saw from the timetable that there wasn't a bus for 25 minutes. I walked back over Copnor Bridge, hoping there might be a direct bus to the Hard from the other side of the bridge; thank goodness, there was a bus stop just over the bridge, where a bus to the Hard was due in two minutes. It arrived bang on time.
At home I switched on Radio Solent to catch the non-league round-up. I was right to go to Moneyfields after all - Fareham's game was called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
After Harry Hill, went to Aunt Jean's for her 60th birthday celebrations. When I arrived Damo, partner of my cousin Gayle, was in the kitchen with Uncle Graham and my cousin Neil picking his ideal England team - or, as Neil put it, "the best we can do with the crap we've got". I joined their footy and rugby discussion for a while, until we were let loose on the food (lots of tasty chicken, pork, jacket spuds, nice spicy sausages and garlic bread) then repaired to the living room to all catch up on family goings-on, eat lemon birthday cake, drink strawberry champagne and make jokes about Aunt Jean being an O.A.P.
On arriving at the clubhouse I made sure I got a Wells Bombardier bitter. This time there were only half a dozen people in the bar, and there was no food on offer - this turned out to be because of a wedding reception in the private function room, which took up the full attention of the catering staff.
I had enough dosh for a programme this time. I don't want to be too harsh on it, as it looks like there's just the one guy who does the whole programme - on one page he appealed for people to contribute stuff - but it was pretty basic, and included a report on Moneys' recent match with Poole Town that was written from the Poole point of view.
Called at the tea hut and requested a bacon roll, only to be crushed by one of the ladies saying "No bacon today. It's hamburgers or hot dogs." At that point I wished I'd gone to Fareham, home of the finest bacon rolls in English football. I went for a hot dog - not bad at all, especially compared to most football ground hot dogs. And they get a big plus for having HP sauce on the table.
The actual game was fairly eventful. On the quarter-hour Bickram Singh missed an open goal, but minutes later Jason Prior was able to score a sloppy goal to give Moneyfields the lead. Alton's physio was an attractive young lady; when one of their players went down and she ran on to attend to him, a couple of guys in the stand reckoned he'd faked injury to get seen to by her. Moments after receiving her attentions, he was back on his feet and in the thick of the game again, fuelling the guys' suspicions. Half-time saw people exchanging various rumours about the Portsmouth score before a bloke who had a personal stereo on, tuned to Radio Solent, settled the issue by confirming Pompey were 1-0 up. The second half saw an Alton player shove Bickram Singh in the back; Bik went down but the ref waved play on, to all-round discontentment in the stand (Bickram argued about it with the ref for a while but didn't get a card). The Moneys number 6 sent in a couple of rocket shots, but both were saved by the keeper; towards the end a speculative Alton cross appeared to be going in, but the goalie just managed to turn it over the bar. Moneyfields held on for the win. Sat behind me was a delightful old lady who, towards the end of the game, asked if anyone knew how the British cyclists had got on this afternoon
Into the clubhouse - much busier now than before the match - as I needed to visit the gents. With the scores coming in on Sky Sports News I asked a man who was intently watching the TV if the St Albans v Hawks score had come in yet. "I don't know, sorry," he replied. I then saw the carnation in his buttonhole and realised he was one of the wedding party. Just then, the result came up - St Albans 1 Havant & Waterlooville 0 ;( I met a married couple who were looking forward to their trip to Wembley next week. The twist? He supports West Bromwich Albion, she Portsmouth. "Divorce on the way home," they said to me.
Walked down to the bus stop and saw from the timetable that there wasn't a bus for 25 minutes. I walked back over Copnor Bridge, hoping there might be a direct bus to the Hard from the other side of the bridge; thank goodness, there was a bus stop just over the bridge, where a bus to the Hard was due in two minutes. It arrived bang on time.
At home I switched on Radio Solent to catch the non-league round-up. I was right to go to Moneyfields after all - Fareham's game was called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
After Harry Hill, went to Aunt Jean's for her 60th birthday celebrations. When I arrived Damo, partner of my cousin Gayle, was in the kitchen with Uncle Graham and my cousin Neil picking his ideal England team - or, as Neil put it, "the best we can do with the crap we've got". I joined their footy and rugby discussion for a while, until we were let loose on the food (lots of tasty chicken, pork, jacket spuds, nice spicy sausages and garlic bread) then repaired to the living room to all catch up on family goings-on, eat lemon birthday cake, drink strawberry champagne and make jokes about Aunt Jean being an O.A.P.
