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Aug. 30th, 2009 11:38 pmWent up to Oxford to see the Hawk girls. When I boarded the train at Fareham the guard's voice came over the PA to say we were going to be held up while the driver contacted the signalman. That sounded like bad news as I had only five minutes to change trains at Basingstoke, so I sat groaning at the possibility of the purgatory that would be an hour sitting around Basingstoke station waiting for the next train, until mercifully the train started to move just two minutes late and the guard announced that they hoped to make that time up over the course of the journey. We reached Basingstoke bang on schedule.
Arrived at Oxford City's ground just in time to say hello to the girls before they disappeared into the changing room. Rob, Christine and Sarah were in the bar together with Katie's mum and a guy who was a relative of one or other of our players (I never found out who). The shutters were down on the bar except for one open one, where a club official would leave his office to come and dispense drinks or crisps on request. As I'm a Hibs fan and Hibs were playing Celtic on ESPN I asked him whether they had ESPN, but he said no, they only had the Freeview channels. So we had to stick with Sky Sports News.
I told Katie's mum I've been very impressed with Katie so far : she said Katie was still young and had a lot to learn. Trev arrived in the bar, and asked if I could email him my match report this evening as he's going away for a week tomorrow.
The game was the proverbial seven goal thriller; more importantly, Hawks were the 4-3 victors. Sabrina scored from a corner in the third minute; Oxford equalised with a few minutes to go to half time but Lauren put us back in the lead right on the break. Jodie lobbed the keeper to make it 3-1 early in the second half, then in the 86th minute Telé hooked home our fourth from an awkward angle on the touchline. Thank goodness she did, because Oxford scored two minutes later then added a third deep in injury time. Meanwhile Becky kept us updated on Hibs v Celtic and Portsmouth v Man City via her mobile phone; being a Pompey fan she was displeased about City's 1-0 win, but I was delighted as I have Stephen Ireland in my fantasy team so the clean sheet came in handy. What a shame his shot went over the bar.
Back in the clubhouse, the bar was now fully opened with someone on constant duty, allowing me to buy a lovely pint of Marston's Smooth Creamy Ale. As I had three quarters of an hour to wait before catching the bus to the station, various groups of girls left at intermittent intervals till in the end I was left drinking with Dick and half a dozen stragglers.
When I arrived at Oxford station there wasn't time to visit my favourite kebab haunt before my train went, so I had to make do with a ranch chicken baguette, an apple and a chocolate covered marzipan bar. Spent the train journey back writing my match report for Trev.
Home to type it up and watch Moto GP, then moseyed down to the W*t*rfr*nt F*st*v*l to see the climax, Thank You For The Music, an Abba/Bee Gees tribute band. As I'd acquired a pass for the VIP tent I went there to begin with, but soon abandoned all hope of getting a drink : the bar was mobbed and there was just ONE barmaid to serve everybody. If I'd stuck it out I'd probably have got served just as the band ended their Bee Gee set. So I turned away from the bar...and was met by a young lady shouting a greeting and extending her arms for a hug and a kiss. It was one of the Isle of Wight girls from the Island Games, and she had Sophie and another team-mate with her. We chatted for a while, and the third girl, seeing my HWFC cap, said "You're a Havant & Waterlooville man, are you?" and asked whether I knew Jo. I confirmed I did.
"I work with her," was the girl's reply. "Give her plenty of stick for me."
Went outside into the main crowd to see the Abba set. They were brilliant, especially the two girls - they really captured Agnetha and Frida. Out there I met my cousins Jacqui and Gayle and Jacqui's boyfriend Jim; we ended the evening all dancing around like loonies to Waterloo.
Arrived at Oxford City's ground just in time to say hello to the girls before they disappeared into the changing room. Rob, Christine and Sarah were in the bar together with Katie's mum and a guy who was a relative of one or other of our players (I never found out who). The shutters were down on the bar except for one open one, where a club official would leave his office to come and dispense drinks or crisps on request. As I'm a Hibs fan and Hibs were playing Celtic on ESPN I asked him whether they had ESPN, but he said no, they only had the Freeview channels. So we had to stick with Sky Sports News.
I told Katie's mum I've been very impressed with Katie so far : she said Katie was still young and had a lot to learn. Trev arrived in the bar, and asked if I could email him my match report this evening as he's going away for a week tomorrow.
The game was the proverbial seven goal thriller; more importantly, Hawks were the 4-3 victors. Sabrina scored from a corner in the third minute; Oxford equalised with a few minutes to go to half time but Lauren put us back in the lead right on the break. Jodie lobbed the keeper to make it 3-1 early in the second half, then in the 86th minute Telé hooked home our fourth from an awkward angle on the touchline. Thank goodness she did, because Oxford scored two minutes later then added a third deep in injury time. Meanwhile Becky kept us updated on Hibs v Celtic and Portsmouth v Man City via her mobile phone; being a Pompey fan she was displeased about City's 1-0 win, but I was delighted as I have Stephen Ireland in my fantasy team so the clean sheet came in handy. What a shame his shot went over the bar.
Back in the clubhouse, the bar was now fully opened with someone on constant duty, allowing me to buy a lovely pint of Marston's Smooth Creamy Ale. As I had three quarters of an hour to wait before catching the bus to the station, various groups of girls left at intermittent intervals till in the end I was left drinking with Dick and half a dozen stragglers.
When I arrived at Oxford station there wasn't time to visit my favourite kebab haunt before my train went, so I had to make do with a ranch chicken baguette, an apple and a chocolate covered marzipan bar. Spent the train journey back writing my match report for Trev.
Home to type it up and watch Moto GP, then moseyed down to the W*t*rfr*nt F*st*v*l to see the climax, Thank You For The Music, an Abba/Bee Gees tribute band. As I'd acquired a pass for the VIP tent I went there to begin with, but soon abandoned all hope of getting a drink : the bar was mobbed and there was just ONE barmaid to serve everybody. If I'd stuck it out I'd probably have got served just as the band ended their Bee Gee set. So I turned away from the bar...and was met by a young lady shouting a greeting and extending her arms for a hug and a kiss. It was one of the Isle of Wight girls from the Island Games, and she had Sophie and another team-mate with her. We chatted for a while, and the third girl, seeing my HWFC cap, said "You're a Havant & Waterlooville man, are you?" and asked whether I knew Jo. I confirmed I did.
"I work with her," was the girl's reply. "Give her plenty of stick for me."
Went outside into the main crowd to see the Abba set. They were brilliant, especially the two girls - they really captured Agnetha and Frida. Out there I met my cousins Jacqui and Gayle and Jacqui's boyfriend Jim; we ended the evening all dancing around like loonies to Waterloo.
