(no subject)

Met up with the Hawk Travel posse at Bedhampton ASDA for one of their excellent breakfasts ahead of the trip to Welling. On the way to Westleigh Park with Mark to catch the minibus, we discussed our shared love of vintage rock music, leading to Mark's revelation that the wife of Heinz (member of the Tornados and Just Like Eddie singer) was his second cousin once removed.

As several of us fancied seeing the Portsmouth v Birmingham FA Cup tie on telly the original idea was to drive straight to Welling, but a few bladders were getting restless by the time the signage for Clackett Lane services appeared so we made a stop. We arrived at the Guy Earl of Warwick, next door to the ground, a few minutes before half-time of the Portsmouth game. No Kopparberg, alas, but they sold light ale at £1.50 a bottle - whenever I went up for a refill a friendly young barmaid smiled "Light ale, my love?"

Welling scored an early penalty then the match descended into farce. During a goalmouth scramble a Welling defender collided with their goalie, the keeper went down as if pole-axed, and Welling players surrounded the referee, pointed to Muzzy Tiryaki who'd happened to be standing nearby and demanded "You're not going to let him get away with that, are you?" Shockingly, the ref caved in and booked Muzzy.

The Welling keeper came in for some venomous abuse and replied with a wanker sign. Asked if that was the best he could do, he lost it completely, calling Malc a c***. Light relief came in the shape of Mark spotting the linesman's resemblance to EastEnders character Alan Jackson and, when he signalled a goal kick, yelling "Alan Jackson, that was a corner." Some Hawks asked Mark who Mr Jackson was.

"Alan Jackson on EastEnders, estranged husband of Carol."

I haven't watched the goings-on in Albert Square since my two babes, Natalie Evans and the second - and better - Sam Mitchell, left, but my EE memory bank placed Alan and Carol Jackson in the mid-90s. So I exclaimed "God, are they still in it?" Apparently yes.

The referee was the biggest homer since the writer of The Odyssey. When a Welling defender ran across Muzzy's path and tripped over him, the official proceeded to book Muzzy; being his second yellow that meant Muzzy received a red. He went on to dismiss Ian Selley soon after.

The second half brought more cards for Hawks players while the home side got away with similar offences uncautioned. To do our nine men credit they never gave up, Manny Williams in particular toiling hard all game in search if an equaliser, but one never came. Late on a Welling player finally received a booking, drawing ironic cheers and applause from our end.

After the final whistle, as a group of Welling fans passed us one of them made a wanker sign. Heated words were exchanged with more fans on both sides becoming involved, leading to a physical confrontation, including a couple of the Hawk Travel crowd (one of whom, quite rightly, intervened to protect their seven-year-old child who'd been threatened by a grown man). Finally a steward stepped in, got the warring parties to separate and dealt sensibly with the whole situation. Instead of getting straight back on the road as planned, we from Hawk Travel returned to the Guy Earl of Warwick for a calming drink. When we did set off, we saw some of the Hawks players, looking pretty gutted, making their way to their cars and gave them some cheers and applause.

Some of us had been saying earlier that we didn't think Hawks would make the play-offs; this was the day when the dream finally died for all of us. Malc managed to momentarily raise our spirits on the drive out of town with the news that E*******h had lost at home to St Albans.

Here's hoping for better fortunes for the Ladies when they take on Portsmouth in this afternoon's Hampshire Cup Final...

(no subject)

Drove up to Cams Alders early to catch the first half of Reading v Aston Villa in the clubhouse before the Ladies' match. Becky was the only other Hawks follower in the bar, the players' relatives preferring to stand outside in the cold even with nearly an hour to kick-off. They must have been bloody mad. There was a girl there from Portsmouth University, whose reserves had been involved in the other cup final played there earlier; she stopped for a chat with Trev about a fixture they needed to arrange, so I asked after lovely Michelle. The girl said Michelle's fine and speaks highly of me often *<3* Becky was delighted with Reading going two in front, albeit for selfish reasons : she hoped her team Portsmouth would get us in the semis.

You couldn't fault the Hawk girls' effort, they never stopped battling, but we suffered a heavy blow when Becki Bath, the inspirational pivot of our defence, limped off injured early on. We conceded a goal soon after.

Taking cover from the cold in the bar at half time, I headed straight for the big TV screen where a caption in the corner had bad news for Becky: Villa had won 4-2.

Portsmouth Ladies' defence did a comprehensive hemming-in job on our attack, and after the break they added two more, once when their forwards managed to get behind our defence and one from a late corner.

Stayed behind a while to see the girls, but we were all feeling pretty flat - except Yzzy, who'd won the half time raffle.

And I didn't see Miss Sapphire anywhere either. Sick as a parrot, Jimmy.