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Apr. 11th, 2010 08:20 pmArrived bright and early at Westleigh Park for the Hawks Ladies' match with Chesham and was promptly conscripted as turnstile man, though Trevor at least allowed me to pop to the clubhouse to get a drink first. Alas, by the time I emerged with my liquid refreshment Trev had hopped off somewhere and I had my first four customers waiting, so I had to take their pounds then phone Trev to let us all in.
The Westleigh Park turnstiles are designed for semi-professional men's matches, where once spectators have entered the ground they don't generally want to go back out again (no jokes please); thus, they don't turn in the opposite direction. This is a little inconvenient at ladies' games, since in the hour before kick-off almost everyone wants to either pop back out to their car to fetch something, or go somewhere they can get something to eat or drink. In the latter cases I was able to send them down to the players' tunnel which has an access route to the clubhouse; the others had to climb over the 'stile, though the skinnier ones just asked me to turn it part of the way forward, to an angle that made it easier for them to squeeze through.
Malc and Aly arrived shortly before kick-off and came up to sit just in front of me (by then I'd come off sentry duty to take my seat in the Press Box ready to write my match report). They, and a couple of other Hawks fans who'd taken advantage of the rare occurrence of the Ladies getting to use Westleigh Park to come and take in a game, made gratifyingly appreciative noises about our girls and their calibre. Unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we all wanted, as Chesham, who've been our strongest rivals for the title all season and who evenly matched us today, scored from a penalty given after Becki cleared off the line with her hand (she was sent off; minutes earlier a Chesham defender had handled in their penalty area and the ref waved play on); although Charley equalised soon after, in the second half Chesham's brilliant number six (Malc called her 'Mrs Fellaini' as she was dark-skinned and had a similar hairstyle to the Everton player) sent a 25-yard free kick straight over the wall and our goalie and into the top of the net. We had no reply.
To all practical intents, that spells the end of Hawks Ladies' promotion chances. Naturally the atmosphere in the bar was quiet and subdued. Many of the girls were staying on in the clubhouse to watch the Portsmouth v Tottenham semi-final - most of them are Pompey fans - so while I generally don't care a chuff about either club I wanted Portsmouth to win to cheer the lasses up. Pompey delivered in extra-time, and after both goals the girls were up on their feet going crazy celebrating (along with about 40 other Portsmouth fans in the bar) so while I felt like a gatecrasher at someone else's party I was genuinely very pleased for the lasses.
Dick gave Lauren and me a lift to Portsmouth; they both picked the bones of the game, and Lauren observed "In every league there's a team that always gubs you. Ours is Chesham [they stuffed us on the opening day, becoming the first ever team to "double" the Hawk girls]."
The Westleigh Park turnstiles are designed for semi-professional men's matches, where once spectators have entered the ground they don't generally want to go back out again (no jokes please); thus, they don't turn in the opposite direction. This is a little inconvenient at ladies' games, since in the hour before kick-off almost everyone wants to either pop back out to their car to fetch something, or go somewhere they can get something to eat or drink. In the latter cases I was able to send them down to the players' tunnel which has an access route to the clubhouse; the others had to climb over the 'stile, though the skinnier ones just asked me to turn it part of the way forward, to an angle that made it easier for them to squeeze through.
Malc and Aly arrived shortly before kick-off and came up to sit just in front of me (by then I'd come off sentry duty to take my seat in the Press Box ready to write my match report). They, and a couple of other Hawks fans who'd taken advantage of the rare occurrence of the Ladies getting to use Westleigh Park to come and take in a game, made gratifyingly appreciative noises about our girls and their calibre. Unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we all wanted, as Chesham, who've been our strongest rivals for the title all season and who evenly matched us today, scored from a penalty given after Becki cleared off the line with her hand (she was sent off; minutes earlier a Chesham defender had handled in their penalty area and the ref waved play on); although Charley equalised soon after, in the second half Chesham's brilliant number six (Malc called her 'Mrs Fellaini' as she was dark-skinned and had a similar hairstyle to the Everton player) sent a 25-yard free kick straight over the wall and our goalie and into the top of the net. We had no reply.
To all practical intents, that spells the end of Hawks Ladies' promotion chances. Naturally the atmosphere in the bar was quiet and subdued. Many of the girls were staying on in the clubhouse to watch the Portsmouth v Tottenham semi-final - most of them are Pompey fans - so while I generally don't care a chuff about either club I wanted Portsmouth to win to cheer the lasses up. Pompey delivered in extra-time, and after both goals the girls were up on their feet going crazy celebrating (along with about 40 other Portsmouth fans in the bar) so while I felt like a gatecrasher at someone else's party I was genuinely very pleased for the lasses.
Dick gave Lauren and me a lift to Portsmouth; they both picked the bones of the game, and Lauren observed "In every league there's a team that always gubs you. Ours is Chesham [they stuffed us on the opening day, becoming the first ever team to "double" the Hawk girls]."
