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Back to Walthamstow yesterday for Clapton Community Women v Regents Park Rangers. Called at a peri-peri chicken joint for lunch on the walk from the tube station up to the ground. A board outside advertised chicken wraps at two for £6, but when I ordered two lemon and herb wraps I was charged full price for both, total £7.98.
This game was to be played on the LRT Sports Ground, aka a park pitch at the back of the Wadham Lodge complex. This pitch is famously hard to find, and club website had said there'd be signage to show us the way to get there, but when I arrived at the Matchday Centre there were no signs to be seen. I wandered around for a while looking for a clue, until thankfully I saw two of the Clapton team, Marta Boiro and Polly Adams, coming round the corner from the changing room. I had one of my CCFC scarves on and asked if I could follow them to the pitch as there were no signs, they were fine with that.
As we walked along Polly, the goalkeeper, said she was hoping for another clean sheet. Nick, one of our fans, writes a blog and revealed that at the start of the season he promised to reward Polly with a box of Maltesers for every clean sheet she keeps. So far, she's kept six. So I said "More Maltesers?" much to her amusement.
To reach the pitch, we had to go round the far side of the 3G cages and go through a little opening in the metal fence at the back of the complex. Had a quick chat with the couple of volunteers on front table duty. Went for a wander round the pitch to take photos of the CCFC fan banners that were already up, a difficult task with strong gusts of wind blowing. Nick was there with his camera, he came over to say hello and we talked about next weekend's men's and women's matches - next Sunday the women are playing in the biggest game in the history of either team, travelling to Bedford in the Women's FA Cup First Round Proper. With the girls having seen off Step 5 teams Haringey Borough and Biggleswade United in the last two rounds, and Bedford being another Step 5 side, Nick was optimistic about the possibility of another giant-killing.
More CCFC fans trickled in as kick-off time approached and we ended up with a couple of dozen of the hardcore gathered together in a corner. In the second minute the amazing Emily Link struck again, breaking down the left wing and neatly slotting home to put the Tons in front. Cue a chorus of "We've got Emily, scoring goals for CCFC" to the We Are Family tune. Soon after came a rendition of Dancing In The Dark with the end lines changed to "We are the Clapton, even when we're just playing in a park".
On the quarter hour Lucy Spours, who impressed all game, threaded a defence-splitting ball through to Marta Casanovas who shimmied past the keeper and walked the ball into the net.
Just before the half hour mark a strong Regents Park shot drew a superb save from Polly. Soon after, back at the other end, Marta Boiro had a looping shot saved but the keeper diverted the ball into the path of Annie Lyons who tapped in Clapton's third.
A Regents Park attacker was brought down in the Clapton area and their penalty taker sent Polly the wrong way from the spot, saving Nick from buying another box of Maltesers.
The second half was quieter at first, but the impressive song repertoire from the Clapton faithful continued unabated. Paul, who'd arrived late and missed the rendition of the Dancing In The Dark song, asked whether this pitch constituted a park and therefore would allow for the singing of that song. There was a bit of discussion as to whether the pitch was a park, then I informed Paul that the song had been sung earlier. Satisfied, he started said song.
Emily Link zoomed down the right wing and cut back from the byline for Camila Marcolino to make it four from point blank range. Regents Park scored again soon after but in the remaining few minutes never seriously challenged again.
Few moments in my 44 years watching football have matched, for sheer joy, standing in the corner of that park pitch with the CCFC hardcore, belting out my favourite chant "Forza Clapton, allez, allez, allez" to the Yellow Submarine tune. The final whistle came, we all cheered and clapped, then, as is our custom, sang "well played" to our opponents, though there was some confusion as to whether we should chant "Well played Regents Park" or, as I was singing, "Well played Rangers". Paul said to me that that fitted the rhythm better, although the guy next to him said "I don't like saying that!" in a Scottish accent.
"You a Tim [Celtic fan] ?" I asked him.
"No, I'm a Jag [Partick Thistle supporter] !" he replied. "I wouldn't like saying 'Well played Celtic' either."
"The Maryhill Magyars," I grinned.
"Aye, the Harry Wraggs."
Our players came over to exchange applause with us, then they led us in a la-la chant with us supplying the responses. Then they walked along shaking our hands.
Eva and Will were going my way for the first leg of my walk back to the station. They asked me about my journey up from Portsmouth and they said I was likely the Tons' most committed travelling fan.
The tube was full of Arsenal fans coming from their game. Arrived at Waterloo with 50 minutes until the train home. Cue a visit to the Bagel Factory, then to Costa (where there were beggars buzzing around like flies) for a tasty After Eight Hot Chocolate.
This game was to be played on the LRT Sports Ground, aka a park pitch at the back of the Wadham Lodge complex. This pitch is famously hard to find, and club website had said there'd be signage to show us the way to get there, but when I arrived at the Matchday Centre there were no signs to be seen. I wandered around for a while looking for a clue, until thankfully I saw two of the Clapton team, Marta Boiro and Polly Adams, coming round the corner from the changing room. I had one of my CCFC scarves on and asked if I could follow them to the pitch as there were no signs, they were fine with that.
As we walked along Polly, the goalkeeper, said she was hoping for another clean sheet. Nick, one of our fans, writes a blog and revealed that at the start of the season he promised to reward Polly with a box of Maltesers for every clean sheet she keeps. So far, she's kept six. So I said "More Maltesers?" much to her amusement.
To reach the pitch, we had to go round the far side of the 3G cages and go through a little opening in the metal fence at the back of the complex. Had a quick chat with the couple of volunteers on front table duty. Went for a wander round the pitch to take photos of the CCFC fan banners that were already up, a difficult task with strong gusts of wind blowing. Nick was there with his camera, he came over to say hello and we talked about next weekend's men's and women's matches - next Sunday the women are playing in the biggest game in the history of either team, travelling to Bedford in the Women's FA Cup First Round Proper. With the girls having seen off Step 5 teams Haringey Borough and Biggleswade United in the last two rounds, and Bedford being another Step 5 side, Nick was optimistic about the possibility of another giant-killing.
More CCFC fans trickled in as kick-off time approached and we ended up with a couple of dozen of the hardcore gathered together in a corner. In the second minute the amazing Emily Link struck again, breaking down the left wing and neatly slotting home to put the Tons in front. Cue a chorus of "We've got Emily, scoring goals for CCFC" to the We Are Family tune. Soon after came a rendition of Dancing In The Dark with the end lines changed to "We are the Clapton, even when we're just playing in a park".
On the quarter hour Lucy Spours, who impressed all game, threaded a defence-splitting ball through to Marta Casanovas who shimmied past the keeper and walked the ball into the net.
Just before the half hour mark a strong Regents Park shot drew a superb save from Polly. Soon after, back at the other end, Marta Boiro had a looping shot saved but the keeper diverted the ball into the path of Annie Lyons who tapped in Clapton's third.
A Regents Park attacker was brought down in the Clapton area and their penalty taker sent Polly the wrong way from the spot, saving Nick from buying another box of Maltesers.
The second half was quieter at first, but the impressive song repertoire from the Clapton faithful continued unabated. Paul, who'd arrived late and missed the rendition of the Dancing In The Dark song, asked whether this pitch constituted a park and therefore would allow for the singing of that song. There was a bit of discussion as to whether the pitch was a park, then I informed Paul that the song had been sung earlier. Satisfied, he started said song.
Emily Link zoomed down the right wing and cut back from the byline for Camila Marcolino to make it four from point blank range. Regents Park scored again soon after but in the remaining few minutes never seriously challenged again.
Few moments in my 44 years watching football have matched, for sheer joy, standing in the corner of that park pitch with the CCFC hardcore, belting out my favourite chant "Forza Clapton, allez, allez, allez" to the Yellow Submarine tune. The final whistle came, we all cheered and clapped, then, as is our custom, sang "well played" to our opponents, though there was some confusion as to whether we should chant "Well played Regents Park" or, as I was singing, "Well played Rangers". Paul said to me that that fitted the rhythm better, although the guy next to him said "I don't like saying that!" in a Scottish accent.
"You a Tim [Celtic fan] ?" I asked him.
"No, I'm a Jag [Partick Thistle supporter] !" he replied. "I wouldn't like saying 'Well played Celtic' either."
"The Maryhill Magyars," I grinned.
"Aye, the Harry Wraggs."
Our players came over to exchange applause with us, then they led us in a la-la chant with us supplying the responses. Then they walked along shaking our hands.
Eva and Will were going my way for the first leg of my walk back to the station. They asked me about my journey up from Portsmouth and they said I was likely the Tons' most committed travelling fan.
The tube was full of Arsenal fans coming from their game. Arrived at Waterloo with 50 minutes until the train home. Cue a visit to the Bagel Factory, then to Costa (where there were beggars buzzing around like flies) for a tasty After Eight Hot Chocolate.
