Happy Birthday
To celebrate my birthday Gem and Alex joined me at Baffins Milton Rovers’ ground for AFC Portchester Ladies Reserves v AFC Stubbington Ladies in the Portsmouth Women’s Intermediate Cup Final.
The bar had just a limited selection of ciders; I went for a Thatcher’s Juicy Apple. The friendly barman and barmaid approved, saying that was an ideal drink for the warm sunshine.
Alex said she was hungry, as a result of her playing ice hockey yesterday, so I showed them round to the food van. We all got chips - Alex’s were cheesy - and Gem and I added burgers, that were first class. We sat and chatted at one of the outside tables. Alex is a fan of multiple sports and has managed to get Gem interested in most of them - Gem was sporting a McLaren F1 top, and they’re going to a Women’s Rugby World Cup match in Brighton in September.
The Portchester girls, and Charley and Kev, all wished me Happy Birthday as they entered the ground and headed to the changing rooms. Millie said “Happy birthday, hopefully I won’t let any goals in” and Stacy and Michele said they hoped they’d win a trophy for me.
Gem, Alex and I found good seats at the back of the small stand. Gem noticed with interest that AFC Stubbington Ladies’ sponsor was a company owned by her boss’s husband - she WhatsApped her to let her know. Elisha put Portchester in front on 19 minutes and later in the first half Eira doubled their lead from a goalmouth scramble. In first half injury time Eira brought down the Stubbington captain in the box and the captain converted the spot kick.
I hoped that goal would set the game alight, but the second half was more cautious. Paula made the cup safe for Portchester with a long distance lob that the keeper got a hand on but couldn’t stop going in, to the delight of some of her family sat in front of us (as they were taking an interest in Paula, I asked if they were relatives of hers and one lady said “Yes, though we don’t like to admit it”). Gem asked whether AFC Stubbington Ladies had a reserve side; I checked on FA Full Time and found they do, in Hampshire League Division 6. Gem, grinning, said she was thinking of dusting off her boots. I urged her to go for it. She asked if I’d come see her play.
After a fair stretch of injury time the final whistle went and we went down to pitchside for the trophy presentation. The Portchester players had a box with them, from which they took out orange bucket hats which they all donned. I detected the hand of Lewis and the Arancione Fan Group in that. After the girls finished celebrating and began winding down, I managed to get to the perimeter fence close to Michele. She’s packing in at the end of this season after playing for over 25 years, so she was over the moon to finish on a Double-winning note. A friend of hers agreed to take a pic of her and me.
Gem and I said our goodbyes in the car park and agreed to meet again next season. Home for my favourite, Chicken Maryland, then relatives dropping by for coffee and cake, and a film night.
The bar had just a limited selection of ciders; I went for a Thatcher’s Juicy Apple. The friendly barman and barmaid approved, saying that was an ideal drink for the warm sunshine.
Alex said she was hungry, as a result of her playing ice hockey yesterday, so I showed them round to the food van. We all got chips - Alex’s were cheesy - and Gem and I added burgers, that were first class. We sat and chatted at one of the outside tables. Alex is a fan of multiple sports and has managed to get Gem interested in most of them - Gem was sporting a McLaren F1 top, and they’re going to a Women’s Rugby World Cup match in Brighton in September.
The Portchester girls, and Charley and Kev, all wished me Happy Birthday as they entered the ground and headed to the changing rooms. Millie said “Happy birthday, hopefully I won’t let any goals in” and Stacy and Michele said they hoped they’d win a trophy for me.
Gem, Alex and I found good seats at the back of the small stand. Gem noticed with interest that AFC Stubbington Ladies’ sponsor was a company owned by her boss’s husband - she WhatsApped her to let her know. Elisha put Portchester in front on 19 minutes and later in the first half Eira doubled their lead from a goalmouth scramble. In first half injury time Eira brought down the Stubbington captain in the box and the captain converted the spot kick.
I hoped that goal would set the game alight, but the second half was more cautious. Paula made the cup safe for Portchester with a long distance lob that the keeper got a hand on but couldn’t stop going in, to the delight of some of her family sat in front of us (as they were taking an interest in Paula, I asked if they were relatives of hers and one lady said “Yes, though we don’t like to admit it”). Gem asked whether AFC Stubbington Ladies had a reserve side; I checked on FA Full Time and found they do, in Hampshire League Division 6. Gem, grinning, said she was thinking of dusting off her boots. I urged her to go for it. She asked if I’d come see her play.
After a fair stretch of injury time the final whistle went and we went down to pitchside for the trophy presentation. The Portchester players had a box with them, from which they took out orange bucket hats which they all donned. I detected the hand of Lewis and the Arancione Fan Group in that. After the girls finished celebrating and began winding down, I managed to get to the perimeter fence close to Michele. She’s packing in at the end of this season after playing for over 25 years, so she was over the moon to finish on a Double-winning note. A friend of hers agreed to take a pic of her and me.
Gem and I said our goodbyes in the car park and agreed to meet again next season. Home for my favourite, Chicken Maryland, then relatives dropping by for coffee and cake, and a film night.