Easter Games (and a quick note on Basingstoke)

Basingstoke
The three home games in a Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday sequence, meant blogging fatigue, and after the highs of Chelmsford and Welling, the game against Basingstoke was predictable in that a draw was gained having played so well against the previous two high flying teams, Elliot Chamberlain scored City's goal and the 1-1 game had very little incident of note. Nevertheless, the 5 points from the 3 games was most unexpected and helped to allay the relegation fears.

Maidenhead United (A)
The Easter break, gives the joyous occasion of two games in three days (joyous for fans, not sure how the players feel) and the first game for the stripes was away at York Road, home of Maidenhead United. To get to Maidenhead should normally have been one of the easiest away journeys of the season, a direct train to Reading, then a quick change up to Maidenhead. Annoyingly, Reading railway station is being completely redeveloped over the bank holiday weekend, meaning that no trains were to run past Swindon. The fear of the rail replacement bus, meant that I ended up driving and conveying myself and three other stripes to Maidenhead.

We arrived in Maidenhead, and parked in a pay and display car park opposite the ground, and saw a derelict looking pub, "ah that's a shame" I thought as I mourned another closed pub, however, on closer inspection there was a old boy sitting on a table outside drinking a half of Guinness. Bloody hellfire, the pub was open, it was a state, the sign was battered, windows boarded up, and the name scribbled in different fonts over the door, how the place is still operating I have no idea, it was attached to a terrace of houses which were in the process of apparently being refurbished, but it is definitely the ropeyest entrance to a ground a have ever seen.

We ended up in the clubhouse (see other posts for my views on clubhouses!) and this one was the same as all the others. We overheard some ridiculous conversations, and Palmer's balding bonce was ridiculed, which amused everyone.

York Road is the oldest continually used football ground in England (see below) so I therefore expected it to be potentially like Twerton Park, a grand old ground built when people supported their local clubs rather than watching football in a pub, claiming to support a team based hundreds of miles away. Surprisingly, the ground is remarkably undeveloped, but it does have a charming air and some nice touches.

The crowd of 320 contained close to 100 stripes, and we were in fine voice all afternoon. The City team was the same that played Basingstoke, with Elliot Chamberlain making his last appearance before returning to Exeter City. The stripes started well, and Noah Keats' drive from distance had strangled cries as it came very close to opening the scoring.

Maidenhead then grew into the game, and if they could finish City may have been in trouble, as shot after shot flew miles over Mellor's goal. The bent metal of the advertising hoarding above the goal suggested that this maybe a problem they regularly encounter, but it did cause a few raised heartbeats as the chances kept coming.

Jason Mellor also saved City's rearguard, when he noticed early that Maidenhead's right winger had been released, and he powered from the goal and won a challenge clearing the ball into touch. I think it was at this point that we noticed the railway line running down the side of the pitch, and it was commented on that they used different FGW trains to the ones at home, so more teasing of our wannabe trainspotter ensued.

Mellor then started a move which should have led to City taking the lead, he threw out to Allen, who threaded a inch perfect pass into the path of Chamberlain, the forward struck his shot, which went past the keeper but rebounded back off the post, the pass alone deserved a goal as it was exquisite.

Maidenhead are rightly proud of their history

No goal appeared during the rest of the first half, and then ridiculously given it is Easter, as I wandered around the pitch at half time it started to snow. Snow, at the end of March, this winter is showing no signs of ending yet.

Flags were hung on the nice end covering, which provided good amplification of songs, and the second half began. Maidenhead forced Mellor to pull off a brilliant save with his legs early in the half, and the men in stripes were under a fair amount of pressure. Slightly against the run of play City broke, Josh Low ended up with the ball, and after a few feints he fired towards goal Billy Lumely got down to the ball, but only managed to push the ball out into the 6 yard box, Chamberlain following up slotted the ball home. 0-1 City, and that was how the game ended. Maidenhead should probably have scored a few in the game, but their awful finishing cost them, however, City did restrict them mainly to half chances and will feel the result was a result of their resolute defending.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smaller than expected but not lacking in charm

Salisbury City (H)
Easter Monday saw the visit of Salisbury City to Twerton, with The Whites making the short trip from Wiltshire. Salisbury have dropped down to second in the league after looking like they were going to run away with it at one point.

Feeling slightly worse for wear after an unexpectedly heavy Easter Sunday session, I eschewed the usual prematch visit to the taverns of Twerton, and decided to just rock up in time for kick off, but completely cocked up my timings and would have been late if it wasn't for the fortuitous intervention of the family Gibbons, who were driving past a offered me a lift that was gratefully received.

Arriving at the ground, it was busier than it has been for a while, and that boded well for a decent sized crowd, and eventually 731 people braved the cold to catch the game.

Griffin came in for the now departed Chamberlain, and Gethin Jones started in a back 5, which saw Allen drop to the bench.  Will Puddy, ex of City, and massively annoying swine in the reverse fixture was in goal for Salisbury. City passed the ball around well, but time after time the linesmans flag went up to prevent a City opportunity, now one or two may well have been offside, but he flagged Low at one point when the tall wideman was played on by the right back by a good few yards. The back 5, was allowing Aaron Brown and Sekani Simpson ample opportunity to bomb forward from their wing back positions, and Simpson had a few dangerous runs.

Griffin was broke through trying to latch onto a bouncing pass, and for my money Puddy clearly used his hands a good yard outside of the area. But despite the appeals the referee ignored the infraction. This was part of a number of slightly bizarre calls by the match officials in the first period, although they seemed to calm down in the second.

Jason Mellor continued his transformation from young goalkeeper who we had hopes for, to integral, superb goalkeeper, and pulled off a couple of fantastic saves. Salisbury came into the game more in the second half, although there were two odd moments, a yellow smoke bomb/flare was thrown onto the pitch by the Salisbury fans, which led to an amazing comedy fall by a steward who ran onto the pitch to clear the item, then the Salisbury manager began a screaming match at whom I do not know, and was warned by the referee.

City then carved out two moments that could have won the game, for the first Low broke down the right, before passing to Burnell, Burnell floated the ball into the box, where Griffin met it with a powerful head, the ball beat Puddy, but hit the crossbar and rebounded harmlessly away from any City players. Shortly afterwards Josh Low was released again, and he appeared caught in two minds as the ball bobbled, and instead of a) shooting or b) passing to Griffin, he took a touch to many and Puddy dived at his feet and the chance went.

Morgan and Lennox came on at the 88 minute mark, leaving City with potentially the smallest frontline in non league, and something clearly pissed Morgan off as he stormed down the tunnel after the final whistle. Nil nil was the score, but the game was far more entertaining than the scoreline suggests and the result meant City have gone 5 games unbeaten.