I thought this would be more appropriate as a double blog having had two quickfire away day trips. Two very different experiences having said that.
First I made the trip to Hitchin on Wednesday. I had got pretty stubborn about going to this, after three postponements (i think) or was it four? Either way, I was hell-bent on going, the stadium looked to have character and a decent size terrace at one end.
I dashed up from Kings Cross in 40 odd minutes, without a drink, I was drink blocked by the dude at Waitrose who made the final call on them not being allowed to open the bottle for me). I’ll b honest I didn’t know whether it was or wasn’t allowed, so I had to go with it. A 15-minute walk from Hitchin station was followed by an appearance in the Canary Club, the club bar just outside the ground. Very friendly and a reasonably cheap pint IMO.
Inside the ground, I did take a chance and go to the terraced end, the only uncovered side of the stadium and it decided to absolutely piss it down. Stubborn as usual I wasn’t having it and stayed there. I did run for cover under the tree at the back of the terrace after a few mins. Bottle job!
Hereford were attacking that end in the first half but the weather made it a pretty poor judgment call to stay there. The bomber jacket doesn’t cut it in that weather.
We were rewarded with a goal after a tidy move finished with a class cross from Bowen and a glancing header from Pabs. Decent. Jeno was turning his opposing full-back inside out and it was all relatively comfortable.
The half-time whistle meant a dash for cover. I visited the club shop, which had an impressive collection of programmes from the past, good stuff and the geezer running it was a top bloke. Great to see this sort of thing still at a football club and it kind of gives the place a nice feel. Maybe it’s just the old skool in me that makes me a big fan of this feature but I like it.
In the second half, we added to our tally with a goal from Lance Smith, who has really stepped up for me, even though this was only a close-range effort. Jeno added a third when rounding the keeper calmy and tapping into an empty net. The hosts had their entire squad of centre-backs out and don’t quote me but I think their number 9 ended up filling in for the second half. 3-0 to the champs it finished. Nice vibe here though and wish them all the best in the future. Staff were all spot on, good to have some banter with it. Glad I made the solo trip up here was well worth it apart from the appalling weather!
Saturday saw the trip to the final league game of the season at St Ives, a small market town just outside of Cambridge. This was an hour and a half drive or two hours 44 minutes on the train. So I opted for the train. I wanted to chill and enjoy it, listen to a few tunes, few Westons maybe, last game of the season and all that. Continue to enjoy what has been a fantastic season basically.
A terrible journey to the station was followed by more ‘agg’ at Liverpool St. I Was using contactless on my bank card (it long trusts me) but it ended in me not being able to scan out at Liverpool St. This led to a penalty notice and a few exchanges with the TfL attendant. Peahead. It was like being given a yellow without even making contact. I know it will be ‘rescinded’ but that’s irrelevant. Hassle and like I say, it’s just long!
The train from Kings Cross meant I’d got my head back in the game. This was nearly ten minutes late getting into Cambridge to gubb me even further though.
The taxi driver then told me he could get me there before kick-off, so i roll in 15 minutes late. Decent geezer though and had some good banter, traffic was just bad. Simple as!
It was still 0-0 but I did make it in time to see another sweetly struck strike from our young player of the year, Dara O’Shea. What has impressed me is how we have kept the motivation to win, it is an easy thing to say but not so easy to do. It is a winning mentality.
St Ives got the Stowford Press in, which I was a big fan of at half-time. Some decent chanting in a decent atmosphere. I don’t know why but it went off a bit, I can honestly say the bouncers were out of order. Did they expect us not to be happy? Champions and the finale to the season. People might not like me saying this, but our fanbase has been far too big for several clubs. They don’t all know how to handle the volume and that is not being big headed. The attendance figures back that up.
A young lad shouldn’t be dragged by his neck to the ground when he hasn’t done anything whatsoever. Especially when it’s someone who has been instrumental in creating the fantastic atmosphere at Hereford games. Inexcusable!
I actually found the rest of the club staff decent. The dude behind the bar was having a blinder.
In the second half, Millsy came off the bench and dinked a peno over the keeper to make it 2-0. That was game over. To the delight of the fans, Purds was given a final run out, great stuff. One more time for ‘Oooohhh PURDIE PURDIE’. This was followed by more chanting and back into the bar after full-time.
From here it gets pretty sketchy for me. I had an uber waiting for me outside the ground that I wasn’t aware had been ordered. He had to wake me up several times to check if I was ok and the missus received multiple calls from me (I was only aware of the one). Thanks to ‘Nadaniel’ Stevens for giving me a pep talk on WhatsApp to hang on in there when I looked in trouble. I slept it off for 45 mins on the train back into London. A snout sorted me out at Kings Cross and I was good to go again!
So that’s it for the season. I was dreaming of loads of away games on my doorstep in the south next season but the north is looking worryingly nailed on right now. Looking forward to it either way.
On our waaaaaayy and from the cider country will no doubt be chanted relentlessly in the meantime, in my living room and many others I would imagine.
Al Davies
The Gubbage and the Glory! 