It has been a while since I have posted one of the these, mainly due to the fact this was my first away day of the season. With work and a visit to the US Open in August, I have only been to Truro and now Tamworth so far. I have turned into a bit of a cup specialist you might say. One thing is for sure though, I still haven’t seen us win away in over a year now. It is only nine games but that is classic bok form from me. I thought this might be the day but I was wrong.
At £16 return from Euston, this represented outstanding value compared to nearly all of my trips last season. I couldn’t refuse that plus I hadn’t been to Tamworth so in for a penny, in for £16. The West Midlands trains to Crewe are pretty basic, to say the least, but I am not going to complain. I went from my usual cider to a few Desperados for the trip, which took just over an hour and twenty minutes.
I arrived in Tamworth around 2.10 pm and as I was on my todd I simply walked into the first bar I found. I think it was the Bole Bridge (probably one I wasn’t supposed to be in) and it was a bit Danny Dyer type ‘NAWTY’. All sweet though. Coming from London I think they have given me too much change every time. Anything under £5 seems cheap and anything under £4 feels like I am robbing the gaff. A couple of ‘cheeky’ double vodkas and up to The Lamb Ground, home of today’s opponents, a ten to fifteen minute walk away.
£12 admission is the standard going rate I would say and certainly not a piss-take in this day and age. There was the usual decent following of Bulls fans. They said 400 odd visiting supporters, I thought there might have been a few more. The stadium is that classic old skool ground that has a twist of having synthetic grass (or astroturf basically to me). The curry sauce and chips smelt great in fairness too but I managed to resist. I know they will go flying if we scored. No value in that!
I was pretty confident in the early exchanges of the match. We looked to have the beating of them and were in control. Their centre-back was niggling away at Symo which culminated with their lad ending up on his ass a few times. Bad move that pal! I thought Jordan Nicholson looked our most likely player to create something. Nico probably came closest in the first half, with a low drive through a crowded area that the keeper kept hold of. All pretty comfortable for us in the first forty-five.
The second half was a slightly different story though. The hosts looking to catch us out with the long ball over the top and when they had it on the deck there were a few goalmouth melees. One of which saw Liburd and then Thomas throwing themselves into challenges to keep the clean sheet with last-ditch tackles. Josh Gowling clipped the top of the bar with a header at the other end as did Rowan Liburd late on. I think we edged it over the 90 minutes but we didn’t do enough to win it.
I was delighted to see James Milner had given us unbearables a late win from the spot and it was a nice walk back into town as a result. I decided to get a bit of grub and then a couple of swift ones in the Phoenix before my journey back at 6.20 pm. I almost fucked up the train on the way back as I couldn’t find platform 3, but eventually got there with a few minutes to spare. A quick-fire journey back to Euston and then across London meant I was back home by 9.30 pm, why can’t they all be like this? I just need the win now to go with it!
Al Davies
The Gubbage and the Glory! 