THE emotion on the players’ faces after last season’s Cornwall Charity Cup final, the elation and the despair, was a key factor in setting me off on my cup football odyssey for this campaign.
I have always felt that there was something special about cup football, something more immediate, more straightforward than league football. When you are losing in a cup game with 10 minutes left you have no option but to go for it. In the league, you might worry about goal difference or trying to make sure your team’s confidence is not damaged too much so that you can go again next week. In the cup, it’s win or lose, nothing else matters.
Winning last season’s final certainly mattered to the players, staff and supporters of St Dennis. Two late goals had given them a 2-0 victory and, as the cup and medals were presented, their smiles were huge, and the singing and dancing and general partying soon started. It was lovely to watch and to understand how important it was to them.
Losing the final certainly mattered to the players, staff and supporters of Penryn, especially as they had dominated much of the match but had failed to make the most of their chances. They were suitably glum and silent as they watched the St Dennis celebrations and couldn’t wait to get off the pitch and away from the scene of their misery.
I was feeling a bit glum, too. I have lived in Penryn for more than a year now and, as my new “hometown” team, I have enjoyed watching them quite a few times. It’s a smashing little club. So I could sympathise with the unhappiness of the players and the fans, but you couldn’t begrudge St Dennis their delight.
It might “only” have been the Charity Cup, a 16-team invitation tournament which raises money for local good causes, but it’s the best chance for clubs at this level to win some silverware, and trophies are what football is really all about. So it mattered.
All of that helped to crystallise my thoughts about creating a blog and, specifically, about writing one focused on a season following cup matches in various competitions. It has already led me from Cornwall Junior Cup park football in Redruth to FA Vase entertainment on a plastic pitch in Bristol, via the FA Cup, the Cornwall Senior Cup and the superbly named Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Walter C Parson Funeral Directors Cup (I am going to get the name of that competition in as many times as I can this season)!
Saturday saw the first round of the Charity Cup for this season. The “Road to Wembley” format for blogs like this is getting a bit hackneyed but I plan to try to follow this competition all the way through to the final, which obviously won’t be at Wembley. So, where would my “Road to Not Wembley” start? The answer was Sticker.
I had been to this neat little club, not far from St Austell, once before, to watch a league cup tie last season against Okehampton Argyle. My Dad goes to watch every Okey home game and, as I lived there for a few years too, I have seen a lot of them and think of them as “my” team.
A couple of seasons ago they were in Division One West of the South West Peninsula League and I saw them play at Penryn. I was an Okey supporter that day and, as the only away fan in the ground, was co-opted onto the committee for 20 minutes by the club secretary so that I could get a free cup of tea and a sandwich with him at half-time!
I was disappointed with the result that day as Okey, despite playing really well, were beaten 3-0. I was also disappointed with result of the game at Sticker’s Burngullow Park as Okey lost 4-1, again despite playing pretty well. The home side’s centre-forward was the difference on the day, getting all four goals, I think. On the bright side, I won the half-time 50-50 draw.
But I did like the set-up at Sticker. The ground is neat and tidy and improving all the time, while the atmosphere in the clubhouse, and around the club as a whole, was friendly and welcoming. Proper non-League, local football. I thoroughly enjoyed being there and was delighted to get the chance to go back again. It helped that the Charity Cup draw meant they were at home to Penryn.
Earlier this season, I had seen both these teams lose in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Walter C Parson Funeral Directors Cup (told you I was going to get it in whenever I could). On the Friday night, I had watched Penryn acquit themselves well in the local derby against higher division rivals Falmouth Town, finally going down 2-1 in what I am still trying to get everyone to call “The Fal Classico”. The next day I had watched Sticker put in a pretty awful performance as they were easily beaten by Division One West rivals Wendron.
Remarkably, before Saturday’s encounter, Sticker had won all seven games they had played since and so were clearly in a rich vein of form while Penryn, after a slow start to the season, were getting better and better and had started to score bag-loads of goals. Everything pointed to an entertaining encounter.
The morning was spent worrying about whether the game would be on or not. It had been raining for three days and games all across Cornwall and beyond were being called off – but I was reassured by everyone I asked that the game would be on. Apparently, the club has a reputation for getting matches played. Even the Peninsula League’s official account had tweeted to me on Friday night, saying: “If Sticker is off they will all be off!”
I need not have worried. Come kick-off time, the sun was shining and the pitch was in fine fettle, thanks to the efforts of the club’s volunteers. Another big tick in the “Sticker is a good club” box.
And so, what of the game itself? Well, it reminded me of Jimmy Greaves.
I am just too young to remember him as a player, a centre-forward who was unsurpassed in the art of goal-scoring in his day. I am easily old enough to remember him as a fun football pundit. Together with former Liverpool player Ian St John, they brought us “Saint and Greavsie”, a double act which made football punditry fun and funny, as well as being more insightful than you might have imagined.
Greavsie also had a catchphrase (can you imagine Gary Lineker having one?) It was: “It’s a funny old game,” and that’s what kept springing to mind during Saturday’s clash.
The bare facts are that Penryn left glum-faced again, having lost 3-2 after extra time, with substitute Liam Dingle settling the tie with a 119th-minute header. It led to almost “St Dennis”-style celebrations for Sticker. So it sounds like a thriller, right? Not really.
Sticker led twice in normal time but managed to miss chance after chance to put the game to bed. When Penryn made it 1-1 just before half-time, even their bench was surprised. They hadn’t been lacklustre but they were certainly lacking something, lacking shape and cohesion at times. The second half continued in much the same vein and we were all resigned to extra time long before it actually arrived.
Most of us were expecting it to go all the way to penalties, as well, but Dingle’s winner prevented that. Just as well, really, as it had clouded over a bit again and had started to get dark.
Yes, it really did feel like it had been a funny old game. Greavsie would have loved it.
thecupfootballblogger 