THE SPIRIT OF RONNIE RADFORD

Bodmin Town 2 Cadbury Heath 2

FA Cup Preliminary Round

Almost an own goal. The Cadbury Heath defender striking a balletic pose in the middle of this picture saw a cross flick off his head and just wide of the goal in their trip to Bodmin Town for an FA Cup Preliminary Round tie.

DATELINE: Priory Park, Bodmin, Saturday, August 25, 2018

MATCH SUMMARY: Bodmin Town, from the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division, scored a late, late equaliser to earn an FA Cup replay against visitors Cadbury Heath, who play one step higher than the Cornish side in the Toolstation Western League Premier Division. It was a pulsating, open cup tie which saw Cadbury Heath lead twice only to be pulled back by a 98th-minute leveller.

THE BLOG: It is February 5, 1972 and I am an eight-year-old boy who had fallen head over heels in love with the beautiful game two years earlier as Brazil, simply the greatest side ever to play football, danced their way to World Cup glory in Mexico. But, instead of the scorching sun and green, green grass of the Azteca, it’s the grim grey of an English winter’s day on a mudheap of a pitch at Hereford United’s crumbling but charismatic Edgar Street ground.

The Non-League minnows are trailing 1-0 to big boys Newcastle United, from Division One, which was the top level of the English game before the invention of the Premier League, in an FA Cup Third Round replay with just minutes to go. But then The Magpies fail to properly clear a Bulls attack, Ronnie Radford, his white Hereford shirt flecked with mud, wins a tackle, plays a one-two and then thunders home an absolute belter from 30 yards.

Cue pandemonium, a pitch invasion by Parka-clad youngsters, and screams of excitement from a young and inexperienced TV commentator called John Motson. Whatever happened to him?

Ricky George struck the winner for Hereford in extra time to create one of the biggest shocks in FA Cup history, but it’s that wonder strike by Mr Radford which has lived longest in the memory. Forty-six years later and memories of that goal and that result still send ripples of anticipation and excitement through the matchday atmosphere of any FA Cup tie which features two teams from different levels of the game. It is a moment in football history that still resounds through the sporting cosmos.

I have never been to a really big cup shock – the closest was probably then League One Millwall’s 3-0 win over Premier League Bournemouth in the Third Round of the cup a couple of seasons back – but every time I go to a cup game the spirit of Ronnie Radford is somewhere in my personal ether. Sometimes he shouts out loud, sometimes the whisper of his presence is virtually inaudible, but it is always there, reminding me of what the true essence of cup football is all about. It’s astonishing what one goal can do.

That Radford spirit was in mind on Saturday in perhaps the smallest of ways, but there nonetheless. Could Cornish hosts Bodmin Town, from Step Six of the Non-League football pyramid in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division, cause a mini upset by beating visitors Cadbury Heath, who play their league football at Step Five in the Toolstation Western League Premier Division?

I had plenty of time to think about that prospect as I got to Priory Park earlier than expected. I had left home early to run some errands which didn’t take as long as I thought they would and then took the pretty route to the ground. Despite the dire warnings of traffic gridlock on a bank holiday weekend in Cornwall, I still rocked up at 2pm, an hour before kick-off, leaving me plenty of time to ponder the game ahead.

I decided to do my pondering in the club’s Priory Bar over a cool pint and a packet of crisps. I went for the traditional ready salted (crisps, not lager) and was taken aback by being given a choice of makes. I am used to picking flavours but being asked what brand of crisps I would like had never happened to me at a bar before. Perhaps I have lived a very sheltered life. Anyway, I plumped for Seabrooks over McCoys. Did I make the right choice crisp fans?

Pondering over, I wandered into the ground, bought a losing half-time raffle ticket (I am, as the Americans would say, 0 for 2 in matchday draws already this season) and waited for the action to start with Ronnie whispering quietly at my shoulder.

He got a bit quieter as, for the first 15 minutes, The Heathens from up Bristol way, dominated proceedings, almost taking the lead several times and ultimately being denied by brave goalkeeping, some wayward finishing and a proper cup tie goalline clearance. He got a bit perkier, though as Bodmin came more into the game and actually came close to taking the lead on 15 minutes with a powerful header which flew just wide.

(Incidentally, football-writing tradition dictates that you should try to avoid saying the name of the teams as much as possible, hence the use of phrases such as hosts, visitors, home side, away side, the [name of stadium here] club, reds, blues, whites, whatever, while nicknames are always helpful alternatives – see Heathens above. But there is a problem with Bodmin. You can use Town, I suppose, but they have no real nickname and I don’t think The Big Cows [see previous blog] would really cut the mustard. Anyone out there got any ideas? Clean ones please).

Meanwhile, back at the game, Mr Radford’s spirit was working hard to keep up with me as I wandered around the ground trying to get different views of the action and a variety of angles for my photographs. Yes, I know it doesn’t look like it but I do try to take interesting pictures of the action, honestly.

My first-half wanderings ended with me sitting on the grass bank behind one of the goals, apparently in defiance of ground regulations as, when I got up at half-time, I saw a sign saying “No standing on the grass banks.” Well, I was mostly sitting so I plead not guilty, your honour.

While not standing on the bank, I let my mind drift a bit and wondered how many more times I would be able to sit on the grass at a football match this season without getting a very wet and muddy bottom. Not many, I concluded. Sadly for Bodmin, their collective minds seem to have wandered a bit too as, on 39 minutes, they all stood still and allowed the red-clad attacker, Sacha Tong, a completely free header. He didn’t miss. 1-0 to The Heathens. Ronnie went a bit quieter.

The away side missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 just after the break but the cup spirit was alert and lively again on 54 minutes when Bodmin veteran Danny O’Hagan forced the ball home as the visitors failed to clear a corner. This cup tie was boiling up nicely.

There were then a series of chances at both ends, as reporters with a lack of notes are wont to say, before Cadbury Heath finally broke the deadlock again with a super header by Tong making it 2-1. In true cup cliché style, the Cornish hosts then threw the kitchen sink etc, at their visitors in the search for an equaliser. Formations and tactics tend to go out of the proverbial window at this stage of a cup tie as it’s now just all about putting the spheroid in the onion bag. This does tend to leave the attacking side open to counters and that’s what happened here.

Cadbury Heath should really have rounded it all off as injury time began but the forward made a complete hash of a one-on-one chance before being bundled over in the box. From the other end of the pitch, it looked like it really should have been a penalty but it was almost as if the ref thought: “Well if you can’t score a simple chance like that I am not going to give you a penalty. You don’t deserve it.”

That infuriated The Heathens, as did the ref’s decision to add almost ten minutes of injury time. Eight minutes into that, they were left properly glum as that Ronnie Radford spirit roared louder than it had done all match. For Radford read O’Hagan, for 30-yard screamer read sharp header from a corner and for pitch invasion read joyful applause and cheers, but for proper cup drama you can read it as proper cup drama.

I was so busy clapping and chatting and basking in cup spirit that I forgot to take a picture of the celebrations for the equaliser. That’s how carried away I got. The Bodmin keeper who, in true last-ditch style, had come up for the corner, got carried away too and performed a spectacular back-flip in celebration on the edge of the Cadbury Heath box. He had definitely caught that cup spirit too.

Motty might not have been there to call it, but the ghost of that Ronnie Radford goal is still alive and well and thriving in the FA Cup. It’s a spirit that cannot be quenched and it’s why I love cup football. It really is the best form of the best game. I love it.

THE PICTURES

Looking towards the crowd in the main stand at Bodmin’s Priory Park as the home side (in yellow) hosted Cadbury Heath in the FA Cup Preliminary Round.

Spot the ball. I am sure there was one there when I took the picture…

Close! This Bodmin header flew just wide in the Cornish side’s FA Cup Preliminary Round tie against Cadbury Heath.

A general view of Bodmin Town’s Priory Park ground. I was on the grass bank, which is apparently against the rules.

I was mainly sitting on it.

Time for a breather as this Cadbury Heath player is treated for an injury. The delay eventually led to a dramatic conclusion to this FA Cup tie at Bodmin Town.

Bodmin Town (in yellow) on the attack in their FA Cup Preliminary Round tie at home to Cadbury Heath.

Early season shadows as Bodmin Town entertained Cadbury Heath in the FA Cup Preliminary Round.

CONTACTS AND COMMENTS: If you have any thoughts or observations about this blog, comment on my Facebook page (search for Peter Harlow), get in Twitter contact via @cupfootblog or email me at thecupfootballblogger@hotmail.com

 

 

 

A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

Bodmin Town 4 Keynsham Town 4

Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Get in there! Actually, get in there twice. Not only was this free-kick by Bodmin’s Callum McGhee the first cup goal I had seen this season, but I also managed to capture it on camera! OK, one of the net bulging might have been better but no need to set the bar too high too early…

DATELINE: Priory Park, Bodmin, Saturday, August 11

MATCH SUMMARY: Callum McGhee scored a hat-trick for the home side, including two goals direct from free-kicks, but it wasn’t enough to guarantee Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division Bodmin a place in the next round. They led 3-1 and 4-2 but in the end were pulled back to 4-4 by their Western League Division One visitors. The two Step 6 sides will replay on Tuesday night.

THE BLOG: Football, as with so many other things in life, is all about perspective. There is a wonderful scene in TV sitcom Father Ted where the eponymous hero is trying to explain that very concept, with the aid of some toy plastic cows, to his exceedingly dim companion Father Dougal.

Father Ted says: “OK, one last time. These are small (holding up the toy cows) but the ones out there are far away (pointing out of the window).  Small (pointing to the toys again). Far away (pointing out of the window again).”

If you take a global, or even a British, perspective about the world of football, then Bodmin are only small cows. But get close up and take a Cornish football perspective, then they are big cows, very big cows indeed.

They could, perhaps, be ranked as the biggest ‘balling bovines in the Duchy now that National League South side Truro City, the only side FROM Cornwall to play higher than Step 6, are currently not playing IN Cornwall, having crossed the Tamar to stage their home games at Torquay United’s ground in Devon for a season, at least.

The likes of St Austell and Falmouth Town, who play in the same division as Bodmin, might want to challenge them for the crown of biggest team in Cornwall, but the Priory Park club’s record over the past few seasons speaks for itself.

Since the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League began in 2008, Bodmin have won the Premier Division title five times, as well as lifting the Cornwall Senior Cup six times in the same period. And that’s not to mention five triumphs in the CSWPL Walter C Parson Funeral Directors League Cup (so pleased to have got that beautifully titled competition into my first blog of the new season).

No, Bodmin are definitely the big bulls of football in Cornwall but, despite their best efforts, they haven’t really managed to make themselves major “moo-vers” and shakers on the national scene.

They have made it to the latter stages of the FA Vase a couple of times in recent years but have been unable to emulate rivals’ St Austell run to the semi-finals in 2015, and their best run in the FA Cup was to the Third Qualifying Round in the 2010-11 season.

No, despite being big cows in a small Cornish field, it feels like they need to break down that farm gate and make a proper hoofprint on the wider football landscape before they really fulfil their potential. (I might stop milking the cow thing now). So, despite it being only 78 days since Chelsea beat Manchester United in last season’s cup final, Saturday’s FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie against Keynsham Town felt like it was a chance that Bodmin really needed to take; it felt like a big game.

It also felt like a proper footballing day, weatherwise. After weeks and weeks of unbroken sunshine, scorching temperatures and worsening drought conditions, the weather broke just in time for the start of my cup football season. It rained for a couple of days before the game, eased off in the first half on Saturday, and then rained for almost all of the second half. I felt right at home.

On the opening day of any season, there are always lots of “firsts”, of course. For example, I bought my first half-time draw ticket and suffered my first half-time draw defeat. I fear there may be many more to come.

I had my first cup of tea in a football ground this season. It tasted pretty horrible, to be honest, but I think that was down to the lozenge I had just eaten for my sore throat. So, I am still waiting for my first nice cup of tea of the new campaign.

My first ball retrieval effort of the season was a success, though. Not only did I not make a fool of myself by kicking it into a fence post or falling flat on my face but my successful efforts were rewarded with a “thank you” from the player involved. See, there’s always time for good manners.

And, for the first time at this level of non-league football, I saw a player sporting a shirt with the number 77 on it. I had never seen a shirt number of that magnitude at Step 6 before. Most teams at this standard of the game sport a good old-fashioned 1 to 11 on their backs, so this figure really stood out. I found this little fact strangely entertaining. It made me feel that, even if the game ended up being rubbish, then this little stat would have been something worth noting. Never let a day be a complete washout, that’s my motto.

Then, ten minutes into what was to turn out to be a very lively encounter, I witnessed my first goal of the season, a superb curling free-kick from the edge of the box by Callum McGhee. He went on to complete a hat-trick, the first one of them I had seen this cup season too. And, better than all of that, I got a picture of it (see top of the page). That really made my day.

So, with 80 minutes of the match still to go, I had seen my first goal, taken my first goal photo of the season and had had my first footballing cup of tea. How much better could things get? Well, quite a lot as it turned out.

Whatever happens to these two teams as the season wears on, on the evidence of this game their attacks are going to be a lot more effective than their defences. It was one of those games where the sages on the sidelines could be heard muttering at various intervals: “I think there are more goals in this,” and they were just about always right.

The yellow-shirted hosts doubled their lead on 16 minutes through, I think Ben Steer. The PA announcer was, well, announcing, but I didn’t always catch everything and I didn’t have a programme, so I had to guess a bit and then try to corroborate things via social media later. So, sorry Ben, if I have got your name wrong but it was a neat finish to a neat move.

Almost immediately, Keynsham hit the bar with a great effort and the visitors did pull a goal back on 31 minutes, with a clever volley from Cam Shorney (name courtesy of the Somerset club’s Twitter feed). The K’s then dominated the rest of the first half but managed to go in at half-time 3-1 down after the ball broke to McGhee in a rare home attack and he tidily slotted home.

That looked like that might be enough to earn the home side a Preliminary Round tie at home to Cadbury Heath, of the Western League Premier Division, but Keynsham had other ideas and pulled a goal back just after the hour mark, thanks to “Browner” (Twitter again).

With 18 minutes to go, McGhee reprised his free-kick routine to put Bodmin 4-2 up. Surely that would be enough for the Cornish side this time?

Nope.

Just three minutes later Lee Pitman, Keynsham’s clinical fox in the box (well, that’s what Twitter said), made it 4-3 and, on 84 minutes, Adey Harvey made it 4-4 with a free header from a free-kick. They even had time to have another effort disallowed as Cornish nerves were set all a-jangling but, in the end, neither side could find that decisive goal.

So, my first cup tie of the season, my first goals and my first draw. Bodmin might be disappointed that they weren’t the first winners but, let’s get this in perspective, whatever the result of the replay, they are still the big cows in the field of Cornish football and that next trophy can’t be far away.

And now for my first matchday picture collection of the season. Everyone of them’s a winner … in one way or another.

THE PICTURES

Close! Somewhere in this photo there is, or there is about to be, a glancing header by Bodmin which slid just wide of the Keynsham keeper’s right-hand post.

Under way. The only merit in this photo is that it was the first one I took this season. Glad I got that out of my system…

Visitors Keynsham, in the claretty-red or reddy-claret, whichever way you want to look at it, on the attack v Bodmin.

I might have got a bit ground-hoppery with this one.

Bodmin, in yellow, defending a corner against Keynsham in their FA Cup clash.

Priory Park, the home of Bodmin Town.

You can’t see him, but this was another goal direct from a free-kick by Bodmin’s Callum McGhee. It was the home side’s fourth goal – and that still wasn’t enough to seal victory against Keynsham.

CONTACTS AND COMMENTS: If you have any thoughts or observations about this blog, comment on my Facebook page (search for Peter Harlow), get in Twitter contact via @cupfootblog or email me at thecupfootballblogger@hotmail.com