Cup-hopping

Sticker Reserves 0 Illogan RBL 5

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

EVERYONE HAS A HOBBY, DON’T THEY? Whether it’s stamp-collecting, writing bad poetry, baking cakes, collecting antique vases or hoarding masses of model frogs, we all have something that takes us away from the humdrum, from the everyday, into a world where we can be enthralled and excited and entranced, a world in which we can all be experts.

Football, especially the Non-League game, has more than its fair share of people who don’t really go to the game for, well, the game, but for countless other reasons. Groundhopping. Programme collecting. Buying another badge from another club.

And we all judge them.

Groundhoppers? Pah! What do they really know about football? They are only interested in where the bar is, what the grandstand looks like, how much a cup of tea is. They probably don’t even know who won the game.

Programme collectors. Why? They will just be left with piles and piles of out-of-date magazines and factsheets which will, in the end, all be thrown away or passed on. What is the point?

And the badge people. Honestly, they are worse than train spotters. Who needs a badge? Just watch the bloody game.

But, of course, everyone who judges them is wrong.

As long as people are going to games, spending money, sharing their thoughts and views on whatever footballing subject really matters to them with like-minded hobbyist souls, then where is the harm? What is the problem? Answer: There is no problem, just let them get on with it. If a groundhopper decides a ground doesn’t count as a tick because it was a goalless draw or a reserve game, who does that harm, who needs to judge their decision?

If someone will not go to a game because no printed programme is being produced or because there are no metal badges for sale in the club shop, well, that’s their choice. Who are we, who is anyone, to try to coerce them to change their mind? Who are we to ridicule them?

All these hobbies, all these curious little quirks of the football-spectating fraternity, have one massive benefit for Non-League clubs – they bring in money and, in the world of local football, a couple of quid for a badge or a programme can make all the difference. Every penny counts.

So here is my confession of footballing nerdism. I am not a groundhopper, although I like going to new grounds. I am not a programme collector, although I don’t mind having a look at one if a programme is available. And I am not a badge collector, although I do have a Millwall FC Poppy Appeal badge from last season and another one supporting prostate cancer research.

No, my bag is football cups. Not the mug-type cups out of which you drink your tea but the actual competition kind, everything from the FA Cup to the FA Vase to, of course, the Kitchen Kit South West Peninsula League Walter C Parson Funeral Directors League Cup.

That’s why, on a wet Tuesday night in September, instead of being snug at home or cosy in a pub watching the Champions League on the telly, I was on the road to Burngullow Park, the home of Sticker FC, for the second time in two weeks. Not for me the lure of Lionel Messi and Paris St Germain, or Mo Salah and Liverpool. Oh no. The lure of the game for me on this particular evening was a new cup, a brand new competition. Whoo hoo!

This competition was the Cornwall Intermediate Cup, a knockout tournament introduced in the Duchy this season, and it has had a bit of a difficult birth.

Introduced as a result of the national reorganisation of the Non-League game across England, which saw four Cornish teams “upwardly moved” to the Step Five Toolstation Western League, it has not been hugely welcomed by many in the Cornwall footballing world, if some of the comments on local internet forums are to be believed.

Previously, Cornwall just had the Senior Cup and the Junior Cup, with the former catering for teams in the Peninsula, Combination and East Cornwall Premier leagues and the latter for the grassroots game across the county. Both cups had history and were deeply ingrained in the local football psyche. The clubs from the Combo and ECPL loved pitting their wits against the “big boys” of the SWPL in the Senior Cup, although they never really had much chance of lifting silverware, while the Junior Cup gave – and, as it remains unchanged, still does give – park footballers the chance to revel in the most glory they are ever likely to enjoy.

But, with the introduction of a new league, the St Piran League, at Step Seven and teams being moved every which way to fill the national FA’s restructuring remit, the Cornwall FA felt the old set-up didn’t reflect the new reality. And so it introduced a new competition, the Intermediate Cup, to be competed for by sides in the St Piran League, the Combo and ECPL.

It makes sense to me, and definitely gives the competing teams a better chance of winning countywide silverware, but many clubs and supporters remain to be convinced. Let’s see how it pans out.

So, have you got all that? Basically, this was a cup tie in a new competition and I wanted to see it, I wanted to add a “tick” to my cup-hopping collection. And, as most of the other games in Round One were played on Saturday, it was almost as if they were holding this one back for me and it would have been rude not to go!

Sadly, not many others shared my enthusiasm and, at one stage, it felt like the crowd would barely make single figures (if I didn’t count me of course)! But a few more did rock up as kick-off approached but it was certainly a much sparser attendance than for the derby clash I had seen at Burngullow earlier in the month, when Sticky’s reserves beat the second string from their local rivals St Austell 4-1 in an SPL East Division encounter.

Mind you, the appalling weather on Tuesday night, coupled with the mass-panic-buying-of-fuel crisis, might have put off the spectating hordes. Well, you never know.

Still, this game promised much. Sticker Reserves started the evening in fifth place out of 14 teams in the SPL East, while visitors Illogan RBL were seventh of 16 in the SPL West. It was an intriguing East v West tie and I expected it to be a close, hard-fought encounter. Sadly for me and the proponents of the new cup, it didn’t turn out that way. It was not a cup classic.

Things started brightly enough, with loads of energy on the pitch and all the normal cat-calls and well-worn phrases of local football being given their usual airing. In fact, one of my favourite plaintive cries, that of “How many, ref?” was produced at some volume inside the first ten minutes of the match, quite possibly the earliest I have ever heard it yelled in a match. Incidentally, the answer, by my count, was one and the ref decided that that one wasn’t enough to merit a yellow card. He was right.

For 35 minutes, the game was fairly even, albeit short on chances, but then the visitors stepped up a gear and it was an acceleration with which the hosts could not live. The opening goal came when a corner from the right (it might actually have been a free-kick in the corner, it was hard to tell through the rain from where I was) was not cleared. It was eventually crossed back in from the left and it was a simple strike home for an unmarked Illogan player in the middle.

One-nil became two-nil six minutes later with a far-post volley from another left-wing cross and the visitors were three goals to the good on the stroke of half-time when a tidy move on the right ended with a deflected shot finding the net.

Any hopes of a Sticky comeback ended early in the second half when Illogan broke down the left and a low cross was easy enough for the onrushing forward to slide in. The fifth and final goal came on 66 minutes with a direct effort from a free-kick on the edge of the box.

With all the drama and tension now sucked from the cup tie, I spent much of the second half talking to Sticker club secretary Chris Osborne, who was standing next to me and who was on paperwork duty for the night. His main hope now was that Illogan wouldn’t score any more, a wish which came true mainly due to some profligate finishing by the visitors. He had long given up hope of Sticky getting a goal back, a prediction which proved unerringly accurate. The young hosts huffed and puffed but never really looked like scoring.

Instead, the interest in the evening was listening to Chris, one of those long-serving club volunteers of a certain age who keep local football going. He went through all the complaints and issues I had heard so many times before, about how much of his time was taken up with football issues, about the costs of officials, about the future of the game at this level, about getting players to pay their fines for bookings.

And yet he was still there, turning out on an evil Tuesday night to do all the things that needed doing, the things that get the game on in the first place, the things that no one really notices but without which there would be no football. It can only be called a labour of love and all of us – players, officials and supporters – owe people like Chris a great debt of gratitude.

His dedication, and that of thousands of similar volunteers up and down the country, means that football fans, groundhoppers, badge enthusiasts and even cup collectors like me, can all indulge our passions, our hobbies, our strange little footballing foibles. We can collect our grounds, our badges, our ticks. So thank you Chris, and the thousands like you. The game just wouldn’t be the same without you.

PICTURES: Search for “Peter Harlow” on Facebook and there you will find a selection of fuzzy snapshots taken on my phone. 

BONUS BALL

Wendron United 2 Bishop Sutton 1

Saturday, September 25, 2021

THERE IS AN OLD ADAGE, once used by none other than John Lennon in the lyrics of a song called Beautiful Boy, which says: “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.” How old that particular saying is, and who first said it, is open to debate but it is hard to argue with the truth of it. Life often happens while you are trying to get ready for it. The plans you make often go awry.

The maxim seems to indicate bad news, it implies that you have missed opportunities, that you have wasted chances. It’s not so much a case of looking back in anger but looking back with a gentle sense of wistful regret.

But it doesn’t always have to be so sad and mired in regret; sometimes plans going wrong or being changed at the last minute can actually be a positive, it can be good news. It was for me on Saturday.

My plan for Saturday was to be at work. It has been for every Saturday so far this season, which is why I have been restricted to midweek games, all of which have been league matches of one kind or another. But this Saturday was different. By about 1.30pm it had become clear that I would be able to finish work early and have the opportunity to head off to a football game. Result!

The next question was which match? A quick perusal of the fixtures that I could get to in time for kick-off threw up one obvious choice – and it was a cup game, a beautiful cup game, a knockout encounter. A cup game on a Saturday afternoon. Fantastic. What more could a cup football blogger ask for?

How about it being a match in the Second Qualifying Round of the The Buildbase FA Vase, the national competition which gives teams at the lowest level of the Non-League Pyramid a genuine chance of reaching a Wembley final? It is a fabulous competition and one in which dreams can really come true.

I have mentioned before that, back in 1994, I was working as a sports reporter in East Anglia and covered Norfolk side Diss Town as they made it all the way to Wem-ber-ley and then won a dramatic final in extra-time. Being with the players as they celebrated in the dressing room afterwards is one of my greatest football memories and has made the Vase one of my favourite competitions.

So, not only an unexpected game for me on a Saturday afternoon but also one in the FA Vase. How could things get any better? How about it being the host club’s first ever tie in the competition, a truly historic day for the club? Let’s tick that box too. The hosts were Wendron United, of the Step Six Kitchen Kit South West Peninsula League Premier West Division, and they were making their bow in the Vase, they were taking their first ever steps on the road to Wembley. So, as I rocked up at Underlane with ten minutes to spare, I was beside myself with excitement. This is what Saturday afternoons should be about.

And after a diet of league games, as interesting and exciting as they all were, I was looking forward to getting back into the swing of cup football things, of being properly in my footballing element. But would the tie live up to my hopes and expectations, would it be a thriller, would it be a tense, nervy, toe-tappingly edgy encounter? Safe to say, it didn’t disappoint.

The return journey from Bishop Sutton, which is close to Bristol, to Wendron, which is between Falmouth and Helston in West Cornwall, is around 350 miles. That’s an awfully long way for a game between two Step Six sides (Bishop Sutton play in Division One of the Toolstation Western League) and it raised the question of how it would affect the visitors. Would they be flat after the long trip or would they travel in the spirit of adventure?

Thankfully for the 110 paying souls at Underlane (or The Underlane as it seems to have become in some circles these days), both sides were truly up for the cup and it turned into a proper, rumbustious knockout tie, well worth bunking off work early for!

On their big day, Wendron started the faster and sharper and put their Somerset visitors under lots of early pressure. However, their perspiration wasn’t matched by sharp-shooting inspiration and they were unable to make their dominance count.

Bishop Sutton, in a unusual style of kit that was all red from behind but which featured a white front with pale red or even pink hexagons/diamonds on the front (see my pictures on Facebook for a better idea of what I am talking about), took advantage of Wendron’s missed opportunities and slowly worked their way back into the game.

Incidentally, talking of kits, I was a bit concerned before kick-off that BSFC’s outfit would clash with Wendron’s, let’s say unique, combination of claret and blue stripes with yellow trim, dark blue shorts and bright yellow socks, but they were surprisingly easy to differentiate between. I just thought you should all know that.

Right, after the fashion news it’s back to the football and it was no real surprise when the visitors took the lead in the tie after 35 minutes. My notes describing the goal said: “Lively 10 breaks down the right and squares for 11 to thump home. Wendron started well but Bishop Sutton had worked back into the game and had missed a great chance to score five minutes before.” Matt Friday, on his excellent Kernow Football website (kernowfootball.substack.com) put it rather more eloquently, mainly because he had the names of the players! He wrote: “Oaklan Buck broke free on the right flank, before cutting inside and laying off for Joel Hall, who fired past (Wendron goalkeeper Ethan) Fearn from the centre of the box.” However, you described it, it was an excellently worked goal and gave the visitors a lead which they were to take into the half-time break.

At this point, I would like to point out that I was a professional journalist for many years, covering games at all levels from the Championship down to grassroots, and I would always make a point of getting the team line-ups and the names of goalscorers, something which isn’t always easy at the lower echelons of the game. But I do this blog for fun rather than money (any donations welcome, though) and so I rely on others to provide the name details rather than chase them myself. I quite enjoy being lazy at times!

At half-time on Saturday I gave some thought as to how I could describe the Wendron performance so far. For some reason it reminded me of Olympic karate. No really. Let me explain. You see, in the recent Tokyo Games, karate was introduced for the first time and one of the medal classes was called “kata”. This is a solo discipline in which the competitors demonstrate their control of the shapes or forms of the correct karate postures. They are judged on how they look and they don’t actually fight anyone. That’s how I felt about Wendron’s first-half showing … it looked very nice at times but lacked a punch.

But they certainly came out swinging after the break.

They levelled on 52 minutes, when Lucas Potts’ strike from outside the box took a deflection, leaving Bishop Sutton keeper Oliver Eglon stranded as the ball rolled into the net. The ‘Dron supporters behind the goal could clearly see what was happening and began cheering long before the ball actually crossed the line.

They were cheering again nine minutes later when Wendron took the lead. Jack Noy raced on to a clever hooked ball over the full-back into the right side of the box and then struck a low shot across the keeper into the far corner. Queue a knee slide from the scorer, who was soon swamped by his delighted team-mates, frantic cheering from the home fans and lots of fumbling for his phone camera by a thoroughly unprepared cup football blogger as he tried to capture the moment. In the end, I captured the moment just after the moment, getting the photo just as the celebrations began to break up. The photographic equivalent of hitting the post, I reckon.

At that point, ‘Dron were rampant and it looked as if they would run away with the tie but Bishop Sutton had different ideas. As the clock ticked down, they launched a furious assault on the home goal, desperate to get the equaliser and missing several good chances along the way, plus sparking one proper good old-fashioned goalmouth scramble, which the hosts eventually survived.

It was all getting properly tense and reminded me once again of just why I love cup football, the intensity of it, the emotion of it, the stomach-churning nervousness of it. I was thoroughly absorbed in the action and found myself jigging up and down on the spot and tapping my hand against the barrier as the tension grew.

Mind you, I was also nervous that, if Bishops did equalise and the game went to penalties, then I would be late picking up my wife who, unlike me, hadn’t nipped off work early! It all added to the great dramatic weave of a football fan’s life.

The visitors were not making it easy for me or the Underlane faithful as they continued to pour forward, while Wendron dropped deeper and deeper. It all came to a head way into injury time when Bishop Sutton were awarded a free-kick on the halfway line. Their keeper abandoned his custodian duties and joined the plethora of attackers in the Wendron penalty area as the ball was launched forward one more time. As it arced through the air, it was clear that the ball was heading towards the upfield keeper and I had visions of an angry other half as I tried to explain why she had been forced to wait for her lift home.

It reminded me of a moment in the film version of an old TV comedy called Till Death Us Do Part when the main character, Alf Garnett, and his son-in-law didn’t arrive home from the 1966 World Cup final until the morning after as they had been out all night celebrating. “Where have you been?” the wives demanded, “the game was yesterday.” Alf replied: “Well, it went to extra time.” Not sure I would have got away with that.

Fortunately for me and for Wendron, and unhappily for Bishop Sutton, even though the attacking keeper did get on to the ball and hit it across goal, nobody could turn it in, the final whistle blew, penalties were averted and the delighted ‘Dron were through.

It certainly hadn’t been the Saturday that I had originally expected but it was all the better for that. If Wendron, or any other Cornish team for that matter, do make it all the way through to the final at Wembley I might just have to bunk off work again and lend my support to their Vase victory dreams.

That’s the plan anyway.

PICTURES: Search for “Peter Harlow” on Facebook and there you will find a selection of snapshots taken on my phone. 

MIND GAMES

Wadebridge Town 3 Callington Town 2

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

AS AN INTELLIGENT (!) MEMBER of a modern society I have opinions on all sorts of things, ranging from the big subjects such as politics and religion, to other less vital but still passionately important areas such as art, music, food and what colour to paint the wall above the fireplace (I want bright yellow but I have been voted down). And then there’s sport of course, and particularly football.

And many, OK nearly all, of these opinions are pretty rigid and unchanging. I think that having enjoyed life on Planet Earth for almost six decades, I have enough experience of most things to be pretty sure what I think about them. I think that makes me a curmudgeonly old so-and-so which, in my opinion, is no bad thing.

However, sometimes something happens that makes you rethink things, makes you reassess your beliefs and come to a different conclusion. Sometimes, much to your own surprise, you change your mind.

At Bodieve Park, Wadebridge, on Wednesday night, I changed my mind many times and I am still trying to get over the shock of it all.

The football game taking place at this North Cornwall venue was in the Kitchen Kit South West Peninsula League Premier West division and featured host side The Bridgers against their visitors from the south-east of the Duchy, Callington Town.

When I started out on this football blog five or six seasons ago it was exactly the kind of game I had decided to avoid.

You see, as the title of this website explains, I wanted to write about cup football, about knockout football, about the immediacy of the winner-takes-all format of the beautiful game. I had worked out that just about all my best memories of the game of Association Football came from matches in which getting through to the next round was the only thing that mattered.

No setting up for a draw and hoping to nick a point; no settling for a 2-0 defeat in order to protect your goal difference; no worrying about all the other results on the day which might affect your hopes of promotion or fears of relegation. It was just the score of your game that was important, it was the only thing that decided whether or not your dreams of success were still alive. It is the purest form of the game and I love it.

But, as the more observant among you will have noticed, Wednesday’s Cornish clash was of the league variety, as have been all the other games I have seen this season. Why? Because my day job has changed and currently involves me working on Saturdays, meaning I have been confined to midweek football. And all the local fixtures I have been able to get to so far this season have been league games.

What else was a blogger to do? I could have changed my mind about going to a game at all but that would have been breaking the habit of a lifetime and not going to a match would have just been a stupid idea. So to the football I went.

It has been very helpful to my mindset, though, that it is still early in the season and everything is new, especially as Cornish Non-League football has changed a lot this campaign as a result of the FA’s national reorganisation of the Pyramid system. So I have been to games in the Toolstation Western League, the Kitchen Kit SWPL, the Kernow Stone St Piran League (East and West divisions) and the LWC Drinks Cornwall Combination*, all of which are different to the last completed football season back in the days before anybody had heard of coronavirus and pandemic was a word only used in the most unbelievable of Hollywood movies. Oh how the world has changed.

*I have also been to a game in the Balcan Lighting Supplies Lincolnshire League which was a proper departure from my normal hunting grounds. See my previous blog, Compare and Contrast.

All of the Cornish matches I have been to so far in 2021-22 have been among the first I have watched under the new set-up and it has been a fascinating learning process to find out how standards may have changed and which teams look like they will thrive in this new era and which ones won’t.

But Wednesday night in Wadebridge was different. I wasn’t even sure I was going to go as it seemed to me it was just going to be one of those “bog-standard” league matches I had spent so long not bothering about. The phrase reminded me of former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his speech about changing the nature of “bog-standard comprehensive schools”. Apparently, that was back in 2001 and it wasn’t him who said it but his chief spin doctor (and “celebrity” Burnley fan) Alastair Campbell. My memory isn’t what it used to be.

Erm, where was I? Oh yes, Wednesday night in Wadebridge.

The first thing that surprised me was a thought that came into my head after I had parked the car in the elevated grass area high above the touchline opposite the main stand and wandered over to view the ground as it bathed in that most evocative of football radiance, the shine of the floodlights. I found myself thinking: “I am really looking forward to this,” a thought that actually gave me a start. It also marked the first change-of-mind of the night and confirmed something that I don’t believe will ever change – I am a football junkie.

I have been to Bodieve Park many a time before but rarely for a game actually featuring The Bridgers. Because of its large size, relative ease of access and its location, the ground is often used as a neutral venue for cup semi-finals and finals and it usually those sort of games for which I rock up. The best one I have seen there was Falmouth beating Tavistock in the final of the cup contest with the best name of them all, the Kitchen Kit South West Peninsula League Walter C Parson Funeral Directors League Cup. I just love that name and the game was an absolute cracker in the sunshine, just how a cup final should be.

So I thought Wednesday night would lead to a blog about how it was nice to actually watch Wadebridge play in their own natural environment and how good it would be to enjoy the occasion with their fans rather than with spectators from clubs all over Cornwall and beyond.

But I was forced in the end to change my mind about writing about that.

Another option was to focus on the visitors Callington and the trials and travails they currently face. In the summer they appointed a former manager of, and signed several players from, Cornish rivals St Blazey, who briefly became famous when they staged a secret, lockdown-rules-breaking Christmas party in Plymouth, raising the ire of comedian Les Dennis, who was performing in the city and happened to be staying in the same accommodation. It made the news, you know.

It also saw a parting of the ways of said manager, Matt Hayden, and Blazey, much to the delight of many across the Cornwall football community who saw him and many of his players as over-rated, over-aggressive big-time Charlies from the big city across the Tamar rather then being genuine Duchy football people.

That sense of schadenfreude was diluted when Hayden and his assistant Shaun Vincent rocked up at Callington in the summer. “Oh no, they are back,” was a feeling that seemed to permeate Cornish footballing opinion. But the critics were soon in their element again when a leaked social media message from the manager in pre-season basically told the Callington players they wouldn’t be good enough and that he was going to bring in lots of his former Blazey players as they would take the team into the top six of the league. Cally started Wednesday night’s game second from bottom. The critics loved that.

Then the haters had even more ammunition handed to them when Hayden was served with a 112-day ban for an alleged confrontation with a referee. He is appealing that decision but he wasn’t at Bodieve on Wednesday night, with Vincent taking charge in his absence.

But, in the end, I had to change my mind about focusing on that angle as well. For this turned out to be far from a “bog-standard” league game in the end and turned into something quite thrilling and exciting and unusual. Remarkably, for a football blog, I had to change my mind and actually focus on the football!

It all began on 15 minutes when Wadebridge took the lead as Lewis Tonkin cracked home a superb left-footed volley after a corner was played directly to him from a corner. It was a super goal and was definitely not “bog-standard”. I was glad I had changed my mind about going to the game, even if it was just to see that goal.

The Bridgers, who started the day in eighth spot in the 17-team division, stretched their lead before the break with a penalty by Kyle Flew. The decision, after a desperate challenge in the box, was hotly contested, with Cally claiming the tackle was fair and a section of the home crowd baying for a red card. After consulting with his linesman, who looked to be the one who actually signalled for the pen first, the ref pointed to the spot and kept the red in his pocket.

So, 2-0 to The Bridgers at half-time and things were going along as expected. The hosts were clearly the better side but Cally had had a couple of chances of their own and were definitely still in the game. Mind you, I changed ends at half-time to be by the goal Wadebridge would be attacking so it shows exactly what I was thinking of the game at that moment.

Three minutes into the second half I saw no reason to change my mind about that decision as the home side took a three-goal lead, Matt Lloyd rounding the keeper and slotting home after a Callington defender’s attempted back-pass had gone astray.

Then everything changed.

On 64 minutes, Cally thought they had got one back but the lino and ref ruled that the ball hadn’t crossed the line. Play switched immediately to the other end but, suddenly, the man in the middle stopped play. There was some confusion but he then produced a yellow card for a Cally player, sending him to the sin bin for ten minutes for dissent, presumably for still going on about the disallowed effort at the other end.

I was excited. It was the first sin-binning I had seen this season. “Oh good, something new and exciting I can write about,” my blogger head thought, while the football fan part of my head thought: “Well, that’s that then, no way back for Callington now.”

Cally’s critics are prone to loudly complain that they don’t like the way Callington’s players loudly complain at every decision. The critics also claim that Cally are over-aggressive, particularly when things are not going their way. That seemed to be the case when one heavy challenge led to a mass confrontation in the middle of the pitch. Once again, though, the home fans’ call for a red card for the Callington number four (I am sorry I don’t have the visitors’ names to hand) fell on the ref’s deaf ears and he produced a yellow instead.

That abrasive midfielder walked a bit of a tightrope after that, with some of his challenges coming close to a second yellow, but his passion and determination was a key factor as the ten men of Callington launched a ferocious and unlikely comeback attempt. It began on 70 minutes when their best move of the match saw the ball being swiftly moved from left to right with the resulting chance being nicely tucked away.

So 3-1 and 20 minutes to go. Still, no need to worry for Wadebridge and the home fans. After all, they had been the better side for over an hour and still had a man advantage for a few minutes. No problem.

Two minutes later it was 3-2. This time, a long ball and some messy defending combined to present Cally with their second goal and really set the alarm bells ringing for the home contingent. Suddenly, the visitors were rampant and an equaliser looked on the cards. They should have had it on 76 minutes. The player who had been binned returned to the fray and almost immediately had a glorious chance at the far post but headed just wide. Game definitely on and all thoughts of this being a bog-standard, run-of-the-mill victory for the home side against a club struggling at the wrong end of the table went out of the window. It was another change of mind.

The final 15 minutes were all about whether Cally could find an equaliser or whether Wadebridge could rediscover the fluency and composure that had taken them into that 3-0 lead. The answer to both of those questions was no.

The Bridgers still looked shaky and nervous and untidy and every bit a mid-table side who could threaten the best on their day or lose to the worst when it wasn’t. On Wednesday night, they showed both sides of their character in the same game. But Cally, who have found goals hard to come by this campaign, could not get that crucial third strike despite surging forward. They missed an absolutely glorious chance to snatch a point with virtually the last kick of the game, a moment which summed up the way their season has gone so far.

It was a dramatic and thrilling conclusion to what had become a thrilling and dramatic game. I was delighted I had changed my mind about going to the match. It ended up being anything but bog-standard.

PICTURES: Search for “Peter Harlow” on Facebook and there you will find a selection of floodlit snapshots taken on my phone. There are also pics and a bit of video on Wadebridge Town’s official Twitter feed, @TheBridger1894

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Wyberton 5 Horncastle Town 1

Wednesday, September 8

Sticker Reserves 4 St Austell Reserves 1

Wednesday, September 15

SOMETIMES it is good to get away from the normal run of things in your life, to spread your wings, to take a look at life in another part of the world, to see how the other half lives, to be able to compare and contrast the good and bad things that weave their way into the rich tapestry of your life. The pandemic has made that much harder over the past 18 months and so, for the past two weeks, it has been nice to get away from it all, to swap the dramatic landscapes and seascapes of Cornwall for pastures new on a road trip that took in Devon, Norfolk and Essex.

And Lincolnshire.

And that was where I found a football match. We had headed up to the East Midlands to visit family and friends and, one Wednesday night, my wife went out with several of her old school pals from back in the day. Now, lovely as they all were, I didn’t see myself sitting listening to them all night and so I escaped to Wyberton, an area on the edge of Boston as, luckily for me, they were at home to Horncastle Town in the Balcan Lighting Supplies Lincolnshire League. It proved to be a good decision. The girls had a great night without trying to include a random husband in their chatter and I thoroughly enjoyed dipping my football-watching toes into a competition I had never seen before.

The following Wednesday, back in Cornwall, I made a somewhat shorter journey to watch Sticker Reserves take on St Austell Reserves in the Kernow Stone St Piran League East Division. This was more common ground for me, having been to beautiful Burngullow Park several times before, but it gave me the chance to, in the phrase so beloved of old school masters, compare and contrast these footballing outposts.

“Compare and contrast” is a phrase that has struck horror into generations of school pupils, especially when you were asked to do so with things that are just totally different, not just apples and oranges, for example (they are both fruit but one of them is, er, an apple) but items which have absolutely no connection, such as the taste of sausages and the circumference of a chalk circle. It was always a nonsense exercise, in my opinion.

Mind you, that was a long time ago, still in the age of fountain pens and exercise books with not a single computer in sight. Things have probably changed a bit since then.

Anyhow, these two football matches were properly comparable as they both stood at Step Seven of the Non-League Pyramid. OK, as explained in a previous blog (Setting the Standard), Step Seven has now become “Feeder League” or “Senior County League” but it is, in reality, still the seventh tier of the pyramidal process and both these games were in it. The St Piran League feeds into the South West Peninsula League while the Lincs League, er, links into both the Northern Counties East and United Counties League. So now you know.

The first thing that struck me was that, when comparing the venues, they were a complete contrast to one another. Wyberton is a large housing area on the edge of Boston, with the busy main A16 road from Grimsby to Peterborough running right by the club’s Playing Fields Stadium (that’s what the FA Full-Time site calls it; I would have called it Wyberton Sports and Social Club). Boston United’s new ground, the ultra-modern Jakeman’s Community Stadium, is literally across the road with its curved floodlight pylons and oval light clusters dominating the local skyline. The whole feeling is of a busy, bustling town.

Sticker’s ground, however, is approached by a country lane and is surrounded by trees, fields and low hills, with not a house in sight. Even by Cornish standards, it can feel a bit of a remote place, even though it is only about three miles from St Austell, the third biggest town by population in the Duchy at the last count. (Redruth/Camborne is the biggest apparently, with Falmouth/Penryn picking up the silver medal. Please direct all arguments about this to Wikipedia and/or the Office for National Statistics).

It did mean that Sticker v St Austell, even at Reserves level, was a proper local derby but I wasn’t sure that was the case with the Wyberton v Horncastle clash. The visitors had travelled about 25 miles for the match, which isn’t that far, especially when you consider that Lincolnshire is the second biggest county by area in England (see information in the brackets in the previous paragraph as to where to send your disputes about this). Mind you, Lincolnshire Non-League Radio were at the match so I reckon that ups its standing to a derby. And I love the idea of a local radio station just for Non-League football. Cornwall, what do you reckon?

I was thoroughly impressed by the set-up at Wyberton and it made me think of what might have been. I grew up on a large housing estate in Croydon, South London, many years ago which had a population that was bigger than any town in Cornwall (there’s no argument about that one, I think). Although we had two hard-working community associations, one for the “old” estate and one for the “new”, we didn’t have a proper football club, a New Addington United, if you will. I think it needed it, and Wyberton would have made a great blueprint for it.

When I rocked up at the ground, the large car park was already full. Not because the prospect of a Lincolnshire League derby had pulled in a massive crowd but because there was a lot else going on. There were youngsters of what looked like primary school age training and playing in one area, older teenagers practising in another and what looked like a general kickabout going on in another. Meanwhile, the social club – I think it had three bars – was packed with people playing bingo while some youngsters played pool in another area. It felt like, and was, a proper community hub and I think the estate I grew up on would have benefited massively from such a busy football club at its heart. I have always been an advocate of sport as a force for good and New Addington United would have made a difference to so many lives.

The fact that so many people stayed on to watch the game itself was a real bonus and added to the feel of the occasion. Most of the crowd lurked near the clubhouse and bar but I ventured onto the far side, near the team benches which were, pleasingly, just benches with no cover at all. No airs and graces here, and I loved it for that.

Now, I have to make an admission here. My head was in holiday mode and such was my excitement at rushing to a game in “foreign” parts that I managed to leave my phone at the hotel. Therefore, I could make no notes on the action and take no pictures. Happily for me, the second problem can be solved by advising you, dear reader, to head to YouTube and search for “Wyberton v Horncastle” where you will find some highlights of the game. Nothing to do with me but it will show you what I am talking about.

As for notes about the game itself, well Twitter has helped a bit on that. I can tell you that it began as a very tight affair, with the visitors probably shading the early stages, but Wyberton soon got on top and were leading 3-1 by half-time, including one absolute cracker of a shot. The hosts were in control for much of the second half and added twice more to their tally, the pick of them being a lovely free-kick. According to Twitter, that strike was made by Nicky Frost, who was named man of the match and who, I believe, scored a hat-trick. Well played, that man.

Back in Cornwall, I was in full possession of my phone again and thus was able to make notes and takes some pics, which can be found on Facebook (see details at the end of this blog). The first comparison I noted was that the Cornish players generally looked to be younger than their Lincolnshire counterparts. This might have been because they were Reserve sides looking to blood youngsters rather than first teams in the full flow of a football season. But it might just have been that the players were flattered by the excellent modern floodlights at Burngullow, which were of a much better quality than those at Wyberton!

The next contrast was that the Sticker game, despite definitely being a local derby, was much less physical than the Lincs League clash, or maybe just less physical than Wyberton who, in a footballing sense, bullied Horncastle in terms of strength, pace and, ultimately, quality. Mind you, I watched St Day play in the West Division of the St Piran League last month and they are always a strong and physical, some might say robust, side and I would like to see them in action against Wyberton. You might have to watch with a crash helmet on but it would be great fun – they are two good sides.

Another comparison, or is it a contrast, was that I had to pay £3 to get into the Cornish clash but no one even came around with a bucket at Wyberton. They might have missed a trick there or maybe the money generated by all the other activities meant no entrance fee was required but I would have happily paid a couple of quid to watch a game there. Instead, I spent more than that over the bar. Oh, so that’s how it works …

Anyway, the three pound to get into Burngullow was well worth it. This has always been a lovely place to visit and it gets better each time I go there. As mentioned before, the floodlights are just a couple of years old and there are now two covered standing areas along one touchline, either side of the tiny but charming Monty Donnithorne Stand. It’s a cracking little ground.

The starting keeper for visitors St Austell might have a different opinion about that. He had a difficult evening. Firstly, even before a ball was kicked, he was sent back to the changing rooms to change his yellow shirt, which clashed horribly with the home side’s yellow and blue stripes, for a green one. I approved of that. I grew up in an era in which all goalkeepers wore green, unless you were playing Celtic or Hibs, together with the same colour shorts and socks as the rest of your team. Hence, a Millwall keeper would have a green shirt, white shorts and blue socks. The only exception was the England keeper, who wore a yellow top and black shorts. To me, that’s how it should be. Today’s selection of garish goalkeeping kits, just like multi-coloured football boots, are just a step too far. Stop it, I say, stop it.

Meanwhile, back at Burngullow, the “Snozzell” keeper saw his side take the lead only to find themselves trailing 2-1 at the interval. As the teams came out for the second half, the goalie was now in blue. Was this another new top or had the keeper been subbed. In the spirit of enquiry, I moved closer to the goal he was defending and found the young linesman standing in front of me. As my glasses definitely now need replacing, I asked the lino: “Is that a new keeper?”

He replied: “Yes, it’s the manager I think. The original keeper pulled a groin. I am a goalkeeper too. I am supposed to be playing for this lot next week.” That’s the kind of inside information you can pick up at Non-League football just by chatting. You never know what you might find out.

It was, in fact, my second conversation with a lino in successive games. At Wyberton, the home manager was a real jack-in-the-box, forever leaping forward with shouted instructions to his side and frequently crossing the white line in order to get his message across. The lino, sorry assistant referee, was a proper official, unlike the club lad running the line at Sticker, and kept trying to get the coach to stay in his box, or at least off the pitch.

“You are going to have your work cut out keeping him under control,” I said, as the linesman jogged along in front of me. “I always do with him when I come here,” he said and it was an interesting sideline watching that little battle for the 90 minutes, which was mostly played out with a smile on both sides. The Wyberton boss eventually calmed down when his side moved into a 4-1 lead and, for the rest of the game, generally stayed on the right side of the white line – until he came on as a sub late in the second half. I think the linesman was quite relieved by that move!

Now, back to my notes and the action at Sticker. St Austell took the lead after 21 minutes as they broke forward after clearing a promising Sticker attack. The initial effort was saved but the follow-up was neatly netted. The hosts were level five minutes later when a long ball from the keeper cleared the St Austell defence leaving two forwards to combine to get the equaliser. A match report on the Cornwall Football Forum by “Razor61” says the scorer was Hayden Chapman and it was his first goal for the club, and who am I to argue?

Mind you, there might be a bit of an argument about the second goal for Sticker, which put them ahead on 41 minutes. My notes said: “Scored from a corner. Pretty sure the first effort went in off the bar but the rebound was thumped home just to make sure.” However, Razor61 reported that the first attempt on goal, a header by Adam Solomon, didn’t go over the line and credited the goal to Ewan Warren-Knight for eventually smashing the ball home. I am not sure either Wikipedia or the Office for National Statistics could settle that particular issue but I am prepared in this instance to bow to the presumably superior knowledge of the Razor. (I still think the first effort went in though)!

Having forgotten my phone for the Wyberton game I then continued the forgetfulness theme by not remembering to start the stopwatch on the aforementioned phone as the second half at Sticker kicked off. I blamed the lino for distracting me in conversation but, actually, it was probably just my advancing years! Whatever, any timings after the break were approximate.

Sticker moved 3-1 ahead on 56 minutes (probably) with an excellent goal which included a strong run down the left, a nice pull-back and an assured finish. Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Razor61 said the scorer of that one was Marco Barresi. The scoring was completed seven minutes later when a midfield challenge broke Sticker’s way and the St Austell sub keeper was just unable to collect the loose ball, which was finally slotted in by “Solly”, by which I take it Razor61 means Adam Solomon.

So, what lessons did I learn from this “compare and contrast” essay? Well, I mainly reinforced the feeling that football, wherever it is played, can be a great driver of community spirit, that is does really matter to those involved at whatever level it is played and that it brings joy and, sometimes, despair to fabulous football people up and down the country. I simply love it.

Oh, and for what’s its worth, if I was to compare and contrast these four teams as seen in these two games, I would rank Wyberton as the best, followed by Sticker, St Austell and Horncastle. But they all gave their all and it seems to me, that despite the oft-repeated protestations of doom and gloom about the beautiful game at community level, there is still hope and happiness to be found at Step Seven. Or whatever it is called nowadays … let’s just enjoy the football, eh? I know I did.

PICTURES: Search for “Peter Harlow” on Facebook and there you will find a selection of snapshots from the game at Sticker taken on my phone. Having forgotten to take that phone to the game up in Lincolnshire, your best bet, as mentioned, is to head to YouTube. Good luck!