How excited can you
get? It was the FA Vase away to both Westella and Willerby…and a trip on the
team bus. Having been brought up on the Superstars of Newcastle United, it
never ceases to amaze me how refreshing it is in non-league football that the
players and supporters are so close. The close proximity to visiting players avoids
the recently seen stupidity of grown men carrying children while they try to punch visiting players,
Everton v Lyon in the Europa League, because the two groups are not separated by
money or ego. There are egos in non-league footie but there are so many more
decent players and fans who just love the sport as well as their club. Today’s
trip seemed totally bizarre all the same; I suppose it’s like children
realising that their teachers don’t actually sleep at school and have a
life of their own. Footballers are human beings too: whether they are amateur
or professional and as I was to find out, the Bay players are a great set of
lads but they certainly didn’t see themselves better than the rest of us.
The sun was shining
as the supporters’ bus set off for Hull and despite the warnings about
Brianstorm, Whitley Bay was having a good morning. Nashy was wearing his new
trainers and he said that some of the injuries were clearing up after a
troublesome week with two defeats and more injuries.
The mood was upbeat and confident despite recent results.
The team bus fell into four separate sections:
1 the old guard at the front,
2 the team at the back
3 a front-rear section of myself, the Kempster Support Unit,
Darren Kitman and Jake ‘Magic Hands’ WBTV fame
4 a rear-front
section that allowed Mr Chairman to have his own space with his Telegraph
newspaper.
The trip itself was uneventful and quick so we were soon, a little bit over 45 minutes I think, making our way up a dirt track. There was a brief Mexican standoff with
a red Fiesta that didn’t seem to want to let the coach park anywhere but our much bigger bus finally won. We parked up with instructions to “Let the
players off first” which gave us the chance to wish them all luck.
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| Great flag: well done lads: remember shoelaces and clips! |
There was a
newcomer to the Whitley Bay flag of the year award that I had awarded myself
last year but the lads in charge of it hadn’t thought through how they were
going to attach it. They had brought cable ties, which were not able to stretch
around the large concrete posts. Luckily, I was on hand to share
my experience of flag erection (shoe laces and carabina clips). There was also
a handy sign advertising the bar upstairs to help anchor their flag.
The ground itself had
some interesting features:
An ornate hand towel in the men's toilets that sadly lacked any towel.
Mr WBTV had managed to get himself set up on the luxury veranda
and made use of an extremely stylish ASDA carrier bag to protect his wares from
the element. However, I realised that the veranda was not for the likes of me
as the wind blew my nearly-finished pint over the extremely stylish B and Q
plastic table. I was a pleb and my place was by the pitch’s edge.
The team took to the pitch in a positive manner. Still
without Haley, Thibault and Flynn there was a return for Callum Anderson and a
well-deserved start for Matty Cornish after his recent roles as supersub.
However, there was a shock in store as a scramble in the box
ended with the ball being hooked over the grounded Lister. “Foul” we cried but
to no avail. The bald-headed linesman had given the goal.
Dan was then called
into a superb double save as he beat out a shot from the edge of the box then
had to leap up to deny another long-distance effort. This didn’t look good. My
mate, Fletch, from my school days who lives in Hull, was afraid of becoming the
sacrificial scapegoat for any shock result but suddenly the lads woke up.
Jasper stung the opposition when he latched onto Kempster’s super cross to make
it 1-1. Then it was Josh’s turn to strike and give the Bay the lead.
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| Wahey! |
There was a moment of panic when a supremely confident shout
in the Bay penalty by a defender resulted in the ball bouncing over his head.
Luckily, Lister was on hand to snatch the loose ball. The ball was quickly
delivered forward and it was Kempo, again, who came up with a salsa shuffle,
with extra chilli, before slotting home number three: 3-1.
Next up, the normally unflappable Professor Wilko, reacted
to a set of studs down his calf and the opposition number 10 threw himself to
the floor, in a tremendously dramatically fashion. The ref waved a card at the
grounded actor and we breathed a sigh of relief.
Fletch was extremely impressed with the Professor, who he
likened to a cross between Treebeard and a man-mountain. Either way the home
forwards were to find no way round him.
Peter Glen-Ravenhill was to provide the icing on the cake when
his freekick from near the halfway line was picked up by Brianstorm and beyond
the fed-up home keeper: 4-1.
At half time Brianstorm picked up pace and it became obvious
that there would not be a repeat of the goal action we had just witnessed.
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| Brianstorm breezes in! |
The second half play was a struggle against the elements and when
Matty Cornish was withdrawn for an extra forward we realised that in these
conditions, a midfield was not needed. The big boot was the order of the day. Nashy's master stroke worked and with Robo on for Jasper and Brooksy for Cornish the chances followed as the ball held up for the oncoming waves of Bay forwards.
At the other end, Mister Lister had to be on his toes as his goal was subjected to an aerial bombardment. He tipped over two successive efforts but the final word belonged to Potter who kept his cool to score a late penalty: 5-1. The bay were into the second round!
A quick bit of food for the lads in the bar....
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