8th August 2018 - Stockton Town (a)

I was feeling excited, with a renewed vigour, to see the Bay again after Saturday's game and it didn't matter who we were playing, I felt we would emerge triumphant to extend our winning run of ....erm....one game! Ok so Stockton had finished above us in the table and reached the FA Vase final: the lads would do the business. Pogo Patterson was even more excited, giving me a running commentary of his journey from Shiremoor to meet me at Whitley. This included his meeting with Bay legend Johnny Decker. It was all there!
Picking up Woodie later than I would have liked, he had had to settle his daughter down to sleep before getting a pass-out, we set off for Stockton: less than 45 minutes away.

We were getting a bit worried about leaving my lovely Citreon Cactus, well I was, as we followed the Satnav around a housing estate. It seemed like every kid had decided to cycle down the middle of every street and the dress code was dressing gown and slippers for the women and boxer shorts and vest for the men. Thankfully, we emerged out of the estate and onto tree-lined semis. Pogo spotted a parking space at the over-flowing car park and we arrived at the turnstiles 44 minutes after setting off. We were flabbergasted to have to pay £7 for a Northern League game but then realised the extra money would be well-spent on the season tickets: an eighties or nineties-style book of tickets to be torn out. As a season ticket holder said: the Vase Final had gone to their heads!

Looking forward to seeing Dan Taggart tonight!

For a change, Bay fans were outnumbered by home fans and there was a good spread of home colours and merchandise that gave a good vibe around the ground. A lot of youngsters from the various junior teams were in attendance too: a real community feeling with a good mix of ages. It seemed that a lot of non league teams could learn valuable lessons from them. The all-weather pitch was in use before the game and would serve them well throughout the season: especially when the rubbish weather arrives...cause arrive it will! Sooner than we actually want it.

No Dan Taggart!

The big disappointment, on seeing the team board was the lack of Dan Taggart, Saturday's two-goal hero. This caused great consternation with Pogo Patterson and only a trip to the refreshments booth could cheer him up.
He duly returned with what he could only describe as 'The Best Pie in the World!"

The return of Pie Club?

The fact that there was very little happening in the Stockton penalty area meant Woodie and I followed suit and the bespectaled one was not wrong...they were indeed good: tasty, flaky and hot.
Even better than the food on offer was the way a new window opened when someone needed serving...just like I remember seeing on Martin and Rowan's Laugh-in (60s comedy show with people opening windows to tell each other jokes). Unfortunately, when I announced that I was excited to try one of their Steak, mince, chicken and mushroom pies, the guy in front of me questioned my sanity.

Now that would be a pie and a half!

The original Rowen and Martin's laugh-in: good old 60s humour!

Stockton Town's laugh-in.... good old erm Stockton.

Despite the delights of enjoying the last two mince pies, things took a turn for the worse as Stockton took the lead with a penalty. This upset Pogo again and so he set off in search of another pick-me-up: a chicken pie!

A sneaky extra pie! Pogo had been upset though!

Whitley had been second best throughout the first half but in the second half  they stormed back.

Unfortunately, the best chance fell to Olly Martin but he unluckily hit the side netting. Stockton in reply had had an effort disallowed and hit the crossbar. Despite good approach play, the Bay couldn't find the equaliser and so the match finished 1-0 to Town. The end of our winning start to the season after one game!

This will all be forgotten if the boys manage to beat Thrackley on Saturday so the thought was that players were being rested for the FA Cup: a game I will miss because I'll be running the Gateshead 10k in the morning. Good luck with that lads! HTB!