31.8.19 Barnoldswick Town (H) FA Vase QR1

Bay fans can't help get excited whenever the Vase comes around. The years of 2009-2011 are now just like the clouds that whizzed past Hillheads... dreamlike and out-of-reach. The eight years since have brought mediocrity, to put it mildly.
How many times have we failed to make the first round proper?
Last season's 6-0 hammering of Esh Winning was then followed by 2-1 defeat at Whickham and only 2017's mazy run to the 3rd round, and cruel defeat at West Auckland (4-3), has produced much excitement. "Pogo if you love the Bay"?
Today could be the start of something fantastic! Two new players had snuck into the Bay when I had been celebrating my 50th year: Midfielder Connor Smith (former Hartlepool, York and Whitby) and forward Mark Robinson (from Sunderland West End). I was also looking forward to the return of my old fave, Shanksy. The sun was shining... what more could you ask for?

The Boy Mark, not in his 50th year, had to do a double take when I pointed out the Blackburn Rovers flag stuck to the New Stand. It turned out to be owned by Tony, whose son, Ashley, was playing for Barnoldswick. He chatted to us for a quite a while about how he gets stick from theother, Burnley-leaning,  Town fans for his allegiance..

New programme and raffle shed.
courtesy of WBFC Twitter.

He also mentioned some of the initiatives the club are using to generate revenue. Something the Bay could maybe look into is printing less programmes and putting the programme online. He said that this meant the adverts in the programme gained maximum exposure and was extremely popular. could it work here? Apart from the fact that we have a shiny new programme hut, it might be worth considering. If nothing else it would reduce the demand for paper and give the Brazilian Government less reason to burn down the Rainforest... Oooh! Political banter!

The only burning I hoped to see today were from holes in the Town defence, and there looked to be good signs going forward with Robinson, McFarland and Smith Combining well. Hird was looking sharp and was unlucky when he rounded the keeper but his effort just failed to hit the mark.

However, the visitors gradually took control and the supply dried up to Brad and Mark. It was also no surprise when they took the lead, the futuristically-nmaed Zak Dale scoring low to Uncle Lister's right-hand post.
It was at this point, we first heard Tony and his friends. Their celebrations turned to a single song that they continued on and off for most of the match.

Myself, The Boy Mark, Bob, and Jane were not impressed. Moira didn't get the memo.

The corner crew hadn't even noticed as they contined to enjoy the final rays of summer sun.

Something was needed to get the lads going and Kerr, Stephenson and Shanksy were introduced. However, despite some improvement, the crowd of 308 were mostly disappointed to see the visitors extend their lead. Once again, it was future-boy Zak who scored from the tightest of angles.

Unfortunately, it had taken this second goal to wake the lads up and, driven on by some great runs from McFarlane, Ryan Livesey was being kept on his toes. Previously, the only things of note about him were that he wore the tightest shorts of the season and could well have been the lovechild of Les the Scientist, from Vic and Bob's Big Night Out.

Tightest shorts... for the ladies (and some gentlemen).

Les's lovechild?

Probably because of all this scrutiny, the leaning one was getting quite ratty with everyone and stopped being a friendly figure of fun. Shanksy was getting little service and was getting frustrated. He tried flicks that came to nothing...

...then he tried moaning, before finally coming up with the perfect header from his one decent cross to reduce the defecit. Two appearances and two goals. 

He's still not match fit but the signs are promising.

Feed the Shanks and he will score?

It certainly shut up the Town fan in the lime green jacket who had wandered behind 'our' goal, lovingly placed his drink down, ignored it, shouted their players' names a lot, annoyed us even more and lit up a cigarette. Pleased with his excursion, he picked up his pint and staggered off.

Sadly, it would be his team that came away with the win as the Bay ran out of time. Mark was not impressed. However, we shook hands with Tony before leaving him and his friends to enjoy their moment of glory.

Now we are out of both the FA Cup and FA Vase, will we see the player floodgates open as in previous years? Only time will tell, but surely getting out of this league was always going to be the priority?