Two blogs in a week is the sort of consistency I strive for, yet has never happened on this site before. First time for everything! I did promise it at the end of the last blog, so here it is.
Unfortunately, it’s still cold. And I didn’t learn from Thursday night’s arctic temperatures at Chesterfield (click here to read all about it, as they say), so I ended up with similar layers on for today’s outing to the non-league world where Redditch United took on St Ives Town at the Valley Stadium (no, not that one), and I ended up feeling like I’d been cryogenically frozen at the end of the match as I was walking back on the short walk to the station and was about as stiff as an ironing board. Anyway, more on that later.
Seeing as it was only down the road, I had a welcome lie-in for once and didn’t have to leave until 11am, and given that I’d decided to join some of the lads lads lads (is that how you say it?) on the night out before, it was definitely most welcome. Unfortunately, some of them gradually continued to bottle various stages of the night out, so when we next catch up there will be words exchanged.
Rather than be lazy and grab a taxi to the station, I thought it would be good to have a brisk walk through Derby. The rozzers had setup a pretty big cordon just outside the shopping centre, following an ‘incident’ according to Derbyshire Live. I’m so much better informed now, I think we all could’ve figured out that something happened, unless police hobbies have changed in Derbyshire now and they just go out for fun and put a load of blue and white tape around an area just for shits and giggles. I reckon that’s probably a conspiracy in some corners of the internet, probably similar to those who spout off about Two Tier Kier or whatever else they waffle about.
Speaking of waffling that’s exactly what I’m doing now. As I reached the station there was a slapdash (if that’s the right word) phone call that I attended to and a family gathering was in order after the game. Well, it would be if I hadn’t frozen to death before then. As I’m writing this now on Sunday, you’ll know that’s not what happened unless you believe in the occult.
This is impressive though. I’m five paragraphs into a post supposedly about football and I’m talking about police hobbies and the possible existence of ethereal spirits. Maybe I should be tested for ADHD.
Moving on, swiftly, there was a short wait before the train arrived, so I assumed a position outside Greggs and Costa, but rather unusually I never took any fuel on board. So I sat and waited patiently before a slight panic washed over me and I thought I’d left it too late. The train was there as soon as I walked down the stairs, which certainly didn’t help. I was so occupied on getting on the train, I didn’t even notice that there were only two carriages, which sort of explained why everyone was standing. Some bloke offered me his seat, which was generous. Then, someone came on the tannoy to apologise for the delay which was apparently due to a ‘problematic passenger’. Please, please, just normalise calling them dickheads. Having worked in customer service before, I’ve no doubt that’s what customers do to staff behind their back. I’m pretty sure it is what staff want to do the other way round, but HR forbid that a long time ago, unfortunately. The same sort of people that I mentioned earlier would probably say it’s woke nonsense, or something.
As I had a seat, I tried to do some work on the train with my laptop, but there was no chance of me doing so because the train signal was about as weak as a glass of heavily diluted squash. Instead, I was forced to overhear some gossip going on behind me, where a group of girls were going out and one of them had recently gotten into a relationship, leading to others asking them to ‘tell me everything’ about it. I don’t think we’ll ever fully understand girl gossip nor should we try to.
I persevered with the signal issues and managed to get the work done for the match as I was pulling into New Street ahead of a short wait for the train to Redditch. It was relatively quiet and uneventful, so I fired up the iPlayer and had a gander at the FA Cup, only to find that Manchester City were hilariously losing to Leyton Orient. Their lad scored from just after the halfway line, and somehow it had gone down as an own goal, which seems like a load of cobblers to me, seeing as Ortega didn’t look like he touched it until it went over the line, but what the hell do I know? City managed to turn it around and will be on The One Show on Monday.
We rolled in to Redditch, and thankfully the station is only a short walk from the ground, so off I went up the hill, and down the (very steep) hill towards where the ground is at the bottom. They laid down a plastic pitch a while back, so there’s no danger of any postponement, unless it’s ridiculously cold or snowy. Poor old Aldershot had to call their game off at 12:30 yesterday afternoon and blamed “heavy snow” for their reason, yet provided a picture of the pitch with no snow on it. The circus has to continue somewhere, and there’s always a clown involved!
When I was in, I went straight to the snack bar for a burger and chips, which I’ve always enjoyed when I’ve been to Redditch in the past and it went down well once again. It’s something about the lower levels that tend to produce good food. It’s because they care about the customer (well, some non-league clubs) and they care about local business. It’s not like the top levels where you’re just a number and it becomes mass-produced rubbish. Another reason to enjoy non-league! How many are we up to now?
The build-up to the match was relatively uneventful, but it was good to see some of the Redditch players warming up that I’d not seen for a while after they left Walsall Wood (I know I waffle, but even I haven’t got time to tell that story - maybe another time). Kyle Rowley, Nick Clayton-Phillips and Jack Kelly plus a few others that I’d seen knocking around the level including (get ready for this pronunciation) Marvellous Onabirekhanlen, Ryan Boothe and Brad Burton. Matt Clarke had got a good team going, and while I admit I didn’t know much about St Ives, their new signings had recently put on a show so could well have been a good game.
Unfortunately, it was anything but. The match started with Redditch showing a lot more desire from the outset and will to get forward, but the pendulum quickly swung to the visitors who pushed with their attempts. Other than an effort on goal for St Ives which was swiftly blocked by Kyle Rowley, the opening 20 minutes was a pretty drab affair with the majority of the game being played in the middle of the park.
Benji Mensah did have an attempt in the 20th minute, which he took with his first touch, but blazed it over the bar. St Ives then had another chance just before half time from Ethan Creary (which shows how often the chances were) that was easily saved by Ollie Taylor.
George Munday (who was the Star Man, as written by the excellent Non-League Paper reporter for the game, whoever that was) came close just after the break, drilling his shot low but Taylor reacted well to save with a dive low to his left.
Unfortunately for St Ives, they conceded just ten minutes into the second half as they handled the ball in the box, and as a result, Redditch were awarded a penalty which was calmly rolled into the bottom corner by former Chasetown man Ryan Boothe. I say that, and definitely remember it, but any record of him actually playing for the Scholars was hard to come by. After a bit of digging on the ever-reliable Football Web Pages, it turns out he made 11 appearances for the Scholars in 22-23. God knows how I remember that, especially given I don’t watch them every week either. 4-0 at home on Saturday to keep them in the playoffs though! The hype train rolls on.
The goal clearly energised Redditch as they were on the front foot for the next few minutes after the goal, but had nothing to show for it. St Ives equalised with 12 minutes to go as George Munday was there again to fire his effort home. I think. I didn’t even see the goal as I was looking at Twitter at the time (sshhh, don’t tell anyone).
Munday was there again late on and almost won the game, smashing an effort against the crossbar. He’s lively that bloke.
However, a winner never came and the points were shared. They can’t all be thrillers. Unfortunately for me, they can’t all be scorching hot weather either, as I think I may have gone into a coma had I sat there any longer. Trying to walk whilst being that cold isn’t ideal. Tip for you that I also should’ve learnt from on Thursday: wear more layers when going out. I know, I know. Something your mum and dad tell you when you’re about six. Well, maybe that’s the stage I’m at in life, who knows.
It got foggier and foggier as well, but I very slowly trudged back to the station whilst checking over the football scores, with not much to note. Thankfully, the train got in on time, which was helpful, and warming up was a very slow procedure but we just about got there - as soon as it was time to get off the train.
An Uber was in order, and thankfully I was able to get one quite quickly. Somehow, the app said that he was 1.2 miles away and was arriving in two minutes. Must’ve had some rocket boosters attached to his car or something. I got in, confirmed my name as usual and he asked me where Jerry was, which took me an embarrassingly long time to understand the joke. Then he started talking about Shakira. It’s all happening.
This might be the most random blog I’ve done for a while, I’ll be honest. All sorts of things have been mentioned. Must be the standard expected for this site, as a few months ago for Farnborough v Dorking I’m pretty sure I mentioned David Luiz and crumpets in the same paragraph.
Don’t expect much football analysis here. Simple as that. Speaking of Farnborough v Dorking, I may be blogging the reverse fixture in a few weeks. The 22nd February will likely be the next blog, but you know how non-committal things are here, so who knows?
Tom.
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