Well, it’s that time of the week again. The day after Saturday where fans across the country wake up in either a euphoric manner or in despair at their team’s dire performance that makes them reconsider their life choices. Having said that, this is the first Sunday blog I’d done in a while, and I was wondering whether or not to continue after Tuesday night’s slog of a journey, but I decided to make the (slightly) shorter trip to watch my old non-league muckers Chasetown as they took on Belper Town in the FA Trophy First Round.
The teams last met in the 2021/22 playoff final where Belper ran out narrow 1-0 victors, and I think the collective response from everyone seeing the draw from Chasetown’s side was “Oh ffs not again.” To compound things further, Belper were going well in the Eastern division and managed to get to a lofty third place in the league. Chasetown did knock out Step 3 Bromsgrove Sporting at home, though, so it was all set up to be a good game.
Being in Derby, it would’ve obviously been easier for me to get to Belper, but the game is the game and The Scholars Ground it was. I was already off to a flyer before I’d even left Derby as I ordered the wrong train ticket, cancelled it, and then forgot to get another one until I’d reached the ticket barriers at the station. So, that was a whopper right off the bat. Normally I’d go through New Street and get a connecting train, as that is normally the case with most trains going south from Derby. This time I was only going on a two-stopper to Tamworth, so it wasn’t too bad, or so I thought.
Naturally the platform was awash with people off to the football, or whatever people do on a Saturday that don’t watch football. Those people do exist, apparently. East Midlands Railway clearly looked at the fact that it was a Saturday and didn’t bat an eyelid, because as you’ll see below, putting four carriages on a train that’s going all the way to Plymouth is, well, not ideal. Getting halfway through the journey, I remembered that I actually had two cans in my bag ready for the train ride and the idea was to consume en route. To be honest, that was made quite tricky as we were all packed like sardines and my ability to drink was reduced to me acting as if I had t-rex arms so as to not accidentally whack anyone else in the carriage. I know, proper British.
Once I got off the train, I didn’t really know what to do, and whilst waiting for my connecting train I just ended up sitting in the train station waiting room, pondering how the hell things could get any worse with trains in this country. Or maybe just this country in general. At least I still had my cider to keep me company. The next train was delayed as well, but I only had one stop after that anyway, so it wasn’t a great deal. One day, I’ll have a train journey that will be absolutely fine and go smoothly, because I feel as if the end of the last blog and the start of this one have just been repeated. Maybe if EMR got their arse in gear it wouldn’t be.
Getting off in Lichfield, my radar immediately clocked a Greggs and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to grab a small snack, so a sausage roll was in order. And it was hot, which is a bonus. There’s nothing more disappointing than something cold from the Greggs oven, a situation which has happened to me (and presumably many others) on plenty of occasions in the past.
With the fuel now onboard, I continued on. I planned to get public transport right up to Church Street (where the Scholars Ground is), but for various reasons that are complicated to explain, I ended up walking the last half-mile instead, which meant I had to postpone the drinking of the second cider until afterwards, unless I wanted to turn up to a football match with my own can, which would get you the same look as if you went to the pub with your own drink.
I was in the ground without a fuss and went down towards my usual spectator spot at Chasetown in order to grab a pie from the in-house Snack Shack. Before I could though, I was halted by an incoming phone call from Foz. As you may have figured, I don’t use people’s real names in these blogs apart from my own. I have nothing to hide, it just makes it a little more entertaining, I suppose. Anyway, Foz was on media duties and called me simply to wave at me from the press box, attempting some sort of wave/dance thing, looking like a right muppet. Although he is probably reading this paragraph, so it’s swings and roundabouts. I’d also like to say he did put September by Earth, Wind and Fire on the tannoy at my request so he’s doing something right.
After that was out the way, I headed for some grub and ordered the usual Balti pie, which they served to me differently this time. The foil tray was gone and it was just the pie on its own in a tray. Alright, I know it’s not MasterChef but part of the day out at the football is about the food, so I’ve got to talk about it at some point. I was about three-quarters of the way through my pie when Foz then appeared out of nowhere, Robbo rocked up as well and we had a catch up about all sorts of issues, and then I dropped my pie on the floor. It almost landed in the tray so was nearly salvageable, but I don’t want any diseases, so I wisely chucked it in the bin instead.
I then met up with Prov, who abandoned an away day at Accrington Stanley (no, I'm not going to say it) in favour of The Scholars, and we walked round to the terrace behind the goal. Seemingly, we then bumped into everybody ever associated with Chasetown on my walk around the ground. Standing in the terrace, we realised we were amongst all the Belper fans and went round to the other end of the ground instead. The next half-hour was relatively uneventful as we counted down to kick off.
Chasetown: Pond, Griffiths, Evans, Fenton, Taylor, Wilding, Burnside, Clarke, Glover, Cater, Butlin
Subs: Dunne, O’Callaghan, Yates, Thompson, Chimenes
Belper Town: Preston, August, Aguas, Whitehead, King, Evans, Poulter, Burrows, Draper, Warren, Crofts
Subs: Austin, Rawson, Gregory, Rhodes, Adams
Here we go then! Chasetown’s opportunity to progress beyond the First Round of the FA Trophy for the first time in 14 years in the run that saw them host Mansfield Town at The Scholars Ground in the 2010/11 season. We assumed position behind the goal and it was a pretty slow first ten minutes until Joey Butlin’s low shot, aimed for the bottom corner, was saved easily by Preston. Belper almost took the lead, whacking the post and forcing a few good saves out of Pondy, but overall it was a physical and scrappy half where Belper were lucky to get just one yellow card.
The bar then came calling as me and Prov grabbed a drink each and moved over to the other end, carefully balancing our Chasetown-branded cups on the edge of the terrace, which almost ended badly. I’d already had a pie on the floor, so this would have taken the biscuit.
Belper came out for the second half unusually early and stood around keeping themselves warm while waiting for Chasetown, and shortly after the second half was underway. Ten minutes in, the chances continued, but as Chasetown were on top, George Cater decided to take matters into his own hands. He fired an effort into the bottom corner, putting Chasetown ahead. Belper didn’t take long to equalise though as Harry Draper pulled back level. However, in true Chris Kamara style, I didn’t see it, so can’t really describe it, plus being at the other end of the ground it is quite hard to see. George Cater and Joey Butlin, in particular, fought hard to get back in front, and almost did so as Joey forced a top save out of Preston for a corner. Despite the best efforts, it remained 1-1 and went to the dreaded 12 yard kicks.
It was a nervy shootout between the two teams, with George Cater being the first one to miss as his shot almost ended up on the M6 toll. In a strange turn of events, the third round of penalties were each taken by the goalkeepers, which is an unusual way of doing it. Both of them were smashed into the net, and as Belper were 4-2 up on penalties, it looked as if the Scholars would be down and out. They fought back with the game going to sudden death, and Joe Thompson grabbed the winning penalty to ensure the Scholars went through to the Second Round. The stand behind the goal went bezerk and I was being lifted up into the air (no idea why, but cheers Prov.) It was a good battle from both teams and now with the Step 2 teams entering in the Second Round, there could be some very big teams visiting The Scholars Ground depending on the draw on Monday. I’m presuming it’s split into North and South as it was last year, as the FA Trophy is still regionalised at this stage.
So, with that, the home dressing room descended into madness. Literally and metaphorically, as One Step Beyond began to bellow through the open window at the back of the room and soon followed by chanting. Everyone stayed to applaud the players off, and I then headed on the long trek back up the hill and along the high street. I was seeing some family for the evening, so it was refreshing to be able to walk to and from the match for once without the stress of public transport. No doubt wherever I end up next weekend will have issues along the way with the trains, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I was back before 6pm, but it was the last time for a while that I’d be able to enjoy a Saturday match fully in the light, because as we would say in Britain, the nights are drawing in, whatever that means. Just say it’s getting dark, it makes it easier.
Tom.
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