Something a tad different for us this weekend. Today was "National Non League day" A chance for clubs up and down this great country of ours to show off all that is good about the non-league game. Many clubs had dropped admission for games this weekend and run various promotions. The flagship event was the "Blue Square hop". This involved three matches (all in Essex) from the three Blue Square divisions being played back to back with different kick off times to allow fans to attend all three games. The itinerary was...
Bishop Stortford v Boston United (12.30 KO)
Chelmsford City v Dover Athletic (3.30KO)
Braintree Town v Lincoln City (7.00 KO)
So we had a great day of football ahead of us and many questions to be answered. How would we cope with having to watching Boston United? Would we be able to find all three grounds? Would Baz's long lost friend be at Bishop Stortford to greet us? Can Lincoln get a point? And would Felice stand his round at the tea bar? I will let the great Buddy Holly answer that one...
Bishop Stortford 0-1 Boston United Blue Square North
We set off on our merry way down to Essex at just gone 9.00am. My new man bag was given its 2nd outing of the season. As we were going to be on the road all day it made sense to stock up with sandwiches and other refreshments rather that pay through the nose for them en route. Also packed was the infamous Donkey card game that went down a treat at the Oxford united trip last season.
As with most jolly boys days out the banter and stick started flying around pretty much as soon as we left Retford. I had already had breakfast (a slice of last nights takeaway pizza following the England game) but Felice and Lee hadn't eaten so we so we popped into McDonald's so they could fill up as it were. Just prior to this we filled the car with petrol. At the next pump was a car full of fine young ladies who managed to catch a couple of our party casting an admiring glance in their direction (Not me, i was in the back with the pump blocking my view) When they cottoned on of them flung open the car door and shouted "busted!!" at us. Then asked if we were going to the Burghley horse trials. Hmm not quite love.
After this little exchange we headed down the A1 armed with Baz's directions to guide us on our Blue Square quest. We did actually pass the queues for the horse trials turn off on the way down. We came to the conclusion we wouldn't last 5 minutes there due to the fact that 1. We weren't driving a 4x4 vehicle and 2. None of us was wearing a checked button up shirt. Besides who wants to watch that when a historic groundhop is taking place?
Shortly after this we found that a section of the A1 was shut due an accident yesterday and we would have to take a detour. Baz then commented that he had seen this on the news before we set off but didn't know how far the diversion would take us out of our way or how long it would take. As Baz had said before we left "Don't worry boys I have all directions sorted" this was viewed as something of an own goal by Mr O. Baz objected to this, however a vote of 3:1 found him guilty of planning without due care and attention and doing half a job. "Fucking Kangaroo court"was Baz's reply. Even with this little detour we managed to pull up at our first destination a good 25 minutes before kickoff.
Bishop Stortford received somewhat of a shafting in the summer. Due to Rushden and Diamonds going tits up and a large number of Southern based relegation's from the BSP, Stortford who are based a stones throw from London's Stanstead airport, have been shunted into the Blue Square North. This means they are now facing 5 trips up to places like Wokington and Blyth in the north of England which will send their travel costs through the roof. A number of players have who had agreed to join the club left due to work commitments. I can't say i blame them. If you are up for work at 5am the last thing you want is a midweek trip up to Wokington and getting in at say 3am. As a sweetener the League did give the club a one off payment of £10,000 to help with travel costs etc. While this is ok for this season its the possibility of an extended stay in the Northern section that is of a huge concern to the club. Hopefully those at the helm can shuffle the league around a bit better next season and Stortford can go back to the Southern division. Which is where they belong, but it all depends on who gets relegated and promoted. In the League's defence there isn't a boundary line between the Northern and Southern divisions. It is simply the 22 most Northerly clubs in one half and the 22 most Southerly clubs in the other.
With all this in mind its not surprising that Bishop have struggled so far this season collecting only 3 points from their opening games and sitting 2nd bottom in the table. Boston were fancied to have another good season after losing in the playoffs last season but have had a mixed start to this season having gained 7 points so far and sitting in 11th place. Baz, Scott, and myself visited Bishop a couple of pre-seasons back with Lincoln and found them to be a very welcoming club with a nice set up so I was well and truly in their corner for this game, even though i have picked Boston as one of my clubs in the Non League paper's fantasy football competition. Boston had brought a good number of supporters down with them for this match and for much of the game they made a fair amount of noise.
Admission for this first match was 12 quid with an average programme selling for £2.
Boston have plenty of ex Lincoln links with Jason Lee as joint manager and winger Ryan Semple. On the bench was one of the best Lincoln centre halves i have ever seen in Kevin Austin. Boy what Lincoln would do to have a player like him in his prime now.
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| Jason Lee |
The first half was decent enough, Boston were on top early but didn't force the home keeper into many saves. After about half an hour of listening to Boston fans chant songs they nicked off other sides; Sheffield United's "you fill up our senses" and Man United's "we will do what we want". I went for a wander around the ground to take a few snaps and take in the atmosphere. Stortford are managed by former Spurs and England keeper Ian Walker and he seemed quite annoyed that his side weren't taking more shots at goal. Its always good to see a player who played the game at the top level learning his trade at lower levels of football. Just before half time Stortford missed a couple of decent chances to take the lead. Overall Boston had slightly more of the play in the first half but Stortford had the better chances and were well on top towards the end.
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| Boston(and Lincoln) fans |
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| Bishop Storford (and a Barnet) fan. |
HT 0-0
I did try to get a pint at halftime but the bar service was slow. Not the staff's fault mind, I think the club underestimated the amount of away fans/sad hoppers that would be in attendance today. I did get a good few texts while i was on my walkabout asking to get the teas in, but seeing how I set my text messaging tone to silent, I didnt see them till after I had finished my walkabout. Unlucky boys as the saying goes.
As normal at this level of football quite alot of the fans swapped ends for the 2nd half. So we were stood with the Bishop Storford fans for the second half. The only downside was that one of there fans seems to have the one surviving Vuvuzela left from the 2010 world cup. Thankfully it didn't go off too often. One or two home fans came up and asked us if we were doing all three games today and informed us that Braintree Town's ground wasn't up to much (I have to say that they were wrong and it wasn't half as bad as the made it out to be). On the pitch the game was getting scrappy with neither side looking like scoring. Stortford kept launching high balls into the box but their lack of height in the area enabled the two Boston centre halves to head everything away with ease. The home fans were also not very impressed with their number nine and a cheer when up when he was subbed. Quite how they think that will help the lad i am not quite sure. Both sides were reduced to shooting from range and even the Boston keeper said that the game wasn't very good during a break in play. He also added that "This is what an overnight stop does for you, nothing to do but eat and sleep".
The pivotal point in the game came in the 72nd minute when the homeside were reduced to 10 men when Phil Anderson was given a straight red for a scuffle with Semple. No complaints with the card for me but i do feel Semple should also have walked but he only received a yellow. The game had became quite niggly up to this point and this only made things worse with the home fans really getting on the refs back. Despite the man advantage Boston never really made it count. As the game petered out we made our way to the gate so we could make a quick exit and get on our way to our next destination. Then in the sixth minute of added time Boston grabbed the winner when Marc Newsham scored from close range. Some folk around us asked where the added time came from but i felt the ref just about got it right with all the subs, time for the sending off etc. The scoreline was tough on Stortford as they didn't deserve to lose the match but if you dont score you dont win. I said to the guys at halftime that Boston do get a fair few late goals and for once it was nice to be proved right. I am not sure but i think that thats three last minute winners for them this season. Its never over till its over as they say.
FT 0-1
As always on this kind of hop and at non league football in general you do get some real characters in attendance, with today being no exception. Step forward Gary. Lee had became acquainted with Gary in the programme shop before the match and had got it into his head that he was a specialist West Ham programme collector and then proceeded to go on and on about programmes, and hopping in general. As Lee and myself hovered near the exit at the end Gary dashed up to ask Lee if he was on the coach for the next game and babbled on some more about ground hopping and other shit. After getting the shake of the hand it was time to dash onward to out next ground. Little did we know we would be seeing plenty more of Gary....
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