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A day to foget!
Over the years I have always taken a keen interest in the FA Vase. In fact many clubs from around this area have fared pretty well in it and the exploits of Diss, Tiptree and of course AFC Sudbury speak for themselves. I particularly enjoy the competition as it also provides the opportunity to watch teams from different leagues play against each other. Sadly on this occasion my obsession to find such a game was to be my undoing. With plans to visit relatives in Oxfordshire also came the prospect of visiting either Ledbury or Bishop's Cleeve. In the end I chose the latter who had drawn Newton Abbot from the Devon League.
The journey down to Banbury was pleasant enough with bright sunshine everywhere. After dropping off Fran, twin one Steph and mum-in-law Joan, I continued towards Cheltenham when the weather suddenly got worse. A blanket of fog descended at Evesham and my stomach churned naturally fearing the worst. Upon arrival at the ground a cheerful gateman gave me the thumbs up sign to say that the referee had decided to go ahead with the match. From the dug outs you could just about see both goals and the opposite side of the pitch but it looked pretty murky. The game started with the mist clearing and coming back again just as quickly.
At the interval I noticed that the Newton Abbot manager had been to the ref's room possibly wanting to get the game called off (and his side were losing 1-0). The officials game back out for the second half but conditions had really deteriorated and the floodlights seemed to make things worse. During an early attack the Newton Abbot 'keeper tipped the ball over for a corner. The ref lost sight of the ball, called his assistants over and blew for full-time! Sod's Law. Match abandoned! One dejected 'hopper headed back to the car and returned to Bloxham to pick up the family. A bottle of Old Speckled Hen helped to drown a few sorrows!
Later on the way home the fog started to lift but I had already taken the wrong turning on the A14. We ended up in the middle of roadworks near Kettering. To my embarrassment a Motorway Maintenance Patrol guy had to escort us through the cones, lorries, pot holes, heaps of tar towards Huntingdon at a steady 10 miles per hour. Needless to say we got home at 11.55pm!!.
On Sunday I checked the papers to find out the rest of the results. Not surprisingly the Vase game at Ledbury was also abandoned after 83 minutes. Now that was bad luck!
For the record the Skinners issued a neat 24-page programme for 1.00 for the game which attracted about 100 spectators (an estimate rather than an accurate count). In the re-arranged game on Wednesday the hosts won 3-0 and earned an away trip to Wimborne.
Incidentally it was just over seven years ago since I last attended a game which was abandoned (Saturday 24th October 1998). On that occasion it was during an Anglian Combination Division One fixture between Scole Utd and Mulbarton when the referee stopped the match at half-time due to rain and gale force winds.
FGIF Rating 2* | 