Moss Lane Conference North Tuesday April 1st 2014
This is NOT an April fools joke- Boston United really have come away from Altrincham with a point!
A trip to highflying Altrincham with our away record and especially our record at Moss Lane in the last 2 years (1-6 and 1-7. The latter of which I was at also on a Tuesday night) didn’t inspire confidence amongst me and the Boston faithful but it was a trip to be made.
I had to go straight from school, where I do my teacher training. That ended at 3:15 and by 3:45 I was away, going via a 2nd rate (but still decent) fast food outlet on the way to the newly refurbished Nottingham station to get the 1647 to Liverpool- a train I would get off at Stockport and I would only have 5 minutes once there to hop on the Chester train which stops at Altrincham.
Having been up at 6am for school, even the journey there was one of battling against tiredness. I ended up scribbling notes down for the Yr 9 lesson on the Wednesday and writing up what I would try and explain to Year 12 pupils about Discrete Random Variables!
Fortunately and despite the underground ticket inspectors at Stockport, I boarded the Altrincham train- a bus on rails operated by Northern Rail (who else?) and by 6:45 I was in Altrincham, where hundreds of Man Utd fans were boarding the tram to Old Trafford for their slightly large clash with Bayern Munich.
Altrincham station looking south towards Hale and the line continues on to Chester
It was only a ten minute walk to Moss Lane… actually the hardest part of the walk was locating the exit to the station. The footbridge between platforms 2,3 and 1 was closed so you had a walk to the far end of the tram stop platform (1) and then up a long ramp onto the bridge on Moss Lane.
Once there, I noticed there wasn’t many people around at 7pm so just went straight in.
£8 for concessions isn’t too bad and I got talking to the gatemen, who expected a home win but expected a low turnout due to midweek and the TV game. Dennis Greene even popped by for a cuppa and by half 7, the bulk of BUFC fans had arrived- but the BUSA bus was delayed and would only get in at 7:50.
Main stand and VIP/corporate stand
At Moss Lane, away fans are usually given an open terrace behind 1 goal and a bit of cover down the side, but only when support is sufficiently large are they segregated. Tonight, that was not in operation. The crowd looked really low as the game kicked off and there were 60 of us (the actual crowd was 650) and Boston actually took the game to their hosts. We looked good going forwards, but of course you had to be mindful of Alty’s strike force (Reeves and Walshaw).
Early on, the league’s Player of the Month, Nicky Clee, was clattered by Indy Aujla, who picked up a booking whilst Clee was soon forced off after looking very uncomfortable in the time on the pitch. After only 5 minutes though, I feared for us as Carl Piergianni hauled down Walshaw and for the world it looked like a professional foul, but luckily the ref (who gave them pretty much every other decision) only pulled out a yellow card.
It was us who posed a more consistent threat as experienced keeper Stuart Coburn had to make a good save from Liam Agnew and only a great last ditch tackle by James Lawrie and Spencer Weir-Daley delaying his shot denied us getting the first goal. Alty had lots of dangerous free kicks but Lewis King had little to do in the first half. It was Coburn who made a great save low to his left to keep out Miller’s low drive after cutting in from the right.
Covered terracing down the side
In the 2nd half, roles were reversed as Alty put a lot of pressure on our goal with balls into the box, set plays and so but Garner and Piergianni, amongst others were immense. Lewis King denied Lawrie and Simon Richman as Alty pressed for the opener but it was us who had a great chance when Miller missed from 8 yards following Newsham’s cutback and Coburn had to keep out a long range drive, with Agnew also shooting inches wide in added time.
But a point was gladly taken and it stretches our unbeaten run to 4 games. Guiseley smashed Telford 6-1 and Hednesford v Brackley was a draw, so it wasn’t too bad, but that nagging doubt is that we’ll come 6th.
Golf Road End. Covered terracing- good atmosphere under the roof there
So as I left in a taxi (£16) to Stockport, I ended up chatting to the taxi driver about tax evaders and benefit frauds, a bit ironic given recent revelations about our manager but then the hoped quiet train home from Stockport didn’t materialise. It was 2 coaches of Man Utd fans on the way back to Sheffield and Nottingham. I even paid £1.90 for a cuppa on the train- and I NEVER buy stuff at train prices! Sleep was only achieved in stages and only really upon leaving Sheffield and was not really sleep…
Trundling into Nottingham at 0040 on April 2nd, I was heading for bed and unusually went straight for a taxi and forked out £10 just to go to Clifton. Back in at 1am, I was never gonna hang around… thank god we managed to get something from the game.
Up at 6:30am too for school… I’m off my head!
Altrincham (4-4-2): Stuart Coburn; Shaun Densmore, Gianluca Havern, Scott Leather, Adam Griffin; James Lawrie, Simon Richman, Carl Rodgers, Nicky Clee (Jake Moult 35); Damian Reeves, James Walshaw (Kyle Perry 76). Subs (not used): Tom Marshall, Matt Doughty, Greg Wilkinson.
Boston (4-1-3-2): Lewis King; Jamie McGhee, Scott Garner, Carl Piergianni, Rene Steer; Jay Dowie;Ben Milnes (Stefan Galinski 77), Liam Agnew, Indy Aujla (Ben Fairclough 65); Spencer Weir-Daley(Marc Newsham 77), Ricky Miller. Subs (not used): Ian Ross, Andy Hewitt (gk).
Referee: Jonathan Hunt
Attendance: 650 (60 visitors)
Match Rating- 7/10- For a 0-0 it was quite entertaining and watchable, but a draw was fair.
BUFC Performance- 9/10- One of the best away performance of the season. Could’ve won comfortably had good chances gone in. Defence were superb 2nd half under pressure.
Atmosphere: 7/10. Under the roof at the Golf Road End in the 2nd half, it was possible to make a good noise. Out in the open 1st hakf, less so. A poor crowd too, but the fewer than usual home fans did give it a good go.
Ground- 7/10. Would prefer if away fans could have a roof over them behind the goal but a tidy ground. Whether it is Football League standard is debatable but a good old fashioned non league round
Prices 6/10- £8 to get in was OK, £2.50 for a programme not too bad, but £2.90 for a KitKat, Twix and a Lucozade is a bit steep. Balti Pies are mega apparently though.
Overall- 7/10. Better than last time I went here! Decent game, decent atmosphere…. decent point
Next Game – Solihull away on Saturday. We can kill them off and we’re expecting a good following (close to 200 perhaps) with several of us going by train. Really excited.
Under The Floodlights 