St James’ Park Conference North Tuesday August 12th 2014
St James’ Park
After 4 consecutive defeats, 3 of them coming last season, a sense of ‘we’re due one’ was in the minds of the Boston fans as we were given the biggest of ball-aches for our first away of the season. The Northamptonshire town is notoriously hard to get to, even worse in midweek.
But Brackley got smashed 4-0 at Fylde and their budget was cut reportedly by 75%, so it would not be the same outfit we’ve played in the 5 past meetings. We came off a stunning 2-1 opening day win over Barrow’s billionaires and were looking to address dire away results which cost us last year.
Leaving Kings Norton at 4:10, I was immediately spotted by a passer by who shouted “Come on the Wolves” at me, a regular occurrence because obviously Wolves are the only team who play in Amber (and black)…
I then had to hop across to Moor St, where a pack Chiltern train took me to Banbury. It was only 45 minutes or so and it stopped bang in the middle of the 30 minutes bus times. So I had 15 minutes to catch the dreaded 6pm 500 bus to Brackley. The road it usually went by was shut. Luckily I knew where the bus station in Banbury was, so upon parting with another £4.50, I was on my way through the tightest of village roads, before arriving at Brackley at around 6:40.
Plush new Directors Seats
Despite not liking Brackley particularly, you are always guaranteed the warmest of warm receptions by the bloke who operates the turnstiles. I paid £5 entry and £2 for an advert ridden programme I then grabbed a pint and some sausage & chips and waited for the other fans to arrive in the bar and got talking to a bloke who’d come from Southend to see Boston play. The rest then arrived around 7pm and most were optimistic of our chances. I thought we’d get something, maybe a draw though.
As we huddled in the small cover at the cricket end, it was quite a breezy first half in weather terms and it went rather quickly too. Neither side created many chances but we should’ve gone in 2 up. First, the hard-working Dayle Southwell’s back post header had goal written all over it but somehow Dean Snedker got a hand on it to keep it out. Then, shortly before half time, Carl Piergianni rattled the bar with a header. In the ensuing scramble, Snedker produced another superb save to keep out the goalbound effort and a sense of a missed opportunity as the ref finally ended the first half after some 50 minutes. The only worry was losing Rene Steer to an ankle knock.
It was then that my evening started to take a comical twist. I rang a local taxi firm but they were apparently based in Bicester and recommended a cheaper, local taxi firm. Brackley looked better in the 2nd half but still looked toothless up front. We gradually got a grip on the game again but then I needed to call Nick to text me taxi numbers (I don’t have a fancy internet phone yet) and during that call, Conor Marshall fizzed a 20 yarder inches wide before Stefan Galinski, the substitute for the injured Jamie McGhee (tight hamstring), smashed a superb strike in off the post from the corner of the penalty box. Cue me letting Nick know we’d scored on the phone!
Main Stand, Brackley
Taxi then booked, it was a nervy last 20 minutes but in truth, Brackley had 1 decent sight of goal all night but the header was a poor one and at 9:40pm, the final whistle blew and the 100 or so Boston fans (in a crowd which looked way short of the 361 it was given as) could celebrate a 2nd win in 2 games. The last time we did that…. we went through 3 managers in the season!
I ran straight for the taxi, the bloke caned it through ridiculously bad roads- narrow and poorly lit. Through some blind corners in King;s Sutton village and with 7 minutes to spare, i got to King’s Sutton station for only a £15 fare. The job wasn’t done yet. The train to Banbury rolled in after only a 6 minute trip but I still only had 3 minutes to get a train to Birmingham. In the rush, I got a train to Moor St- thinking that was the right one. It probably was. I had to take a photo of some late night revellers as the train came in too but I got on it.
King’s Sutton Rail Station. View towards Banbury
Typically, there were delays on the way back. we got stuck outside Solihull and rocked up at Moor St 8 minutes late. I ran across to New St and went straight to Platform 11b for the already arrived 2313 to Kings Norton… except it was Platform 7 this time! That one missed, I was left to get the last train, 2333, and had to grab a cuppa and a banana such was my desperation to kill time and grab food/drink. All worth it though, finally in just before midnight.
6 out of 6, Colwyn Bay away on Saturday… no doubt Frank Sinclair will get sent off in that one too!
Thanks for reading
Josh
Brackley (4-4-2): Dean Snedker; Eddie Odhiambo, Ryan Austin, Tom Sharpe, Curtis McDonald; Greg Kaziboni (Ryan Rowe 67), Sam Ives (Tom McGowan 48), Joe Curtis, Chris Carruthers (Ricky Johnson 61); Gary Mulligan, Jon Brown. Subs (not used): Greg Pearson, Will Green.
Boston (3-4-1-2): Sam Vince; Scott Garner, Carl Piergianni, Duran Reynolds; Jamie McGhee (Stefan Galinski 46), Conor Marshall, Michael Hollingsworth, Rene Steer (Niall Doran 36); Danny Meadows; Chris Dickinson (David Fallah 68), Dayle Southwell. Subs (not used): Jack Barlow, Andy Hewitt (gk).
Referee: Rob Ellis-Massey.
Attendance: 361 (about 100 Boston)
Next for me. Possibly a trip to see Nuneaton Griff v Highgate Utd (Wednesday) and then Boston at Colwyn Bay (Saturday)
Under The Floodlights 