The Lamb Conference North Monday 25th August 2014
An eagerly awaited bank holiday match began before the day itself. Stockport County fans had been charged £14 to stand as the game was deemed Category A (this meant there were extra stewards needed for the segregation and larger away turnout). This was £2 more than most other teams were charged. They rightly kicked off about it. Why should fans of the bigger, better supported clubs get charged more? Clearly, it was Tamworth taking the opportunity to milk in more money thanks to the larger travelling support.
We were another team to get charged the full whack, so people flooded onto forums to criticize the more and to instruct our fans not to buy anything in the ground (food/drink, programmes etc)… some even decided to pay the extra £2 in shrapnel.
A number of Boston fans would be going, despite the forecast being vile and the 1-0 home defeat on Saturday to North Ferriby and as I arrived at the station for the 0941 to Nottingham, there were 14 of us waiting to board… normally, I’m sat with 2 or 3 at most so this was actually quite exciting. 2 more hopped on at Sleaford so we had 4 rows of seats taken with no short supply of alcohol, paper, flags and other gear with us as the rattler crept towards Nottingham.
By now, we knew the next train to Tamworth was cancelled but luckily we arrived early and decided to dash for the train towards Matlock- getting off at Derby. Some debate about ex players made light work of a 30 minute leg as the only incident of any note was a bottle smashing on the floor…
Waterfall, Derby. I’m just mooching in from the right!
With 35 minutes to wait for the train to Tamworth, we headed for the Waterfall pub just outside the station. It was empty and after setting up flags and having a quick drink and a photo call, we headed for the train towards Tamworth… it was the first stop.
This was a good thing as I think we’d have got chucked off as one of the carriages was subjected to chanting and paper being thrown all over the carriage. I didn’t want to be a part of that so waited along with some other sensible punters in between carriages, though as we got off a train stewardess just looked at us nonchalantly leaving the messy exit. Frought does not cover that little 25 minute job!
Once at Tamworth we met Shergy and the first car we asked for directions to a pub was a police car! Going through the police station car park didn’t exactly go unnoticed… but we soon found Yates’ in the town centre and it was an opportunity for some to grab the bite and booze.
By now it was half 1 and Nick and Tom had arrived, so I made sure I met them back at the station. By now it was raining and it wouldn’t stop. We briefly returned to Yates’ but decided to get to the ground. I wanted to get there early to get everything sorted.
Upon arriving at the ground- at about 2:15pm, it was evident Tamworth officials had seen the tweets about paying in one and two pence coins. Those people had to go to the office and have their change weighed and verified! I emptied as much change as I could and also paid Nick’s £14 fare so £23 for 1 adult, 1 student for a 6th tier game…. a joke!
I told the lady I’d not be buying a programme to fuel Tamworth’s coffers and promptly put the flags up and uinloaded the bog roll, balloons and confetti.
Cue the stewards being complete arseholes… the bog roll got confiscated as it would be littering and, once others arrived, confiscating inflatables bursting any stray balloons…
As we drew close to kickoff, the inevitable Category a chants got sung and despite the rain, it looked like a reasonable contingent had come from Boston.
As for the game, the first half was almost all Tamworth as they fashioned a number of openings but bad finishing- sometimes by the roundly boo’ed Leon Mettam (ex Gainsborough) and good defending meant that we somehow went in at 0-0.
The 2nd half was much more exciting for us as we gradually took control of the game. Zak Mills fizzed one over after a counter attack, Dayle Southwell was denied by a good block from Dan Preston before David Fallah was brought down by the keeper James Belshaw and a penalty was given. Sadly, he’d done his homework on Southwell’s spot kick at Colwyn Bay was a tame penalty was easily saved.
James Belshaw saves Dayle Southwell’s penalty
But despite that setback, we threatened again and with just over 10 minutes to go and after Fallah had won a dangerous free kick and Mills fed Southwell, whose shot was saved but the rebound fell straight to Felix, who banged in the rebound to spark great scenes of joy in the away end.
Kaine Felix puts Boston 1 up
From there, it was about not making errors, but then with 3 minutes to play, a long range shot by Kevin Thornton was not dealt with by Matt Gledhill and Kayden Jackson scored from the rebound. The finish was end to end, with Scott Garner somehow managing to miss from Zak Mill’s nod-down from only 6 yards but a point was about right, given we had been under the cosh for a fair chunk of the game… disappointing nonetheless given the chance we had and the goal coming so late.
We stayed on to see Dennis Greene do the ice bucket challenge before heading for the station in pouring rain. The train back to Boston would be 2 men lighter as me and Hallgarth were now going southbound. Eventually, I got in at 6:45, totally drenched, but we had got a result.
Dennis Greene does his Ice Bucket Challenge
Tamworth (4-3-1-2): James Belshaw; Rob Purdie, Dan Preston, Paul Green, Danny Sleath; Lee Hildreth (Brendon Daniels 81), Jon Adams (Kayden Jackson 58), Phil Trainer; Kevin Thornton; David Hibbert, Leon Mettam (Connor Taylor 69). Subs (not used): Tom James, Donovan Simmonds.
Boston (4-3-3): Matt Gledhill; Zak Mills, Scott Garner, Carl Piergianni, Rene Steer; Niall Doran(Stefan Galinski 81), Michael Hollingsworth, Danny Meadows; Kaine Felix, Chris Dickinson (David Fallah 58), Dayle Southwell (Conor Marshall 81). Subs (not used): Duran Reynolds, Sam Vince (gk).
Referee: Daniel Meeson.
Attendance: 718 (208 visitors).
Next up- Home to Stalybridge on August 30th. We then have a home game against Oxford but my next away is Bradford Park Avenue on the 6th of September.
Thanks for reading
Josh
Under The Floodlights 