Impressions
It’s 6.15am and a tad on the frosty side at GL2. The gate’s already open, which means the groundsman’s here bright and early and, putting his aches, pains and alimentary issues to one side for a few glorious minutes, is busy stacking the 70-odd advertising boards outside the pavilion door, ready for the working party to disseminate them to various parts of the Longlevens school field.
Coach Wixey’s got a spring in his step as he’s convinced that today is the day that the Yellows will turn what has recently seemed a fairly distant corner, though The Photographer, on the other hand, is in a rarely-seen sullen mood. Not only has he experienced a 50p drop in weekly sales, but he’s also been inadvertently upended while photographing a hockey fixture at King’s and is nursing a badly (all adverbs being relative) damaged shoulder, meaning he’s doing a fair impression of the groundsman: moaning, groaning and carrying on a one-way discussion with anyone who can’t find a nook in which to hide, about the accrued benefits of Ibuprofen, a painkiller whose name he patently cannot pronounce.
Having erected the stadium on a morning best initially described as autumnal dry, the rain begins its three-stage descent at 9.04am (light), 9.07am (medium) and 9.11am (heavy), necessitating the moving of the raffle/merchandise table to a less moisture-laden location. When we finally get the new roof next summer, an awning or two are at the top of the accessory list that will no doubt be drawn up on a pretty long piece of A3 paper. A couple of hospitality boxes, Chairman’s suite and exterior lift have also been mooted, but these are seen by most people (Chairman excluded) as being somewhere in the lower half of the‘non-essential’ category.
11.10am and Coach Wixey’s Nostradamus-like qualities have come to the fore as the Yellows’ six-week wait for a win is over, as Afan Nedd (Port Talbot & Neath) are beaten 6-3 and the manager’s doing his Cheshire Cat impression to good effect during both the post-match debrief and the rain-drenched warm-down.
Not doing Cheshire Cats of any description though is Ansermoz, who answered the Yellows’ Thursday evening SOS (Save Our Side) call and has just stood in for Gethin Etheridge-Balkwill, who sustained an annoyingly broken finger during the Friday of the Swansea trip. A salutary lesson if ever there was one, that nose-picking anywhere west of Cardiff Bay is very much frowned upon. Our erstwhile goalkeeper is just about standing, teeth chattering like a pneumatic drill, sipping a cup of hot chocolate in the middle of the changing room, hoping his cheeks will thaw out at some point in the not too distant and he’s able to emit one of his trademark ‘all good’ smiles sometime soon.
The one-man ‘A’ Team is back in the mix today, having missed the previous two outings due to having taken part in a warm-weather training camp in Dubai and immediately starts a rush for his services as the Longlevens’ ‘Hangman Doubles’ competition is just around the corner and everybody is desperate to have him as a partner.
Plymouth are in town today and with the team’s supporters resplendent in their impressive green & white regalia and the Gloucester contingent equally visible in their black & yellow get-up, there’s a proper football feel to GL2 this morning. The Plymouth squad follows suit, the players wearing rather fetching white shirts, with a black & green sash emblazoned across the front and the number 47 embroidered near the left shoulder, the digits denoting the number of different kits the team has used since the turn of the year. And they’ve only played nineteen matches.
Following the lacklustre display at Newbury in their previous outing, Gloucester start well and take the lead on seven minutes, Bennett converting at the back post following Croose’s right wing cross. Croose then heads Milton’s corner against the underside of the bar, while at the other end, Ansermoz turns a duo of Plymouth efforts around the post for a corner.
Despite Beaumont, Brockbank and Simpson each turning in resolute displays in the city back line, the visitors net a fine equaliser following a right wing cross and soon after the break, grab a 2-1 lead when Kingdom scores from close range.
Back come the hosts and with twelve minutes remaining, Bevan drives home from the edge of the box to level matters up. Bennett and Ali both threaten, before a fine pass from Croose plays in Hine, who caps a fine individual performance with an equally fine finish. ‘Can I run on and celebrate?’ inquires Milton, who along with new Sports Science Coach Curtis (SSCC), has cut an animated figure on the big blue bench, despite suffering from a severe bout of hypothermia.
Both sides create half chances in the final minutes, but with barely sixty seconds remaining, Lidstone sweeps home Smith’s cross for a dramatic leveller to complete an eminently watchable game in difficult conditions between two committed and very cold teams.
6.50 and we meet up at Ten Pin in Barnwood, where the Plymouth squad is already entrenched and a hundred or so locals are busy mulling over the reality of choosing to spend the only Saturday evening of the week in this LED-extravaganza of a place. While the morning’s encounter ended with honours even, the bowling is anything but - Gloucester surging ahead early doors and holding the advantage until the final ball is bowled. Simmo is the stand-out performer this time out, meaning last week’s impression of an upturned banana is long since gone, while his unerring accuracy suggests a career at centre forward isn’t too far away. Croose, meanwhile, maintains his Isle of Wight diary, room, eating & attitude trend by finishing last tonight, too.
Curtis continues his rehabilitation by getting through a whole game of bowls before, along with Milton, swapping just over a thousand ochre-red tickets for a single haribo. The Photographer’s in situ, despite still nursing a damaged shoulder and a bucketful of wounded pride, but his image-making is limited to a few thumbs-ups in front of the 10p-drop machine taken from his ten-year-old mobile.
It’s a fun evening though where all are together in more ways than one and you get the distinct impression that everyone’s growing, both individually and collectively. It’s been a great 24 hours or so, a period in which Milton surprised even himself by winning an IOW prize that was ever so slightly bigger than his reward for collecting ten quid’s worth of arcade tickets, we take a 1st leg bowling advantage to Plymouth in January, where we will look to gain an aggregate victory for the tenth successive season, only falling back on the ‘away strikes count double’ rule if we actually look like losing and a day in which our goalkeeper’s mimicry of an iceberg in the throes of tumultuous climate change has won him a once-in-a-lifetime experience of a day in the Longlevens kitchen with The Chef and friends. At least while he’s there, he can make as many hot chocolates as he wants.
Gloucester A: Cadbury’s; Beaumont, Brockbank, Simpson; Milton, Bevan, Right-foot Bennett, Hine; Croose; Hangman.
Coach Wixey’s got a spring in his step as he’s convinced that today is the day that the Yellows will turn what has recently seemed a fairly distant corner, though The Photographer, on the other hand, is in a rarely-seen sullen mood. Not only has he experienced a 50p drop in weekly sales, but he’s also been inadvertently upended while photographing a hockey fixture at King’s and is nursing a badly (all adverbs being relative) damaged shoulder, meaning he’s doing a fair impression of the groundsman: moaning, groaning and carrying on a one-way discussion with anyone who can’t find a nook in which to hide, about the accrued benefits of Ibuprofen, a painkiller whose name he patently cannot pronounce.
Having erected the stadium on a morning best initially described as autumnal dry, the rain begins its three-stage descent at 9.04am (light), 9.07am (medium) and 9.11am (heavy), necessitating the moving of the raffle/merchandise table to a less moisture-laden location. When we finally get the new roof next summer, an awning or two are at the top of the accessory list that will no doubt be drawn up on a pretty long piece of A3 paper. A couple of hospitality boxes, Chairman’s suite and exterior lift have also been mooted, but these are seen by most people (Chairman excluded) as being somewhere in the lower half of the‘non-essential’ category.
11.10am and Coach Wixey’s Nostradamus-like qualities have come to the fore as the Yellows’ six-week wait for a win is over, as Afan Nedd (Port Talbot & Neath) are beaten 6-3 and the manager’s doing his Cheshire Cat impression to good effect during both the post-match debrief and the rain-drenched warm-down.
Not doing Cheshire Cats of any description though is Ansermoz, who answered the Yellows’ Thursday evening SOS (Save Our Side) call and has just stood in for Gethin Etheridge-Balkwill, who sustained an annoyingly broken finger during the Friday of the Swansea trip. A salutary lesson if ever there was one, that nose-picking anywhere west of Cardiff Bay is very much frowned upon. Our erstwhile goalkeeper is just about standing, teeth chattering like a pneumatic drill, sipping a cup of hot chocolate in the middle of the changing room, hoping his cheeks will thaw out at some point in the not too distant and he’s able to emit one of his trademark ‘all good’ smiles sometime soon.
The one-man ‘A’ Team is back in the mix today, having missed the previous two outings due to having taken part in a warm-weather training camp in Dubai and immediately starts a rush for his services as the Longlevens’ ‘Hangman Doubles’ competition is just around the corner and everybody is desperate to have him as a partner.
Plymouth are in town today and with the team’s supporters resplendent in their impressive green & white regalia and the Gloucester contingent equally visible in their black & yellow get-up, there’s a proper football feel to GL2 this morning. The Plymouth squad follows suit, the players wearing rather fetching white shirts, with a black & green sash emblazoned across the front and the number 47 embroidered near the left shoulder, the digits denoting the number of different kits the team has used since the turn of the year. And they’ve only played nineteen matches.
Following the lacklustre display at Newbury in their previous outing, Gloucester start well and take the lead on seven minutes, Bennett converting at the back post following Croose’s right wing cross. Croose then heads Milton’s corner against the underside of the bar, while at the other end, Ansermoz turns a duo of Plymouth efforts around the post for a corner.
Despite Beaumont, Brockbank and Simpson each turning in resolute displays in the city back line, the visitors net a fine equaliser following a right wing cross and soon after the break, grab a 2-1 lead when Kingdom scores from close range.
Back come the hosts and with twelve minutes remaining, Bevan drives home from the edge of the box to level matters up. Bennett and Ali both threaten, before a fine pass from Croose plays in Hine, who caps a fine individual performance with an equally fine finish. ‘Can I run on and celebrate?’ inquires Milton, who along with new Sports Science Coach Curtis (SSCC), has cut an animated figure on the big blue bench, despite suffering from a severe bout of hypothermia.
Both sides create half chances in the final minutes, but with barely sixty seconds remaining, Lidstone sweeps home Smith’s cross for a dramatic leveller to complete an eminently watchable game in difficult conditions between two committed and very cold teams.
6.50 and we meet up at Ten Pin in Barnwood, where the Plymouth squad is already entrenched and a hundred or so locals are busy mulling over the reality of choosing to spend the only Saturday evening of the week in this LED-extravaganza of a place. While the morning’s encounter ended with honours even, the bowling is anything but - Gloucester surging ahead early doors and holding the advantage until the final ball is bowled. Simmo is the stand-out performer this time out, meaning last week’s impression of an upturned banana is long since gone, while his unerring accuracy suggests a career at centre forward isn’t too far away. Croose, meanwhile, maintains his Isle of Wight diary, room, eating & attitude trend by finishing last tonight, too.
Curtis continues his rehabilitation by getting through a whole game of bowls before, along with Milton, swapping just over a thousand ochre-red tickets for a single haribo. The Photographer’s in situ, despite still nursing a damaged shoulder and a bucketful of wounded pride, but his image-making is limited to a few thumbs-ups in front of the 10p-drop machine taken from his ten-year-old mobile.
It’s a fun evening though where all are together in more ways than one and you get the distinct impression that everyone’s growing, both individually and collectively. It’s been a great 24 hours or so, a period in which Milton surprised even himself by winning an IOW prize that was ever so slightly bigger than his reward for collecting ten quid’s worth of arcade tickets, we take a 1st leg bowling advantage to Plymouth in January, where we will look to gain an aggregate victory for the tenth successive season, only falling back on the ‘away strikes count double’ rule if we actually look like losing and a day in which our goalkeeper’s mimicry of an iceberg in the throes of tumultuous climate change has won him a once-in-a-lifetime experience of a day in the Longlevens kitchen with The Chef and friends. At least while he’s there, he can make as many hot chocolates as he wants.
Gloucester A: Cadbury’s; Beaumont, Brockbank, Simpson; Milton, Bevan, Right-foot Bennett, Hine; Croose; Hangman.
