Saints & Ties
Before
The monsoonal rains of 2.30 on Friday afternoon have abated and allow the Sponsored Shoot Out to go ahead as planned and the Home of Football to dry out in readiness of GL2’s big kick-off.
The groundsman’s on site at half past six, wearing a pair of scholarly-looking glasses and a rarely seen smile, the general effect being rather disconcerting for anyone who’s met him in either a previous life or the pavilion eating room. Neither venue is to be recommended. The early-morning working party arrives at seven and under the astute guidance of Lucas Knight, who’s been there before, done it before and is wearing the t-shirt that someone presented him with before, complete the stadium by a quarter after eight.
The Chairman turns up as the chain gang departs, cradling a sinister orange mutation which turns out to be our new defibrillator. He says he’s brought it today because St Albans and their larger than life manager, Nicholas Sanders, a man affectionately known by the nom de plume’s ‘The Colonel’ and ‘Whispering Joe’ (depending on who you talk to) is in town, but the jury’s out as to the real reason behind The Chairman’s nurturing of his noiseless new-born.
During
The Yellows get proceedings underway and come back excellently from a goal down to edge a tight encounter against their St Albans counterparts by the odd score in five. The girls meanwhile begin their season in some style in accounting for a decent Wokingham side 4-2, with seventy five per cent of their goals coming from people currently living in the Royal Borough of Norton.
The pre-match ABC of nutritional offerings includes apples, bananas and confectionery, with only the kit kats attracting any genuine attention from the assembled throng. Milton’s forgotten his drink, his shirt and the meet time, but remembers to drop his bright red wrapper in the bin, which is a relief of sorts.
Attitude, Focus and Effort are all good in the pre-match warm-up and continue to be so throughout the morning. St Albans are half a yard quicker for seventy per cent of the game however, but the overall shape of our team is evolving and despite going three down by the forty second minute, we’re not outplayed.
There are a couple of decent first half saves from Ansermoz and a duo of key interceptions from Ali and Brockbank as the visitors threaten to notch more than their solitary first half effort, a score which, fingers crossed, no-one has managed to capture on video.
Croose and Bevan fire just over before Ali plays in Croose to reduce the deficit with ten minutes remaining, after which Beaumont has an effort scrambled off the line and Ali a near-post effort blocked. In the dugout, The Colonel is in genuine danger of requiring the Chairman’s little orange box to sort out his heart which, over the course of five second half minutes has moved from his chest to his sleeve as he repeatedly implores no-one in particular to mark the number seven who’s ‘running the game’. The final whistle a few minutes later marks the end of the action, the associated cacophony and the sounds of relief as windows are reopened in the neighbouring properties; it’s been an entertaining opening day at the HoF however, with a hundred and fifty hopefully satisfied people coming through the big green gates over the course of the morning.
After
The nicer members of the group (Beaumont, Ali & Hine) are immediately obvious by their post-match attention to detail and associated effort at smartness, while the remainder of the changing room assemblage occupy various lowly positions on a sliding scale of shirt & tie elegance that nosedives between five and zero (out of 50).
The Photographer’s all smiles as the last two St Albans supporters file out clutching pictorial mementoes of their first-ever visit to our fair city; he’s off to Longlevens RFC’s early-season photoshoot in a minute, before nipping home to drop his burgeoning booty sack under the floorboards of the spare room on the corner of Abbotswood Road in Brockworth.
The Chairman’s packed his bags and is ready to go, but there are a few remaining cakes loitering in the refreshment hatch that jump into his peripheral vision. ‘I’ll take the ones with the smarties on top (for the grandchildren)’ he explains, thinking that no-one else has spotted that they’re all topped off with little candy circles of various hues. As he can carry only one big bag at a time, the defib stays in the hutch.
The Gloucester City (Evesham)-bound car is upbeat, partly because there’s no-one else in it and partly because, despite the result, there’s been enough to enthuse about in today’s performance. Apart from attaching clip-on ties, that is.
Gloucester A: Ansermoz; Ali, Brockbank, Simpson; Milton, Bennett, Beaumont, Hine; Croose; Curtis, Bevan
The monsoonal rains of 2.30 on Friday afternoon have abated and allow the Sponsored Shoot Out to go ahead as planned and the Home of Football to dry out in readiness of GL2’s big kick-off.
The groundsman’s on site at half past six, wearing a pair of scholarly-looking glasses and a rarely seen smile, the general effect being rather disconcerting for anyone who’s met him in either a previous life or the pavilion eating room. Neither venue is to be recommended. The early-morning working party arrives at seven and under the astute guidance of Lucas Knight, who’s been there before, done it before and is wearing the t-shirt that someone presented him with before, complete the stadium by a quarter after eight.
The Chairman turns up as the chain gang departs, cradling a sinister orange mutation which turns out to be our new defibrillator. He says he’s brought it today because St Albans and their larger than life manager, Nicholas Sanders, a man affectionately known by the nom de plume’s ‘The Colonel’ and ‘Whispering Joe’ (depending on who you talk to) is in town, but the jury’s out as to the real reason behind The Chairman’s nurturing of his noiseless new-born.
During
The Yellows get proceedings underway and come back excellently from a goal down to edge a tight encounter against their St Albans counterparts by the odd score in five. The girls meanwhile begin their season in some style in accounting for a decent Wokingham side 4-2, with seventy five per cent of their goals coming from people currently living in the Royal Borough of Norton.
The pre-match ABC of nutritional offerings includes apples, bananas and confectionery, with only the kit kats attracting any genuine attention from the assembled throng. Milton’s forgotten his drink, his shirt and the meet time, but remembers to drop his bright red wrapper in the bin, which is a relief of sorts.
Attitude, Focus and Effort are all good in the pre-match warm-up and continue to be so throughout the morning. St Albans are half a yard quicker for seventy per cent of the game however, but the overall shape of our team is evolving and despite going three down by the forty second minute, we’re not outplayed.
There are a couple of decent first half saves from Ansermoz and a duo of key interceptions from Ali and Brockbank as the visitors threaten to notch more than their solitary first half effort, a score which, fingers crossed, no-one has managed to capture on video.
Croose and Bevan fire just over before Ali plays in Croose to reduce the deficit with ten minutes remaining, after which Beaumont has an effort scrambled off the line and Ali a near-post effort blocked. In the dugout, The Colonel is in genuine danger of requiring the Chairman’s little orange box to sort out his heart which, over the course of five second half minutes has moved from his chest to his sleeve as he repeatedly implores no-one in particular to mark the number seven who’s ‘running the game’. The final whistle a few minutes later marks the end of the action, the associated cacophony and the sounds of relief as windows are reopened in the neighbouring properties; it’s been an entertaining opening day at the HoF however, with a hundred and fifty hopefully satisfied people coming through the big green gates over the course of the morning.
After
The nicer members of the group (Beaumont, Ali & Hine) are immediately obvious by their post-match attention to detail and associated effort at smartness, while the remainder of the changing room assemblage occupy various lowly positions on a sliding scale of shirt & tie elegance that nosedives between five and zero (out of 50).
The Photographer’s all smiles as the last two St Albans supporters file out clutching pictorial mementoes of their first-ever visit to our fair city; he’s off to Longlevens RFC’s early-season photoshoot in a minute, before nipping home to drop his burgeoning booty sack under the floorboards of the spare room on the corner of Abbotswood Road in Brockworth.
The Chairman’s packed his bags and is ready to go, but there are a few remaining cakes loitering in the refreshment hatch that jump into his peripheral vision. ‘I’ll take the ones with the smarties on top (for the grandchildren)’ he explains, thinking that no-one else has spotted that they’re all topped off with little candy circles of various hues. As he can carry only one big bag at a time, the defib stays in the hutch.
The Gloucester City (Evesham)-bound car is upbeat, partly because there’s no-one else in it and partly because, despite the result, there’s been enough to enthuse about in today’s performance. Apart from attaching clip-on ties, that is.
Gloucester A: Ansermoz; Ali, Brockbank, Simpson; Milton, Bennett, Beaumont, Hine; Croose; Curtis, Bevan
