Capital Gains – London 18th-20th February
Hackney is famous for the Olympic Stadium, Ron ’Chopper’ Harris and the sporting marshes of the same name and it is into the latter that GPSFA ignominiously sunk in its first encounter of London 16.
Conflicting directions from the Sat Navs of Basford and Hickey failed to derail the intricately prepared timetable and arrival at the ground was as per schedule. The changing rooms had been given a fresh lick of paint since our last visit, though Roddis’s left foot destabilisation of a loitering coffee cup suggested a second refurbishment might be required sooner rather than later. Pledger meanwhile showed why he is skipper, proving that he was covering all possibilities by producing an emergency lavatorial aid from his tour survival bag as nerves kicked in minutes before the teams entered the eerily empty arena.
An early goal from Jenner who profited from an excellent eighth minute pass by Coldridge suggested the omens were good, but a catalogue of missed chances, some lamentable defending that gifted the hosts a goal in each half and a performance that was high on effort but low on purpose contributed to a 2-1 defeat in front of a season’s low attendance of six (which once the coaches, referee, photographer and people arriving minutes after the final whistle were taken into account, was officially upgraded to sixteen).
Douglas Eyre however is an excellently appointed venue, the welcome always warm and the post-match sausage, beans & chips perennially well received, while ex-GPSFA player and now Hackney resident David Hickey’s late arrival suggested he didn’t wish to nail his colours to the mast during the day’s most traumatic hour (the game).
And so it was a glum front seat as the charabanc chugged moodily westwards to reach the Holiday Inn in Hemel in plenty of time to settle in and shower, before Team Troke responded to the first financial inducement of the trip to defeat Team Townsend with the final roll at Watford’s Hollywood Bowl.
The evening’s diary session saw Coldridge and Gore establish an early lead, while TRI (the Room Inspector) returned from his meanderings with an overall ‘must do better’ summation of tidiness, attention to detail and general hygiene.
Nicholas Breakspear was the first, and as yet only, English pope and it was at the school of the same name that the tour’s second fixture, a Southern Counties League tie against hosts St Albans, was contested. Roddis’s intuitive fourth minute finish from Richards’ corner gave Gloucester an early lead and Jenner on three occasions, particularly an effort that came back off the underside of the bar following assists from Townsend twice and Hylton, came close to extending the visitors’ advantage.
The remainder of the game however was, as Blackadder once said, ‘Real backs to the wall stuff, chaps,’ as the whole team defended as if their very lives depended on them keeping a clean sheet (and they did – both their lives and the clean sheet). Gloucester’s three redoubtable defenders – Pledger, Richards and Weir-Roberts, backed up by a virtuoso performance from keeper Troke - who later received the first Bo Derek award for several seasons in regard to his match marks – each putting in a defensive display that would have had Tony Pulis purring into (and picking the coins out of) his post-match cuppa.
A fine St Albans side did all they could to breach the Gloucester goal, going wide, going narrow, firing in free kicks and a succession of corners too numerous for even Townsend to count, but despite the efforts of the home association’s management team to summon the spirit of his former holiness on whose dedicated ground the joust was being played out, the city team held firm. The final whistle blew to scenes of great joy on one side of the battlefield, while the echoes in the post-match visitors’ changing room resembled those of The Shed at Kingsholm on a big match day, the perpetrators of which, given their advancing years, should have known better.
The coaches’ promise to buy the players whatever they wanted to eat if they won became a reality at St Albans’ finest chip shop following an hour’s swimming, and even the handing over of a cool £75 failed to quell the enthusiasm of the men with the money, proving that, in this ever more materialistic world, you can’t put a price on happiness.
Game Three was moved at the last minute due to the waterlogging of the original pitch, and playing against both breeze and slope in the first period at
Ashlyn’s, Gloucester were forced to defend well and soak up the pressure from the outset. Even though Nicholls fired the hosts in front midway through the half the visitors’ resolve remained firm and when Townsend played in Jenner five minutes before the interval, parity was restored.
With Gore, Roddis and Coldridge in combative mood in midfield and Jenner causing the Dacorum defence all sorts of problems, Gloucester went close on several occasions after the break, Townsend striking the upright, Jenner firing inches wide and Roddis, Gore and Coldridge each not far away from grabbing a winner.
Hylton, who had replaced the injured Pledger early on, Richards and Weir-Roberts turned in fine defensive performances, while Troke looked confident throughout as Gloucester claimed a fully deserved share of the spoils.
Within minutes of the final whistle news filtered in that the B Squad, having swapped Bradley Stalley for Tony Hickey, slipped to their first defeat of what had previously been a very successful tour. BS oversaw two B Team victories and was also present for the A’s win at St Albans. TH was there for the Hackney and Bexley reversals, the squads’ only two losses of their respective trips. The writer G.K.Chesterton once said, ‘Coincidences are nothing more than spiritual puns,’ and when fellow authors described Chesterton as being ‘way ahead of his time’, little did they know he would be describing events a hundred years hence.
The final verdict on the London rooms was that Hylton and Gore somehow take a lead into the second leg of the contest which reconvenes in Plymouth next Saturday, while the Townsend / Troke / Richards hovel doesn’t. Coldridge tops the diary stakes which do not go to a second game, though if Jenner could concentrate, Dinglewell would push Highnam all the way. Attitude marks varied, TRI’s focus on highlighting any activity that could be described as even remotely nefarious ensuring no-one finished with a 100% score. The overall 1st leg eating marks, Richards apart, were encouraging if not always nutritious, though Pledger, Townsend and Hylton each dropped points that could turn out to be crucial on completion of the 2nd leg encounter in a few days’ time. And points, as we all know, make prizes.
And so it ended – diaries, rooms, eating, attitude and in terms of matches, a win, a draw and a defeat, Verulamium conquered and even Hemel’s famous Magic Roundabout failing to upset the applecart on the tour’s final morning. As Zebedee himself might have said, ‘Boing! Time for bed!’ And indeed it was.
Gloucester: Troke; Weir-Roberts, Richards, Pledger, Hylton, Coldridge, Gore, Roddis, Townsend, Jenner.
Conflicting directions from the Sat Navs of Basford and Hickey failed to derail the intricately prepared timetable and arrival at the ground was as per schedule. The changing rooms had been given a fresh lick of paint since our last visit, though Roddis’s left foot destabilisation of a loitering coffee cup suggested a second refurbishment might be required sooner rather than later. Pledger meanwhile showed why he is skipper, proving that he was covering all possibilities by producing an emergency lavatorial aid from his tour survival bag as nerves kicked in minutes before the teams entered the eerily empty arena.
An early goal from Jenner who profited from an excellent eighth minute pass by Coldridge suggested the omens were good, but a catalogue of missed chances, some lamentable defending that gifted the hosts a goal in each half and a performance that was high on effort but low on purpose contributed to a 2-1 defeat in front of a season’s low attendance of six (which once the coaches, referee, photographer and people arriving minutes after the final whistle were taken into account, was officially upgraded to sixteen).
Douglas Eyre however is an excellently appointed venue, the welcome always warm and the post-match sausage, beans & chips perennially well received, while ex-GPSFA player and now Hackney resident David Hickey’s late arrival suggested he didn’t wish to nail his colours to the mast during the day’s most traumatic hour (the game).
And so it was a glum front seat as the charabanc chugged moodily westwards to reach the Holiday Inn in Hemel in plenty of time to settle in and shower, before Team Troke responded to the first financial inducement of the trip to defeat Team Townsend with the final roll at Watford’s Hollywood Bowl.
The evening’s diary session saw Coldridge and Gore establish an early lead, while TRI (the Room Inspector) returned from his meanderings with an overall ‘must do better’ summation of tidiness, attention to detail and general hygiene.
Nicholas Breakspear was the first, and as yet only, English pope and it was at the school of the same name that the tour’s second fixture, a Southern Counties League tie against hosts St Albans, was contested. Roddis’s intuitive fourth minute finish from Richards’ corner gave Gloucester an early lead and Jenner on three occasions, particularly an effort that came back off the underside of the bar following assists from Townsend twice and Hylton, came close to extending the visitors’ advantage.
The remainder of the game however was, as Blackadder once said, ‘Real backs to the wall stuff, chaps,’ as the whole team defended as if their very lives depended on them keeping a clean sheet (and they did – both their lives and the clean sheet). Gloucester’s three redoubtable defenders – Pledger, Richards and Weir-Roberts, backed up by a virtuoso performance from keeper Troke - who later received the first Bo Derek award for several seasons in regard to his match marks – each putting in a defensive display that would have had Tony Pulis purring into (and picking the coins out of) his post-match cuppa.
A fine St Albans side did all they could to breach the Gloucester goal, going wide, going narrow, firing in free kicks and a succession of corners too numerous for even Townsend to count, but despite the efforts of the home association’s management team to summon the spirit of his former holiness on whose dedicated ground the joust was being played out, the city team held firm. The final whistle blew to scenes of great joy on one side of the battlefield, while the echoes in the post-match visitors’ changing room resembled those of The Shed at Kingsholm on a big match day, the perpetrators of which, given their advancing years, should have known better.
The coaches’ promise to buy the players whatever they wanted to eat if they won became a reality at St Albans’ finest chip shop following an hour’s swimming, and even the handing over of a cool £75 failed to quell the enthusiasm of the men with the money, proving that, in this ever more materialistic world, you can’t put a price on happiness.
Game Three was moved at the last minute due to the waterlogging of the original pitch, and playing against both breeze and slope in the first period at
Ashlyn’s, Gloucester were forced to defend well and soak up the pressure from the outset. Even though Nicholls fired the hosts in front midway through the half the visitors’ resolve remained firm and when Townsend played in Jenner five minutes before the interval, parity was restored.
With Gore, Roddis and Coldridge in combative mood in midfield and Jenner causing the Dacorum defence all sorts of problems, Gloucester went close on several occasions after the break, Townsend striking the upright, Jenner firing inches wide and Roddis, Gore and Coldridge each not far away from grabbing a winner.
Hylton, who had replaced the injured Pledger early on, Richards and Weir-Roberts turned in fine defensive performances, while Troke looked confident throughout as Gloucester claimed a fully deserved share of the spoils.
Within minutes of the final whistle news filtered in that the B Squad, having swapped Bradley Stalley for Tony Hickey, slipped to their first defeat of what had previously been a very successful tour. BS oversaw two B Team victories and was also present for the A’s win at St Albans. TH was there for the Hackney and Bexley reversals, the squads’ only two losses of their respective trips. The writer G.K.Chesterton once said, ‘Coincidences are nothing more than spiritual puns,’ and when fellow authors described Chesterton as being ‘way ahead of his time’, little did they know he would be describing events a hundred years hence.
The final verdict on the London rooms was that Hylton and Gore somehow take a lead into the second leg of the contest which reconvenes in Plymouth next Saturday, while the Townsend / Troke / Richards hovel doesn’t. Coldridge tops the diary stakes which do not go to a second game, though if Jenner could concentrate, Dinglewell would push Highnam all the way. Attitude marks varied, TRI’s focus on highlighting any activity that could be described as even remotely nefarious ensuring no-one finished with a 100% score. The overall 1st leg eating marks, Richards apart, were encouraging if not always nutritious, though Pledger, Townsend and Hylton each dropped points that could turn out to be crucial on completion of the 2nd leg encounter in a few days’ time. And points, as we all know, make prizes.
And so it ended – diaries, rooms, eating, attitude and in terms of matches, a win, a draw and a defeat, Verulamium conquered and even Hemel’s famous Magic Roundabout failing to upset the applecart on the tour’s final morning. As Zebedee himself might have said, ‘Boing! Time for bed!’ And indeed it was.
Gloucester: Troke; Weir-Roberts, Richards, Pledger, Hylton, Coldridge, Gore, Roddis, Townsend, Jenner.
