Foundations
It’s been a great pre-season, with the Hartpury afternoon and parents’ meetings, mouse holes & worm holes in the caves and fox holes & boar holes on the outfield of the Cannop Ponds Oval.
There’s been a clutch of evening sessions, some fine scores in Brickhampton’s bigger holes and a visit to Aqua Sulis, where a new physio was unveiled as the latest, hopefully temporary, addition to the GPSFA backroom staff. The foundations of 2018/19 have been well and truly laid.
The foundations of the new Longlevens running track have also been pretty much laid, though unfortunately nothing, as yet, has been laid on top of them, so the opening fixture of the new campaign will be played in a cage and the finished article will have to wait until Matchday Two.
The Ground Crew is in full flow as dawn breaks over the Home of Football, with welcome guests Lucas, Austin & Walters sounding akin to a group of dodgy 1960s solicitors, especially when one considers the acronym created by the company name. Super Sharon answered the catering call via a fuzzy line from a forest clearing a fortnight previously, but is at the refreshment window bright and early to share in the splendour of The Chef’s newly refurbished kitchen. Next door the upmarket four-star toilets gleam either side of the ‘Look but don’t use’ signage, only for Coach Delaney to ‘do a Wenger’ and claim not to see the A3-sized notice. The programme, raffle and souvenir table is set up and taken down on three separate occasions as the clouds duck and dive before deciding that a day’s rain is the favoured option. John Kelly, a fixture at every home game, begins his six-hour stint in a manner that will no doubt continue for the rest of the season, completing two different jobs at once while pricing up a third.
With The Physio having failed a late Friday evening fitness test, TB makes a crisp about-turn from departing the pitch at the conclusion of one game to joining the march-on line at the onset of the day’s second encounter with visitors St Albans. The Hertfordshire association has just edged the opening match against Gloucester Yellows by the odd goal in three and across the way the girls’ team too is on its way to a one-goal defeat, though this time it’s by the odd score in seven. The prospect of an awayday clean sweep is far more daunting than the by now incessant rain, but it looks as if the team has other ideas as it sets about its task with both gusto and zest.
Vye and Myatt are prominent on the left and right flanks respectively, while central midfielders Burgess and Jones tackle and prompt in equal measure. Obieri meanwhile is mixing up some bulldozing runs with a number of neat lay-offs and twice goes close with efforts that flash just wide of the far post.
Not to be denied however, the striker seizes on to a pass from Jones to rifle in the opener on eighteen minutes and celebrates with a double knee slide towards a spectator-less corner flag, to be joined barely a second later by seven dinner plate smiles and fourteen grass-stained knees.
Myatt adds a second on the stroke of half time with an effort which demonstrates a swing to the left so great, it’s only ever been bettered once, and that was in the General Election of 1997.
The half-time discourse in the Hertfordshire corner is a tad longer than normal, but The Saints’ efforts at reducing the arrears are capably annulled by Caple who looks solid at centre back from first minute till last, while May, Freeman and Millward all compete well on either side of the increasingly assured back line. Boakes, meanwhile, having made one fine save in the first period is alert around his box throughout the second, receiving several approving nods from The Physio, who only eighteen hours previously had held his head in his hands having watched first Millward then Jones turn in displays that were on the flip side of masterclass between the training ground sticks, in an effort to gain global approval for the role of the upcoming campaign’s back-up keeper. Each has since received a folder-full of feedback but only a single piece of considered advice, which basically is, ‘don’t give up the day job’.
Fieldhouse has now entered the fray, nipping up and down the left side and sending in a couple of decent crosses that no-one can convert and with Myatt and Vye active on the opposite side, the Saints defence is stretched. Midway through the second period Millward’s corner finds its way to Jones who finishes well into the far corner and there’s still time for Obieri to net his second following a bout of penalty box ping-pong and assistant referee Kelly to indulge in one of the finest pieces of flag-waving since that scene in Les Miserables, seconds before the centrepiece barricade falls silent for the final time and half the audience blub uncontrollably.
It’s a well-earned victory in the end, founded upon a pleasing tenacity and desire to win the ball (back) in all areas of the field and to attack with purpose when the opportunity arises. The group celebration after each goal is a big part of every successful Gloucester side, laying the foundations of a team ethic that will come to the fore both on and off the field of play.
Post-match in the inner sanctum and Obieri takes an age to arrange his shirt and clip on his tie before leaving his entire playing kit on the changing room floor, inside out from top to toe; Jones takes almost as long to neither tuck in his shirt nor clip on his tie, but remains blissfully unaware that either is out of sync; Caple and friends demolish Tesco’s finest confectionery in celebration of his recent birthday, then huff and puff their approval of a stomach well filled; Freeman considers which items of clothing to leave behind today before deciding on his entire training kit, while May sneaks an iced bun into his army surplus special bag, thinking no-one’s seen him do it. The Physio makes more mental notes and shakes his head ruefully, before quietly negotiating the transfer of half the bun in return for keeping shtum about the original felony.
As three o’clock approaches, The Chef sweeps up the final specks of indoor mud and heads for home after eight hours of non-stop graft. He’s spent most of the previous seven days in and out of Longlevens, ensuring that all obstacles have been overcome and the place, both inside and out, cage apart, was all ready for today’s La Grande Ouverture. The ‘behind the scenes’ team at this place is amazing. For it is their effort, graft and commitment to the cause, that lay the real foundations upon which everything else is built.
Gloucester A: Boakes; May, Caple, Freeman; Myatt, Jones, Burgess, Vye; Obieri; Millward, Fieldhouse. Oh, and The Physio, of course.
There’s been a clutch of evening sessions, some fine scores in Brickhampton’s bigger holes and a visit to Aqua Sulis, where a new physio was unveiled as the latest, hopefully temporary, addition to the GPSFA backroom staff. The foundations of 2018/19 have been well and truly laid.
The foundations of the new Longlevens running track have also been pretty much laid, though unfortunately nothing, as yet, has been laid on top of them, so the opening fixture of the new campaign will be played in a cage and the finished article will have to wait until Matchday Two.
The Ground Crew is in full flow as dawn breaks over the Home of Football, with welcome guests Lucas, Austin & Walters sounding akin to a group of dodgy 1960s solicitors, especially when one considers the acronym created by the company name. Super Sharon answered the catering call via a fuzzy line from a forest clearing a fortnight previously, but is at the refreshment window bright and early to share in the splendour of The Chef’s newly refurbished kitchen. Next door the upmarket four-star toilets gleam either side of the ‘Look but don’t use’ signage, only for Coach Delaney to ‘do a Wenger’ and claim not to see the A3-sized notice. The programme, raffle and souvenir table is set up and taken down on three separate occasions as the clouds duck and dive before deciding that a day’s rain is the favoured option. John Kelly, a fixture at every home game, begins his six-hour stint in a manner that will no doubt continue for the rest of the season, completing two different jobs at once while pricing up a third.
With The Physio having failed a late Friday evening fitness test, TB makes a crisp about-turn from departing the pitch at the conclusion of one game to joining the march-on line at the onset of the day’s second encounter with visitors St Albans. The Hertfordshire association has just edged the opening match against Gloucester Yellows by the odd goal in three and across the way the girls’ team too is on its way to a one-goal defeat, though this time it’s by the odd score in seven. The prospect of an awayday clean sweep is far more daunting than the by now incessant rain, but it looks as if the team has other ideas as it sets about its task with both gusto and zest.
Vye and Myatt are prominent on the left and right flanks respectively, while central midfielders Burgess and Jones tackle and prompt in equal measure. Obieri meanwhile is mixing up some bulldozing runs with a number of neat lay-offs and twice goes close with efforts that flash just wide of the far post.
Not to be denied however, the striker seizes on to a pass from Jones to rifle in the opener on eighteen minutes and celebrates with a double knee slide towards a spectator-less corner flag, to be joined barely a second later by seven dinner plate smiles and fourteen grass-stained knees.
Myatt adds a second on the stroke of half time with an effort which demonstrates a swing to the left so great, it’s only ever been bettered once, and that was in the General Election of 1997.
The half-time discourse in the Hertfordshire corner is a tad longer than normal, but The Saints’ efforts at reducing the arrears are capably annulled by Caple who looks solid at centre back from first minute till last, while May, Freeman and Millward all compete well on either side of the increasingly assured back line. Boakes, meanwhile, having made one fine save in the first period is alert around his box throughout the second, receiving several approving nods from The Physio, who only eighteen hours previously had held his head in his hands having watched first Millward then Jones turn in displays that were on the flip side of masterclass between the training ground sticks, in an effort to gain global approval for the role of the upcoming campaign’s back-up keeper. Each has since received a folder-full of feedback but only a single piece of considered advice, which basically is, ‘don’t give up the day job’.
Fieldhouse has now entered the fray, nipping up and down the left side and sending in a couple of decent crosses that no-one can convert and with Myatt and Vye active on the opposite side, the Saints defence is stretched. Midway through the second period Millward’s corner finds its way to Jones who finishes well into the far corner and there’s still time for Obieri to net his second following a bout of penalty box ping-pong and assistant referee Kelly to indulge in one of the finest pieces of flag-waving since that scene in Les Miserables, seconds before the centrepiece barricade falls silent for the final time and half the audience blub uncontrollably.
It’s a well-earned victory in the end, founded upon a pleasing tenacity and desire to win the ball (back) in all areas of the field and to attack with purpose when the opportunity arises. The group celebration after each goal is a big part of every successful Gloucester side, laying the foundations of a team ethic that will come to the fore both on and off the field of play.
Post-match in the inner sanctum and Obieri takes an age to arrange his shirt and clip on his tie before leaving his entire playing kit on the changing room floor, inside out from top to toe; Jones takes almost as long to neither tuck in his shirt nor clip on his tie, but remains blissfully unaware that either is out of sync; Caple and friends demolish Tesco’s finest confectionery in celebration of his recent birthday, then huff and puff their approval of a stomach well filled; Freeman considers which items of clothing to leave behind today before deciding on his entire training kit, while May sneaks an iced bun into his army surplus special bag, thinking no-one’s seen him do it. The Physio makes more mental notes and shakes his head ruefully, before quietly negotiating the transfer of half the bun in return for keeping shtum about the original felony.
As three o’clock approaches, The Chef sweeps up the final specks of indoor mud and heads for home after eight hours of non-stop graft. He’s spent most of the previous seven days in and out of Longlevens, ensuring that all obstacles have been overcome and the place, both inside and out, cage apart, was all ready for today’s La Grande Ouverture. The ‘behind the scenes’ team at this place is amazing. For it is their effort, graft and commitment to the cause, that lay the real foundations upon which everything else is built.
Gloucester A: Boakes; May, Caple, Freeman; Myatt, Jones, Burgess, Vye; Obieri; Millward, Fieldhouse. Oh, and The Physio, of course.
