Four Weddings and a Penalty Shootout

[cromwell]

Os, Wales had had a couple of bad results and some people, were blaming Davies, so from his perspective I think that made the decision easier. But it did cause ripples in Wales. I saw him play at Castleford (his first game in League), Featherstone and a few times at Wakefield. The highlight at Wakefield was when Davies sent someone the wrong way on the halfway line, shot through the gap, rounded the full back and scored. He was a player and a half.

[TheOstrich]

21/10 – Four matches this week, commencing on Wednesday with a somewhat perilous journey across to Meadow Lane, Westbury as the traditional Dorset murk set in early. I set out on my usual route via the B3095 but once beyond Mere, on the top of White Sheet Hill, the visibility was reduced to around 100 yards, and sometimes less than that as the low cloud rolled across the road. Suddenly I was confronted by an object looming up in the middle of the road – it was a large bird, possibly a mesmerised pheasant, and although it took off at the last moment, I couldn’t take avoiding action, and a loud thump ensued (no marks on the car though – I parked under the floodlights when I got to Westbury’s ground and checked). Once I was off the hill, the conditions were better, but I then hit milking time at the farm in Longbridge Deverill which entailed a 10 minute wait while they moved the herd across the road into the field opposite. You never get that on the M6 Toll .... With nothing better to do, I went into headcount mode (as one does when groundhopping ) and came up with 83. Including one beastie who determinedly marched off down the road towards me, and was only turned back on track by a certain amount of bellowing, pummelling, and, shall we say, agricultural language ! I then compounded my evening by taking the wrong exit from the roundabout on the Warminster bypass and drove 3 miles or so down the A36 before realising my error. Not an auspicious start to the night!

Westbury United had no game last Saturday, as the Western League blazers were having their beano in Bristol, and were also without a game today as they’re out of the FA Vase, so for this Wiltshire Senior Cup tie, against inferior Step 7 opposition in Marlborough Town, they fielded a strong side. Any thoughts of a whitewash, however, were unfounded as Marlborough put on a dogged display, and with equal amounts of skill and luck, managed to thwart the home team’s apparent game plan of accelerating straight down the middle, largely by packing their defence. Westbury were 2-0 at the interval, though, thanks to Ricky Hulbert’s 7th minute nod in, after a corner had been headed across to the far post, and their no.7, who slalomed past a defender and the keeper to score from 5 yards. Marlborough had their moments, and could have put an attacker through on goal on 43m, but the final pass was wildly mishit.

In the second half, the away side started well, and it was only the outstretched boot of the home keeper that kept out a snap 25 yard shot on 57m. As Marlborough tired towards the end of the game, Westbury made substitutions in attack and midfield, and using Jamie Jordan, who had started at full back, commenced raiding down the left wing, which created numerous chances and brought two further goals in the final 10 minutes, the last of which should possibly have been chalked off as the move started from a “rolling” free kick which I was surprised the referee missed . But there you go.

A frustrating day at the office, I suspect, for Westbury despite the score-line, and kudos to Marlborough for making a decent fist of the game. Refreshment note: got the last pie in town at half-time; somewhat singed, and sold at a knock-down price of £1 , and the bar had no J2Os so the Ostrich had to make do with a Cherry Tango! Encountering rolling fog banks on the Warminster bypass on the return journey, I opted to take the long way round back home, straight down the A350 and then cross country from Semley, but for the last 5 miles on the backroads, it was very cautious 20 mph stuff. Glad to finally pull up on the front drive ….

On Friday night, a visit to Sherborne Rugby, who play on the same Raleigh Grove sports complex as Sherborne Town FC, although their stadium is called Gainsborough Park. The main rugby pitch’s primary access is through a gap in the trees on the south side of the car park, where you’ll encounter a pay table (£4 admission). There’s no cover around the floodlit, railed main pitch, just a small tea-hut and a manual scoreboard on the far side, which I think had raised grass banks down the side.

The clubhouse/bar is a short distance away – it’s on the far side of the large car park, adjacent to the cricket pitch, and beyond a rather imposing building which I originally thought was a multi-sports indoor arena but, (this being Dorset), turns out to the Sherborne Town Band Practice Hall . There are plans afoot to expand the rugby clubhouse, with an Autumn 2019 target date, and they are raising funds for the project, however, it’s perfectly acceptable as it is – quite spacious, with the usual rugby memorabilia on the walls, mainly signed international shirts, and an adjacent kitchen with a wide hatch to the bar.

Sherborne started top of the league (played 4,with 18 league points) whilst Yeovil, who we met a couple of weeks back, are one off the bottom. However, the away side made the early running, scored an easy penalty, would have had a try apart from a knock-on practically on the line, then put a second penalty wide. At which point Sherborne rumbled into gear - and Yeovil hardly got a sniff of the home touchline again. It was a workmanlike, relentless performance from the league leaders, rather than exhilarating rugby, and eight tries were notched, mostly short range and from the totally dominant scrum. Only in the closing 20 minutes did we a see a neat kick and chase over the defence, caught and grounded in the corner; and an opportunist try when a flustered, under pressure Yeovil defender tried to kick away from behind his line, and the ball was charged down under the posts. The margin of the win would have been greater had Sherborne’s kicker not missed five conversions. Final score: 46-3 to Sherborne, and attendance, a very healthy 242.

Rising winds and the onset of rain in the second half was presumably a harbinger of the arrival of Storm Brian ….….

…… and so, in sunshine, showers and gales, to the Oakfield Stadium in Melksham, Wiltshire today, which was officially opened back last January. Melksham is quite an industrial town in a way – think Tamworth – and has expanded rapidly in recent years. The soccer and rugby clubs have relocated from the centre of town to a brand new sports complex on the outskirts, and I was pleased to find they’ve brown-signposted it from the A350, which was helpful as Google and Bing Maps haven’t caught up with the new development yet and I wasn’t sure just where the entrance was. I was told the soccer and rugby club development cost £7 million - pity the money ran out before they could complete tarmacking the approach drive, which sports some pretty industrial-sized potholes in places . That said, it’s quite an impressive place. Both rugby club and soccer club have upstairs bars / terraces which overlook their respective first team pitches, and today, faced with strong winds and the occasional rain shower coming in from the west, Ossie decided it was better to hole up in front of the picture windows in the SkyBar than brave the seats outside. It’s a spacious if simple stadium – turnstile entrance, covered seating in front of the main stand, and a smaller seated stand on the far side of the pitch. Teas and coffees are available from a hatch in the main building at ground level; to access the SkyBar and food dispensary, entrance is from the top of the seated area. The programme notes that they are hoping to commission an electronic scoreboard in the near future.

Melksham scored 17 goals without reply in their last 3 games, and started today with a goal after just 24 seconds, Thomson putting one past the keeper’s outstretched hands from 15 yards. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got; the game never really took off, and the remaining 89 minutes saw Bridport doggedly create numerous chances to equalise without doing so.

What was far more interesting was what was going down on the adjacent pitch by the carpark, where Melksham Town A were playing Westbury United Development in a “Trowbridge Windows and Conservatories Trowbridge and District Division 1” fixture. Now I had a good view of this game from my seat in front of the SkyBar windows, and saw all 5 goals, (5-0 home win). After 42m with the score 2-0, there was an almighty rumpus , caused by what was unclear but I suspect it was disrespect aimed at the referee from one of the benches. I may have this wrong, but it looked like the referee threatened to abandon the match and was in the process of stalking off the pitch when he was cajoled, possibly by some of the Melksham players, into staying and continuing the game. The referee then lectured the Westbury team at some length. All this delayed the match by around 6 minutes, nobody got booked or dismissed as far as I could tell, we resumed with a free-kick to Westbury, so what that was all about, I have no idea! It looked like a fairly routine win for the homesters with two of the five goals coming from corners; Westbury missed one glaring open goal but otherwise looked under the cosh for most of the time.

And I now find, back in the main game, that Melksham’s Mike Perrott was apparently dismissed – and I never noticed! I had noted him as booked after 28m and Bridport’s Twitter game feed indicates he was sent off before half time, so maybe it was while I was concentrating on the shenanigans in the junior match. The perils of trying to watch two games at once!

Toolstation Western League Premier Division (Step 5): Melksham Town 1 Bridport 0
Admission: £4, raffle £1, decent programme £2, refreshments: 2 x ham buns £2 from the rugby club bar – add yer own Branson pickle, which Ossie did and got it all down his feathers , orange J2O £2 and a rather bland beefburger from the SkyBar, which tasted of nothing really, £2.50, attendance: 308.

[cromwell]

Orange J20 £2? Blimey. Still I suppose it's the going rate. Well done on the cut price pie though Os! I have to say I admire your dedication, four matches in one week! Great read as usual.

[Kaz]

Burnt pie and cherry Tango, that is dedication Ossie! It does get very misty/murky down Zummerzet way, I've noticed

A fun read again, thanks Ossie

[Ally]

Cherry tango!

Great read Ossie.

[TheOstrich]

I asked for an Orange Tango .....

The variation in club J2O prices never ceases to astound me, Crommers - £1.50 > £2.70!

Four games (albeit two simultaneously ) in a week is unusual; midweek matches which I can easily get to are quite rare down here, so it is a question of taking the opportunities as they arise. The Friday night rugby was a bonus, but there's no more of they scheduled until next April, I think.

I might have a FA Cup game coming up in a fortnight's time on a Sunday, thanks to the vagaries of televised soccer (Exeter City v Heybridge Swifts) but I need to research the train times / engineering works. And Yeovil Ladies are supposed to have a midweek game soon, but for some reason the venue is not necessarily Huish Park - it seems it hasn't been decided yet.

[Ally]

I know I've asked this before....but is J20 a special drink?

Like full of energy or just a 'fancy dancy' orange juice?

Sorry.

[TheOstrich]

It's just a fancy orange juice, Ally, bottled by Britvic. Been around for about 20 years in bars and clubs; you can also get it in supermarkets as well these days, around £4 odd for a pack of 4. It has somewhat cornered the market, I think.

The three main varieties are apple & mango, apple & raspberry, and orange & passion fruit. Ideal long drink with a bar meal if you're the designated driver (Mrs O usually insists on a white wine spritzer, at which point I impound the car keys ..... ).
The apple & raspberry is a bit bleeughh, the apple and mango's passible, but I tend to stick to the orange one .....

[TheOstrich]

21/10 – Only one match this week. Tuesday was spent ferrying Mrs O to a Physiotherapy Department appointment at Salisbury Hospital – we left a bit late but thankfully the roads were trouble-free (apart from when a car hit the back of a bus while traversing a roundabout in front of us on the Salisbury outskirts , but luckily it was only a minor bump and we were able to get around the blockage). Mrs O refuses to use the touch-screen check-ins there as invariably having plinked in all the relevant details, the system says “Who? Go and report to reception!” , so this time we went straight to reception who interestingly asked Mrs O not her sexual predilections (the latest NHS dictat, of course ) but if she was a foreign resident! Although we had crossed the border into Wiltshire, living in Dorset seemed to be satisfactory ...... A leisurely drive back via the Chalke Valley backroads and a lunch at the Queens Head in Broad Chalke, famed for its literary festival and watercress beds. Mrs O had a tasty Welsh Rarebit and side salad whilst I had a Bubble & Squeak with cold ham and fried egg - with coffees, all a reasonable £19.70.

Today, the Ostrich was up early, sorting out his waders and mankini , for the bird was off to the English Riviera – Torquay! Torbay is about as far west as I’d want to travel on a day trip for a game, about 2 and ¾ hours each way, but it’s a reasonably straight forward journey, changing at Exeter St Davids and with an Oldies Railcard, a bargain £16.45. The coastal route from Exeter to Torbay is always a classic one, but today it was quite exhilarating, as the local train consisted of two mid-1980’s “Pacer” units – attractive in lined green GWR livery, but boy what a ride! The diesel engine seemed to expire at the first station stop, Exeter St Thomas, but then arthritically coughed into life again, and soon we were merrily buzzing along at around 45 mph. When we reached the rollercoaster sweeping curves around Powderham and Starcross, where the railway line runs right alongside the estuary, the train seemed to hit a “sweet spot” and the carriage I was in started oscillating frantically up and down; loud squawking from Ossie as he was hanging onto the seat for dear life! But it was a marvellous run with a glorious vista across the sea from Dawlish and Teignmouth, and plenty of interesting wildlife sightings in both the River Exe and River Teign shallows, including what I think may have been a curlew, a non-descript brown bird with an extremely long thin beak.

Torquay Athletic rugby club’s ground is an extremely easy one to access; exit Torquay station down the drive, cross the road by the Grand Hotel, and there’s the entrance to The Recreation Ground where a pay station manned by friendly locals lets you into the premises. Down the length of the pitch is a huge, elevated elderly wooden grandstand, the canopy of which is designed to mimic Brunel’s old Victorian Great Western Railway stations with hundreds of decorative “dagger boards” hanging down from the eaves. About 1/3rd of the grandstand is cordoned off as presumably unsafe, but the remaining area would easily seat 300 or so, basically on wooden bench steps.

The changing rooms lie underneath the grandstand, and there’s a more modern tea hatch and clubhouse attached to the far end. The clubhouse sports some interesting mementoes, including a large display of various club ties in alphabetical order ( … “Cullompton, Dar Es Salaam, Dartmouth” …. ), a Zimbabwe Rugby Union plaque, and club caps dating back to 1893. Manchester United v Spurs was on the satellite – I couldn’t be bothered to watch, so with an hour to kill before the game, Ossie opted to pass back out of the ground and take a stroll down the sea front promenade towards the marina, going down on the beach to scavenge for decorative seashells (two purloined, one wet bird ). It was end of season quiet, but I got the impression Torquay is a bit run down and chavvy these days – certainly there were a few somewhat obnoxious “characters” around.

Back at the rugby ground, on the far side of the pitch is a curious, long metal frame which has a series of floodlight bulbs mounted on top of it – presumably training lights, whilst a hand operated scoreboard graces the sea-front end; from the stand you could watch jet-skis and cabin cruisers whizzing behind it across the bay. I noted that the pitch looked a bit rough in places and was told they don’t have any formal second pitch; they occasionally hire one up in Torre, but only if needs be. The club runs two teams so there’s a fair bit of wear and tear on it.

Cornish club St Ives, nicknamed the “Hakes”, arrived joint second in the table (29 pts from 7 games), with Torquay placed 7th, , but on a bit of a high as they’d defeated rivals Paignton on their patch 8-9 last weekend. The locals were pessimistic but in the event we were in for a bit of a surprise. It didn’t start well for the home club when they conceded an early penalty in front of the posts (after the referee had played an exceedingly long advantage) and when St Ives notched a simple try on 8m, one wondered if it might be a drubbing. But the Tics captain, man-mountain Jon Woodhead surged over to make it 7-8 before getting himself yellow carded for over-enthusiasm in a maul . St Ives took advantage with a second try, but Torquay hit back with a penalty, and ominously had two tries disallowed before half time, for a forward pass and non-grounding respectively.

10-13 at the resumption, Torquay took the lead for the first time when their full back found the hole and scored under the posts, and pulled away with three further slick converted tries. St Ives had a player yellow carded for the last 10 minutes, and a Torquay player followed him just before the end following fisticuffs. A game of two halves, really; very much a cautious cat and mouse affair in the first half, but once Torquay started opening up following the interval, St Ives were there for the taking, and their defeat might easily have been heavier.

A longish wait for the 17:16 return train, which turned out to be quite busy. We were shunted into the loop at Dawlish Warren station for a scheduled 7 minute wait to allow a London bound express to overtake us, but reached Exeter on time allowing me a comfortable 15 minute connection into the Basingstoke train back to Dorset. There didn’t seem to be any buffet at Exeter station apart from Starbucks on the concourse, which would have meant exiting the barriers, so I didn’t bother, and it was a tired and thirsty Ostrich which eventually made it back home. I shall be glad of the extra hour’s kip tonight ….

Tribute Western Counties West (Level 7): Torquay Athletic RUFC 38 St Ives (SW) RUFC 13
Admission: £3 including programme, refreshments: a bit pricey, J2O and cheese and onion roll in the bar £4.10, half-time chips £2, attendance: 178

[Ally]

Wowee Ossie..that train trip sounded fab!!!

And what a great price!

Really enjoyed this week's report (I enjoy them all but any with train details will always be a winner )

Thank you.