The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Oldbury United on 3rd February 2007.
The ongoing saga of one man’s season.
Saturday 23rd December – Ossett Albion v Harrogate Railway Athletic, Unibond League Division 1
There is no Racing Club game scheduled for today, not because of yet another postponement but this time because we had already played the originally scheduled match earlier in the season following early exits from the cup competitions. This particular Saturday is traditionally one of the worst attended dates of the season due to it being the last shopping Saturday before Christmas and the decision to pull our fixture forward looked to be sensible – at least until we found ourselves to be without a home game since November 11th! It was high time to visit my parents before Christmas and while in Yorkshire there’s always the chance to squeeze in another new ground. I chose Ossett Albion’s Queens Terrace and drove the twenty or so miles through the fog down to Ossett on the outskirts of Wakefield having checked by telephone that the match was definitely on.
The day was very still and pretty cold with the temperature hovering just above freezing point. The referee led the teams out sporting what looked, from a distance, like a long sleeved shirt. Closer to I could see that this was a new breed of referee – heavily tattooed from the wrist upwards he even sported a crown of thorns around one thigh – it looked like a garter! Unusual I guess but I suppose what’s important is the quality of the decision making rather than his appearance – that said, I was struggling to associate his appearance with a figure of authority! Both teams might be considered to be the poor relations in their respective towns – Albion play second fiddle to Ossett Town of the Unibond Premier whilst Railway Athletic operate in the shadow of Harrogate Town of the Conference North. Nonetheless both teams proceeded to set about each other in competitive fashion and just prior to half time Ossett took the lead albeit somewhat against the run of play.
The second half opened with a second goal for Ossett but we couldn’t have anticipated what was to come. After 76 minutes, and to ironic cheers from both sets of supporters, half of the floodlights went out. We learned later that the floodlights were deliberately wired on two separate circuits to ensure that if ever there was a problem with one of the circuits, at least half the lights would be working on each pylon. Brilliant and as it happened, although the light was noticeably poorer, there were no areas of the pitch that were particularly dark. The trouble was that our man of the ink in black had already decided to consult the two managers as to whether they wished to continue and, of course, if your side is losing 2-0 what kind of answer might you be expected to give. The Harrogate management team declared it too dangerous to continue – this was palpably untrue but why let the evidence of your own eyes get in the way of a good excuse? So we stood there in the cold waiting for the repairs to be carried out but with less and less hope as the minutes ticked by. After 15 minutes the Ossett officials admitted that the game could not continue and was therefore abandoned. Abandoned! It was only the fourth time that I’ve attended an abandoned game and this was ridiculous in the circumstances – I’m only glad that I didn’t travel up specifically for this game. Let’s hope that the officials see the light next time!
Tuesday 26th December – Racing Club v Leamington, Midland Alliance
At last I can go to a match involving our heroes (and I don’t mean the boys from Whitnash!) - I’m seriously worried about how our season is going to turn out given that there are only 18 Saturdays remaining and 26 league games to go after today. It is to considerable surprise on my part that the game goes ahead - the pitch actually looks pretty good despite being a little heavy in places. Whilst Racing Club have been largely inactive of late, the Leamington bandwagon has been trundling on and they go into today’s game undefeated all season in the league. A healthy crowd of exactly 800 pack Hampton Road in what will surely be one of the highest (if not the highest) attendances in our league this season. Just to let you know how much of a smarty pants I am I’ll just provide a quick quote from my article in the programme that day: “My guess is an attendance of around 800 – you can start chuckling now if I’m miles out!” Spot on? Quick, I must buy a Lottery ticket!
Leamington took the field with three former Racing Club favourites in the shape of Andy Gregory, Tom Cudworth and Ben Mackey whilst David Care was the sole Leamington old boy having seen the light and joined Warwick ranks. Realists amongst the our supporters were none too hopeful of a good result given Leamington’s unbeaten start to the season combined with our own lack of match practice and it was therefore little surprise to most when Leamington took the lead on 11 minutes courtesy of a fortunate rebound off of Dave Pearson. Five minutes later and worse was to come as Pearson made it two with a well taken shot from the edge of the area. We feared the worst and a possible embarrassing defeat but thankfully the boys dug in and, despite a few scares, held on for 0-2 at half-time.
The next goal was always going to decide the contest and it went to Leamington on 54 minutes and that man Pearson again completing his hat-trick with a shot that saw Tom Farmer slightly out of position and struggling to get down quickly enough. The match was as good as over and we were soon to be treated to the sight of Jason Cadden using all three subs with one eye on the choc-a-block Christmas programme and other battles ahead. We finished at 0-3 with Leamington having long since taken their foot off the accelerator. One question remains. Will we ever see the Brakes back at Hampton Road in league action? Almost certainly not next season with Leamington odds on favourites to get promoted and Racing Club facing a difficult few months at the wrong end of the table. And if we don’t get promoted next season my guess is that Leamington will have gone up another level based on their recent record of promotion success. But who want to be a glory hunter anyway? Imagine how much more we’ll appreciate success when it inevitably arrives!
Keep the faith!
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