The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Ashville on 17th December 2005.
Saturday September 24th saw Racing Club travelling to a new ground, the Tipton Sports Academy, to play newly promoted Tipton Town in a Midland Alliance fixture. The previous Tuesday night had seen one of the most thrilling comebacks seen at Hampton Road as the Racers pulled back from 1-4 down to give promotion contenders Barwell the fright of their lives before drawing 4 apiece. That game was Warwick’s ninth in a row unbeaten and surely Tipton Town, soundly beaten 4-1 at Townsend Meadow in August, would provide the opportunity for a tenth match unbeaten? Alas no! In a match that never really caught fire, Racing Club found themselves two down before super-sub Marcus King pulled one back with fifteen minutes to go. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and the Racers slumped to their first defeat since August 20th.
And so into October. The first day of the month found Racing Club travelling to Stamford in Lincolnshire for the FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round away at Blackstones. This tie was a potential banana skin. Blackstones lay in the lower reaches of the United Counties League Premier Division (at step 5 this is a league on a par with the Midland Alliance) and, having home advantage were expected to have a real go at Warwick. The first half confirmed our suspicions that this was going to be a tricky tie but, as the half wore on, the Racers gradually gained control of the game. After 55 minutes Ben Mackey scored his second goal of this season’s Vase but this was cancelled out by Blackstones shortly afterwards. We wondered if Racing Club were going to wilt but, instead, they stepped up a gear and scored the winner in the 83rd minute courtesy of super-Ollie. Some valuable FA prize money (another £600) gratefully received and Warwick into the First Round proper. Things were looking up!
Or perhaps not! The next three fixtures produced little but disappointment. A home draw against Coalville Town courtesy of a late equaliser by young Stuart Adamson on the day that national attention focussed on England’s game against Austria was followed by two home games and two home defeats against Sutton Coldfield’s Romulus. One ended our interest in the Birmingham Senior Cup for another season and the other, more crucially, a 1-2 reverse in the league. Our proud run of one defeat in twelve matches was in tatters. Where next in our topsy-turvy season?
Why bottom club Rocester of course! Two seasons ago Rocester were champions of the Midland Alliance. Since then they have experienced pretty well unmitigated disaster. They were relegated out of the Southern League straight back into the Midland Alliance on the back of a woeful run and, by the time they were due to face Racing Club their run without a victory stretched in excess of 50 games (even in our darkest Dog & Duck days it didn’t get that bad for us did it!). Rocester had recently appointed Michael Rowe as the manager to turn things around and things were looking a bit more positive for the Romans. If Blackstones was a potential banana skin then this was a whole bunch! I went into the game feeling concerned given our recent reverses but, after only 8 minutes, Tom Cudworth got the party started with a well taken finish which was doubled before half time by Ben Mackey with a carbon copy second. Credit to Rocester, their heads didn’t go down during the second half but the Warwick back line was never breached and Craig Jones lay claim to a clean sheet.
Little did we know it but this was to be the start of another winning run. With Michael Payne returning between the sticks for the FA Vase First Round tie against Barwell it was up to him to maintain the clean sheets from here on! The game was a real battle. Barwell must have come to Warwick with some trepidation following their lucky escape the previous month. Both sides fought out a very competitive fixture and, with 15 minutes to go, the referee awarded the Racers a penalty. This was a pivotal moment in the game and we all knew that it could be the winner given how tight things had been up to that point. It was therefore a pleasure to see James Wood take charge. He wanted the ball in a situation where many of us would have been worried about missing the target! Woody dispatched the ball into the net and we were in the Second Round with a further £700 in the bank. Come Monday and many Warwick mice were clicking onto the World Wide Web and the FA’s website to see whom we had drawn. As you can imagine, our joy at coming out of the hat away to Tipton Town was pretty well non-existent!
Back to Midland Alliance matters and next up on Bonfire Night were Loughborough Dynamo, dispatched 2-0 courtesy of a Tyrone Mintus own goal and another Ollie special. The following Saturday and Racing Club were playing another Leicestershire side. This time we were away to Oadby Town, victims of Racing Club’s finest hour in recent seasons during last season’s Polymac Services League Cup Final Second Leg. Our first visit to Topps Park since that glorious night was never going to be quite as enjoyable and their programme stated what we knew all Oadby fans would feel: “We owe you one”. Another slow start by the Racers and goalless at half time. The second half was quite another matter (just like that Cup Final!) and goals from Whitey, Woody and Becketty (OK Beckett then) followed from what was a very classy performance. Four straight wins. Eight goals scored. None conceded. However it was bound to come to an end the following Tuesday as Racing Club played hosts to the league’s almost runaway leaders (in second place but with several games in hand on leaders Quorn) Malvern Town wasn’t it?
Quite simply our match against Malvern was probably the most impressive delay that I’ve seen from Warwick. Ever. Neil Hunt, Malvern’s manager complained about the state of the pitch and, in truth, it didn’t look too clever but as the saying goes, it was the same for both sides. By halftime Racing were two goals to the good courtesy of James Wood. It was no more than we deserved. We expected an onslaught from Malvern in the second half but Racing Club gave at least as good as they got. By the end I counted eight good goal-scoring chances for Warwick and only three for Malvern. Malvern did manage to pull a goal back on 81 minutes but the introduction of prodigal son Mark Faulds yielded a third goal for Warwick on 89 minutes and we’d done it. 3-1. Five wins on the bounce! And Malvern missing the chance to go top! The Leamington fans that came along on the night to take a look at Malvern must have been given some food for thought. Similar to the last time that Warwick strung together a run of games without defeat it was time to set sail for Tipton Town, this time for the FA Vase Second Round…but that’s another story.
Keep the faith!
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