The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Rocester on 21st February 2006.
Tuesday 31st January sees Racing Club making one of their longest away trips of the season. The trip to Biddulph, on the North Staffordshire moors just north of Stoke-on-Trent, represents a round-trip of around 180 miles. I listened with interest to a recent interview with Bedworth United’s manager, Mark Hallam, on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire where he was bemoaning the distances covered by his side in the Southern League Western Division. His complaint was that the likes of Bedworth find it hard to attract good quality local players when up against the likes of Racing Club and our friends from Whitnash due to the long coach journeys in prospect in the higher league. Also the higher travelling costs take a large bite out of the playing budget leaving less in hand to tempt new signings. However, if the money is the same, I wonder how many players would really turn down the prospect of playing at a higher level?
The Biddulph Victoria match represented another milestone in Marcus Law’s fledgling management career: his 100th Midland Alliance game in charge of Warwick. 100 games? I know that, for Marcus, it was just another game but, in my view, it’s something for him to be very proud of and, two-and-a-half seasons on, I’d like to reflect for a moment on the Law revolution at Hampton Road. What follows is a table showing the relative performance of Racing Club and the opposition we have met in that time (the percentage I have used to rank the teams represents the proportion of points secured out of the possible maximum for each club):
|
|
|
Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
For |
Against |
Points |
Max Points Possible |
Goal Diff |
% |
|
1 |
Willenhall
Town |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
100.0% |
|
2 |
Leamington |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
100.0% |
|
3 |
Romulus |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
7 |
9 |
3 |
77.8% |
|
4 |
Causeway
United |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
9 |
15 |
3 |
60.0% |
|
5 |
Ludlow
Town |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
7 |
12 |
2 |
58.3% |
|
6 |
Stourbridge |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
12 |
0 |
58.3% |
|
7 |
Racing
Club Warwick |
100 |
51 |
19 |
30 |
176 |
131 |
172 |
300 |
45 |
57.3% |
|
8 |
Westfields |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
18 |
1 |
55.6% |
|
9 |
Quorn |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
5 |
6 |
12 |
4 |
50.0% |
|
10 |
Malvern
Town |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
12 |
1 |
50.0% |
|
11 |
Tipton
Town |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
6 |
-2 |
50.0% |
|
12 |
Oldbury
United |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
9 |
1 |
44.4% |
|
13 |
Chasetown |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
9 |
-1 |
44.4% |
|
14 |
Rushall
Olympic |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
12 |
-2 |
33.3% |
|
15 |
Loughborough
Dynamo |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
9 |
-3 |
33.3% |
|
16 |
Alvechurch |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
9 |
3 |
9 |
-4 |
33.3% |
|
17 |
Barwell |
6 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
12 |
5 |
18 |
-3 |
27.8% |
|
18 |
Coalville
Town |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
10 |
4 |
15 |
-2 |
26.7% |
|
19 |
Boldmere
St Michaels |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
9 |
4 |
15 |
-4 |
26.7% |
|
20 |
Biddulph
Victoria |
6 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
4 |
18 |
-9 |
22.2% |
|
21 |
Stratford
Town |
5 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
6 |
9 |
3 |
15 |
-3 |
20.0% |
|
22 |
Grosvenor
Park |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
-2 |
16.7% |
|
23 |
Oadby
Town |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
2 |
12 |
-6 |
16.7% |
|
24 |
Studley |
5 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
10 |
2 |
15 |
-6 |
13.3% |
|
25 |
Bridgnorth
Town |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
9 |
-6 |
11.1% |
|
26 |
Cradley
Town |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
11 |
1 |
12 |
-5 |
8.3% |
|
27 |
Stafford
Town |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
-1 |
0.0% |
|
28 |
Rocester |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
-3 |
0.0% |
|
29 |
Pelsall
Villa |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
-4 |
0.0% |
An overall seventh position isn’t bad is it? Since Marcus’s first game on October 4th 2003 away at Ludlow Town, with the side at their lowest ebb following relegation from the Southern League and looking likely to slide right through into the Midland Combination (due to a side that wouldn’t have looked out of place playing Sunday League for the Dog & Duck), we have been turned into Midland Alliance promotion challengers. During that time our biggest wins have been by four goals at home against Pelsall Villa (5-1) and Alvechurch (6-2) and away against Studley and Bridgnorth Town (both 4-0). On the converse side, our heaviest defeat was away against Quorn (4-0) back in in January 2004.
Sadly Biddulph Victoria proved to be no respecter of monumental occasions. Picking up from where we left off at Malvern Town the previous Saturday, Warwick dominated the first half hour with Biddulph keeper Intihar needing to be at his best to save the home side on more than one occasion. After weathering the storm, Victoria began to compete more effectively and, early in the second half, a mix up at the back sickeningly allowed Scott Burge in to score the all-important goal as far as the home side were concerned. Instead of upping our game and imposing ourselves, Racing Club didn’t manage to create a chance worthy of note until the 90th minute when Ben Mackey managed to head a difficult chance onto the bar. A one-nil defeat for our heroes and only Biddulph’s fifth victory in the league this season!
It proved to be a night of shocks. News came through that poor Rocester had finally won a league game at the 68th attempt. What was surprising was that it was away to one of my pre-season favourites for the title, Quorn. Congratulations to Rocester but why oh why do Racing Club have to meet Quorn in their next game? I must say that Quorn are one of my favourite sides in this league. They like to play entertaining football and their larger than life manager Dougie Keast always seems to have a quip and a smile on his face. OK so his impenetrable Caledonian accent means that he needs subtitles but I’m sure that whatever he is saying must be quite amusing! Warwick managed an unlikely victory away at Quorn last September and the stage was therefore set for a difficult battle against a side higher placed in the table than Racing Club.
The match was a truly absorbing cracker. Fortunes swung to and fro with both sides enjoying dominant periods. After the break, Racing Club truly looked the better side and a number of chances went begging. The turning point, in my opinion, came when Tom Cudworth had to be substituted due to injury. A tactical reshuffle saw buccaneering Robert Betts withdrawn from midfield into Tom’s centre-back position and Quorn came right back into it. With 90 minutes on the clock I remarked that the game looked like one of those rarest of things, an entertaining nil-nil draw when Quorn won a free kick about 25 yards out. Up stepped Kris Nurse to blast the dead ball straight in and Warwick were beaten! Ironic really since this was the first time I had seen the boys really dominate Quorn but perhaps, with one win each this season, justice in the end was done. So it was back-to-back league defeats for the first time since August. Come on boys! Turn it around.
Keep the faith!
Comments
Post a Comment