The Road to the Westfalenstadion (Part 9)

The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Romulus on 11th October 2005.

Saturday 6th August and the long wait is over. Season 2005-06 has arrived with Racing Club facing Rushall Olympic at Dales Lane in the Joe McGorian Cup, a curtain raiser not dissimilar to the FA Charity Shield for the winners of the previous season’s Midland Alliance and League Cup. The Warwick side contained several new faces (Terry Angus, James Wood and Scot Leydon) plus the return of some prodigal sons (Michael Payne and Tom Stevenson) to bolster last season’s squad. In addition to the five new boys, the Gaffer also fielded two of our up-and-coming youngsters (Stuart Adamson and Michael Hayden) in a side that some of our absent but more established players will have to be at their best to break into.

Goalless at half-time the first 45 minutes had been highly competitive with Racing Club just about the better side overall. James Woods opened his Warwick account within 9 minutes of the resumption with his shot proving too strong for the Pic’s keeper. A few minutes later and Woods seemed certain to notch his second following excellent work by Ollie but somehow the ball got stuck under his feet and the chance was gone (my granny would have fancied it mind you!). We began to wonder how costly that miss was going to prove to be when Rushall’s Dave Read headed the equaliser on 71 minutes. Like all sides that are confident in their own abilities, Racing Club heads did not go down and we continued to give as good as we got. As we entered the final minute we were preparing ourselves for penalty kicks when Ollie broke free on the right once again and an inch perfect cross was steered home by the triumphant Woods. 2-1 and the Joe McGorian Cup was ours! Bloody typical isn’t it? You wait fifteen years for a trophy and then two come along at once!

And so on to the league. All football supporters start the season with optimism. Racing Club’s are no different and perhaps more so than ever this season given the opportunity afforded to the club via the cash realised form the Ben Foster sell-on to Manchester United. To say therefore that our start to the 2005-2006 season was disappointing is something of an understatement. We opened up at home to Stourbridge, always a tough fixture and our third game against Stourbridge in four league matches – is this a record? The weather on the day was atrocious. Torrential downpours made the day seem more like November than early August and the weather matched our mood by the time the final whistle blew. Racing Club, reduced to ten men following the doubtful dismissal of Michael Payne for an alleged hand ball outside the penalty area, battled gamely throughout but lacked much luck and ended up on the wrong end of a 3-1 score line.

Worse was to come the following Tuesday night. Racing Club were playing away to my personal dark horses for the league title this season (after Black Beauty that is!) Causeway United. Both sides created numerous chances during the first half and perfectly demonstrated the art of very poor finishing. Half-time came and, whereas Causeway came out and seemingly stepped up a gear, Racing Club’s wheels fell off. The result was inevitable as we crashed 2-0 at our most unhappiest of hunting grounds (three defeats in three years). The feeling of zero points out of six was hardly helped by watching the league’s new-boys from Whitnash getting off to a perfect start – six points out of six and the Racers have been left in their blocks by the Brakes (nicknames can be so inappropriate can’t they?).

After our forgettable start to our league campaign, what better than a break from league action with the mouth watering prospect of Warwick’s first success in the FA Cup since our wins over Lye Town and Willenhall in the previous century (seven years ago)? Well a win would have been better for a start off! Our Extra Preliminary Round tie took place virtually on the hard shoulder of the M5 against Oldbury Town with the prospect of a home tie against out-of-form Stone Dominoes in the Preliminary Round on offer to the victors. Hard shoulder? Perhaps we should have called out the AA! In a match that never felt like a cup-tie, Warwick fell behind in the first half and, despite a few chances in the second half, never really looked likely to get back onto level terms. Ben Mackie’s first goal for the club arrived deep into injury time but was too little too late. Oldbury Town had won 2-1 and Racing Club could “concentrate on the league” for another year (or maybe the Vase?). Our FA Cup runs (does one game constitute a run?) over the last few seasons look like this:

 

1998    Preliminary Round                   Lye Town                    Away               Won     1-0

1998    1st Qualifying Round                Willenhall Town          Home               Won     1-0

1998    2nd Qualifying Round                Stourbridge                  Home               Lost     0-1

1999    Preliminary Round                   Blakenall                     Home               Lost     1-2

2000    Preliminary Round                   Stourport Swifts           Home               Lost     1-2

2001    Preliminary Round                   Barwell                        Away               Lost     0-2

2002    Preliminary Round                   Arnold Town                Away               Lost     0-1

2003    Preliminary Round                   Stafford Town              Home               Lost     0-1

2004    Preliminary Round                   Shepshed Dynamo        Away               Lost     2-3

2005    Extra Preliminary Round           Oldbury Town              Away               Lost      1-2


Surely August 2006 will see a change in our FA Cup luck?

Keep the faith!

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