The Hampton Roar (Part 18)

 

The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Oadby Town on 2nd February 2008.

Welcome to today’s match and the latest instalment of the season’s diary by your favourite Racing Club correspondent.

Saturday 12^th January – Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League

Following four Racing Club defeats in the last five games I am afraid that serious doubts were beginning to creep in to my mind about our chances this season. So when a contact at work suggested that I might like to join him for a spot of lunch at Stamford Bridge followed by some top flight football, I found the alternative, our away game against Causeway United, none too appealing. Yes sacrilege, I chose Premier luxury over the Midland Alliance for this week at least. The attraction is the chance to see my favourite top ranking club Spurs against their number one bogie side. Spurs haven’t beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since 1990 (that’s in pre-Premier League days kids!) and have won against Chelsea only once in the League in nearly thirty attempts. This, combined with Chelsea being unbeaten at home in the League for over seventy games, satisfies my criteria that all good runs must come to an end and so I travel smug in the knowledge that today Chelski will come a cropper.

It’s over ten years since I was last at the Bridge and it has changed in the intervening time to the extent that I could hardly recognise it from my previous visit. I am more used to Stamford Bridge having wide open terraces at either end, woefully inadequate toilet facilities and a fair chance of some aggressive home fan behaviour. Well let me assure you that that is most definitely a thing of the past. The Bridge has been redeveloped on the remaining three sides, the facilities are top class, the prices have shot up and the punters now seem to be drawn from the affluent middle classes. I have to say I find it difficult to know if this represents progress or not but then I always was a Philistine. Mind you I must say that the Duck served up in the a la carte restaurant at the ground was better then the usual fare that one finds at football grounds.

Chelsea’s side had a bit of a makeshift look about it without Messrs Shevchenko, Lampard and Terry but they sure do have some more than adequate replacements and this was well illustrated when full-back Belletti advanced without challenge to the edge of the Spurs box before unleashing a rifle shot that ended in the top corner. 1-0 and, as usual,  the side I was supporting was behind. I was expecting a noticeable difference between the playing standards between the Midland Alliance and the Premier League and, for sure, I did notice the change in standards but, that said, there were times when this match was more like a game of chess with a noticeable unwillingness by both sides when it came to losing the ball. Such great skill is very admirable I’m sure but I would also contend that it doesn’t necessarily make for thrills and excitement. The truth is the game became a bit of a bore and, by the time Shaun Wright-Phillips lashed in Chelsea’s second in the latter part of the game, Spurs seemed to have resigned themselves to their fate. 2-0 it finished and Chelsea’s undefeated runs go on and on (yawn!).

Saturday 19^th January – Shrewsbury Town v Morecambe, League 2

Racing Club were due to play high-flying Loughborough but that particular fixture bit the dust (or should I say drank the puddles?) early on Saturday morning. A number of matches in the Midland Alliance were similarly called off indicating that, for a pleasant change this season, our pitch is no longer the worst one in our league and the Club can give itself a pat on the back that all that investment in the playing surface over the summer was worthwhile. God knows how many home games had been lost by this stage last season but the improvement in our playing surface is such that today’s game was the first one to be postponed due to bad weather in 2007-08.

So where did I go instead? Well many of you know of my ground hopping exploits and my pride in being a member of The 92 Club, a club for fans who have “done the lot” i.e. visited all 92 home grounds of the top four tiers of the English professional game. So today represented an opportunity for me to re-complete the full set with a visit to The New Stadium (not terribly imaginatively named I suppose but at least it’s not sponsored yet), the shiny brand spanking new home of League 2 side Shrewsbury Town. I suppose that the Shrewsbury board are holding out for a ground-naming sponsor that will meet their asking price but I was amused by an article that, in keeping with modern attitudes to same sex partnerships, the replacement for Gay Meadow should be known as “The New Camp”. The New Stadium replaced Gay Meadow in the summer and is situated on the outskirts of Shrewsbury, thankfully on this particularly wet day, nowhere near the River Severn. Older readers may recall that a hefty clearance at the old ground frequently resulted in ballboy extraordinaire Fred Davies being dispatched in his coracle to follow the ball downstream. No such problems at the new place I can assure you although it’s a bit of a shame that the ground is out of town to such an extent that there doesn’t appear to be much in the vicinity other than the ground itself.

Being newcomers to the Stadium we ignored all the Park and Ride signs and headed for the Stadium itself where, for the princely sum (or should that be a King’s ransom?) of £7 we secured a parking space right outside. Match tickets along the side of the pitch were swiftly purchased (£16 each if you please) and, following a quick shufty round the Club Shop, we entered the Stadium and proceeded, along with everyone else, to block the gangways underneath the stand as we quaffed our beers. The Stadium itself is well appointed and, to my delight, is actually finished – I have been getting rather cheesed off over the last few seasons to visit a new ground several months after opening to discover that the builders are still in residence (take a bow Coventry City, MK Dons and Forest Green Rovers). Four discrete stands rather than a bowl and the pitch looked to be in excellent condition given the recent heavy rain.

This being played during the open transfer window, both sides were playing with one or two new faces and Shrewsbury’s two, Asa Hall and Guy Madjo, making their debut and home debuts respectively, both notched a goal to secure a victory for Salop against a Morecambe side whose defence was overrun by the incoming Shrewsbury tides. 2-0 to the Shrews and 92 is restored for yours truly. The next highest placed club whose ground I have yet to visit is Northwich Victoria’s new home and I’ll be trying to fit that one in before the end of the season.

Saturday 26^th January – Market Drayton Town v Racing Club Warwick, Midland Alliance

Yet another Saturday where your correspondent travelled without any hope of seeing our boys secure a single point, let alone three. Market Drayton were sitting comfortably in second place at kick off but had recently seen a decent unbeaten run come to an end against Rocester. Talk in their local rag by their manager Simon Line was of MDT being grateful to be facing Racing Club in order to get their bandwagon rolling again, the implication surely being that they considered our boys to be easier opposition than most. The trip to MDT is one of the longest of our season and Ross Holtom’s car didn’t quite make it requiring road side assistance which led to him arriving after kick off and finding himself on the subs bench, his playing passengers having been picked up from the roadside verge en route to the ground. The distance meant that the travelling Racing Club support was thinner than Kate Moss on a diet and my message to the non-travelling unbelievers: you missed a classic Racing Club performance!

We were ahead within 40 seconds of the kick off following an incident where the MDT keeper and Ryan Howells got into a tangle during which the ball broke free to Terrence Carpenter who had the simple task of stroking the ball into the empty net for what will surely be the easiest goal he’ll ever score. The keeper needed several minutes worth of treatment to his face but the goal was awarded and, to their credit, there were few complaints from the MDT players. So, with one minute gone and 89 to go, could we hold out? Sadly not as Chris Morris made it all square well before half time following an awful mistake by Martin Hutchcox who otherwise had an excellent game. 1-1 at the break and we waited for MDT to break our hearts with their inevitable second.

The first few minutes of the second half proved to be a bit like the Alamo with Racing Club being pressed back by a hungry looking Drayton but we gradually composed ourselves and started to create chances. On 61 minutes super Ryan Howell broke through and scored what turned out to be the winner at the second attempt. This was followed by at least three other great chances for our strikers and we really could have fully avenged our 1-5 home defeat against MDT had we taken everything that came our way. Late on we witnessed the Racing Club debut of Levi Bailey’s older brother Linton – if there’s any justice he’s simply got to be known as “The Old Bailey” (OK I’m sorry to inflict that one on you!) – and latecomer Ross even made it onto the pitch to ensure that our boys punctured MDT’s title hopes.

The win was vital because we would have lost touch with the clubs immediately above us had we lost. As it happened Oadby, immediately above us, also won and Oldbury United sitting third from bottom picked up a point. So now we have 28 points from 28 games, four better than Oldbury who have six (!) games in hand over Racing Club. Effectively we have fourteen games left to save ourselves including one against leaders Atherstone Town and two against high flying Loughborough Dynamo. All this makes the two games against Oldbury real six-pointers but our record of winning when it matters hasn’t been too good this season. So it’s time to get behind the boys and urge them to an average of at least a point per game which should just about be enough (42 points would be four more than we achieved last season when we finished just outside the trap door positions). Please come along and support the boys to escape the drop once again. After performances like the one at Market Drayton I just know that we can do it.

Keep the faith!