The Hampton Roar (Part 24)

The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Oldbury United on 5th April 2008.

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

Saturday 15th March – Racing Club v Cradley Town, Midland Alliance

Finally it had arrived. The game we had been waiting for since the opening game of the season. Cradley have simply got to be our favourite opponents bar none. Prior to this game we had met Cradley on nine occasions on Midland Alliance business and Racing Club had never lost. In fact eight of those nine games had resulted in a Racing victory and overall we enjoyed a goal tally of 28 for and only 8 against. The song “Can we play you every week?” springs to mind and, if there is any choice for us in the matter, we must insist that Cradley remain in the Midland Alliance. Joking aside, things have been stirring over Cradley way in recent weeks and they’ve overhauled their side and started to secure a few decent results. Although still bottom The Hammers have amassed over twenty points now and are breathing down the necks of Stapenhill as they attempt to avoid the wooden spoon. This correspondent certainly wishes them the very best of luck in their remaining games.

Immediately prior to the game the heavens opened and it didn’t stop raining all afternoon (or evening). I have to say that I had misgivings about the Cradley game because they have been surprising a few teams lately and it was important that our attitude was exactly right for this one. Fortunately I needn’t have worried as the boys got stuck in from the off. Gareth Plant launched a screamer from outside the box after 20 minutes that made it 1-0 but a silly handball by Levi a few minutes later gave Cradley a penalty that they duly converted. It was to remain 1-1 until half time but the second half was a different matter. Workaholic Ryan Howells scored from a free kick within a minute of the restart. This was followed by yet another Matty Blair effort after 65 minutes which he celebrated with a spectacular somersault that most Racing Club supporters repeated on their way to the car park (metaphorically you understand). The scoring was rounded off by yet another Planty effort on 74 minutes and we had moved onto 36 points from 34 games. This was our third game unbeaten and made it seven out of nine points. With Atherstone up next we waited and wondered.

Tuesday 18th March – Burnham v Andover, Southern League Division 1 South & West

Regular readers may recall my earlier visit to The Gore, home of Burnham FC (it’s between Slough and Maidenhead, just off the M4 if you don’t know) for a match that was rightly abandoned due to monsoon conditions. Tonight’s game was my second chance to chalk up another new ground since I don’t count grounds where I don’t manage to see a complete match. Having got my reason for being there out of the way I have to say that there were precious few other good excuses to be at what turned out to be a dire display by both sides. Burnham lacked finesse but have a direct style that will always to tend to make them tough to handle. Andover are struggling at the wrong end of the table and certainly looked like they deserve to be at that level. The game started brightly and Burnham scored after three minutes but it was all downhill after that. Burnham got their second in the final ten minutes and that was about it. I have no plans to go back!

Saturday 22nd March – Racing Club v Atherstone Town, Midland Alliance

Spring is here. The new domestic cricket season is just around the corner. At Racing Club we had bright sunshine, snow flurries, gusty wind and it was bloody cold. So cold in fact that one or two were voting it the coldest day of the season and it was difficult to argue through chattering teeth. This then was a game for the hardy souls (no not the foolhardy souls) and the Adders from Atherstone, title contenders and league leaders rolled into town albeit without the size of entourage that we might have expected. The gate was 105, admittedly one of our best in this poorly supported season but probably 40 or 50 down on what we might have expected had it not been for the brass monkeys.

You may recall that we received a right royal stuffing at Atherstone down Sheepy Road back in the closing days of 2007. It finished 4-0 that day and, although the scoreline flattered Atherstone, they were worthy winners alright. With the Adders title hopes having taken a severe knock losing 0-3 at home to Market Drayton the previous week we were a little concerned as to whether we would be meeting a “wounded animal” (a wounded sheep I suppose?). As it happened on this particular Saturday however, Atherstone didn’t look anywhere near as good as they had done earlier in the season. In fact it was not possible to tell which side was aiming for the title and which was looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation trap door. The game was dour to say the least. Matty Blair had one chance in the first half when he battled through only for his touch to desert him at the crucial moment. Atherstone came closest to breaking the deadlock in the second half and how they managed to rattle the crossbar when it must have been easier to score I’ll never know but let’s just be thankful for that. It finished goalless which was just about the right result. That result made it eight out of twelve points for Racing Club and four games unbeaten. At last we had found our form and just in the nick of time.

Monday 24th March – Alvechurch v Racing Club, Midland Alliance

Easter Monday and the snow flurries were still with us. The Lye Meadow pitch looked rather bare but we don’t worry about the state of the playing surface here at Warwick anyway do we? I wondered idly before the match whether there is another pitch around that slopes from touchline to touchline quite as much as Alvechurch’s. We reckoned that Rushall Olympic’s ground would give it a run for its money but that apart there can’t be many quite as sloping as Lye Meadow. With the snow around we kept a lookout for Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards coming down the slope but perhaps it was just too cold for him?

Back in those lazy, hazy, crazy days of early September Alvechurch came to our place and won by the small matter of 6-1. It was an embarrassment that day and could have been even worse. Amongst the members of our side that day were Messrs Plant, Hutchcox, R.Holtom, J.Holtom, Blair and Stacey all of whom were on the teamsheet for this the return game. I was hoping that that defeat had hurt our boys and that we would see some pride today. As it happens, Alvechurch appear to have had some turnover on the playing side since last year and there were precious few of their 6-1 heroes in evidence.

This simply had to be our best performance of the season. We controlled the game from start to finish and although it was goalless at half time I gave us the first half by a street on points. Within a few minutes of the resumption Matty Blair had the ball in the net and this was quickly followed by a spectacular overhead goal by Ryan Howell from a corner. Two-nil up and Alvechurch simply didn’t know what had hit them. Typically Racing managed to concede a sloppy goal to give Alvechurch a glimpse of a way back into the game with fifteen minutes to go but substitute Ross Holtom slid in to put the result beyond doubt just before the end. Revenge is a dish best served cold and it sure tasted good on that cold Easter Monday. That made it five games unbeaten and eleven points out of fifteen: our best run under Bobby Hancocks and out best since the period from 31^st December 2005 to 28^th January 2006 under Marcus Law when we also strung together five games without defeat. We’ll miss March 2008 here at Racing Club: unbeaten in the month and if the Alliance chiefs are willing then we should be Team of the Month. Fingers crossed!

Keep the faith!