The Hampton Roar (Part 25)

The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Westfields on 15th April 2008. 

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

Saturday 29th March – Blyth Spartans v Kettering Town, Conference North

Another Saturday without a Racing Club game and so there’s a chance for me to do a bit of ground-hopping. So, for my 50^th match of the season, I visited Croft Park, Blyth which has been on my list of places to visit for some time, probably ever since the late 70’s when the Spartans made it to the Fifth Round of the FA Cup and that famous replay at St James’ Park against Wrexham. Blyth are something of a rarity in the North East: a club outside the Football League but competing at a higher level that the Northern League. It’s easy to see why so few North East clubs take the risk of competing at Non League steps one to four. The travelling costs are exorbitant and there’s no extra income if you choose to forego local rivalries in exchange for long journeys down to the Midlands. But never tell me that the North East is a “hot bed” of football. Today’s match against league leaders Kettering attracts just 465. If Blyth was located in the South East (or Leamington perhaps) I reckon that they’d have pulled in closer to 1,000.

The Spartans have been struggling somewhat this season. They’re keeping their heads just above the drop zone whereas Kettering Town are runaway leaders expecting to return to the Conference (or Blue Square Premier as it is now known) at the end of this season. Kettering, managed by former Tamworth boss Mark Cooper (son of Terry), came to Blyth well supported and toyed with their lowly opponents for the opening quarter of an hour during which time Blyth struggled to get the ball out of their own half let alone anywhere near the Kettering goal. But as is often the way with these things (just ask us here at Warwick), Blyth scored first after 20 minutes and extended their lead before half time. No way was the match over however and we fully expected Kettering to come out of the traps in the second half and lay siege to Blyth’s goal. The second half however produced no further scoring because Blyth battled and battled in the manner of true Spartans to earn their three points. The locals were left shaking their heads in disbelief and grinning like Cheshire (well Northumberland) cats at the final whistle. It was certainly great entertainment at a lovely Non League ground by the sea. Do visit it if you ever get the chance.

Tuesday 1st April – Ashford Town (Middlesex) v Horsham, Ryman League Premier

A beautiful evening does not sadly reflect itself in the beautiful game tonight. I visit another new ground for me in the form of the home of the Middlesex version of Ashford Town located in Stanwell and right on the flight path into Heathrow airport. This ground is very basic indeed given its relatively senior status in the Non League game – the pitch looks decent but the spectator accommodation is minimalist – it is difficult to imagine Ashford competing in the Conference South next season should they make it there via the Play Offs next month. The only notable feature of the ground is the looming presence of three rather large gas holders situated behind one of the goals which make for hardly an attractive landmark! Much to my surprise there seems to be something of a buzz about this club. The attendance tonight numbered 216 and Ashford had their own singing section of support who kept up their chanting throughout the entire 90 minutes. The game itself is scrappy but enlivened by two goals for the home side in the five minutes before half time. The second half is notable for a bit of argy bargy that results in two yellow cards and one red one following a handbags incident. The ten men of Ashford duly finish the job off in the last minute with their third goal and their fans sing “Where’s your Cup-tie Rent-a-crowd?” to their opposing fans in recognition of Horsham’s FA Cup exploits this season. Where indeed?

Saturday 5th April – Racing Club v Oldbury United, Midland Alliance

On yet another wintery day in April (damn this global warming!) we face the side immediately below us in the table in what, in normal circumstances, would be described as a six-pointer. Oldbury have had a thin time of it this season having been turfed off their own ground in the summer by the Club’s own Social Club and having appeared to teeter on the brink of folding at times. Having the odd match cancelled for non payment of fines and a point deducted for the fielding of an ineligible player also suggest that things haven’t gone well off the field this season. On the park, Oldbury are in catch up mode having to play eleven matches during April, not dissimilar to the number of games Racing Club had to squeeze in towards the end of last season and a reminder that our pitch is in much better condition than it was twelve months ago thanks to the investment made over the summer. Oldbury had played (and lost) two games earlier in the week whereas Racing had enjoyed twelve days without a fixture. As a result it was predicted that Oldbury would tire in the final twenty or so minutes and that Racing Club should secure maximum points.

The truth is, despite the eventual 3-0 score line, we made heavy weather of this one partly due to the difficult conditions. It wasn’t until the 38^th minute, when Mr Perpetual Motion Ryan Howell was brought down in the box and Terrence Carpenter laid the ghost of Racing Club penalty takers past and present, that the Racers got their noses in front. Two further goals in the final quarter of the game, both from Steffan McGrath (one tap in and one screamer) delivered the points. Regular readers of this column may recall that I had set the side my own personal target of 42 points from 42 games back in January. In fact that particular milestone has been surpassed with five games still to go. Admittedly four of those five games are away from Hampton Road but, with this game making it six games undefeated and hauling us to the top of the form table, there is real confidence about the place these days. Let’s hope that complacency doesn’t set in and that we can keep our unbeaten run going right until the end of the season.

End of season review

Given that this is the last home game of the season I’d like to spend a moment or two reflecting on another eventful season. August is usually a time for optimism but with Racing Club losing four out of the first five fixtures including an FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie at Oadby it was a less than auspicious start. Our one bright spot was another five-nil away success at our favourite opponents Cradley Town but they soon proved to be the whipping boys of the Midland Alliance with pretty well everybody securing maximum points against them which rather put our victory into context.

By mid-September we were well and truly in the doldrums having been embarrassed at home by six goal Alvechurch and that was soon to be followed by a five goal reverse at Westfields. We travelled to Studley the following Saturday with little hope but returned with an unlikely 4-3 victory. That win proved to be something of a false dawn as we followed it up with three straight defeats including an early exit from the FA Vase at the home of Glossop North End. We would have to wait until October 20^th for our next League win against visitors Shifnal Town but happily this was the start of something of a purple patch. We only lost three times in the eleven matches between October 20^th and December 15^th and notched three valuable home wins against Tipton, Coalville Town and Stapenhill.

Boxing Day saw Racing Club victorious at home to high flying neighbours Stratford Town and the foolish ones amongst us started to feel a tad optimistic about the New Year. No such luck arrived at the start of 2008 however as we chalked up four straight defeats following that Stratford game to dump us firmly onto our backsides. It has been a feature of this season that, just when you have given up all hope of seeing a performance from our boys, Racing Club pull off a surprise result that reminds you why you bother in the first place. The losing streak ended in the most unlikely of places: 2-1 away at promotion challenging Market Drayton Town.

Frustratingly we failed to beat Oadby in the six-pointer next game and then lost to both Boldmere and Rocester leaving us looking anxiously over our shoulders at the bottom three once again. Marcus Law’s Barwell were next up on 23^rd February and our victory marked the beginning of Bobby’s best run of results as Manager. Fourteen points out of a possible eighteen moved us over the forty point mark and gave us considerable breathing space over the trap-door positions. Considering that we only managed thirty-eight points over the whole of last season, reaching forty-three represents something of a landmark and even allowed us to climb out of nineteenth position in the table that I had begun to think belonged to us.

It has been painful at times this season but we have emerged of late with a much better performing squad than we began the season with. It will no doubt be a challenge to hang onto the entire side as a little success inevitably has other managers sniffing around (you know who you are Messrs Law and Cadden) but, if we can, the future looks brighter than at any time since Marcus Law departed with the majority of the team. It’s been a long hard road since then but thanks to the sterling efforts of the entire squad of late we can look ahead to better times. Stick together lads and the rewards will be there for you - just you wait and see! Have a wonderful summer loyal Racers and we’ll see you all here again and raring to go in August.

Keep the faith!