Wealdstone 7-0 Bath City, National League South, att. 1,343
Welcome to ....
What with England's rail network unable to deliver a train from its capital city to the provincial naval village of Portsmouth, notwithstanding PFC's decision to charge £24 for an FA Cup match with the Super Reds (Barnsley), Loko and I decided we'd give it a miss. And having trawled the fixture list for a non-league game, how about this: 1st v 2nd in the National League South? And Wealdstone (actually, Ruislip) isn't far, is it? Let's go.
Healthy queues at The Vale.
We decided to go via Ruislip station, mainly to try out the craft ale house Hop and Vine, where Loko (an aficionado) explained the difference between cask and keg. I've since forgotten, so I'm only going to have to ask him again. Anyway, a couple of beers in there, and a 15 minute or so walk down the high street to the ground, via a phone shop for an emergency charger for those who simply can't cope without their phone for an afternoon (not me, btw).
It's a sign! It's two signs!
There were some decent queues at the turnstiles, too, so while Loko queued, I dived into the social club to grab a couple of beers. Not a great choice, so I had an Estrella, while I bought Loko a 'Trilby' bitter he couldn't finish. (He works in the trade, and when I told him what it was, he did say that Robinson brewery was pretty poor; I see Trilby gains a whopping 2.9/5 on Untappd. Oh well.
The keeper continues his warm-up.
Entry was a pound more than my local Dulwich Hamlet, as was the programme. What did I get for the extra money, I wondered? Well, the programme was full colour and had plenty to read, while the football was spectacular. I saw some of the slickest attacking play I've seen all season as Wealdstone absolutely destroyed Bath 7 (seven) nil. It was a majestic display, even if Bath didn't help themselves by scoring the second one themselves, a backpost volley.
The view from behind the goal.
The one thing I did note though was the sheer abuse of the home fans. Good job they were winning. What are they like when they lose? Loko mentioned it was the home of the 'famous Wealdstone raider', but not being big on social media, or a keen listener of Talksport, or a student of the popular music charts, I have no shame in saying I had to look him up. Check out this doc. Maybe the rest of them are 'wannabes'?
Amid the abuse of the Conference South Millwall, there was one chant which amused me. No, not the one which ended with telling an injured Bath player he should 'DIE DIE DIE', but a supporter asking for a 'W', an 'E'....A.L.D.S.T.O.N.E......what have you got?' 'A sore throat'. Yes, I liked that one.
We got into Grosvenor Vale just as the game kicked off. Unlike Hamlet, there was some decent terracing behind the goal, so we made our way there. There were a mish-mash of other stands around the pitch, a proper non-league ground, with a covered seated stand at the far end, which most of the home end relocated to for the second half, to the end Wealdstone kicked towards. Bath meantime had a terrace of their own at the far end, and brought decent support themselves. Long way for nothing though.
Action in front of the Main Stand.
At half-time we snuck out the ground to the social club, grabbed another beer (not Trilby) and re-entered. Looked to me like anyone could wander in at half time (though you'd have missed Weald's opening 3 goals). We stood by the touchline this half, after I had a snout around their club shop, where there was a fantastic selection of programmes. If any Luton fans are missing some 60s, efforts, they're going for 50p a pop. We had a great day, while avoiding Barnsley's capitulation to a lower division side.
SOME of the programmes.
The Damage:
£13 ent
£3 prog
£7.80 a pint of Trinity and Estrella
= £23.80
The Tunes: Ghosteen (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) Hands on Yello (Jam and Spoon / Yello) He is Cola (Cola Boy) Heroes to Zeroes (Beta Band)
I obviously can't believe Burnley v Barnsley is being streamed!
One of the advantages of non-league football is surely that you can leave the house and be in the ground 10 minutes later. Not so at Dulwich Hamlet, as, since their return to Champion Hill, they've had sellouts. Today looked similar, as the queue at the Sainsbury turnstile doubled back and was halfway through the park to Champion Hill (the road) itself. So when I noticed peeps heading towards the turnstiles on the opposite side, I got my little hopes up. Nobody knows about them, they're not usually open (well, I s'pose none of the turnstiles have been open much in the last year). No, it was for ticketholders only. That'll teach me to have my headphones in. Still, I bumped into James, a lapsed Liverpool fan, and his kids. (BTW, are you 'lapsed' if you've never been in the first place? Perhaps 'armchair' would be a better description.)
The 'secret' queue
Talking of armchair, that's why I was late myself. I'd done that thing I know loads of Arsenal/Liverpool/Man U 'fans' do...I'd found a live stream on the internet of my own team's big match: the world had demanded Burnsley (Burnley v Barnsley) in the FA Cup and the Football Association, determined to undermine the mythical 'magic' of this competition, had buckled; 12:30 kick-off for our huge south-east Asia audience. (FYI, the Super Reds lost with a 92nd minute penalty. With Dyche moaning about Burnley's lack of penalties in the Premiership every week, does this prove him wrong.... or add more grist to the mill? It must be much easier giving a penalty against Barnsley than, say, Arsenal)
The main turnstile queue snakes through the park.
Anyway, good luck to the Hamlet. In adversity they've come back stronger and the community has really rallied around. Who knows where they could end up if they consistently average 2-3000. I know one thing - they've had more sellouts in a week than my beloved Barnsley have had in 10 years. Still, I'm home, I'm warm...and the missus has let me hang the washing up. It's not all bad.
ps, Dulwich lost 0-2 to Bath. It can't have helped that the manager said beforehand there's some bad eggs in the dressing room and he wants to ship half a dozen players out. Good luck with that.
