‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this one’ read the text message from Pete. It was code for ‘I’m not setting off until I get concrete confirmation that the game is on’. Organising a day trip to Aldershot, or any away game, is such a responsibility. You must get people to the game on time but never disappoint them with a wasted journey, should the game get called off. I was mindful of not wasting a moment of Pete’s Saturday, when I made the call to set off at 9.15am. It’s fair to say he wasn’t too happy; the pitch inspection was scheduled for 9.30am. I was surely being reckless with his weekend.
Having parked up by the motorway for a while waiting for the final confirmation, we eventually bit the bullet and set off regardless. There was no choice, if we left it any later, we might not get there on time. As it was, our normal breakfast plans were cancelled, our 234-mile journey south had begun in earnest. What could possibly go wrong?
Having checked out all alternative football matches from Derby County to Hampton and Richmond Borough, confirmation eventually came though that our game was on, about an hour after the inspection was originally planned. We were still suspicious though, the rain was relentless at times, and when we could see out of the windscreen, the fields at the side of the motorway were often flooded.
The rain was still coming down as we arrived in Aldershot. We’d not stopped so headed straight to the refreshments behind the main stand. The chips were to die for, but not in a good way, perhaps reheated from a previous game. On the positive side, they were hot and constituted both breakfast and lunch. Anything is better than nothing when you’re ravenous.
Aldershot fans are a friendly bunch, one fan of over 60-years was telling me all about the history of the ground, the barriers he’d painted red and blue as a youngster. The leaky guttering that has always leaked and was going like the clappers all over the seats in front of us. In fact, over the last decade, other than a few minor tweaks, the ground is today, as it’s always been. A proper old traditional football ground. It’s one of our favourite away days too.
To say there had been a lengthy pitch inspection earlier in the day, it was hard to see what the issue could have been. When you compare the condition of the Shay pitch last winter to Aldershot’s ground it looked like we were about to play at Wembley. Sure, there were a few boggy areas behind the goal at the bottom end of the ground, but the playing surface was fine. By kick-off it had pretty much stopped raining too.
The Shaymen shaded the first half attacking the famous East Bank at our end of the ground. Both teams created chances, in a half that was also disrupted by several stoppages in play. Town took the lead just before the break with a decent goal, it was deserved too, on the balance of play.
Town made it two shortly after the restart, the impressive Harris scored his second before running half the length of the pitch to celebrate with what must over been over 100 travelling Shaymen. Aldershot are notorious at counting away fans, famously announcing 27 a few years ago when we counted over 70 on that evening. It’s perhaps due to the turnstiles being available to both home and away fans in the same place.
The game will be remembered for six minutes of action around the hour mark. Town went from leading 2-0 to losing 3-2 in a flash. They scored a good freekick, then scored from a good old fashioned comedy scramble in the box. They had it, we had it, they had it, we had it, they had it, the keeper almost had it, we had it again, they had it, we had it, they had it, then whoosh, 2-2. We then had a good three minutes of calm before the Shots scored again. We recollected last season’s 4-3 victory, and in all honesty, we should have equalised or maybe won the game with two very good chances in the six-yard box that pretty much ended on the high street behind the goal.
In the end, it was an entertaining game, the team played well for most of the game, and as Pete said, ‘he had a bad feeling about this one’
Next up and we’re off on a mid-week adventure to the famous Brackley. What memories.
C’mon Shaymen!
Miles on the road: 6014. Goals on the road: 22 Points on our travels 19
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