Hats, coats, fleeces, long-johns, woolly jumpers, and magic tea bags. We were well prepared for our 205-mile journey southwest with a forecast of freezing temperatures. Traffic was reasonable as we glided down the country on a bright and sunny afternoon. We had the Warley Shayman for company, a man with a rich history of following England around the world. Maradona, Beckham, Keegan, Germany 5-1, and friendlies in South Africa. The only problem was, he was more interested in telling us about his dog, than the trials and tribulations of watching the national side. “Just get him going on football,” Tesco Pete whispered as we hit the motorway, ‘or it’s going to be a very long journey south!’
Nailsworth is like a posh Hebden Bridge, narrow twisting streets with boutique shops and pedestrians running riot on a multitude of zebra crossings. “I bought a dog here once,’ announced the Warley Shayman as we found the only free parking space in the town. He was gesturing towards a well-presented shop as we considered just how much fun it would be to impulse buy a four legged friend miles from home whilst on a football trip. Goodness knows what the other half would say when you arrived home. I guess this story sounded interesting, until we realised it was a pottery shop…
After a decent bucket of chips, we headed back up the hill to bag a parking space on the nearby residential streets avoiding the tempting offer of stadium parking at just £15. With recent storm damage to the away end, the travelling Shaymen were given the first block of seating in the main stand adjacent to the penalty area. Opposite, the empty terrace looked forlorn, our original offer was a bargain £17 to stand there in the open and hope for no rain, or £19 to stand under the shadow of the away seating. The most exciting offer was £21 to sit in a homemade covered stand of just two rows of seating with elevated views. It was akin to the type of den you would make as a kid, proper exciting, and perhaps slightly dangerous. In the end the recent storm had put an end to it anyway.
It was really cold in the stand. The perfect hybrid pitch looked a whiter shade of pastel green under the floodlights and was already slightly frosty. The Man in Shorts arrived disappointingly without his shorts, but in some trousers last worn in the 1980’s, fashionable then, but functional now. “It’s too flipping cold!” he announced on his arrival. Then Tesco Pete started wafting around a couple of magic tea bags accompanied by some sort of contorted dance, it was all going off. Apparently, they were hand warmers that need activating, but it looked like he’d been had by the salesman.
The first half was fairly even. The home side had lots of possession, playing the ball in neat triangles across their back four. Their best efforts were a couple of free kicks that ended up on one of the empty terraces behind the goal. The Shaymen looked compact and intent on holding the league leaders and getting forward when possible.
Forest Green took the lead around the hour mark, and that sparked the home crowd into action. A drum suddenly appeared from nowhere at the home end, whilst the local scary youth attempted to bait the Shaymen faithful from the posh seats behind us. Towns late equaliser was comedic, it was well deserved but the home keeper seemed to have all day to stop the fumbled shot from crossing the line. After squirming under his hand, it rolled slowly towards the line in instalments, and when he did decide to stop it, it was too late. Waters was there to make sure too. The 50 or so travelling Shaymen celebrated a great point as the local youth quietly slipped away into the cold night.
Next up and we’re off to the midlands for the FA Trophy.
Miles on the road: 3180. Goals on the road: 9. Points on the road: 15.
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