Imagine we’d just driven for over two hours on our 209-mile grand day out, pulled in for breakfast, and were just settling down at our table, then chaos struck. The staff were running in all directions, menus that were being brought to us were now on the floor and then being returned to the front desk, and the staff were now outside. We were left bewildered, and wondered if we should make breakfast ourselves, now there’s an idea…. It wasn’t apparent what the issue was, perhaps a staff training session, it was all very dramatic, especially when we could still see the menus, but they were out of reach.
“Excuse me sir,” said one of the senior members of staff approaching at speed, “there’s a car alarm going off in our car park, we think it may be yours.” To be honest, we couldn’t hear a thing other than the soft tones of the background music, but I was soon off to investigate. Outside the noise was deafening, and they were right, it was mine. For no apparent reason, the lights were flashing, the noise screeching like nails down a blackboard. I switched it off and returned to breakfast. “Excuse me sir, it’s gone off again.” said the frustrated staff member as soon as I sat down…
Breakfast was fast becoming a nightmare, more like a keep-fit regime that a rest-break. This time after a thorough investigation and checking all the doors, I noticed that the car bonnet was open. Having just driven over 100 miles, we were either lucky to be alive, or the unnamed front seat passenger had pulled the bonnet release located by his door, in his rush to get first dibs on the best table. With loyalty being the number one principle of our car team, neither me, nor the Greetland Shayman, feel we should name the person responsible for disturbing the peaceful local community, and breakfast service for an entire restaurant…
We parked in our usual spot on the street outside Wealdstone’s Grosvenor Vale ground. The club house was welcoming, already populated with a few chirpy Shaymen. Admission was a generous £18.00 full price in advance, and we were given the run of the far end of the ground behind the goal. It was mainly seating but some spots to stand by the corner flag. The weather was overcast, but warm as the Shaymen took to the field in their decent new luminous yellow-green away shirts.
My first text to the Shibden Shayman was “Mad start, we’re a goal down, already missed a penalty, and had a player sent off.” He was soon on the phone asking for more detail, but in truth with the amount and volume of advice that was being given to the referee, it made it impossible to hear anything. I was soon off the phone and joining in with a few words of my own. It was a high boot, often seen in games, sometimes just a free kick, sometimes a booking, but never a red card. Extraordinary stuff.
Of course, the game would have taken a different route had our penalty not been comfortably saved at the far end. The award looked generous, but our chance for an early lead vanished, then soon after, the outcome of the match was pretty much decided by the official. At 75 minutes we were down to ten men. Wealdstone took the lead soon after and looked for more whilst the Shaymen regrouped. We equalised at the far end before half time to the delight of the 60 or so travelling fans around us. It was a frustrating half because despite the disparity, the Shaymen were holding their own.
Wealdstone’s second goal was a good strike from outside the box into the top corner. The Shaymen still continued to threaten though, a fierce shot was cleared just in front of the keeper as it looked destined for the bottom corner. We had a shout for a stonewall penalty turned down, perhaps due to the unwritten rule of only being able to have one penalty per game. That prompted a few additional words of advice and guidance for the official too, as you can imagine.
The team were applauded off at full time, the commitment to the cause was unquestionable, they gave it everything and were perhaps unlucky not to earn at least a draw. With 11 against 11, we surely would have had a positive result.
Next up and it’s another trip this time to Boston for a midweek jaunt. C’mon Shaymen!
Miles on the road: 882. Goals on the road: 1
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