Players Got Wet I Stayed Dry .........Mostly

Another evening staying away on business and another evening where the choice was Nice warm Hotel or Out In The wind And rain,well i am a Non League fan so as ever the answer was the latter.
Tjis time it was a Red Insure Cup match between Hungerford  and Burnham both of the Calor League Premier Division ,on arrival it was still mercifully dry and i received a warm welcome from the staff on the gate who I think with the forecast were grateful that anybody was going to turn up and watch

Hungerford is a pleasant little ground and thankfully on a night like this was going to turn out to be one with pleanty of covered areas to protect from the brewing storm

On a cold night you always judge a club on the quality of its coffee and Hungerford scored well with a good hot cup at a very reasonable price,you realised that you were in Royal Berkshire with the inclusion od sea salt amongst the condiments,don't get that posh in the Black Country

Anyhow the forecast said rain about 8.00 and sure enough just as the teams came out down came the rain,thankfully I was nice and dry under a covered standing area behind one of the goals but thats more than could be said for the players

From the start Hungerford were very much the dominant force and raced into a 3-0 lead,sadly all the goals were at the other end of the pitch and so I got no photos of them,however as Burnham stayed a spirited comeback and pulled the score back to 3-2 I was able to capture at least one of the goals that just crept in through what was now a very sticky goalmouth

Sadly for Burnham this was as close as they got and from then on Hungerford scored on a regular basis finally running out 7-3 winners,as the weather was testing not only my equipment but also my limited skills all i have to show for this goal fest is one rather muted celebration

By the end the pitch was in a pretty rough state and the players must have been looking forward to a nice warm shower

One thing I must say as at the Frome match last week is that the Ref and Linesmen deserve real credit firstly for letting the game go ahead,I have seen games called off in much better conditions,and secondly allowing for the conditions and some pretty fearsome sliding tackles that went in

Oh and the Mostly bit in the title,well I may have stayed nice and dry during the 90 minutes but by the end of the 100 yard walk back to the car I was like a drowned rat

A Night match in Somerset That Evaded The Floods

Working away on business in Somerset I must admit In was not hopeful in getting a match to watch and indeed the Tuesday night proved that with my 2 options of Gillingham and Bridgewater both falling foul of the awful weather.
Wednesday night however proved a glimmer of light as Frome Town were able to confirm that there game was on so I was off on my first visit to the Aldersmith stadium for the visit of Bideford in the calor League Premier division.

As usual I arrived early to get some shots of what is a very pleasant ground and as ever with non league it had at least one character giving all who would listen their views on the team

As I had been delayed at work and unable to get a meal on the way I was relying on getting refreshments at the ground and was pleased that the Burgers and Coffee served by very pleasant staff were excellent,I did hear others saying how good the chips were as well so thumbs up to Frome for that

 As ever at most Non League matches there were a smattering of groundhoppers including a guy I got chatting to who was an AFC Wimbledon  (A club I have long had a soft spot for) fan hailing now from Trowbridge where my company was based,we spent a very pleasant few minutes discussing the joys of Non League football.

Anyhow onto the game and from the start it was a hard fought open and very entertaining match with Frome having much the best of the opening half but unable to convert their territorial superiority into goals despite going close on a few occasions

The flashpoint of the half was a tackle on a Bideford player that had many on the pitch and in the crowd screaming for a red card,I didn't see the incident as I had ,wrongly, anticipated a shot on goal and was focussed on the keeper but taking to other neutrals later I thing the ref got it spot on with a yellow card especially in view of the very slippery conditions,it did however provoke quite a contretemps on the pitch

The second half started  very differently with Bideford very much the dominant force and as I was covering the Frome attack it was at least 10 minutes before I actually took a shot, the match changed though round about the hour as Bideford had a one on one with the keeper that was badly dragged wide and within minutes Frome broke swiftly to get a nailed on penalty that was calmly put away.The pedulum had swung and with Frome in the ascendancy a second goal was not long coming,I missed the goal but got some of the best celebration shots ever.

And so Frome ran out 2-0 winners on a rather damp but very pleasant evening that ended with me being asked to photograph the man of the match

Thanks Frome Town hopefully i will visit you again