Nothing beats a bit of local football! Non-League football continues to be on the rise, and for every ignorant Premier League viewer that laps up the seductive marketing of the ‘best league in the world’ (don’t make me laugh), there’s a number of people that enjoy cheap, entertaining football mixed with a social day out with the rest of the community. What I paid last night at Chasetown, overall, wouldn’t even be half of a Premier League ticket nowadays. Anyway, more on that later.
I hadn’t been to watch Chasetown since the 3-0 drubbing against the noisy neighbours across the way at Hednesford. Long balls forward every time just dealt with by their number 5, and in all honesty Hednesford could have had more as well. It’s one that I’m trying to erase from my memory. I didn’t blog that day (thankfully), and in fact, the last time I mentioned Chasetown on this site was an equally dreary day out at Alvechurch in the FA Trophy (read more with the link), although the food was nice which was a bonus. Throughout January and February, the mighty Scholars went on a run of four games with a clean sheet before losing to fellow playoff contenders Runcorn Linnets at the weekend. So, it was going to be a tough game in order as Vauxhall Motors (Cheshire, not London) came to town, sitting second in the league.
If I remember correctly, the last time I’d been to watch Vauxhall Motors was also with Chasetown when they were playing at Boldmere St Michaels ground in Sutton Coldfield whilst the magic carpet was being laid down at The Scholars Ground. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember the score, but I do remember it being early in the season on the bank holiday weekend, and there was nearly a delayed kick off because the opposition had put in the postcode for The Scholars Ground rather than the correct one 30 miles down the road. Well done lads, peak non-league. As I remember, the game went ahead fine.
The two squads have changed a lot since then, though, as often is the case with non-league football. Chasetown had recently signed Sam Unitt, who I watched a lot when I was over the other side of the M6 with Walsall Wood. Have to say, a very tidy little player. Also, according to Jamie Hawkins post-match, Joey Butlin was apparently on a stag-do at the weekend, and still managed to turn out a good performance, which is once again, fantastic non-league shenanigans. So, it was all set for a floodlit classic against the Motors.
I was flying solo today, whilst keeping abreast of two other games. The Yellow Peril known as Farnborough to you and me (okay, maybe just me) were away to Worthing while BlogFootball regular Prov made the journey down to Cheltenham to watch his beloved Saddlers to try and continue their quest to the league title. I’d heard over the wires that some of the usual clan would be in attendance, too, plus many of the other Chasetown stalwarts.
An early train was in order, and as it was an unusually sunny day in February, I decided to walk to the station. I took a detour to go and grab a meal deal and consumed it en route. It was a relatively uneventful walk, but some rain clouds started to roll in and it began to spit as I navigated some randomly placed roadworks on the pavement. Meanwhile, I noticed my phone was dangerously low on battery so I rushed into the station to try and find a charging point before heading to the platform. At this point, the usual message came over the tannoy which regular train travellers in this country will be familiar with. “If you see something that doesn’t look right, speak to staff or text British Transport Police.” Yes, I see something that doesn’t look right. I can see a train arriving seven minutes early. That’s not supposed to happen in this country.
There were also plenty of seats to choose from, which was even more bizarre, particularly for LNER, but it was welcomed, and we were away pretty sharpish. On the way, I was speaking to Prov who had foolishly paid £31 for an Uber to the Bescot Stadium before he was able to get the coach to Cheltenham. I thought young people weren’t supposed to have money? Maybe he forgot £3 bus fares existed.
While he was en route to Cheltenham, I was en route to Chasetown. I set off into the dark and down the infamous long hill (I don’t know whether it’s infamous or not, but it is annoying) and strolled in with just over an hour to go. The Scholars have moved up in the world now and have a separate entrance for those using card to speed things up, which is very handy, and Al the legend (that’s his full name) admitted me without a fuss. I headed straight over to grab food and the ever-popular pie, peas and gravy was in order. As I did so, I noticed Robbo out the corner of my eye but, more importantly, went to grab the scran first. It’s never a problem at Chasetown, although I did drop it all over the floor once against Belper (see here for more details), which understandably didn’t end well.
I say I caught Robbo walking in, but I spent about five minutes looking for him, until I realised him and Foz were nicely conspiring together in the press box, whilst watching me eat the pie. Prawn sandwich brigade, and all that. I then caught up with a few others from work who I hadn’t seen in a while and had come to the game whilst (Come on) Eileen sang over the tannoy in the background. The best thing for me to do whilst I waited for kick off was, obviously, go and get a pint. Most games nowadays mean I can’t drink at the football as I’m busy on media duties, so it was nice to just kick back and relax. Of course I got a cider. I’m boring when it comes to alcohol. Once that was down the hatch as well, it was time for kick off.
Chasetown: Pond, Hayward, Dunne, Taylor, O’Callaghan, Wilding, Thorley, Langston, Glover, Unitt, Yates
Subs: Fenton, Thompson, Lund, Butlin, Chimenes
Vauxhall Motors: Swindell, Mbolokele, Harrison, Hoppe, Hughes, Duggan, Kay, Quarless, Rankin, Rushton, Burkey
Subs: Ellison, Holmes, Dunne, White
I’m surprised I’ve got this far without making a Vauxhall-related pun. Maybe that’s because it’s already in the title. Anyway, we started in top gear and almost motored into the lead with numerous good chances. There were signs at times of trying to get the ball up the pitch and a long ball forward, but that was never going to work, especially with the size of their number 8 who would make Peter Crouch look like a baby. Vauxhall attempted to have shots on target, but someone needed to remind them that they were playing football instead of rugby as the most of their shots almost went through the posts at the rugby club over the way.
Following that, we nearly took the lead in Astra-nomical style (sorry) as Sam Unitt brushed the crossbar with an effort just before half time until Tom Thorley thundered an effort into the top bins on the volley. One of the best goals I’ve seen at Chase for a long time, and of course, the media team wasted no time at all getting a video of it online post-match.
Half time was fast approaching so we decided to try and beat the rush and move down to the other end, but the barrier beat us to it and was already in place as we got there. Because the first one was so good, I felt I needed to get my chops around another pie, and I did so, grabbing a balti pie for £0.40 and then £3.60. Just a little mix up with the card machine. Thankfully she didn’t accidentally enter £400 or something, because that is an expensive pie. And that would definitely be more expensive than a Premier League ticket.
Overall, for the whole evening, I paid £37. That was the train, entry, food and drink. Most Premier League grounds charge more than £37 just for the entry. There’s a reason we all like non-league. It’s brilliant value for money. So those of you ignorant bastards that say “non-league is shit”, I can guarantee it’s because you’ve never tried it! Just give it a go, there’s going to be a non-league side not far from you, I promise you’ll enjoy it! It’s non-league day coming up on 22nd March, where the large majority of the 92 League clubs are not playing due to an international break, so if you want to get into non-league, that’s probably the right way to do it!
Anyway, enough of that sentimental bollocks, back to the second half. It was immediately apparently the lino couldn’t catch up with play and half the time he was well behind the defensive line, stuck as to whether or not to put the flag up. Langy was well onside at one point, slotting his effort past the keeper, but the lino claimed to have seen it despite being about 15 yards behind play. Oh well. A minute later he did the same thing as Yatesy tried to curl one top bins, but his effort was caught by the keeper.
Shortly after, Prov had told me that the Saddlers had increased their lead to 2-0, which was welcome news, while the mighty Yellows were sailing away with the lead at Worthing, which was very much welcome news. 3/3. Or it was, until I heard cheers from the other end and saw Vauxhall players wheeling away in celebration of their goal that I’d just missed. Bugger. We were playing really well, too. There was a bit of Brexit football to follow as the ball was constantly being hoofed around everywhere into the air and it wasn’t exactly attractive football. However, with eight minutes to go, the Scholars won a corner, and Joey Butlin was there to head into the back of the net. Cue absolute bedlam. That’s how you head a ball, son. Brilliant stuff.
2-1 in all three of the games, which was excellent news. Until.... it wasn’t. Cheltenham scored two goals in added time to come back from behind and steal what sounded like two deserved points from Walsall. In all honesty, if you’re going for the title, you’ve got to see out games like that. I’m sure the squad won’t let it happen again with the character they’ve got, and in isolation it will feel like a loss, but in context, it’s another point they can use to keep their unbeaten run going.
The whistle went at The Scholars Ground, and Chasetown moved up into the playoffs with a win. Ten games to go, bums aren’t squeaking yet but they might be soon! Everyone huddled around the ‘tunnel’ or whatever it’s called at non-league level, and applauded the players off. It turns out that there were a few Hednesford fans that were at the game too, having looked on social media afterwards. They’re so obsessed, they just can’t stay away. We’ll see you in the playoffs lads!
Somehow, I managed to get back home before 11pm, which is almost unheard of for a night-time game, but we will take it. Time to get some rest before getting back to the football on Saturday. I did suggest in the last blog that Farnborough’s away game at Dorking would become a blog, but instead I decided to go the seaside and watch Morecambe’s manager get rattled at Walsall beating them. Shame. Farnborough may well be the next blog as well, as we take on Welling in March. But who knows, these blogs are quite inconsistent nowadays!
Tom.
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