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STANDING ORDER FOR GOALDEN LOTTERY
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AWAY DAYS The latest instalment of Away Days took us to Hinckley. It was a fairly ordinary trip really. We did stop off in Swadlincote to pay a visit to the Gresley Rovers ground. Yes that Gresley that beat us 1-0 in an FA trophy replay in Januray 2002. And a very friendly lot they were too. I get mixed reactions when I turn up with the camera but I thought this would be difficult as it was 1.30 and they were preparing for a game against Ossett Albion but when I asked if I could just quickly pop in and take a picture I was showered with were the best position was, do you want me to take it with you on it, go round the far side and take it one of the main stand etc etc. A pleasant change indeed. We arrived in Hinckley at 2.10 but had a bit of trouble finding the ground and it was 2.35 by the time we got on the ground. It was ground number 134 for me, only £7 to get in and £1.50 for the programme which was ok. It is easy to see why they are moving as the ground is small and in need of a good weeding! It also had a good number of undulations on the pitch and there must have been an 18 inch rise from corner flag to centre spot. Having said that the gates that Hinckley get don’t exactly give rise to the need to move to a bigger stadium but it will give them lots of scope for improvement. The attendance of 351 was made up of 72 Southport fans (I did get a bit bored at one stage) and considering Hinckley were unbeaten I thought there may have been more there. This gate was one of a number of disappointing attendances on the day and whilst most of the better supported clubs were away from home one of my theories for this is the lack of attention the league is getting with some national papers not even putting the fixtures or results in meaning the floating fans are not even aware of the existence of Nationwide North. It even took Sky until Saturday to put the scores on its live score feed and then there were a lot of inaccuracies in the line-ups. It makes the job for us Statto’s very difficult but with the co-operation of Iain Benson from the excellent Stalybridge web site I am gradually piecing all the stats together and will be able to produce them more accurately in later editions of the programme. As for the game, if only we had put away a very clear cut chance after 90 seconds it would surely have made a lot of difference, Hinckley were happy to defend in depth and numbers with the outstanding Stuart Storer commanding in a sweeper role. It was flattering to us that a team at home should treat us with so much respect. Let’s just hope it’s not going to be like that in every game. As for the disallowed goal, well I very rarely criticise referee’s or their assistants as I think their job is very difficult but when it’s a blatant mistake you do get a bit cross. How can a shot from outside the box, deflected by their own player with no Southport player in the region be given as offside I do not know. You could tell the referee doubted his assistant by the way he was talking to him but he didn’t seem to have the courage of his conviction to change the decision despite a lengthy dialogue. My new seasons resolution not to shout at officials was therefore broken after 250 minutes of football! Next stop Moor Green for ground number 135 if we can fight our way through the Bank Holiday traffic. What a lovely fixture for Bank Holiday Monday but as it will be our 1100th Non League game it will be worth it. |
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