AWAY DAYS

(Nuneaton)

 As I said in my Away Days report from Moor Green, don’t you just love away trips!

We once again had an early start and called in at the superb Brittania Stadium in Stoke and also Eton Park, Burton on the way for the usual photo’s. I received a very strange look off a man in the car park at Burton when I got out of the car with my camera. I then thought about it and realised it was the sort of look I give those people who stand in their anoraks at the end of railway platforms photographing trains!

We arrived in Nuneaton at 2.00pm and had a quick wander around the town before making our way to the ground for 2.45. It was £8 to get in and £2 for an excellent programme.

I had been before in the 1999/2000 season when with goals from Ian Arnold and Lee Elam and in front of a crowd of 2519 we won 2-0.

On arrival the first thing you notice is the large side to side slant there is on the pitch, it makes your photo’s look lopsided it is so bad.

The game itself was quite a decent one and we created a bagful of chances but we had to wait until the 48^th minute for a goal when after some excellent skill by Kevin Lynch, Terry Fearns slotted home with his trademark cool finish to cue wild celebrations from the large travelling contingent. The remaining 45 minutes seemed to take forever but looking back we looked very comfortable and Dicko only had a few crosses to catch and awkward pass backs to deal with.

The final whistle however was greeted with relief by all of us and both players and supporters celebrated what was an excellent victory at a previously unbeaten club.

Neil Moore and Stuart Whittaker both played for Nuneaton and whilst Moore who is the club captain had a solid game at the back Whittaker looked a bit out of sorts to me.

On the way out of the ground the Nuneaton supporters were very complimentary about the team and said we were easily the best team they had seen this season. They were however very upset about an incident that took place in added time when they claimed a player was felled in the box by a Southport player. I was down the other end of the ground so in the words of Arsene Wenger, “I didn’t see it” They did admit however that they didn’t deserve anything out of the game.

I just hope we can reproduce these super away performances here at Haig Ave.

A quickish getaway was in order so we could be home in time for the England game which we made, just. Not sure if it was worth the rushing mind you but our 1-0 win made the journey home go a lot quicker.

The one disappointment of the day was that the scheduled evening race meeting at Wolverhampton was cancelled due, I understand, to track maintenance work so it was straight home instead of a stop off at the races.

I am looking really forward to the Droylsden game on 9^th October which clashes with the England v Wales World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford, I think we had better allow extra travelling time for that one! Also the game at Lancaster at the end of October (unless either of the sides are still in the FA Cup) promises to be a bit special and I am sure we will take a large following to both of these games.

I mentioned in an earlier Away Days that I will be missing the games at Alfreton (possibly) and Gainsborough (definitely) so once again if anyone wants to write an article about these games/trips please feel free to do so.

Finally thanks to everyone who has e-mailed me with feedback on the programme and suggestions for things to include, I welcome all ideas and hope from time to time to incorporate some of them in future editions of the programme.