I have to be honest, I was a bit gutted at not getting to the game tonight, but PaulNFFC was kind enough to keep me posted of events at Cranswicks ground / field.
I was in Milton Keynes soaking up the atmosphere at AFC Kempston Rovers (aka The Walnut Boys) who were entertaining Bedford Town. I think both these teams are knocking around Step 5 / Step 6.
But before I waffle about the game, I must tell you about an incident that happened earlier in the day that pissed me off at the time but upon reflection is quite funny. I had been working at one or two points on the M1 before meeting up with a retiring colleague around the Milton Keynes area. We were booked into a hotel a few miles outside MK, and the guy I was meeting up with is an absolute nightmare to socialise with. (Two weeks ago I’d gone out with him after work and it cost me a fortune in beer and a mega expensive Thai meal. Sod that, I couldn’t afford that again, so I had a look to see if there were any pre-season friendlies in the area on Tuesday night and found the AFC Kempston game).
We met at the hotel, only to find it to be a really disgusting flea pit and the tossers had booked me into a smoking room and it had a dodgy shower unit. So I asked to be moved, “oh!” said the Sudanese refugee when I told him how awful the room was. So he moved me from room 18 to room 17, “that’s my colleagues room!” I told him, no no no came the reply, the rooms empty.
So I go bounding into room 17 only to find my colleague stood there in his altogether bar a pair of pants after just getting out of the shower. The look of horror on his face was a picture, the sheer disgust on mine was probably no better. The twat on reception thought the whole thing was funny. JUST GIVE ME A CLEAN ROOM WITH A WORKING SHOWER YOU BASTARD I thought. Eventually I get another flea ridden room.
Off to the Kempston game, but before we go into the stadium, there was a massive training session going on, on some parkland just before the stadium, there must have been 150+ people of all ages playing and training, which was a good sight for any footballing fan. £4 to get in, for what turned out to be the home teams 1st game of the season. A tidy little ground with a full length stand down the majority of one side of the ground, with nothing but the dugouts on the far side.
The two teams looked like they had around 20 players aside, but in fairness looked like they put out their strongest teams from the start. Apart from a couple of players, both teams had very youthful looking sides. Apart from 4 players (Home goalie – for 60 mins, Home and Away number 10’s & Home number 7) these guys stood out from a mediocre bunch. Plenty of passion, but some people just seemed a bit out of touch with the standard required. The first menacing shot took 38 minutes.
Facilities were good and they did a good job welcoming people to the ground. Some changes were made to the second half by both teams, with the deadlock coming on the hour with a slick move down the left by the home team with a superb finish by the number 10.
The game finished 1-0, and whilst skill factor was a little wanting tonight, I had a good night out. My colleague was able to top up his pint tally from 2 to 7 during the game.
Ahh the flea pit to look forward to.
Games seen : 3
Goals Scored 7 home 4 away 1 other
out of 10 : 7, comfortable and entertaining for someone away from home
