Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers. Tuesday 17th October 2017

Shrewsbury 4 Bristol Rovers 0

As I arrived home tired after tonight's game at 1am, I remembered Johnny Vaughn's sage advice that he often trotted out during his time at TalkSport: "Never let the football get in the way of a good day out at the football".

The drive home had been pretty tortuous, with motorway closures and road works compounding what had been a humiliating result. The day had started so promisingly. I'd had the day off work and after an enjoyable morning and early afternoon with the family, I'd then picked up Tom of @Partizanbristle and his friend Briony. After a quick coffee stop at Gloucester services we were back on the M5.  The big decision to make was whether to stay on the motorway until Brimingham or get off at Kiddimister and head up to Shrewsbury cross country: Luckily we opted for the latter which proved to be a shrewd move. Not only did we avoid the car park section of the M5, we were also treated to the beautiful scenery of rural Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Tom admires the Shropshire sunset

As we smugly motored on to Shrewsbury, Briony casually dropped in to conversation that she was on friendly terms with the the Bristol Rovers owner - Wael Alqadi. A few minutes later she revealed that he was on his way to the game and was going to meet us in the car park and sit in the away end! Surely she was having us on / delusional? If he was going, no doubt he would be in an executive box somewhere, sipping champagne with his Shrewsbury counterpart? 

Sure enough when we turned up, there he was waiting for us. No entourage, just on his own with a couple of other fans - what a guy! A bit star struck and dumbfounded, I didn't speak to him much beyond banal pleasantries but he seemed a lovely man. I thought it spoke volumes that he was behind the goal with the fans without a body guard in sight. Still not really believing what was happening the game kicked off amongst a light shower of weetabix. What followed was a very miserable 45 minutes from a Bristol Rovers point of view.

Rovers won the first corner of the game, but this proved to be as good as it got and the beginning of the end. As the corner was cleared, Shrewsbury broke with pace down Rovers left flank and after a simple and effective one-two with Shaun Whalley, Alex Rodman side footed home. Far too easy. Not long later it was 2-0. After some neat build up play, Junior Brown swung in a cross to the far post where big centre forward Carlton Morris easily out jumped Rovers left back Bola and headed home, Slocombe in the Rovers goal should have done better, getting beaten at his near post with the ball squirming under him. We were right behind the Rovers goal and it was painful to watch. I still optimistically harboured hopes of a dramatic come back but these were dashed a couple of minutes later. Further misery was heaped on the travelling fans, who lets not forget, had witnessed a 6-0 victory in their last away game. Jon Nolan converted an easy tap in as the Rovers centre backs went missing allowing Morris to run to the edge of the area and find his team mate who had easily lost his marker. 3-0 down and not half an hour played.

A few fans had already ran down to the advertising boards to hurl 'advice' at the players, meanwhile we were left trying to remember the biggest away defeat we'd witnessed and wondering whether this was going to surpass it. 5 minutes before half time Shrewsbury won a free kick on the right hand side. It was hit deep toward the far post where left the back Brown, seemingly unmarked, scored with what was a great header back across the goal and in off the post. 4-0. Disbelief in the Rovers end and so it seemed in the home end as well. Although they went in tonight's game unbeaten, the Shrews scraped draws in the last couple and until tonight most of their victories had been hard fought close affairs. Their fans were clearly not used to seeing them tearing teams apart as they were tonight with every attack looking like it was going to end in a goal. The fourth proved to be the home time signal for a fair few Rovers fans. Tom took it as a que to head back to the concourse and get us a pie each. Perhaps deliberately, he forget to get forks so made a return journey saving himself from the final minutes of the half.

Half time and it was time to take stock. Briony pointed out that most of the damage had been done down Rovers left flank. Surprising as Arsenal loanee Bola has been impressive at left back to date though it was true he had little in the way of protection. 

With the slaughter on pause it was also an opportunity to look around at the stadium. The Montgomery Waters Meadow Stadium is as bland and nondescript as it sounds. Non offensive and comfortable it  lacks much in the way of character. I never went to Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury's old ground, but did see it from a train once and it was a thing of beauty. Unfortunately it was near a river and flooded a lot. They moved to Montgomery Waters 10 years ago. It's on the outskirts of town and you can get an idea of the vibe of the area by the fact that we parked in a garden centre (paying £5 for the privilege). There are plans afoot to convert part of one of the stands to safe standing which will at least give the place something a bit different. 

The second half was altogether less eventful. Shrewsbury continued to look the better side but perhaps took their foot off the gas a little bit. Rovers replaced a striker with a defender and were able to offer slightly more resistance. Ellis Harrison looked a handful upfront for the away team put was largely feeding off scraps and it was clearly not going to be Rovers night. 

Tom remained fairly upbeat for most of the game but looked a broken man when misfiring striker Nicholls was subbed off with 20 minutes to go. In a moment of madness some weeks ago, he vowed not to shave until Nicholls finally breaks his Rovers duck. He's already sporting a bushy specimen and I dread to think how many small children he'll scare if the striker emulates his predecessor Luke James - who went the whole of last season without scoring.

There were genuine cheers in the away end when Liam Sercombe registered Rovers first shot on goal in the 89th minute. Perhaps emboldened by this reaction, Sercombe went on to complete an impressive hat-trick of on target shots in injury time, all of which were comfortably gathered by the young Shrewsbury keeper. 4-0 at the final whistle.

Rovers manager Darrell Clarke felt it necessary to come and apologise to the travelling fans. Needless to say some of the more fickle amongst us had strong words of frustration. To most gasheads though he is a legend who has dragged us up to league one from the depths of the conference.

A miserable result, but liberated by the words of Johnnie Vaughn I was free to cherish some of the positives and small victories of the night. That coffee from Gloucester services, I'd ticked off another ground in the long and stuttering quest to do the 92. Fine company and scenery had been enjoyed on the way up, and its not every day you get to sit with the owner! Even on the football side of things, we'd 'drawn' the second half 0-0 and 'won' the corner count 4-1. All in all I'm definitely claiming this as part of the rich tapestry of joy that is following your team home and away.    

Frome Town v Hereford. Wednesday 27th September 2017

Frome 0 Hereford 3

There's something deeply unsatisfying about turning up late for a game of football. 

Arrive at half time when it's 3-0 and nothing much happens in the second half - with the score remaining 3-0 - and it's even more unsatisfying. This was to be my fate on this Wednesday night in Frome. Squeezing though the unmanned turnstiles I couldn't help but feel like an intruder. The other spectators around me were seasoned veterans of the first half and seemed to be exchanging knowing looks over their half time cups of tea. Some of them were probably lucky enough to have got to the ground early enough for a pint in the clubhouse. A rare treat for me these days. You can't beat sipping on a beer whilst peering in to old team photos from yesteryear and taking in the smell of the carpet.

As I struggled to orientate myself to the floodlit surroundings, the teams came back out from the changing rooms. At least my mate Ben was at hand to fill me in on the first half. The visitors, Hereford were 3-0 up.

Frome Town FC have been a staple in the Southern League Premier for some years. After Yeovil, Weston Super Mare and Bath City they are the next highest ranked team in Somerset (if my geography is correct). Hereford have featured on these pages a number of times before and now find themselves in the Southern Premier following consecutive promotions. Having gone through the previous two leagues like a hot knife through butter, they arrived tonight sitting in 7th place, evidently finding more challenging opposition at this level.

I've heard some interesting things about the town of Frome. It made headlines a couple of years ago when in local elections independents won all the council seats with the main parties being frozen out. It also has a well renowned monthly sunday market that I've been meaning to go to for years but haven't got round to. Before tonight my only other visit to the town came when I was about 14 for a game of cricket. The things that stick out in my memory is that nearly every player for the Frome team had the surname Dredge including the umpire. The other thing I recall is that during the game some young lads drove through a fence on to the pitch in a battered Escort, did some impressive doughnuts on the outfield and then drove off again. But enough of my childhood cricketing memories, I was here for football and my first impression of the ground was very positive. It could be said that Frome's stadium it is so good they named it three times! The fine people at Footballmap.com advise they play at the wonderfully named Badgers Hill. On arriving though signage welcomed me to the Blidmans Brewery Stadium. Ten yards on though another sign told me I was at the Special Effect Stadium! 

Make up your mind lads!

No matter the name, the ground is large for this level with 4 proper stands. The oldest looking stand is behind one of the goals and has the club house bar at is rear. This is a narrow standing terrace and intriguingly there is a road between it and the pitch. Something I don't think I've ever seen elsewhere. Opposite was the newest looking stand, an all seated covered stand with shiny red seats, accessed via steps and perched on a brick wall affording it good views looking down on the action. Behind the dug out side of the pitch was a gentle slope of a terrace with a huge roof. The remaining stand had more covered seating and stretched most the length of the pitch. All in all a decent stadium and one that would not look out of place in the National South should Frome move up a level. There was a good crowd of 500 plus in, as usual Hereford bought a big following, it all seemed very good tempered and the bouncers that had been bought in for the night didn't have much to do.

To the game. I was reliably informed that Garyn Preen scored the first goal courtesy of a howler from the Frome keeper. My mate Ben likened it to Massimo Taibi's famous diver over the ball for Man United all those years ago. John Mills who has been Hereford's main goal scorer for the past two seasons got the second before Keyan Reffell put the visitors 3-0 up just before half time.

There was very little to report in the second half. And what there was I probably missed, turning up so late I felt out of sync and struggled to get in to the swing of things. I was also distracted by bumping in to fellow traveller and blogger Tom of Partizan Bristle. No doubt his report of the game will be altogether more satisfying. More distraction was to be found when Ben noticed that the linesman was a bloke he knew from work. As for what I did take in - it was good to see veteran Ryan Green still playing at the back for Hereford a decade or so since he wore the blue and white of Bristol Rovers. He spent much of the mid 2000's competing with Lewis Haldane for the title of best perma-tan at the Memorial stadium. Now in his late 30's he still looks pretty fit and dapper. Also nice to see that the instantly recognisable Peter Beadle in trademark red cap is still at the helm at Hereford in their quest upwards toward the football league.

I will definitely try and get back to Frome for a full 90 minutes and do the Badgers Hill Blindmans Brewery Special Effect stadium justice.