Travels with my Ostrich ....

[Kaz]

[TheOstrich]

Any twitchers thinking about racing to Leighton Buzzard this weekend for yet another sighting of the Greater Pot-Bellied Feesh-Eating Ostrich will unfortunately be in for a huge disappointment, because it is looking increasingly likely that the bird will be heading in the opposite direction, and it can now confidently predict, after much googling, that it will probably be found, on Saturday, in the Middle of Nowhere.

Thankfully, even the Middle of Nowhere has a car-park …
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.86757 ... 56!6m1!1e1

It is now just a question of working out how to get there …..

[Ally]

[Kaz]

[cromwell]

What a nice place!

[TheOstrich]

Ah, you don't know the 'arf of it, Cromwell! A very memorable trip today ...

Yes, last week Ossie was here:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... r7pM&itg=1
(there's Monsoon, Kaz )

and this week he was here:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Per ... 7429dc9113
(yes, that's one of the club's floodlights ...)

Saturday 03/10 – FA Carling Vase 2nd Qualifying Round (for Step 5 to Step 7 clubs)
Eccleshall 0 Haughmond 0
Admission £2, programme £1.50, pasty and tea £2.30, coffee and 'am bun £2
Attendance – 51

164 FA Vase cup ties played throughout the country today - and I get to see the only goalless draw ! But there's a twist to the tale ....

I don't normally tend to watch cup ties but made an exception in this case - the FA Carling Vase is basically the old Amateur Cup for junior clubs, and the final is played at Wembley. The attraction of this game was a first-ever visit to Eccleshall, the most southerly club in the North West Counties League, who were drawn to play team No.13 on my seasonal hit-list, Haughmond of the West Midlands (Regional) League. They are both Step 6 clubs, but the hosts are bottom of their league, whilst Haughmond, a Shrewsbury-based team, are second in theirs. Should be good for a few goals, the Ostrich thought. Well I was wrong!

It was a suprisingly quick trip to Eccleshall, which is located about 7 miles north-west of Stafford. First, a stress-free journey up the M6 Toll (£4.80 on Saturdays), followed by a much more stressful 8 miles or so on the M6 proper through lengthy roadworks (no evidence of anyone doing anything, mind you) while under the watchful eyes of the average speed cameras. Off at Junction 14 and about 15 minutes overland to Eccleshall, the centre of which didn’t seem to have a lot to recommend it and proved, on this fleeting visit, impossible to park in. Eccleshall has a population of around 6,000, a large church, a ruined castle, a Co-op, and an operational biofuel power station, fuelled by elephant grass, the majority of which is grown by local farmers within a 30-mile radius. The maximum capacity of 2.6MW makes Eccleshall one of the first carbon-neutral towns in the UK, according to the company that runs the plant. [source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccleshall]

The football ground is actually a mile or so beyond the town on the B5026 Loggerheads road, near the hamlet of Pershall. It's called the “Adverc Stadium” after the ground sponsors, and I quickly dove into that the smallish carpark featured in the earlier post (if you carry on past it up Smithy Lane, at the far end of the ground there seems to be a much larger overflow parking area, although this all is on grass). Haughmond’s team coach dropped off the players in the small carpark and then had the devil’s own game getting out of it again before heading for a more spacious layby just up the main road.

The ground is neat and attractive, the pitch was immaculate, but the clubhouse is tiny, and as the bar and the refreshment counter were both in there, side-by-side, it was packed to overflowing, especially at half-time. The ground also sports a small stand with a single long bench-seat, but only about a foot in height off the ground. I took one look at it, and thought if I sit in that, I'll need a tractor to haul me upright again ...

To the game, and the first surprise was an announcement that the teams had agreed before the start to play the game to a conclusion, rather than a replay if a draw after 90 minutes. Both sides were in the event very evenly matched, Eccleshall resolute in defence when under long periods of pressure, but lacking co-ordination up front whenever they attacked. So it was bit of a cagey game, with a certain underlying flavour of ill-temper which saw three bouts of handbags and seven booked before Eccleshall’s Whittaker received a second yellow and an early bath in the first period of extra time. The referee actually had a very good game, keeping it flowing where possible and stamping out any skulduggery as and when required.

Both sides came close in the first 90 minutes, Haughmond’s Hole rattling the crossbar from 10 yards with a deft flick (34m) before later rounding two defenders and very nearly the keeper but was just thwarted (41m). Haughmond also hit the Eccleshall post on the stroke of full-time. 30 minutes extra-time merely saw two tired teams play each other to a standstill.

So - and this was a first for the Ostrich - in all my years of watching soccer, my very first ever live penalty shoot-out! The closest I’d ever come before was thwarted by a 120th minute own goal by a Sutton Coldfield Town defender.

Well, Haughmond were faultless, while Eccleshall put their first spot kick over the bar and their second was saved. They scored their third, but Haughmond’s fourth straight conversion duly settled the tie in their favour.

An enjoyable afternoon at a very friendly club with a very welcoming set of spectators and officials. A visit I shall remember!

[cromwell]

I prefer the "stadium" in the heart of the country Os! Very reasonable prices for the food, btw. A lot cheaper than the Premier League!

[TheOstrich]

Saturday 10/10 – FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round
Hednesford Town 2 Alfreton Town 4
Admission £8, parking £1, programme £2.50, hotdog £3, tray of chips £2.
Attendance – 569

Having stated last week that an Ostrich is an unusual sighting at a Cup tie, the bird was again on the road to Wembley today , this time though the FA Cup rather than the Vase.

Mrs O and I were supposed to be visiting a former work colleague of hers who lives in Worcestershire today, a long-standing arrangement, in which I would have been dropping Mrs O off for the afternoon, and then journeying on to watch Bromyard Town play. Mrs O’s colleague retired in the summer, but, as we have recently learnt, was almost immediately diagnosed with cancer. She has had the operation, but the latest is that she has now been told she is facing 6 months (!) of chemotherapy, and as this is about to start, we’ve been asked to postpone our visit at this time (the consultant has stressed infection control). So, casting around for another game for today, I found that Hednesford Town had a fortuitous home cup tie against Alfreton Town, team number 1 on the Ostrich's hit-list. Both are Step 2 sides in the National League North, currently 12th and 10th respectively - so on paper at least, a pretty evenly balanced match-up.

Hednesford is on the edge of Cannock Chase and in old coal-mining territory, hence the club mascot “Pitman Pete” …
http://www.hednesfordtownfc.com/2012/11 ... co-opening
…. who was in evidence at the ground today. Alfreton in Derbyshire is another town historically associated with coal-mining, although the football team are just known as “The Reds”. However today, despite Hednesford’s colours being black and white, Alfreton played in blue. Go figure ….

Anyway, absolutely perishing sitting in the main stand this afternoon with a strong breeze blowing down the ground; I’d forgotten how cold Keys Park can be, almost any time of the year. If you’ve never been here and intend to visit, bring flask, bobblehat and thermals. Thankfully, the action on the pitch made up for the chill factor – this was a rip-roaring cup clash, certainly the first half. Hednesford started as if they intended to sink Alfreton without trace, spent most of the first 10 minutes encamped in the penalty area after Todd had seen a fierce shot deflected over the bar by an Alfreton defender in the second minute, scored the opener when Todd robbed a defender to put Obeng away (13m) – and then completely imploded!

On 18m Alfreton raided down the left, got round the back, a defender missed a crucial cut-out, and Robertson finished off Thanoj’s neat header from close range. If that was bad, worse was to come when on 20m Hednesford keeper Parton totally misjudged a long ball played towards him, let it bounce over his head, and then lost the resulting race back to Alfreton’s Bradley, who had an easy tap-in. And if that was worse, it became disastrous on 28m when Bradley got through the defence one-on-one, Parton hauled him down, cast-iron penalty and red card for the unfortunate custodian, and Robertson scored the spot-kick against substitute keeper Ransome. 1-3 at the interval.

Alfreton slowed the game down in the second half, but to their credit 10-man Hednesford kept plugging away, had three half-decent penalty shouts dismissed, and then conceded a classic counter-attack goal on 63m when Jackson had a clear run down the left and centred to Robertson who had time to steady himself and pick his spot. Hednesford finally won a penalty on 75m – Disney’s spot kick was saved but the away defence reacted slowly to the rebound, and Disney managed to force it into the net to make it 2-4.

At the end of the day, I think it might not be too far amiss to say that Alfreton didn’t so much win this game as Hednesford contrive to lose it, although I suspect that the home team might feel hard done by some of the refereeing team’s decisions.

The whole match was played out to the accompaniment of a large flock of seagulls wheeling around and over the pitch reminiscent of the Hitchcock film “The Birds” – and as an extra delight, the preserved Vulcan bomber flew across the skyline in the second half, enroute to RAF Cosford!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviatio ... -tour.html

[Ally]

Another great read thanks Ossie and WOW! to that Vulcan bomber....it looks fab.

£3 hotdog?

If I remember rightly doesn't Jo live at/in/near Cannock Chase?

Wishing a full and speedy recovery for Mrs O's friend. xx

[TheOstrich]

£3 hotdog? - Yes, some clubs at Steps 1 and 2 have noticeably hiked their prices this season, 50p on everything, and even I draw the line at paying £1.50 for a polystyrene cuppa tea. Trouble is, a lot of these refreshment vans are "franchises" and they charge what they can get away with ...

If I remember rightly doesn't Jo live at/in/near Cannock Chase? Yes, and she always used to say that Hednesford's chilly atmosphere was because her MiL lived just down the road ...

Wishing a full and speedy recovery for Mrs O's friend. xx Thank you. Mrs O is a bit concerned, TBH, this has been all very sudden.