Saturday, 26th October 2013
Fourth Round Qualifying
Hemel Hempstead Town v Sutton United
Vauxhall Road
Hemel Hempstead
HP2 4HW
K.O. 3.00pm
Half time 2-3
Final score 3-3
1-0 Lewis Toomey 03
mins
1-1 Mitchell Nelson
23 mins
1-2 Graig Dundas 35 mins
1-3 Ali Fuseini 40
mins
2-3 Ben Mackey 45+1 mins
3-3 Ben Mackey 48
mins
Attendance 1455
Miles travelled approximately 30 (not including the 328 miles).
Hello. I so wanted to start this with a line about Hemel
being only 90 minutes from the First Round etc etc etc… A little like Walsall’s
infamous fanzine “90 Minutes from Europe”.
But, what’s the point in pretending? I'm writing this in the
dark, in Cumbria, in a storm and I already know the result of the game and the Cup
draw. It’s Sunday. It’s almost midnight and if I don’t go to bed soon I’m going
to start trying to catch the spiders that I know aren’t really there or
crawling the walls…
I got to Hemel stupidly early. I didn’t mean to. It’s just
the way it worked out. As it turns out, it was a fortunate thing to do. The car
park was already starting fill up. I parked in my now usual place and waited
for everyone to arrive.
Remember when I first went to Hemel and mentioned the atmosphere
being different? Well this time it was really different, but not in a good way.
It felt heavy. Nervous. Laboured. Strained. It just wasn’t flowing. Does that
make sense? Everyone I spoke to seemed, well, different. I tried to say the
right things about being and staying positive etc… While everyone else wanted
to tell me just how good Sutton are.
I did all of my now usual things, programmes, photos, before
entering the ground. Some youth walks up to me and tells me how he’d read my
blog. How he found it boring and how he stopped reading it and went back to
bed. Ha! Ha! Ha! Everyone’s a critic.
I meet up with Hemel’s staff, Leon from BT Sports, Tony who
tells me that he’s going to put the tickets in the post. More people make the
effort to come over and say hello to me. Which was a fantastic ego trip and the
kind words are very welcome. Thank you all.
But the vibe was wrong. Dull. Down. Nervous. There’s that
word again. You couldn’t avoid it. It was like a thick fog.
Slowly the Kick Off limped into view. Not even One Direction
could get things going. They tried, but they failed. It just wasn’t happening.
It wasn’t looking good. This was beginning to look like a good hiding in the
making.
I found my spot on the terrace behind the goal. Sutton won
the toss and swopped ends. Now that’s a sign of fear. So Hemel are now kicking
up the slope in the first half and were all at the wrong end. On mass everyone
just walked around the pitch. It was like a scene from a wildlife programme,
you know, vast plains of Africa, Wilder Beasts, mast migration etc... While
everyone was making their way to the other ends of the pitch it happened. Lewis
Toomey popped up on 3 minutes and poached a goal. ONE NIL! Vauxhall Road
exploded. Sutton, if you are reading this, that is what happens when you try to
load the dice.
The goal opened the game up. One Direction found their voice
but lost it again. Hemel had a break away down Sutton’s left and instead of
going down for a free kick a wonderful cross was delivered by Thorne where it
was meet by Mackey and an open goal which he promptly missed. It would have
been easier to score. In the blink of an eye Sutton were down the other end and
were scoring a well placed header from a corner. Text book and completely predictable.
The first and second goals for Sutton resulted from missed Hemel chances.
The crowd went quiet. I felt sorry for the players. This was
a decent sized crowd. The players deserved better than this. The band wagon
jumpers would go home wondering what all the fuss was about.
Sutton took control of the game. The crowd stayed quiet and
by 40 minutes it was 1-3 with Fuseini hitting a 25 yard daisy cutter, I’m not
sure how much the keeper saw but I had a great view from the other end.
Hemel, were not themselves – I’m trying to be polite here –
but they were hoofing it, not all the time. When the hoofed it they lost it.
When they got it down and played like I’ve seen them do over the last four
games they simply took the game to Sutton. Every now and again Hemel showed just
how good they are.
On the stroke of half time Hemel won a penalty. Up stepped
Mackey who stuck the ball down low to the keepers left. The keeper got a strong
hand to it and pushed the ball onto the post. The ball bounced kindly back
towards Mackey who scored from the rebound. Suddenly the vibe changed.
The game restarted and went straight into half time.
As we made our way to the end where we all started from, the
burger van caught fire. The first I knew about it was when the staff from the
other burger van ran across the pitch and without doubt it was the fastest
anyone had moved across that pitch all day… WHAT!? We all stood there watching
CO2 gas being set off while everyone continued to queue and be served… and
that’s how it should be, commitment from both sides…
All too soon the football interrupted the entertainment.
The One Direction boys had found their voice. The vibe had
changed for the better. The nerves had gone.
Within 2 minutes of the second half Hemel had won a penalty
with a reaction to a tackle that would make Tom Daley proud.
Ben Mackey then did his best Bing Crosby impression and
slammed the ball straight down the middle. Vauxhall Road went proper potty. It
was a complete game changer. The momentum had shifted. Hemel were on the front
foot and kicking down the hill.
Without doubt the worse moment of the game was when a Sutton
player took out a Hemel player with a vicious elbow to the face. He knew what
he was doing, he knew he was going to be out paced so an elbow to the face it
was. All he got was a yellow.
Weird how things even themselves out during a game.
The game moved on at a cracking pace. Either team could have
won it. Both teams should have. Chances were missed at both ends, which made it
much more exciting to watch, if that makes any sense.
Then it happened. Sutton piled forward, they entered the
Hemel penalty area on the left, the ball bobbled up and hit the Hemel defenders
arm has he spun around to find it, “HAND BALL!”, shouted everyone with a
connection to Sutton, silence loomed out across the pitch from anyone with a
connection to Hemel. The Ref pointed at the spot. The ball was placed. The ball
was struck. The keeper went one way… and the ball followed him. Sutton put the re bound over the bar...
Weird how things even themselves out during a game.
I don’t know what made me do it, but I took out my phone and
checked the time, 43 minutes glared back at me. Oh no, not again. Not another
replay. Bloody hell. I’m in Cumbria next week. Suddenly the game stopped being
fun. Suddenly I wanted a goal. I wasn’t bothered by whom. Just a goal. Yes I
know it’s selfish, but I’m in Cumbria next week, do you have any idea how far
that is…
A few minutes later and its Full Time. 3-3. *SIGH*
I stood on the terrace trying to work out how to get up to
Cumbria, then down from Cumbria for the game and then back up to Cumbria for my
daughters dental appointment on Wednesday.
The sun was setting on my dream. But then, it all depends
which way you look at it…
As I drove north it gave me time to think about the replay
on Tuesday and the FA, who were on the piss in Covent Garden. It was 150 years
to the day since the rules were drawn up in a pub in Covent Garden. I wonder
how many of them actually went to a game today before going off to pat
themselves on the back, for something that someone else did 150 years ago…
At 10.30pm and after 328 miles, I arrived at my daughter’s
house.
Noggin xx
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