TalkingBull - Issue 131 - Magazine - Page 30
Jolly Sporting
At Sporting
Jim Clewer had a Kool evening at Khalsa
I
was about a month late getting into the
2015-16 season. My first two games
strangely being Boldmere St. Michaels
home and away. From then on, I went to as
many games as work and family would allow
and there were many highlights along the
way. The arrival of The Beast, Bundu's debut
at Coleshill and his 4 goals at home to Bardon
Hill, the epic tie against Camberley plus
Salisbury home and away in the Semi Final.
The awayday I have chosen to write about is
the game at Sporting Khalsa in mid-April.
With 4 games to play, we were 10 points
ahead of Alvechurch who had 6 games to
play. Khalsa were 17 points behind with 5
games to play. Although Khalsa could not win
the League, their results would have a
massive bearing on the title race, playing us
tonight and Alvechurch twice before season's
end. The game was originally scheduled for 16
January but on that day, we beat Leicester
Nirvana 6-0 in the Vase rematch - yet another
highlight.
I travelled up with Keith Hall and Mike
Baldwin, during as I remember, a fine spring
evening to 159 Noose Lane, Willenhall. I
remember seeing the sign and hoping it
wasn't a bad omen. The Aspray Arena is quite
a big Sporting venue with several five-a-side
3g pitches plus the main grass pitch. The club
house was very welcoming - as long as you
were patient enough to queue up. One
Hereford fan wasn't very patient but he was
so amusing, he got away with it! Several
lagers later, I moved across to the outside
catering area and bought a tasty curry.
Unfortunately, Mike Baldwin ordered his
curry from the club house and he was still
waiting for it approaching kick-off time.
I shamelessly left Mike in there, promising to
fill him in with the details of what action he
would have missed. Joe Tumelty and Mike
Symons started up front and John Mills was
on the bench as he had been at some of the
recent games, including Alvechurch away. I
TALKINGBULL—ISSUE 120—ONLINE
settled myself behind the goal that Hereford
were attacking and after a bright opening
Sirdic Grant put in a low cross which was
scrambled out by the goalkeeper only for
Pablo Haysham to open the scoring in the 9th
minute. The well-oiled crowd behind the goal
went wild. In the 38th minute, Joe Tumelty
missed a good chance to double the lead.
With the floodlights particularly feeble, not
everyone could appreciate just how simple the
chance was.
As I'd downed quite a few drinks, I had to
make several visits to the facilities, the doors
of which were concertina-like efforts and
difficult to negotiate in an inebriated state.
With my thirst and comfort satisfied, I
headed up to the other end for the second half
with a good number of the Hereford fans in
the ground. The Khalsa keeper was greeted
with a chant of ''One-nil and it's all your