Entry £5
Tea £1-50
Tea £1-50
Programme £1-50
Raffle £1
Petrol 108 miles £11-61
Total £22-11
So I've hit the wall. After something like 33 games this season I'm starting to feel jaded and tired of this hopping lark.
After a late night return from Copenhagen I opted to drive to Tadcaster, which is only actually a 50 minute ride away. The town is right next to the A1 but I would have had to bus it from Leeds so the car seemed the better choice.
There was free parking in the town and I had a brief wander before the game. The main road bridge across the river is still being rebuilt after the winter floods, and the town felt very quiet (not sure whether the two are connected). The i2i stadium is right next to the river so it is a wonder that the club managed to recover their ground after it was submerged in December/January.
The main distinctive feature of the ground was a unique seated stand at the car park end of the ground. This resembled the kind of seats you see at the circus! The roof appeared to be some kind of stretched out canvas, whilst the seating consisted of long wooden benches in the home side's blue and yellow.
The sky was cloudy and a bit grey, but this should on paper be a decent game (2nd against 3rd). Cleethorpes came out stronger, and played much better football than 'Tad'. The home side seemed content - whether by accident or design - to sit back and counterattack. The Lincolnshire side created most of the first half chances, with Cooper heading just wide after a cross from the right, while Mascall fired a long ranger just past the keepers left hand post. Oglesby, who was strong on the ball and pacey in attack, was a real handful and had an angled volley well saved. The home sides main 'chance' came when the burly Beadle blasted a wild effort miles over the bar.
After a cagey first half the game began to open up. Cooper’s clever turn and shot was turned around the post by the alert home keeper, then from a corner the keeper looked like he'd dropped it into his own net. Time stood still until it was cleared away at the last second. The home side responded with a hatful of their own chances – Josh Greening’s dipping free kick missed everyone and was tipped around by the away keeper. Then the same player could only plant a close range effort about a foot wide, while Corner ended up nearly scoring with a similar effort. This now felt like a park game where the next goal would win. A mazy run by the one of the Cleethorpe’s subs resulted in a left foot effort which went over, and then Cooper was left banging the turf when he headed over the bar. It had been a bit of a frustrating afternoon for both sides though perhaps Cleethorpes should have shaded it. The only winners today were Handsworth Parramore who had seen two title rivals drop valuable points.
I headed back to the car, past the impressive exterior of John Smith's Brewery, and set the sat nav to 'home'. There was no final score on the radio, which was instead dominated by the cricket commentary. I drove past Ferrybridge and back onto the A1 before hitting torrential rain. It had been that kind of day.
