Don`t be daft I said, the weather has only been bad in the West; the eastern side of the country will be fine. Yeah right.
Having picked up junior in Oxford, we set out a bit earlier to give us time to try the fish & chips at the recently crowned UK`s Best Fish & Chip shop just five miles from London Rd. Nice bright day, across the A43 to Northampton, sun shining, both of us looking forward to the game and trying to second guess Blackwell`s team selection…..then it happened.
The mobile bleeped just after twelve o`clock with us just 18 miles from the chippy. Sheps texting to say game off! WHAT? Can`t be….but its Sheps he wouldn`t wind me up, must be that Yidd fan friend…no it’s Sheps number, must be right.
SO NOW THE RANT *!
Peterborough United have known all week that the adverse weather across the midlands might be a problem for a ground with no under soil heating, after all there were a few clues for them. Snow and ice all week, and an overnight forecast of five below on Friday. What is really astonishing is that referee Singh didn`t arrive to inspect the pitch until twelve o`clock! Surely the club knew of the problem much earlier in the morning? Why did they wait for Singh to arrive, should there not have been a local referee on standby to at least advise the clubs of the danger of postponement and stop the 2000 travelling Blades? Or why couldn`t Singh just arrive earlier to inspect. So thousands of us wasted a day and spent a great deal of petrol money for nothing because of either amateur organization or sheer bloody arrogance. RANT OVER.
Pulled in at the next lay-by, what are we going to do now? Look for games nearby. The Cobblers are away, MK Dons are at home, Oxford Utd have a home quarter final FA Trophy tie against Kidderminster Harriers….we`ll go there, junior knows a good chippy and as I have never been to the Kassam Stadium and never managed to get to the old Manor Ground it will be a cop to add to my 81 league grounds when Oxford come back into the league next season, a win win situation.
So to the Kassam (Locals dont call it that anymore, big row with him apparently!). Three sides, but well laid out and nicely set up. £14 adults, £7 OAP`s for the main stand, good view onto a soggy pitch. Harriers contributed about 300 to the below average crowd of 3300 and made lots of noise.
The guy sitting next to me tells me that Oxford are five regulars short, combination of injuries (that rings a few bells!) and resting players. ‘We really don`t care about this, getting out of the Conference into the League is all that matters this season` he tells me.
From the off, the visitors look more organised, their back four handle Oxford’s strikers easily, and up front Harriers have a large, mobile striker who is a constant threat in the air and holds it up very well, reminded me of a young Wayne Allison. Neither side really creates much until the visitors put together a flowing move (!) down the right and go in one up.
Oxford manager ex-Blade Chris Wilder (remember him, Harrogate?) clearly had a few Warnock type words at half time and his team looked more focused after the break, but it was going to take a bit of luck or a mistake to get a goal…..which happened after an hour when keeper and full back fell over each other and Oxford equalised from a tap in.
The goal spurred a lift in the tempo, both sides having a go at winning it, neither wanting a replay. Oxford getting to grips in mid field and posing more of a threat up front, pinning the visitors back, who break away down the right, winger gets to the byline pulls it back for the striker to put it in the roof of the net with five minutes left. Game over, SonofGlouc says we better get out early to beat the traffic….what? All 3300 of them ?
Back in the car, we hear the wendys have lost again, ah well, its not been such a bad day after all!
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