Game 5

Game 5
Goole AFC V Shepshed Dynamo
Evo-stick-Division 1 South
Victoria Pleasure Ground
17/09/11
Att: 118

After 2 weeks away on holiday I was desperate to get to a game this weekend.  Up to the point when I left the door I still had 2 options within 45mins travelling distance. The other option was Pickering Town V Staveley Miners Welfare in the FA cup 1st qualifying round.  The trip to Goole won out on the basis that it was 1 mile less.  So the missus and I took the 31mile trip up the A614 to Victoria Pleasure Ground.  Apart from the many tractors the journey was pretty uneventful and the satnav dropped me off right outside the turnstiles.  The £7 entry seemed reasonable enough and we were met by the usual Golden goal and raffle ticket sellers.  The Matchday programme was a reasonable £1.50 and was more readable article then adverts (for a change).

The turnstiles,club shop and Tea hut

On entering the ground you are faced with quite a large stand down the left which also has 200 seats.  This stand also houses the changing rooms.  I decide to walk round to the far side to get photos all round. As you walk past the large stand you come across some small uncovered bits of terrace.  As you get round to the far side you can see the cranes of the port behind the main stand.  On reaching the far side you are met with a small covered terraced stand with one small bench to the rear.  There is an athletics track round the pitch and no stands behind either goal (just a white wall).

The main stand

Having walked the perimeter it is time to go to the Tea hut.  Having read the blog "wheres the tea hut" I was a little anxious of what was going to be offered up.  I have to say it was slightly worse than I expected despite the early optimism when I saw Bacon butties were on offer only to be told they'd run out of bacon.  We both went for the Hot Dog, which upon receipt resembled a warm puppy ( sorry).  At £2 each I cant say it was good value at all and while I am more than happy to give money to clubs at this level I want a little bit of value.  A can of Coke and a packet of crisps brought the total to £5.60 and it was served by a guy who looked like he'd stuck his hand in a cement mixer and then continued to serve after wrapping it in toilet roll.  After spending £4.20 at Selby for Pie and peas a Cheeseburger and a can of Coke I feel that this particular Tea hut is very overpriced for the quality offered.

We decided to sit on the bench at the back of the far side terrace for the 1st half with sun shining and black clouds hovering at the same time.  I have to confess that until reading the matchday programme I didn't even know where Shepshed was in the country. It turns out they are from Leicestershire and have a small following of Black and White striped shirted fans.  They hang up their flags in the main stand and ready themselves for action.  The teams come out to Eye of the Tiger and the teams are ready for battle (literally).  The Shephed (or shitshed as Lisa later christens them) fans are quite a noisy bunch and to begin with its quite amusing.  Their repertoire consists of a lot of songs from other clubs just putting Shepshed in place of the other teams name.

The banners are out and then move at half-time for
reasons we cant figure out.

The reason I love ground hopping is because you come to a game as a neutral not worrying about the result and you get to see a new ground.  I have to say that I couldn't stay neutral in this game and it was the Shepshed supporters who pushed me to willing Goole to win and heavily.  I believe that Shepshed were on the receiving end of a somewhat controversial decision for Gooles opening goal.  The referee gave a drop ball decision whilst Shepshed were in possession.  The drop ball was not contested by Shepshed as they expected Goole to give the ball back.  They didn't and striker Aaron Martin was put through on goal and he put the home side 1-0 up on 36 minutes.  This lead to a mass brawl between both sets of players and the referee being accused of bias and his parentage being called into question.  Iam no prude and Lisa has heard much worse but their behaviour just got worse.  The swearing continued at the ref and linesmen and no cards were shown so the away fans cries of the ref being a cheat were a bit out of order as half the team should've gone before half-time.  So much for the Respect campaign.

The game underway.

Another thing I love about non league football is the fact that fans can change ends at half-time with their team.  For reasons I will never fathom the Shepshed fans changed SIDES at half-time. As we didn't want to sit and listen to their bile and nonsense we also swapped to the opposite side.  The start to the 2nd half was delayed slightly as there was a problem with one of the goal nets. Cue more abuse from the away fans ( by the way it wasn't the lighthearted stuff I have been used to at this level).  One woman even shouted that Goole should be fined.  What an idiot.  This is grass roots football not the Champions league and quite frankly Shepshed were awful.  Bad referee or not this team will be lucky to stay up at the end of the season and their current position in the table is warranted from what I saw today.  The fans blaming the referee is shocking including todays game Shepshed have conceded 19 goals in the league ( 8 games ) is this all down to the refs? On the evidence I saw the answer is no and their number 5 ( Simon Hore ) should've seen red in the second half for 3 awful tackles. 

Adding fuel to the Shepshed fire the next 2 goals for Goole came from free kicks (both were definite free kicks) one was a 35yarder that the keeper was slow to respond to.  A late goal for Shepshed was a mere consolation and while I am not sure Goole deserved to win 3-1, Shepshed did deserve to lose by that score (huh?)  The game was very entertaining and certainly was value for money and from a neutral point of view the referee was quite lenient and could have sent several players off.  Shepshed were poor by any standard and their fans blew apart my romantic idea of non league football.  Calling for another club to be fined? Whats that about? How much should a Club whose matchday revenue probably hits the grand heights of £1k be fined for a minor goal net problem? Absolute rubbish, this level of football is about small community teams who give pleasure to the 100 or so fans who turn out weekly.  Shepshed fans for me now are up there with Man United fans, I didn't like the way they acted or tried to confront the referee and Iam glad to see the backs of them.  Rant over, where to next?

Matchday Magazine