|
TT No.153: Paul Roth - Saturday 29th December 2007; Wessex Lge Div1; TADLEY CALLEVA vs. AFC PORTCHESTER Res: 1-1; Att: 50(?); Programme: 4 pages, free; Entry: £4; Weather: Sunny and cold. |
|
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE READING THIS.
 Friday night was not a good night for me sleep-wise, what with having terrible heartburn, rain hammering against our bedroom window and our cat Ben howling as he was so frightened by that storm raging outside. I thought about going somewhere closer to home, but, guess what?.......Tadley Calleva FC was the nearest today to home that I'd not been to before!
Found about 7 miles North of Basingstoke, Tadley and it's hinterland is a very interesting area. For starters, there's the old Roman ruins of the town of Calleva at nearby Silchester, where the club derides half it's name from, the wonderful AWRE at Aldermaston and glorious countryside all about. In that countryside are some cracking GBG pubs too, which I checked out before the 2 pm kick-off. The Plough at Little London was perhaps the pick of the five that I visited, including the local Golf Club! Each one had it's merits.
I drove here today of course, but if coming by public transport, buses from either Reading or Basingstoke would be an easy and frequent option I would guess.
Barlow's Park, the new home of Tadley Calleva FC, augments the appeal of the area now too, and is found about a mile along the Silchester Road, East out of town. Go past the ground for some 400 yards and head back toward the club via a long, unmettled and rain-filled, pot-holed driveway.
The ground is much nicer than I had anticipated and fully fenced-in with hard standing three quarters of the way around the perimeter, floodlights that are not quite ready for action yet (they're Stevenage Borough's old ones in fact), a new changing block, a welcome tea hut and yellow and black goal nettings. Despite the recent storms the pitch was in perfect condition. All in all, a treat to the eye.
Secretary Steve Blackburn provided me with a copy of the temporary 4 page programme, that oddly wasn't on general sale and filled me in with what the club hopes to achieve at the site in due course. After paying £4 for entry and meeting up with some fellow 'hoppers it was down to the business of the afternoon.....the football.
Tadley are top of the league by some way and I was expecting them to roll over the visitors from down Portsmouth-way with ease, but as we all know football isn't quite like that. In fact I do AFC Portchester a disservice, as they were very well organised and proved a difficult nut for the home side to crack. It was the men in tangerine (I did like the colours today; yellow and black for Tadley and tangerine for the AFCP club) that took the lead midway through the second half and for all Tadley's clever approach play it didn't look as though they would score, until a few minutes from time, when they won and converted a penalty kick. In the end a draw was a fair result.
A tad (sorry) like Switzerland, i.e. it'll be good when it's finished, Barlows Park is a veritable new venue on the Non-League football circuit and with a clubhouse here (a place for a drink, hot food and Sky TV will I'm sure attract more people out from town to the club), a covered stand there and floodlights that are in working order I'm 100% sure this is a club that are about to go places. Watch this space!
A Christmas cracker of a day and club too.
FGIF 5* |
|
contributed on 30/12/07 |