Ah the romance of the Ryman League with a trip to Fleet Town bringing back happy memories of days gone by.
Saturday afternoons at Chesham, Purfleet, Borehamwood and those small grounds hidden away behind rows of 60s houses, large oaks and sprawling beech trees.
Parking across some poor souls driveway or perched on a grass verge, the car population swelled whenever the Shots came to town.
Such was the venue for the Hampshire Cup Semi-Final on Tuesday evening where a mix of youth and bench players, met a mixed bag of non-league journeymen for an evenings entertainment.
This was not five star football and with Arsenal on the box, it was only the hardy that witnessed a close run contest on a cold March night.
The home side doubled their average gate to a respectable 330 or thereabouts, although by the time the stewards and policemen are paid and the match officials receive their reward, I doubt there is enough to cover the cost of the floodlights.
All eight pylons blazed away for nearly three hours - blinding anyone not wearing a pair of snow goggles. If a private jet inbound for Farnborough had given us the once over, I would not have been surprised.
The venue boasted a clubhouse with a beer selection rather mean for my taste and no Sky TV – an essential for clubs at any level.
Nevertheless, a friendly and warm atmosphere, somewhat adrift from the league grounds Shots fans visit nowadays. It was, I overheard one Shots fan remark ‘like the old days’.
The game showed early spark, with the visitors taking the lead, scorer announced as ‘Suarez’ known to us as Louis Soares, although the home side claim the finishing touch was one of theirs. The build up to the goal showed some nice play from Cox and Riza. ‘The Blues’ should have had a penalty, or maybe two in the opening period, and it really did look like the match officials were under team orders, to deliver the side with the biggest following, to the final at The Fitness First Stadium.
Fleet pressed strongly in the second period, and were the better of the two sides. Shots new boy Spencer covered more ground than a gang of combine harvesters on a summers day, Riza showed more nice touches, while the youthful back four, marshalled by capable captain Hutchings, coped well with the more experienced home front men.
It was Shots old boy Ty Smith who hit the equaliser from the spot , after a goal-bound shot from Smart was blocked by Brymar’s arm. The home side spurned several good opportunities to take the lead – one blistering 30 yard shot from Ty Smith bringing a superb save from Ruiz - the game reached 90 minutes level pegging.
Casey copped a yellow for an innocuous run with the ball across a Fleet player in extra time, later joined by Hutchings for something he said.
During which period, the Shots were under the cosh for much of the play.
The thirty minutes passed with few real incidents, although most of the defending was done by the visitors, with Ruiz causing some concern with his mis-hit thirty yard goal-kicks that will not have inspired confidence for the forthcoming trip to Valley Parade.
Ruiz did however make amends with two saved penalties in the shoot-out, the first from old boy Ty Smith, followed by former Farnborough midfielder Leigh Rumbold.
The Shots trio of Soares, Riza and Howells all converted.
Pearson brought a good save from Beasley, before Mekki almost apologetically drilled home to take the Shots to a cup final against AFC Totton in April.
For a short moment I half expected George Borg to run on the pitch, but alas that was a while back, when we would probably have taken 500 to a game like this.
Nowadays most Shots fans don’t venture to far away places like Fleet for a County Cup Semi-Final as they expect victory.
Shame, as the Shots second string really were’nt much better than their hosts, from four divisions below, and probably could have done with the support.
Just like on any Saturday in League 2, the boys who turn out in a Shots shirt, give it their all but often fail to meet high expectation.
Tuesday evening was no exception, but at least there’s a final to look forward to.
I hope the senior players up their game a gear or two if they’re going to get anything out of Bradford this coming Saturday – especially Ruiz who’s distribution was poor. Assuming he’s first choice keeper of course.
Good luck to Fleet Town. Nice club, nice people. Sometimes it does you good to remember where you came from Shots fans – and go back there occasionally.
Fleet Town – Beasley, Griffin (Asante), Hemmings, Noakes, Bird, Smart, Ty Smith, Rumbold, Field, Harkness (Eddy Smith), Wheeler.
Shots – Ruiz (5), Tyler (7), Nimmo (6) (Brymar 6) Hutchings(6) (Capt), Casey (5), Howells(5), Cox (6), Pearson (5), Riza (6), Soares (5), Spencer (6) (Mekki -6)