I noticed on my fixture list that Torquay United were playing on a Tuesday evening.
This was my chance to go and watch a National League fixture and I spoke to the Mrs who fancied a day out in Torquay.
As it happens she had an appointment with her doctor in the morning and that took time as a blood test and flu jab were booked for late morning.
We set off from the Doctors and I got to experience the newly built Kingskerswell bypass for the second time. It makes the journey to Torquay so much quicker and easier. We made our way to the Plainmoor ground and it reminded me of football from the past where the ground is in the middle of a residential area. The club needs to move if it wants to grow but perhaps the club are comfortable where they are.
The staff in the club shop were friendly as I asked for tickets to the match which was scheduled to start at 19:45. There was a short delay as "the girl who issues tickets" was in another part of the ground but we had time so I was happy to chat as we awaited her arrival. I had spotted a pair of front row seats still free when I had checked the club website but after a short talk about the possibility of rain I settled on seats a few rows behind that. It turned out to be a good place to watch the match from.
We drove on into the town and seafront area and started looking for parking spots. We were directed upwards to a multi storey car park but my wife has walking difficulties and did not fancy the walk back up to the car, so I turned around and we drove the length of the seafront and found some parking spaces at the far end but with a long walk back to the main shopping street we decided to drive on and look at the coast ending up in Brixham which has some happy memories from the past. It is a lovely fishing village with a friendly ambience and a pirate ship.
We decided on lunch at the Rockfish restaurant which is high priced but the views are special and we were able to relax and watch the fishing fleet landing their catches as we ate some of the already cooked fish. The choice of fish was extensive so I must return and try the gurnard as well as the mussels which is a long standing favourite of mine.
Following a slow amble around the town and a lovely cup of tea at The Coaching Inn which is surprisingly a Wetherspoons pub but with character. There is a covered alleyway with what looks like living rooms on each side but these are places to relax and enjoy a drink served by a friendly host who charges £1 if you want to use the toilet without buying a drink.
We stopped a few times on the walk back to the car to admire the assorted views on display. We heard that there is a ferry service from Brixham to Torquay that runs every hour so that may be an option the next time we are in the area. We saw what was probably a school group dressed as pirates on their way to the pirate ship and heard some yacht owners talking about the cost of repairs. My thought was "If you can afford a yacht ...".
In the late afternoon we returned to Torquay and made for the ground knowing that there would be a long wait before the match started. What we did not know at that stage was that the wait would be longer than we could have foreseen. We parked up and walked towards the ground where we found a bar called "Boots & Laces" that took us both back many years. The young men in there were full of life and the old men in there were sat quietly with their pints as the pool table was pounded and the Boomtown Rats played out on the video screens.
One pint was enough so we walked around to pick up a program for some light reading before the contest began. There was a small car park where we could keep an eye on the gates so we moved the car and paid for a valid ticket to cover the rest of the evening. From there we watched as many school age children emerged from what may have been youth team training. We saw the stewards being let in and waited for the gates to open. This took longer than we had expected but we found out why when we walked over to the gates and heard that the opposition were stuck on the motorway.
Eventually one gate opened and we were told that we would only be allowed in if we went straight to the bar. We did not need to discuss this.
We settled in the bar with a couple of drinks and waited, listening to the grapevine as the news filtered through that the match would not start until 8:15pm and that the Maidenhead United team coach would not be here until at least 7:45pm. Criticism of Maidenhead followed when it was noted that the Maidenhead fans has arrived so it was only the team that we were waiting for.
We had heard earlier in the day that the M5 South had been closed due to a chemical spill. This closure was close to Bristol which is where coaches to Exeter start their journey down the M5 if they have come along the M4 as I suspect that the Maidenhead coach did.
We got chatting to a friendly couple who told us that they were with their grandchildren shortly before coming to the match and as the young lad is a Torquay fan they had been banned from wearing their supporters outfits and were not allowed to talk about the match as it would unsettle the young lad shortly before bedtime.
The next we heard was that the Maidenhead team were in Yeovil. The time was now 19:00 and the trip across the Blackdown Hills is at least 45 minutes. Following that we heard that there is a curfew at the ground of 22:00 meaning that 20:15 was the very last time that the match could start and still be completed and only if the injury time was minimal.
A couple of lads joined us who "used to play football but now drink beer" and I know exactly where they are coming from.
People started to head out to the stands around 19:45 suggesting that some of them had failed to hear the news about the start time and I got talking to a couple about my first visit to Torquay and they showed genuine interest in this blog and asked if I would be making a You Tube video which got me thinking. It will probably not happen as I have always felt that I have a face for radio and a voice for newspapers. Some might also say that I have a writing style better suited to talking but some of my work has been appreciated and if nothing else it will make better writers feel good about themselves.
We headed out to the stand as the players were leaving their training sessions and heading into the changing rooms. When the teams came out there was no spare time if the match was to finish by 10 O'Clock. I have never before seen a match where the players (Maidenhead) went through the handshake routine and then spent 30 seconds warming up. This was clearly poor preparation for the match and Torquay had to take advantage.
The match started with Torquay using Arsenalesque triangles to pass the ball through the Maidenhead defence and I was convinced that if this was the standard I would be in for a thoroughly entertaining evening. Withing 4 minutes Torquay had taken the lead and one young player, Luke Young, was central to the moves that were being put together. This quality remained high as another move, this time down the right resulted in Luke Young himself scoring the second goal. I have someone to watch. The quality remained for the first 30 minutes but injured players were asked to get up rather than be treated due to the shortage of time. There was a head injury that forced some injury time and we have to accept that but on the whole the players got up and got on with it.
I spotted several moments of genius as players used their talent to beat first one then a second player before running into a third and losing the ball. The quality dwindled slightly as Torquay got their third and fourth goals but it was clear that some of the Maidenhead players were still on the coach. They had a nightmare journey and now they were having a nightmare match. Credit must be given to the Maidenhead fans who never stopped supporting their team and were singing even at 4-0 down.
I stated at the start of the second half that all Torquay had to do was manage the game out. Unfortunately they seemed to know this and the quality dropped as the ball spent a lot of time in the sky. At least four footballs disappeared over the stand on the far side and had to be replaced by a ball rolled out from the fourth official. Maidenhead at least matched Torquay in the second half but the goals were rarely threatened as shots went high or wide or clearances went out of the ground.
The fans went home happy and the chap I had been talking to in the bar spotted me and told me I was welcome back as if I was some sort of lucky charm. My lady seemed happy and she told me she was delighted to see the number of people with learning difficulties supporting the club and shouting at the tops of their voices even during the quiet patches. She also met an old work colleague who popped over for a chat.
When I first moved to Exeter I got talking to the residents, some of whom were young men who share my interest in football. They, of course, said that I should never visit Torquay (local rivals) or Plymouth (local rivals) and whilst I have read about the trouble caused by Plymouth fans when I pick up the local paper, the fanbase of this National League club came over as nothing but friendly.
Perhaps National League level is where it is at as I have enjoyed the BT Sports coverage of this level of football, sometimes more than the games that are from the Football League, but you cannot beat the Premier League for quality.
