So I am in my car with little spare time to get to Exmouth if I want to see the kick off. The usual traffic hotspots slow me down. Topsham Road, Topsham and then join the procession down the single lane road from Darts Farm to Exmouth. I decided to use the main car park and found that the charges are in small print on the machines themselves and not on the noticeboards like most places. In discussion with another man we found them and I selected £3 for 4 hours. Changing from driving shoes to walking boots I set off on the 5 minute walk to the ground.
When I got to the gate there was a smiling face who charged me £5 for entrance and £1.50 for a program. These I would say are good value for what you get. The program is limited but good quality and as I arrived so late I did not get a chance to read it until half time.
The teams kicked off and Exmouth scored within the first couple of minutes as the Callington keeper let the ball through his legs. I commented "Wembley guaranteed then" which got a laugh and then the match settled down. The trains passing the ground in the background was a slight distraction and the ball was replaced a number of times as the high and wide shooting saw the trees and bushes swallow the shots. Exmouth demonstrated good passing ability and controlled the match for the most part. My attention was drawn to a couple of Callington defenders. One an experienced ginger hard man in the mould of Paul Scholes and outside him a young blonde defender still learning his craft. As the match went on the youngster showed better talent in seeing the ball safely out as he swerved left and right as if he was going to turn. The ginger defender was less agile and when he tried to block by standing in the way he was grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground by the Exmouth striker. The booking was justified but I was reminded how partisan fans can be as the locals gave the referee a lot of stick for that decision.
I checked the ground as I have a little interest in how grounds are set up. The pitch is surrounded by a breeze block wall four blocks high with gates and gaps at various points. The kids had a little area of grass where they chose to kick their ball around and it was fascinating to see the girls watching the boys and the boys trying to show off. Oddly (or maybe not so) the biggest cheer from the kids was when the final whistle was blown. They had the freedom to stand when they wanted, sit in the stand when they wanted and change seats, sometimes fighting over who would sit where. The match itself seemed to have no relevance to them.
Half time came with the score at 2-0 and I settled down to read the program. The program informed me that a win in this tie was worth £550 so that was the aim with the additional reward of a tie against Bridgwater Town in the next round. I fully intend to go and watch that second round match and who knows I may be hooked on the F.A.Vase run as long as Exmouth remain in the running. The program also informed me that I was not wrong when I heard that the name of one of the players is "Ace High". I wonder if that name was changed by deed poll or whether his parents had a strange sense of humour.
The fixture list showed that the second team and third team have lost all their matches. Is this one of those clubs that put all their eggs in the first team basket? I saw that the second team had lost 14-0 to a team called Cronies. I am sure that must be the same team that I saw a few years ago in the Devon & Exeter League called Henry's Cronies. I guess Henry has left the club now. I could include the match reports from three previous fixtures but I will probably do that in a separate post. I then had just about enough time to read about the history of the club before the players returned to the pitch for the second half.
The second half was similar to the first half but with less energy. One of my favourite memories was after Callington scored. An exhausted broken zombie body ambled to the centre spot shouting "Pick it up lads". The other equally exhausted broken zombie bodies responded by ambling brokenly in a forward direction. They did pick it up though and the pressure told when Exmouth were awarded a penalty. I am pretty certain that it was Ace High who took it and scored from it.
As the match wore on my attention was diverted to the crowd. A group of five behind one goal, most of the crowd in front of the beer tent, and the odd isolated soul dotted around the perimeter. The stand was mostly empty but it did only lift people about four feet off the ground. The girls started telling the boys about a den in their bedroom. They made it quite clear that the boys would sleep in the boys room though. I did warn the boys about kicking the seats though as they were in danger of kicking just hard enough to break them.
The sun was hot but I had just enough shade in the stand. The fourth goal went in ensuring an Exmouth victory and I knew then I could go home happy. If I had gone to Exeter I would have watched a 3-0 defeat and if I had gone to Weston I would have witnessed a 1-0 defeat. Here I saw my team win although I must have missed something as I went home believing we had won 4-1 but in the F.A.Vase results page the score is listed as 4-2. Oh well, it is still a win and a comfortable one. I look forward to Bridgwater Town.
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