- England were rubbish.
- There were a few shocks, England being rubbish was not one.
- Big players were over-rated and didn't produce, as usual.
- The games were a bit disappointing... getting the idea yet?
There, done in four points. Anyway, now that's over we can all get on with our lives. Luckily pre-season is already under-way so pub-team standard games played by muppets with massively inflated egos (and wage packets) and refereed by blind, incompetent fools are replaced by... well, I don't think I need to finish that sentence really.
So, pre-season. I'm planning to go to several pre-season games this year although the actual number will probably be lower. As a wise man once said 'pre-season is always exciting until you actually watch the games', at which point you die a little inside and vow to never go to another before figuring out where the next one is, declaring 'this one will be better' and setting off on your merry way to face inevitable disappointment once again.
The first game on the list was the Central Midlands Football League, Supreme Division's Sutton Town vs FC United of Manchester from the Northern Premier League, Premier Division at The Fieldings in Sutton-in-Ashfield. Travelling to the ground was easy, right up until getting off the train at Sutton Parkway. Sutton Parkway, what is the point of that place? Really? Usually Parkway stations are connected to the surrounding area by excellent public transport, by Lincolnshire standards at least. Sutton Parkway isn't connected, at all. An hourly bus was looking the only option, that or a 2-3mile walk. Luckily my travelling companion and I were rescued by the aforementioned wise man and author on Beat The First Man (for God sake don't tell him I called him wise though, I'd never hear the end of it) giving us a lift to and from the ground.
Welcome to Sutton Town.
Parking at the ground was full but the local streets were fairly empty. The ground is a pretty standard non-league ground and was fairly tidy except for the redecoration going on in some of the facilities. The warning signs didn't quite prepare me for nearly falling through the toilet floor. Other than that the ground was nice and being able to bring beer in from the cricket clubhouse next door was a bonus. No programme for this game so I have no idea who anyone was, not that a programme really helps at this level.
A fairly tidy ground, except the scaffolding obviously.
The cricket bar obviously stocks a wide range of drinks.
Sutton were outclassed from the start. The centre back pairing of a John Barnes lookalike and some other 'well-built' bloke were lacking in pace and both had the turning circle of a small aircraft carrier. Playing an offside trap against a quick set of FCUM forwards was probably not the best tactic and the defence was caught out time after time. It wasn't surprising that goals followed in both halves. FCUM were clearly the better side and scored twice in the first half, only shoddy finishing denied them more with Michael Norton being the main offender. Norton made amends to some extent in the second half by converting a penalty, although overall he was pretty disappointing. Sutton didn't really have many chances and their ungainly striker proved himself completely unworthy of the yellow boots which he was sporting, for a tall lad he was completely unable to win anything in the air and those boots didn't half clash with his ginger hair. In the end FCUM ran out worthy 4-0 winners although it probably should've been more.
For a slightly more competent review (and I do mean slightly) you can go over to Beat The First Man and read an alternative take on the game here.
Not the only one in dodgy footwear though.
So that's it, pre-season is under-way. Next up is AFC Kempston vs Bedford Town in a local derby tonight. I might blog about it; I might not depending on how exciting it is, don't hold your breath...
