My two matches at the weekend had nine goals – Bolehall Swifts 4-2 Dunkirk in The FA Vase and England 0-3 Germany, a Women’s International at Wembley. I sat behind one goal each time and all nine goals were scored at the other end.
I was up in the Birmingham area for the weekend, where most of the family are now, and sister Kathy came with me to Saturday’s FA Vase Second Round Proper tie. Tamworth is only 15 minutes by train from Birmingham New Street and Bolehall Swifts’ ground is about 20 minutes’ walk from the station.
Swifts were founded in 1953, playing in the Tamworth & Trent Valley League and using a double-decker bus as their dressing room! They now play in the Midland Football League’s Division One and are having a great season – third in the table with matches in hand and unbeaten in any competition since mid-August.
Their opponents, Dunkirk from the Nottingham area, are bottom of the MFL’s Premier Division and they were 4-0 down at half-time. They pulled a couple back in the second period but I didn’t feel the Swifts were in any danger. It’s a good set-up there – a stand with seats behind one goal, a bit of cover on one side and a smart and spacious clubhouse set back from the pitch.
I had now seen seven consecutive matches in which at least one of the teams had scored four goals.
I took the 11.30 train down from Birmingham to London on Sunday to be in time for the England Women v Germany match at Wembley. There were no tubes to Wembley Park and the Bakerloo line train from Paddington to Wembley Central was as packed as you could imagine.
Most of the kids were ignoring their parents’ advice to ‘hold on to something’ and falling over each over whenever the train started, stopped or jolted between stops. But there was a lot of laughter and a lot of excitement about a match that was less than an hour away. There were umbrellas and hats everywhere as a great multitude trudged to the stadium in heavy rain.
The match, England Women’s first at the new Wembley, had a highly dramatic start. The Germans kicked-off but England quickly gained possession. They worked the ball forward and Jordan Nobbs’ powerful shot from just outside the box hit the bar via the ‘keeper’s finger tips. That was after eight seconds! It might have been a different contest if it had gone in.
The classy Germans were 3-0 up at the break and at that time I was rather hoping that my sequence of matches with teams scoring four or more would come to an end. Fortunately, England played very well in the second half and kept a clean sheet. I wish they had managed a goal. The crowd would have gone mad (me included).
I renewed acquaintance with the ‘London Underground League’ last Thursday, watching as Victoria Line beat Trans Plant 4-0 at Market Road. It was a shame I was the only spectator, because the standard of football was pretty good.
The referee had a tracksuit top on with ‘FIFA’ on the back, which looked a little incongruous.
David Barber, aka ‘The Barber’, joined The FA as Sir Alf Ramsey’s assistant after the Mexico World Cup in 1970 and has been its historian for the last 35 years. He has been to nearly 7,000 matches at all levels but has lost none of his enthusiasm! You can follow David on Twitter @thebarberfan
