Today was a mixture of excitement,
sadness, loneliness, regret and a longing to be alone. I had hardly slept all
week because my mind has been going over the things I’d done wrong with my
girlfriend. It is difficult to function and think straight when you are sleep
deprived. Since last Sunday I had made two attempts to patch things up with my
ex but to no avail. As I set off on the two hour journey to Stourbridge I knew
it was 90% over, but that still meant I had 10% hope - these thoughts were swilling around my mind
as I travelled down the M6. The ipod was
on random, but I can’t remember a single song it played. Traffic flow was good,
the weather was bad and as I travelled it was cloudy and rainy both inside and
outside my car – I arrived, pulled up in a nearby side street and walked to the
ground under light drizzle.
The
Stourbridge FC fans have been the friendliest fans so far to The Giant Killing
Adventure. They have made the most postings
on our facebook page and they are the only fans so far to offer me a pint (two separate
fans). Don’t get me wrong, I have had
plenty of support from other clubs.
Marine FC offered to meet me at the bar and in the press room, Lancaster
City FC fans retweeted my blog postings and I’ve also had a Curzon fan post
onto our facebook site – I appreciate all the support from fans and clubs. I’d
been offered a pint in the club bar by Matt Bullock but I didn’t arrive until
10 minutes before kick-off and on this occasion I probably wouldn’t have been
the best company - I still appreciate the kind and friendly offer. It was £10
at the turnstiles.
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community by liking the page. https://www.facebook.com/thegiantkillingadventure
The welcome sign as
you enter the Stadium.
I had just enough time to buy a £1 cup of tea and check out the diner – which was portacabin style. Pies were £2 each but they didn’t have any left and I was intrigued by the ‘Handmade Balti Scotch eggs.’
There were a couple of seats
outside the portacabin and a few kids sat and ate their food under umbrellas as
the drizzle continued.
I moved behind Curzon Ashton’s
goal with a couple of minutes to spare. 30 seconds before kick-off I received a
message to confirm that my relationship was definitely over – the 10% hope had
died as the game started. The temperature was 14 degrees.
The match kicked off and the
Curzon fans were loud as they cheered and chanted. Stourbridge pilled on some
early pressure and got an early reward.
Curzon’s defence seemed too casual as they passed it around the back and
got caught out a couple of times. They are normally a quality passing side, but
it seemed that Stourbridge were quick, full of energy and Curzon struggled to
play their normal game. This Stourbridge
pressing led to a second goal and it looked like it could be a hugely one-sided
affair. However Curzon settled a little and ended up with a couple of chances,
and a goal that was deemed off-side.
At half time I moved into the
main stand because the rain started to fall much heavier.
This is the entrance
to the seated area, round the back of the stand.
I felt safe amongst the
Stourbridge fans as the atmosphere and the whole club seemed friendly and
welcoming. The second half was more of a
stalemate as neither side really had many chances. Curzon scored another
off-side goal and it was amusing to hear the Stourbridge fans mock the Curzon
manager – he was constantly shouting ‘ref’ throughout the second half. Every
time he shouted it, the Stourbridge fans would sarcastically shout along with
him and it made me laugh. The Stourbridge
fans behind the goal started to sing and as the rain poured heavier, Curzon
didn’t have enough to get back into the game - they had been outplayed as
Stourbridge scored a third in the final minutes.
Attendance: 633
I will be saying goodbye to
Curzon Ashton for the 2013/14 FA Cup. I
have followed them for five games and I want to thank the team and their fans
for their support.
I had had a good day at
Stourbridge – it was a great distraction at a great little friendly club. As I
set off the weather was terrible on the M6. Heavy rain, lots of vehicles spray and
low visibility. I contemplated how my
life is going to change now that I am single. After an hour the clouds parted
and I was greeted by clear skies and sunshine – hopefully this was a sign for
my future to come. Thank you Stourbridge for a wonderful day....
Excellent Geeky Stats time:-
RIP
Stadiums and teams from the Giant Killing Adventure – 13th
October 2013
RIP
Team
|
RIP
Stadium
|
St Helens Town
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Ashton Athletic
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Marine FC
|
Arriva Stadium
|
Lancaster City FC
|
Giant Axe Stadium
|
Curzon Ashton
|
Tameside Stadium
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure number of fans – 13th October 2013
Team
|
Stadium
|
Round
|
Fans
|
Stourbridge FC
|
War Memorial Athletic Ground
|
3rd Qualifying
|
633
|
Curzon Ashton
|
Tameside Stadium
|
2nd Qualifying
|
302
|
Lancaster City FC
|
Giant Axe
|
2nd Qualifying
|
249
|
Marine FC
|
Arriva Stadium
|
1st Qualifying
|
223
|
Curzon Ashton
|
Tameside Stadium
|
Preliminary
|
101
|
St Helens Town
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Extra Preliminary
|
71
|
Ashton Athletic
|
Brocstedes Park
|
Extra Preliminary
|
58
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure League table for FA prize money – 13th October
2013
Team
|
Prize
money/Round
|
Total
Winnings
|
Curzon Ashton
|
£1925 Preliminary Round
£3000 1St Qualifying
Round
£4500 2nd Qualifying
Round
|
£9925
|
Stourbridge FC
|
£7500 3rd Qualifying
Round
|
£7500
|
Ashton Athletic
|
£1500 Extra Preliminary Round
|
£1500
|
Extra
Preliminary Round £277,500 was paid in prize money (185 winners).
Preliminary
Round £308,000 was paid out (160 winners).
1st Qualifying Round £348,000 was paid out (116
winners).
2nd Qualifying
Round £360,000 was paid out (80 winners).
3rd Qualifying Round £300,000 was paid out (40
winners).
The Giant
Killing Adventure Program Price league table (cheapest first) – 13th October 2013
Team
|
Program
Cost
|
Lancaster City FC 01st
October
|
£1.50
|
Curzon Ashton 31st August,
28th September
|
£1.60
|
St Helens Town 17th August
|
£2.00
|
Marine
FC 14th September
|
£2.00
|
Stourbridge
FC 12th October
|
£2.00
|
The Giant
Killing Adventure Goal Scorers – 13th October 2013
Matt
Warburton 3 (Curzon Ashton)
Chris
McDonagh 2 (Curzon Ashton)
Simon
Lakeland 2 (Curzon Ashton)
Adam
Gilchrist 2 (Ashton Athletic)
Ryan Rowe 1 (Stourbridge FC)
Jamie
Oliver 1 (Stourbridge FC)
Luke
Benbow 1 (Stourbridge FC)
Chris Rowney 1 (Curzon Ashton)
Ryan
Brooke
1 (Curzon Ashton)
Will
Jones 1 (Marine FC)
Sam
Barnes 1 (Marine FC)
Neil
Weaver
1 (St Helens Town)
Greg
Harrison 1 (St
Helens Town)
Nathan
Ward 1
(Ashton Athletic)
Mark Jackson 1 (Lancaster City FC)
Neil Marshall 1 OG (Lancaster City FC)
The Giant
Killing Adventure League table – 13th October 2013
Team
|
Won
|
Drawn
|
Goals
For
|
Goals
Against
|
GD
|
Points
|
Curzon Ashton
|
3
|
1
|
10
|
6
|
4
|
10
|
Ashton Athletic
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
6
|
-3
|
4
|
Stourbridge FC
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
St Helens Town
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
-1
|
1
|
Lancaster City FC
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
-1
|
1
|
Marine FC
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
-2
|
0
|
So
far the Giant Killing Adventure has reported on 630 minutes of football, £84 on
the turnstiles, 1637 fans, 21 goals, 3 pints of bitter (£7.40), 1 pint of
Guinness (£3.10),3 70p cups of tea, 8 £1
cups of tea, 1 £1.10 cup of tea (large), 2 70p cans of coke, 2 £1.20 chips, 2
£1.60 pies, 2 £1.50 pies, 1 ham and pease pudding stottie, 2 £16.50 Lobsters, 4
2-4-1 cocktails, 1 City Break, 1 Sandy picnic battle, 3 website promises
(Marine, Curzon and Stourbridge), various Twitter retweets (too many to keep
track of from clubs, fans and supporters clubs), 1
lower-league-victory, 1 relationship breakdown and the journey has travelled 341
miles from the FA Cup’s current home in Wigan.
The draw
for the 4th Qualifying Round is Monday 14th October at
10:30am. Let’s see where The Giant
Killing Adventure takes us.
Don’t
forget our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegiantkillingadventure
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