| Season 2 - Wycombe Wanderers |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Terry |
| Wednesday, 23 December 2009 20:30 |
|
Wycombe Wanderers v Oldham Athletic – League One Adams Park, Wycombe Saturday 19th December 2009, 15:00 K.O.
As the under-soil heating had been switched on since Wednesday, Wanderers were confident that the pitch would be in perfect condition when the snow had been removed. However, the snow and ice-covered car park, road and pavements outside the stadium were the cause of concern on safety grounds. The stadium manager, his team of stewards and volunteer Wycombe supporters had arrived at Adams Park at 7:00am in a massive effort to remove the snow from the pitch and area surrounding the stadium. Urgent pleas went out for fans to bring their shovels to spread a mountain of grit along Hillbottom Road, as the local Council needed to concentrate its efforts on other routes. Understandably, Wycombe Wanderers were desperate to play the match and take advantage of Latics having ten players unavailable through injuries. The travelling Latics fans were desperate to know whether they would have a fruitless journey if the match was to be cancelled. Instead of a decision being taken early on Saturday morning Wycombe Wanderers announced that no decision would be taken until late morning. It would have been very easy to stay at home in the warmth, but the responsibility of taking the Ernie Flag to Wycombe for the first time had a great bearing over the wisdom of not travelling in freezing conditions. So, amidst all the uncertainty, and telling ourselves we must be mad, Margaret and I set off after 10:00am through the lightly snow-covered Midlands down the M42 and M40. Arrangements were made by text for us to be informed if the match was called off. Margaret received a text message saying there was to be a pitch inspection at 11:00am. As the condition of the pitch had never been in doubt, that seemed to be a formality, and I drove on with confidence. At 11:10am, Margaret received a text from a usually very reliable source that the match was off. So that was it, we could go back home, stay warm and prepare for a night out with a Christmas meal and disco about 10 miles outside Burton, with no worries about being delayed getting back from the frozen South. I prepared to leave the M40 at Junction 11 (Banbury) and pass what used to be the premises of the former owner of Latics. How ironic, I thought, that we had made an abortive journey to that point, just as the staff of OAFC had done in 2003, in a vain attempt to find out from their employer why they were not being paid. Then, as we approached Junction 11, Margaret received a phone call advising that the “match off” announcement had been taken from the BBC football web site, which had proved itself to be very unreliable on many previous occasions. So, amidst more uncertainty, I carried on down the M40. In what was fast becoming a communications exercise of military proportions, Margaret was advised that the Latics fans ahead of us were waiting at the Services about twenty miles from Wycombe for the ’order’ to proceed. Eventually we received a message at 11:25am that the match was 99% certain to go ahead. We took a comfort break at Oxford Services to the sound of Christmas carols played by the Witney Town Band. It was a glorious sunny Winter’s day and we had hopes of singing ‘Jingle Bells’ in due course if all went well on the pitch. Bird spotters will know that the site of Red Kites soaring on the thermals over the Chilterns meant that we were nearly at our destination. We had great views of the birds as their quest for food had them flying only feet above the car.  What had been a light covering of snow in the fields, where we had seen a fox searching for food, suddenly turned to snow lying deep, crisp and even, as we approached Junction 4 for High Wycombe. The location of the stadium is the edge of an industrial estate at the end of a long cul-de-sac and this makes access near kick-off time and egress after the match something of a nightmare. We arrived shortly after 12 noon and secured poll position on the grid fronting industrial premises. This was a crucial part of the day’s planning as we needed to get way from the stadium promptly after the match, before the roadway was full of pedestrians avoiding the treacherous ice-covered pavements, in order to keep our evening appointment. Apparently the Latics team coach had slid 30 yards down a hill when delivering the kit to the stadium during the morning. The official web site of WWFC has a series of pictures taken on the day of this match to illustrate the wintry conditions.  We set off on our next ‘bird-spotting’ quest, to sample a Wycombe pub’s notorious entertainment, in an effort to get an interesting picture with the Flag. Opinion about the suitability of taking the Flag for this photo-opportunity had been sought during the previous week amongst Latics fans on the ‘Oh When The Blues’ (OWTB) Forum, as we did not wish to be seen as being disrespectful to Ernie’s memory. We had been given the go-ahead on the basis that it would probably result in more hits on this site, and make more people aware of the risk of contracting Malignant Melanoma, especially when baring all. So a local taxi was summoned to take us to the White Horse pub on the West Wycombe Road, noted for its special pre-match entertainment, and we ate our sandwiches while waiting for it to arrive. When it did arrive, it drove past us and went all the way through the slush to the entrance to the stadium car park. I waved frantically until eventually it dawned on the driver that we were waiting where we had stated when booking the taxi. In the confusion I left the flag in our car so the photo-opportunity had gone. Margaret was prepared to endure the entertainment for this good cause, and she was glad not to be the only female in the audience, when we were joined by Tracy (’underdog’) and her husband Paul (’tangerinedreams’) from the OWTB Forum. For those fans arriving by train they had to walk past the pub on their way to the stadium, and two of them, Mark C. and Mike (OWTB‘s ‘Takemeanywhere‘), were staying at one of the hotels near the pub, as were Tracy and Paul, so it would have been rude of them not to call in. Originally we had expected a reasonable number of Latics fans to be in attendance, and to make the efforts of the ‘exotic dancers’ worthwhile, but there were only six of us and two of them were only there in the hope of being reassured by the universal presence of cellulite. As the Portsmouth v Liverpool match was being shown on Sky TV, pool was being played by the locals, and we were getting to know each other as new acquaintances, the dancing, scheduled from 12:30pm onwards, was delayed due to a lack of punters. It had proved to have been fate that I had left the Flag in the car. Anjela, Camilla, Kelly N., Pandora, Petra and Suzie were scheduled to appear, and they were killing time sat around wearing not much more than a smile. Not many girls can carry off sitting on a bar stool wearing only a G-string, and close observation drew the conclusion that cellulite is not common among Eastern European girls. We had booked the return taxi for 2:15pm, in order to cater for the congestion and treacherous conditions, and needing to get back to the stadium in time to do all the Flag formalities. By that time the dancing had not started so, as arranged, we stood outside the pub on the ice waiting for the taxi which failed to arrive. Mark and Mike had asked us to arrange for our taxi to send another one for them. In the circumstances Margaret chased up the taxi firm and I went back in the pub three times to inform Mark and Mike what was happening, then to give them a list of taxi phone numbers to arrange their own transport and the to tell them their taxi had arrived. The reward for my efforts was that the dancing had then started and in spite of the Arctic conditions outside for those waiting for the taxi, the dancer provided a warm front indoors. I was unable to stay long enough to see whether she received any performance-related pay. The White Hart has been providing this type of entertainment for more than 22 years, which I would think is from before some of these girls were born. The taxi was big enough to carry the six of us, so Margaret cancelled ours and we were taken as near to the stadium as possible with the traffic congestion, We walked the final part, through the snow, ice and slush, picking up from the car extra layers of clothing and Santa hats.  The stewards were very friendly and helpful and we were told that Wanderers’ manager Gary Waddock was really up for the game, after the tireless efforts made to ensure it was to be played. The view on three sides of Adams Park is idyllic, with woodlands and rolling hills. This is how it looks without the snow.  For Planning purposes it was classified as Green Belt land until April 2008, when the stadium land was re-classified by a Government inspector. That meant that the land value rose from £4,000 per acre to £1,000,000 per acre, although this will have dropped due to the recession. The change also allows additional stands to be constructed to gain the 12,500 capacity required by London Wasps, with whom the stadium is shared. Latics started well with neat passing football on a good playing surface and had the perfect chance to take the lead after just five minutes when Dale Stephens was fouled in the box. However, Paul Heffernan's penalty proved to be worse than any we observed in a half-time under nines’ shoot-out, and it was saved easily by goalkeeper Scott Shearer Three minutes after looking a gift-horse in the mouth, Latics were punished as Wycombe took the lead. Big striker John Akinde, on loan from Bristol City, had an easy task of pouncing from close-range on a loose ball after Darryl Flahavan saved from ex-Latics player Kevin Betsy. After 22 minutes, Captain Sean Gregan averted more danger from Akinde by blocking his attempted shot, and in the process making his presence felt by raising his arm and foot on the big striker, but hero Akinde took exception to the defender’s close attention by turning villain and retaliating with a right hook to Gregan‘s face. The referee took the striker to one side and, after hesitating, he realised that he had no alternative but to respond to the Latics fans’ shouts of “Off! Off! Off!” by producing the red card. Latics then dominated the rest of the first half against ten men and, after squandering several gilt-edged chances, midfielder Danny Whittaker found the shot he had been searching for at Boundary Park last week, as his 25-yard screamer flew into the bottom corner a minute before half-time. Wycombe attempted a long-range shot straight from the kick-off to start the second half. It just cleared the crossbar and caused Flahavan to hurt his back slightly as he collided with the post in stretching to reach it. Latics made the perfect start to the second half when Hazell, who was supposed to miss the match through injury, headed home from close-range Stephens' corner after six minutes. The celebrations amongst the 200 or so travelling faithful were accompanied by OWTB’s jsslatic’s rarely-heard chant of “Scored from a corner“. Unfortunately the celebrations also produced the “Jingle Bells….Oh what fun it is to see Latics win away” chant, much to my disapproval, as it has proved so often to be an albatross if sung too early. As Wycombe rode their luck, Latics continued to spurn goal-scoring opportunities, including Heffernan hitting both posts from one close range effort, and both he and substitute Ryan Brooke shooting at the keeper in a one-on-one situations, Whittaker missing a great chance and Brooke also shooting wide when a goal seemed certain. It became clear that Heffernan was destined not to score his 100th goal, and Tracy had been unable to enjoy the second half, as she was convinced Wycombe would equalise. Latics had started to sit too deeply, and the fans were mystified by the substitution of Joe Colbeck, who had been running rings round the Wycombe defence, and the move of Smalley out to the right.. With five minutes left to play, Margaret and I had to break the rule of a lifetime and leave the stadium early, in order to make that swift getaway, and we knew deep down what was going to happen as soon a our backs were turned. Sure enough, as we picked our way across the ice back to the car, we heard the celebrations of the home fans, as Scott Davies was brought down by Latics hero turned villain Danny Whittaker, and substitute Harrold scored the equaliser from the penalty spot in the 88th minute. If only that “Jingle Bells” chant had been kept with silent night! We avoided any possible congestion and were back on the M40 just after 5:00pm.An uneventful journey took us home by 6:45pm and after a great meal at a country restaurant, I was able to get onto the dance floor and try out some of the moves I had learned at lunchtime in the White Horse. The season of goodwill to all men had resulted in two points lost for Latics, but those Wycombe fans who had shifted the snow must have felt that the point gained was just reward for their efforts, while rubbing some of that salt into their opponents’ wounds. In the words of David Essex: It was only a winter’s tale Just another winter’s tale And why should the world take notice Of one more love that’s failed. We love you Oldham we do, but you continue to test our love to the limit! Thanks to Tracy for the Ernie Flag picture.
|
| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 23 December 2009 20:35 ) |