Exeter City v Oldham Athletic – League One 

St James Park, Exeter

Saturday 6 March 2010, 15:00 K.O.

Despite the dismal run of results in the run up to the game and the fact that we hadn’t looked capable of hitting a barn door all season, I actually went into this game with a degree of optimism. Recent performances had shown a marked improvement and after successive games against three promotion chasing sides this was winnable. The signing of Daniel Nardiello also gave us a striking option.

The pre match talk from the management team was also promising. Martin Gray had come out and described the game as ‘must win’. This is a phrase that I think managers band about far too easily. If you are a manager and you say a game is ‘must win’, where exactly does that leave you if you don’t win it? For me, the game was must not lose. A draw, however would only really help if we went on to win our next two games.

Exeter turned out to be my only new ground for the season. It should have been two but the rearrangement of the Southampton game for the week I’m away put paid to that one. It did mean, however, that I was going to make the most of it.

A seven thirty start meant that I was a little bleary eyed when Mike arrived but it meant that we’d have plenty of time when we got down there. In truth we’d have had a quite ridiculous amount of time were it not for a painful amount of roadworks. From getting on the M6, it was pretty much 50 mph the whole way to Birmingham. We tried to brighten it up with a very mature game we created after seeing two consecutive white vans being driven by women. Vehicles driven by women that should be driven by blokes versus vehicles driven by blokes that should be driven by women. I told you it was mature! It turned out to be a real let down after that early flourish. In fact it ended up 2-1 thanks to some bloke in a VW Beetle.

Once we finally made it onto the M5 we got to see something totally different. Don’t get me wrong, it was still roadworks after roadworks, but at one point we actually saw someone doing something. This was such a shock, I felt compelled to photograph it.

After this shock, I decided it was time for a spot of breakfast. Unfortunately I didn’t have any food with me so I had to make do with some Australian liquid that came in a blue can. I genuinely thought that I’d just had the one but as we progressed I started to doubt myself. First we passed some kind of giant toothpick. Oh well, there are these modern art sculptures appearing all over the country I guess. Then came the incidents that had me checking the ABV on the can. A huge green man on our right hand side (I confess that the photo is knicked, I didn’t suddenly turn into David Bailey).

Next we passed 2 camels. Anyone who knows me will tell you how much time I spend in Dubai so passing a couple of camels isn’t really that big a deal but we were in bloody Somerset.

Then we had the piece de resistance. A dinosaur!!! Now, I’ve had nights on the lash were I’ve had a fair few cans of beverages that a whole lot stronger than Fosters and I have never seen a dinosaur. But, here it was, looking at me as we headed East. I’m sticking to beers after lunch from now on.

Exeter wasn’t what I was expecting. It had much more of a city feel than I was expecting and I also hadn’t realised that it had such a large student population. When I’d read on the internet that you couldn’t park around the ground I’d taken it with a pinch of salt. It always says that but if you get there early enough, you always can. There was, however, absolutely nothing and so after driving around St James Park we had to pay the best part of six quid to park on one of the city centre car parks. We did feel a bit better about this after talking to people who’d paid a tenner though!

We’d heard about a pub called the Old Firehouse which had a promising write-up so that was where we headed. It was a very quaint little pub and it was difficult to imagine it as the bustling student haunt that it apparently becomes in the evening. Old wooden tables and wine bottles acting as candle-sticks gave it the feeling of a refreshing change from the world of Weatherspoons and other national chains.

We were joined by a sprinking of Latics fans including Matt on a rare trip out and we enjoyed some hearty grub. An impressive lasagne was accompanied by the best part of half a loaf. That’s the way to do it.

Midway through our second pint, a local came in wearing his Exeter baseball cap. After a discussion with the landlord he pointed over to us. “You’ve let all these Oldham fans in, why won’t you let our fans come in”. With that he left. Shortly afterwards, the landlord came round to see us. I was worried that the curse of Terry had struck again but not at all. He explained that he didn’t let football fans in but he hadn’t noticed that some of the group were wearing football colours. As we were clearly no problem he was more than happy for us to stay. He asked whether we’d found out about the pub from the Good Beer Guide but was quite taken aback when we explained that we’d actually got it from the Football Fans Guide. I think he might have to rethink his policy on this one.

About two o’clock we opted to move up to the ground. We needed the obligatory photo and I had also read about an outdoor bar at the club. Apparently this is unique in the football league so I wanted to give it a go.

Between the Old Firehouse and the ground we passed a number of people who appeared to be throwing themselves off a building. At first I thought that they must have just got the news that Keigan Parker had been ruled out through injury but then I realised that they were attached by ropes.

We struggled to find somewhere decent for the photo. It is one of those grounds where they don’t seem to want to shout about who they are. Either that or the signs might have fallen down. In the end we made do with one next to the portacabin passing itself off as a ticket office.

The outdoor bar certainly didn’t let us down. They have a club called the Centre Spot and this appears to have been enhanced by opening a separate concession outside. This is a small but fully stocked bar with a roped off area for drinking and finished off with a bit of Astroturf. What a brilliant idea and it proved the perfect spot to mix with the locals. It also provided me with my highlight of the day. I was asked for ID. I reckon the last time that happened was probably in America over ten years ago. Clearly I’m getting younger by the day. The only real competition for this as the highlight of the day was a bloke we were talking to at the bar who told us that he had come along to the match as a neutral because he wanted to see a few goals. That one really tickled me.

I was a little disappointed on entering the ground. I handed over my twenty quid and received a fiver change. Fifteen quid’s not bad for league one football, but I’d been hoping that after my previous experience I might get in as a kid.

The away end was like stepping back in time. A long, narrow open terrace with the back half cordoned off for safety reasons. When I went to the loo, I thought I was going to end up in someone’s back garden and what I did find was some way away from palacial. I’m glad it wasn’t a night match as there didn’t appear to be any kind of lighting. The rest of the ground didn’t look too bad though and opposite us was a pretty impressive terrace. I’m all in favour of these atmospheric grounds and I actually quite like it when clubs see fit to spend on three sides and leave the other one for the away fans. It’s a good job it stayed dry though.

After a perfectly observed minute’s silence for Keith Alexander we kicked off. We’d got Abbott and Nardiello up front with Price out wide so it looked like we were finally going to take the game to someone. Unfortunately looks can be deceiving. Other than a sitter missed by Jason Price, the main feature of the first half was the police helicopter that hovered just behind us for at least twenty minutes. This distraction and the ill-feeling towards Dave Penny amongst a large section of the away support led to a very muted atmosphere.

The only thing we had to be glad about was that Exeter were clearly as poor as us and it made the comment about coming to see some goals even more laughable. As the teams came off at half time it was apparent that the levels of dissatisfaction were increasing.

The second half started in much the same way and it was clear that there would need to be some divine intervention for a goal to come. In the end, it wasn’t divine, it was the ref. Reuban Hazell and one of the Exeter players tangled in the box and from where I was stood, it appeared that the striker was doing more of the wrestling but the ref didn’t see it that way and pointed to the spot. I’ve now seen the replay from the other angle and can see why it was given but that is largely due to the strikers offences being on the ref’s blind side. The Latics fans were incensed but Ryan Harley stepped up to send Brill the wrong way and put the home side one up.

I’d seen us go one down too many times this season to hold out much hope of us coming back but remarkably, with less than ten minutes left we did just that. I’d love to say that I witnessed Sean Gregan’s first league goal for us but I’d be lying. The view of the opposite goalmouth was not the best from our end and all I really saw was the keeper palm the ball away and then moments later our players start celebrating. Again, I have to rely on TV to report that Gregan managed to bury the ball through a crowd of players to even up the scores. We’ll ignore the rather significant deflection on the way through.

From there, the game should really have petered out but unfortunately the ref hadn’t had enough of the limelight yet. As we were about to enter injury time he pointed to the spot again. Again it was Hazell who was penalised and if the first one was harsh, this one was pathetic. There was arguably no, or maybe negligible contact between the players. If that’s a penalty, there would be ten a game.

After travelling all that way, we now faced the prospect of coming back empty handed. As Harley stepped up we all expected him to slot it into the opposite corner to where he’d put the first penalty. All, that is, except Dean Brill who read him like a book and made a save exactly where he’d hit the net last time.

In many ways, after this dramatic conclusion, it felt like a win but that soon wore off. We’d not gone to Exeter with the intent that I’d expected and there was never really any danger of us winning the game. As I said at the outset, how good a result this was will depend on what we pick up in our next few games but for the first time all season, I left worrying that we really could go down.

The trip back wasn’t too bad. That giant toothpick we passed on the way down looks a whole load better at night