Woodley Sports v Mossley - FA Cup Prelim Round

(@Cheadle Town FC)

2242 - Still fannying with pix - will be at

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r272/mossleysmiffy/WoodleyMossleyFACPrem1/

At least I'm dry - now .....1-1 by the way - not pretty - but then again weather was pretty ugly !! More to come - promise - how the eco-warriors got there - got wet - got home etc etc.

"After 11 o'clock" - here we go ..... We started early on the 1134 from Mossley - it's Sunday y'know (trains are only every 3 days on a Sunday - or something similarly sh*te !!). Must get my brownie points in though - in prep of Mrs Smiffys' return, I was up at Mossley Co-op at just after 1000 to get some stuff for tea. When I left the house (at a jog - at 1128 !!) there were two dishes in the fridge - one containing fish (trout and salmon) and one containing par-boiled veg for roasting) - I'll make someone a lovely wife .... if I remember rightly - when I came out of the Co-op it had started to rain (remember this word - it returns several times..)

Enough indulgence - off the train at Stalybridge - no time for a Buffet bar visitation as the Piccadilly train was only 6 minutes behind. Into Picc and with a 40 minute wait for the Gatley train an adjourniment was made to the "Balcony Bar". Some fun on the 1249 to Gatley - a fare dodger" (only one I hear you say ???). Conductor got his details - I took his picture !!! Should I pass these details onto Northern Rail ??? I buy a £21-80 weekly ticket every week - I am not into train travel to subsidise fare dodgers - his "mate" was even carrying a "Costa Coffee" cup - if that isn't taking the p*ss what is ??? We could see it was raining out of the windows.....

Enough old man rant - from Gatley station it's about a 25 minute walk to Cheadle Town FC - yes the FA won't let any play in their cup who's got a "placcy pitch" - would be intersting if someone like Arsenal "went plastic" - one rule for the rich and one for the poor would be my guess .. it rained all the way to Cheadle Town FC.

It was a quiet ground at 1330 - but the bar was open. I have to be honest though - I think the cigarette ban may well have hit hard at Cheadle Town FC - there is a distinct smell of damp/mustiness in the air I'm afraid - with no fag smoke to mask it (and the slugs must have had a real party last night - happy trails everywhere). The welcome was fine however (keg John Willie Lees for those who want to know). We were all looking forward to the unveiling of the new "away strip" - tangerine and black. Still raining by the way.

To the game - as usually there will be much more eloquent, hirsute (??) witty (?) pithy (???) observations to my own - but we were a shadow of the team that played at Lancaster on Bank Holiday Monday - maybe for many reasons - weather - crap pitch (which had been played on 24 hours earlier - and had not been "attended to" post-Saturday game - naughty) - playing on the Sabbath - weather - price of bacon - weather - I could go on ....still raining y'know ... here's a picture of Aaron's shorts by the way .... notice that it's raining by the way .....can you see the umbrella - ella - ella - ella ... (note for casual viewers - there ARE some much better pix on the photobucket link above - then again - it WAS raining ....)



Anyroad up Woodley took the lead they'd deserved (i.e. they were less poor than us !) just before the half-hour through Robinson. This did seem to wake us up a bit - oh forgot to say - still raining - and we got back on terms at the best possible time - literally seconds before half-time when Rich Conway squeezed one in - I wasn't expecting it - but see http://www.mossleyweb.com/MatchReports07~08/vWoodleyFACA.htm - cus Gary got the goal !! That's Gary with the quality weatherproof condom as opposed to my tea towel (we're talking camera protection here before you get carried away - it was raining after all)

Half-time - raining by the way - second half - weather worsened leaving a couple of teams to huff and puff their way to 90 minutes. A fair result I suppose - weather was apalling though (rain y'know). As the full-time whistle went we left sharpish - our train from Gatley was leaving in 30 minutes. We negotiated pools of water everywhere through Cheadle Village (something to do with rain I'm told) before arriving at the station with 5 to spare. On the train I made what has to be considered the "ultimate sacrifice" - my camera-drying towel was offered to the masses - and young Charlotte starts drying her bloody jeans with it !! Once again - time in Mancy Picc - this time to the "Sports Bar" to catch the last 10 minutes of the Vill/Chelsea game - when that Villa second goal went in - I couldn't believe how many Brummies were in that bar, such was the roar - be sensible Smiffy - they're all Reds !!! 1812 was our overture to leave Picc - a quck phone home to say "Put Oven on 6 - give it 5 mins then bung them two dishes in the fridge into said warmed oven") - no time (again !!!) for a snifter at Stalybridge before our carriage to Mossley arrived.

Home greet the "world tourer" - tea was marvellous - all I had to do was steam some broccoli - all the hard work had been done some ten hours earlier..pix to sort - done - and then to this.

Trusting all peeps etc will have dried out before Tuesday's replay......