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Marty

a fans view of Tamworth and its charms!

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Well here is my brief review of my day in Tamworth. Firstly I’d like to thank the Tamworth people who left messages about parking and things to do in Tamworth, I’m sure this information was useful to some of us. The journey for me took 30 mins and the parking easy, I was beginning to feel concerned that things were going too well and that maybe a cup upset was on the cards to bring me back down to earth with a bang. I had a couple of hours to spend in Tamworth so I popped into the centre for a sandwich and hot chocolate to help prepared for 3 or 4 hours in the drizzle. On the way into the town centre we walked by a steam and saw a rather impressive heron at very close range, everybody else walked on by, obviously they are used to such close proximately views of herons! We then walked past the castle which was actually rather pleasant, not as good as Norwich castle but that takes some beating (better than Nottingham’s so called castle). The town centre was OK, lot’s of phone shops just like very town centre really; I’ve certainly seen uglier places than Tamworth. So we went to the ground with about 1 and half hours till kick off, needed to make sure we could consolidate a good space at the front so that my Mrs could see. The time seemed to fly by; I don’t think the rain actually ever stopped. I am amazed by the amount of people who didn’t wear hats, especially people with glasses, maybe I am well organised but this seems foolish since watching the game with wet glasses would be like driving a car without windscreen wipers!

 

The ground is about how I expected it to be, not very large but it did have a roof on 3 of the stands. The pitch looked OK but when the players warmed up you could see it cut up, it was also very undulating to say the least, you could see the snow dome dominate the skyline. There was a walk way in front of us, between us and the pitch, which was a keep clear zone, I must admit I was getting a touch concerned when 5-10 mins prior to kick off people started to stand in front of us in this zone. Fortunately the stewards moved quickly them on, good because I was a touched miffed after waiting circa 90 mins in the drenching rain to ensure the missus could see! I would have questioned the stewards if they hadn’t have moved these latecomers on; I know health and safety law!

 

The game itself was OK, I am sure you either went or watched it on TV, we did OK considering the awful conditions. After the second goal Hucks celebrated right in front of me and in the excitement of the celebration with the crowd I rubbed his head, not something I have done before but I guess it’s all part of the romance of the cup. I know the romance of the cup is often mentioned but I was beginning to question what the hell was romantic about standing in a testosterone-fuelled shed in the endless drizzle (the wetting kind!) watching football of a fairly average to poor standard on a crap pitch, but it’s what we do.

 

At the end I picked up a £1 hotdog, I would have paid more to have one that was actually hot! Even warm would have been an improvement!

 

One memorable sight on leaving the ground was a female Tamworth fan in an impossibly tight skirt with an impressive spilt up the rear wearing the most impractical heels I’ve ever seen, you’ve got to love ‘em haven’t you, us blokes would never do that, but we sure do appreciate the effort the ladies make.

 

Good journey home, some crap driving on the dual carriage way as per usual, drives me bloody mad. Now at home listening to the other games and enjoying a nice cuppa and looking at how blurred all my photos of the game are!

 

Hard luck Tamworth, but you did OK and played you part in an entertaining game.

 

On the ball and bring on out next opponents.

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I must say that I am surprised how many people are so negative about our 4-1 win over Tamworth, OK they are not a great team and we should have beaten them with ease, however, with the tv cameras, shocking weather, awful ptich, hostile 3165 crowd! and poor recent form for us, it was never going to be easy, but that is the nature of the FA cup - enjoy it for what it is, a bit of respite from the league and a bit of fun.

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[quote user="Marty"]I must say that I am surprised how many people are so negative about our 4-1 win over Tamworth, OK they are not a great team and we should have beaten them with ease, however, with the tv cameras, shocking weather, awful ptich, hostile 3165 crowd! and poor recent form for us, it was never going to be easy, but that is the nature of the FA cup - enjoy it for what it is, a bit of respite from the league and a bit of fun.[/quote]

 

Spot on Marty!

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Ooo...nice conclusion of the day! I didnt go, tinking that the rain in a cheap steel bunker wasnt my sort of day out...but thats me!

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Was refused entry to the snow dome (but cheers for the free parking) so went to a Wetherspoons where both home and away fans mingled happily.

Our mistake was getting to the ground 15 mins before kick off so we had to stand in the rain as the roof didn''t extend the length of the stand. Was worth getting wet for though. Fingers crossed we get Bristol Rovers away in the next round.

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[quote user="Web Team - Pete"]

Was refused entry to the snow dome (but cheers for the free parking) so went to a Wetherspoons where both home and away fans mingled happily.

Our mistake was getting to the ground 15 mins before kick off so we had to stand in the rain as the roof didn''t extend the length of the stand. Was worth getting wet for though. Fingers crossed we get Bristol Rovers away in the next round.

[/quote]

 

hey i got there 90 mins early just to stand in the rain! I must admit that if they had a suggestion box at the ground I would have mentioned maybe the possibility of a roof that covers more than half of the stand, maybe they run out of corrigated iron?

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[quote user="Web Team - Pete"]

Was refused entry to the snow dome (but cheers for the free parking) so went to a Wetherspoons where both home and away fans mingled happily.

Our mistake was getting to the ground 15 mins before kick off so we had to stand in the rain as the roof didn''t extend the length of the stand. Was worth getting wet for though. Fingers crossed we get Bristol Rovers away in the next round.

[/quote]

Ah Web Team Pete.....I too was in the Wetherspoons but I must have missed your Father Christmas hat  that you promised to wear.

We thought we''d be alright getting to the ground 30 mins before KO but we too were at the mercy of the elements but at the far end near the home '' Shed '' where there seemed to be a bit more room.

Still, it was worth getting slightly damp wasn''t it ......?

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We were also part of the drowned rats collective at the far end of the stand. If you saw EN''s Richard Balls you would''ve seen me stood next to him in the second half.

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[quote user="Tamuff87"]There''s no point, we rarely get an away attendence that fills the entire end.
[/quote]

 

I guess that''s a fair comment, hope you enjoyed the game inspite of the result. It was nice to see many norwich fans applauding the tamworth goal, it was a cracker mind. Seems like the fans were all well behaved. All in all a good day out, it did take me about 5 hours to dry out and reach room temperature agian! but I was on MOTD for about 1 second!

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I thought it was a fantastic game, even if we did "gift" you the 3rd and 4th goals [:$]Right now im trying to copy it on to DVD

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[quote user="Web Team - Pete"]We were also part of the drowned rats collective at the far end of the stand. If you saw EN''s Richard Balls you would''ve seen me stood next to him in the second half.[/quote]

No I didn''t see RB but I was directly behind another Archant stalwart, Steve Gedge, who was happily snapping away on his camera whilst listening to Radio Five Live through his headphones.........

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[quote user="Web Team - Pete"]We were also part of the drowned rats collective at the far end of the stand. If you saw EN''s Richard Balls you would''ve seen me stood next to him in the second half.[/quote]

 

I was down there too, glad none of you stood in front of my Mrs, it did seems chaotic near kick off, the stewards didn''t know where to cram people!

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[quote user="Web Team - Pete"]

Follow the yellow arrow...

 

[/quote]

 

and I am approximately 5 or 6 heads south west of you then

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in the photo the keeper looks like a midget*, sorry, not sure if that is the correct politically correct terminology (*dwarf? person of stunted growth?)

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[quote user="Marty"]in the photo the keeper looks like a midget*, sorry, not sure if that is the correct politically correct terminology (*dwarf? person of stunted growth?)[/quote]

Looks to me like our Earnie in an offside position.

Perhaps we should only have won 3-1.........?

PS ------If anyone is in the slightest bit interested I was standing right at the back and must be about ten heads SE of the back of Web Team Pete''s head,sadly, ( or perhaps fortunately ) out of camera shot. Perhaps we should start a '' Spot the Fan '' comp.......?

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