Getting Away With It

Rendezvousing at Paddington, it looks like we might be a couple of London Millers down before we even start – apparently, there’s a delay on the trains and the Kirklands are stuck in the wilds of Harrow. Fortunately, things soon get moving and they join up with Jenny, Chris Turner, Clarkey and myself for the journey out to Cheltenham. For some reason, we’ve been allocated tickets in the quiet coach (usually you have to specify it when you book), but as the carriage is almost empty, it’s not a problem, until a couple get on at Didcot. Their reserved seats are directly opposite ours, and it’s not long before they make it VERY clear that we’re talking too loudly for their liking – never mind the fact that they could, if they wanted, have taken different seats where we’d be out of earshot. We mute the volume, but make a mental note to bring airhorns and borrow the Aldershot drummer’s drum in case we bump into them again...
Chelters is my brother’s ‘home’ trip, and my parents are making a weekend of it, so the family is out in force when we arrive at the Swan. We’re joined by much of the rest of the Western Millers contingent – Steve Czajewski and Chas, the latter of whom we haven’t seen for ages as work keeps taking him to strange places like the Falklands, or so he claims, and David Bates and his mate Andy, up from Devon. Brian Cutler, who’s never had a good day until he’s visited as many of the decent pubs as he can comfortably fit into a pre-match session, appears for a pint, and even the Burtons are spotted lurking by the fruit machine. The usual representatives from the Rotherham constabulary pop their head round the door and all is very amicable. The main topic of conversation is the vacant manager’s job. According to my dad, Radio Sheffield say there have been around fifty applications, of which four were time-wasters. We reckon two of them were Czajewski and Ronnie Moore, but aren’t sure about the other two... Opinion is divided on whether getting Ronnie back would be a good or bad move (I’m not convinced by him, but others are more excited at the prospect), or whether it should be offered to some young up-and-comer or one of the more experienced applicants, who include ex-Chelters manager Steve Cotterill.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire are playing their penultimate game of the season, and if they could manage to beat Sussex it would go a long way to helping them stave off relegation. John K has been checking the score on a regular basis, but every time he looks at his BlackBerry another Yorkshire wicket has gone down, and in the end Chris confiscates it from him as he’s obviously jinxing the performance.
It’s a pleasant walk from the pub to the ground, in the surprisingly warm sunshine, and there’s a good turn-out in the away end. Jenny and I have some faffing around with the flag, as we have to wait and see whether they are going to use the empty area behind the goal to seat an overspill of fans; they don’t, but it means that by the time we’re tying it in place, Rotherham are already mounting their first attack.
What follows is one of the most one-sided games we’ve seen in a while. We’re creating plenty of chances, and might have a penalty when one of the Chelters players appears to handle the ball, but the ref doesn’t notice it. Nicky Law is again causing problems with his dead ball delivery, and Harrison and Mills are solid in midfield. In contrast, Cheltenham have Julian Alsop, the overweight man’s Drewe Broughton, and the Rotherham fans are enjoying taunting him with an inflatable banana, in tribute to the rather unsavoury incident which allegedly ended his career at Oxford. We finally take the lead just before half time, when the keeper fumbles a cross and Alf pounces on the loose ball. He celebrates directly in front of us, sliding on his knees in a manner which will earn him the inevitable lazy comparison to Adebayor on the league highlights.
At half time, John is finally allowed to check the cricket score again – unbelievably, Sussex are 80 for eight, and it looks as though Yorkshire will be staying up. There’s also a story going round that Steve Staunton (another front runner for the manager’s job) is in the ground; he’s either keen or got nothing else to do on a Saturday!
The second half continues much as the first. Chelters bring on Elvis Hammond (and if he scores, I’m sure there’ll be some comment to the effect that he left us all shook up), but we’re still clearly a cut above them. Danny Harrison hits the post, and then Nicky Law misses an absolute sitter. That’s the moment which turns the game, as Chelters promptly score with their only meaningful attack – and of course it’s Alsop who heads it in. They don’t deserve it, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. At least it means we’ll draw, or even win a game we don’t deserve to before the end of the season.
Afterwards, we go for a drink in the Kemble Brewery Inn, finding space in the beer garden of a pub which is usually too packed for us to venture into. There’s even time to visit the chip shop across the road from the station; Chris K recommends the egg, bacon and sausage bap, but then he is a growing lad...
We have to change at Swindon on the way back, but we manage to get home without anyone complaining about us being noisy. By next week we could have a new manager in place, and then we really might have something to shout about.