Chelmsford v Bishop's Stortford

Chelmsford City v Bishop's Stortford

Saturday 22/01/2011

For our second game of the Non-League tour we opted for a trip back north to see Chelmsford City play.  It was fitting really because a week after seeing Braintree, it made sense to pop back and watch their local geographical as well as title rivals.  The real reason though was because of finding out that former Watford midfielder Paulo Vernazza was on the books of Bishop's Stortford.  Oh, how the mighty have fallen, for Vernazza was once a promising youngster on the books of Arsenal, and at now only 31 he seemed to be playing for a mid-table team in the Conference South. 



Bob's turn to pose in front of the sign -
just to prove i'm not actually going to
 these games alone!



Paulo Vernazza wasn't there.  Not sure why, wikipedia said he played for them, and everyone knows how accurate Wikipedia is.  Whats more, Bishop's Stortford's very own website had the great man as listed in their team.  But after buying a programme he was nowhere to be seen in it.  I was so perplexed by this that at half time I called Bishop's Stortford FC in search of an answer.  However, i was put through to the bar manager there and he didn't seem to know too much about First Team affairs.  He told me the man i needed to speak to would be at the game but would not want to be disturbed on the day.  Seeing as Stortford were already 3-0 down when i made this call, i decided to let the matter lie.

Less a shop, more a window that sells things

Venue for breakfast - the clubhouse

When at Braintree last week we turned up 15 minutes before kick off (would've been earlier if we hadn't have got lost) and left straight after the game.  This week we decided to get into the spirit of things a little further.  We also didn't want to miss the Wolves v Liverpool game at lunchtime.  So we headed to the ground for 12.45pm.  No such problems this week as there were signposts galore for the stadium, and what with the site being primarily for Athletics, found a huge empty car park within the grounds.  I know i started writing this a week ago but i think the idea of the blog was to make comparisons between the teams we see?  Well, Chelmsford immediately trump Braintree as they have 2 burger vans as opposed to one.  However they fall down on the sweets, just a mere table pitchside for sweets here.  What is it with Non-League football and sweets?  We opted to skip all these options and nipped into the clubhouse for an English Breakfast and a pint, all served up alongside a 3-0 Liverpool drubbing of Wolves. 

We just had time to have a wander around the ground before kick off, grabbing a cup of tea from a 10 year old girl.  They do get them working young up here.  The teamsheets had been handily placed in view at the first aid booth as well, although most of the players on it weren't actually on the matchday program.  Still, i jotted down the names as best i could and off we went to our place in the main stand. 




Home Support



Chelmsford is famous for the being the home of radio, but the players were not on the same wavelength as the fans as they opted to swap ends at the toss.  Cue humourous scenes of all the fans on the terraces (well, a standing platform) behind each goal having to traipse from one end of the pitch to the other in order to support their team from an attacking point of view. 

Away Support

Bishop's Stortford opted not to attack though.  Their main tactic throughout the game was to defend badly and give the ball away as often as possible.  The opening exchanges didn't reveal much though, especially as the sun was so low in the sky nobody in our stand could really see much.  But as the first half progressed, little Japanese winger Takumi Ake slowly came into the game and started getting a few balls into the box and it wasn't too long before midfielder Stephen Reed got on the end of one of them only for his effort to rebound off the post.  He didn't have long to wait for another chance though as the ball was only half cleared and as it came back in Reed cleverly flicked the ball goalwards and into the net.  Reed was to grab another with a superbly taken goal from the edge of the box just over 5 minutes before half-time.  Not a bad return from a man that only started the game due to a pre-match injury from team-mate John Martin.  And minutes before the break it was 3-0 as striker Billy Bricknell was played through to tuck it in under the keeper.  It looked as though he had held on to the chance for too long, but did well to hold the covering defender off before a low finish.

So it was 3-0 at the break.  Game effectively over.  Perhaps more interesting than the game itself was watching the ball boys in action.  Being surrounded by a running track everytime a shot was misplaced (which was fairly often), the ball would carry for miles.  From our lofty position in the stands we could see where the ball had gone, but the poor young chap by the pitch couldn't and we took great amusement in watching the unlucky fellow continuously running backwards and forwards looking for his prize.

The entertaining ball boy

Still, it kept him warm, which is more than could be said for us in the stands.  2 games in and i'm beginning to wish we'd started this in September, and not January.  Half time was a case of sitting and slowly freezing, made worse by an unknown delay to the second half.  I blame the referee for this, it may not have been his fault but to be honest he had such a nit-picky game i wouldn't be surprised if it was his doing that the teams took so long to re-enter the field of play.  It's not as if he made many incorrect decisions, he just wouldn't let the game flow, much to the frustration of one of the guys in the Chelmsford dugout whose expletives carried over to us despite the wind and the running track, and the long jump pit, and the fact we were sitting near the back of the stand.

Either the second half was less eventful or i just made less notes as my hands were too cold.  A bit of both probably.  Needless to say Bishop's Stortford were by now already beaten and looking dejected, their sole real chance coming from Ben Bowditch (former Spurs!) who should have done better than sky the ball over the bar from a neat cut back. 

A good crowd in the main stand

Chelmsford kept pressing though and what looked like a long cross from midfielder Matt Lock, swerved in the wind and caught the keeper off guard, only to strike the top of the bar and bounce to safety.  Perhaps it was no fluke though as minutes later the same player unleashed an absolute screamer from easily 35 yards out that clipped the underside of the bar on the way in.  4-0 with 15 minutes still to play. 

It has to be said that both teams were supported a lot more vocally than at the Braintree game the week before.  Stortford's fans consisted of mainly teenage chav's who bless the streets of most of our High Streets in the South East, but still, it was nice of them to make the effort.  And they did have something to cheer with literally the last kick of the game (that was actually a header) as Stortford grabbed an undeserved consolation.  I didn't see it though as we had decided to leave our perch in order to get back to the car quickly at full time.

Parking: Free (Large Car Park)

Ticket: £12.50 (for seating)

Programme: £2.50

Score: 4-1

Attendance: 883