At the end of October, I wrote the ill-fated words, “Live football is still out there” as I described my adventures with my newly-adopted team, Saltdean United. The live football I had so enjoyed at Hill Park was about to be snatched away from me along with much of life, but before our daily existence was stifled by lockdown, I enjoyed the generous and warm reception my piece of writing received and one last pre-lockdown game, a 3-1 victory over Epsom and Ewell in the First Round of the FA Vase.
The response I received from the people of Saltdean was both warming and genuinely exciting. I’m used to footballers and football teams being pretty inaccessible. I love going to watch Brighton and Hove Albion, but the closest I’ve ever got in recent times to having any connection with the team is a snatched selfie with bit-part player, Ezequiel Schelotto, when he happened to be at Hove Park just after I’d completed a park run. I get that Brighton aren’t going to give me much attention. There’s thousands of us and so I accept my position as spectator - dedicated fan, but a voice amongst thousands.
One of the wonderful things about following a lower league team is that they have time for their fans - there’s less of them to go round of course, but the more time I spend with Saltdean, the more I feel like they are a club that seek to do things well. They seem to care not just about the football on the pitch, but about being a positive part of the community and their warm reception of me is part of that. More importantly, simple but powerful things like collecting for the local food bank show that although they’re a small club, they want to use their position to do good.
The first to react to my article was the club themselves through their Twitter feed who expressed their enjoyment of my words and offered me some free merchandise in gratitude: that was a lovely gesture.
The next to respond was the manager, Bryan O’Toole. When his message popped into my inbox, it was genuinely thrilling. I know that he’s just a normal bloke involved with a local football team, but it felt like I’d received a private message from Jose Mourinho to let me into his managerial secrets. Bryan had read my article and enjoyed it and he was kind enough to fill me in with some of the details that tell the story of Saltdean’s season. I had worked hard to try and remember the names of the players during the early stages of the season and then suddenly, the joint manager and almost the entire team had disappeared and it had been confusing as a supporter, but it had also been welcome as the quality of the football dramatically improved and Saltdean went on a nine-game run of victories. Bryan told me how things needed to change and how most of the squad were let go and he went on a signing spree after a mixed start to the season, bringing in fourteen players in ten days and they were quite some players, individuals who shine at this level. Only two of the original line-up remained, defensive stalwarts, Sean Roddy and Joe Shelley.
The fact that these two remain is testament to the quality they bring to the side. Simon, my match-day companion, never says Joe Shelley’s name without following it with “best player in the County League.” He is such a wonderfully cultured centre-back, so calm on the ball and has also weighed in with important goals, twice scoring the winner in narrow games. Sean Roddy, likewise, is an excellent ball-playing defender and his delivery from set-pieces has been important for the Tigers this season. He’s a firm favourite with my boys, largely for the moment when he said, “Thank you wee man” to one of my sons when he returned the ball to him quickly for a throw-in.
The responses to my article didn’t stop there. I’d referenced Saltdean’s centre-forward from the ’90s, Matt Allen, in my article and he responded to my writing, telling me that the rumour that Sheffield United were interested in him came to fruition and he did indeed spend a brief time at Brammall Lane. It turned out the current centre-back, Marcus Allen, is his nephew. Current players, players’ parents and even the referee from the game I’d written about responded to my article.
And then Boris said it was over or at least, over for a month and I had to sit and wait until the Tigers could roar again.
Today, they finally opened their jaws to receive the visit of Deal Town in the FA Vase. On the drive down to the ground, I led my boys in a rendition of “Oh, Trevor McCreadie” and we all anticipated that the talismanic centre-forward would not have let his eye for a goal cloud during the football fast. The temperature over the course of the last month had steadily dropped and I wore a pair of tracksuit bottoms underneath my jeans and went with five layers on my top half. My feet though quickly went numb and repeated shuffling wouldn’t bring any sensation back into my toes, but it was worth it. We were back!
The excitement of the occasion was boosted by the fact that this was a game that could catapult Saltdean to Wembley - four victories and that’s where they’d find themselves and the idea that this little club could be playing in the vast setting of Wembley was so exciting. The game seemed to start well. The opponents Deal Town had come in their own branded bus which seemed quite something for a team playing at this level and alongside their bus wedged into the muddy path leading to Hill Park, they also employed the common and dull footballing tactic of ‘parking the bus’ or perhaps they just struggled for possession and had to sit deep in their own half, hoofing the ball hopefully forward only to see a tide of tigers coming back at them. Somehow though, Deal kept Saltdean out with shots pinging off the bar, repeatedly blocked by defenders’ backsides or flashing across the face of goal. And then, against the run of play, Deal made a rare appearance in the Saltdean half and a cross into the box led to a scruffy goal. 0-1.
There’s plenty of time to go we reassured ourselves and before half-time, Trevor, wonderful Trevor twisted and turned like a politician avoiding a difficult question before smashing the ball high over the keeper to equalise just before the break. One new rule that affects matches is that half-time team-talks take place on the pitch and this means that if I can get my children to quieten down, I can listen in on Bryan’s words of wisdom. I wonder whether he has to edit himself for the wider audience. He told his team that they had the quality to win - of course they did - but warned them that he’d been knocked out of the FA Vase a hundred times and usually to a pretty average team. They had to be at it. They had to go out and win the game and not let it slip away.
The second half was similar to the first although chances seemed more scarce and it felt like we were sliding towards… towards what? Would there be extra time or would it go straight to penalties? I asked the Deal substitutes who were warming up in front of me, but they didn’t know. You’d think it would be an important detail that they should be aware of. They scuttled back to the bench to check and came back to tell me that if scores were level, there would be extra time, but moments later, the referee was beckoned over by the bench and he told them that it would go straight to penalties. Had I initiated this conversation? I don’t know, but thankfully the referee knew how the match should conclude.
Moments later though, it seemed that it was irrelevant anyway. There were just a couple of minutes left on the clock when the gradually improving Deal snatched the lead again. Gutted. We were into the final moments and it seemed like the Vase dream had been cruelly snatched away. We were into added-on time and every time Saltdean poured forward, one of the giant Deal defenders managed to smash it back up the pitch, but the whistle remained unblown and one last chance came when a deflected shot spun away for a corner. Set-piece deliveries had been inconsistent, but this one was good and debutant, Josh Clack, rose high and his header bulleted into the back of the net. As I screamed my joy, a rush of exhilaration destroying the frustration I’d felt moments before, eight-year-old, Eli Green, attending his first Saltdean game, summed it up perfectly: “This is brilliant!” he exclaimed.
And so, penalties it was. Surely, the script was written. A glorious last-minute equaliser was going to lead to shoot-out glory. It would make for a great narrative. The plucky Tigers coming from behind twice before advancing into the Third Round of the Vase. I dearly want to end the article with the happy ending that I felt confident would come, but I don’t get to write the script. As the icy rain fell, Saltdean blasted two penalties over the bar and another came bouncing back off the post. Deal went one better and triumphed 3-2 on penalties and then piled on top of each other joyously while I trudged away with the sense of angry injustice that football fans irrationally feel. Bryan had been knocked out the Vase for the 101st time and again, by a team that were thoroughly beatable.
But… there’s always a chance for fresh hope for football. Saltdean sit top of the table and travel to Horsham YMCA on Tuesday. They’ve never won the Sussex County Premier League before and this year, they have a great chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment