FA Cup 1st Round - Slough v Grimsby

[Holyport Rebel]

Part two.
( The internet here is totally down still so I'm relying on my wife using her phone to somehow get these posts uploaded onto here.
Don't ask me how it works, she's the tech brain in this household.)

Just after I'd asked the steward directions to the away end, and before following the Slough fan group going in completely the opposite direction to his instructions, I saw a Grimsby fan come out of their clubshop with what looked like a match programme.
Eager to get one, I went inside and approached the counter.
                                      Do you sell copies of the programme here ?
I asked hopefully. 
                                      Yes we do
she replied.
                                       Fantastic ! Can I have one please.
I said and I dutifully handed over my 3 quid to receive a copy of their (award winning) programme.
                                       Only 1 pound 50p tonight
she countered, handing me back my change and a flimsy thin looking booklet.
                                        Is this the match programme?
I said in surprise, expecting a much superior offering.
                                       Yes it is. We didn't produce our normal programme for tonight. It's like the one's we do for our pre-season friendlies
she stated.
I was really not impressed with this.
                                        So you think we are only worthy of a pre-season type programme eh, Grimsby Town FC ?,
 I thought to myself.
Up yours  Grimsby was my honest reaction inside.
( You surely can't tell me that Grimsby  couldn't afford to produce a decent programme because they were expecting a lower crowd than normal. We produce a fantastic programme with MUCH lower attendances.  Way better than this half hearted effort.)  
Anyway, I finally was inside the ground.
                                         Sit wherever you want to
said the steward.
Having been sat down in a coach for over 4 hours I definitely didn't feel like sitting down, so stood up waiting for the two teams to come out as by now it was almost time for the match to start. 
The game kicked off and we started brightly, but yet again before you knew it, we were 2 goals down.
I felt a great , dark, ominous feeling when it went to 2 nil so quickly.
This lot are full time professionals, and it is going to be almost impossible to get back in the game after this start.
We're not playing St Albans tonight.
Or Eastbourne.
Or Welling.
Amazingly, soon after this Tyrese scores another dominant header !  
2-1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grimsby were not going to get things all their own way tonight, and we were able to celebrate a Rebels goal scored right in front of us.
Absolute bliss.
Surely to God we wouldn't be able to get back level against this mob as we had done so often recently in our previous league away matches ?
When David's shot hit the back of the net to make the score 2-2, the wave of emotion that swept over all the Rebels fans gathered behind that very  goal made every yard of the long journey up to Grimsby worthwhile.
It's emotions  like this that keep us football fans coming back season after season for more.
These incredible feelings don't often happen, but when they do they are so special.
If only we could have held on till halftime at 2-2.
Would it have made any difference to the final outcome ?
We will never know.
So sadly, as so often recently, we do heroic's on the pitch and then let things slip 
Halftime came and we were down, 3-2.
( To be continued as I don't know if writing more might cause issues trying to get this posted. Still no working internet. If you're finding these posts dull and boring I apologise, but I enjoy writing them so tough. ) 

  
                                        . 
 

[Reading Rebel]

10 minutes ago, Holyport Rebel said:

Part two.
( The internet here is totally down still so I'm relying on my wife using her phone to somehow get these posts uploaded onto here.
Don't ask me how it works, she's the tech brain in this household.)

Just after I'd asked the steward directions to the away end, and before following the Slough fan group going in completely the opposite direction to his instructions, I saw a Grimsby fan come out of their clubshop with what looked like a match programme.
Eager to get one, I went inside and approached the counter.
                                      Do you sell copies of the programme here ?
I asked hopefully. 
                                      Yes we do
she replied.
                                       Fantastic ! Can I have one please.
I said and I dutifully handed over my 3 quid to receive a copy of their (award winning) programme.
                                       Only 1 pound 50p tonight
she countered, handing me back my change and a flimsy thin looking booklet.
                                        Is this the match programme?
I said in surprise, expecting a much superior offering.
                                       Yes it is. We didn't produce our normal programme for tonight. It's like the one's we do for our pre-season friendlies
she stated.
I was really not impressed with this.
                                        So you think we are only worthy of a pre-season type programme eh, Grimsby Town FC ?,
 I thought to myself.
Up yours  Grimsby was my honest reaction inside.
( You surely can't tell me that Grimsby  couldn't afford to produce a decent programme because they were expecting a lower crowd than normal. We produce a fantastic programme with MUCH lower attendances.  Way better than this half hearted effort.)  
Anyway, I finally was inside the ground.
                                         Sit wherever you want to
said the steward.
Having been sat down in a coach for over 4 hours I definitely didn't feel like sitting down, so stood up waiting for the two teams to come out as by now it was almost time for the match to start. 
The game kicked off and we started brightly, but yet again before you knew it, we were 2 goals down.
I felt a great , dark, ominous feeling when it went to 2 nil so quickly.
This lot are full time professionals, and it is going to be almost impossible to get back in the game after this start.
We're not playing St Albans tonight.
Or Eastbourne.
Or Welling.
Amazingly, soon after this Tyrese scores another dominant header !  
2-1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grimsby were not going to get things all their own way tonight, and we were able to celebrate a Rebels goal scored right in front of us.
Absolute bliss.
Surely to God we wouldn't be able to get back level against this mob as we had done so often recently in our previous league away matches ?
When David's shot hit the back of the net to make the score 2-2, the wave of emotion that swept over all the Rebels fans gathered behind that very  goal made every yard of the long journey up to Grimsby worthwhile.
It's emotions  like this that keep us football fans coming back season after season for more.
These incredible feelings don't often happen, but when they do they are so special.
If only we could have held on till halftime at 2-2.
Would it have made any difference to the final outcome ?
We will never know.
So sadly, as so often recently, we do heroic's on the pitch and then let things slip 
Halftime came and we were down, 3-2.
( To be continued as I don't know if writing more might cause issues trying to get this posted. Still no working internet. If you're finding these posts dull and boring I apologise, but I enjoy writing them so tough. ) 

  
                                        . 
 

From my point of view your match day reviews are certainly not boring HR.

Looking forward to reading match day part 3.

[Holyport Rebel]

(3rd and hopefully final part.)

The second half began and we were playing so well.
A neutral wouldn't have known which was the full-time Football League team and which was the part time Non-Leaguers.
We came so close to getting an equaliser.
It just wouldn't come.
Then, three quarters of the way through the match, Grimsby score a 4th.
Two goals behind again and such a blow to our hopes.
Even then George had a great chance to claw a goal back and make it 4-3, but it wasn't to be.
We had given Grimsby one hell of a battle, and fate was very unkind to us to have a final scoreline of 7-2.
When you think we lost Temi so early on due to an injury. 
Scotty came off injured as well.
Our players worked their socks off all night on what looked like a massive pitch.
When the players came over to where us fans were after the final whistle was blown, it was very special to give them an ovation deserving of the efforts that they had all put in.
I thought my fellow Rebel fans were also outstanding last night.
I felt so proud of the team and management for all that they had done in the two games against Grimsby, and I felt very proud last night to be among such a fantastic, amazing and loud bunch of fans saluting our team.
Yeah, we lost the match, but it was still such a special night to be a Slough Town fan. .
 

[Holyport Rebel]

5 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

My first observation on your match day report (part 1) HR is the time the journey took.

The coach was due to leave at 2pm on a journey that was to be somewhere between 4 to 5 hours if you included a stop on the way.

With the journey taking almost 6 hours I can only assume that traffic/roadworks delayed the coach. 

 

Hi RR.

I'm back and reconnected to the outside world and can finally see your comment.

Yep, we left more or less on the dot of 2pm.

After a couple of hours drive we stopped off at I think it was Peterborough Services for a 45 minute break.

Left Peterborough Services after about 50 minutes and travelled up as far as 45 miles-ish away from Grimsby and hit traffic.

Slow going for a while and then when we finally got going again  about 35miles-ish from Grimsby the road turned into a long and winding one.

You know, like the one in The Beatles song .😄

Not a problem if you are travelling in a car, a bit different travelling in a big coach.

 

[Stan]

When we lost to Rochdale 4-0 it was an unfair score but we didn’t really trouble them  when we lost 1-0 to Gillingham it was only to a worldie but did we really trouble them?
Last night we were spanked 7-2 but we gave Grimsby a bigger scare than either of the those. 
Scotty said in his interview that the players were almost ‘ embarrassed’ at the end by the fans singing their praises and didn’t know when to leave. 
never be embarrassing by people singing your name . 
we are your harshest critics because we love our club. 
if you disrespect our club in any way we will slaughter you , if you give everything for us we will stand and sing your name till we have no voice . 

 

[sdelaney2308]

31 minutes ago, Stan said:

When we lost to Rochdale 4-0 it was an unfair score but we didn’t really trouble them  when we lost 1-0 to Gillingham it was only to a worldie but did we really trouble them?
Last night we were spanked 7-2 but we gave Grimsby a bigger scare than either of the those. 
Scotty said in his interview that the players were almost ‘ embarrassed’ at the end by the fans singing their praises and didn’t know when to leave. 
never be embarrassing by people singing your name . 
we are your harshest critics because we love our club. 
if you disrespect our club in any way we will slaughter you , if you give everything for us we will stand and sing your name till we have no voice . 

 

Also gave them a scare in the 1st game.

[Scott Davies]

57 minutes ago, Stan said:

When we lost to Rochdale 4-0 it was an unfair score but we didn’t really trouble them  when we lost 1-0 to Gillingham it was only to a worldie but did we really trouble them?
Last night we were spanked 7-2 but we gave Grimsby a bigger scare than either of the those. 
Scotty said in his interview that the players were almost ‘ embarrassed’ at the end by the fans singing their praises and didn’t know when to leave. 
never be embarrassing by people singing your name . 
we are your harshest critics because we love our club. 
if you disrespect our club in any way we will slaughter you , if you give everything for us we will stand and sing your name till we have no voice . 

 

The embarrassment comes from a good place. We’ve got a humble group who appreciate the applause but at the same time will be feeling confused as to why we are getting applauded having been beaten by a hefty score line! Not many supporters would be so supportive when their team at losing by a 5 goal margin but I know you guys are different.

I was absolutely gutted this morning but I feel better today. Was just gutted that the big moments in the game didn’t fall our way, add injuries to that as well. Was slightly frustrated that we didn’t really get to have a go at it with our best 11 for a larger part of the match.

Was a great trip for us, and I hope it was for all of you too. Thank you.

[Banny]

9 hours ago, Stan said:

When we lost to Rochdale 4-0 it was an unfair score but we didn’t really trouble them  when we lost 1-0 to Gillingham it was only to a worldie but did we really trouble them?
Last night we were spanked 7-2 but we gave Grimsby a bigger scare than either of the those. 
Scotty said in his interview that the players were almost ‘ embarrassed’ at the end by the fans singing their praises and didn’t know when to leave. 
never be embarrassing by people singing your name . 
we are your harshest critics because we love our club. 
if you disrespect our club in any way we will slaughter you , if you give everything for us we will stand and sing your name till we have no voice . 

 

Gills manager stated they were outplayed, so yes we troubled them big time!

[DonnyNo6]

23 hours ago, Holyport Rebel said:

It was an awfully long way to go.
It felt an even longer journey back.
We lost.
7-2.
I walked through my front door at 3-30am, and after a look at the comments on websites and twitter pages on my home PC,( I don't have or want a smartphone ), I got to bed at about 4am.
And I wouldn't have missed going to the Grimsby away game for anything.
As others have said before me, and will no doubt say after me, that was such an unfair scoreline.
For three quarters of the match Grimsby knew that they were in a game, and it was only in the last 10 minutes that they were finally able to shake us off.
Here are some of my thoughts on the match last night, for what they're worth.
When the coach finally arrived on the outskirts of Grimsby, I did laugh when a ditty rang through the coach from the fans at the back, ( to the tune of The Sloop John B )
                  I wanna go home
                  I wan-na go home
                  Grimsby's  a  s**thole
                  I wanna go home
Made me laugh anyway.
As we finally got near the ground, we followed the signs indicating where  away coaches were supposed to go.
Grimsby's ground seemed surrounded by a labyrinth of sidestreets, and as we turned into one of these from the High Street we got a few yards down it when the coach stopped, and Amy our driver said
                   I can't get the coach down there !
She was perfectly correct.
Somebody had parked a big campervan type of vehicle on one side of the road which made that road impassable for any coach. 
Good forward planning Grimsby Town FC !
There were now only 20 minutes to go till kick-off, and we all piled off the coach desperate to get to the ground before the match started.
Where to go to get to the away end ?
Absolutely no idea, so we just followed the stream of Grimsby fans walking along the High Street.
My thinking was lets get to the ground whose floodlights we could see tantalisingly over the rooftops of the many houses huddled beneath them,and work it out exactly where the away fans should be when we were at least beside the stadium.
All the time kick-off was getting closer and closer.
Reaching the stadium, I asked one of the stewards how to get to the away end.
                    Go back to the High Street, walk on  past the first turning on your left and take the next one, walk down that  road, walk around the stadium and then you're there.
                    Thank you,  I politely said, and saw a group of Slough fans going in an entirely different direction  but much closer proximity to the ground and decided to follow them rather than the massive detour suggested by the steward.
Time was short !
Our group got directed by a Grimsby steward to go along a bit further to another Grimsby steward, who said he would scan our tickets and take us inside the ground to where we were supposed to be.
Great plan.
Then his flippin scanner wouldn't work !
We then had to follow another steward who took us inside the ground around to the away end, once there he made us go back outside the ground ,walk 3 feet to the away turnstile and then get our tickets scanned as we passed  through it to get back inside the ground again.
I was one of the first one's through the turnstiles this way, but was told that soon after this the scanner at the turnstile stopped working and they let fans in anyway without this scanner check.
Makes me wonder how they arrived at the figure of 118 Rebels fans there.
I'd counted 171 sold tickets on their ticket website before I left for the match but perhaps that was wrong ?
Last night was my 46th Football League team ground visited.
Way short of the magical 92,but it at least made it very symmetrical with it being exactly half way there. 
The whole episode though was what you would expect from a very low ranking non-league outfit, not a supposed Football League one.
But at least I was in !   
( To be continued once I've written it and my internet problems here at home this morning have been sorted out ! )
                 

  
 

Great sum up so far although we drove up but were hearing about the trials and tribulations of the coach.

At one point after the match started I went up the back and was chatting to a steward and believe it or not the best count I had was 171 in front of me but there were more underneath when I went down so we must have been around 200 or so and a steward did say that to me later on.(definitely more than 118 but did they scan all the coach and late comers?)

[Reading Rebel]

27 minutes ago, DonnyNo6 said:

Great sum up so far although we drove up but were hearing about the trials and tribulations of the coach.

At one point after the match started I went up the back and was chatting to a steward and believe it or not the best count I had was 171 in front of me but there were more underneath when I went down so we must have been around 200 or so and a steward did say that to me later on.(definitely more than 118 but did they scan all the coach and late comers?)

So gate receipts recorded will be less which means less money for the club?

[GlenSTFC]

58 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

So gate receipts recorded will be less which means less money for the club?

A club not announcing true crowd figures for a cup match where profits are shared???

[DonnyNo6]

1 hour ago, Reading Rebel said:

So gate receipts recorded will be less which means less money for the club?

You'd like to think not but I believe we could all see the amount of tickets we sold on the ticket site so I don't know but we had more than the official 118 there for sure although of course my maths could be awful.

[Stan]

About a dozen of us were let in a side gate by a steward , no turnstile or scanning of tickets . So none of us were counted . 
the coach was full and normal rule of thumb is coach delivers between a quarter to a third of our away support so 59 on the coach means 120-150 made their own way . So  I would say it was between 175-200. 

[DonnyNo6]

12 hours ago, Stan said:

About a dozen of us were let in a side gate by a steward , no turnstile or scanning of tickets . So none of us were counted . 
the coach was full and normal rule of thumb is coach delivers between a quarter to a third of our away support so 59 on the coach means 120-150 made their own way . So  I would say it was between 175-200. 

👍

[Holyport Rebel]

I'm a bit hesitant to write what may turn into another long-ish post, having already  taken up possibly many minutes of your time on my previous recent posts, but there was another incident I think worthy of comment that happened during our trip to Grimsby.
When you get to the end of this one you may disagree !
The jury is out on that one ! 
It was a non-football related incident, bizarre and unusual to me, and hopefully a situation that my other fellow Rebel fans do not get involved in in their normal, everyday lives 
Here goes........
As I mentioned to you on here previously, we had all gotten off the coach in the middle of a side street near the stadium in a very unprepared and messy way.
At half-time, Geoff came around to all the fans who had arrived at the match on the coach, to tell them to stay where we were after the final whistle had blown for another 10-15 minutes, when a steward would lead us all out of the ground to where our coach would be.
As it turned out,10-15 minutes after the match ended, us fans were still cheering and applauding the team who were still standing in front of us. ( Great pic's and video of this by the way. )
What would the scenes have been like if we had won ?
When the team finally turned away to go back to the dressing rooms, we more or less straight away were led by a steward off towards our coach.
The many Grimsby stewards we met on our way to the coach  were all friendly and polite. ( I guess it does help a little bit though when your team has won 7-2. )
We piled onto the coach and very soon after headed off on the long journey back to Slough.  
As on the journey up, we were going to make a stop at a service station on the way home.
We eventually, gone midnight, got the coach parked up at Watford Gap services, and most of us got off and went into the service buildings.
Once there, conversations about the game continued, and then it went around the supporters that Leon Chambers-Parillon was there too.
I didn't see him, but had heard previously that he had his driving test arranged for 8am that very morning, so I guessed someone connected to the club who had driven to the game had brought him back immediately after the game had finished ,to enable him to get at least some preparation for this exam.
( Hope you passed Leon. )
Anyway, I was in conversation with another Rebels fan, talking about the match as you do, and we were just about to go  out the exit door of the services building to head back to the coach.
The sliding doors parted, and I looked out into the darkness and saw 3 cars and a minivan parked up about 10 yards ahead of us, and 2 ordinary looking blokes were calmly walking towards us about 5 yards away, intending to pass us and go into the service building.
I turned to my fellow fan to say something, and in that split second a commanding, authoritative, booming voice shattered the peace and quiet of the early morning calm with a single word.  
                                                                         
                                                                           FREEZE !

My thoughts at this were, WTF !

I turned my head to look at where this word had come from, and I now saw 2 other men, one either side of the 2 blokes who had been walking towards us, about 2 yards distance  from them.
Where these 2 other men had suddenly appeared from I had no idea.
The new bloke on the right was dressed in everyday clothes, the new bloke on the left doing the shouting was dressed in black uniform type shoes, black uniform like trousers and wearing a thick black jacket, with his right hand hidden away inside the left side of his jacket as though he was holding something he didn't want to show. 
One second these blokes  weren't there, the next they were.
More booming words followed immediately

                                                                       DO NOT MOVE ! .
                                   KEEP YOUR HANDS BY YOUR SIDES OR I WILL TAZER YOU ! 
 
Again I thought, WTF !  
   
Despite these instructions now obviously being directed to others and not me and my colleague , we both just stood there not moving, just watching.
Somehow, the back of the minivan had been opened up,( I didn't see that happen either), and an Alsatian dog was now barking its head off from behind a wire mesh inside this vehicle, its nose pushing constantly out from the gaps in this mesh seemingly desperate to get out from there and do God's knows what.
The two men who were being given these instructions had not moved an inch, and the other two blokes now moved up to them and forcibly made them put their arms behind their backs and  put restraints on them.  
 
WTF !

All it needed was for the shouter to have said  
                                                          YOU"RE NICKED SUNSHINE !
 and I would definitely have thought I was watching an episode of The Sweeney ! 
Me and my fellow fan walked away from this scene and got back on the coach, rather unbelieving of what we had just witnessed.
I didn't imagine this.
I didn't unexpectedly go to sleep on the coach and dream this.
I haven't made it up.
It really happened.
Thank God I have a witness.
The onward journey home was uneventful !
See what you miss when you don't go by coach to these matches !

 .

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Holyport Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

Well, that was 5 minutes of my life I'll never get back 

In all seriousness I for one have enjoyed reading your Grimsby adventures HR.

Any more 😅

 

[Holyport Rebel]

1 hour ago, Reading Rebel said:

Well, that was 5 minutes of my life I'll never get back 

In all seriousness I for one have enjoyed reading your Grimsby adventures HR.

Any more 😅

 

Thanks for your comments RR  .👍

No more Grimsby tales.

I think I'll go and lie down in a darkened room for a while after all this posting RR.

I haven't got your stamina.  🤣 

[Bernie Gogan]

1 hour ago, Holyport Rebel said:

Thanks for your comments RR  .👍

No more Grimsby tales.

I think I'll go and lie down in a darkened room for a while after all this posting RR.

I haven't got your stamina.  🤣 

Thank goodness you "got away" Kev. 

[sdelaney2308]

Great rant this morning by Jeff Stelling on Talksport on why Don.t they put Non League teams who get to the 3rd round in the hat with the top teams for a big pay day.

[Nathan]

On 04/12/2023 at 17:29, sdelane2308 said:

Great rant this morning by Jeff Stelling on Talksport on why Don.t they put Non League teams who get to the 3rd round in the hat with the top teams for a big pay day.

  I've just stumbled on this video and remembered you mentioning it:

I agree with every word Jeff says here. It's grossly unfair that Maidstone get as far as they have only to be drawn against Stevenage or Port Vale. TV aren't likely to be interested (though they've yet to be announced), yet Man Utd will probably be shown (because they usually are in the FA Cup). Arsenal vs Liverpool I'd say is a dead cert for TV coverage, despite not really being what the magic of the FA Cup is all about; they play each other in the Premier League twice a season. Unless you're an Arsenal or Liverpool fan, do you really care?

The same goes for Eastleigh, who were drawn away vs Newport County or Barnet (so possibly an all non-league tie in the 3rd round).