We walked from the centre of Poole and tried to get in viaWell Lane before being stopped by the Stewards. One guy that was the double ofthe wacky son from “My Family” used his toy walkie talkie to confirm that we did in fact know someone on the turnstile and were going to pay – we just didn’t want the sponsored walk beforehand.
I wasn’t going to have a drink….. but we were early….
The first problem came that we didn’t know if the bar was open. There was no sound from the inside and no-one wanted to try the door for fear of looking foolish in front of the hot-chocolate supping crowd.
The cold, though, took over from the fear of embarrassment and I opened the door. I’m not sure what they use in that cabin to soundproof it –but I want some. There couldn’t have been more than a dozen people inside but the noise that hit us almost knocked us back.
One swift beer and off to the pitch just as the announcement came that the match was delayed by 15 minutes – back to the bar
At 8 the match was started by possibly the tallest referee I have ever seen.
Poole started the brighter and were unlucky not to be ahead after 7 minutes when good work on the left resulted in a cross just being headed away before being pounced on
The Howesey chants then started at 10 minutes and the Red and White army did him proud keeping it going for an impressive length of time. They also impressed 10 minutes later withan enjoyable rendition of “Does your keeper have Tourettes?”
Evesham had a brief spell of pressure but the rest of the half was Poole’s. Attacks were free-flowing down both wings and although there were a high percentage of poor crosses along the ground it seemed almost impossible that none of the good crosses were put away.
My personal favourite moment of the first half, though, was when the Evesham no 10 was shouted at to cover on the right he replied “f**kin hell it’s a long way” – you can’t teach that – textbook
HT 0-0
The second half started brighter for Evesham and a poor Poole back pass had Walker charging back and pressuring the Evesham No 9 to fire over when a much worse outcome for Poole seemed inevitable
Then, on 55 minutes, Dan Cann, only just on, took a long throw in from the left to Walker in the box. He headed the ball against the defender and the ball spilled out to the edge of the box to the on-rushing Adam Kelly to crash the ball into the top left corner – a great strike and a deserved lead for Poole.
That said, Evesham had 2 chances in a minute to equalise.The first came from a mix up at a corner when the ball fell to the Evesham striker just outside the 6 yard box but somehow he managed to strike it wide.The second was a one on one where the keeper made a fine save to his left.
On 65 minutes Poole had the chance to put the game to bed as Micheal Charles was put through from a very poor back pass. As he ran through he had the chance to either take it past the rushing keeper or place it past him. He chose the latter but failed to hit the target
The last 20 minutes Evesham really pressed forward and put the Poole defence under a lot of pressure. None more than when awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box. The giant ref paced out 10 strides and that meant the wall had to line up in the car park opposite
The free-kick attempt was blocked at first but this was followed up by several close range strikes – all blocked heroically by defenders throwing themselves at the ball
Summary – Overall, Poole deserved the victory but for long periods there wasn’t much between the two sides. When Poole kept the ball on the deck they always looked dangerous but their defence did look vulnerable to the long ball over the top.
Star Performer – Walker – An inspiration at the back motivating the troops for the whole 90 minutes
