The Wait is Over

Anyone would’ve thought it had been over two months since I’d last been to a football match; my camera was out of battery and I forgot my notebook. All this meant was I had to rely on my camera’s phone, and with this being a summer’s evening, the light didn’t start to fade until well into the game and the photos came out alright. I cobbled together some bits of paper and dug out a pen – my notebook for the evening.

I moved to Trowbridge in the summer of 2018 and so the trip to Bradford-on-Avon is a 5 minute train ride towards Bath. I arrived, grabbed a bag of chips from Station Place fish and chip shop and started the 10 minute walk to Bradford’s Trowbridge Road ground. I was already familiar with it having visited a couple of years back for a thrilling FA Cup match against league rivals Odd Down.

Everything of note at Trowbridge Road is on two sides of the ground. On the near side behind the goal is a collection of portacabins which house the changing rooms and a refreshment hut. A club house and bowling green is beyond that. On the near sideline is a small covered terrace and seated stand. To the side of this a distinctive wooden pavilion-type structure, resplendent as with a lot of the rest of the ground, in the club’s blue colours.

Hungerford would presumably have gone into the game confident of a positive result. What with the whole of the Southern League separating them and the hosts, as well as having the experience of James Constable amongst their attacking options. The early exchanges proved to be fairly even with neither goalkeeper really being tested. Around the half hour mark Hungerford finally broke the deadlock. Exasperatingly I missed the first goal of my season so can make no further comment on it. Not long after, the visitors had the ball in the back of the net via a header, but the linesman’s flag was raised for offside. It became quickly apparent that all the action was being saved for the end of the half with a long range shot proving too hot to handle for Bradford keeper Brandon Sawyer and the ball dropped in under the crossbar. Bradford rallied and almost scored a stunning goal of their own but the post denied them. The referee then failed to award what I, and most of the home contingent, thought was a clear back-pass. The half finished with the away side two goals to the good.

Ten minutes into the second half and Hungerford scored a contender for my goal of the season. A long distance bullet of a shot into the top corner. The substitute keeper seemed gutted but it would’ve taken an inhuman save to stop that going in. Little else of note happened. A visiting sub made an unnecessarily aggressive tackle for which he was yellow-carded after home boss Wayne Thorne joined the 23 men on the pitch to make his feelings known.

Ultimately Hungerford were too good for Bradford, but the Western League side can be optimistic about the upcoming season. As for the away team; they’ll be looking to improve on last season’s 19th place finish. Living so close to Bradford-on-Avon, I’d be surprised if I didn’t make it back to another game at Trowbridge Road this season. And I’m sure it will be another enjoyable one.

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