All things bright and beautiful

Saturday 18th February
CML Challenge Cup Round 3
Easington United 2 Southwell City 1

You wouldn't have thought it was the same venue as that the previous weekend.  Just seven days since the first real snowfall of the winter had forced postponement of our Baris League Challenge Cup third round tie against Southwell, our visitors finally got to make the trip they'd all been looking forward to!
Also 'down on the Farm' that day were Jim & Ollie Ezard and Denis Cox, stalwarts of the now sadly defunct Hutton Cranswick club.  It was great to see them, along with Kate from the Tiger Twitterati who was in line to see her first Easington win in four attempts!
The appearance of several new faces helped send the "Official Gross Weight" in the 'North West Ryvita Stand' to a new matchday record of 120 stone.  Which put a smile on the face of Ryvita Man himself of course... 

Waiting for the drop...

So, a fair-sized crowd, the sun shining, the pitch looking great and after Southwell had shot into an early lead, the day capped by possibly THE best goal ever seen at Low Farm; Gav setting us on the way to the semi-finals with a spectacular overhead scissor-kick...only Burt managed to miss it.  
Our doughty photographer would also then miss Frosty apply the decisive touch to JC's pass which clinched our place in the last eight.  Never mind.

And talking of missing things, a subsequent glut of home games, a family holiday and - ahem - the small matter of an impending minor operation has led to me again neglecting this blog.
Therefore, as we strode into unchartered territory for Easington United as far as the CML Cup is concerned, all I can offer is the following: 
For the best background to our CML South visitors read here and/or here.
For a match report of the game read here.
For some of the things that were catching my eye in the week leading up to the game read here, here and here.

Frosty scores the winner. Not that you'd know that from these...

The last of these pieces, relating to the death of Whitney Houston, warranted a mention solely due to the fact that her debut album formed something of a soundtrack to many of my memories of the mid-Eighties.  Of course, my musical tastes at that time were far too cool to own up to liking Whitney; a fact illustrated by the latest instalment of Matthew Rudd's Sunday show, Q The 80s.  The following three tracks had me back in (a) the youth club disco; (b) sixth form free periods; and (c) the legendary Spiders nightclub in Hull.  Long before blogging was invented...

Snow-go

Saturday 11th February CML Challenge Cup Round 3
Easington United v Southwell City
Match Postponed

I suppose we should be relieved that we got to February before losing our first game of the season to the weather.  And I am; especially following the League's decision to reschedule the tie for next week, thus enabling me to avoid a situation that may well have seen me miss a new ground tick at Harworth Colliery's Scrooby Road.

The game was never really a goer once the heavy snowfall that followed the Stiffs' previous week's cup exit had failed to shift.

Even as late as Thursday (as seen in this photograph) there was still plenty of the white stuff in evidence.  A good old dollop more that night ensured a "white-out".

Thankfully the CML showed common sense in allowing postponements ahead of the supposed 10.45am Saturday inspection deadline.  I'm sure our visitors from Notts would have loved it had we stuck to that!

Of course, up and down the country  - and further afield - there were more horror stories to be had caused by late postponements (and abandonments). 

Some City fans I know had got to Northampton the previous week before Pompey deemed their Fratton Park pitch unplayable; this week it was Scunny fans' turn.  Their game at Yeovil was postponed at ten o'clock. 

Boro fans also had a wasted trip - getting all the way to Portman Road and seeing over half an hour of their game with Ipswich before the referee deemed the playing surface unsafe.

And it wasn't just football.  Hull FC fans having made the trip to Perpignan were astounded to see their Super League game at Catalan Dragons postponed four hours before kick-off, while the "Oirish" contingent in Paris for the Six Nations contest were within just three minutes of kick-off when their plug was pulled.  Ouch!

However, my thoughts went out most to any hardy Bath City supporters who'd decided to follow the Conference's bottom club up to Gateshead only to see the game called off at two o'clock.  Quite simply, scandalous.
The postponements were just one of the topics to send the football phone-in lines to near overload this past fortnight.  What with Capello's departure from the England job, 'Arry's acquittal and the Suarez-Evra non-handshake, well Talksport and Five Live went into overdrive!  I'm just glad I had my Sunday fix of Q The 80s to help escape from it all...