And so to
Loop Meadow and a bonus long weekend to see the Evostik South Division Division
1 South & West curtain raiser between Didcot Town and Swindon Supermarine.
Didcot Town
Football Club was formed in 1907 from the merger of Didcot Village FC and
Northbourne Wanderers, and boasts four club nicknames - Diddy, The Railwaymen,
The Artillerymen and The Gunners. Initially playing in the North Berkshire
Junior League, Diddy set up an offshoot team in 1923 - Didcot Wednesday - for
those players who couldn't play on Saturdays due to work commitments, but had a
half day off on Wednesdays instead.
By 1927 the
club had moved to the Reading & District League and the 1953/54 season saw
the creation of the Hellenic League, with the Railwaymen crowned champions in
its inaugural season. Despite moving to the Metropolitan League in 1957, the
club reverted back to the Hellenic in 1963.
As part of
the redevelopment of Didcot town centre, ahead of the 1999/2000 season, the
club relocated from the old Station Road ground (now Sainsburys car park !) to
the magnificent new Loop Meadow stadium the other side of the railway tracks.
The new stadium saw a change in fortunes, with the Artillerymen winning the FA
Vase, beating AFC Sudbury 3-2 at White Hart Lane in 2005. The league title was
lost by one point - that one point being a deduction for fielding an ineligible
player.
However
Diddy won the Hellenic League the following season to be promoted to the
Southern League South & West. In 2009 the club was promoted to the Southern
Premier but were relegated two seasons later, after losing 6 points following
the demise of Windsor & Eton FC who they had beaten twice. Last season's mid
table finish did, however, see the club's best ever FA Cup run, culminating in
a televised First Round game against Exeter City, with the League 2 side
winning 3-0.
Swindon
Supermarine, 'The Marine', the visitors from the Webbs Wood Stadium, was
established in 1992 from the merger of two troubled clubs in the Hellenic
League - Supermarine FC and Swindon Athletic FC.
Supermarine
FC was set up in 1946 from the social club of the Supermarine aircraft company
famous for the Supermarine Spitfire aeroplane. Originally called Vickers
Armstrong, then shortened to Vickers, the club played in the Swindon &
District League before becoming founder members of the Wiltshire League.
Thereafter the club moved up to the Hellenic League but were bottom of Division
1 at the time of the merger.
Swindon
Athletic FC was founded in 1968 as Penhill FC, changing name in 1989. Also
Wiltshire League founder members, the club ascended to the Hellenic in 1985 but
was facing ground grading failure when the two clubs merged.
The new
merged club won the Hellenic League in the 1997/98 season but was not promoted
due to ground requirements. Three years later, again as champions, the Marine
was accepted into the Southern League South & West and promoted to the
Premier in 2007.
2010 saw a
£50,000 funding shortfall and the very existence of the club hung by a thread
until a supporters' consortium took over. Last season Supermarine reached the
play offs, matching the 2013 term (after relegation the season before), but
failure to achieve promotion has seen a wholesale change in playing personnel.
So Thursday
and it's a slight detour to see the mini giraffe sculpture that forms part of
Sale Art Zoo and then eschewing this week's must have offer from the Tyre
Warehouse - a free bag of carrots with every tyre purchased.... Then on to the
patchwork M6, and a welcome return of the PIES graffiti - now outed as a
mythical Merseyside anti-heroes band, and due to release their debut album
after three decades.......
It's a
journey featuring smart motorway, broken down vehicles, lorries afire, burning
trees, discarded fenders, plenty of rain and long delays. Three and a quarter
hours later we finally arrive.
Friday
brings better weather and a walk into the dreaming spires of Oxford. A brief
stop at The Four Candles, and yes it is named after that iconic Two Ronnies
sketch J On the wall are
two fork handles and four candles.... Avoiding the cyclists, it's a trip
to the Ashmolean Museum, then taking in the Sheldonian Theatre, Bodleian
Library, Bridge of Sighs, Radcliffe Camera and finishing atop the Castle Mound
at Oxford Castle, all the while marvelling at the historical attractions.
Saturday
sees glorious sunshine - it is the first day of the football season after all -
and a trip down the A34 to Didcot. After a fruitless search for a disabled
space, and three car parks later, we eventually arrive at Didcot Railway Centre
- and Steam Day !!
After
travelling down both lines I take my leave and head for the Draycott
Engineering Loop Meadow Stadium. I know needs must but Loop Meadow just sounds
so much better.... Under the railway, onto the one way Cow Lane and then round
the Ladygrove Loop, past an abandoned travellers ' site and to Bowmont Water,
home to Oak Lane Health Centre, Willow Brook Leisure Centre and, of course, the
Loop.
Inside the
gorgeous sun beating down can be no excuse for a bare looking pitch. Entrance
is by the main all seater stand, and to the right are two small seated covered
stands in the corners, bisected by a covered terrace and a backdrop of the
Railway Centre and the West Coast Main Line.
The far side
supports a walkway and the dugouts, backed by Ladygrove Park and, on the hill,
a bench overlooking the pitch - with several interested onlookers. To the left
is a tree lined end, behind which is the travellers' site.
With the sun
beating down, a bird of prey rising with the thermals in a cloudless sky and
the hissing and whistling of steam trains in the background, the season is
underway. Diddy are in red and white with keeper Leigh Bedwell in all white and
Marine, appropriately, in all blue ! We also learn that Diddy's underwear
sponsors are Bollox - yes, really......
Marine's
captain Bradley Gray nearly hits the corner flag with the game's first effort
but on 7 minutes we have the first goal. Gray's lovely through ball to strike
partner Connor Waldon sees him flick it past his marker and score with a
rasping left foot drive. Diddy's response has captain Adam Learoyd's header
well saved by Marine custodian Connor Johns.
Waldon
scores his second with a slight deflection after a drinks break, and Johns makes
a fine save one on one from Diddy's Ryan Brooks. Waldon gets his hat trick just
before the break, beating Bedwell with a brave header.
An open
first half, far too open if you're a Didcot fan, finishes with Marine 3-0 up.
Diddy caught with their pants down - or just plain Bollox ? The tannoy remains
completely silent throughout the break.
The second
half brings threats of a Diddy fightback thanks to the hard running of Brooks
and fellow striker Ben Whitehead, but Johns remains relatively untroubled. The
game becomes stretched as players tire in the heat and just before the hour
Callum Parsons is teed up by Gray for the visitors' fourth.
We are then
treated to a display of 18 gliders in the sky and a flurry of substitutions.
Two of the visitors' replacements combine - Dan Martin put through hits the
post but fellow substitute Lewis Thompson mops up to make it 5-0.
Finally in
the 90th minute Diddy break their duck as Whitehead heads home a redirected
corner for a home side consolation. Utter silence, bewilderment, then 'Christ
we've scored' and then rather apologetic applause.....before the referee draws
the veil on a 5-1 away victory.
Just time
for a quick visit to Witney and, opposite the butter cross in the market
square, a brief stop at the Company of Weavers, a nod to the town's traditional
industry of blanket making. Then, thankfully, a less eventful journey home !
