AFC ST AUSTELL 0-0 BODMIN TOWN: abandoned game's short report...

Did I Miss Anything?

AFC St Austell 0-0 Bodmin Town

(abandoned after a minute or two due to dense fog…)

A journey from Solihull to Mawgan Porth yesterday, beautiful sunshine and a fine sunset, then today, light rain. I drove across the peninsula towards St Austell for the match, via Roche from a clear north coast but as I drove through the village, the mist rolled in and by the time I reached St Austell, the fog was quite dense. I was turned away from the ground and told to park in the grounds of a nearby school, which I did and returned to pay my entrance money, once the referee had surprised everyone present and decided that the game could go ahead. I was chatting to Ollie Brokenshire of AFC St Austell at the time and the expressions on all the players’ faces displayed shock. Liam Eddy was also rather confused by the decision, so I took my camera round the ground to take some pictures of, er, not a lot…

Lost...

Dan Evans (10) wonders why he's not at the pub...

It was evident that a linesman wasn’t going to be able to see a player on the far side of the pitch and the Lillywhites’ ‘keeper Jason Chapman was really concerned about throwing out the ball to a colleague who may or may not have actually been there in the swirling mists. I guess the visiting Town players would have been as well to have warmed up for this important fixture with a couple of hours on Bodmin Moor, which would probably have had more visibility than Poltair Park…

I chatted to Dan Hart’s family, then the players were presented in front of the spooky grandstand, apparently, although those on the far side of the ground simply imagined shadowy hands shaking invisible hands. The referee tossed the coin and almost certainly couldn’t find it again, the game began, AFC St Austell mounted an early attack and the referee called a halt to the game…

The tosser. Of the coin...

I didn’t queue for a refund, for I had a tricky journey back to the Merrymoor in Mawgan Porth, on unfamiliar roads. And I left… 

Friendly people had made the evening bearable enough but the officials had made a total fog-up of their jobs, especially as there was so much riding on this game…

I found my way back to Mawgan Porth, somehow and perused images of, er, not a lot, really… 

Teams: (if I saw correctly through the mists of human handwriting…)

AFC St Austell:  Jason Chapman, Dan Lean (written as Lean Dan on the form…), Martin Watts; Dan Hart, Lee Whitter, Martin Giles; Chris Reski, Ollie Brokenshire, Liam Eddy, Dan Evans, Neil Slateford.

Subs: Will Tinsley, Ben Williams, Dan Nancarrow, Jared Sims, Damon Mulready, Mike Body…

Bodmin Town:  Kevin Miller, Sam Hillson, Luke Rundle; Tom Chambers, Steve Simmonds, Craig Swiggs; Sam Matthews, Bobby Hopkinson, Adam Carter, Ryan Richards, Ben Joyce. 

Subs: Danny Brook, Huw Morgan, Dan Richardson, Darren Gilbert.