When A Cock & A Warren Failed To Put The Brakes On The Racers…
The Racers were able to do just enough at Dunley Way to take three important points from Lutterworth on a slow, damp grassy surface. The match contained three rather scrappy goals, not too many misses but a good deal of inaccuracy from both teams. Certainly the Racers deserved to win the game but in truth, the Swifts so nearly snatched a late point, only for the Warwick defence to produce a huge block.
The link to video coverage of the game, with full commentary, can be found on this blog, as can images with captions.
The Mowdog’s thoughts…
I liked the welcome message for Racing Club Warwick behind the bar in the clubhouse which was rather novel but it seemed to me that to be able to write accurately upon a white-board is a skill to be listed on your CV in order to manage Lutterworth…
The staff in the bar area were all helpful and accommodating, whilst once I was able to barter for the correct change from the turnstile operator for the acquisition of a match programme, I was cordially received by the Chairman and his volunteers.
The soccer contest…
It was a hard slog and really wasn’t particularly inspiring, despite the physical effort exerted by all of the players. Certainly sympathy should go to Racer Archie Hamp, who deflected Nuno Gomes’ close range shot into a corner of his own net, following a header across goal by home defender Brad Coleman. He had already headed a fair chance too high, before injuring an ankle and subsequently leaving the contest. And wouldn’t you know it, replacement Josh Meeson quickly pounced on poor defending in a goalmouth scramble to poke an equaliser into the roof of the net before the break.
The winning goal was odd in that scorer Josh Parsons didn’t really seem to know whether to react joyfully or not, for his soft looping header from Callum Carsley’s left-flank centre dropped almost apologetically against the inside of the right post just below the crossbeam and bounced hesitatingly into goal.
The main contest…
Ah, the main contest was clearly one between Swift number 6 Mark Warren and the cockerel in a garden behind the fence on the touchline opposite the dugouts. It was a brutal clash of decibels, for the cock regularly screamed its anguish at the presence of so many players who bellowed the f… word as many times as I regularly write the word ‘and’…
Warren screamed his own anguish, constantly winding up opponents and geeing up his own flock (of Swifts) and he was definitely not playing at half-cock. He was so bloody loud that he competed well with my live commentary, jibing about which Warwick players were weak links, which individual Racers he would hammer the next time they gained possession and sledging the referee in particular with such audacious conversations that it was remarkable that he wasn’t sin-binned several times.
However, his best two moments were when he displayed some twisting gymnastic moves, accompanied by cock-like squawks when he felt he was fouled and later an altercation with the main official whilst being cautioned.
Following the side-rolls, he smiled at two Warwick representatives on the sideline as he clutched a leg, accompanied by verbal agony and at that moment I’m cock-sure I liked his contribution. The cockerel was certainly impressed too and went temporarily quiet…
When he was about to be cautioned for an ‘unwise’ challenge, Warren made sure that the actual booking took several minutes to complete and stood a number of paces from the referee, like in COVID distancing and yelled out his name and number twice:
“Mark Warren. 6. Mark Warren. 6.”
The midfielder incurred the wrath of the Warwick chairman too but in reality, his demeanour on the pitch was so often effective and endearing in some strange way and seriously, in no way am I criticising him.
At the final whistle, he was the one keen to shake the hands of opponents, who were likely inwardly amused.
The cockerel went quiet late on, defeated by Mark Warren’s on-field script but at half-time, if I had owned a rifle, I would have had it cocked and aimed at the raucous lump of poultry…
Perhaps an alternative nickname for the Swifts could be the Cocksparrows...
Liked my afternoon at Lutterworth, despite the fact that the Messiah, Brian Ndlovu wasn’t on the team-sheet but I guess that for the Messiah, Christmas is an important time…
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.