Ok, so we entered the new season with high expectations, destined to be smashed on the rocks. Deep down most of us hoped to come away from Sutton Coldfield with a hard fought victory, one of those classic smash and grab games won by a single goal, rebounded off the backside of the centre forward who doesn't have another sniff at goal all match.
Deep down, most of us will have happily accepted a point from the opening game. Better than last season, strong opposition....first game of the season, we could have very convincingly talked it up to be a good result.
Deep, deep, down, and I mean very deep down, nobody, and I mean nobody, could have expected us to walk away from Saturday's game with a 5-0 victory. FIVE - NIL.
Sutton Coldfield 0-5 Chesham United
- Top of the league already -
Now I admit I'm prone to getting a little carried away (no matter how hard the wife tries to flatten my hopes with punches of realism), in fact I think football supporters should get carried away because that is what makes it so bloody enjoyable, and that's what makes it the addiction it can be; enjoy the good times, live the dreams, there are too many bad times around the corner and the dream is soon shattered.
So, what of the day? What of the game? Back to the old days of copious lager and boisterous boys outings? er, no, not exactly.
I travelled to the game by car (so much quicker!) with my Dad, Ben (my youngest, aged 4) and this week we gave Len Vockins a lift to the game - as I did to Cinderford first game last year, we prayed for better weather this time around!
Despite all the horrors of finding ourselves in a Midlands division, the journey to Sutton Coldfield was not bad at all, less than an hour and a half from Boxmoor, time for Ben to catch up on his sleep.
We also tried to predict the starting line-up for the game, spot on apart from one, we had Josh Cooper for Kevin Cotton - thought ours might be a bit more attack minded!!
At the ground we had a couple of sociable pints, in the smaller Members bar as there was a wedding reception due in the main bar - "we asked for an away game today, but never got it". At this point I passed Ben his packed lunch to tuck into which he devoured in minutes, apart from one big mouthful of yogurt that ended up on the sleeve of the bloke next to him - I was going to offer him a wipe, but he seemed engrossed in conversation so I just let it be!
We watched the game from up in the stand (I remember from last year when it hailed, a great view), concerned at first that Sutton Coldfield seemed to have most of the possession in the first couple of minutes....then came the goal. Keeper tries to clear it, it rebounds off Danny Burnell and into the back of the net. There it was, that smash and grab goal, more or less off the backside of the striker. Now we just had to hold on for another 86 minutes and go home happy.
Then came number two, shortly followed by Danny's hat-trick - all before half-time. In fact, before the break, Danny had hit his fourth and we were in dreamland, the home side looked distraught.
Having a half-time cuppa in the Boardroom, so different to the days of a quick pint, the home officials reflected on a game against Romulus last year when they came back from 0-4 down, I don't think they really believed they were going to see a repeat today. I slurped my tea down and exited the makeshift Boardroom, felt a little out of place in what looked like a stop off from a Saga coach hoilday!!!
The second-half was always going to be an anti-climax, certainly in terms of goals scored, but we continued to carve out chance after chance. Darryl Cox could have had a hat-trick and Adam Parker missed a sitter, in fact we had to wait until the 90th minute for the fifth goal (and even after that Danny could have completed the double hat-trick!).
A truly awesome start to the season, Danny takes the plaudits, but all round the team were superb. In non-league I've never been convinced by playing three at the back, ever since Histon completely slaughtered us under Steve Bateman, but Andy Leese seems to have it working superbly for us at the moment. We never really looked troubled at the back, created so many chances going forward and scored five goals, what more could you ask for?
For the journey home we added Sammy Winston to the passenger list as he needed a quick return to get to work. It felt a little awkward happily discussing a 5-0 victory, whilst in the car you have a striker that never left the sub's bench. In fairness to Sammy, he was really pleased for the team, frustrated to not get on, but on the other hand, as a supporter, you would want that from any player wouldn't you?
We got back to Hemel just before 6.30pm, a great journey home, the only slight flaw was Ben throwing-up as we navigated our way through the M1 roadworks.....a Chesham away win concluding with a vomit - just like the old days!
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