Championship Class

Hosting West London's top social function last night meant football had to wait until Sunday this weekend so I took advantage of Reading's visit to Queen's Park Rangers to walk to a game for a change. Although the nearest ground to my home I much prefer to visit Craven Cottage or even Griffin Park rather than trudge through the side streets of W12 to Loftus Road. I've never warmed to the London Rs and their subbuteo stadium, a feeling apparently shared by most of my fellow locals judging by the way they struggle to sell out games even in the top flight. Likewise Reading were unable to sell out their top tier allocation at the school end, hardly surprising with seats priced £40-£45 with just about enough leg room for a child and a restricted view of the goal beneath. Still at least I had a perfect sight of the touchline where Mark Hughes and his coaching staff waved their arms with ever frantic impatience as the game went on.

This seat was also adjacent to the block of home fans where Moroccan Ben Lauroa sits at the front proudly sporting a custom made sombrero in club colours. A common complaint about football is that there are no characters in the game anymore. Well with this guy spending his time either waving his rattle or blowing a horn, not to mention Djibril Cisse and his blue mohawk, Loftus Road is bucking the trend.

Both clubs have famously acquired new rich owners in the last year or so but on today's evidence neither looks like getting any immediate pleasure from their new toy. At least in Reading's case this has not been the result of fiscal stimulus yet, however serious questions must be asked about how Tony Fernandes has broken up a team that looked like they were built to survive by Neil Warnock when I saw them play at Arsenal last Christmas. Certainly with the likes of Alejandro Faurlin, Bobby Zamora and Shaun Wright-Phillips on the bench Mark Hughes cannot complain about a lack of resources. Reading however lined up much as they had done in the Championship and had much the better of the first half as their well organised team efficiently got the ball forward down the flanks and created plenty of opportunities in and around the box, mainly as a result of set pieces.

In reply QPR had little to offer relying on the individual flair of Adel Taarabt and jinkin Djibril Cisse to create a chance with the only end result being the odd long shot which did little to trouble Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

Reading took a deserved lead just after the quarter hour mark, unsurprisingly from a corner. First to the ball was Sean Morrision who at the second attempt headed the ball against the bar. Kaspars Gorkss was first to the rebound and acrobatically volleyed the ball into the back of the net.

As the half drew on QPR began to get a little bolder with Jose Bosingwa taking a more advanced role on the right wing which accompanied by the crowd getting on the referee's back to influence the award of a few soft free kicks saw Rangers enjoy their best spell of the game, only being denied an equaliser when Esteban Granero (who only seemed to touch the ball at set pieces) saw his free kick touched onto the woodwork by McCarthy.

After the break QPR took the upper hand, taking advantage of both Reading full backs conceding their flank next to the penalty area. This inevitably led to the equaliser midway through the second half when a Bosingwa cross eluded the Reading back line allowing Cisse to nip in and score.

At this point the stage seemed set for QPR to go on and win the game but instead it was Reading that dominated towards the end although QPR came closest to scoring. That the score remained level was reflective of the lack of quality in both teams' forward lines. Reading showed plenty of energy and drive in their attacking moves spearheaded by Jimmy Kebe and Noel Hunt but had no one capable of troubling goalkeeper Julio Cesar even when a Royal head was more often than not first to the ball at several set pieces late on. Rangers counter attacked quickly mainly through Taarabt, but he lacked the composure to beat McCarthy when through one on one, the keeper pushing his effort round the post.

The final whistle left both teams win less having produced a display which was more akin to the Championship rather than the Premier League, as shown by the man of the match, Jay Tabb, a tireless engine of perpetual motion in the midfield but hardly a player you pick out as top class. Over to the club owners now, but I would say Reading's current approach shows the most long term prudence, if only because Rangers cannot attract the support to justify further outlay.

The King's A Leon

The fourth and final qualifying round of the FA Cup must be the best day in the Non League calendar. If you're lucky enough to still be in the competition you can wallow in all the hopes and dreams of glory to come in the competition proper in the knowledge that the tie you must win to get there offers a realistic chance of success. Everyone travelling to see a Cup tie yesterday must have done so in the hope that their team would win or at least be in the hat for the next round. Everyone would have had a team in their head who they wanted to draw in the first round. Everyone would have had a least of flutter of pride at the stirrings of extra media attention.

All this was true for me as I set off on the short journey to Farncombe to see Godalming Town host Maidenhead United for the right to join the forty eight Football League Third and Fourth Division clubs. So although inconvenienced by joining a train jam packed full of Chelsea fans at Shepherds Bush, I could only smile as they whined about "glory hunting" QPR fans from the previous week's match. Pausing to check Twitter as I waited for the the train at Clapham Junction a wry grin crept onto my face at the chutzpah of the nation's favourite Spoonerism Jeremy Hunt who billed the match as Culture Sec v Home Sec in reference to the Gs and Magpies' MPs.

Arriving nice and early I was stopped by the day's fourth official Dele Sotimirin, who had travelled on the same train and needed directions to the ground. I accompanied him part of the way, filling him in on each club's form before stopping off midway to Wey Court at the Freeholders, a welcoming pub from which to watch the day's support act, the Chelsea v Arsenal game, in the company of a flock of Royal Magpies who had eschewed a trip to Selhurst Park in favour of cheering on United.

Suitably buoyed up by proceedings at Stamford Bridge, an experience enhanced by being in a pub full of Chelsea fans in Ashley Cole's home town, next stop was Wey Court home of Godalming Town. The Gs have had a short but labyrinthine history encompassing name changes and an admirable approach to ground development using second hand structures no longer required by other clubs. Their recent elevation from county league football was plain to see by the limited but tidy ground which was just right for the game as the crowd stringed themselves round the perimeter in an unbroken chain one person deep.

With the tie being Town's first at this stage they had rightly received plenty of attention from the BBC and the FA, and their excellent form going into the game, particularly the recent defeats of Worcester and Kingstonian suggested they had more than a puncher's chance with some of their names on their team sheet being quite familiar with Alliance South football. The home manager was keen to play up the kidology saying the pressure was all on Maidenhead, but the Magpies shouldered this well dominating the opening stages . However with no end product to United's attacking endeavours, Godalming visibly grew in confidence.

Town twice went close with headers but their failure to hit the target was soon punished as Maidenhead responded by scoring twice. The first in the thirty first minute saw Ashan Holgate hold up a Bobby Behzadi free kick before laying the ball off to Martel Powell to fire home the opening goal of the game.With seven minutes to go before the break Leon Solomon made it two with an extraordinary finish from the left wing, the ball sailing over the goalkeeper's head into the top right corner, as good as any chip in from the fairway on the adjacent goal course.

Stunned by the prospect of an exit in their seventh FA Cup match this season it was clear Godalming's response after the restart would be crucial in helping them to maintain a toehold in this season's competition but they hadn't even got out of the blocks before Maidenhead made it 3-0.

Within seconds of the second half kick off, Solomon hared down the left and delivered a cross which Anthony Thomas launched himself at but could not even give it the eyebrows, nevertheless the ball hit the back of the net again.

Godalming refused to give up but with Sam Beasant equal to any of their attacking efforts the Magpies were the only likely scorers. So with twelve minutes to go Solomon completed a hat trick finishing a well worked exchange of passes with Holgate. A rout now seemed inevitable particularly when Manny Williams pounced on a slip by the hapless keeper to make it five. Deep into injury time though the Godalming number one restored some pride with a great double save from Will Hendry and Holgate. The final whistle soon sounded to cue elation from the black and white ranks at another first round appearance.

As we trailed home on the train, talk was naturally about Sunday's draw. Surely Maidenhead will overturn a run of five consecutive first round draws against non league opposition even if we don't get the likes of Charlton or Sheffields Wednesday and United. The wonders of social networking saw me meet up with @OrientMeatPie on the train, think we would both settle for the Os visiting York Road in November.

Trevor

I had a sad start to the week this morning when I found out Trevor Kingham had died after a long illness. My first meeting with Trevor was a salutary one. It was sometime in the early 90s at a Maidenhead United match. We talked about a Reading game I had recently attended and so next time we met he called me "Royal". On both occasions he made me feel really welcome in his presence and, due to him being on the MUFC committee at the time, by extension welcome at Maidenhead United Football club.

These first encounters told me the sort of person Trevor was, a football supporter. This may seem a simple thing to say but in my eyes its a hard test to pass. Firstly Trevor loved watching football anywhere and everywhere. Secondly, and more importantly, he loved watching football in the company of fellow afficianados whatever their allegiance. Finally, and most importantly, he loved doing anything he could to improve the experience of everyone watching the club.

The last point was self evident by the way he threw himself into the cause at York Road when he arrived about twenty years ago. His detailed account of this time can be found in the five issues of the first ever Maidenhead United fanzine, The Shagging Magpies, which he co-produced with Steve Beard and proudly told me made the top 10 fanzines list (albeit in the Sunday Sport!). The story of the day he went to Millwall to claim some unwanted seats from the Den to install in the main stand at York Road gives a flavour of what must have been hundreds of hours that he spent working to improve the ground. In addition he did anything he could to help the club run better from Youth team secretary to chief steward and, for one day only, cameraman (pictured right).
I got to know him properly during the 1994/95 season which began with the first ever visit of Aldershot to York Road. It meant so much to Trevor to see a four figure crowd watching a Maidenhead home game that he disappeared from his daughter's wedding to catch the action before heading back to the reception. Aside from games I also spent plenty of evenings over the next two years with Trevor helping to produce the match programme on the club photocopier. This included his regular column "Terrace Talk" which was always reproduced in a tiny font as he had so much to say in every issue. These evenings provided a great opportunity to hear some of his tales of the terraces particularly watching QPR and England. I can remember one tall story about QPR fans' innovative use of walking sticks in the late 60s which seemed extraordinary until  I read a northern club's fanzine article recounting a visit to Loftus Road about the very same. Another topic was Euro 92 when he was accompanied by a journalist from 4-4-2 magazine and delighted in showing him things from a fans eye view. Then there was the epic saga of his trip to Italy to see England earn the point to qualify for the 1998 World Cup.

Sometimes I came across tales of Trevor quite unexpectedly. For example one Christmas I opened a present in the form of a history of the English game to see a picture of Trevor being escorted off the Loftus Road pitch by a policeman after leading a pitch invasion during a game as part of a successful protest campaign against the farcical plan to merge the Rs with Fulham. Another time I was in a pub in Bloomsbury after a political meeting and got chatting to someone who used to play for Trevor's Sunday team. He was that kind of guy, well known and well loved by all.

Tartan at Barton

Above all though I remember some great days out at the football with Trevor. The pictures on this page give a flavour of these times, a trip to Bognor (top) when we smuggled him and Chairman Logic into Butlins, Trevor sleeping under his QPR blanket, and a mad day at Barton wearing tartan (pictured right) which took the edge off the first and worst of many Magpie defeats at that strange place.
A football match was always the only excuse required to get away from it all which I found out when Trevor picked up on my Preston North End connection to invite me to join him on a trip to see another club who he spent many hours watching and in this case organising supporter coaches for, Plymouth Argyle. Trevor had lived in Devon for a time and thought nothing of driving down for a Friday night fixture at Home Park.
As the century turned Trevor became a less frequent visitor to York Road and eventually moved abroad. He last returned, all the way from Turkey for our 2007 appearance in the FA Cup first round at Horsham. He hung around for the next home game on the following Tuesday, the last time I saw him.
Early this year, on hearing he was seriously ill I sent him a card and was bowled over to get a reply from his daughter Denise. She told me he still wore two Maidenhead United T shirts with pride, speaking with great fondness about the club and I gladly sent him some Magpie posters to decorate his room.
Perhaps its fitting that he survived through the summer until his beloved QPR kicked off in the top flight of English football again. As for Maidenhead United I can think of no bigger tribute than if anyone says the name "Trevor" those of us of a certain vintage automatically think of Mr Kingham: gentleman, loyal supporter, friend.

Cards sharp

Well beaten by Woking last night even though the score was only 1-0.  They looked a class apart from Maidenhead and I would imagine it would have been clear to a neutral which team which was aspiring to the play offs and which was battling relegation.

Garry Hill seems to have invigorated Woking and with the incentive of last season's play off final disappointment they look a really good bet for promotion.

As for Maidenhead on the positive side the players continue to work hard to remain in contention for points but every defeat must sap the confidence that little bit further.  This is nothing like Carl Taylor's relegation season when twice as much money produced heavy defeats week in week out, nevertheless the corner that needs to be turned is still nowhere to be found.

Matters have been made worse by Mark Nisbet's dismissal.  With him on the pitch the defence looked capable of holding firm, he will now presumably receive a three match ban starting in a fortnight inconveniently timed to coincide with fellow defender Jamal Fyfield's return to York at the end of his loan.

The fixture list is also taking a bizarre turn, six out of the next seven league fixtures are at home (there are also two other home games during this period), followed by four away games.  As with the 1997/98 it could well be that two late seasons games against Hampton could well seal the fate of both clubs although this time relegation rather than promotion is at stake.

An odd postscript (which ironically prevented one) was the referee's decision to reduce the stoppage time to 100 seconds after initially indicating five minutes which seemed reasonable given a half which included five substitutions, a protracted goal celebration and foul/handbags/double sending off incident which itself must have taken two minutes to sort out.  Still as one Woking fan pointed out the extra time could have increased the score to 2-0 and made United's goal difference even worse!

I also spent some time yesterday at the Hammersmith and Fulham archive doing some research for Mark Smith's latest edition of Maidenhead United's history.  I was specifically looking for details of Maidenhead's games against Shepherd's Bush at the turn of the twentieth century.  Maidenhead were regular visitors to West London at this time and at least one of the games was played at Loftus Road, presumably on the same site as the current QPR ground.  I was really lucky to find this information as the centre will be permanently closed next week as part of the cultural vandalism being wreaked on the borough by the local council whose shock doctrine philosophy views even David Cameron with suspicion as a dangerous pinko liberal.