Waders Green Army Blog by WaderBird

It was gutting to start another lockdown! I’m sure it won’t be the last one sadly 😒… So what’s been happening in WaderBird’s world during the latest football abyss?? 🤔

#SKIPGATE

We got ex Wader legend Donners in to do some work on our garden, removing a triffid, a pond and a brick built shed, then putting up a fence – of course Donners didn’t do the work himself, he’s the boss man these days 😘… the lads did a great job and I would highly recommend B&D civil engineering!👍🤝 the only fly in the ointment, that gave me and BigAl sleepless nights 👀was the skip that ended up in front of the wrong garage…. 😨 any other we wouldn’t have cared (they don’t 🤷‍♀️) You have never seen 2 people more pleased than when it finally got picked up 🙏 thankfully our neighbour was very good about it…😳

#Holidays@Home

Me and BigAl should have been in Lanzarote the 2nd week of November, unfortunately this pandemic had other ideas 🙄 DJ ended up staying with us for the 1st 18 days of lockdown 👀 after using up 7 days holiday between us, 😬 we were down to favours – a massive thankyou to Rosie & Lew who stepped in one day 💚💚💚💚 and my boss who let me work from home a couple of days 😊😊 (Daniel actually seemed quite interested in some of my meetings!🤓🧐) and then BigAls mum and dad who did the last day and half ❤. He didn’t leave until we had at least put up the Christmas tree – the earliest I have ever done it…!🎅  To be fair, given that DJ is autistic and he wasn’t able to do the stuff he loves with us i.e Spoons & football, he was a delight… I’m not gonna lie though, its nice not having to worry about someone else when getting ready for work each day 🤪😜

#SickNoteGate

A few blogs ago I joked that I would start to call Uncle Albert Sicknote – its a bit of a standing joke; Although, as Bruce quickly points out, he has only had 1 day sick in 20+ year – lets not let facts get in the way of a good blog Bruce!) 😅  last season Uncle Albert had some chest pains on the walk down to Langford rd – of course the Green Army were super sympathetic 🤥…… 😬to be fair, he’s not a big fan of walking 👣Anyway as I said to BigAl yesterday if I were Bruce (uncle Albert) I would now be feeling very vindicated… 😇 A week or so ago he was admitted to hospital with chest pains; he was soon transferred to Papworth and on Friday 😲 he went in for a quadruple heart bypass 👀👀😱 and then, not unlike his alter ego Uncle Albert… it all went a bit ‘Pete Tong’ when his aorta dissected 😱😨  9 hours later he was in recovery with a brand new one! All credit to him, the following day, he was out of bed and chatting on the phone 👏👏Well done Uncle Albert 🙌🙌 we are all still sending him best wishes – in fact BigAl spoke to him yesterday and he sounds really well and is and hoping to be back at the Yvette Brewer stadium soon…maybe not Spoons for while. Uncle Albert, the Green Army salute you 💚⚽️💚

#SiblingGate

I grew up an only child – although my dad did, later on, have 3 more children, one of which, Charlotte, I have been in ‘face book’ contact with the last 10 years (never spoken – well not as adults) 😊 During the 1st lockdown, Charlotte informed me, our dad had passed away (We hadn’t been in contact for 30 years, so not close) 😌 Now, Charlotte is some sort of super sleuth 🧐 I don’t think she realises how good she is! so I really should not of been surprised when she contacted me a few days later to warn me she’d found our big brother 😱 living in France (I had been told of an older Brother when I was a kid… but with my dad, you never knew what was real 🤷‍♀️) – Turns out Wayne was real! Blue haired, manU supporting, Slaughter and the dogs, punk rocker real 😆 Bunny man and our ground hopping Millwall mate were super impressed – with the music not the football team!! 😉 oh, and then…she discovers a City supporting, gorgeous older sister (I had no idea!) in Manchester 😱😱

So over the summer a ‘Long lost McGrath siblings’ group chat was created and I got my Irish passport ☘.. I was fascinated, you know, the whole nature over nuture stuff 🤓 Anyhow we all finally ‘met’ albeit virtually on Saturday 👀 Anyone who knows me well, would know its my worst nightmare ‘strangers’ and all that 👀 but its was really good, all thanks to Charlotte! and it was so interesting to pick up on the different bits we have in common and try and piece together everything – So now I am one of 6!! 💚

2020 has been an awful year; I just wanted to share something good to come out of it 😍😍

31st October 2020 🧙‍♀️🎃

M o M – James Peters

James made many important challenges in the middle of the park and looked threatening when going forward..

Alcoholic units – 2 🥂 we didn’t go to Spoons pre-match 🙄 if I’d have known the lock down was so imminent I’d have done differently 😒

“Tracey’s got 2 of them” 😜

I was hoping for a spooktacukar match today and I wasnt disappointed when I was greeted by a mummified TraceyD 👻 then joined by the rest of the GreenArmy with Chelseaboy sporting a scarey mask and Waderboy in full character mode as Spiderman dispelling my theory that SuperScoop and Spidey have never been seen in the same place at the same time 😜

Lew thought he had the best costume prize in the bag until we were greeted by a spider, a tutu wearing Doris the French bulldog and young Dom dreesed as a Wader impaled by a football – I don’t dare even think how Izzy comes up with such things 😱 i mean how many mums do you know who carry fake blood with them rather than lippy 🤣🤣🤣

**** OK it was at this point of the blog that the lockdown announcement had been fully digested by myself and BigAl – I was so fed up with yet another lockdown, that I lost all motivation to complete it…

So now nearly 3 weeks into lockdown 2, and with the glimmer of hope of seeing my friends and some football again ‘soon’ I suppose I ought to finish that blog…. trouble is I can’t remember it now,,, not helped that I spent most of the 1st half talking to Izzy & Becs 😬

What I do remember??:

Dom won 1st prize for his costume – Lew is still convinced he won though and very kindly gifted me the orange water filled, tentacled, ball thingy at the end saying “You keep this at your house for me to play with Nanna…”❤❤

We won and reading Heybridge’s match report, they felt cheated by this result and the red card they received they are appealing, oh and its probably fair to say they will not be in agreement with my MoM 😳

1st game back; Bedford Town at home in the trophy Tuesday 8th – hope to see some faces I’ve been missing the last few weeks ⚽️🙏

#InNunnyWeTrust #GreenArmy #Waders ⚽️💚⚽️

17th September 2020

Alcoholic Units – My plan had been none, as i was doing the post match interview with Nunny 👀👀

M o M – Jonny Giles

Looked threatening every time he got the ball and a stunning strike for the Waders winner!

“I once got over taken by a tractor, on my Harley.. “

BigAl celebrated his birthday on Thursday and its WaderLews on Tuesday – so the club said they would make Lew mascot for the day 💚⚽️ BigAl is super jealous 🤣 there had been a strong rumour that Spiderman was coming along today… but even superheroes get ill…

Today was all about Lew, his mum WaderChick, had taken the day off to come watch and treated him to a fresh fade 😍 it was all set for a lovely day – even the weather promised to behave… Sadly it wasn’t the weather I needed to be concerned about misbehaving – who knew a Cock could cause such a kerfuffle 🙄🙄

The four of us headed off for the Yvette Brewer Stadium where we ran into Mr B and a bit of a queue at the turnstile… inside we met up with Uncle Albert, El Chelseaboy, Bunnyman, ‘Dave’, Anny & M…oh and not forgetting SuperScoop (alright I might of); hmmmm, him and Spidey both love a bit of lyrcra…🤔… I wonder…🤔

It was good to see Roy & Elsie today and Doris made another appearance 🐶 still no sign of Handlebar 🤔🤔

We waited at the tunnel for the players to come out and Skipper Bushey collected Lew on his way – Lew went without a moments hesitation…

Lew did look a little disappointed not to have made the starting line up and desperately looked around for a ball to kick ⚽️💚⚽️ not today mate!

Big Dave K treated Lew to a burger before kick off that Lew kindly shared with Grandad 🍔 there wasnt a soggy chip in site…🤣

Waders started strongly with Johnny Giles, James Peters and Joe Neal all having a go – so it was totally against the run of play when Alvechurch went a goal up on 16 minutes 😏 and despite the Waders best efforts, that is how we finished the 1st half…

2nd Half

Back out for the second half and I joined WaderChick behind the goal where we were treated to an equaliser on the 48th thanks to a penalty from Joe Neal 😃

We didn’t have long to wait before Johnny Giles took the Waders ahead with a great shot from outside of the box giving their keeper no chance 😃😃

Waders took the 3 points in a well deserved win and I went to the bar to get that interview done and find out exactly what Nunny had said in the half time talk 🤭 thanks to the Green Army for the list of questions – I still don’t see the problem with “If you were an animal, what animal would be? “ 🤣🤣

It was a quick sprint’ home to get Lews birthday cake sorted – I wonder what he wished for 💚⚽️

A big thanks to Tracy and the club for today ⚽️💚 the little touches like the card for BigAl as well as Lew – apparently I left them in the clubhouse with the flags though 😲…🤪

Another well organised Covid safe 90 minutes today 👏👏 I know I’m biased, but the club are doing this really well 👏👏 I saw someone in an FA blazer today I hope they noted how well run things were.

Away to Tamworth next Saturday 😏

#InNunnyWeTrust #WadersFamily #GreenArmy #LolineInteriors

10th September 2020

MoM – Shane Bush

Playing out of position to fill the injury gaps, Bushey, our Skipper, was a ray of light in a defence that had the toughest of afternoons; contending with the newly rejuvenated and rampant Redditch side..

Alcoholic Units – None! Do not fear there was a cheeky bottle of fizz with my name on waiting at home 😘

” Its like an LP on repeat of 1980s football chants… and they were sh!t enough back then”🙄

Another trip into the Midlands for us today, Alexa promised cloudy and some showers, so I was hopeful of avoiding the soaking experienced last week ☔ I did take the Waders brolly in case – I didn’t bother with sunnies, which I would regret through most of the 90 minutes 🤨

We were advised to get there early as tickets were only available on the gate.. £11 + £2 to park…. we had a fairly good trip just slightly delayed by 2 beemers playing bumper cars! I was a little surprised to see a police presence at the ground? Perhaps they’d heard BigAl was in town 🤣 or maybe it was for the pseudo Stone Island boys, who were screwing us up as soon as we walked in 🧐🧐 lads, come on now, we were doing football back in the 70’s and 80’s; And by we, I actually mean BigAl, Chelseaboy, JT & BDK 👀 the nearest I got was River Island 🤔 or Chelsea girl as it was known back in the day 😂

It was a good attendance from the Green Army today with me BigAl, DJ, Chelseaboy, uncle Albert, Rodney, WaderLew, JT, BDK and SuperScoop

DJ insisted on a burger and ‘processco’ (otherwise known as non alcohol kopperberg) as soon as we arrived 🤣 BigAl who’d already had 2 breakfasts, also snuck one in 🐽

The dark skies turned into a torrential downpour and so we headed for the side terracing to take cover ☔ of course, as soon as it stopped it was bright sunshine..where were my sunnies 🥺

Redditch are unbeaten this season, and so it was no shock that they came out strong – even more surprising when Joe Neal put one in the back of the net in the 2nd minute 0-1 😃

Redditch were undeterred and came at us in the 8th minute, catching Kyle off his line, 1-1 😏 Redditch came close again on 15, luckily the post saved it 😱

We did get another attempt on 23 minutes when Giles thundered a shot from outside the box, from our angle it looked like it just went wide…😬

On 33 minutes Redditch took the lead 2-1 😒 and we lost Mat Hall (injured) for Trey – to say things we’re looking grim for us, would be an almighty understatement 😬 We held on at 2-1 going in to half time 😞

Big Dave tried to cheer us up with some half time refreshments 👍 SuperScoop revealed his lucky home & away pants – apparently green and orange is cutting edge for baggy Y fronts these days 😜

We stayed put at the end of the terrace for the 2nd half and Redditch came out all guns blazing and any chance of a Waders come back was dashed in the 54th minute 😞 and finally put to bed with their 4th on 82 minutes… Game over!

Interesting that there were nearly 600 in attendance, with about 20 being very vocal and goading us few away fans that had bothered to make the trip up, which was shame as it doesn’t show much class 😶 the attendance last year was about 150 🤔 I wonder if the inflated numbers are because they’ve spent big money and are winning or ‘fans’ from league clubs unable to attend their games? Either way I hope it doesn’t spoil the non league experience because today’s trip was no where near as friendly and pleasant as last seasons visit… 👀 as I’m writing this, I’m thinking back to Stourbridge last week, similar attendance, lots of Baggy fans – but a much friendlier experience ❤️

On a positive note, SuperScoop can now wash his pants and I can remove my lucky 7 CraigyD shirt 😂

We go again Saturday at home, although I’m unsure if it’s a league match against Alvechurch or a Trophy round against Carlton Town according to Pitchero? I’m guessing the former as I’m pretty sure we don’t come in at this round 🤔

💚⚽️💚⚽️

#InNunnyWeTrust #Waders #GreenArmy #FriendlierInTheBlackCountry

6th October 2020

Alcoholic Units – None its a school night!

MoM – Scott Davies

Absolutely ran the midfield, his tackles and distribution were 1st class 👊

“Who’s gonna be the 1st to say, this has nil all written all over it?”

I’m not a massive fan of Royston after previous visits 😏 everyone knows I’m not keen on Tuesday night football – so I even amazed myself when I decided to get a ticket for tonight’s match; to be honest rain is forecast and who else is going to hold the brolly for twatterboy 🤭

Our last outing to their place, back in February saw us lose 3 -0; the only thing that made it bearable was that myself BigAl and Chelseaboy were ‘watching it’ from a bar in Sunny Lanzarote! ☀️☀️🍻

I was very surprised that the match went ahead, because the heavens opened in Biggleswade an hour or so before leading to lots of localised flooding… I suppose Rose lane carpark no longer counts as flooding as despite the councils best efforts, it spends a good portion of the year underwater… We headed off to Royston and found the free parking suggested by them. Getting in was pretty easy… well for everyone except for Bunnyman who had mislaid his QR code…

There was a good turn out for the Green Army tonight with me BigAl, Bunnyman, Rodney, Uncle Albert, JT & Sam, SuperScoop and Em & M.

The match kicked off at 7:30pm, a much better time in my humble opinion. This was never going to be an easy match, Royston are a tough side with some strong signings this season.

Royston came at us straight away and within minutes had a free kick, they played this into the box which was luckily cleared. Fabio was looking dangerous early on, Scott Davies took a great free kick that went close!  Royston were still coming at us and there was a good cross into the box which Farrell managed to clear 😮

Skipper, Bushey, who’s playing centre half at the moment, managed to block a close range shot from Royston 30 minutes into the match… but still no goals 😬😬

Joe Neal had a shot from the edge of the box but unfortunately it went way over, then a Sam Squires shot from outside the area going wide… Our efforts eventually paid off following a super cross from Scott Davies in front of the goal that found their no. 6  who kindly slotted it home for us 0 – 1 😃

Out for the 2nd half, and Royston were after blood – The referee didn’t seem over keen on us either and it wasn’t long before he yellow carded Sam Squires for a late challenge 🤦‍♀️ Johnny Giles was making some great runs; him and Joe Neal are working so well together, being fed by the ever observant Scott Davies 💚⚽️💚⚽️

With 20 minutes to go we were holding on – just! Fabio went close from a corner, but was starting to slow up.. The ref rather keen on his yellow card, decided to book Joe Neal for what looked to be nothing 😡 Waders were really being pushed back now, the Crows were coming at us from every angle… Surely it was 90 minutes 😰 Johnny Giles was booked for time wasting – much to his travelling fan clubs disgust – yes he has his very own entourage🥳

Kyle made a superb save in the latter minutes 🙌 Royston kept the pressure on and were rewarded with an equaliser, that had been coming the whole of 2nd half.

Waders were now desperately trying to hang and right in the 11th hour we had a free kick and Scott Davis decided to go for it….It was so close, but  thundered against the post the thud reverberating through the whole of the ground! 😱

Oh my gosh, we came close to nicking it! 😬

In the end I think the score line was the fair one, as much as I would of loved to have snatched it.

#InnNunnyWeTrust #GreenArmy #Waders

3rd September 2020

Alcoholic Units – Not till later!

MoM – Joe Neal

Another close one between Joe and Jonny, but today goes to Joe for his outstanding performance, especially in the 2nd half – also refreshing to see a player stay on his feet👍

“Dads not coming today because of the rain” 🤭

A rearranged match against Stourbridge today thanks to all the FA Cup fixtures… at least a few more of us would make a Saturday than the original Monday fixture 🤔

Umbrellas ✔

Phone chargers ✔

Flags ✔

Google maps ✔

Its would be a wet miserable journey to Stourbridge for me  BigAl, Wader Lew and Rodney ☔ at times you could hardly see the car ahead the rain was so torrential – we prayed we wouldn’t get there and find out is was called off….

There’s no parking at the ground in Stourbridge or so we were told and so we left the Beemobile a couple of streets away and walk the five minutes to the ground to be met by some friendly stewards 😊who showed us the way through. It felt odd coming through this way as the last time I came here some eight years ago we had been ushered in via the cricket pitchside and into the segregated stand; today we walked past the busy clubhouse we didn’t go in and through to the pitch passing a sanitising station 👍an outside bar 👍 and snack hut that I have been assured does the best chips with Curry sauce in the whole of the Southern League 🤔

By now we had been joined by Super Scoop in a strange choice of clothing – shorts? Perhaps, like the St.Ives game he knew something we didn’t 🤔🤔🤐…We made our way to the first stand up terrace whilst BigAl went off to get a team sheet we didn’t get a lot of cover from this terrace as the rain was driving straight in at us 🌧

I have to say in my experience, clubs in this part of the country, and Stourbridge are no exception have the friendliest fans 😊👌 its incredible, people come up to you, ask about the journey, wish you well 💚 It wasn’t long before one gentleman in his Stourbridge face mask came over to me and pointed me towards the seated terrace next door, not sure what to think about this 🤔 did he think I was a little old lady 🤔🤣🤣 I said to him Nah football has to be watched standing up – to which he replied “ah an oldie” i think that was a compliment as in old skool 😉.

Big al made his way back to us also chatting to another home supporter who was interested to know how the waders were doing this season.

We decided to vacate that terrace and make our way through the seated stand to the terrace the other side. We stayed for a while and Nunny spotted us, coming over for a quick pre match chat – got to love non League! 💚⚽️

The rain was still coming down hard but the terrace was getting busy and the Waders were kicking towards the clubhouse, we decided to move back outside behind the goal and hide under the brolly..

None of us were particularly hopeful of bringing back any points from today as we never get anything here 🤷‍♀️

1st Half

Not unsurprisingly just five minutes into the match Stour took the lead with the Waders defence all over the place 😒 ‘Dave’ and Anni had now arrived having taken 60 mile detour 🤭 So there were 7 of us, 8 if we include Amanda who was taking cover in the stands **we discovered later 5 or 6 lads who were cheering Waders on (guessing either rivals of Stour or maybe Oxford fans?).

Back to the match 👇

For 40 minutes of the 1^st half we were battered by Stour ☹and it was a shock to all of us when the ball finally appeared at our end, even more so when we were given a lifeline thanks to a well worked goal from Fabio to pull us level😃 At half time things remained level and to say we were lucky, would be an understatement of epic proportion 😱 still that’s football I suppose.

By now Rodney and Lew we’re sampling the Curry sauce soaked chips much too BigAl’s disgust 🤢 I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but BigAl is more than a little odd 🤪 he doesn’t like gravy or Curry sauce ?? and isn’t a big fan of potatoes 🧐🤔 Being half Irish, this is very disturbing to me 🤨 I would like to add he had already worked his charms on me before I found any of this out 🤣😅- Lew being an all around lovely kid 💚💚 made sure to pick out chips that were not curry covered and feed them to his Grandad, how sweet 💚 until we discovered he was licking the Curry off, it’s a good job we’re related 🤣🤣

We made our way round to the shed end for the 2nd half and opted to stand outside behind the goal.

2^nd Half

So out for the second half and to say we were concerned would be an understatement as we were sure Stour would come out firing on all cylinders ready to put the game to bed 😨 On 46 minutes Fabio was shown a harsh straight red after going in for a tackle that was deemed to have been high 😐 it was clear for us to see and the steward later agreed, that it was not intentional as you could see him watching the ball not the player… Oh no!!! 10 men against Stour, what could possibly go wrong? 😨😨😰

Amazingly the Waders started to play with more confidence and were clearly the better side for a good part of the second half,  Scott Davies and Leon really started to pull the strings in mid field and the Waders grew in confidence. Johnny Giles and Joe Neal absolutely tore into the Stour defence and Johnny was rewarded with a great goal after some brilliant build up play by Joe Neal 2 – 1 to the Waders 😃😃 It should have been 3 really when after a shocking 2 footed lunge by a Stour defender 😡 that the lino claimed not to see 🥸 even though he was looking straight at it and it was right in front of us 😡  Luckily Joe skipped over it (had he gone down it would have been a red) and made a fantastic run and got round the keeper but his shot was cleared off the line by the Stour defence 😏 the clock was ticking down…

We were all anxiously checking our watches praying for the referee to blow the final whistle;Stour were really starting to press for the equaliser now and unfortunately on the 90th minute, a mix up in our defence saw the ball not properly cleared and it fell to a Stour forward who’s shot took a massive deflection past Kyle and into the net gutted 2 – 2 😒

If you’d have offered me the point at the start of the match, I’d of snatched your arm off…. So we shouldn’t really be down about this, but there is something so gut wrenching about goals on 90 minutes..😭

Not many photos today my hands were freezing and numb having to hold the Waders umbrella over Twatterboy – honestly, this is going to his head 🤓 I think he actually believes I’m his PA 🙄 🤣 so cold and wet, we headed home having again watched a great Waders display 💚⚽️💚⚽️ I’m sure its my lucky no.7 CraigyD shirt… 🤭😘

#InNunnyWeTrust #GreenArmy #Waders

29^th September 2020

Alcoholic Units – None 🤧

MoM – Johnny Giles ⚽️💚

It was difficult to call for me as the whole team were immense tonight, with Jonny, Joe, Fabio and Tremayne all showing some magic touches through the game; the Green Army agreed that Jonny nudged it though 🙌

As much as I wasn’t looking forward to a cold damp Tuesday night game against Leiston who had thrashed us only last week 🥺 adding in the cold I developed thanks to DJ 🤧 I ‘tuffed’ it out and pulled on my old  Retro Waders Shirt with a no.7 (CraigyD Days 💚 and my lucky number) on the back…..

I’m so glad I did turn out; not least because of all the comments I got and looks of surprise to see me at a Tuesday night game flippin’ cheek 😱

AND…. 🥁who knew we would be treated to an 11 goal thriller 🥁 Even better… a few new Biggleswade faces were in the crowd, let’s hope tonight’s performance brings them back 🤞though I’m not sure we can guarantee those numbers every match 🤔 it seems it was a night for high numbers as Hitchin got thumped by 7️⃣, I bet Donners was a  happy Bunny 😬😬🤐

Most of the Green Army made parade tonight; Rodney, Uncle Albert, Bunnyman, JT, BigRon, Chelseaboy, Dave, SpursSimon and Em & M slipped in just after the whistle.

It was a fast and frantic start to the match; apparently the International Space Station would be passing over tonight according to our resident astronomer the Bunny man 🤓🔭🐰

Leiston struck first with a goal that seemed to come out of nowhere 🙄I have to say most of the Green Army were distracted, straining to spot joe 90 fly past, when Waders came back into the game thanks to Johnny Giles who thumped it home from close range 1-1 😃

Waders took a corner, going close but seconds later from inside the box Joe Neal fired home 2 – 1 😃😃

Not long after Waders went another goal up scored by newbie Leon Chambers-Parillon (imagine how trilled (trilled, get it? 🤣🤣)twitter boy BigAl was with that double barrelled name 🤣) taking a shot from the edge of the box that deflected past ex Wader Donkin 3-1 😃😃😃

Half time and perhaps it wasn’t to be such an awful night after all 🤔 although I was down to my last pack of tissues…🤧

It was lovely to see Becs, me and BigAl had been saying earlier how we hadn’t seen her in a while – well not in the flesh, unless you count insta 😘😉 Becs is now joined by Doris her gorgeous French Bulldog 🐾Doris loves boys and balls – a perfect Waders mascot! x 💚⚽️🐾

Back out for the second half and soon Leiston scored from a free kick given away by Sam Squire, who got a yellow for his trouble 3-2 😏🟨

Tremayne worked some magic cumulating in a run across the box, then putting in a super cross, unfortunately there were no green shirts to meet it. Not to worry because within minutes Waders Joe Neal stuck again 4-2 😃😃😃😃

Before we knew it Leiston were back on us with a good shot and a penalty 4-4 😏

Jonny Giles, not to be outdone by Joe, scored again with a lovely finish from the edge of the box and some fancy footwork from Fabulous Fabio!! 5-4 😃😃😃😃🙃

**By now BigAl was in meltdown trying to keep up with the twitter feed 😱😨and still none of us knew the Leiston goal scorers 🤪

Word was getting around about Hitchin being 6 goals down – they are my predicted top side this season, what was going on tonight 🤔… Surely 9 goals would be it for us, with 15 minutes to go?

Joe Neal Hat trick!!! 6-4 😃😃😃😃😃😃

Jonny Giles Hat trick!!!! 7-4 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃

What a match!!!

Don’t for one minute, be fooled and think Leiston were a pushover, they weren’t, and gave it their all 👍 What can I say 🤷‍♀️ we were utterly immense 😍

There is a strong rumour that BigAl, Spurs Neil and Spurs ‘Scoop’ Simon might have sponsored a Gooner…. Kyle promised me he supported QPR….I’m sure his dad was messing lads 😬😬🤣🤣

Away to Stourbridge Saturday, the 1st time back for me since they booted us out of the FA Cup run a few seasons back 😶 I’ll miss the school bus, the smell of kid sick and the 30 mile walk to a packed pub only to find a bar at the cricket pavilion next to the ground 🤣🤣 #CupMemories

#InNunnyWeTrust #GreenArmy #Waders ⚽️💚⚽️💚 #LuckySeven! #NewDogInTown

26th September 2020

0 – 1 to the Rouslers

M o M – Fabio Lopez

Fabio is on loan to us from Oxford United, he made an impressive debut, looking good on the ball with some superb runs in the first half!

Alcoholic units – 3 at the club and a few in Spoons earlier 👀🤣

**BigAl & WaderSpursSimon are looking to sponsor a player – Preferably not a Gooner!** get in touch please ⚽️⚽️

After the disappointment of Tuesday and I’ll be honest I’m not sorry that I didn’t make the long journey on a Tuesday night, especially by all accounts we got a battering – so if I’m honest today wasn’t a match I was looking forward to as the last time we met Bromsgrove they beat us 4-2 😪 although as one of their supporters kindly said that was when we’re going through, what shall we call it. 🤔 erm, a transition? 🤐🧐 But Even so I was expecting us to lose in a dramatic fashion today and I don’t think I was the only one 😬

First off we headed to spoons this would be an expedition with the new tighter Covid-19 measures in place 😷 and the considerable drop in temperature meaning we would all be having to wrap up in our winter warmers 🥶 and having to mask up to get to our table at spoons assuming there would be space of course, everything was crossed that there would be 🤞you try telling DJ there’s no room for him and he won’t be getting a burger!😱

On arrival at spoon’s we were greeted by what I thought was a bouncer, but was in fact just one of the staff in hi vis instructing us to fill out yet another QR code for the NHS track and trace; we did this easily, well I did but BigAl was having a little difficulty trying to scan it into his spoon’s app 😜but we won’t mention that unlike him last week at St Ives 🤓😲

**I just want to make a point about The Crown (Spoons) in Biggleswade; people are quick to knock anything spoons related, but since pubs have re-opened I can honestly say they have done it all brilliantly, with the screens between the tables (I hope they stay), the app (they were miles ahead of their time), the furniture spacing and now with the enforced table service and mask wearing – I can’t knock the place; the staff and management are doing a fantastic job and its certainly one place in these worrying times, that myself and BigAl feel safe 👍👍

 We managed to get a table in the bar our favourite spot 😍 and set about our order and getting one in for Chelsea boy 🍺🍻🥂as we sat there we saw Big Dave K walking past, looking like a Peaky blinder crossed with a country gent type 😉🤣he quickly made himself comfortable across the way gate crashing another table😅

DJ’s burger arrived quickly and it looked quite fancy with a slice of Brie across it 🍔 however it later transpired that it wasn’t his burger and some other customer had gone without 😬 Now, I have seen the look of a killer in DJ’s eyes when I’ve tried to take a chip from his plate before so there is no chance of the burger being reunited with the real owner 😰 and I think to be fair he quite enjoyed the fancy chicken burger well he didn’t share 🤷‍♀️

By now Chelseaboy had joined us bringing along with him, the Waders Stone he has been working on, it looks really good, who knew we had a budding artist amongst the Green Army 🎨🖼 we’re hoping this will take pride of place behind the bar although hopefully out of Daniels reach you know how he loves a stone …😱

By now BDK had joined us as we tucked into another round and I was fed much blog fodder 🧐 If only I could use it all 🤐 what I did discover, was that BDK prefers a bit of thigh over breast 😜 and his mate Chris has danced with Natalie Lowe 🕺💃I’m sorry we already knew that he’s mentioned it once or twice 😂 I was also assured but that it wasn’t a Peaky Blinders cap but a bakers boy one it must be something about people born on the 15th of September it makes us such tarts 🥰 yes me and BDK are Virgo birthday Twins – he is the older one, in case you couldn’t tell!🤔🤔

Apparently, we left too late for BigAl, having squeezed in another round; BigAl wanted to get to the ground, to get twitter prepped 🤓 not quite sure how that affected his ability to spell Yvette?? 🤔🙄but apparently it was our fault for leaving spoons late 😏 BigAl and DJ sped off ahead of us catching up with Bunnyman at the turnstiles. It was good to see some old faces back at the Yvette Brewer Stadium (YBS) WaderLew met us with a lovely smile for his Nanna and Grandad😍 Uncle Albert and Rodney had just arrived and JT and M.⚽️💚⚽️

The teams came out and it was a lovely gesture by the club to do a minutes silence In memory of Yvette Brewer; it was impeccably observed, even by WaderLew and DJ 💚⚽️💚⚽️💚⚽️

Waders were to kick towards the BelEnd, so we all decamped to the other side, on my way I spotted MrB and we exchanged an elbow greeting, its good to see him back at the football having sadly lost his other half early on in the lockdown 💔 On getting to the BelEnd we saw Darren, Anya and some of the family including Yvette’s brother who went to school with BigAl and Bunnyman; They were understandably quite emotional 💔💔

We all took our spots, literally on the red spots for kick off, and the heavens opened ☔🌧 Luckily there was space for Lew and DJ in the BelEnd.

It was nice to meet Danny, who was helping at the St. Ives gates last week, he had come along today, I think to watch the match but then succumbed to TracyD’s ample charms 👀 and was now sporting a HiVis.. he was very complementary about us as a club 😁👍

The 1^st half

This was a game that the Waders were unlucky not to take anything from, we totally dominated the first half with possession and chances but couldn’t put the ball in the net 😏The new signing from Oxford, Fabio Lopez looked good and Trey Charles looked sharp as he got involved almost instantly only to be taken down in the box, but no booking. Johnny Giles did well shooting wide from the edge of the box. My sponsored player James Peters just missed with a header on 26 minutes ☺

Half time no goals

Now with two drinks in my hand thanks BDK and Darren 😊 and having trialled the loos – it was all done really well, and despite some moans from others, there was barely a queue👍

2nd Half

I stood and had a natter with MrB, separate spots of course! I know its necessary and the club have done the covid-19 compliance really well, but sadly you do miss out on the banter and being able to chat with everyone in the green Army through the game… But fair play to everyone, unlike some places people were all responsible and took it seriously ⚽️💚

The second half started much the same, Bromsgrove did come into the game more but the Waders still looked the better side. But the longer this went on you could sense that Bromsgrove might nick it at the end 👀 infact BigAl said to Darren about 5 minutes before Bromsgrove scored the winner that this would happen who knew he had such abilities, I’ll remind him of that next time I’m doing an acca🤔

The Bromsgrove winner come in the 83rd minute from a corner and was one of their rare chances; to lose like this was particularly gutting 😪 as it was a much improved Waders display, still that’s football!

Nunny and the management team can take a lot away from this game though, it was a much improved performance from Tuesday night💚

Gutted that I missed Bully today 😶 but apparently BigAl had a good catch up 😊

We go again Tuesday night, ironically against the side that beat us 5-1.

Stay safe everyone! Oh and now BigAl has an official media coat…. Next thing he’ll be sitting in the directors box 🤣🤣😘

#InNunnyWeTrust #YvetteBrewerStadium #GreenArmy #Waders

1 – 0 to the Ives

Green Army MoM – Scott Davies

Absolutely ran everything in midfield for us today, a vastly experienced player who’s influence and experience will be crucial to our young side!

Alcoholic Units – 0 (was saving myself for a meal out with BigAl at Stratton later)

It was a beautiful sunny September day and a few of the green army decided to make the relatively short trip into Cambridgeshire. We parked in the St. Ivo car park which always brings back memories for me as we used to go swimming here when I was a kid, how many years ago was that?? don’t answer 👀🤔

The good news is probably for the first time, in the many times we have made this journey, BigAl didn’t get lost 🤣 We made our way through to the ground to be greeted by a couple of staff showing us how to read the QR code for track and trace, of course iPhone boy (BigAl) did it straight away 🤓 whereas myself Bunnyman and Chelseaboy took a little longer; In fact a lot longer as by the time we got through JT & Sam Uncle Albert, Rodney and my lovely WaderLew were impatiently waiting behind us…. My phone still takes better photos though! 😇

Inside the ground Nunny was out on the pitch, TracyD came over for a quick chat and instructions for the media team and BigAl headed off to find the team sheet and came back with a photo of a sheet that could have been written by your local doctor, I got the job of translating what later turned out to be Count Draxlers 😉 scribbles:

by now we had also been joined by Darren and Anya, M without Em and Simon, who was dressed for a winters day – he did comment that we would all be jealous of his fleece later on – I was 🥶… Oh and as a nice surprise Aaron had come along bringing his lovely Sammy with him and not a kid in sight; what a lucky girl she is, a kid free day and Aaron choses St.Ives town FC as a date venue 💕

The St Ives chairman did pop along to say hello and also remind us of the new rules of six and if we could make sure we are adhere to them, sadly in this new era we’re all pretty used to doing that now 🙄 I’m told it was a good set up in the bar although I didn’t go in as I wanted to keep myself fresh Yep I know this won’t last 🍻

Nunny popped over for a quick chat and a tip for the horses… Angels Whisper, when will I learn not to listen to his tips, well at least I only put a fiver each way on 🐎😒

Typically we were all at the wrong end just before kick off and had to traipse through the home support congregated – socially distanced of course – outside the bar.

Anya had now picked up the camera from TracyD she was also going to be on media duty today I think it took her about 10 minutes to decide her phone was more interesting 🤷‍♀️ so Dad ended up as cameraman the funniest thing being after some great shots he discovered the memory stick was still in TracyD’s handbag 🤣🤣 better luck in the second half.

Before I go any further– welcome back to Russel Short, great to see him back as part of the management team as well as playing 😊😊 Also good to see Trey, James (Sponsored by WaderBird), Kyle, Bushey, Bradley all re-signing. A big welcome to all the new lads!👏👏⚽️💚⚽️

1^st Half:

The first half was fairly even both sides having chances; the pick of the Waders chances was a Scott Davies free kick that hit the outside of the post, St Ives also went close with a shot that hit the bar which they followed up with another shot that Kyle saved well.

Half time and no goals – But at least now Darren had a memory card

it was a bit worrying to see Kyle spend the whole of the half time break on his back being tended to by Ryan there seem to be quite a lot of blood coming from an injury to his leg Luckily he was all patched up and did start the second half. the second half was quite poor really from both sides.

Ives took the lead with a strange goal that the whole of the Wader defence seemed to stop an appeal for offside Waders just huffed and puffed for the rest of the half trying to get an equaliser, we did go close in the final minutes with the Scot Davies effort being cleared off the line but it wasn’t to be, and in the end I think we all agreed that St Ives just about deserved the points. Those last few minutes certainly gave my pulse monitor on my watch a workout.

It’s only the first match it’s a marathon not a Sprint and all the other clichés I can think of. We headed back to the car and back to Biggy where BigAl treated me to burger and chips in Stratton as he’d missed my birthday in favour of the football on Tuesday 🤔 I’d like to say I had his undivided attention but as so often happens (all the time) he spends most of his time attached to his precious Iphone 😬tonight was no exception as he spent most of the time messaging Rowan the St.Neots fan about their game 🤔🤐🤨

Not the best away day – but isn’t it good to have the football back 🙌🙌– everything crossed that we avoid another lockdown🤞

We go again Tuesday, with ridiculous away tie to Leiston in the FA cup 😡I won’t be there, far too late a night for me. So I’ll see you again on Saturday home to Bromsgrove… That will be a test for us as they are a well supported team home and away.

#InNunnyWeTrust