The View from the Bar
After a couple of midweek home matches it’s nice to be up here on a Saturday again, but it was a brilliant win on Tuesday evening, and thoroughly enjoyed by another healthy crowd pushing the 110 mark. For twenty minutes or so Christchurch looked strong and fit and it was all a bit worrying, especially when they took the lead, but we came back into it well and a tidy finish from goal machine Connor Furmidge got us back on level terms. That man McKie clearly wasn’t impressed by the impudent challenge to his goal machine mantle, though, being spurred on to score himself before the break and add a further three in the second half, including a couple of absolute belters.
Speaking of goals, while I think of it you’ve probably noticed Toby Brown filming our matches up here so far this season. Through his mastering of the witchcraft of technology he’s been getting the goals up onto YouTube within a couple of hours of the games (and I think the whole games too), so if you want to relive our glories time and time again just search for ‘Cowes Sports’ on YouTube and you should find them – there’s a Cowes Sports FC channel you can subscribe to as well (so I think you’ll get alerts and whatnot when new videos go up). There’s links via our Facebook page as well.
Having a bit less luck with media presentation on Tuesday was Mick the Mic, who on arriving at Westwood found the PA to be out of order. I’m sure you all missed his dulcet tones (especially given how many announcements there would have been, given the final score). Anyone found to have tampered with the PA will be sentenced to three days of Vogon poetry, delivered by the man himself. Hopefully all will be in working order again today.
All of which did cause the additional headache of publicising the golden goal time, leading our good chairman to wander round the ground with a chalked up blackboard. Not quite the same as the young ladies who publicise each round at a boxing match*, but appreciated nonetheless. (*not sure they’ve done that for a good few years, in fairness. But if you’ve ever watched Minder or The Sweeney then you’ll know what I’m on about).
Back to Tuesday, and our reward for victory is a home tie against League side AFC Bournemouth in the next round (actually their under-21 side, I think). Probably the biggest match we’ve had up here in a good few years and undoubtedly the highest ranked opposition since Farnborough came here in the HSC back around 1999 (and we all remember how that turned out, right? Here’s hoping for an – albeit unlikely – repeat). AFC Bournemouth are actually the current holders of the Hampshire Senior Cup – the final of the 2020 competition was played in May this year and they saw off Eastleigh on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Gulp…
Hopefully you’ve all noticed the new match posters up around the town and hopefully you approve of the new design too (and many thanks again to Andy Glaysher for his work distributing them). If you could help out by getting a match poster displayed in a home, business or car, please give me a shout (I’m usually pretty easy to find on matchdays) and I’ll put you on the list to receive one (or more).
Home again Tuesday night, and with the promise (threat?) of Cowes legend and former programme editor Justin’s attendance to look forward to. Fair warning. Not sure he’ll get much luck trying to squeeze a ‘Jussy half’ out of the bar staff these days…
Enjoy the game.
Toby