Crabble Saturday, April 21st, 2018 k/o 15:00   National League Attendance: 1,424         Dover Athletic 3-2 Gateshead
2017 /18

Comments :

6.5 hours from leaving home to kick off. I'd completely forgotten it was the London marathon today (and the first FA cup semi-final at Wembley) so London was packed and largely with people who didn't know how to 'do' London. Anyway all trains were perfectly on time and 19 stops out of London I was in Kearsney. A gentle 20 minutes walk through leafy suburbs alongside the river and all under brilliant sunshine - very pleasant - and I was at the ground. Strange place. You enter a huge park with rugby and cricket pitches and then up a sort of pedestrian side path to the ground. It's lovely, nestling into the hills on two sides. The stands all look more like county fair type stands apart from the new stand that is made of wood and looks like a modern football (small and single tier) stand. The only problem was today (last home match of the season) was family day so it was full to bursting of kids and parents who had close to zero interest in the football. Of the reported crowd of 1424 I reckon I was one of a mere handful who watched the match. Tor the rest of them it was mostly about endless trips to the food and drink kiosks and/or the toilet between standing around, blocking the view and chatting. It didn't help that the football was generally poor quality apart from the first Gateshead goal that was a magnificent 25 yard straight-as-an-arrow pile-driver. Then it was a a gentle walk back to the station and - once again - every train spot on time to be home a few minutes after 22:30 2 funnies. Firstly, the mascot was THE most bizarre thing. It was supposedly a 'little crab' but looked more like a huge deformed brown poo. Secondly one of the Dover players had the most amazing brilliant name: Nortei Nortey. And he didn't even get a booking all afternoon.