Four more games in the last week were: London FC 4-1 Thunder, Cosmos 2-1 Visa, Redhill 1-1 East Grinstead Town and Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City. The respective attendances were 2, 1, 154 and 71,523.
It was a bright day in Redhill on Saturday
I think there may be an FA rule that The Community Shield has to be played in warm sunshine with the crowd in short sleeves. That scenario was looking unlikely after 2pm on Sunday with rain lashing down from a completely grey sky, the remnants of ‘Hurricane Bertha’. My ticket was in Row 3, with a drenching in prospect, but I waited on the concourse until 2.40 and by then it was dry – as per the regulations.
It was an entertaining match, with Arsenal playing particularly well. Manchester City might draw consolation from the fact that the last team to lose The Shield 3-0, Manchester United in 1998, went on to win the ‘Treble’ that season.
I first saw Redhill play in 1961 – a 4-1 win against Southall in an Athenian League match at the Memorial Sports Ground in the town centre, which they unfortunately had to vacate in 1984. It had been their home for 88 years. I saw the ‘Reds’ – now the ‘Lobsters’ – win the Surrey Senior Cup once and the Athenian League Cup twice in the halcyon days of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
Arsenal won The FA Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday
They now play at Kiln Brow, a couple of miles south of Redhill on the London to Brighton road, and I watched Saturday’s opening Isthmian League Division One South fixture of the season against newly promoted East Grinstead Town with The FA’s Competitions Manager. We’ve been going to ‘Reds’ – sorry, ‘Lobsters’ – matches since we were first colleagues.
Redhill finished third from bottom last season but were reprieved from relegation. They poured forward from the kick-off on Saturday but only managed to convert one of many first-half chances. They seemed to tire near the end on a hot afternoon and a late Grinstead equaliser seemed inevitable. It arrived about four minutes into stoppage time.
Then it was back to Victoria on the train, changing at East Croydon, and the usual tub of ‘Caramel Chew Chew’ ice cream at the hotel. One of my favourite Bond films, ‘Thunderball’, was on. It’s not my absolute favourite – that would be ‘You Only Live Twice’.
Twitter: @thebarberfan
