The Boroughers

Tuesday, 15th February 2011.
nPower League Two
Stevenage (not Borough) 0 OUFC 0

Why does it always fucking rain when we play at Stevenage? Last night was my 5th visit to Broadhall Way and other than an August Bank Holiday visit back in 2007, I remember vividly getting pissed on to and from every game.

Another thing that always seems to happen is that we fail to win. Sadly this means that should we have the misfortune to find ourselves in the same division as this charlatan non-league outfit again next season, I'll probably have to get wet again in the vain hope we'll beat them on their soggy, muddy patch.

For me, the trip to Stevenage on a Tuesday night is not a difficult one - my normal train home from work arriving at St Pancras in good time to hop over to adjacent Kings Cross and get the packed commuter train North from there - first stop Stevenage just 20mins later.

The problem with arriving at Stevenage by train though is that the ground is just under 2 miles away and a pig of a walk along the new-town's many roundabout underpasses and long, boring conecting roads with nothing but retail parks for the view. The concrete structures around the train station and pedestrianised shopping areas of Stevenage remind you of what they thought the near-future would look like in 1970s sci-fi films. Only a bit run-down and grubby. If you've seen 'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes', you'll know what I mean.

One of my very best friends used to live in Stevenage and always used to go on about how good a place it is to live because of it's connections to London. I'd agree with him- the best thing about Stevenage is that it's easy to get the fuck away from the place quickly once you are at the station. The trouble is getting to and from the station though amidst a concrete nightmare of the town centre.


Stevenage: Is it just me or does it look like an airport?

 See, I'm too mean to get a taxi, and too aloof to share a bus with locals. so I walked in the rain to the ground. I wish I'd just found a taxi by the time the drizzle had taken it's toll on my inappropriate rainwear, when i stopped half-way for a warming apple pie in one of the ubiquitous McDonald's (the third one I'd walked past).

It didn't warm me or my soggy jeans up, but it certainly did scorch the inside of my mouth. I'd have complained but they did clearly warn me about the potential molten contents on the packaging. Lesson learnt.

So I rejoined the drizzle and found my way to the miserably tin-pot 'Lamex Stadium' of Stevenage FC. Yes, that's right - they appear to have had a name-makeover since being (incorrectly in my view) admitted to the Football League this season.

Apparently the dropping of the 'Borough' was an attempt to make the club look a bit less non-league with all the mickey-mouse connotations that the affix is thought to have in people's mind. If they really want to try and impress us though with affected Football League credentials, they could move Stevenage to a real town rather than one built 30 years ago and not have a drummer as the only noise coming out of their home end. Plus it's a bit half-hearted to still have 'Boro' as their official nickname. Why not pick something apt like the "Contretists" or "Roundabouters" ?


Pre-Match Huddle

I'm procrastinating a bit as the game itself wasn't really much to write home about. It looked as though it might be, with both sides rattling the woodwork within the first 4 minutes - but there wasn't really much else to write home about for the remainder of the game, save for a second rattle of the post by Craddock and an unnervingly physical game that at times Oxford seemed to struggle with from a typical niggly Stevenage side.

2nd half especially, Oxford looked a bit short of ideas - although we did have a few good chances late in the game when we pressured the goal at the end that we were sat in. Here are a few low-grade action shots of that period of pressure.

Not very good are they? Well, neither was the game, so it's giving you a fair reflection. Still, positives are it was another decent clean sheet, and 4 points from the week is a good haul against two sides also still very much 'in the mix'.

So, another 90mins at Stevenage and another draw there, our 4th in 5 visits. Now it was time to get back to the station. I decided I could do with some exercise, plus it was no longer raining so I bust a gut to get the earlier train back to the Big Smoke. I made it with seconds to spare, to find out the bastard was delayed. OK, only by 4 minutes, but I was still annoyed after all that running that I might have been able to take a breather.

Made some new friends on the platform who were excited about something or other and having some exuberant pictures of themselves taken before getting their train to London. Perhaps they were celebrating how easy it was to get out of Stevenage. Good on them.

Girls Leaving Stevenage: Excited.