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I was itching to try out my new camera but sod's law had decreed that West Ham Ladies wouldn't have a game at the weekend. The next best thing would be to cover the West Ham Ladies development squad, or reserves as I would call them, but they were nowhere to be found. No trace of them on the official site, nothing on Facebook and not a hint of a tweet on twitter. Perhaps there wasn't a game at all. Then after much searching I found a site that logged every single league ladies match.
http://fulltime-league.thefa.com
It's brilliant. Up and coming fixtures, scores, tables, players, times of goals. The lot. A veritable bible. A word of warning, it's no walk in the park trying to navigate round it, but I soon (?) got the hang of it.
And there it was in black and white.... West Ham United Ladies Development vs AFC Wimbledon Ladies Reserves .. to be played at West Ham Community Trust Beckton 3G. Great.
Sunday came... not so great. It was snowing, not much, but snowing nevertheless and as the morning wore on it became heavier. Most ladies games had been called off. The couple that still went ahead announced the fact to avoid any disappointment. But not West Ham Ladies Development, just radio silence. It was a ladies football match, not the Manhattan Project, surely someone somewhere would give an update. I was game if there had been news of the game but nothing. Nowt. Zilch.
Midday arrived. Two hours until kick off. I started imagining scenarios. The one that kept coming back into my thoughts was of me, driving through a blizzard for thirty minutes only to arrive at locked gates and a sign saying MATCH OFF. Then driving thirty minutes back home only to be derided for being stupid enough to go in the first place.
1pm. I still had time to get there but I was making excuses. Even though it was a 3G pitch, if it was covered in snow they wouldn't be able to see the lines. My camera was going to get wet. The snow would get in the way of any good pictures. I said I would peel the potatoes.
2pm. I decided to let the match start (if indeed there was still a match) then at the whiff of an update of any sort I could leave and still catch the second half. There was no update. I peeled the potatoes and settled down to a subtitled Spanish movie on Netflix called El Bar (No es una mala película, pero el final fue terrible), however, I felt that I had made the right decision as the snow turned into that annoying rain, the sort of rain that soaks you through, coupled with the fact that there were no updates anywhere.
4pm. The matches being played were finished. The results were announced on twitter. Lewes lose. Charlton Dev beat Portsmouth Res. That's it. Scroll scroll scroll.... still nothing. I start singing Edith Piaf. I only know the first two lines so I sing them on repeat. A question is shouted from the parlour...... 'What's that 'horrible noise?'
7pm. My smugness turned to catatonia. Mr Schadenfreude had struck again. My browser had refreshed and the open page began to mock me.
Eight all? It had to be a mistake. I'd never seen a game of football end 8-8. Jokes. My thoughts retraced their steps over the last seven hours. I convinced myself it wasn't my fault. I'd tried... sort of. Eight (f$&@ing) all!
As I'm an avid West Ham Ladies supporter I was intrigued to read/hear how the match had unfolded. My newly discovered website should eventually give forth the answers. Each team must submit their player information, scorers, time of goals, subs etc. Only Wimbledon had submitted their information. They must have emailed them over, but only the team and scorers were there, not the goal times. Sophie Manzi had scored a hat trick for Wimbledon...... and that was as far as I could get on my fact finding expedition.
Monday came and went. Nothing.
Tuesday morning.... West ham Ladies finally put up their side of the story on the website maybe choosing to use carrier pigeon instead of taking full advantage of today's technology, judging by the time it took them to do it.
It was crucial to the story to know the goal times of Wimbledon.... so I tweeted them for the information.
They didn't reply.
Wednesday.. Thursday... nada
Friday... whilst writing this blog a link on twitter to a match report . At last. Even though the report was about to render my blog redundant, I took a deep breath and clicked on the link.
It was anti-climatic to say the least. The She Kicks. net 'journo' had patently not witnessed the game. The report was gleaned from the sketchy information on the FA website. Foul! Lazy journalism.
I began to whistle U2's 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for'
You would think that this match would be quite an historic affair. Why no publicity? Was it a masterclass in attacking football or the worst display of defending since records began?
Can anyone who played in or witnessed the match please fill in the gaps...
to be continued.....
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