Grinding 'Em Out on the Way to Greatness.... (We Hope)!

Bath City defeated Maidenhead United 2-1 Saturday in a scrappy and uninspiring away victory. Who cares if it was scrappy, though? We are now entering the final third of the season and as long as a match results in three points for City I don't ask questions.

Before I get to the match against Maidenhead, though (of which I will not be asking questions), I'd better recount some of the significant events that have happened off the pitch this week. The first to recount is, unfortunately, the sad news that former Bath City manager Brian Godfrey passed away on the morning of Thursday 11 February. Godfrey, a former Wales international and Aston Villa stalwart, was appointed manager of City in April 1977. As this was roughly three decades before my first visit to Twerton Park, I'm not best placed to do justice to the career of the man many consider to be City's finest ever manager. I will try to recount some of the highlights, though.

City's first two competitive matches of the 1977 season were a 0-3 aggregate defeat by Yoevil Town in the Southern League Cup - an inauspicious start for the new manager. After this, however, Godfrey led his team on an incredible twenty game unbeaten run in all competitions, ending finally with a FA Cup 1st Round replay at Plymouth Argyle. This was followed by a quick exit in the FA Trophy (1-7 to Cheltenham Town - ouch!). After this December 3rd defeat, City then went on an even more incredible thirty-five match unbeaten run, finally concluding with a 0-1 loss to Worcester City on 1 May. The only other loss that season was to Udinese in the Anglo-Italian Cup.

Udinese? What? That's right, under Godfrey's tenure Bath City competed in Europe.

Oh, and he also led City to the Southern League championship that 1977-78 season, of course. It is easy to underestimate what an accomplishment that is now. This was in the years before the Conference had been formed. There was no level higher than the Southern League in non-league football. Because of this City were thrown into the mix in the bizarre voting procedure used back then to determine which teams would be promoted, or allowed to remain, in the old Forth Division of the Football League. It was a close vote that year. With twenty-three votes, Bath City set the record for the most votes without being admitted to the league. Who made it? Some club called Wigan Athletic from the Northern League. Just think, with just a few more votes and a sugardaddy with a former sporting goods empire, Bath City could today be the worst-supported club in the Premier League. Gives me tingles just to think about it.

One of the downsides of non-league football is that anyone who sets the place alight when they arrive usually doesn't stick around for long (just ask Bath City's Bobby Zamora). Godfrey's inevitable departure had an ironic twist, though. Tony Book, former Bath City legend and then Manchester City manager, hired Malcolm Allison away from Plymouth Argyle. Someone named Bobby Saxon left Exeter City to take the Plymouth job. Godfrey got the nod for the Exeter post, and understandably took it in December of 1978. So, it's all Tony Book's fault, really. Thirty years later and Godfrey's tenure at City is still the high water mark in the club's history. Everyone, including those of us who were not around to enjoy his success, were sad to hear of his passing.

The other news at Twerton Park this week was more pleasant, although just as unexpected. Former Bath City striker, Dave Gilroy, signed with rivals Newport County at the end of last season. This appeared to be a good move for Gilroy at the time, but as he was just one of nearly two-hundred players signed this season by manager Dean Holdsworth (I exaggerate very slightly), he struggled to get a regular starting place. He has managed a respectable nine goals this campaign, but seven of these were while on loan to Weston-super-Mare. No one quite understands how or why, but Holdsworth and City manager Adie Britton agreed on an unusual six-week swap. Gilroy returns to Bath City, and the struggling, injury-plagued Stuart Douglas (with only only goal this season) will take his place on the Newport bench. City fans can't believe their luck. If ever there was a gift horse that you wanted to take a good, hard look at the mouth of, this would be it. It's too good an offer to question, though. I'll just put Adie Britton down as a genius and move on.

Because of the labyrinthine, and rather boring regulations that surround the various governing bodies of British football, City have to wait until the Havant & Waterlooville match for Gilroy's international clearance to come through (Newport County play in Wales). This meant that the City team that arrived at York Road included Douglas.

One of the first facts you learn about Maidenhead United is that York Road is the oldest continually used football ground in the world. In this modern world of corporate stadiums, this is something worth celebrating. Maidenhead have chosen to celebrate this with a recreation of a nineteenth century pitch - you know, the sort they used to play on back when passing was considered 'ungentlemanly.' Or perhaps it was just impossible. Whatever the reason, Maidenhead's pitch wasn't going to handle the Brazil-like passing game that City have developed over the last few months.

[I should point out that this is a blog written by a Bath City supporter, and if I want to compare City's passing game to Brazil I'm within my rights. Go start your own blog and compare your favourite team to who you like. Besides, City have played some amazing football this year! Really.]

Brian Godfrey's City team of 1977-78 may have only lost twice, but they did grind out a lot of 0-0 draws on the way to their title (seven to be exact). Adie Britton's team of 2010 also have the character to adjust their playing style to conditions. Pushing the ball forward quickly became the order of the day. Despite only managing a handful of half-chances in the first forty-three minutes, they kept Maidenhead to only one attempt in the same period. Did you notice I said forty-three minutes, though? City scored the brace of goals that would see them to victory between minutes forty-three and forty-five: a failed clearance that landed at Kaid Mohamed's feet, and a Darren Edwards header from a Adam Connolly corner kick.

You've probably tumbled to the fact that I didn't make it to the match by this point. This was a bit of a sore point, but I console myself with the fact that the match has been described as 'unremarkable' in more than one account. Rather than fill my blog with attempts to make the unremarkable events I did not witness sound interesting, I'll let you off the hook with a one sentence recap of the second half: City played defensively and allowed a worrying goal at sixty-two minutes, but fortunately not the equaliser. The debacle of the recent home match against Bishop's Stortford was not repeated.

The match may not have been the most exciting of the year, but City's improvement in the league table was enough to get my heart racing. Thanks to Woking's unexpected loss to Worcester City, and Eastleigh's even more unexpected draw to Weston-super-Mare (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!), Bath City passed both of them, climbing to a dizzying seventh. Now only two points from a playoff spot, City are in prime position to move even farther up the table in Tuesday night's home match against Havant. With the club's strike force now augmented, City fans are imbibing that most dangerous of intoxicants: hope. As long as City win, there will be no hangover come Wednesday morning. And they must win. Brian Godfrey would want it that way.

Dog Days at Twerton Park

Bath City drew against Bishop's Stortford at home in front of 558 people yesterday. That was not how things were supposed to go.

No. Things were supposed to go very differently. City were supposed to crush Bishop's Stortford as they did at the away fixture 5-1. This was supposed to happen in front of a bumper crowd made up of people drawn back after the great football they saw at the last two Saturday home matches (1,404 against Newport County and 3,325 against Forest Green Rovers). That's the way I had planned it, anyway.

The last time I had seen City in action had been at their 3-1 away victory at Woking. This had been a superb performance in adverse conditions. It was followed by a fairly routine victory against the hapless Weston-super-Mare on Boxing Day. Being just a few points out of the playoff zone, and in excellent form, was creating a real sense of momentum among the City supporters. And then, like some sort of evil snow monster, the bad weather took hold, and matches got cancelled. Without kicking a ball, City found itself slipping down the table. When the Thurrock match went ahead against all expectations last Saturday, City played disappointingly and lost 3-1. Now after drawing to Bishop's Stortford, City are in tenth place and eight points behind the playoffs. Despite everyone's best intentions, all that momentum seems to have melted away with the snow.

I did not know this yet as I arrived at Twerton Park with the two Nedved Juniors. I was mostly just relieved to be back at a live match - the last two times I had been to Twerton I had found the games called off. I was excited to see the new enormous flag that had been organised by 'WSP' and his burgeoning group of City Ultras. The origins of this enormous Naval ensign have been kept obscure, but a whipround among the fans has paid for the City badge and the words 'BATH CITY' to be added to it. My Latvian flag with 'ANDREJS' painted on it, looking rather small and insignificant in comparison, made its first appearance as well.

Although the crowd appeared to be much smaller than I had hoped as the match kicked off, the opening spell of play looked very encouraging. Kaid Mohamed and Darren Edwards had the look of a potent partnership from the first whistle, and Lewis Hogg and Adam Connolly appeared to be in good form as well. The play was slightly scrappier, and more reliant on the long ball than I had remembered before the new year. It only seemed a matter of time, though, before City took the lead.

I started to get worried after about fifteen minutes, however, when City had not scored. Stortford was not looking likely to score themselves, but both teams began to struggle to do anything but knock the ball around in midfield. I got more worried when Darren Edwards went off at the twenty minute mark. It turned out Edwards was about to suffer a migraine and his vision had started blurring. He was replaced by the controversial Stuart Douglas.

When Douglas arrived at Twerton Park at the beginning of last season, he looked like he would be a goal-scoring machine for City. He was, once, against Newport County, about a year ago. He can show impressive ball skills, and frequently gets the ball in good positions in the penalty box. Frustratingly, this rarely results in a goal. Douglas doesn't help his case with the fans by regularly falling over and frequently getting called offside.

I try not to be negative about Douglas. Nothing would be better for City than for him to prove his critics wrong. That scenario wasn't looking likely, though, as all of City's forward attack appeared to have dried up. Both teams looked ineffectual, and I began to wonder if a 0-0 draw was on the cards. If this continued then City would need a bit of magic to score.

And then, the magic happened. Douglas fought for a ball in Bishop Stortford's half, and although he fell to the ground in the process, the ball rolled to City captain Jim Rollo. He slotted the ball neatly to Adam Connolly, who passed it to Lewis Hogg with one touch. Hogg, sent the ball right back to the advancing Connolly with a looping chip. Connolly struck the ball with a powerful volley from twenty-five yards out, right into the bottom left corner of the net. As City had been the dominant team for most of the match, you couldn't call it a goal against the run of play. It certainly wasn't expected, though.

Bishop Stortford had showed so little interest in City's goal so far, I felt very relaxed with City's single goal lead. Several chances for City came before the end of the half. The best came when Douglas got the ball in the penalty box unmarked, but stumbled before he could square up for the shot. Although the half ended with the score only 1-0, I thought City had a good chance of opening up a big lead before the game was over.

The second goal came within a minute of the restart. Connolly got the ball on the break and found Kaid Mohamed on the right. I thought he might score on his own, but a Stortford defender caught up with him as he neared the goal line. After tracking back a few yards, Mohamed made a perfect, head-high diagonal cross to Hogg. A brilliant goal, and a sign that City's pre-snow form was returning.

Except, almost immediately after the goal, the pre-snow form disappeared again. Perhaps because Bishop's Stortford had shown absolutely no inclination to score up to this point, City appeared to be happy to let them have most of the ball from this point. Stortford still didn't look very effective, but they certainly got plenty of time to practice penetrating the Ctiy defence. The practice paid off just after the hour mark. After several ineffective attempts to clear the ball, City sat back and let Stortford string together nine uninterrupted passes mostly around mid-field. Although none of the passes looked very threatening, eventually one was made to Charlie Sherringham at the top of the penalty box. He chested the ball down and struck it sharply into the City net. 2-1.

I've seen City show a tremendous amount of character in tough situations throughout this season. It was a real shock to see the same team allow an opponent back into a match through complacency. It was even more shocking to see City be just as complacent after the goal. After watching City sit back for another fifteen minutes, it was not shocking to see Charlie Sherringham score a second goal to level the score. A simple pass across the goal mouth eluded City keeper Ryan Robinson. Sherringham was in the right place to tap it into the net.

City did play better once they had blown their two goal lead, but I am too depressed to write about it. They came close to taking the lead again a couple times, but they really shouldn't have been in the position to need to take the lead again. The game was all but sewn up a minute into the second half. It was two points dropped, and dropped with an enormous thud. Suddenly, everyone, including me, is on a downer.

It goes without saying that after watching a two-goal lead disappear, the emotions in the stand ranged from anger to despair. The Bath City message board has been full of comments about how the playoffs are now out of reach and efforts should be concentrated on next season. In his post-match interview, manager Adie Britton said he doesn't have the money he needs to bolster the squad anyway at the moment. "It appears the money from the FA Cup has been spent on the quiet winter period when we haven't had games and we simply don't have the cash flow apparently to sign players," he said. Bummer.

Although I am usually a 'glass-half-full' type of person, I can't help but share in the generally miserable mood that has descended on the Bath City faithful. I have a lot of affection for this year's City squad, and the idea that they might end up merely mid-table really depresses me. Although they are capable of playing brilliant football, they need to play it more consistently than they are now if they are going to make the playoffs. After yesterday's match, that seems unlikely.

A bit of simple analysis, however, shows that this negative outlook is not really borne out by the facts. Bath City are eight points adrift of the playoffs, but there are eighteen matches left. Every single one of those matches appears, at least on paper, winnable (well, maybe not the away match to Bromley, but I say that only because City never seem to win there). Adie Britton needs more money and a bigger squad, but that's nothing new. He's accomplished so much with a limited budget so far, it is a bit early to start planning for next year. After yesterday, progressing to the playoffs might not feel likely to me, but the City players won't be concerning themselves with my feelings. Yesterday was an ugly draw, and that's all it was. Onward!

Highlights of the match can be seen here.

The Agony, the Rain, the Worry, and a little bit of Ecstasy

There are times in the life of the average non-league fan when he wonders if he is really and truly sane. I had such a moment Saturday as I watched Bath City defeat Chelmsford City 1-0. I was standing on the Bristol End terrace at Twerton Park in pelting rain and howling wind. I was cold and wet and tired. Next to me was my seven-year-old son (known for purposes of this blog as Big Nedved Junior) who must have also been cold and wet and tired. We were watching Bath City frantically try to keep Chelmsford at bay for half an hour with only ten men. Bath City defender Matt Coupe had been given a straight red at the hour mark for a studs-up tackle. With the man advantage, the stiff wind at their backs, and a Bath City team sitting back to defend their slender one goal advantage, Chelmsford kept up near-relentless pressure on the Bath End goal. Big Nedved Junior and I stood at the Bristol End, watching our heroes struggle in the distance, desperately hoping they would break free to score in front of us. It was not possible to really follow what was happening from that far away. It was only later that I learned that a shot from Chelmsford's Danny Hockton had struck one goal post, only for the rebound to be struck against the other post by Hockton's teammate Anthony Cook. From our distance we could only see a mass of bodies throwing themselves at the ball. We stood in the rain and waited for the inevitable-seeming bad news, and counted the minutes (literally) until we could stop worrying. After half and hour we were allowed to stop worrying and go somewhere dry and warm. Basically, I had paid £10 to stand in the rain with my son and chew my nails for half an hour. I had done this because this is what I consider 'fun.'

The entire afternoon had not been taken up with rain-soaked stress, however. Big Nedved Junior and I had arrived early at the ground to take in a meal at the club bar, 'Charlie's.' After pies, sausages and chips in front of a football match on a big-screen telly, we walked down the Twerton High street. We were looking for some 'Match Attax' cards to enhance Big Nedved Junior's playground cred. We failed to find any, but we did end up in the Co-op at the same time as my son's favourite player, Gethin Jones. We both felt too shy to talk to him so we loitered around the dairy products until he had left. Although we returned to Twerton Park empty handed, we soon had something even better...

Bath City Players Cards!! Thanks to a fantastic initiative by the Supporters Club, Big Nedved Junior could now collect cards of his non-league heroes alongside the Premiership primadonnas he is increasingly besotted with. We bought two packs, each containing three cards, for 50p each. I had worried our first packs would give us doubles of Marcus Browning, but it turned out we only got one of him (in away kit). In addition to Browning we got cards for Matt Coupe, Sido Jombati, Mark Badman, Richard Evans, and Kaid Mohamed. It was a good haul, we thought. To keep them dry Big Nedved Junior stored them in a special plastic pouch he had brought expressly for this purpose.

Not long after we were settled in the Popular Side terrace I was wishing he had brought a plastic pouch big enough for us to put ourselves in. The wind was whipping around enough that it was hard to find anywhere under cover that was truly dry. Once the match kicked off that wind began to play a pretty prominent role in the play on the pitch as well.

Bath City had been fortunate to win the toss and attack the Bath End of the ground. The wind blew fiercely but erratically. Anytime the ball cleared ten feet or so off the ground it was impossible to know which direction it would take. You almost had to pity Chelmsford keeper Craig Holloway, who is not the best of kickers in good conditions, as goal kick after goal kick failed to clear the halfway line. Neither team was able to do much more than hang around and hope for a lucky break from the wind. Thankfully the strength of the wind meant that Bath City got to do most of their hanging around in the Chelmsford half.

Chelmsford did manage some frightening runs at the Bath City goal on the occasional break. It was actually a Bath City counterattack, though, that brought the goal we had all been waiting for. Stuart Douglas received a neat pass from Sido Jombati close enough to onside to keep the linesman's flag down. With two Chelmsford players at his side and Holloway charging from the goal line, I thought Douglas had left it too late. He began to fall from what looked like a side tackle. It was a mistake I had seen Douglas commit before - taking one too many touches before trying to shoot. Somehow, though, while appearing to be totally off balance, Douglas managed to chip the ball over the Chelmsford keeper. It rolled gently into the corner of the net. I screamed and jumped up and down and silently promised never to doubt Stuart Douglas again!

This all happened with fifteen minutes to go before the half. Considering how poor the conditions were, and how Bath City would be playing against the wind in the next period, it seemed likely to me that a 1-0 victory was the only likely scoreline that would be good news. Kaid Mohamed almost proved me wrong a few minutes later with an excellent, on-target strike from outside the box. Despite this, and a couple close calls in the second half, most of the rest of the match was made up of midfield tackles and pressure on the Bath City goal.

And so my son and I stood on the exposed steps of the Bristol end terrace, forlornly hoping our heroes would score a second goal and deliver us from the worry. After Matt Coupe's sending off I called out the remaining minutes as they passed. I think this only made them pass more slowly. From our far-away vantage, every Chelmsford pass appeared to cross the mouth of the goal or need clearing off the line by a Bath City defender. It was a race between the clock and bad news. Which one would come first? Eventually the referee blew his whistle. I let out a cheer that was as much a sigh of relief as a cry of victory. As we scuttled back to the warmth of the car I wondered how many new grey hairs I had gained.

By any rational viewpoint, it was a miserable day. People only endure such discomfort for love from insanity. For football fans, especially for non-league football fans, I think it is a mixture of both. Despite the cold, the rain, the tension and the broken play, it was all worth it for the joy of seeing Douglas' goal and the relief I felt upon hearing the final whistle.

Now, time to plan our next match!

Staines Massive Impassive

Bath City drew 1-1 with Staines Town Tuesday night. Pretty much everyone says it was a forgettable match. This is hardly surprising given that both clubs had just defeated League 2 opposition three days previously in hard-fought FA Cup matches. Staines had been victorious 1-0 over Shrewsbury Town. Likewise, Bath City had come out on top 2-0 over Grimsby Town in THE GREATEST FOOTBALL GAME EVER PLAYED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!

Well, I thought so, anyway.

I was pretty shattered after the Grimsby match. I was so excited the night before I hardly slept. Match day itself consisted of a five-hour coach trip in the morning, three hours of constant singing, shouting and clapping in the afternoon, and another five-hour coach trip home in the evening. I got home too wired on adrenaline and disbelief to sleep properly for two days. A league match against Staines? I had trouble remembering it was happening, let alone get excited about it. I can only imagine how the players were feeling!

Actually, I don't have to imagine. The first half of the Staines match was a good indication. Manager Adie Britton chose to keep the same lineup that had been victorious in Grimsby (excepting the addition of Stuart Douglas to replace the injured Darren Edwards). A team of heroes, no doubt, but they must have been a team of tired heroes. Staines, sporting five new faces from their weekend, managed to keep City pinned back for most of the half. Apart from a near miss from a little bit of Chris-Holland-set-piece-header magic, City's only accomplishment in the first forty-five minutes was not conceding a goal.

Maybe Adie gave them a good talk at half-time. City returned to the pitch with more determination and more possession. This was rewarded at sixty-five minutes by a goal from Kaid Mohamed. Not much of a goal, mind you. It resulted from a scramble in front of the goal instead of a connected series of passes. Still, it was a goal and City had a lead that would have seemed improbable in the first half. I read about it in front of the computer, half wishing I was there and half wishing the game had been postponed until later in the season. I still wanted to savour the victory in Grimsby.

Eleven minutes later Staines equalised. Sido Jombati gave away a free kick in a prime spot. Andre Scarlett took the kick for Staines and managed to thread it through the City wall. I felt annoyed when I got the news through on the computer. Annoyed? Since when do I merely feel annoyed when City concede a goal? A goal that could have secured league three points?!

There is an argument that cup runs are dangerous. Players will be so distracted by their cup success that they will stop focusing on their league performance. I've never given this idea much credence, but I will admit that at least I have been distracted by the cup run. I have no business being annoyed! It's time for some more mental preparation because I am determined to at least be disgusted or gutted the next time City concede. Honestly!

Mike Perrott and Florin Pelecaci were brought on in the closing minutes but failed to find the goal to put City ahead. If anyone doubted the cup run was responsible for the tepid performance, Britton put them straight in a recent interview with the Bath Chronicle:

We did not get the response we were looking for at Staines and that is unusual with this group of players. To be fair, to have a 600-mile round trip at the weekend, then go into work on Monday before travelling to London and back on Tuesday is very demanding on part-time players. I have never been in this situation before and neither have a few of the players. Whether we can keep them focused or not I am not sure, but I know I will be totally focused.

It's hard to feel too disappointed with the result, however. I'm sure going into the match both teams would have been happy with a draw. City preserved their unbeaten run, and despite a sub-par performance, preserved that rare and indefinable thing known as momentum as well.

About the time the real hard-core fans were arriving back in Bath on the supporters coach I was tucked up in bed waiting for sleep. I had already forgotten about the Staines match. I was fondly recalling Chris Holland's header against Grimsby. Give me a few more days.

Nedved Misses Match Voluntarily - Shock!

Bath City played a scoreless draw with Bromley on Saturday, and I was not there to see it. It was the first home match of the season I have missed (except for one pre-season friendly). You might wonder what possibly could have kept me away from Twerton Park at such a critical juncture in City's season. In a word: sweeties.

Not for me, of course. No, my attendance at the Bromley match was really scotched because of its coincidence with the modern sugar-rush festival known as Halloween. Mrs Nedved had, very inconveniently, made arrangements for the whole family to go to a neighbourhood Halloween party that began at 4pm. To be honest, though, I didn't really want to miss seeing my kids put on their costumes, or holding their hands as they went trick-or-treating through the neighbourhood. Besides, I will be missing the town Bonfire Night festivities when I take a fifteen hour day-return trip to Grimsby on Saturday.

Having, more or less, voluntarily excused myself from attending the match was a very odd feeling. Although I deny it, Mrs Nedved claims that if I do not attend a match I am very irritable and cranky (I really do deny it, but the idea that 'you might as well go because if you don't you will just be insufferable' is a useful concept). For the first Saturday in weeks I was not counting down the hours until 3pm. When the hour did arrive I found myself unprepared. I fired up the computer in a hurry.

And....not much happened. Sean, the ever-reliable relayer of game updates, had taken the day off to go watch Leeds United. I was hardly in a position to object, but it made the already disjointed matchday experience even more disjointed. Fortunately there were several other people online who were getting texts from fans at the ground. Between them and the Non-League Vidiprinter I was able to at least follow the score (although without much detail).

And....still not much happened. Like I said, it was a scoreless draw. When you aren't getting much more than scoring updates a match with no score is simultaneously nerve-wracking and tedious. The only real news that came through was that the pitch was slippery from rain, Edwards was having a rare poor game, the attendance was 585, and that no goals were scored in the first half.

Before the second half could kick off I was out of the house and down the street at the Halloween party. Although it is an ability I am not very keen on developing, leaving my computer with a match hanging in the balance could be considered a personal triumph. I had also made a decision not be a football bore at the party. I was not going to talk about Bath City all evening. Childcare, politics, cooking -- all these would be fine. I do have more facets to my personality than the ability to discuss recent events at Twerton Park.

I realised, though, that it is perhaps too late to avoid being tagged as a football bore. I might as well admit to myslef that I am an addict. Everyone else seems to have come to this conclusion, anyway. As soon as I was standing among my fellow dads in my neighbour's kitchen people starting asking me about Bath City. It's what I'm known for. 'What's happening with Bath City?' 'How is the season going so far?' 'Did you go to a match today (it's 4pm, how could I have gone to a match today?!!)?' Surrounded as I was by a group of well-meaning enablers of my addiction, I didn't hold out long. Besides, we didn't want to talk about childcare, politics or cooking. We were men with families who work full time. What were we realistically going to talk about besides sport? The more I talked about Bath City, however, the more keenly I felt the lack of information about the ongoing match.

At 4:30 Mrs Nedved approached me. 'I wish we had the camera to take some pictures of the kids all dressed up,' she said.

At this point I had, if I may be immodest, a moment of pure genius. 'I can pop back home and get it for you if you like?' I said.

Mrs Nedved smiled and thanked me for being so helpful. I left our neighbour's house in the rare position of being able to find out the final score of the match and collect brownie points at the same time! Because Mrs Nedved could not remember where the camera was I could plausibly be away from the party for fifteen to twenty minutes while I 'looked' for the camera (I knew exactly where it was, of course). I reached the house with ten minutes remaining in the match. And....nothing much had happened. It was a 0-0 draw, remember?

Knowing that the final score was definitely 0-0, however, is infinitely more satisfying than not knowing. After fifteen minutes online I quickly got the camera from where I had left it after the Totton match, and went back to the party. I was greeted by a grateful Mrs Nedved. I have no shame.

The trick-or-treating was a roaring success. The fact that Big Nedved Junior does not like dressing up, and that Little Nedved Junior's costume had largely unravelled during the party did not stop either of them from taking a colossal haul of sugary goodness. We took lots of pictures and eventually returned home with two children wired on excitement and empty calories. After a much later than normal bedtime they were both eventually packed off to bed, and I finally got a chance to get some detail about the City match.

Despite the lack of scoring, those attending reported that it had been an exciting affair (you can read all about it here). City in fact came close to winning he match in the closing moments and were only denied by two excellent stops by the Bromley keeper. Strangely, hearing this made me feel slightly disconcerted. I had sort of congratulated myself on choosing a boring match to miss. Perrott played well, evidently, and Stuart Douglas is making progress on returning to match fitness. I felt slightly put out that players were having important matches without me.

I had not missed a significant event in my children's life, but I had missed a not insignificant moment in the Bath City season. It was a decision I would make again a hundred times over, but as I reflected on the day I realised that being a football supporter is not really about being entertained. The true fan, and here I mean the hardened addicts like myself as opposed to the casual observer, wants to see the story of each season unfold before them. We want to see our heroes progress, or, if must be, fail. If a match is uneventful we want to see it be uneventful. When it is glorious we will feel it more keenly for having having endured the drudgery that preceded it. If a scoreless match turns out to be unexpectedly entertaining I want to know that from first hand experience rather than taking the word of another.

I consoled myself with a toffee from the kids' stash. I know that I cannot attend every match. I know that there are things in life much more important than football. And I can stop any time I like. Really.