But before I could experience the excitement of East Rutherford, I had a small date in East Sussex. Bury Town were making the relative long trip down to Lewes for ANOTHER top of the table clash in the Ryman Premier League. With everyone beating each other, Lewes came into the game in fifth place, but just four points behind leaders Billericay Town. The visitors? Four points behind, so it was another “must win game”.
Luge wasn’t the only new visitor to the Pan. David “Hartch” Hartrick had made the journey down from “up north” for some chips without gravy, and some flat larger. Hartch is one third of the legendary website In Bed With Maradona, and the creator of the hottest web property at the moment “500 Reasons To Love Football“. Not bad for a man who cannot find the on button on a computer.
The disappointment of the cup exit to Harlow Town last week was tempered slightly by a real honour for the club. A call out of the blue to the club from the Danish FA on Tuesday saw their Under19′s team arrive at the Pan on Wednesday to use the facilities in preparation for their game against England at Brighton on Thursday. They were suitably impressed with the Pan, leaving USB sticks and pocket torches for all (obvious gifts).
This was to be the battle of the brewing towns. Lewes versus Bury St Edmunds. Harveys versus Greene King. Sussex Best versus IPA. We all knew the winner of that one, but the game on the pitch? A tough call. Bury came to town with ex-Ipswich Town centre forward James Scowcroft in their ranks. But who needs an ex-Premier League centre forward who scored nearly a goal every four games when you have Nic Ciardini.
He has won favour with the fans because he seems to want to play with a smile on his face. Last week at Harlow a home fan compared him to a “young John Robertson”, the talisman of Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in the late 1970′s/early 1980′s and today I found myself pre-match handing over The Sussex Express’s Man of the Month trophy to Nic.
Lewes 1 Bury Town 1 – The Dripping Pan – Saturday 12th November 2011
“For more than ten years there’s been peace – everyone to his own patch. We’ve all had it sweet. I’ve done every single one of you favours in the past – I’ve put money in all your pockets. I’ve treated you well, even when you was out of order, right? Well now there’s been an eruption. It’s like fuckin’ Belfast on a bad night. One of my closest friends is lyin’ out there in the freezer. And believe me, all of you, nobody goes home until I find out who done it, and why.” Harold Shand.
Recognise the above quote? It comes from one of my favourite ever films (and one of the BFI’s top 100 of the twentieth century) – The Long Good Friday. Harold Shand is Bob Hoskins. And it is completely irrelevant to this game apart from two factors.
One – Hoskins was born and bred in Bury St Edmunds, and two, he shares his name with the ex-San Francisco 49er Defensive Tackler. And as I was just a few hours away from my NFL debut I thought it would sit quite nicely as an intro.
To be honest during the second half the knitting was the most interesting moments. This was a bore draw, enlightened by one moment of sheer stupidity.
It had all started so well for Lewes. Ciardini, buzzing from receiving the Sussex Express Man of the Month award from yours truly put in a couple of decent crosses. But it was Nicholas who created the opening goal when his cross was dropped by the Bury keeper and Draycott stooped to head home from two yards out.
Corner followed corner as the Rooks piled on the pressure but couldn’t find a way through the defence. One man who seemed to be hell bent on stopping the attacking intent of Nanetti was Daniel Cunningham who flew into a couple of challenges with a bit too much vigour. Unsurprisingly he was booked eventually.
That was really the sum effort of the afternoon. Lewes missed Somner in midfield but Bury game with a plan and executed it perfectly. Autumn had taken a hold and as the mist rolled in across the pitch post match Patrick Marber and myself stood all alone on the Jungle chatting about love, life and the Ryman Premier League. Two points dropped certainly, but we would bounce back.