Kiddie Capers by PW

Thank goodness for the keen eyes and sound judgement of referees at this level is not a sentiment you often hear, and certainly not last Saturday after a Wimbledon defender escaped punishment for controlling the ball with his arm in the clear view of numerous impartial witnesses, all of whom were prepared to testify on oath that we wuz robbed.

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However the official at Kiddy restored our bruised sense of justice by pointing smartly to the spot when the increasingly promising Danny Thomas was brutally felled just when he was about to fire home or at the very least set up Damian Spencer to fluff another opportunity.

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JP rammed home the spot kick in front of the travelling 150 who to my great pride included not one but both of my offspring, swelling both the numbers of the travelling faithful and the takings of the snack hut. Son, aged 11, an old hand at this, had watched the proceedings with studied pessimism. However, daughter, aged 9, took everything in with wide eyed curiosity - as well she might, hearing certain phrases for almost certainly the first time (apart from that time I scraped a pillar in an underground car park).

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In contrast to the Wimbledon game, this was a classic smash and grab after we had withstood something of a battering after half time, but for those with long memories it was good to take all the points from what has rarely been a happy hunting ground for us. Sure there was the identical win last season but before that you have to go back a long way - not least because of the time we spent in separate leagues. In the mid to late 90s a trip to Kiddy usually involved pre-match pints in the pub by the old railway station followed by cottage pie and/or soup in the ground, whilst the Poppies slumped to another limp defeat.

You possibly have to go all the way back to 1993 when on a Monday night we went top top top top top of the league with a 2-0 win at Aggborough - an achievement in no way diminished by the fact it was our second game of the season and everyone else had only played one. That was the same season Kiddy dumped us out of the Cup at the start of their run to the 5th Round and ultimately denied us promotion, so they still owe us.

PW

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All I can add to this is, well done PW, and, "Hey, You lost your cherry!"