Highgate United 0-3 AFC Bridgnorth (FA Cup Qualifying Extra Preliminary Round) The Coppice
One month on from the 2019-2020 FA Cup Final, this week the Qualifying Rounds for the 2020-2021 competition began which meant it was time for 'Pint of Football' to get back into my little red car and head over to a first competitive football match in over six months. My latest journey took me over to The Coppice for my first ever visit to see Highgate United as they welcomed AFC Bridgnorth over to Whitlock's End, which is an area on the South-West of Shirley, which is a town just South-West of Solihull.... which is South-East of Birmingham, for anybody keeping score!
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| Or just "the land of Brum", to keep things simple |
Highgate United, aka "The Gate", are perhaps best known for being involved in the tragic FA Amateur Cup Quarter-Final of 1967 in which one of their players, Tony Allden, was killed by a lightning strike during a game against Enfield. The club legend, who has The Coppice's Main Stand named after him, was a much respected man in the Birmingham non-league football scene and obviously a very sad loss to the game. More recently, the 1948 established club have been known for being a bit of a retirement home for ex-pros and aside from former League of Ireland defender and current captain Sam Oje plying his trade with Highgate, over the years England's one cap wonder and Villa legend Lee Hendrie has donned the red shirt of the Gate and just three years ago former New York Red Bulls, Lillestrom and Shrewsbury Town striker Luke Rodgers had a stint here too.
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| To think of the names that have entered this tunnel... |
Meanwhile in the blue corner we have AFC Bridgnorth who were reformed in 2013 after Bridgnorth Town folded. Yup, that old non-league story! Since becoming AFC, the Meadowmen have done pretty well for themselves and have climbed into the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division after starting off a couple of divisions below. Before the postponement of the last campaign, the Shropshire side were sitting nicely in midtable and well clear of the drop zone. It's not as impressive as the times they finished second to Sporting Khalsa in 2015 and Shawbury United in 2016, but looking at their history it seems about right for the club at the moment. Of course, as with any club at this level, a run in the FA Cup Qualifiers can lead to bigger long-term success and as we begin at the first possible entry stage of the tournament, it will be nice to follow the ventures of the competition again now that spectators are allowed to attend games. Being as how Highgate were the division above their visitors, I made a very inaccurate pre-match prediction of 3-1 to United as I pondered the game during my drive over from work in Coventry.
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| The Tony Allden Stand in all its glory |
On to the game itself and we had a classic red versus blue bout on our hands, with the boxing comparisons also continuing into the match as some early crunching hits being landed from both sides. The opening half an hour of the game was pretty intense without there being much goalmouth action and once things settled down a bit there was some decent football to follow. The particular feel of the game so far had been that whoever was hungriest would grab the opener and that proved to be the case as AFC Bridgnorth's attackers began to put some real pressure on United's back four. The tenacious Meadowmen finally got their just reward in the 37th minute when the ball fell to Milne, with the number 7 having time to line up a strike which flew into the net. A lovely curling finish gave the visitors a deserved lead. Highgate 0-1 Bridgnorth.
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| A good game so far and there was much more to come |
Just moments before the goal I had popped to the clubhouse across the field outside of the ground to grab a pint, meaning that I was lucky to make it back in time for the opener. The Coppice clubhouse is modern and has a decent bar, which is all well and good, but something that did confuse me a bit was that I could constantly smell food but didn't actually see anywhere to buy any. I mean, I could have just asked, but as I was desperately rushing to get back out to the pitch I simply grabbed a pint and pinged back over to the game. In hindsight, I suppose the food may have been for the players after the game. If anyone reads this and says that there was a tonne of juicy steak pies knocking about then I'll be depressingly satisfied to know that my nose hadn't failed me completely. Back into the game the opener had gone in and I just about caught it, but what happened next was a blink twice and you'll miss it situation as another goal was scored just seconds after the first. This time it was a striker in blue who made is way easily into the box before slotting home. Knowles' strike was cool and collected, but there were just far too many questions to ask of the Highgate defenders so far. Highgate 0-2 Bridgnorth.
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| All hopes of a comeback rest on the second forty-five |
I popped back into the clubhouse during the break and it appeared that I wasn't the only non-local who was enjoying the facilities. "Even the bogs smell nice here!", confessed a Shropshire visitor in the urinal and for me that was a very apt, albeit an odd summary of the situation. Back outside it looked as though Highgate had made a half-time change and in strange circumstances it appeared as though an outfielder had taken up the role of shot stopper, which would possibly lead to quite unfortunate results. As it was, the lad wasn't too bad and he managed to remain unbeaten from open play. He made a few saves in a half that was largely controlled by the hosts, but ultimately he would be powerless to resist a 70th minute penalty which was converted comfortably by a player who is referred to on Twitter as "Pukka". Highgate 0-3 Bridgnorth. With food well and truly on the mind by this point I watched the final twenty minutes whilst creeping slowly towards the exit, meaning that as the full-time whistle blew I could jump in the old Suzuki and plod on home. Of course, nothing is ever that simple and in my stupidity upon arrival I parked facing away from the Tythe Barn Lane entrance and as a result I instead sat in my space for ten minutes waiting for an opportunity to do a five point turn and get the hell back to Stafford. When I eventually did get back on the road home, I took a moment whilst driving to think about the evening and although I can't summarise the evening as promptly as "nice smell bogs man", I will end this Blog by saying how good it is to be back at non-league grounds and in particular to have ticked off another Midland Football Premier League, my eighth of the nineteen.
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