There's no doubt in my mind that battling through the last two seasons with Bashley Football Club has been a decent test of my true character. I didn't see Bashley win a single league game throughout the 2014/15 campaign. If you know me in any way though, you'll know that I wouldn't change that for anything. I have some incredible memories following this football club home and away, a couple that will live with me for the rest of my life. 2015/16 promises to be a new challenge for the club, and I personally can't wait to get on a train and go somewhere stupid to watch my team again.
The final day of the 2014/15 season was taking us towards Bristol, all the way to sunny Yate. Unfortunately, my body decided on the Thursday beforehand that it fancied going into meltdown, and I still wasn't 100% come Saturday morning. It felt awfully similar to an HGV lorry piling into my chest at 100 miles an hour, and my nose was having an absolute field day. Thankfully though, I battled through, because that's the sort of trooper I am. My girlfriend unleashing a pack of cookies on me on the coach may have helped in hindsight.
The final day of the 2014/15 season was taking us towards Bristol, all the way to sunny Yate. Unfortunately, my body decided on the Thursday beforehand that it fancied going into meltdown, and I still wasn't 100% come Saturday morning. It felt awfully similar to an HGV lorry piling into my chest at 100 miles an hour, and my nose was having an absolute field day. Thankfully though, I battled through, because that's the sort of trooper I am. My girlfriend unleashing a pack of cookies on me on the coach may have helped in hindsight.
On the coach, a lot of the talk revolved around what it might be like if we beat Yate that afternoon. I was desperately hoping we would, as previously mentioned, I hadn't seen us win in the league throughout the entire campaign. Sadly, that never came true. I'm already looking forward to the release of the 2015/16 fixture lists in the hope of three points, but I'll have to wait until August for that. I haven't seen us win in the league since March 2014. It's a bloody long wait. |
Our opponents for the afternoon were formed in 1906, going through a couple of name changes before becoming the Yate Town we know today in 1969. The club were founder members of the Gloucestershire Senior League in 1968, and made their way through the pyramid reasonably quickly, reaching the Southern League for the first time during the 1980's. They returned to the Southern League in 2003 following relegation, and finished this season occupying 6th place in the Southern League South & West.
Lodge Road is a quaint little ground set amongst the trees and is certainly worth a visit. There's a set of seating along the near touchline, alongside the standing terrace behind the goal, which, as you can see below, we decided to set camp in. Lovely bit of work, helps make some noise in what was effectively a library. As with many Southern League grounds, Lodge Road should not be your destination of choice if you're looking for pyro and ultras.
As of late, we've been better renowned for our singing section, and we certainly enjoyed a party at Yate to celebrate the final day of a long hard season. Plenty of confetti to get things started, a crushing mosh pit when we took the lead through Dammy Bada early on, and singing for 90 minutes kept our mood up despite the eventual 3-1 defeat. Whatever league we may be in next season, I reckon we'll make a racket. We'll outsing the league. Again.
Roll on 2015/16.
Sheridan
Roll on 2015/16.
Sheridan