Racing Club Warwick 3 Coventry United 2 (26th December 2023)
Racing Club Warwick’s Townsend Meadow was a ground I sort of fancied doing combined with a trip to Warwick Castle and the town’s old centre, but a dash from Cadbury Athletic’s game earlier meant no chance of that. My satnav seemed to sense this though, and sent me a curious but picturesque route via Henley-In-Arden, and via the edge of central Warwick upon leaving.
Parking up with about 20 minutes to kick off, sights were limited to a side view of the grandstands at the adjacent race course, and a church tower covered in scaffolding, but this game was free entry, and they even did a programme, so I wasn’t going to complain. The programme itself had a curiously lax attitude toward punctuation, and programme notes including lines such as “Firstly I wanna say…” and “our home form is gunner be crucial” which would have Daily Telegraph letter writers firing off their latest complaint, saying things went downhill when men stopped wearing hats, but it’s just nice to see clubs still making the commitment to a real programme rather than an online one. Mind you, one article did make me wish I visited exactly eight years earlier, highlighting a club record 15-0 Boxing Day victory, and rather dampening the Christmas mood for anyone from Southam United on that day.
Pictures from 2008 on Google streetview highlight just how much the club has smartened itself up in recent years, being another convert to the benefits of a 3G pitch, and with cover now on all four sides, to varying degrees. The high cage around the pitch, cutting across one corner, and the placing of three rows of seats on one side, did make walking round the ground slightly awkward in some places, but we are not exactly talking the Minotaur’s Labyrinth of ancient Crete in difficulty.
Warwick have smartened up on the field too, currently sitting top of the United Counties Premier Division South, looking strong contenders for promotion to Step 4 of the pyramid. Crowds like the 337 that were somehow counted today will help.
Visiting were the second set of visitors from Coventry I’d see on the same day. This time Coventry United were the away side, in the lower half of the division, and it would have been easy to expect a comfortable home victory. After already seeing a 0-0 earlier, I was just hoping for some goals.
That said, I ended up hoping any goals wouldn’t come too early. With just one person working the tea bar, food was taking quite a while to be made, although I would recommend the cheeseburger – well made an even using real cheese, rather than the plasticky processed cheese slices that are more usual. The guy behind, queuing up for nearly 15 minutes and finding the tea bar didn’t actually do tea, was probably less happy with his wait.
Both sides had the decency to not score while I was queuing, but a mix up on the edge of the box between keeper and defender presented Coventry United with an empty net tap-in after 10 minutes. Just before the half hour it got even better. Picking up the ball not far from United’s own penalty box, their No.7 took the ball from there into the Warwick box before a tidy finish put them 2-0 up, and looking good value for their lead.
Warwick were possibly fortunate that they were able to get back into it so quickly, as if the away side had had a chance to settle, it could have been different. Just a couple of minutes later though Warwick pulled it back to 1-2, getting on the end of a great deep cross to sidefoot back across the keeper.
From there, both teams looked good, and could have added to their tally. Coventry United had a good spell early in the second half, and had a chipped shot not come back off the crossbar, it would have been a different game.
Warwick’s pressure increased as the game got stretched late on, and a well-hit shot from the edge of the area drew the home side level with 10 minutes left. The winner came four minutes later, being nodded in from a corner, to complete the comeback.
Still, Coventry United had chances to level, and not for the first time they forced a good save from the home keeper as the clock ticked down, but it wasn’t enough, and Racing Club Warwick had earned another three points for their promotion push. Coventry United left with nothing to show for their efforts in terms of points, but knowing the level they can play at will give them heart for the rest of the season. Warwick’s points keeps them leading by a nose in what looks to be a two-horse race for the title, but the racecourse club will know they aren’t quite on the back straight just yet. If they show the same level of desire as this though, and cut out the mistakes, they must have a good chance.
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