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B
Team Tour to Bassetlaw 2002
Pilot : Rob Lloyd
Navigator : Stu White
For Match Reports click
Here
Travelling from
Gloucester
to Bassetlaw
The journey to Bassetlaw couldn’t have been worse,
every set of traffic lights turned red, and from
Worcester
onwards all motorway routes to the North were at a standstill. Following a
call to the R.A.C. (as suggested by the Pilot Lloyd – points on for that
please), Navigator and Pilot had to make crucial decisions as the planned
route provided by the Secretary became useless. A new course was decided
upon, and ‘Parallel Roads’ to the motorways were torn up by the
‘Beast of Beaufort’ (the affectionate name of the team’s transport).
Within close proximity of Bassetlaw, the Navigator abandoned his post as
he became engaged in a phone call instructing the lock up of
Robinswood
School
. Pilot resorted to a pit stop, took charge of the map and route
instructions, memorised the next stage of the journey, with crucial
shortcuts, and set off again in the ‘Beast’. By now we had been
travelling non- stop for 5 hours. Following 2 further stops for the
Navigator to ask the locals for guidance, pulling into an empty, dark car
park 50 meters short of the ground, we eventually arrived at the venue at
7.15 p.m.
Anticipated time for the journey was 3 hours, actual
time taken was 5 hours and 15 minutes, but spirits never waned once. Songs
were blasted out by the boys and at all the red lights, the Pilot created
the beat, with the help of the dashboard, for us to boom out Queens ‘ We
will Rock You’, which was aptly changed to ‘We will Beat You’.
After a tremendous win, the journey back to hotel was
easy………………the Bassetlaw manager led us. Phew!!!
Travelling to
Derby
,
Coventry
and Home.
After a first class breakfast we set off early, which was lucky as the
Pilot missed the first turning only 50 meters into the journey. The
Navigator chuckled as he knew it would be points on for the Pilot. After
getting back on track, all seemed to go well until we reached
Derby
. Navigator became clueless (again) and local guidance was sort after
several times. It sparked skipper Sam ‘Cilla’ Hill into early action
as he said to the Navigator “Stu, you’re like a camel in the
jungle.” At one stop, a local garage, the Navigator bamboozled a
gentleman so much that the latter forgot the reason why he was in the
garage. Luckily the gentleman recovered and bought his Saturday morning
papers.
One of the boys then believed it was his parents
ahead of us, and so off we went in pursuit thinking they knew better than
us. After a mile or two we doubted the boys word and made another u-turn.
We then followed the guidance of the last local quizzed, and as we
approached our second venue we did pass a couple of our well-travelled
supporters also engaging the help of the locals. With a blast of the
‘Beasts’ horn they jumped back into their cars and gave chase.
After another victory we prepared for the next leg of
the trip. Luckily after 2 cups of coffee the Navigator finally woke up and
the journey to
Coventry
was faultless, which allowed time for a pit stop at Burger King. Our
entrance created a look of panic in the staff serving, but we were all
well fed and watered. After the nil – nil Coventry Walsall game, which
was like watching paint dry following our two grand wins, the final trip
back was slick. Both Navigator and Pilot were working in harmony and we
arrived back early at
7.20 p.m.
After all our detours and adventures, it was a first
class tour, where Management and Team have been tagged as ‘The Lost
Boys’ by Sam ‘Cilla’ Hill.
AV IT!!!!
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Match
Reports
Bassetlaw ‘A’ : 0
Gloucester
‘B’ : 1
After 5 hours on the bus the team emerged like a
wild, caged animal………just like the weather.
The tackling was unforgiving as
Gloucester
won virtually every 50-50 ball. The defence was again immense, with Codie
Truchan outstanding in the heart of it. With constant pressure being
applied Batteslaw had to resort to the long ball tactic.
Tom Grogan was alert to everything and gave another commanding
performance in goal.
Gloucester
played the ball with style and in the 40th minute Liam Nicholls
drove through the middle of the Bassetlaw defence and expertly lobbed the
on coming keeper to secure the all important goal.
The overall performance by
Gloucester
was immense, all playing with pride and passion.
Derby
‘B’ : 0
Gloucester
‘B’ : 1
This was meant to be the easier of the two games, however
Gloucester
made hard work of the affair. Several chances went begging in the first
half as
Derby
were pinned back in their own half.
The
Gloucester
onslaught continued in the second period with Mark Creese in a determined
mood. His goal in the 40th minute ensured in was 7 wins out of
7 for the
Gloucester
‘B’ team.
The whole tour was immense, and the Management wish to thank the team for
their outstanding performances and conduct during the tour. First class!
We also wish to thank our well-travelled supporters; next time please join
Stu and Rob for a celebratory drink!!
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