For breakfast we were re-visiting Raffles on Craven Road - in the past it has been just about OK and if there were other decent ones in the area then we'd go elsewhere.
However I had the Chef's Special - basically the normal breakfast, no chips but with orange juice and marmalade (though I didn't actually get the latter) - and it was very good. Even the standard catering-type sausage had some taste.
The journey to Bath passed by quickly - John read his paper and I rested my eyes for a while - and we were greeted at the station by Trev who was billetted just down the road in nearby Keynsham with his better half.
We hadn't wandered far into town before Brian called to see where we were. He soon caught up and the four of us wandered up along the river and then popped into a free art exhibition for a small dollop of culture.
The West Gate was our first pub for the day and it had a rather disappointing selection of beers, certainly compared to last season - GK IPA, Wadworth 6X, Morland Old Speckled Hen and Ringwoods Exmoor Gold - we all opted for pints of the Exmoor Gold. We'd not been there long when Steve joined us.
There were some decent ciders though - Gwynt y Draig Black Dragon and Mr Whiteheads Equinox - the Black Dragon was a quaffable 4.5% so not too dangerous as a second lunchtime pint.
From here we took a pair of taxis to the Royal Oak - only to get there and find the pub closed. I knocked on the door and the manager came out to say his staff hadn't turned up and he wouldn't be opening for an hour at least! Not keen on the thought of having to serve a few people on his own obviously.(left) Liam Hatch tries to decapitate the opposition
This was a bit of a blow but Steve remembered there was another decent pub nearby - the White Horse - and so it proved but it was up a very steep hill, way above the ground. Both Brian and I were puffing like good 'uns by the time we got to the top.
A decent selection of beers - Otter Bitter and Head, Yeovil Ales Star Gazer and Devilfish That Gold Devil. We got stuck into our beers and then set about warning others that the Royal Oak was shut.
I got chatting to Jase the landlord - a nice young lad who has turned the pub around from serving one middling ale to having a good regualr selection, occasional beer festivals and a nice tasty menu (doing the cooking himself) which lead to it becoming Bath Pub of the Year 2011.
John B joined us after a while - he'd decided to walk from the station - and then a rare appearance from Frank (joejacques in Darlo Uncovered MB-speak) who is exiled in peaceful Milfordhaven which makes Bath a local-ish fixture for him.
Some may remember Frank as he dressed up as a Quaker for the FA Trophy final - or even many moons ago when he turned up at an away game at Huddersfield after shaving half his beard off! It was good to see him again.
I left the gang a little early so I could collect my press pass - it seemed quite busy today in the home end and it turned out they were doing a special offer for students.
No major changes in the squad - a nice day for football, dry and quite warm and a nice friendly ambience at this cosy little ground. Time to get our season back on track.
A slow start to the game - not a lot happening at all - the only excitement was for me when the senior steward came striding towards me. Apparently I wasn't wearing a bib and the ref was complaining.
Normally a club will issue a bib before we come on but we didn't get any on our visit here last season - thankfully I carry a spare hi-vis bib so not a problem for me. Amusing though that the ref might confuse me with a footballer - quite heartening I suppose!
Chances were limited for both teams in the first half - we had the odd skirmish but their keeper only had to deal with a couple of crosses although he was probably thankful that Arnison's long-range shot went narrowly wide.
Unfortunately for Arnison that was about it - he was injured shortly afterwards and was stretchered off to be replaced by Chris Atkinson.(right) Mark Copper wonders where it all went wrong
Ole Sodeberg didn't really have to touch the ball in the first half - he carefully watched a couple of shots go the right side of the woodwork - but the makeshift defence managed to keep things at bay.
Overall though Bath City looked the livelier outfit as Darlo failed to hit any sort of rhythm - it was a painful sight and the management team looked extremely frustrated at their lack of progress.
At half-time I joined the others for a quick natter before joining the queue for some chips, only getting served seconds before the game resumed ("queue full of students, you're just a queue full of students").
Adam Rundle and the Bath City subs warmed up around me and you could see their eyes light up as they saw (and smelt) my potato lovelies. And very good they were too.
Early in the second half substitutes John Campbell and Ryan Bowman were sent on for Walshaw and Purcell - Bowman worked hard and made some progress but Campbell looked lost (though to be fair the service to him was minimal).
With about twenty minutes to go the deadlock was broken as the Quakers failed to clear a corner and the ball was tapped into an open goal. Bath joy, Darlo despair.
And then a few minutes later, Bath forward Phillips was given far too much time and space and slotted the ball past Sodeburg. Darlo despair doubled.
The away side looked stunned and completely lost as they tried to get back into the game - Campbell had an effort cleared off the line and Hatch headed over but that was as good as it got. Not very good in fact.
Mark Cooper disappeared into the dugout as he seems to do at times like these whilst Dryden tried to chivy the players. I suspect that like the rest of us, Cooper is at a loss for the continued poor performances.
Darlo fans vented their fury on the players after the final whistle - Brough came in for some stick which was a tad unfair as he wasn't the worst of the bunch - and at least he came over to the fans unlike some others who just went straight to the dressing room.
Thankfully we had a taxi booked to pick us up and so it wasn't long before we were at the station. Trev and Steve left to get their trains whilst Brian, the two Johns and myself headed off to the Raven.
The place was quite busy when we got there - we had a pint of Vale VPA but it wasn't brilliant - not a bad pint but not something we were enjoying and most of us failed to finish them before we headed off to the Volunteer and Rifleman (or the Volly for short).
A pub we'd never tried and I wished we hadn't - a bit of a rugger-buggers pub. As I walked in, a guy in a Wales RFC shirt said "shouldn't you be in New Zealand, ha ha?". A reference, dear reader, to my alleged likeness to France rugby player Sebastien Chabal.
I can't remember the beer we had but it was rather uninspiring too. In fact I think the best drinks were the That Gold Devil and the Black Dragon cider.
A strange day overall in which the highlight was probably the breakfast and it isn't often I say that...
No comments:
Post a Comment