THE MOWDOG'S POETRY, WILDLIFE & NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL...

Surf Inconsistency…

(Constantine Bay, Cornwall, July 2010…)

Dolorous cry from distinctive squadron

Of black and white,

Wave-hopping oystercatchers

Accompanied the surge

Of tide,

The urge

To ride

My board

And I trudged

Through invigorating, penetrating

Rip and the break

To reach

And rush

The beach,

Hearing each

Screaming yell from fanned out pair

Of red-beaked,

Surf-hugging oystercatchers,

Banking for rocks in which to merge…

And the waiting,

The mere seconds stretched

Like a scored elastic

And it seemed the bottle green would never break

For me after all.

Then

The curling,

The sheer froth licked

Like a scarred serpent

And it appeared the ragged surf would disappoint

For me after all.

But

The rushing.

The near tumble twisted

Like a scared hare

And it assured the powerful ride would ensue

For me after all…

Pete Ray…

Light rain, very few people in the sea but the

oystercatchers and the breaking waves made

splashing out to catch another one quite unique…

The inconsistency of the surf soon became evident at Constantine Bay…

Alcester Town 1-2 Chelmsley Town…

(Pre-season, 2026-27…)

The Mowdog’s thoughts…

A very lively and well contested game at Stratford Road, despite harsh grass, a solid surface, warm sunny periods and oddly, a very blustery wind…

It wasn’t a day for slide-tackling…

Chelmsley seemed more cohesive throughout the game really and Alcester were missing a good number of players but subsequently both sets of coaches would surely have found out a fair amount about their already signed players and those on trial.

An early goal for the guests was scrambled in from a few yards by the poorly marked Mark Rose, after a fine rush along the right byeline by winger Dylan Pahile, whose low pass was side-footed across the face of goal by Charlie Noakes.

Rose nodded off target and then rose high to add a second, beating home goalie Logan Ellis aerially to head skipper Henry Walker’s long throw into an empty net, which had bounced ridiculously high.

Little offense came from the Romans but when visiting gloveman Peter Maguire spilled a low free-kick by Taylor Need, there was no red shirt on hand to score.

After the opening two quarters (well, why not?) a low rolling Need shot was nudged wide by the sprawling Maguire, Alcester’s Sean Brain curled a shot past the right stick and Tom Marshall, a Chelmsley replacement headed past the right post, before the Romans pulled a goal back.

Need fought for the ball at inside-left, twisting and turning at 18 yards and forcing his way past Luke Francis and Tom Williams, then he slammed a left-booted cross shot past the helpless goalminder…

Chances were few and far between until the end but the lively Kyle Hayden headed too high and the impressive Leo Henderson curled a decent effort wide from downtown for Chelmsley…

The final words…

I had never seen a Brain and a Braines (Ryan Braines) in the same team before… Just had to mention that…

Loved that the referee harassed Chelmsley replacement Dale Hewitt twice and counted the seconds down as he was about to take a throw-in. But on the first occasion, the defender hadn’t even reached the ball, which was lying on the ground… Hilarious, though Hewitt was well pigged off…

Lots of effort by the Romans but they did struggle defensively aerially before the end of the second quarter, which benefitted Rose.

Creativity on the pitch was clearly tough but in a pre-season game such as this one, it would be wrong to make any kinds of judgements.

For Chelmsley the two Noakeses, George and Charlie, plus Francis, Clarke and Walker were all prominent, although interesting winger Pahile played only two quarters. Hayden looks to be a very effective forward…

Hard work by Romans Woody Hawkett and Liam O’Donnell was often stifled by the eager tackling of the visitors in an often crowded midfield area.

Thanks to Alcester for their really decent welcome at the match…

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Images with captions from Stratford Road...