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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

London's calling!

Newport Pagnell Town 3 London Colney 1

The more ticks that I get, the harder it becomes to find a suitable tie to visit. Fortunately this fitted the bill and a  not too difficult journey is always a bonus.
The Mrs was singing with her Rock Choir at St Pancras station, this gave me the opportunity to be chief coat holder for half an hour and to watch the 20 minute set. I have to say that they were really good, certainly drew a crowd and it seemed to be well received all round.
I kind of new where I was going with this ground. I'd actually been past it a few years ago when I think I was traveling to Olney, made a mental note that it was easy to reach by bus from Milton Keynes station and parked it in the 'to be done' section of my brain.
I walked to Euston Station from St Pancras and the journey to Milton Keynes went without incident.
I only had 10 minutes until my bus was due and not knowing what I'd find food wise, I decided to buy a Coronation chicken sandwich from a supermarket next to the station. Big mistake, it was truly, truly horrible and will never be purchased again.
I had buckets of time and decided to stay on the bus to have a nose around the town of Newport Pagnell. I quite liked it really, a reasonable size and yet not too busy, I guess everyone shops in MK. I dropped into a Corals, placed a small each way bet on a 7/1 shot at Sandown and came out of the shop 15 minutes later, 40p better off. I bumped into a chippy and decided to buy a portion of chips to take away the taste of the sandwich, an excellent decision, they were fab!
The ground is only a 5-10 minute walk from the town and I found my way again with absolutely no trouble.
A small clubhouse was showing the Premiership game and I watched the last 25 minutes before venturing into the ground.
In the ground, there are two small stands, one on each side and a small tea bar.
I really liked the feel of this place, it came across as a family club and very good humoured. A lady went around the clubhouse individually selling programmes, there was banter galore amongst the locals and all very good humoured, at the end of the game, another lady went round the ground asking everyone individually who they thought their man of the match was, not sure I've ever had that before.
A kids penalty shoot-out on the pitch at half time is always an enjoyable edition and certainly passed that dead time quickly.
As for the game, Newport Pagnell scored early, but when London Colney equalised on 27 mins, you felt they would go forward and win comfortably. But they completely lost their way in the second half and Newport Pagnell were excellent in taking the game to them and won it with goals in the 73rd and 90th minutes.
A club that I had been 'waiting to do' and did not disappoint.

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