Farm handled

Bromsgrove Sporting 2 Bristol Manor Farm 1

With the weather set surprisingly fair for January, I decided there was no risk in a fairly lengthy trip to Bromsgrove.
The train from London to Birmingham was really busy. There was the usual chaos of people sitting in other people’s reserved seats and then pleading ignorance and in one case, claiming they had reserved the same sets online but did not have the confirmation Email any more - Yeah right!
After everyone settled down, it became apparent that once again, I was sitting just across the aisle from the noisiest group in my carriage. Why does this always happen? I was completely unable to read due to the incessant, loud chatter. A group of four students, three guys and one girl. The girl was particularly irritating with a loud, whiney voice. If she said that one of the group had brought along a photocopy of their passport for i.d purposes once, she said it a dozen times. Needless to say, they stayed on the train for the whole journey.
The transfer to Bromsgrove was very simple and just two stops.
Bromsgrove station is in a sleepy little area with just a few taxis milling around, I got my bearings and set off on what turned out to be a 25 minute walk.
You soon hit traffic and the majority of the walk is alongside a reasonably busy road.
I stumbled across Bromsgrove town centre which had a fair array of shops and so I set me eye roving for lunch options.
The usual High Street suspects were available, but my eye was drawn to one of the outdoor market tents. On sale were pork pies, 50p for a small or £1 for a large. I bought a large and it turned out to be quite the most magnificent pork pie I’ve eaten in a very long time. Perfect pastry and a great meaty filling with only a little jelly. It was fantastic and quite frankly, made my afternoon.
Bromsgrove’s ground is quite an old fashioned looking place but had bags of character. A large stand, a whole end with covered terracing and also some cover on the near side. The largest amount of food outlets I’ve seen at this level for quite a while and lots of nooks and crannies.
The place was packed! Almost 1500 people were crammed in and it seemed like more. A great atmosphere.
This turned into a bit of a cup shock with Bromsgrove turning over Bristol Manor Farm who play in a step higher.
The first half was decidedly average with only a goal right on half time from Bromsgrove saving it from being a complete non-event.
The second half was excellent. Bromsgrove doubled their lead and were holding on comfortably until Bristol scored 7 minutes from time after a goalkeeper error. The rest of the game was nail-biting stuff with the ‘kitchen sink’ being thrown at Bromsgrove. They held on despite a disallowed goal for offside to reach the Vase quarter finals.