The Stutes recorded a highly creditable win against a very good Rugby Borough side on Saturday but, unfortunately, the fog that had engulfed the Rugby area was too dense for our club video camera to see through. We therefore have no video highlights of the game to show you. However, among the considerable number of Histon supporters at the game was Reg, our matchday programme reporter, who agreed to provide his view on events as they unfolded, or at least those that were visible from pitch side. Reg reports……..
There is no greater feeling for dedicated Stutes fans than seeing their team win away from home against one of the most fancied sides in your league. However, it is also nice to be able to feel your own fingers and toes, despite the many layers of clothing you have managed to squeeze into before venturing out into the near arctic conditions.
After a 75-minute car journey, the scenes we were met with on arrival at the Nationwide Windows Arena did not look encouraging. A localized sheet of fog had descended on the ground which made it impossible to see from one side of the pitch to the other. There was much discussion among the travelling supporters as to whether our journey had been for no other purpose than to consume a cup of steaming hot coffee/soup/Bovril before heading back home. However, our match Referee decided, after much deliberation, that the game should go ahead as planned. It was a brave decision to make, but one which we would ultimately thank him for making.
When the game kicked off, it was possible to make out through the grey haze the orange shirts of the Rugby Borough side reasonably clearly. Less so the Histon side in our away strip of royal blue. Perhaps the Rugby defence were having similar problems as inside the opening sixty seconds they left Pharrell Anderson enough time and space to flash a shot across goal. But after that early moment of excitement, the game soon settled into a pattern with the home side dominating possession of the ball. From a pitch-side position, we could see the ball pinging between orange shirted figures but progressing no further than the wall of blue stretched across the end we were defending. The occasional shot was fired towards George Whitehall in his bright yellow goalkeeping kit, but so far as it was possible to see, the young keeper dealt comfortably with everything that came his way.
The fog was showing no sign of lifting when after 32 minutes Histon made a rare raid into the Rugby Borough end of the field. Joe O’Neill sent over a cross from the right that Connor Barnesmet with his head, causing the home goalkeeper to get involved in the game for the first time since kick-off. In his eagerness to get involved in the game, his attempt to punch the ball away only succeeded in diverting it into the net, giving the Stutes a lead which had looked most unlikely up to that point.
Moments later the lead was almost doubled when Danny Setchell stabbed a shot onto the foot of the post, but that was as close as we would come to another goal.
Half time, and more cups of hot coffee/soup/Bovril, came and went without any change in the freezing temperature, visibility or pattern of the game. Through the mist, it was possible to see plenty of last ditch defending going on by unidentifiable Histon defenders. As time ran down, Rugby got increasingly frantic in their efforts to draw level but could see no way through the Histon defence. Admittedly, it must have been difficult to even see the Histon defence, let alone find a way through it.
Twelve minutes of added time was played, during which Joe O’Neill was Sin Binned for querying the reliability of the Referee’s watch, but the Stutes succeeded in shutting out the hosts and taking home three hard-earned points. Among the jubilant Histon contingent was club Chairman John Hall who said of the game, “That was a strong performance all round. Joe Sutton was outstanding, and we just snuffed them out. They play a lot in mid-field and play a lot through their number 10, but we had the better of them. The result went the way it should have gone in my opinion.”
Chris Nunn was equally pleased with the outcome, saying, “We have played a team which is up their challenging for the title so for us to be competing with them is bloody good. I thought Will did ever so well against their wide player and he is getting better with every game. Jordie (Williams) said to me after the game how nice it was to see all the Histon fan smiling and so happy after the game, so Happy Days!”
There is no doubting that those Histon fans enjoyed the game, or as much of it as we could see. Five miles outside Rugby on the way home the skies were clear and there was not a hint of fog in the air, but we were well past Kettering before my feet started to thaw out.
Congratulation go to the players, coaches and fans who made the journey. It was a game we will be talking about for some time to come for so many reasons.
