The boos were barely even half-hearted as the final whistle blew at a sunny Moss Lane on Saturday, disgruntled home fans easily drowned out by triumphant applause from Boston supporters gathered together in impressive numbers on the roofless Hale End terrace.
As Craig Elliott and Nathan Arnold rose off the bench together to applaud the travelling Pilgrims, the United boss gave his star winger a squeeze and an encouraging word in his ear. Arnold, who had secured the victory with a brilliant little dinked finish before being replaced by Jordan Gough, trotted across the field to show his appreciation. On the terrace were two young Boston fans attending their first ever football match. They gave Arnold a thumbs up. He gave them the thumbs up in return – a small gesture, but one that meant they left the ground with a special memory they’ll never forget.
Alas, the same can’t be said for the youth of Altrincham. It was about an hour into the game when some local kids thought they’d try and inject some life into their team’s lifeless, listless and at times kamikaze performance. The little gaggle of boys, perhaps at most five or six years old, stood up and urged on their team. “Altrincham! Go on Altrincham! Altrincham!” they shouted, shrill shrieks echoing off the rusty roof of the Main Stand. As chants go it didn’t really work, but, really, who’s going to stop the next generation of non-league supporters getting behind their team?
Plenty of people, actually. Behind them trouble was brewing. The danger signals were there in the folded arms and furrowed brow of an older gentleman already unimpressed by the football he’d forked out for. As the children chanted, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. And then he finally snapped.
“Bloomin’ SHUT UP!!” he shouted, his irascible growl silencing the children in an instant. The kids sat back down, embarrassed. A few minutes later the man barked “SHAMBLES!”, although by this point it was impossible to tell who or what his ire was directed at. It might easily have just been the chips.
You could understand why he was so annoyed. His side were being picked off by a team normally considered cannon fodder this side of Manchester. But this time things were a bit different. The Pilgrims were playing a perfect away game, neat and professional – classic Craig Elliott. Altrincham, on the other hand, were just plain daft, attempting to play out from the back like they were Barcelona in 2011. To the surprise of absolutely no-one, it didn’t work.
That said, the first half was mostly incident free save for a spectacular left-footed Nicky Walker volley that was an inch or two away from going viral. Aside from that the match had been much like the one here last Tuesday – United impressive in spells but lacking that bit of edge in the final third.
“This game needs a goal,” my bleary-eyed neighbour groaned at half-time, swigging from a giant can of Irn-Bru ‘for the sugar’. He had arrived straight from a twelve-hour night shift to cover the game for a betting website and admitted he was struggling to stay awake.
Tomorrow, he said, he would be getting up early to steward at Manchester City-Huddersfield. And then on Monday he would be returning to Old Trafford to lead stadium tours. “Have you got eight jobs or something?” I joked. He responded with the haunted, hollow laugh of a man who has eight jobs.
The second half was just a few minutes old when he was granted his wish, and when Nathan Arnold completed the job in the 89th minute United fans could afford to relax and flick to the FlashScores live league table on their phones. They will have enjoyed what they saw.
Because I’m a natural pessimist, on the way home I started to compile a mental list of reasons why Boston fans shouldn’t be getting carried away. It was either that, or listen to Duncan Browne’s jokes. But it’s nit-picking, isn’t it? Sure, you could point to United’s lack of chances, the number of poor final balls. or the fact all the teams they’ve beaten look like they’re set to struggle this season, or… look, does it really matter?
I decided that actually, no it didn’t, and that perhaps, just for once, I should just allow myself to enjoy it. Football is mostly just expensive disappointment, so while it’s natural to treat success with suspicion maybe it’s better sometimes to resist the urge to treat it as fleeting, or fake, and just embrace it. So I went home, had a beer, and I gazed lovingly at the league table, thankful for the thrilling start Craig and the team have treated us to… and that I don’t have eight jobs.
Enjoy the game.
This article originally appeared in The Pilgrim, 25 August 2018. Boston lost 0-2 to Spennymoor in front of 1210 fans.
