Saturday 24th April 2024 ko 14:00

Thames Valley Premier League- Division One

GORING UNITED 0

TADLEY CALLEVA RESERVES 6 (Cunningham 11 55 Theodore 22 38 Reid 32 61)

Att c25

Free Entry

On a personal level, finally my transport issues were over. I had an appointment on Saturday morning to complete the paperwork, and collect my new car, in fact there were only two issues with it. The first was that I absolutely had to be home by 5pm, and that the car wasn’t due to be ready until midday. But like the bluesman who thrives when restricted to 3 chords, sometimes the difficulties make you choose well. And I’d been hankering after Goring for a while…

It goes back over 40 years, when my aunt and uncle lived in Caversham and so we’d visit from Oxford every so often. In those pre-bypass days we’d pass by a sign for Goring-on-Thames without ever visiting there, and that sign became all more obvious when someone added a rather unfortunate umlaut. I did think about that sign when years later I watched a game in the shadow of Hermann Göring’s personal train!

These days this part of the Thames is where Oxfordshire meets Berkshire. The village is foursquare in Thames Valley Millionaire’s Row. The village does seem to attract a fair few aging Rock Stars, the likes of Pete Townshend, Jon Lord and George Michael have lived in Goring. Michael’s house is still a shrine for his fans, and I did pass by on my way to the Gardiner Recreation Ground.

There’s far more to the Gardiner Rec than than just the football ground. For one thing no photo can do justice to is the regular whoosh of fast trains running through Goring & Streatley Station between Bristol and Paddington! Other than that the scene is as genteel as you’d expect, even down to the adjacent Goring Gap Croquet Club. I’ve not seen Croquet and Football co-exist for a while!

The game did have something riding it too. Tadley’s reserves needed a win to take the title and with it promotion to the Step 7 Premier Division. They did that, and in spades but don’t think that is any reflection on Goring. They passed and moved extremely well, but Tadley were one of the best sides I’ve ever seen at this level. In fact so good were they that I asked whether they’d drafted in some of their Combined Counties team to assure promotion? No they hadn’t, and I did check later, so assume the Premier Division will have some real competition next season.

As for me, I made my way back to the car. Just having wheels again meant something.