Saturday 11th May 2024 ko 13:00

Thames Valley Premier League – Premier Division

READING YMCA 2 (Reynolds 38 Ibbotson 50)

Burton sent off 88 (2nd booking)

AFC WINKFIELD 2 (Long 19 Forder 88)

Att c30 at The Cauldron, Padworth

Free Entry

The club do sporadically issue programmes.

Once again it was a question of finding something to pair up with a North Berkshire cup final, and once again the Thames Valley Premier supplied the goods- this was the first part of a double-header with YMCA’s reserves to follow. There was only one small catch though.

It was that Reading YMCA don’t really play in Reading, they use Padworth Village Hall, about 3 miles to Reading’s south and west; you are far closer to Aldermaston and Thatcham than Reading! The club have named the ground “The Cauldron” and on a scorching day it seem apposite and perhaps finally the rain that had dogged so much of the season had finally ceased. Those deckchairs were an inspired move!

The main line from Paddington to Bristol runs in the background, the Ufton Nervet Rail tragedy occured nearby in 2004, but what the groundhopper will quickly spot that the club are set up with some of the trappings of a higher level. Some will spot the cover, others the programmes, and others still the little cafe/tea bar.

Yet what got me there was the club’s excellent Twitter feed. I am very aware that getting a volunteer to run it isn’t easy, but clubs that manage to do so, do give themselves a valuable, and free source of advertising. And YMCA’s is top notch, perhaps that’s to be expected of a side that’s won the TVPL and its predecessor the Reading League 6 times but welcome nonetheless.

I’d expected the game to be a typical dull last game of the season, so I was very pleasantly surprised as the teams served up an entertaining draw despite the heat. It was a happy place to be in a Saturday afternoon.

Dedicated to David Main