By Roger Vincent

70,000 Missing Fans , and No Brass Bands

We travelled by charabanc through splendid countryside, entering the estate via ye olde village pub. Passing down the long, tree-lined private road to the ground, we took tea on the verandah. The sun dappled through the trees and horses exercised to the back-drop of Lord Stamford's, splendid pile, Enville Hall, the pitch being part of the manor house grounds. A pony played in a paddock next to the village stocks and birds sang sweetly; only the sound of clay-pigeon shooting fractured this bucolic idyll. There was also a bar for the workmen (the players); one or two gentlemen imbibed as well.

We repaired to the rather splendid footie pitch for the kick off, not too early you understand for that would have been unseemly, and our chaps gave a jolly good account of themselves. Joshua scored twice, a rare header on about 25 minutes and again just over 10 minutes later. Well done that chap. In between these goals one of their rather rough fellows was sent off for swearing. I think he said damn! Jolly poor show.

In the second half we didn't do too much. After all it was a splendid day and their chaps never really looked like scoring so we didn't want to rub in our superiority too much; that wouldn't have been cricket. However, Glen Webb made his debut (and very promising it was) and we gave young Burgess a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday, for such it was, in about the 75th minute after which that jolly good fellow popped in a goal - bit of a snorter actually.

We noted that in 1857 the London Illustrated News declared this ground "the largest and best cricket ground in the world", that FW Lillywhite had been their coach and that in 1856 over 70,000 people had attended a cricket match there complete with brass bands, balloon ascents and fireworks.

I'm not sure if a lot happened in the subsequent 145 years, until our visit that is, and maybe we were a little short of that previous turnout. But let's hope that they enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs. Jolly good sports all round I say - please stand for The Queen.

Leamington Paul O'Keeffe; Jon Burgess (Martin Beeston 74m); Ian Billington; Will Payne; Liam McGovern; Stuart Hepburn; Guy Rippon (Glen Webb 67m); Darren Timms; Josh Blake; Brian Agar (captain); Barry Shearsby (Simon Wickson 54m)