Didcot, Jersey, Bedford...WINNERSH

Contrary to the David Brent reference in the title, I haven’t actually been to Winnersh. But I have been to Didcot. Not to brag or anything, but my short trip to the Oxfordshire town yesterday marked the start of my 2023-24 season. I expect the season to take in some football from a variety of nations - from my first foray into French football, to some Polish, Czech and Slovak football, as well as whatever else crops up on my radar. 

Didcot didn’t exactly offer the most glamorous of starts, but it got me thinking about each opening fixture of the last ten years - how do they all rank alongside one another? Admittedly it’s a Stevenage-centric list, with only three of these games not involving a Stevenage side of some kind, but it’s always fun to take a look back at my groundhopping career to date.

They say pre-season is meaningless, and in many ways it is, but it marks the return of football to at least some degree. Without further ado, here are my opening days of the last decade ranked in some particular order (descending):

10.) Didcot Town 1-2 Thatcham Town (2023)

It wasn’t that this was a bad game - far from it - but it was a fixture attended more out of convenience than anything else. Working in Oxford during the summer meant this was the easiest option to do, setting out in the pouring *checks notes* July rain, Thatcham stormed into a first half lead, before Didcot halved the deficit with a screamer. A good if unremarkable start to this season.

9.) Hitchin Town 1-1 Stevenage (2017)

A pre-season friendly against Hitchin is generally nothing out of the ordinary, and I’m actually surprised it doesn’t feature more than once here. Blair Turgott grabbed us an equaliser and we all thought he would be our saviour. Now he’s forging a career for himself in Norway of all places.

8.) Stevenage 3-2 Portsmouth (2018)

I’d be lying if I said I remembered anything from this game, but 3-2 was often a common scoreline between Pompey and the Boro, even if it were only a friendly in this instance. It seemed at least one of the teams would score three on most occasions anyway. After England’s heroics in the World Cup, it was nice for club football to welcome us back at least.

7.) Wingate & Finchley 0-1 Stevenage (2019)

I’d travelled all the way from Glasgow for this particular fixture (there were other reasons I should clarify, my Nan’s 80th birthday being one). It was a nice enough evening out in North London, but just your bog standard friendly in which Charlie Carter’s goal gave us some severely misplaced optimism.

6.) Biggleswade 0-3 Royston Town (2021)

I was worse for wear having worked an early shift at Sainsbury’s, but it was all worth it just to see Ronnie Henry turn out for a dominant Royston side in Bedford. England ended up demolishing Ukraine later that day, so it was an enjoyable excursion all ‘round.

5.) Arlesey Town 0-3 Stevenage (2015)

As with the Portsmouth game above, I’d be lying if I said I remembered this one, but it must have been at least somewhat decent given the scoreline. Sadly it would not be prophetic of any glory that season under Teddy Sheringham. I shudder to think what could have been had we not cut his reign short in January of that season. The fact that visiting Arlesey is always enjoyable is the reason for its lofty placement.

4.) St Albans 2-3 Stevenage (2016)

I’d recently returned from a month in Berlin, so life was inevitably tinged with a little sadness at having left such a magnificent city. That said, it was nice for football to return with an entertaining bang, albeit a misleading one given that we thought Jake Hyde would be a good footballer.

3.) Royston Town 7-2 Stevenage XI (2015)

A confusing and insane game that I had used to practise some match reporting - if only I still had the report saved somewhere. I remember none of the game itself, but it was carnage to say the least. Thankfully it was a youth team rather than the first team, otherwise there’d have been some serious worries.

2.) Cockfosters 4-2 Stanway Rovers (2020)

This was the first game in well over 5 months due to the pandemic, and I didn’t care who it was - just some football to watch was enough. The fact it was an absolute hum-dinger of a preliminary FA Cup tie only added to the allure of live football’s long-awaited return. It felt like the world was back to normal and it was wonderful.

1.) Jersey Bulls 0-4 Stevenage (2022)

The dream start to any pre-season, with sunshine, coastline, excellent food, and superb company throughout this long weekend in Jersey. Having missed out in 2018, it was wonderful to get the chance to go this time, and it’s without a doubt the best start to any season I’ve ever had. It’s no wonder we got promoted last season.