ABWellan At The Local Rugby

Posted by Toby on Mar 27, 2009 in Blog, Offers, Staff | 2 comments

A busy day at the office, but for a handful of us, the day wasn’t finished.  We had the small matter of a trip to the rugby.  Batley were playing Gateshead and ABWellans plateman and long time Batley supporter, Terry Overend, had got us a fistful of tickets.

So, the motley crew of Toby, Simon, Mick, Jonathan, Papa Dave, Terry and recentley retired salesrep Phil Cook, decided a beverage or two was required prior to the kick off.  So, off to the Cellarbar and then on to a local curry house (except Toby & Simon who had gourged on pizza that afternoon)

Andy Portrey, one of ABWellans sales reps, popped in for a quick beer, unfortunately unable to make the match itself.

Around 6.45pm we headed up to the ground, were Terry had kindly arranged for us to get in the lounge for a pre-kick off talk by the Batley coach Gary Thornton, who despite spotting a few threats within Gatesheads ranks, was upbeat about Batleys chances.  The bookmakers seemed to agree – Batley hot favourites at 1.28, Gateshead big outsiders at 4.80 and the draw at 22.00

So, a big win was expected.  But things didn’t go according to plan.  Facing a strong wind and playing uphill for the 1st half, Batley struggled in the blustery conditions and went behind in the 3rd minute.  It didn’t get much better as the half went on with Gateshead playing the more attractive, fast flowing rugby.  By half time, Batley trailed 4 points to 20.  Not what GT had wanted, or expected!!  I don’t expect the half time team talk was a quiet one.

The 2nd half needed Batley to come out fighting and with the slope and wind behind them, they duely obliged.   Better rugby by far and Batley slowly clawed their way into the game.   5 minutes from the end and Batley brought the score back to 20 – 20 and it was then a battle for the 2 sides to see who could nick it at the end, both teams trying for that knockout dropgoal – but in the end, neither team could muster the win, so a draw it was (wish I’d had a couple of quid on the 22.00).

A very enjoyable night, with great company – and we’ll definately be going again, even if it’s just to see the bizarre stilt walkers

Here are a few pics of the evening