The last users of the caravan, namely James' grand-parents, had kindly left a large array of meat which had been de-frosting since our arrival. We finally put it to use, cooking up a huge barbecue and my Mother's words of "make sure you eat healthily" was ringing in my ears as I enjoyed a meal equivalent to eleven mixed grills. Sadly, there wasn't a vegetable in sight.
At around 5.45 we set off and arrived to witness a club that just was not prepared for a clash with a club of Leeds' size with numerous car parks being declared full. Eventually, we found one in the centre of town and walked the short distance to the ground. Disappointingly, the queue for the club-house consisted of half the attending spectators and so we settled for three Cokes before taking our seat on a raised grass verge behind the far goal. In the sun it would have been paradise, but for the first time since our arrival the sky was cloudy.
Another new face, Luke Varney, was making his first appearance for the Whites and seemed to be fitting in extremely well with Leeds' occasional "long-ball" style of play, using his height and impressive jumping ability to win a number of headers. It was only fair then that a Varney header would open the scoring, the new man sneaking in at the back post to plant a firm header past the despairing "Southall". Before the half-time whistle blew, Leeds scored twice more through Andy Gray and Ross McCormack, one of which was a penalty. I would love to describe the goals to you, but in typical non-league style, I missed them both. In my Tavistock write-up I mentioned Ella, a friend of mine who turned eighteen on Sunday. Despite this allowing her to purchase alcohol legally, it seems she still needs someone to hold her hand and in the absence of her Dad, I was the unlucky one who had to join her on the walk around the ground. She settled in the drinks queue whilst I took up position to buy some food; James and Kez had both successfully twisted my arm in making me buy them a cheese-burger. Hideous.
Sadly, I wished I'd have stayed in that queue all day as the second half was terrible, Leeds adding a fourth through Aidy White. That was it for excitement on the pitch but Bodmin did threaten slightly on two occasions where Ashdown was forced into making two good saves. Off the pitch however, the mood was still high and a bleak evening for Bodmin's "Southall" was completed when after placing a ball for a goal-kick, a fan jumped over the railings and slotted the ball into the un-guarded goal. We're Leeds United, we score when we want.
James leaves for Kavos on Friday and as he is both the driver and the owner of the caravan, we left Newquay on Thursday, missing the game at Torquay. I've seen enough this week to know that we can perform well in this league, even without Snodgrass as at the end of the day, we need players that want to play for the club. My pre-season is over; although my love of Leeds extends to Norway, my wallet doesn't and I'm also unfortunate enough to be working instead of visiting Preston as planned. I'll be more than likely working on the day of the Capitol One Cup game against Shrewsbury, so see you at Elland Road for the game against Wolves. I aren't working that day, I booked it off. Priorities.
Follow the people on Twitter mentioned this week:
@WhittakerKieran
@james_t_wilson
@ellslufc
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