However the real story in Thanet yesterday was to be found in a couple of slices of life the Robins Zyklusgruppen witnessed on the way to the game. The first was on the train when a young woman and her six month old baby boarded and then gave us an interesting insight into her life as she berated the unfortunate father of her child for neglecting his responsibilities ("you facking have her, you never facking have her.") and then questioning his choice of partners the previous evening ("she's a facking slag, she's forty years old you dirty ......."). The poor boy's name was Eli and my heart goes out to him. I hope her threat to "rip his facking arms and legs off" hasn't come true; I bet he's regretting that brief moment of passion now.
This little vignette was echoed at the match later when a violent matrimonial dispute occurred between a middle-aged couple; initially face to face by the burger van and then through a locked gate once the male party had been escorted from the ground.
After our encounter on the train, our trip improved by a visit to my favourite cafe in all the world, Oscar's Festival Cafe in Broadstairs.
It's cramped and the menu's limited but the tea comes in teapots with cosies and china cups and the food is all home-cooked. If you want egg and chips this isn't the place for you but the world is defintely a better place for this cafe. Lunch mark, just pipping Canvey's Labworth cafe: 9.5/10.
A breezy and undulating ride from Broadstairs to Margate served to burn off the huge slices of Black Forest Gateau and we arrived at Hartsdown Park well satisfied. This ground always puzzles me, a club of Margate's size with a recent history of conference football should be playing in a much better stadium and they are in the process of sorting out planning permission. Until the building work the it remains undeveloped and unsatisfying as a viewing platform.
The one bit that is developed is behind one goal and this contains a bit of terrace, a bar and the club offices which include a shop. My request for a club pen was met with genuine enthusiasm and the pen scores a reasonable 8/10, in club colours but expensive at a quid. It even writes, which can't be taken for granted.
Onto the game itself - it was pretty dire, with Margate on top and creating chances at will. They lacked belief in front of goal and the longer the game went on, the more desperate they became. As often happens, the Robins scored a goal against the run of play; a weird shot hooked back goalward by Vines and headed into his own goal by a Margate defender.
Carshalton took the points but that was the minor event in the day. At the moment the football is the worst part about supporting Carshalton. Match score 4/10.
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