Oh The Posh Posh Travelling Life, The Travelling Life For Me

5 min readJan 10, 2024

Hot on the heels of the brilliant away win against Bradford City on Saturday afternoon, we have another away game. On a Wednesday night instead of a Tuesday night instead. This one is a cup game, a third-round tie in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy. Yes, the one that has had more names over the years than I’ve had hairstyles. It is the first time Crawley have reached this stage of the competition.

And we are in Peterborough to play United. The first time we have played them since a 2–0 loss against them in the Carabao Cup at the start of the 2015–16 season. They are going well in the league this season, and are third in League One, just a couple of points off the automatic promotion slots.

However, they did take a bit of a beating in the FA Cup at home to Leeds United on Sunday (3–0, now, where do we recognise that score and Leeds United in the same sentence from?) whilst we were winning 4–2 and boosting confidence in the ranks. What we don’t know (as I write this part of this up anyway) is how seriously both sides are going to take this game. We have already had wins over two League One sides this season in the competition without playing our full-strength side, and I’d expect a similar strength side again today. As for Peterborough, it is difficult to say how they will treat it. Flying high in League One they could look at this as a serious trophy winning opportunity. On the flip side they might want to rest players so they can push on for promotion to the Championship.

We have travelled to Peterborough straight from Bradford after spending a couple of extra days after the game and got here yesterday. I used to come to Peterborough a lot when I was a kid living in Leicester as it was the end of the line for the Birmingham to Peterborough train, it is a lovely place to look around, and the Cathedral is spectacular. So, a day to have a look around is always worth it.

I can’t take their nickname of ‘The Posh’ seriously. That’s because I spent far too many hours watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a kid (and even now as an adult if I see it’s on), and now can’t even say the word posh without imitating Lionel Jeffries playing Grandpa Potts and carrying on the lyrics of the song “with a capital P. O. S. H. posshh”. Hence the title of today’s piece.

The leisurely amble into the centre of Peterborough for sightseeing is interrupted by the announcement there will be a pitch inspection at 12:30. Which was inconclusive as another was scheduled for 14:30.

This seems odd as having stayed in Peterborough overnight, there hasn’t been a frost, the ground isn’t that solid, and around the hotel it doesn’t seem sodden either, there’s been no rain here for thirty-six hours. So not sure what the pitch is being inspected for.

14:39, and it’s on. Woo hoo, not a wasted trip then. After some lunch we have a wander around, and the west frontage of the Cathedral looks good in the setting sunlight.

Then, as we sit in Charters bar on the River Nene, we overhear Peterborough fans on the next table saying the game is off. An hour before kick-off the match ref has done another pitch inspection and deemed it unplayable. Change the woo to a boo then. The Peterborough fans aren’t happy as they’ve travelled from all over to get to the game, but they cheer up when they realise the side will get more time to prepare for their difficult league game on Saturday. But their chat soon turns racist, and we get out of there so as not to listen to any of that mess.

Coming out of the bar we can’t see the ground in the dark. There was certainly no time wasted turning the floodlights off then. They were on when we went into the bar.

I got a picture of the Cathedral in the dark on the way back into town, and then a bus back to the hotel. (They are still running now, so no post-game taxi needed now.) I can see why they don’t run very late at night, as we are the only passengers on the whole journey.

All that is left now is to find out when the game gets rearranged for. The quarter finals were due to be played week commencing the 29th of January. So, it should be in the next two weeks then. Not sure I can wangle the time off for a Tuesday night trip in those weeks but will try as don’t want to waste the tickets.

And if we can win when the game is eventually replayed then we know the possibilities for our opponents in the quarter finals. One of; AFC Wimbledon, Brighton and Hove Albion under 21s, or Wycombe Wanderers.

Come on you reds.

Originally published on my own website (without pictures) at the link below.