Belgium
West Vlaanderen Provincial 3A
Wednesday 13th March 2019
Kick Off 20.00 Actual 19.58
K. Racing Club De Panne 3 K.V. Patronaat Gits 2, attendance 55
4’ 1-0
29’ 2-0
64’ 2-1
70’ 2-2
87’ 3-2
@ Veurnestraat 317
8660 De Panne
€5 Admission
No Programme.
This was yet another Wednesday where we headed across to Belgium, although it is only five minutes or so drive across the border from France and only 45 minutes from The Tunnel.
De Panne are thirteenth in the league table, with the visitors being sixth. An early goal, followed by a volley that gave the ‘keeper no chance, saw the hosts go 2-0 up in the first twenty minutes, which was totally against the form book, but they comfortably held the lead until halftime. Gits missed a penalty on 64 minutes, which was saved, but from the resulting corner, one of their substitutes pulled a goal back and six minutes later the same player volleyed in to level it up at 2-2. Neither team were happy with playing for a point, but rather than the visitors going on to get the winning goal, it was De Panne who nicked it, when a free kick on the left was met with a bullet header at the near post to wrap up the points.
We actually had a relatively trouble free journey to and from The Tunnel, but it could have been so different. As we approached Junction 7 of the M20 traffic ground to a halt. We had 100 yards to decide whether to get off the motorway or not, as the SatNav was aware there was a problem, but only thought it was a 12 minute queue at this stage. Thankfully, we gambled correctly, as the cause of the hold up was that the police had just put ‘Operation Stack’ into place, so the motorway from Junction 8-9 was being used as a lorry park, for those unable to board the ferries in Dover, due to problems with high winds from Storm Gareth.
As we were one of the first cars to exit onto the A20, the traffic was still moving, although a bit slow at times. We actually made it to check-in at 14.49 (14 minutes after it had officially closed) for our booked 15.20 crossing, but going to a manned booth, instead of the automated option, meant we were still given our slot. The train even left two minutes early!
The amount of lorries around the terminal in France was incredible, but was much better organised than in England, as one lane of the motorway was used for stacking lorries, with the other one for through traffic. Why is it, in England, that the first thought always seems to be ‘let’s shut the motorway’ to resolve the problem?
Anyway, although we were in single track filter lanes for long stretches of the journey back towards Calais, we had ample time to spare for our 23.50 return crossing, which left a minute ahead of schedule. At least the M20 back towards London wasn’t closed for the seemingly never ending overnight roadworks.
